Chapter Text
Joyce and Jim Hopper were currently hosting one of their famous salons with ideas currently being shared over glasses of the finest wine money could buy. There was live music in the background along with desserts made by french bakers. Anything anyone could dream of was there, it’s what made the Hopper’s salons so popular. Everyone wanted an invitation desperately, to be at the hub of modern America. One lucky girl got an invitation, but not for the reason everyone expected. Max Mayfield was invited every time in hopes of keeping El Hopper downstairs and interacting with guests, but each time the girls ended up in El’s room without fail.
It was the first hour into the current salon and El was already getting bored of the crowd on the main level.
“Let’s go upstairs now,” El whispered into Max’s ear. El turned her head and saw Max nod at her. The two slowly slipped out of sight and climbed the stairs to El’s room. Once they made it to El’s room, the two flopped onto the bed in the middle of the room and started giggling.
“Did you see Mike? He looked so hopeless looking at Will,” Max laughed.
“When he ran into someone because he was so busy looking at Will’s new outfit,” El said.
“It was priceless.”
The two of them gossiped for what felt like hours about their friends until there was a knock at the door.
“El, there’s someone I want you to meet. It will only be a few minutes and you can come back to Max right after,” Joyce said. El got up with a huff and waved bye to Max, leaving her to sit alone in El’s room.
Max wasn’t a particularly nosy person, but she got bored easily, so she started to take a look around El’s room. She slowly moved across the floor, taking in everything she saw, but suddenly her dress got caught on a loose floorboard. She tried to pull her dress away, but it still wouldn't come loose so she bent down to fix the loose seam. She pulled hard against the board and her dress eventually came free, but so did the floorboard as well. Max stared, perplexed at why this board came loose, but the answer came to her quickly. In the spot where the board was, it had covered many letters that were hidden in the floor. Max picked them up, but was hesitant to read the contents. She had liked El for what felt like her whole life, so El writing a love poem to a random boy wasn’t going to be something she wanted to see. Nonetheless, Max unfolded the papers and started to read, preparing herself for the worst. Instead, Max was hit with a sudden surprise. The letters were about her.
El wrote about Max in a way that people in books wrote about their lovers. El wrote about how Max’s hair outshined the sun, how Max’s laugh sounded prettier than any orchestra, and how Max’s outgoing personality made her the center of El’s heart. Max was so enamored with what El thought of her that she didn’t notice El come back upstairs.
“I can explain,” El started, but she was cut off by Max.
“Why did you never tell me?”
“It was a personal issue.”
“You being in love with me also involves me.”
“Who ever said I was in love?”
“The way you write about me says it all.” A heavy silence hung in the air between them until El spoke up.
“Do you feel the same?” El asked.
Max let the letters fall to the floor as she walked to El. Max cupped her hands around El’s face and said, “Does this answer your question?” and kissed El.
It was like a kiss from the books Max had read. It felt like they had described, the whole world right in front of you. They pulled away, grins starting to spread on their faces.
“So does this mean we’re together now?” El questioned.
“Yes of course!” Max said as she pulled El to lay on the bed with her.
“You know I told Mike about how I loved you,” El confessed after a few moments of calm silence.
“Well I told Will about how you,” Max replied. El shot up from her spot on Max's chest and looked partially offended.
“You told my brother!” she shrieked.
“He’s my best friend after you so I knew I could trust him with it.”
“Oh he’s going to get it,” El said as she got up to go downstairs and have a long talk with Will. Max just laughed, happy to finally be with the person she loved more than anything in the world.