꧁꧂
ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜɪʀᴛʏ-ᴛᴡᴏ: ꜱʜᴏᴡ ᴍᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ᴄᴀʀᴇ
School was shit. The worst. I hated every second of it. From the stupid ass bullies that wouldn't leave El alone, to the homework that was set for the next day, expected without any failure. The way kids ran around the hallways and how teachers will be up my ass to get off my skateboard the moment we were on the premises of the place was enough to get me to want to go right back to Hawkins, Indiana. Back to Max.
On her birthday, the girl had been much quieter than what I'd imagined, but there wasn't a ton that could be done. She didn't really talk to any of the others when we had the dinner, and she was kind of lost for any words when I gave her the present. It was nothing special, but she insisted to take the pack of records back to the store I'd bought them from (like that was going to happen).
But thank God, Christmas was finally here. Finally. And Joyce and Johnathan were now basically sure that I was in love with Max, too, so there was that. We never officially had that talk, but I'm pretty sure they were getting the gist...
"You know how much that'll cost?!" Mom repeated the question to me as I'd sat at the dining table, listening to her and her reaction to my idea of Max's Christmas present. It only made sense, though.
"You know I'm paying, right?" I asked her, eyes narrowed a little. It wasn't like we were tight for money. Her new job paid at least double of what she got at the store in Hawkins, and I'm talking before the mall was built and the store's profits went from one hundred percent to what felt like twenty.
When I had said that to her, she raised an eyebrow at me, confused on how I'd got the money. This time, not all was from Johnathan's wallet, so there was that. I got a few jobs here and then, some paying better than others, I won't lie, and Mom had never been too impressed when I came home a little later than she'd wished for. But it was enough. It was enough for my tickets to Hawkins, and back and enough for the girl's present. That's when I assumed she got the idea, that is...
"I'm gonna miss you." As El pulled me into the twelfth hug of the day, I did my best to keep a smile on as we stood at the airport, very, very awkwardly. At least Argyle wasn't currently here. That would've been far too awkward for us. Johnathan had been getting high with Argyle more often in recent days, and it wasn't like I cared to a certain degree. Chances were in a few years I was going to be the exact same.
The only problem I had was that Johnathan was insisting that Mom didn't need to know- like ever. He was sure that if word were to get around about him and Argyle doing drugs, which was probably already going around Lenora Hills if you ask me, then Joyce should be the last to know, anyways. I don't know if he was scared for Mom to know as she'd freak out on him and ban him from doing something or that he was scared she was gonna treat him differently to how she treated me, Will and El. Rule number forty-seven: do drugs, but tell mom.
"Yeah, well, I think I'm gonna miss you more." I tell El as I heard an announcement go off from the speakers. It was my flight.
As the others began to make a fuss of me, mainly Joyce, I said my goodbyes to the other three before turning to Will. "Say hi to... you-know-who..." My twin tells me after a moment.
Raising an eyebrow, I pulled him into a hug. "Which one are we talking about?" I teased the boy, smiling he put a hand on my shoulder.
"That's not funny-" He said, laughing as he pulled out of the hug. Okay, William, sure, act like I'm not the most hilarious person you know... Rule number forty-eight: start a comedy show "Okay... say hi to them both for me." I rolled my eyes at his words.
"How's the painting coming along?" I quickly remembered, smiling as I saw his eyes light up at the question.
"Uh- great." The boy nodded rather vigorously at my question as I recalled to myself the ideas he had gone through with me when first coming up with the idea of the painting. He loved talking about anything to do with Mike, and it was starting to get noticeable to me, I won't lie.
The announcement went off again and I smiled, putting a reassuring hand in his shoulder before saying the last goodbye to the group and finally walking off. Hawkins, Indiana, for Christmas. I was looking forward to this, I can't lie. Even if it did mean staying at Dustin's place...
