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This was a good idea. No, a great one! It was going to fix things for sure. Lucas was sure of it. He had left basketball practice in a hurry, rushing over to Family Video to rent Back to the Future. They never got to see it over the summer because of everything that had happened — the movie theater burning down being the least of it — and Max had mentioned wanting to rent it. They were supposed to go over to the arcade the week before and go by Family Video on the same trip, but because of some last-minute stuff, Lucas had had to skip it and he’d felt bad about it ever since. It had been a month since Max had opened up to him about what was going on with her family, with her stepdad having left, and things had been okay since that. He didn’t want to mess things up again.
Which was why he was now biking through the steadily darkening late November night, heading down Old Cherry Road, his frosty breath visible in the light of the streetlights passing by. It was close to freezing out, but since he’d ran straight out from the showers and then spent the last half an hour biking around town, he was still needing to wipe away sweat from his forehead as he pedaled forward. But it would all be worth it when he’d get to Max’s house to give her the movie. She’d be totally surprised, maybe even impressed. He couldn’t wait to see the look on her face! Lucas looked up, seeing the house up ahead, braking and stopping his bike by the curb. As he got off the bike, setting it aside, he wondered if he should go around the house and knock on Max’s window or just go ring the doorbell, since he was there to just drop off the movie; he’d told his mom he’d be home in time to help out with dinner. He was pretty sure that going to the front door would be fine now, at least that was the impression he'd gotten from Max. But he still felt a little weird about it. Apparently he was so busy trying to decide what to do that he didn’t notice the sign posted on the front lawn until he pretty much walked into it. He swerved, swearing under his breath before looking to see what was on it. Wait. It was kind of dark in the middle of the yard but the big block letters on the sign were still readable: FOR SALE.
His brain reeling, filled with questions, Lucas somehow made it up onto the front porch and rang the doorbell. What did the sign mean? What was going on? Was Max moving away?
“Oh, hello there!” Lucas was snapped away from his racing thoughts as Max's mom appeared in the doorway, looking surprised. Lucas had only met her a handful of times and spoken barely five words to her over all those times. When it hadn’t been just her and Max in the house, Max had avoided inviting him over, but since last month he’d been over a couple of times, after school or dropping her off after hanging out. But Max's mom hadn't been home any of those times, so seeing her now was a bit weird.
“Hi Mrs. Har- I mean Mayf- Miss-” he stuttered, feeling dumb over not having asked Max what he was supposed to call her.
“Oh don’t worry about all that, just call me Susan,” Max’s mom said with a wave of her hand, before leaning back and turning to look back into the house.
“Maxine! Your friend’s here!”
She turned back to face him, continuing:
“She’s just in the kitchen, I’m sure she’ll be right up.”
Her tone was friendly but Lucas could sense it was strung taut and tense, like she was trying hard to keep all the strings together, careful not to let them unravel.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your dinner or anything. I just need to drop something off and then I'll go,” Lucas hurried to explain, feeling beyond awkward for barging in on them like this.
“Don’t worry about it, we’d already finished eating, you didn’t interrupt anything. Besides, it’s all chaos here these days anyway, with all the changes and such, so we don’t mind,” Max's mom explained, and Lucas nodded along, trying not to pay too close attention to the gleam in her eyes that was nearing on panic.
“Yeah umm, I saw the sign up front, is that—”
“Oh yes, that’s brand new, the realtor just put it up today after we got done filling all the paperwork at the bank and…” Max’s mom quickly explained, going on to talk about things like mortgages and property deeds and all those complicated sounding things Lucas didn’t quite understand. But it wouldn’t have mattered if he did understood them, since he wasn’t listening anyways. Max had just stepped into the living room from the hallway, standing in the middle of the room, visible from behind her mom’s shoulder, looking really small somehow, her face tensed, the fingers of her hands twisting together. Lucas met her eye and as he did, he felt a cold feeling starting to creep up through his stomach and into his lungs. This couldn’t mean that… No. They were doing fine, everything was finally going back to normal again, this couldn’t happen!
“Oh there you are, honey! Look, we’ve got a surprise visitor,” Max’s mom said, her voice highly cheery as she spotted her daughter, waving her hand to usher her over.
“I was just telling him that’s it’s all chaos in this house anyways, so a surprise visit is not a big deal,” she continued, the sense of panic simmering just below the surface as she looked from Max to him with a hospitable smile as Max walked over to the door.
