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The moment she left the classroom, Max put on her headphones and dashed away. She didn't want to give Mike any chance to talk to her. Wheeler who was supposed to hate her kept sitting next to her in math classes and tried to make conversation even if Max didn't reply or shot him down. Because of their not so close history Mike was able to reply to even her meanest words with something similar which meant he had one of the lowest chances of giving up.
She left the school building, dropped her skateboard to the ground and got on it, ready to wheel away from there before seeing anybody. Kate Bush was blasting through her headphones and she tried to focus on that. As she was about to leave the parking lot in front of the school somebody cut her way off. Steve was in front of her - a little out of breath looking like he ran over to her.
"What?" Max asked angrily.
Harrington was really stupid to do that. Max could have crushed into him sending both of them to the ground.
"Do you need a ride home or anywhere?" Steve asked with a smile.
"No." Max answered with a scowl and put her headphones back on but Steve wasn't stepping away. She groaned and pulled her headphones down again.
"I drove all the way here to learn that Dustin is hanging with Eddie Munson today so if I drop you off I wouldn't have come here for nothing." Steve explained with a bigger smile as if the Harrington charm was going to work on her. It didn't even work on Dustin anymore.
Rolling her eyes, Max turned her back to Steve and decided to skate the other way and go around the parking lot to avoid him but the moment she turned away she saw Lucas exiting to school and of course he spotted her. He was supposed to have training today, not that Max was keeping tabs on his plans, so they weren't supposed to run into each other. Max really, really didn't feel like talking to him.
"Fine." She said with a sigh and made her way to Steve's red BMW without waiting for him.
Steve basically ran after her and got in the driver's seat. Max watched Lucas skip toward the car through the rearview window. Steve started the car quickly after reminding Max about the seatbelt. Before Lucas could reach them, they were driving away. Max wondered if Lucas realized that she was running away from him or if he thought that Max just didn't see her. Either way she knew that she was hurting Lucas and she didn't like it one bit. Lucas deserved so much better than her. A girlfriend who could pay him attention instead of being stuck in her own mind.
During the ride Steve didn't try to make conversation and Max found that weird but she preferred not to question it. Instead of fiddling with the radio like she would have done a few months ago she put on her headphones and went back to her Kate Bush tape. Steve didn't turn on the radio either after giving a little glance to her and probably seeing that she pressed play on her walkman. He kept throwing glances at her and she tried so hard not to say something rude back. She just watched the road looking at everybody who were blissfully unaware of the terrors of this town.
Max was too lost in her music that she didn't realize Steve had drove to her old house. The one she lived in two weeks ago, the one Neil left four weeks ago. Shit, she cursed to herself. Getting away from Lucas, who was going to ask her how she was and was probably going to ask her to come watch her training and then hang afterwards, was such a priority that she didn't plan this far ahead.
The new owners of the house was a young couple with two little children who had just moved to Hawkins. Max wanted to yell at them to run away from here but she didn't have the energy and the multiple NDA's didn't allow her. They had an eight year old boy and a three year old girl who were now playing around in the front yard. The little girl fell to her butt and the older one rushed over, before their mother who was on the porch could, and picked up his little sister pulling faces to make her laugh. Something ached in Max's heart. She remembered when she wished for an older brother and got Billy instead who gave her bruises on her arms and left her with an emptiness inside.
"Are they your cousins or something?" Steve asked with a surprised tone.
Steve being dense helped in these situations because, now, Max didn't have to come up with a lie.
"Yeah they came to visit. Thanks for the ride." Max said quickly opening the door and throwing herself outside.
Steve was really dense, she wasn't being unfair, because there was a new car in the driveway - a bigger and a newer one. There were newly planted and colorful flowers on the front porch and the new paint of the house made it look brighter. No resemblance to the Hargrove-Mayfield house.
Her plan was to skate away the minute Steve was gone but Harrington was still sitting inside his car, engine still running. Steve always used to wait till she got inside before he drove away all those times he dropped her home after a night at the arcade or at the movie theater. She hated that now. Realizing that they were in an impossible situation, Steve wasn't going to drive away until she entered and she wasn't going to move until he drove away, she got back in the car.
"We moved away. Now drive." Max ordered without looking at his face.
Steve stared at her for a few seconds as Max felt his gaze at the back of her skull but he didn't say anything and started driving. Max gave him a vague description, refusing to utter the words trailer park because she didn't want to see the pity in Steve's eyes.
Once they got closer to the trailer park and they were on the road between the woods nearby she spoke up.