⊹˚˖⁺
"So this will be your room-" As Dustin opened up the door to the other room, he showed me a very packed room, which was obviously originally meant for nothing but storage for the Henderson family. It was perfect, though. It reminded me of our old place in Hawkins. "Sorry we haven't actually moved anything-" As he began to move a few more boxes around, I insisted it was fine, like the curly-haired boy would actually listen to me and what I had to say.
"It's fine as it is, Dustin, will you calm down-" As I sat the suitcase on the mattress, the boy gave me a look as he then went on to wipe dust off of a pillow, like that somehow proved his own point. I too, knew how to dust, though.
"So, I was thinking today, we'll go around to Robin and Steve at the Family Video store-" As the boy rambled on, I found myself no longer looking at the contents of the suitcase but up at Dustin. He had obviously thought all of this out... "But later tonight I'm probably gonna have to leave you to fend off for yourself as I have a campaign with Eddie and Hellfire-"
"Dustin." I smiled, slightly taken back. "Do you have a whole schedule for the week? You do know I lived here the whole of my life before Cali, right?"
The boy shrugged like his next words were no big deal. "I missed you." It could sometimes be a weird thing between me and Dustin. The boy and I had been closer than Lucas and Mike were with us, but there was usually something that could cause us to coast away every now and then. It was good to be back.
"I missed you, too, dumbass." I tell him after a moment.
He nodded in response before noticing the rather largely wrapped gift in the suitcase, with smaller ones surrounding it. "I wonder who that's for..." He said, smiling a little as he gestured over to it.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, eyebrows furrowed with the ends of my lips curled upwards still.
"Something to do with you having a slight favouritism to a certain skating red head." Dustin remarked, an eyebrow also raised in my direction as he walked around, rummaging through my own suitcase.
"She is my best friend, you do know that, right?" I say, chuckling as he pulled out a box wrapped up, his name in black marker written over the wrapping paper.
"Right." Dustin nodded in agreement. "She's just... been a bit off recently."
I stared at him with a confused face showing as I tried to let what he had just said make sense. "And what does that mean?" I asked, again, worried as shit for the girl I had been crushing on for over a year. It certainly wasn't a phase, that was for sure.
He pulled a face to my question as he unwrapped the gift, revealing two new baseball caps. The boy smiled as he walked towards the mirror to try them on, still talking on about Maxine. "She's distant, now. I mean, you've said she's stubborn but it's not that anymore. There's something going on, you know?"
Nodding at his words, I gave the boy a weak smile at how proud he was over the baseball cap he was currently trying on, already notably obsessed with it. After a whole week full of after-school sewing lessons from Mom, I had spent another month alone in my room with a needle, some thread and the baseball caps, doing my best to sew together the DnD symbol on it. To say I've never rage quit so many times at Pac-Man as I have over sewing would not be me being dramatic.
"So, they're working at Family Video now?"
⊹˚˖⁺
"So, to do that, we had to go back to the prison-" I pulled a face at Dustin's words, confused. For the whole ride there, the boy had been cycling and explaining the campaign that this infamous Eddie Munson had set up over the last few months, while I skated along the pavement beside him.
"Why didn't you just speak to the priest before he went to the prison-" I asked, looking over at him as we turned a corner. The boy muttered something under his breath while glancing away, not in the mood to admit a non-DnD player just had a better idea than the DnD player. "God, you guys suck at that game. How come the one who doesn't like the game is better at it than you?" I asked him with a laugh.
"It's not that simple-" He continued to ramble for himself on the campaign to try and make himself sound smarter and not as dumb as he actually was. Sure, Dustin... Sure...
Laughing, I stopped suddenly at the Family Video door, propping the end of the skateboard up and into my hand. "Shut up, dumbass." Dustin told me, obviously annoyed that I had given yet another valid point only moments earlier.
"Wow, someone's grouchy..." I teased, opening up the door as he propped the bike up on the side. "Did you not have your afternoon nap?" Dustin continued on to flip me off as we entered the store, no longer too appealed to the idea of me staying at his for the whole week. Oh, this was gonna be a lot of fun...
