chapter seven
blue and green
✧
"YOU CAN GO NOW,"
"I just want to make sure you get inside safe,"
Rue Newby playfully rolled her eyes. "All I have to do is walk down my lawn, Steve," she told him, searching for her keys in her candy bag.
"Yeah," Steve Harrington nodded, poking his head out his car's window, "you never know if there's an asshole waiting for you."
The younger girl sighed, placing a hand to her hips, "I'll be fine," she pointed her bat at him. "Now, go home and watch a movie or something."
"Ouch, it feels like you don't even want me around," he faked sadness.
Rue giggled softly, turning around to walk up the porch. Digging the key into the hole, she turned around again and saw Steve still watching her from his car. "Bye! Thanks for the ride!" She waved.
Steve waved back, starting his car again after making Rue had walked into the safety of her home. He smiled sheepishly, realizing he had found a soft spot for a thirteen-year-old girl.
Driving out of the street, he quickly stopped when he saw a blur of orange hair pass in front of his car.
"Sorry!" The kid he almost hit exclaimed before dropping their skateboard and going the direction he came.
Rue groaned loudly the second she dropped her candy bag on the couch. She had forgotten that her dad was still at the Byers, and now she was home alone.
She took off her shoes and ran up the stairs towards the bathroom. Letting her hair down, Rue stared at herself in the mirror. Her lips were dry and cracked and stained red from all the bleeding earlier, and her jersey shirt had two or three drops of red.
Unbuttoning her shirt, she froze in her actions. The doorbell had rung. She didn't move from her spot and continued to take off her jersey shirt, leaving her in a white tank top and pants. It's probably some trick-or-treaters, she thought, wondering if she had her porch light on or off.
The bell rang again, followed by loud knocks she could hear from upstairs.
With an exasperated sigh, Rue ran her hands through her amber hair, tugging on it slightly. She stomped out of the bathroom and down the stairs.
Rue swung the door open, and heat rushed to her face when she came face to face with Max. The ginger stared at the floor and spoke as if she had practiced in the mirror before coming.
"Hey, Mr. Newby, I'm Max Mayfield. I'm a friend of your daughter's. I went trick-or-treating with her, and I know it's late, but I was wondering if I could see Rue because — oh,"
Max's cheeks went as red as her hair when she looked up. "Rue!"
"Hi," she waved.
"Listen. I know you said I couldn't come over, but I had to check on you because of the whole nosebleed thing, and I read somewhere that it can be as serious as anemia. I have no idea what that is, but I wanted to make sure you're okay?"
Rue felt herself go speechless as her heart did a few backflips. Max came all the way here to make sure she was okay. And Rue didn't know if she should cry or jump into the girl's arms.
As a smile grew on her face, a smile that only Max Mayfield could settle on Rue's face, she opened the door wider, motioning for Max to come in.
The girl stepped in gingerly, which was very out of character from Max's usual head held up high attitude. Rue looked past it and reached over to hold onto Max's hand, basking over how soft they were. The two girls swung their hands in the air, grinning like fools at each other.
"Thank you," Rue said, her voice almost a whisper, scared that if she spoke any louder, her voice would crack. And if Max weren't standing so close, she would have missed it.
"For what?"
"Coming over," Rue held her other hand now, "No one's ever cared enough to do that."
Max frowned, staring at Rue through her eyelashes. They stood in silence, and Max relished over Rue's eyes, so green like American money, green like emeralds.
"You can stay over if you want," Rue spoke suddenly, making Max jump slightly.
"Really?"
"Yeah! My dad's not home, and he wouldn't mind anyway."
"Okay, sure!" Max beamed.
As if Rue just noticed they were holding hands, she pulled away unwillingly, not really wanting to let go. But she had to. They were holding hands a little longer than friends would.
Already missing the warmth of Max's soft hands, Rue stuffed hers in her pockets leading Max to her room.
Walking into the room, Rue awkwardly stood as Max looked around. The girl had a small grin on her face as she gazed over the vinyl covers on the walls and pictures hung by her desk. Her eyes lingered at a picture of Rue and another girl, both of them in matching baseball jerseys and sharing an ice cream cone.
It was a sequenced photo because next to it was a similar one with the same girl around the same time, but this time Rue and the girl were hugging, smiling brightly at the camera. Max's eyes faltered a little longer on Rue's smile in the photo. She's never seen her smile like that before.
"That's Ava," Rue's voice made her jump again. Max laughed it off when she saw the look of sorry on Rue's face. The girl had snuck up behind her.
"Ava?" Max echoed, furrowing her eyebrows as looking back at the photo. She tilted her head, staring at the Ava character. The girl was around their age, maybe a little older. She had brown eyes and short hair, but her skin looked soft and milky, and unlike Rue and Max, Ava had no freckles. She was pretty.
"She was my friend," Rue told her, scrunching her nose the slightest.
Max turned around, "Why'd you say it like that?"
"What do you mean?"
She shrugged, walking around her to look at other things around the room. "I don't know. You didn't seem sure, I guess," Max said as her fingers brushed over a few baseball medals hung on the wall. "Was she really your friend?"
"Of course she was!" Rue said a little too defensively, "Um — yeah, I mean, yes she was my friend, back in Portland."
Max hummed, and she didn't know what caused her to say this, "What's she doing now? Do you guys stay in touch?"
Rue sat down on her bed, staring at her socks. "Um, no," she frowned, and a low sigh slipped from her lips. "She, uh, she's gone."
"Gone?" Max asked, moving over to sit next to Rue on the bed, "What do you mean?"
Rue tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, biting down on her lower lip to stop it from quivering. "She . . . uh died,"
Max's mouth went ajar, "Oh," was all she said at first. Her blue eyes glanced back at the picture of the two girls smiling. It was then when she realized how strong Rue was. There was so much she had lost that she didn't even show. In fact, at first glance, you'd think she wasn't even fazed by it all.
