✓ Her Mixtape, Stranger Things

xlix. bravado

"You know what I meant."

"Do I?"

Max rolls her eyes with a scowl before handing Rue the envelope in her hands. "Here. I know it doesn't make up for the last three months or whatever... but it's just in case."

Rue takes the envelope from her hands and flinches when her fingers brush each other. The feeling lingers on her skin as she stares at her three-letter name scribbled on the brown paper.

Rue looks back up at Max again, "Just in case?"

Max's breath trembles as she nods slowly. Her gaze doesn't reach Rue's eyes, and she crosses her arms over her chest and picks at a loose thread on her blue jacket. "If things don't work out. If Nancy and Robin get to a dead end. Just stuff I wish I had the chance to say before I die a gruesome death, you know."

"Like an apology?"

Rue says it before she can stop herself. She doesn't mean it, and she's embarrassed when Max winces and nods. When silence falls around the two of them in the Wheeler's hallway, Rue's gaze returns to the letter. Holly's music is blasting through the walls, and her mind is racing with theories she can't keep up with.

Rue had wished for a letter from Max for three months, and now that she receives one, she feels as if it is scorching her hands.

"Come on," Max says, stumbling Rue out of her thoughts. "We're leaving."

Rue frowns, but she follows Max as she hurries down the stairs. "Where are we going?"

"Out."

When they get into the living room, she notices Lucas and Dustin frantically putting on their shoes and jackets while Steve is babbling about something. Ted Wheeler had gotten up from his chair and gone to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee to avoid them.

"Guys, stop it, come on." Steve tries and grabs Dustin's jacket to stop him, but Dustin pulls it back.

Rue looks for her converse, which she had left next to Lucas' sneakers the night before, but they're gone. That sensation she had that morning crawls up her throat again, stealing her breath. Rue had unknowingly clenched her fist around Max's letter, crushing it.

She finally finds them outside the Wheeler's backyard door, almost missing the red mark on the white wood. Rue comes back to the rest of her group and puts her shoes on, trying to swallow the lump in her throat. She pulls one of Nancy's jackets from the hangers and walks out the door with Lucas and Dustin.

The group walks at a quick pace, trying to keep up with Max's determined strides and Steve's hurried steps. Rue nearly trips over her undone shoelaces, and when Lucas laughs at her, she shoves his side.

"Max, seriously. Seriously, I'm not joking, okay? I'm not driving you anywhere." Steve says sternly.

"Steve, if you think I'm going to spend what is likely the last day of my life in the armpit that is Mike Wheeler's basement, then you're out of your mind," Max tells him as she nears his car. "So, you either take me where I need to go, or you're gonna have to tie me down, which is technically kidnapping of a minor. And if I live to see another day, Steve, I swear to God, I will prosecute."

Max stops before the car and tries to open the door. Once she realizes it's still locked, she turns to Steve and glares at him. "Open the door."

"Uh, no."

Max doesn't miss a beat, "I know a good lawyer."

Steve stares at her in disbelief for a long moment, and he shakes his head. He scoffs before digging into his pockets and pulling out his keys. As he unlocks the car, he points at Dustin, "Henderson, that super walkie of yours better reach Pennhurst."