"PARK." Before I even knew it, I found myself engulfed in a hug by my favourite lesbian. "I missed you!" Robin held her arms tightly around me as I did the same right back, with us slightly rocking back and forth. Rule number forty-nine: spend more time with lesbian friends.
"Missed you too." I say in return. The comfort of just being in the girl's embrace and presence was enough to send my anxiety right back down to the Earth's surface. Which is saying a lot considering it was usually between the atmosphere of space and Earth. Just two lesbians with lesbian issues hugging each other knowing we will probably never be romantically happy. What about it?
"Why do you never give me a hug when you see me?" As Robin pulled away, she showed me the expression she had for Steve's question.
"Because, Dingus," Robin says, turning to look at him with an arm draped over my shoulder. "you're not my favourite." Smirking over at him, I suddenly felt a ruffle of my hair from the taller girl. I was only letting it pass because it was Robin. Not even Will was allowed to touch my hair and that was a fact all in the Byers-Hopper household knew of.
"STEVE, YOU HAVE BACK TO THE FUTURE ALREADY?" Hearing Dustin shout from one of the shelves, Steve's eyes went wide, slightly worried as he then rushed over to the boy, shouting how the store wasn't even open for another hour as it was a Sunday.
"So, what's the news of the legendary Park Byers?" Robin asked as she walked around to the other side of the Radio Shack's counter.
"The news is Parker Byers panicking over their crush and how they're doing." I muttered pathetically, leaning up against the counter as I spoke. It really was pathetic how badly down I was for the girl, but it wasn't as if Robin wasn't one to understand. She was the only one who was going to understand the problems I had of being a lesbian. "Seen her recently?"
Robin thought for a moment as she glanced over at the two boys in the store as they bickered on. "She was in yesterday." She says quietly, probably trying to make sure Dustin didn't hear the whole thing. "Rented a few Christmas ones." The blue-eyed girl then showed a more nervous expression to me. "There's something going on with her, Park."
"With who?" So, it turns out Robin and I really are not that good at whispering, because Dustin was suddenly beside us, listening into each word. "Max?"
I gave an exhausted look to the curly haired boy when turning to him. "Yes." I reply blandly. "Yes, we are talking about Max." As Robin did some out of context teasing to me about Max without letting it slip to Dustin, I found myself wondering about the red head of subject.
I needed to see her. Tonight. To check up on her. It had been just shy of a month or two, sure, but I was getting worried now that even Robin was concerned and talking about it. Tonight. I'm going to her tonight.
"So, what's this?" Robin brought up the bag in my hands, reeling me back into the conversation and away from my thoughts.
"Christmas presents. Santa and all that..." I muttered with the weak smile plastered along my face, emptying the bag onto the counter, with small boxes labelled for either Robin or the puffy haired boy. The girl didn't hang about opening up all the gifts, meanwhile, Steve was busy putting back films that apparently Dustin had moved around 'by accident'.
"I love them?!" Robin exclaimed to me, already putting the different rings and necklace on without a second thought. While this all happened, including Dustin stating that his hat was cooler (okay, Dustin, whatever you say...) I was still busy in my head. I need to see Max. Tonight. Desperately.
⊹˚˖⁺
Stood at the doorstep, I let out a cold sigh, seeing my own breath curl up in the atmosphere in front of my face. There wasn't a car in the driveway, but the lights were on in the front room. What I didn't get, and that Dustin had not mentioned, was the FOR SALE sign out the front of the lawn.
As I clicked the doorbell twice, I then reached down, picking up the rather large present, again, waiting. One moment became two as I stood awkwardly on Max's doorstep. Music, which sounded like it was from MTV, came from inside and its volume went down after a while, with the door then opening up.
There, Maxine stood.
Oh. Bags sat under her eyes, like she hadn't slept well in weeks on end. And the clothes she wore were baggy, more masculine and vaguely reminding me of the boy we'd lost back in the summer.
