Can't Get Use to Losing You- Max Mayfield

The Bite

TJ finds himself stood outside on Hoppers porch again, leaning on the railing watching the 4th of July fireworks.
"They're pretty aren't they?" He hears a voice from behind him.
"I promised Holly I'd take her on a ride tonight. She's not going to forgive me." TJ says back, before continuing, "4th of July. Me, Cassie and Riley would always go down to lovers lake. Swim, play, try and sneak a beer and then watch the fireworks at night...This is the first year we've missed it."
The redhead comes and stands next to him at the railing, arms touching one another.
"You guys have a special friendship it's great to see. You're lucky to have them and they're lucky to have you as a friend... I know I am. Holly she'll forgive you, you're a great big brother to her." Max quietly says to the boy.
TJ turns and looks at her while she does the same, closer than they thought to each other. Foreheads press against the other, neither daring to make the first move.
The door swings open and the two break apart, Nancy Wheeler stands looking at the two younger teens, "The Mind Flayer knows we're here." The rest of the group walk down the steps to the clearing of the woods and see that the creature is bounding through the woods, heading straight towards then and much bigger than before.

Everyone springs into action blocking the windows, Nancy goes into Hoppers outside shed and finds two guns. She walks back into the house and throws one to TJ, "You remember how to use one of these?" He nods at his sister, then helps the others to barricade the doors.
The group are stood looking in different directions not knowing where the Mind Flayer will attack from, all of a sudden one of the arms of the creature bursts through the wall going straight for El. Johnathan runs over attacking it with an axe, but the boy is flung across the room. As the mind flayer goes to attack him again, Nancy begins to shoot at it, but it changes it's course of attack for her.
"Nancy! No!" TJ shouts, all of a sudden the arm stops, El using her power sends it back through the hole.
"Holy shit!" Max yells, without a second to breathe two arms of the Mind flayer smash through the walls either side of El. She manages to rip parts of the arms off as the creature retreats its arms back, screaming as it does.

Silence falls on the outside of the cabin and all that's heard inside is El's heavy breathing, quicker then the flash the roof of Hoppers cabin is destroyed and El has been ripped from the floor by the monster.
Mike manages to grab hold of her, Johnathan jumps managing to get her other arm, Max and Will go over to help.
"Nancy shoot it." Johnathan screams.
TJ cocks his gun and shoots at the monster,
"Let her go! You ugly bastard!" He shouts out. Nancy also begins shooting straight down the monsters mouth. Lucas grabs the axe and runs over, hacking at the arm that's grabbed El.
"Lucas keep going you're nearly there!" TJ shouts over to the boy.
With one last swing the creature lets go of El as Mike catches her, however, he soon realised that a part of the monster is still attached to her leg. He quickly rips it off and El lets out a scream in agony, before she sees the mind flayer staring down at her. She stands up, raises her hands and lets out the most gut wrenching scream, ripping the monster in half. She collapses into Max's arms as TJ runs over to help carry her out of the house into the car.

Nancy wheel spins into the store car park before smashing the window and walking in.
"Fuck she's so cool!" Max says, TJ smiles at her while helping Mike carry El in. They end up on the medical aisle, as Nancy is about to clean the gruesome wound but Max stops her.
"What-- What-- Hey, what are you doing?" Max questions Nancy. Nancy looks at her confused replying, "I'm cleaning the wound."
As if it's the most obvious thing in the world.
"No, first, we need to stop the bleeding, then clean, then disinfect, then bandage." Max tells Nancy, before adding, "I skateboard. Trust me."
"She also has fixed me and my injuries up multiple times now, and they've never once got infected." TJ adds as the girl smiles at him. Max then takes charge of the first aid for El, sending everyone on searches for items.

TJ joins his sister and Johnathan looking for some water and soap. He's walking behind them listening to what they're saying,
" I don't know how we're gonna kill this thing, but if we do--" Nancy says.
"We kill all the flayed." Johnathan finishes her sentence.
"What about Riley?" TJ stops on the spot looking at his sister. She turns and faces her younger brother, Johnathan takes the soap and water of her heading back over to the injured El.
"I don't know Teddy. I don't." Nancy looks at her brother telling him the truth.
"Fuck he's gone isn't he? Just like Heather, Mrs Driscoll and god knows who else." TJ cries out.