“Yeah, I guess,” Max said, and Lucas had just had time to register how tired her voice sounded when there was a loud ringing of the phone from the direction of the kitchen.
“Oh, that must be the bank, I’ll better go get it!” Max’s mom exclaimed, rushing off with one last polite wave to Lucas. The two of them left in the doorway watched as she walked into the kitchen, and heard her picking up the phone and answering it with pep.
Lucas turned to look at Max, who was still looking back, and tried to come up with something, anything, to say. He had so many questions. But before he could decide which one to ask first, she spoke up:
“What are you doing here, I thought you had practice?”
There was no annoyance in her tone, she just seemed like she was taking the chance to talk about anything that didn't have to do with the house. It took Lucas a second to even remember why he’d come over, and when he did he felt stupid, dropping by unannounced for something that dumb, while Max was clearly going through something.
“I did, I came straight from practice actually. Well not straight from practice, on the way here I stopped at umm…” Lucas paused his explanation, shrugging his backpack off and digging into it for the vhs tape. He got it out, the green and orange sleeve of Family Video visible under the porch light. Max’s brow crinkled in confusion as she saw it, and Lucas rushed to continue:
“It’s Back to the Future. I know we were supposed to go rent it last week but then I bailed on you and I’m really sorry, so I figured I’d go rent it for you,” he explained, handing the tape over to Max who still hadn't said anything, instead taking the tape from him, looking down at it.
“I mean you can watch it and tell me how it is, or we can watch it together, or with Mike and Dustin too, though Dustin saw half of it already and he’s probably gonna be all smug about it but—”
His ramblings were cut short as Max suddenly came over to him, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. After a moment of surprise he hugged her back just as tightly, the worries and questions that had filled his brain since seeing the sign on the lawn bubbling to the surface.
“Is it true? Are you moving away?” he frantically mumbled. Max, still squeezing him, shook her head against his chest.
“So you’re not? But your mom said— The sign—” Lucas continued, even more confused and full of questions now.
“No, the sign is right. Looks like we have to sell the house,” she spoke up, stepping back to look at him, her voice thin. Lucas didn’t say anything, scanning her face, seeing the puffiness of her eyes, the tense set of her jaw.
“I’m not really sure about all the technicalities, it has something to do with the stepdick having the house in his name and mom not being able to afford the mortgage by herself but…”
“We have to sell it and move somewhere else,” Max concluded, looking up at him again, her brows knit and her lips pressed tight together like she always did when she was worried and scared.
“Somewhere else? So does that mean back to California or..?”
“What? No. We’re staying in Hawkins, my mom has to keep her job,” Max explained, her sentence barely over when Lucas pulled her back into the hug, feeling an immense sense of relief, a weight lifting from his shoulders.
“Oh thank god,” he exhaled, squeezing her tight.
“I mean, not thank god for this happening,” he quickly corrected.
“I just meant, after Will and El moved away, I’m happy that you’re not leaving too."
“Me too,” Max said quietly into his shoulder. They stayed like that for a while longer, hugging each other as they stood on the porch, both trying to absorb what had happened. But then there was a sound of a car driving by the house and the noise cut both of them back into reality, both of them stepping back without a word.
“So, what now? When will you be moving?” Lucas spoke up, still needing to get a couple more answers before he left.
“I have no idea. The move has only been official for like a couple of hours, I was gonna tell you about it at school tomorrow.”
“But apparently the realtor said it could take a while to get the house sold. I guess people aren’t exactly lining up to come live on Old Cherry Road,” Max explained with a huff of amusement.
“Well, when you are moving, let me know, we can all come help out. We’re all pros now after packing up Will’s house,” Lucas said, trying to lighten her mood at least a bit. He counted himself successful as the corner of Max’s mouth lifted in a small smile before she rolled her eyes at him, taking a step away.
“I don’t know how much trust I have in your guys’ moving talents,” she replied, leaning against the door frame.
“But I’ll let you know when there’s any news.”
“Okay, good,” Lucas said. The shock of the news was still lingering over him, but the relief of knowing Max wasn’t moving away from Hawkins after all was helping it a bit, and he hoped she could see it as he tried to send a reassuring smile her way. She mirrored it, though the tiredness was still apparent on her demeanor as she tugged down the sleeves of her sweatshirt, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Oh, crap, sorry, it’s cold out here, I didn’t mean to freeze your whole house,” Lucas quickly apologized as he realized the door had been open to the cold November evening this whole time.