Her eyes went wide as she stared at me, lowering her Walkman's headphones from the ears and draped around her neck. "Jesus Christ let me in I'm freezing." I say, eventually breaking the silence between us both. The girl smiled only for a moment, a split second, before moving to the side without a comment, remark or sarcastic look to reply.
Holding myself back from kicking the girl's present on the side because of the box's contents, I placed it down on the side with an exhausted heavy exhale, taking in the heat inside Max's small bungalow of a house. Hearing the door shut slowly, the girl continued to then tackle me into a hug, nearly causing us to both fall on the floor.
As I laughed at the girl's antics, I felt a feeling in my stomach I hadn't felt since I was last here in Hawkins. The butterflies flew around in my stomach as the girl wrapped her arms around me, head leaning on my chest as if she were listening to my heartbeat.
"You alright there, Maxine?" I asked her quietly, not moving an inch. The girl nodded against me, seeming to still not wanting to move away from me and my embrace. What a cutie. God, I am down bad for her.
"Don't leave me like this, ever again." Although it was quiet in the house, the girl's voice was even quieter than what would be expected. Was Neil home? Her Mom?
Placing a delicate hand on the top of her head, I comforted her, glancing around the house a little as I did so, causing me to then furrow my eyebrows. "Max..." I murmured the whisper. "What's with all the boxes? Is it a new trend?"
The girl in my arms shook her head a little, moving out of my embrace only momentarily. "You brought one yourself, don't act so surprised." Seeing a little smile play on her face, she glanced down at the box beside our feet. "You know Christmas isn't until Tuesday, right?" She reminded me, hands on my forearms. As she spoke, I found myself no longer paying attention to her words as much, but more on her lips and how they moved when she spoke. GET UP, PARKER, OR I SWEAR WE'RE GONNA DO SOMETHING WE'RE GONNA REGRET. LIKE CONFESS OR KISS HER. GET UP, RIGHT NOW.
"Yeah, well, I guess I didn't wanna have to keep it in Dustin's spare room- especially when it took up the majority of the suitcase..." I murmured over to her.
The girl nodded, moving in again to wrap her arms around me. "Sorry, I've just..." The girl pulled away as she then apologised, picking up the box by her feet. "We're moving."
Eyes going wide at her words, I followed the red head's movements to her room, probably asking too many questions as I did so. "Neil left about a month ago..." She continued, dropping the box back into my hands when I insisted on doing so. "Mom is at work at the moment."
"It's a Sunday..." I say to her, eyebrows furrowed as she began to clean and tidy her room, also packed to the ceiling with moving boxes. "And... ten pm..." I continued, checking my watch.
Max shrugged, not looking over at me as she did so, moving another box off the side to reveal her bed. "Why is she working late hours? Did you two get into a fight?"
With another shrug, she replied, "Maybe, I dunno." Oh. That doesn't sound good. Placing the wrapped-up present on a box, I walked towards her, calling the girl's name. She continued to tidy, replying rather blandly. Something was up, that was sure.
Reaching out, I grabbed the girl's wrist, turning her to look over at me. The only problem I had had, was I had not calculated the space between the two of us would be. Only centimetres sat between the two of us as I looked down into her eyes, recalling her words from a year ago. "Can you stop tidying your room like I'm gonna be impressed by it?" Slightly mocking her voice as the words left my mouth, she smiled, looking down at the floor. "What's going on, Maxine?" I asked her, taking her hand in mine. "'Cause this is not the stubborn skatergirl that I broke into the cinema with to see Back To the Future on opening night with." Sure, was my heart going over the speed limit in this area by each second I was this close to her? Yeah. But it wasn't like my dumbass was gonna move away. That would be just stupid, wouldn't it?
She shook her head, leaning it gently on my chest as she spoke. "It's been better since Neil left," I could feel the lack of hope within her words. It wasn't going well for the girl. "but Mom's now working two jobs to keep the two of us going. She's been drinking more and-" Then she stopped. She stopped dead mid-sentence, a thought obviously stopping her from the rant. "I broke up with Lucas."
