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- We are, in fact, getting back together.
Maxine Mayfield knew two things. The first one was that she had the need to protect everyone she loved. She loved deeply even when it was not something she showed a lot. She would find secret ways to make her friends know how much she appreciated them.
The second thing was that anger was an emotion that came easily out of her. She doesn't know why. Maybe it was the fact that her dad left her and her mother when she was five. Maybe it was the fault of her stepfat, someone quick to raise a hand to his son and to Max. Maybe it was actually from her mother's side. There are so many theories about Nature vs. Nurture that she doesn't really know what answer fits her the best.
The anger that came easily and the love that was hard for her to show sometimes are intertwined so much that she's scared the first one overrules the second one. So she tries to show, with little things, how much she loves her friends. Like being there for Jane's every single play, even if it's just a supporting role or tree #4. She does it by listening to Dustin's ramble even when she doesn't totally understand it, and she tries to add commentaries every now and then. She does it by supporting Will in every art project he has. She does it by ripping Mike a new one every time he fucks up.
And, above else, Lucas is the perfect example of the ways she tries to show love through little things. Like showing up to his games to scream at him. Teaching his sister how to give a nice right hook to her bullies. And of course making fun of him every chance she gets.
This started when they were twelve. Max had just moved to Hawkins and was having a hard time making friends (because of her stupid stepbrother). She had a few little stalkers that didn't know how to approach her. And she was getting tired.
At first it was fun to mess with them, enjoying the attention but without risking making friends in a town that they would probably move out from within the next six months. But when she saw one of her stalkers with the kid who had a too big bowlcut and that girl who didn't talk much getting bullied, she had enough.
There were two older assholes making fun of the girl's outfit, spitting homophobic and racist shit. “Hey dickheads!! Does it make you feel strong? Messing with kids that can defend themselves?” She screams at them.
“Why don't you keep walking so we don't start messing with you too, bitch”
“See, that would work on me if I were ten. But I've fought bullies twice your size and ended up winning”. She counteracted, getting closer with one hand reaching for her butterfly knife. A gift from her absent father before he left.
“Oh really? What are you going to do about this, bitch.”
“Well, first, I'm going to hit you in the face. ´´Cause it really needs rearranging.” She said smiling. “And then…” she grabbed the knife and with a swift movement displayed it, pointing at one of the bullies.
“Then I'm chopping your dick off. So the dickless alias you're going to go by has an actual meaning.” She started getting closer while they started walking back.
“You crazy bitch!!! You're not gonna do that”. The crack on his voice denoted that he wasn't really sure about that.
“Oh, I'm doing it. I've been chopping dicks from jerks like you since I learned how to skate”.
“You're just one little girl!!!” He screamed.
“Did you fail math? Start counting again, ‘cause we are four and you're just two. I'm sure my new friends will be happy to hold you down while I do it.” She stated that so confidently, even when she didn't know how the other kids would react.
“Yes, you dickheads,” said the other girl. Her eyes showed how angry she was. “Run, before we chop your dicks off”. Her voice was steady. Like she practiced the words before saying them. And the bullies knew her. They knew she didn't talk much. But the way she said those words were the nail to the coffin of the matter.
“Let's go. They are nuts”. The bully that was the fastest said. They ran like their life's depended on it.
“That was bitchin’” the curly girl said to Max, with the biggest smile the redhead had ever seen. “I'm Jane. This is right here is my brother Will”. She said, grabbing the bowlcut with legs's arm. He gave her a shy smile. “And that is Lucas”. She ended, pointing at the boy who had a surprised face. On top of the situation being so weird. Jane was talking a lot. Will was proud.
“I'm Max”. She said smiling.
“We know.” Jane answered.
“Oh, I know, that one right there has been stalking me with your other friend”. She bantered.
“They were doing reconnaissance”.
“That's so weird, you could've just talked to me”. Max added.
“Are we friends now?” Jane asked, hopefully.
And Max, well, Max had a thing for strays. She hated when people were treated poorly and had a need to defend them. Something she couldn't really do at home. She was intrigued. That's why she answered “Sure, we can be friends”.
As the years pass by, her friendship with Jane and Will only grows stronger. Mike wasn't happy about it, but she quickly learnt that Mike wasn't really happy about anything. Dustin was sweet, but they weren't the closest of friends. And Lucas, well, Lucas soon became her boyfriend. On and off sometimes, cause he made stupid decisions from time to time.
One of those decisions came in the form of leaving Will out and almost caused them to break up for good. When she found out when the Byers came back, that Lucas was an asshole to Will, when he just wanted to play D&D she was livid. She ripped him a new one. She almost didn’t take him back. She loved him, she loved him so much, but until Lucas apologized to Will enough and she saw that they were being supportive of each other, she didn't back down.
It's within this scenario, that Lucas was talking to her near her locker room.
