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"I dump your ass." El scowled at her now ex boyfriend, Mike giving her nothing but a dumbfounded look in response, she ran to the bus with Max and took their seats, smiling and laughing with each other and enjoying their ice-cream. When Max had given her the option of breaking up with him, she didn't expect to actually do it. Nor did she expect it to feel as good as it did. She didn't know what it was about Max, but it made her feel free, independent, but most importantly, she felt like a real person. Sure, Mike was fun, and he was good at kissing (not that she had anyone to compare him to) but she always felt a bit suffocated, Mike seemed to believe she'd break if she did anything without him, and as much as Hopper disliked him, it was as if they were working together to keep her as sheltered as possible. But she didn't feel that way with Max. El snuck a glance at her new friend, who smiled proudly as she crunched into her cone. She felt great with Max.
A few days had passed since El had dumped Mike, and while she felt safe with him when the group was confronted with Billy, El still enjoyed the days she could spend just with Max, she felt bad about feeling that way. Considering Billy was Max's brother, however, she didn't seem too bothered by it, or at least, she acted like she was okay. El saw Max as a strong girl, if she didn't want to talk about herself, El certainly wasn't going to force her to.
"Hey El! What do you think of…" Max Muttered, rummaging through a clothes rack "this!" El turns to see Max pull out what must have been the frilliest blouse the two had ever seen. El snorted "it suits you, why don't you try it on?" she grinned at Max, one of their favourite things to do was look at clothes in stores for older women and make fun of things they found. It was their way of bonding through fashion, as well as providing stress relief for the two of them, and with the week they'd been had, some stress relief is long overdue. El watched as Max laughed, rummaging through the rack again. "Alright. Alright. I'll try this on if you try.. This!" She exclaimed, pulling out a long sleeved baby blue dress, El stared at it, remembering the pink dress she was given when she first met the boys, and how cute she looked in that dress. She grinned "Deal." she wasn't sure why, but she wanted to show Max how cute she definitely still looked in a dress like that.
"El are you done yet? I'm starting to get weird looks." Max whispers through dressing room curtain, putting on a dress like this was a lot harder to do by yourself than El had thought, mainly the zip at the back, finally after some struggle, she finally got it. She stared at herself in the mirror, this dress fit differently than the one she remembered, perhaps because she had a chest now, but the smocking along the chest was closer to being smoothed out, and the skirt rested slightly above her knees now. She smiled and twirled, before poking her head through the curtain, grinning at Max, the blouse didn't look as bad as they expected, the frills kind of complimented her fiery hair, she looked like a vampire from one of the books they were reading. Max folded her arms, a light red shading her cheeks "Come on El. I can't be the only one out here looking stupid."
El scoffed "Hah! Bold of you to assume I don't look great in this dress!"
She stepped out, swinging her hips to make the skirt sway.
"What the hell?!" Max gasped as El blew a kiss,
"How are you ACTUALLY pulling that off??" "I told you I looked great" El cooed, the two burst into a fit of giggles, attracting more attention from the older shoppers, not that the girls cared.
They continued their mall adventure for the rest of the day, finishing it with another sleepover at El's, Hopper seemed to like Max more than Mike, so he couldn't complain. After a hearty dinner of Eggos, the girls snuggled into bed together, El resting her head on Max's shoulder as she pulled out the copy of 'Wonder Woman' they were making their way through. El excitedly pointed at wonder woman posing before a tear dropped on the page. "Max?" El sat up, a small gasp escaping her lips at the sight of tears streaming down Max's face, "Max what's wrong???"
"Do… Do you think Billy will be okay…?" She dropped the comic in her lap to rub her eyes.
"Max…" El cupped Max' face, thumbing away stray tears as she sobbed,
"Max I don't know what's going to happen… I don't know what kind of hold it has on him." she pressed her forehead against hers "but I promise, I'll do whatever it takes to save him."
Max forced a smile as her tears slowly stopped. "I… Okay, I believe you…" she sniffled, "thank you Eleven."
They sat there, neither pulling away. They just… looked at each other.
"Hey girls?" Hopper's loud voice cut through the silence, followed by a surprisingly quiet knock.El instinctively jumped away, despite the door not opening,
"Y-Yeah?" El called out.
"Just uh. Saying goodnight." He called back.
"Okay… Goodnight!"
"... Goodnight!"
They listened as he walked away, and looked back at each other before bursting into another fit of giggles, without a second thought, El closed the small gap between them, their soft lips melding together. What felt like an eternity passed before either of them pulled away, both surprised by each other, El went to apologise before being cut off.
"No it, it's okay. That was…" Max pursed her lips before her smile returned "that was nice"
El felt her face heat up as she returned the smile "It… It was…"
Max bit her lip, "could… can we do it again?"
El nodded silently and they kissed again. They held each other close as if their lives depended on it, and in a way, it sort of did. The girls knew they would go back to their boyfriends in due time, it's what they were supposed to do. But at least for a few more moments, all they needed was each other.
But one thing was for certain.
Max is definitely a better kisser than Mike.