I don't know what I was expecting right there and then, but I don't think it was those words. It's not as though in our letters she gave me an update on her and Lucas' relationships. She was always vague about anything and everything when she wrote to me.
Finding myself blankly staring at the girl, I nodded a little, letting the words sink in. "Oh... Right..." I say. "Okay... why? Was he being a dick to you? Do I need to-" The girl shook her head, moving out of my grasp and towards the large present in question I'd brought to her.
"I just need a break." Max explained it rather plainly to me, dropping the box onto her bed before looking over at me. "If this is worth over ten dollars, you're taking back."
"Not to California, I am not." I argued back with a smile. The girl rolled her eyes, turning back to the red and blue lined wrapping paper, her full name messily written across it in marker pen.
As the girl ripped off the paper, she stared down at the box that had previously been wrapped. "Parker, you're taking this back." She turned on her heels, not even looking at the record player a second time. Whoopsie daisy, my mistake!
"I bought you Kate Bush on record for your birthday, you must've at least had a clue-" I began, smiling at how the girl was reacting.
"You have a receipt, right?" She confirmed, to me. Did I have a receipt? I knew I didn't need one before I even entered the store, was this girl for real?
"No." I blandly reply, a little scoff with it as I turn to the near-empty wall next to her door, taking the record off of the wall that I had bought for her birthday. Sliding it out of its casing I watched as the girl glared at me, taking the bedside lamp off of its connection to mains, swapping it with the with the present. "Stop acting like you hate me." I tell the red head with a smirk. "How else are you gonna listen to Kate Bush when you're banned from your Walkman in your new house?" I asked her, making very, very valid point.
"Yeah, yeah, I love you and all that..." The girl muttered, taking the record out of my hands.
While the insides of me dropped down to the Earth's core due to her words, I watched as the girl put the record on, seeing her get lost in the lyrics of Kate Bush. She slowly danced to the lyrics of Running Up That Hill, grabbing my hand to dance along with her.
The girl had a liking to the song, I won't lie. "Which one is your favourite, then?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, noting the way her spirits seemed to lift a little by the song.
She thought for a moment, while the song changed to the second one on the album. "Probably Running Up that Hill... yeah." She eventually said, nodding, notably moving closer to me. Hounds of Love. That's what was playing now. 'Cause that was really, really what I needed to hear.
As the girl moved closer, she put two hands on my waist, holding me a little closer. Yeah, my heart was going a little fast. I could feel my cheeks go red at the girl's actions, my breath quickened for a moment and my heart was doing loop-the-loops inside my chest.
"Hiding in the dark, hiding in the street." Glancing at her lips for a moment, I stopped myself from doing so, swearing that I could look anywhere else but there. Right there. "And of what was following me."
"No other reason why you broke up with Lucas?" I suddenly asked. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU PARKER BYERS? LEAVE HER ALONE.
"The hounds of love are hunting." The girl seemed a little lost in her own world- like she was there in the room with me, but not fully.
"Maybe there was." The words that left her were heavy, worrying me sick to my stomach until that feeling suddenly changed at something I wasn't expecting. Her lips on mine.
"I've always been a coward." My stomach had a feeling that was indescribable within it, with the only way able to compare it to would be the butterflies I had been feeling moments earlier, except much more prominent. Her soft lips connect with mine as she continued to lean into my embrace, holding on my shirt and jacket for what could be for dear life.
"And I don't know what's good for me." The kiss stayed in delicate motion only momentarily, causing me to gain a certain nervousness inside. The Max Mayfield, kissing me. Parker, wake up while you still can. Feeling the red head press against me, pushing me back slightly, I stepped back, and continued to do so without daring to break the kiss, my hand moving up to cup her cheek as I found myself leaning up against the wall.
My stomach felt tingly, and yet there was also this joy all inside me, like a little kid kicking their feet because... well... the girl of their dreams was kissing them. Wow
Rule number fifty: kiss her
a/n- don't say i don't feed u🙄