“I'm just saying.” He started, gesticulating with his hands. “That this thing Will and Chance have it's not normal. The banter they do it's almost like they're an old married couple”. He ended, resting his back on the lockers, looking at Max smiling.
“And I'm just saying, that just because he came out to us when he came back from Lenora, it doesn't mean that we have to analyze every single conversation he has with another guy.” She answered him. She had a crooked smile and was already onto that matter.
“Yeah, but you know, a few of the guys said in tryouts that Chance was bi.”
As she opened her locker she counteracted “and that doesn't mean he likes Will, he can be bisexual and still don’t like him”.
Every answer Lucas had went to the back of his mind. He was looking at the locker door. Intently. Right there, for everyone to see, were pictures of their first date. The one that went horribly. He chose a cheesy rom-com to watch. The food was almost disgusting, and his smooth moves to try to put an arm around her still embarrass him to this day. There's also a little poster of the movie they watched, printed small. Clearly a deliberate choice.
“I thought you hated that movie”
“Oh I do, it's awful”.
“So why do you have a mini poster of it on your locker under pictures of us?” He asks.
“Well, you're a big boy Lucas. Why do you think I have the poster of a movie I hate, under pictures of our first date?” She's closing her locker now, holding the books against her chest. She has a knowing smile and has lifted her right eyebrow.
“Cause… you like me?”
“Maybe, why don't you walk me to class and find out”.
And Lucas is static. He jumps, fist to the air as she starts walking away. He hasn't lost his chance.
“Are you coming, stalker?”
“Yes ma'am, I'm coming”. He takes long steps to be near her faster.
They're going to be okay.
- The last game of the season.
It’s been a while since Max and Lucas got back together. It took longer because the death of her stepbrother made her and her mother rearrange their lives. Neil left them stranded after the funeral. She was dealing with a lot of conflicting emotions. She hated Billy, but she knew it was Neil’s fault he was like that. She knew all the things they lived at home. And she felt guilty. Guilty it wasn’t her, guilty about what he made Lucas go through. What he made both of them go through. Guilty that she was even feeling that guilt.
She had to deal with the mourning of someone she despised. With moving to the trailer park and becoming “trailer trash” in the view of her classmates. She had to punch a few of them so they could get the memo. She wasn’t taking anyone shit. But she felt so alone. So alone. It took her a while to open up to even Jane and Will. And she was too ashamed to discuss it with Lucas. Which meant that what he did to Will not only put her in the position of defending her friend. She also used it as an excuse.
At least that’s what the school counselor told her. She didn’t really believe her. Not when all she did was give her pamphlets about how life goes on. Not when she had to go to school like a zombie and then come home to an alcoholic mother that couldn’t make dinner for her. She had not only to take care of herself, but also take care of her mother.
It took almost half the school year for her to be honest about it to her friends. She started with Will and Jane. They were sad she wasn’t talking to them as much, but they had respected her decision and knew that soon enough she would come to them. They knew what it was like to have an absent father. One that taught with his fist rather than with words. They knew what it was like to not have enough money to pay the most basic expenses of the house.
So when she finally had the courage to tell them, they hugged her, they held her stronger than anyone had ever held her as she let all the emotions and tears run out. Little by little, they were the ones that put the pieces back together. The rest of the party didn’t know what exactly had happened. But they respected her wishes about not talking about it unless she brought it up.
And Lucas was devastated. He wanted to be there for her, to be the shoulder she cried on, but he knew she didn’t need a man to come save her. So he waited. He waited patiently to talk to her again. After he apologized with Will and the artist started to come to his training sessions at noon, he slowly started approaching Max.
It was little things at first. A “how are you doing here’” here, a “did you see what Mike just did” there when she came to the party’s gathering. Sometimes he would seek touch to test the waters, resting his head on her shoulder or a little touch on the elbow. It quickly became in study sessions that went well enough to not only help her not lose the school year and go through summer school.
It also went well enough so they could get back together. After a while, he finally got the courage to invite her to the last game of the season in one of their study sessions.
“Aren’t you… like… on the bench for every game?” Max told him while she was writing the answers of their last french assignment.
“I mean, yes you're not wrong” Said Lucas with an unsteady voice. “But since it’s the last game of the season, I’m sure the couch is going to let me play.”
“You already have Will watching you every single game. Do you really need someone else looking at you on the bench?” She was looking at him now. Smirking playfully. She had already decided she was going to go.
“Well yes, it would mean so much to me that you are there. I know you’re busy at home most of the afternoons.” He starts, one of his hands resting on his own neck. “But if you have the time, can you please come?” He ends.
“We’ll see”, she answers, smiling at him and starting to play footsie under the library’s table while she goes back to her homework.