“I mean it’s not our house for much longer so it’s no big deal,” Max countered with a shrug, but Lucas could still tell she was getting cold, her hands buried in her sleeves.
“Yeah, but still. I should go, I need to be home by dinner, just wanted to drop by quickly to give you the movie,” Lucas explained, picking up his backpack and swinging it over his shoulder.
“Oh, well you should head home then, don’t want you to be late just because of this,” Max said, already reaching to grab the door to close it.
“Yeah, I’ll head out. Um, see you tomorrow?”
“Yeah, see you,” Max replied. Lucas turned, already a few steps down the walkway before he heard Max call out after him.
“Thanks for the movie,” she said, bringing up her hand with the tape in it.
“Oh, you’re welcome," Lucas replied and with one last tired looking smile his way, Max got back inside, closing the front door behind her.
The snow that had covered the ground over winter break was melting a little, filling the roads with slush as Lucas struggled to bike forward. It was less than a year until his sixteen’s birthday and his dad had mentioned he was looking to get a new car and Lucas was already taking it as a sign that he could get the old one once he got his driver's license. He couldn’t wait. Especially in biking conditions like these. But it was okay, he assured himself as he made a turn, checking the street sign to make sure he was following the instructions Max had told him over the phone that morning. Her and her mom had officially moved into the new house today, and though Max had said that they didn’t need moving help, Lucas had still wanted to go over like he’d promised.
Recounting Max’s directions, he slowed down his bike as he spotted the big sign she’d told him to turn at. There was a pile of melting snow on top of the sign but it was still clear to read: “Forest Hills Trailer Park.” He turned off the main road, pedaling slowly along the smaller road that winded between the snow-covered trailers at the end of driveways. He kept an eye on the house numbers posted on the fronts of the trailers, looking for number 26, but then he spotted a trailer with a U Haul truck on the driveway, and figured it was a good guess to check out that one. He biked through the wet snow, passing by a long crooked row of mailboxes all in the twenties, slowing down as he got in front of the house. It too had a coat of snow on the long and narrow roof, and he saw someone had tried to clean the wooden steps leading up to the front door of, a snow shovel leaning to the wall next to the plasticky number 26. Lucas dropped his bike into the snow by the driveway and made his way up the stairs, ringing the doorbell.
There were footsteps from inside the house and then Max opened the door, her hair pulled back in a ponytail and her cheeks red from what Lucas was sure had been a busy day.
“Hey,” she simply said, looking a bit out of breath, like she had just been hauling around moving boxes. Which she probably had.
“Hey,” Lucas echoed.
“You found here okay? The crossing off of Culver Road is a bit weird, I wouldn’t blame you if you missed it the first time,” Max asked, stepping away from the door to give him space to get in. He did, walking into what looked like the living room, though it was a bit hard to tell since the wood-panel walled room was empty despite a lone coffee table and a couple boxes in the middle of the floor.
“I found it here fine, no worries,” Lucas assured Max and she nodded, closing the front door behind him.
“My mom just left to get some more stuff from the old house, so I’ve just been moving boxes around. She didn’t tell me what exactly I should do, so I don’t want to mess it up, you know” Max explained, speaking quickly as she led Lucas over to the kitchen, which had open moving boxes lining the counters. Max reached up to close an open cabinet door, then turned back to Lucas as she leaned back against a counter, her hands gripping the edge.
“Well, this is it then,” she said, spreading her arms. Lucas could tell she seemed tense, anxious to hear his reaction, so he was quick to say:
“It’s nice, it’s surprisingly big, plus the arcade is pretty close too so that’s cool!”
Max shrugged, looking down at the floor, not meeting his eye but Lucas hoped that was what she wanted to hear.
“Yeah, that’s one upside to this I guess. But we’re down to just one bathroom now, which sucks,” she explained, pushing herself off the counter and walking out the kitchen to the hallway, Lucas following her. He was about to say something more to cheer her up, but then she spoke again as they got to the end of the hallway:
“But yeah, here’s my room if you wanna see it.” She pushed open the door and stepped aside so he could see into the room. It had dusty beige color walls and carpet, but apart from that there wasn’t much to comment on, since there wasn’t really anything in the room, apart from a couple of Max’s bags in a pile by the wall with the window.
“Well it looks pretty big?” Lucas still said, hoping it was enough of a comment.