"I'm sorry," Max mumbled, moving closer to Rue on the bed. She hesitated before wrapping her arm around her, pulling her close. Rue's head leaned on Max's shoulder as she continued to look at the floor.
"What happened?"
"Um," Rue started, closing her eyes for a second. Was this a good idea to tell Max? No one knew about Ava, not even Will. Only her dad and Jonathan.
Swallowing thickly, she began, "After my mom died, I stayed at her home while my dad figured out the custody thing. Uhm, people thought she was, um," Rue trailed off, trying to find the words. She was distracted for a moment, feeling Max's hand in her hair.
"People thought she was different, you know? They thought she liked girls, and one day, we were at the baseball field, and she got jumped by her brother — "
"Her — her own brother?" Max gasped.
"Yeah, I'm sure he didn't mean for it to end up like it did, but, his friends, they're nuts, and they — "
"You don't have to talk about it," Max quickly stopped after hearing her voice crack. She didn't want to see Rue crying, already feeling a clog in her throat. She thought that if she started crying, she would too.
Rue sniffed, "Thanks," she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and moved away from Max.
Jumping up, she clasped her hands before her and smiled, "You can use the bathroom first, and borrow my clothes if you want. I think we're about the same size, yeah? I must warn you, though, most of my shirts are really big, they barely fit me."
Max's eyes widened at Rue antics, was the girl not about to cry on her shoulder, not even a minute ago?
However, not wanting to ruin her sudden good mood, Max got up as well and took the clothes from Rue's hands and walked to the bathroom.
Once the bathroom door closed, Rue let out a breath and leaned on the wall, slowly sliding to the floor. She tucked her knees to her chest, wondering if what she said was the right thing. It wasn't like Rue lied. She just twisted the truth a little bit. Yes, Ava is sadly gone, but she didn't die from being jumped. The real story was a little different.
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"You have your mother's eyes," Max said, a silly smile on her face as Rue focused on her nails, brushing the mint green colour on Max's ring finger's nail, being careful not to smudge her around the edges.
She couldn't help herself but watch Rue do such a thing. Her nails were getting painted, and Max loved it. It made her stomach bubble slightly, and the fact that it was Rue painting them, sticking the tip of her tongue out, her nose scrunching slightly, in the process, caused her to feel more than bubbles in her stomach. Max Mayfield had no idea where these sudden feelings had come from, but boy did she like them.
She admired the way the oversize shirt hung around Rue's torso, it made her look so much smaller than she is, and Max made it a mental note to get Rue more oversized shirts.
"Thanks," Rue smiled softly, stopping for only a second to move to Max's next finger. "My dad says that too,"
"They're beautiful, you know."
Blushing, Rue blew the strands of hair that kept slowly falling on her face. They were both showered and clean and wearing comfy shirts and pants. Sitting closely on the carpet floor of the Newby's living room, the Halloween movie was forgotten when Rue came up with the brilliant idea to paint each other's nails instead.
Max took her right, unpainted hand, and helped Rue with her hair problem, brushing all the strands behind her ear. She looked up, confused for a second before smiling, "Thank you,"
Max grinned, "No problem,"
Another blush crept to Rue's cheeks as she looked back down, missing the way Max had turned red as well.
Rue moved to the next hand, "Try not to smudge it," she warned, "That's my blood, sweat and tears in there."
"Wouldn't dare to," Max laughed, looking at her painted hand before checking on the other one in the works. "Leave the pinky."
"Why?" she looked up at her, confused.
"Because," she grabbed the sky blue polish Rue planned to use later for herself. Max pushed it to her hands and wiggled her eyebrows, "I want to match you."
Surprised by her action, Rue couldn't find the words to reply. She blushed - again - and with that blush spread all over her cheeks and ears, she grabbed the nail polish from her hands and painted her pinky with the sky blue colour, unlike the mint the rest of her nails were.
"You're cute when you blush," Max said, "It makes all your freckles pop out,"
Rue snorted, shaking her head, but she didn't say anything. She smiled as she finished the pinky and took Max's other hand, blowing on her nails gently. "There," she hummed.
It was Max's turn to paint Rue's nails. Shifting slightly, Rue placed her hands on her lap, the girl taking them softly. "Okay, here's the thing," Max cringed, "I've never painted nails before,"
Rue shook her head, "Don't worry too much about it,"
She watched Max's every detail, from the way her hair was still wet from her shower, the way the shirt Rue gave her was so big on her it hung off her right shoulder, exposing the freckles that covered her shoulder. The ginger bit her lower lip in concentration, not wanting to mess up.
In the end, Max seemed to be a natural at painting nails despite the fact it was her first time doing so. She took the mint green from the table and painted Rue's left pinky green instead of blue. "Now we match!"
Rue giggled at Max's enthusiasm. The redhead was gaping at her nails. "How long until they dry?"
"Not long — I guess. Depends on the polish."
"Oh," she looked away for a second to the t.v, then turned her head back to her, "I thought I'd have to wait longer."
"Why? Are you in a hurry or something?"
"Yeah, to do this," she glanced down at Rue's hands and reached her right hand to her left, intertwining their fingers together and matching perfectly.
"Look at that," Max's voice was quieter than before as they both stared at their hands. "Green for your eyes and blue for mine,"
Rue blinked dazedly. She hadn't noticed that. Her nails weren't just blue anymore, but they were blue for Max's eyes. And Max's nails weren't just green, they were green for Rue's eyes. Sure, they were a few shades lighter than they're real eye colour, but it was still a sight to see.
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2439 WORDS
this was a just a filler/
chapter i came up with
to show off the soft side
to our future girlfriends