Me, Myself, and Her

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine: Treacherous

A few minutes into the night, as Annie was looking around the junkyard, she heard someone coming up the ladder. She kept the binoculars where they were, but moved her head to see who her visitor was.

"Hey," Annie greeted quietly, a small smile coming to her face and looked back through the binoculars.

Max smiled back. "Hey." She got settled in the opposite corner from Annie, but they were still on the same side. They were quiet for a bit and Annie was scared it was going to get awkward until Max spoke up again. "It's kind of awesome."

Annie turned away from the binoculars again. "What do you mean?"

"The fog. It looks like the ocean," Max explained. There was a sad smile on her face as she talked and remembered.

"You miss it?" Annie asked. Max looked lost. "The ocean. The waves? California?" Max did a little shrug, but Annie knew that California was much cooler than it was here. "Hawkins seems pretty lame, I bet. In comparison."

"No, it's not that. It's just... my dad's still there, so..." she trailed off as she looked back out onto the fog.

Annie furrowed her eyebrows. "Why?" Sometimes she wasn't that bright.

"It's this legal term, called 'divorce,'" Max started to tease, and Annie's face heated up. "See, when two married people don't love each other anymore-"

"Yeah, sorry. I don't use my brain a lot..." Annie omitted her wish for divorce in her own life, because then maybe her time at home could be happier and she wouldn't have to worry about her parents being in the same room together for long.

Max took in a deep breath and kept going. "My mom and my stepdad, they wanted a fresh start away from him. As if... as if he was the problem, which is total bull. And things... they're just worse now."

Annie sat up from her weird laying down position as Max kept going. "My stepbrother's always been a dick, but now he's just angry all the time and... well, he can't take it out on my mom, so..."

"So he takes it out on you?" Annie asked, finishing the sentence. Her face filled with sadness and she never in her life wanted to hug someone so much. It really looked like Max could use one.

Max looked at her, then shook her head. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this," she said, trying to break out of the emotional conversation. But, against Max's usual ways, she decided to stay in the moment. "It's just... I know that I can be a jerk like him sometimes, and I do not want to be like him. Ever. I guess I'm angry, too, and I'm sorry."

They sat in silence for a moment as Annie tried to piece together something to say, something that isn't dumb and cliche. "Jesus! What's wrong with me," Max said, now regretting her openness. It was poorly timed, she thought. She shouldn't have done this now.

"Hey, don't." Max stopped and looked at Annie. "You are nothing like your brother, Max. You never will be. And that's because you've got some great people here, surrounding you who won't let that happen."

This was where Annie wanted to open up, too. To make Max feel less awkward. But she didn't know where to start. "You're cool and smart and actually super nice and, what were Dustin and Lucas saying? Totally tubular?" she joked.

Max laughed, and so did Annie. This was better. "No one actually says that," Max said through her laughs.

"You better not tell them, it might break their hearts," Annie joked as they laughed harder. They calmed down but still had smiles on their faces. "You're fun to talk with, Max."