“Yeah it’s just cause none of my stuff is in here yet,” Max replied, scuffing the worn carpet with her foot as they walked into the center of the room, Lucas still looking around.
“Well you know, I can help you start bringing in your stuff if you want?” he suggested.
“Would give me a chance to show off all the muscle I’ve gained from all the practices?” he added with an exaggerated proud grin and a raised brow. Max huffed in amusement, rolling her eyes at him, and he was happy to see it, hoping the dumb joke took her mind off the moving stress for just a second.
“We could, but my mom has the keys to the van so we have to wait till she comes back,” Max explained, walking over to where her bags lay on the floor.
“Oh, got it,” Lucas replied, watching as she sat down, rifling through her backpack for something.
“Well, what do you wanna do now then? If you want to unpack in peace, I can go. But like I said, I can stick around and help you guys with carrying the furniture and stuff, I wasn’t kidding about that,” he added, walking over to the window too, looking out at the backyard, seeing a shed of some kind and a pretty cool-looking old tree. Not that bad of a view.
“Mom said she’s gonna bring some food when she comes back, so you can stay for that at least. Since you biked all the way here and everything,” Max said, pulling out her Walkman and headphones from her bag.
“If it gets too late after that you can go back home, or stay to help out. But that’s up to you,” she added with a shrug, sounding casual about it as she untangled the chord of the headphones. But Lucas could tell that even if she sounded neutral about it, she wouldn’t be too mad if he decided to stay.
“Okay, well, we’ll see once your mom gets back I guess,” he said, shoving his hands into his pockets as Max just nodded, concentrating on going back to digging in her bag for something.
“So, umm, meanwhile, are there any boxes to move or?” he asked after an awkward moment of silence. Max shook her head, getting out a couple cassette tapes and a second pair of headphones.
“Nah, I’m sure we can take a break until my mom comes back. Here,” she said, handing the headphones over to him, moving over to sit in the middle of the floor to have more room, turning the tapes in her hands. Lucas followed her lead, taking a seat on the beige carpet, untangling the headphone chords as he did.
“I got this new tape the other day. I guess my mom's feeling guilty about the move or something since she just gave me the money for it,” Max explained, taking out the tape from the case which she handed over for Lucas to look at while she went to put the tape into the player. He looked over the cover, the stark reds, blacks, and whites of it.
“Psychocandy… is this hair metal or something?” he asked, flipping the case over and hearing Max hum in denial.
“No. It’s this, rock, punk, kind of thing, I can’t really explain it that well. I’ve only listened to it once but I think it’s pretty cool,” she said, clicking the tape slot closed, extending her hand over to him to pick up the end of the chord of his headphones. He handed it over, scooting to sit closer to her on the carpet to make sure it would reach. After working on the chords for a bit, Max picked up her pair of headphones, putting them on. Lucas went to follow suit, and while he did, Max suddenly moved to lay on her back on the carpet, stretching out across the empty floor.
“You ready?” she asked, looking up at him, her finger ready on the play button. For a second Lucas paused, his nerves spiking up for some reason. Something about being all alone in the house with her mom gone, laying on the floor next to her close enough for the headphones to connect was messing with his brain. But he was probably overthinking it all, they were just hanging out and listening to music, no big deal.
“Yeah, just let me…” he said, moving to lay down too, trying to do it with the least amount of awkwardness he could. It didn’t totally work, the headphones slipping from his ears, but he tried to shrug it off, turning over to look at Max with a thumbs up and a “Ready!”
Max pressed play and Lucas adjusted the headphones one more time for good measure as the drums and scratchy guitars started the song. They were both quiet for a minute as Lucas took in the song.
"Well?" Max asked from next to him, moving her headphones away from her other ear a bit.
"It's good," Lucas replied, doing the same.
"It reminds me of the stuff Jonathan would listen to," he added and Max hummed and lifted her brows in acknowledgement before looking away, moving her headphones back on. When the Byers family moved away, Jonathan had let them take some cassettes from his extensive collection. And even if his music taste wasn't exactly what Lucas was into, he had to admit he had some cool stuff in there.