"You can just drop me off here." Max said already unbuckling her seat belt and grabbing her skateboard in her hands.
Steve scoffed and looked at her like she was insane. She really should have expected that reaction from the Steve who refused to drive away till she got inside her house.
"Okay, given everything we know about Hawkins I'm not dropping you off in the middle of nowhere." Steve said as he kept driving.
"It's not the middle of nowhere." Max replied with a scowl.
"It literally is." Steve said, one hand on the steering wheel and the other pointing at the trees surrounding them.
"I would have skated all the way here without you anyway." Max said with an annoyed tone and still keeping her scowl.
"If I let you out now, I'm just gonna follow you with the car, is that what you want?" Steve asked turning to look at her for a millisecond before fixing his eyes on the road again "Hmm?" he questioned with raised eyebrows.
Once again Max had no chance but to accept the ride and cursed to her luck under her breath. As they got closer and Steve got closer to figuring out where she was living now she could feel her palms getting sweaty. The only person that knew about her new living situation was Nancy Wheeler who she had to tell because her and her mom needed a car to carry their stuff. The only people she knew who had cars were Nancy and Steve. Nancy seemed like the better option because they had more distance then she and Steve had. It didn't stop Nancy from asking questions and offering help, offering to talk but because Max's mom was also in the car Nancy couldn't ask too many questions. Now, Max avoided Nancy at school as much as she avoided the others.
Max pointed to her trailer and the car came to a stop. She tried hard not to look at Steve's face but she gave into her curiosity as she wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans. Steve had a blank expression. He looked around, even turning around in his seat to look through the back windows. His gaze lingered longer at the people around Max realized, it was as if Steve was trying to figure them out like they could be a threat or something. Max held in a bitter laughter. After everything they had to deal with, the sketchy people around was her least worry.
"I'm not gonna invite you in, so just drive away this time." Max said angrily, in a warning tone, after a minute or so when it was clear Steve was not going to be the one to talk first.
"What happened?" Steve asked with a soft voice, turning in his seat to face Max completely.
His brown eyes were wide open and he had knitted eyebrows but he was trying to look as normal as possible. Max's heart warmed a little at his expression, at how much care he showed her. The care she absolutely didn't need or deserve.
"Neil left and we don't have any money." Max said staring at her feet.
"So you are living here? With your mom?" Steve asked this time.
It was a genuine question, like he was checking to see if he had all the facts. Max knew that but she still couldn't stop the harsh scoff that came out of her mouth.
"I'm sorry we can't all be King Steve living in a big house with multiple bedrooms that always stay empty because we live alone and our rich parents prefer to live in their other dozen houses." Max said bitterly and enjoyed it when Steve's face fell a little. Good, that was what she deserved. Not the care but the resentment. "Some of us have to cramp into these trailers while you live in your mansion with the pool you never use." She continued even though she knew it was too far.
Obviously Steve didn't talk to her about his family issues but Max wasn't stupid. With all his concussions and trips to hospitals, she never saw Steve's parents around. One day, when she wasn't like this yet and she used to visit the video store almost daily, she heard him speak to Robin at the counter about how anything was better than working for his dad. Right now she was only looking to push another person away from her but, at the same time, was it fair? Sure Steve literally had a low paying job and, he never rubbed his money on their faces but really was it fair that he was living in a mansion while she had to search between the seats of a couch to get enough money to buy new tapes?
Max didn't give a chance to Steve for a reply and instead threw herself out of the car, shutting the trailer door behind her. The engine sound stayed there for about two minutes before it got more distant until it faded away.
This was her aim right? She didn't want to talk to anyone and she wanted to be left alone. They didn't understand her anyway so they would never be any help. They deserved better than her too. Everybody did. Dustin deserved a friend who cared more about what was going in his life, who would listen to his stories about Suzie. Even Mike deserved a better friend who would listen to him about how he wanted to grow his hair out like Eddie Munson and who would answer questions about whether El would like him with long hair. Lucas deserved a girlfriend who would show up at his games and cheer from the front and somebody who would hold his hand in the corridors. And, Steve, well, Steve deserved somebody who would not throw his problems to his face and, somebody who would sense the broodiness in his voice at the mention of Dustin and Eddie Munson hanging together and offer him to hang out together instead.
So, why did she want to curl up and cry because she snapped at Steve? It was not like she was gonna miss the drives he gave her. She could skate anywhere she wanted. It was not like she was going to miss winning in arguments against him. She could do that with anyone.
