Chapter Text
The 13th of May was a very strange day, well, according to Max. After practice ended and Dustin and Lucas left, Max and Mike went behind the studio to have a chat, and by chat, they meant Mike's "complicated" love life.
"She broke up with me! I mean, can you believe it?" Mike complains as he sits against the wall
"No way… I can't believe it, what a bummer." Max says, her tone drenched in sarcasm
"Oh, get out," he says
The two were probably not the closest of friends. They were very similar in personality though, that was for sure. Max pulled out her phone and checked the time: 5:09 PM
"Mkay, so I gotta go because I have an appointment, but fill me in later."
"I won't be telling you anything, not after your disrespect towards my problems." He clutched his chest and turned his head away from Max, pretending to look offended
She rolls her eyes yet again and says, "Oh, show mercy, please, I beg you, tell me all the details."
"Nah, get the hell out of here," he says as he playfully shoves Max
"Cya," She grabs her skateboard, which was propped against the wall, and zooms out of the alley onto the road.
While skating, a poster flies right in her face, just like in cartoons, and blocks her eyesight for a good 12 seconds, during which she almost crashes.
"AHHH!"
She preps herself for the fall, but just when she is about to collide with the hard rocky road and into literal traffic, someone saves her.
That someone is no other than the girl on the poster.
"Oh my god, are you alright?" the girl, who looks absolutely divine through Max's point of view, holds Max in her arms
It takes her a few seconds to fully process what the actual hell is going on and get her pulse back to normal. When she finally does, she looks at the girl who saved her again, who looks genuinely concerned.
The girl asks again, more worried this time, "Hey? Hey, can you hear me? Are you alright?"
"Yeah… I guess I will be, thanks," the poster girl releases Max after hearing her confirmation
"Glad to hear that. Please be careful, I hear a lot of collisions happen here in Indiana these days due to carelessness."
What a compassionate person,
"Sorry, do I know you?"
"Oh, you're totally right. Well, I'm not too sure if you know who I am, but I know who you are, you're Maxine, right? I'm Jane Hopper."
One thing Max noticed about Jane was how she talked really quickly, like really quickly and lively. Another thing she noticed was how she made her feel better, despite her having a near-death experience just seconds before.
"Yeah, Max. Max Mayfield. No one really calls me Maxine," she says
"Glad to finally meet you!" Jane extends a hand, offering a handshake, and Max gladly receives
But a question in her head itches to get out, and it does
"Wait, where do you know me from?"
"You're in that band. Paranoia, if I remember." Max notices how Jane tilts her head. Not in a confused way, but more of a cute way
"Mhm, and you're the girl on this poster, the one that caused my almost-collision," she shows the poster in her hands, which she had probably grabbed while Jane saved her fall
Jane frowns. "You can't blame me for that. That's on the wind, and didn't I save you?"
"Yes, you did, I'm just kidding." No, I'm not
"Haha, okay then." Just then, Jane's phone rings. She looks like she's avoiding it, but Max only comes to this conclusion because she lets it ring for a couple of seconds before answering it.
After a lot of mhm, okay, fine, and sure's, Jane says that she'll be there right away
"I'm guessing you have to go,"
"You would be guessing correctly. Bye Max, Max Mayfield," she waves goodbye and leaves before Max can say or wave goodbye back.
That was… kinda weird…
The next day, Max goes to the studio and sees that only Mike has shown up. He's sitting on the bean bag that Lucas had convinced all of them to get. 4 bean bags for each of them, all in different colours. Orange, blue, red, and green. Mike sat on the blue one.
"Where's Dustin and Lucas?"
"Called in sick."
"Both of them?"
"Yeah, I guess."
Max lets out a sigh as she collapses on the orange bean bag
"Hey- uh, do you remember my girlfriend- well, ex?" he suddenly asks, which makes Max turn towards him
"Oh yeah, why, what happened?" she asks back as she rests her chin on her hand and closes her eyes for only a moment, before looking back up at Mike, who looked like he was about to say something
"I found out that she actually cheated on me."
"Yeah, just to let you know, it doesn't count as cheating if you two were broken up," she states, looking fed up with Mike
"Whose side are you on, mine or hers? Plus, she did cheat on me while we were dating," he emphasizes, which makes Max widen her eyes and raise her eyebrows. She despised cheaters, mainly because her dad had cheated on her mom, which was problematic enough for her.
"You know, you never told me who this mystery girl is, I wanna know."
"You probably do, she's famous."
She makes sure to lengthen the time she spends saying a couple of words to 'add impact', "Wow, congratulations. Seriously, how do you expect me to react? Just tell me," she picks up the cushion on the bean bag next to hers and throws it straight at Mike's face, and it slams into his face before he can catch it, making Max burst out in laughter, despite herself.
"Do you know Jane Hopper? From Wondertwins?"
Her hand immediately flew to her mouth, and her eyes widened
What the fuck? It can't be, that girl looked way too sweet.
"Are you joking? You dated Jane Hopper? As in the girl whose face paints the entire state of Indiana?" Her voice gave out mid-sentence, but Mike seemed to understand what she was saying
"Yep, that Jane Hopper."
"Are you sure she cheated on you? Maybe it was a misunderstanding. It happens sometimes, y'know."
"Yes, I'm sure."
"But she seems so nice,"
"Appearances can be deceiving," he says, clasping his hands together and placing them between his legs
"That was not tough, by the way, you are the exact opposite of tough right now. But I guess you're right, appearances are deceiving," she sighs while she draws her knees to her chest, tucks her head down, and wraps her arms around her legs, making somewhat of a human ball. "God, I'm so fucking stupid…" she lets out with another sigh,
"Wait, why are you beating yourself up? I'm the one who got cheated on and dumped."
"I know…it's just that…"
"What?"
"Anyway, whatever it is, it doesn't matter anymore," she raises her head and looks back at Mike, who looks extremely confused by this entire interaction
"Uhh, what?"
"Thanks, Mike, for uh, this? I guess? I really need to head back, later!" she almost jumps off the bean bag, proceeds to rush out of the building. The doors shut with a loud slam, which startles Mike.
"I'm so done with these people, seriously! Honestly, am I the only normal one?" he loudly groans and leans further back on the bean bag. The shift of weight on the bean bag causes it to slightly tip, and before Mike can even process it, he lies on his back on the cold floor, making him groan even louder.
Where did Max even go?
Max enters her bedroom, throws her guitar into a random corner, and plops down on her bed, causing her vibrant red hair to scatter across the sheets.
Wait, shit
After the realization of how hard she actually threw her guitar sinks in, she stands up and checks it to see if her throw damaged it. She lets out a long breath of relief when she sees no visible harm, thankfully. She puts it back in its case and sets it aside, back to the corner where she initially did.
Max lies on the floor, looking up at the ceiling fan, watching how it goes round and round and round and round and round and-
This is going to be a long year.