They stayed quiet, focused on just listening, looking up at the popcorn ceiling of the room. Then the first slower song ended, the second song bringing in a quicker tempo and heavier bass and even scratchier guitars. Once again Lucas saw Max turning her head to look at him to see his reaction, her expression expectant. Lucas nodded in approval, not sure what to say exactly, he wouldn't consider himself a music critic or anything. But he guessed it was enough, as Max nodded back, looking up at the ceiling again, her finger tapping along to the rhythm onto the plastic of the cassette player she had set to lay on her stomach. They didn't say much as the songs kept rolling, just sharing a look here and there, but it was pretty nice. Just laying there on the worn carpet, not busy doing anything, the empty beige walls and an empty house around them, the faint sound of the melted water dripping from the gutter outside filtering through the pauses between the songs. In the middle of all the moving chaos, it was a nice moment of calm. Well, some of the songs weren't that calm, there was way too much drums and loud guitars for that. But some of them were slower. Like the one that had just started up, with a leisurely tempo and some kind of a tambourine sound.
Figuring he should give Max another comment on the songs, Lucas turned his head to look over at her. He was surprised to see she was already looking at him. For a second he froze again, the nerves from earlier flooding back in. Her face was pretty close to his, all things considered, her eyes on him absent-minded, like she was zoning out or something. But then her eyes flickered over to meet his, seeing he'd turned to face her, and then it was all pale blue eyes and eyelashes and flushed cheeks and freckles and the nerves swooped all the way down to his stomach, the slow song playing in his ears not helping at all. He had to get himself together!
"Is it weird…" Max started then, pulling his nervous self back to the present.
"What is?" he asked, trying to seem cool, like he hadn't just been seriously considering leaning over to kiss her face.
"That I'm kind of happy about the move?" Max continued, pressing her lips together like she did when she was feeling unsure.
"Well, it's not bad here, and like you said, it's pretty close to the arcade so…"
"No, this is shitty. I know that. But that's not what I meant," she interrupted him, turning to look up at the ceiling again, continuing after a moment.
"I mean, when I first found out about the move, I was shocked. And angry, having to move again after only like a year. Angry that even though Neil had fucked off and left, he could still affect our lives like that,” she explained.
"But now that we're here, and out of the old house, I don't know… I guess I'm feeling a little… relieved? If that makes sense?”
"The old house just reminded me of so much shit. Having to leave my dad and my old life, moving here and being the weird new kid, my stepdad yelling all the time, and then…" her sentence trailed off as she continued to look up at the ceiling but Lucas didn't need her to finish it to know what she meant. Who she meant.
"I didn't even realize how much it was all still there in the house, reminding me of it, until we left and came here.”
"And I don't know, maybe it's dumb but it kind of feels like a new start now. With the new year, and a new house and a new, empty room," she said, gesturing her arms out at the room around them.
"It's sounds stupid, I know," she said, shaking her head, letting out a huff of a self-deprecating laugh.
"No, it doesn't," Lucas replied and Max turned to look back at him again.
"I've never moved anywhere, but I think I can get what you mean. About the new start and all. I really hope this really can be that for you," he said.
"For you and your mom, I mean," he rushed to add, feeling his cheeks heat up.
"You'd better be right about that," Max said, her voice still a little unsure but hopeful still, her hand that wasn't holding onto the Walkman quietly moving across the worn carpet towards his, their fingers twining together. And Lucas felt his face heating up even more.
"I- uh, I'll try," he stuttered out like an idiot, but Max didn't seem to mind, smiling just a bit as her hand squeezed his. And if he wasn't being totally delusional, her gaze flicked over to his mouth for just a second. That's your cue, man! Do something!
Nervously licking his lips out of instinct, he started to lean towards her, having to wiggle along beyond awkwardly, feeling the harsh fibers of the carpet itch against his cheek as he did. But it would all be worth it if he could just move a couple inches more… Max seemed to catch onto him and was leaning over too. Just a bit more, her eyes were closed already…
Just then there was a sound of car tires on wet slush on pavement coming from outside and they both froze in place.
"Is that..?" Lucas started, his eyes blown wide now in panic. Max didn't seem that panicked, more annoyed really as she nodded, taking off her headphones.
"Yeah, that should be my mom," she said, looking over at the open door to the hallway. But instead of quickly getting up like Lucas was planning on doing, she turned back to face him again, her hand suddenly on his cheek. And then she kissed him. It was quick and caught Lucas completely by surprise, and then she stood up and walked away and into the hallway, leaving him laying there, trying to reassemble his brain. He knew that their little moment of calm was over, that he should get up and get back into the moving chaos. But before he did, he took a second to send a quick plea out into the universe. He hoped that Max was right, that this move would be a good thing, that it would help to give her a fresh new start after all the shit she had had to go through. She deserved it.