That Friday, she indeed goes to the game. Will is at her right side, new make up full on display. He’s been leaning towards a gothic aesthetic which she fully supports. Jane was going to be there but she had dinner with her castmates from the drama club. The rest of the party still don’t really like that Lucas is a jock now, but at least Dustin is a little bit more open about the whole thing.
It’s near the end of the game and the Hawkins tigers are not doing so good. Jason is furious and running a tight ship. Lucas is still on the bench. And Chance Lawson, usually the star player seems distracted.
“What’s going on with Lawson?” Max asks Will.
“How would I know Max?”
“Well, you are the one always talking to him, maybe you know something.” She retorts.
“Yes, to tell him how stupid he is, I don’t know what’s going on with him. It’s like ever since he came out as bi a few weeks after I did as gay, everyone is trying to put us in a box. I don’t like him.” He says, crossing his arms on his chest and sitting all the way to the back of the stand.
“I didn’t ask you if you liked him. I’m asking you if you know something.” She counteracts with a smirk. “But it’s good to know that’s where your head is at”.
Any answer Will had ready for her became obsolete the moment they heard a loud noise. When they were looking back to the court they could see that the game had stopped. Chance was on the floor, face on the ground. When he started lifting himself up with Andy's help, his nose was bleeding. What they didn’t know was that, since the game had started, he couldn’t keep his eyes away from Will. The makeup alone was distracting him.
Before they could dwell on the situation too much, they heard the coach's voice. “Sinclair, you’re up”.
Lucas jumped from his seat. Max and Will were screaming. He didn’t hear them, it was like his body wasn’t his own and was only focusing on playing. When he was about to make the final shot of the game, only seconds away from the end, he looked at the stands and saw his friends there. Will was screaming at him, and Max? She was holding a sign that said “I’m here for the one on the bench. I love you number 8”.
It was poorly done in the redhead’s handwriting, but it looked so cute that Lucas couldn’t help but smile at her brightly. He took the shot. The room was silent for a moment. The ball went right through the basket.
He had won the game for the Tigers. And his best friend and girlfriend were there to see him.
- Words are stronger than fists, but sometimes people do need to be punched in the face.
As it’s been stated, anger is an emotion that comes easily for Max. It’s something that she can’t really control a lot of the time. No matter how many breathing exercises she does or how many ways she hits herself with the elastic on her wrist. Sometimes she just needs to break something. The thing that she couldn’t stand the most, was when someone was being assholes to their friends. When they go low, she goes lower.
Which means that now she was at Eddie's trailer. Over time, the metalhead had become an older brother to her. He was a teacher at their school and his neighbour in the trailer park. The Munson family, even when it consisted of two people, took her under their wing and were there for her when her mother couldn’t. She wouldn’t say it out loud, but she liked Eddie and Wayne. She liked the way they didn’t push her to help her but were there every time she knocked on their door.
“Wanna tell me what happened to you, red?” Eddie asked while he was patching her up. She had a split lip, a cut on her right eyebrow and her knuckles were red and bruised.
“I fell off my skateboard” She said, with controlled breaths looking at him dead in the eye. She was clearly still furious.
“You fell off your skateboard? And then I’m assuming your fist just happened to fall on someone's face?” He asked her, voice calmed but full of sarcasm.
“What is it to you? if a face happened to be in the way of me falling maybe the asshole that the face belong to deserved it”
“Oh! I’m positive the asshole probably deserved it, but when you come to my trailer in the middle of the night like someone try and failed to beat you up, I tend to fucking care”. Eddie told her, hands on his hip. “So why don’t you cut the bullshit and tell me what happened? Did an asshole call you trailer trash again? It's been a while since you rearranged someone´s face.” He said, smiling a little, cleaning the wound on her eyebrow.
“I fought two guys from school,” she said with a loud sigh. “They said racist shit to Lucas a few days after the game.” She added.
“And you decided to take matters into your own hands?” He asks, preparing himself for a much needed conversation and putting a bandaid on her forehead.
“Not at first” she answered. “I know Lucas doesn’t want me to fight people. But I was so fucking angry, he doesn’t deserve to hear the shit they were saying about him. So when I met them on my way home today, I told them to think twice before doing shit like that again”.
“And how did it go for you? How many of them were there?” He asked, cleaning the wound on her knuckles.
“Just the two, they didn’t know how to fight, they got me a few times before I kicked their asses. Told them that if they told anyone about what happened I’m making sure they regret it”,
“And how did that make you feel?”
“I thought it was going to make me feel good, and it did. But then I thought about Lucas” She said, eyes tearing up. “He wouldn’t want me to fight people again and I think that if he knew that he was the reason I fought someone, he would feel guilty”.
Eddie now had finished taking care of the wounds. And was looking at her patiently.