She spent the night tossing and turning, being haunted by nightmares of Billy, of Starcourt, of demodogs, of getting eaten in the junkyard, of Lucas and then of Dustin getting eaten in the junkyard, of Steve dying in the junkyard or in the tunnels or at the hands of Billy. In the morning she chucked down a cup of coffee, left her mother passed out in the couch and made her way out.
The moment she stepped outside, onto the grass she was frozen in shock seeing the red BMW with Steve leaning on the hood. Steve straightened the moment he saw her and waved with a smile. Max was mean to him and broke his heart. She pushed him away. But, Steve was here looking like he had been waiting for sometime for Max to come out of the trailer.
“I don’t need a ride.” Max said walking past Steve and trying not to look at his face.
“Well, I say that you do.” Steve said with a soft but stern voice - something Max didn't deserve and definitely not after the day before.
“And why should I listen to you?” Max said whirling around sharply.
“I don’t know. Why does Dustin think he can barge into the video store like it’s his home? Why do I still buy Erica ice cream even though Scoops Ahoy was literally destroyed? Why does Mike keep inviting you to dinner even though you are supposed to hate each others guts?" Steve answered without a missing beat.
It was a far more loaded answer than Max expected from Steve (and a thought flashed in her head that maybe she underestimated him). She stared at him for a few seconds already understanding the meaning behind his words. He talked about how close they all were, how they cared about each other even if it was not life and death situations, how they knew no boundaries, how much promises mattered. It was not the understanding that was the problem. It was Max not believing his words. It was not rational, she knew, because Steve never lied to them. Not in the junkyard nor after. Max didn't believe because she didn't feel worthy of this care and understanding when all she did was to destroy the lives of the people around her; when she was just a random girl.
Tears welled up in her eyes and she had to blink too rapidly to get rid of them. She got inside Steve's car in an instant without answering him or looking at him. She felt just so tired and Steve's car was so warm inside. Steve didn't need to tell her to buckle her seatbelt because she did it before he even entered the car. This time Max didn't put on her headphones as she waited for Steve to start the car and drive away.
"Don't wait for an apology Harrington." Max said looking at the dashboard of Steve's car.
This was her apology and she just hoped that Steve understood. She shot a quick glance at Steve's face and saw a warm grin spread across. That smile spread something warm in her chest too. Steve understood, he understood her and he didn't leave. The opposite actually, he showed up because he always did. He was always there. Max didn't realize how much that meant to her until she thought that she pushed him away.
"No need for an apology." Steve said looking at her. "Do you hear the way Henderson talks to me? Jesus, I feel like he hates me sometimes." He added and even though he was supposed to be joking around to make her feel better she could hear the sad undertone in his voice.
Steve did deserve someone better with all the caring he did with Max, right?
"Don't worry, he doesn't love Eddie Munson more than you." Max said with a small smirk.
"I wasn't-" Steve cut himself off and looked at Max with a bewildered face. "Really?" He then asked with such a surprised tone that Max couldn't help but burst into laughter.
It was just so funny to think that Steve Harrington was jealous because Dustin might have liked Eddie Munson, her neighbor she realized the other day, more than him.
"Shut up." Steve said with a smile he was trying to hide to look serious but it only made Max laugh more.
She felt lighter than she felt in the past two weeks. Steve's car was warm and his smile was warm. He didn't look at her with pity, didn't comment on the fact that she was living in a trailer park. Her dad was in California and her mom, she tried so hard Max knew, but she was sleeping on the couch with a bottle in her hand. Billy hurt her and Neil was angry all the time. Hopper was gone and Mrs.Byers moved away but Steve was there. He was risking being late for his shift to drop her off. He told her that she needed a ride because the trailer park was far and, maybe it was nice to skate after school but right now she probably looked more tired than she felt. So, she shouldn't have really tried to skate especially after a night of almost no sleep. Nobody was around to tell her that - except Steve of course.
"You hungry?" Steve asked putting the gear into drive mode.
Max was planning on living on the coffee she just chucked down until lunch time so, she was hungry. It was a miracle that her stomach wasn't making any noises. She needed to eat something.
"Yeah." Max said, still finding it hard to accept Steve's care but she was getting there.
"Good, because I'm starving." Steve said with a big smile as he drove her away from the trailer park.
Some people didn't leave even if Max tried so hard. She didn't exactly know what she did to deserve that, and she still felt unworthy but Steve wasn't leaving and that took some of the emptiness in her stomach away making her chest feel all warm and light.