He sits down with his back against the freezer, feeling the tears falling from his eyes. Nancy sits next to him pulling him into her and holding him as he cries, knowing the pain of losing your best friend.
"Do you remember when you were around 5 and me and Barb use to have play dates, but every single time you and Riley would ruin them...not on purpose but because you were both so accident prone. I remember this one time Riley climbed to the top of the climbing frame and fell, you were so worried about him but you didn't cry not once... I know you wanted to but you said..."
"I have to be brave for Riley." TJ finishes her sentence, giving her a teary smile.
Nancy nods at him crying with him, "We won't let him be forgotten Teddy."
"I have to be brave for Riley now and always." He stands up offering his hand to his sister and says, "Let's go kill that ugly bastard!"

TJ and Nancy are walking back to find the rest of the group when they bump into Max.
"Hi... I was looking for you. For both of you." Max says to the Wheeler siblings.
"Uh-huh... I'm just gonna head back to the others, unless you need something from me?" Nancy replies, giving the younger teens a knowing look.
"No, no actually it's fine. I can just talk to TJ." Max tries to say cooly.
"Okay well... I'm gonna just be over there with the others." Nancy walks by the pair, turning back and giving TJ a smirk who flips her off.
"What's up Mayfield? Everything okay?" He asks the redhead.
"Lucas is not my boyfriend." She spits out,
"We didn't get back together... he actually told me he thinks that me and him...would be better as friends. And I agree. I mean I'll always care for him but it's more platonic...than romantic. But then he carried on and said..." Max pauses on the last bit having an internal battle on whether to say the next part, TJ looks at her confused and asks, "He said what Max?"

She takes a deep breath and looks at the boy, "He said that he thinks me and you... that we should be like...together."
"Oh!" Is all that leaves TJ's mouth. On the inside he's cursing himself, why when he needs his brain to work does it not.
"Oh?" The girl repeats back to him, "That's all you can say?"
"Max no! I don't mean it like that I like you I really fucking like you." TJ finally confesses his feelings.
"But?" Max questions back to him.
"But can we pause this conversation just for tonight? And when and I mean when we've beat that monster, we talk about this properly?" TJ asks.
"Okay." Max replied, smiling at the boy and walking away.
That went a lot better than TJ thought.

"Wait Henderson? He's okay? What about Harrington is he there?" TJ shouts.
"Shhhh!" Everyone says looking at him.
"Sorry. Sorry." He mouths at them. Silence falls again, until Lucas open a can of coke.
TJ stifles a laugh but stops when Max glares at him.
"Quiet." Max tells Lucas who apologises.
TJ watches in amusement as Mike and Lucas begin bickering about new coke.
"The original is a classic, no question about it. But the remake..." Lucas takes a big gulp of his drink, then continues, "Sweeter, bolder...better." TJ bursts out laughing, as Mike and Lucas begin bickering again. El rips off her blindfold, not amused at the boys antics.
"Sorry." Mike says.
"Sorry." Lucas also says.
"Yeah... sorry." TJ is the last one to say it, running the back of his neck.
They find out that Dustin is at the Movies...why?  They're not sure but the group are heading to star court to find out... with a trolley full of ammunition also known as fireworks.

After El wipes out the men with guns TJ has never ran so fast in his life, he runs past Dustin reuniting with Mike and El.
TJ sprints and jumps into Steve.
"Harrington! Oh I've missed you man!" TJ tells the older teen.
"TJ! Oh man never leave me with Dustin for that long again. I missed you too man." Steve says back.
The group start the quickest debrief, that TJ is struggling to keep up with. The two biggest take always he's got was that Steve and Dustin spent more time hanging out with each other and he feels quite jealous, and they also infiltrated a secret Russian base underneath the star court mall.

As everyone typically begins bickering El drops to the floor.
"My leg...my leg." She quietly cries out in agony. Johnathan and Nancy unwrap the bandages, the group looking at the wound that has got significantly worse. Mike is trying to comfort the girl, but something begins moving inside El's leg as the girl screams out in agony.