“And I feel so bad Eddie, so ashamed. I don’t know where this comes from, this rage. But I couldn’t stand the fact that they were walking so confidently. Like they aren’t racist pieces of shit.” She said, She was crying now, hands through her hair so it wouldn’t come to her face. The warm light of the trailer made shadows that danced on her face.
“And I know, I know Lucas doesn’t need saving. I know I’m not the one who should do something about it when if he knew what I was doing he wouldn’t approve. But I’m so tired of seeing how his face falls every time someone says that shit. He’s so good to everyone, he doesn’t deserve it. Hell! Even if he was a dick he wouldn’t deserve it.
I don’t know why I thought that with Billy’s death this would end. The country is going to shit, and I don’t know what to do to not feel like I’m drowning. Like there’s nothing changing.”
Eddie has been listening to her words attentively. And after he knows she’s done, he answers.
“Yes, what they did was wrong. And yes, sometimes words are stronger than fist. You should really talk to Lucas, not to burden him, but to learn. He’s not going to give you all the answers, he probably doesn’t have all the answers himself. But he needs to know how you feel” he grabs her shoulders, looking at her with kind eyes.
“You are young, you are going to fuck up. Sometimes a punch to the face, if directed correctly, can be of help. But you need to think these things through. If you’re not careful things like this can affect Lucas more than they would affect you.”
“But what do I do, then?”
“You have these conversations with Lucas, the hard ones. You educate yourself outside your relationship with him. You stay by his side and support him when he wants to do something about it.” He adds, caressing her arms, comforting her.
“And, if this rage, this need to make them pay comes back, you talk to him, and if he’s willing, you do something together. As a unit, not as individuals. Because that’s what's drowning you.
We live in a society where nobody wants us to join forces. Every single injustice we have to fight against, divides us so much that we don’t see the relations that they have. The links that lead you to the very reason this is still happening today. You are not going to be the one who is going to solve those problems, alone.
Once you can see that, only then you can think of ways to transform the world. Not only with words, but with actions as well.” He ends. She’s still crying, so he hugs her. He hugs her so strongly, so he can let her know everything is going to be okay.
The next day she goes to Lucas’s house to talk with him. And a month later, when he asks her to join him to a protest two towns over, she goes with him.
- Jane’s advice can lead you to places you wouldn’t go at gunpoint.
It was their Senior Year, classes had started a few months ago. Max was, again, in one of Jane’s pottery classes. While she was making a beautiful little kitchen to put incense inside, the redhead was doing something that looked like an ashtray.
“What is that?” Jane asked curiously.
“It’s a base for flowers”. Max answered, matter of factly. Her forearms were covered with dirt and her braid looked disheveled.
“It looks like you're fighting to make an ashtray with the ceramic, and the ceramic it’s winning.” She said smiling, her little kitchen looked almost ready for the first coat of paint.
“Well maybe I want it to win”.
“That doesn’t make sense”.
“I know, I guess I'm just bad at this”, She sounded defeated.
“I don’t think you’re bad at it, it just needs a little more direction, less brute force”, she said, starting to paint her artwork.
“So, how does it feel like to be finally the lead of this year's school production?” Max asks her.
“Like finally everything is falling into place.” Jane answers, with a smile on her face, with her eyes focusing on making small lines in her work.
“You’re going to be Eliza from that old movie with Lindsey Lohan right?”
“Yep, and I already saw part of the custom i’m going to wear, it looks so good!!!” She states excitedly. “And Dustin is helping with the stage department, it’s going to look amazing”.
Max keeps her mouth shut while listening to her, she knows the Dustin situation has them all waiting for the other shoe to drop. To the two of them to finally realize that they are meant to be together. That’s why she redirects the conversation to another topic.
“I’ve been thinking about what you said”. She tells Jane.
“That Robots it’s clearly a depiction of the working class joining forces to end with the bourgeoisie?”
“Well, yeah, that too. But no, I’ve been thinking about doing something for Lucas so he can feel loved. I feel like most of the time I’m the one getting the pda and I want to do something for him.” She says stopping her work to look at Jane.
“Oh! Does that mean the PPP has been given a green light?” Jane asks joyfully.
“What the hell is the PPP?” Max asks her frowning, like she’s disgusted.
“The Personalized Promposal Plan, obviously.”
“We are not calling it that”. She seems even more disgusted.
“But you’re doing it, right? You are not waiting for him to make the promposal, you are the one doing the gesture.” She says, leaving her little kitchen to dry.
“Yes, I’m the one doing the rom-com gesture. You’ve won, it's going to be so sweet it gives everyone diabetes.” Max states, she is frowning, but her voice tells a different story, one where she’s clearly happy about the whole thing.
“Ok, then we have a lot of work to do, I’m not letting you take him to the skate park so you can be alone when you do it, is going to be at school.” She ends, a woman on a mission.
“Fine”.
They are plotting now. And Lucas is not going to know what hit him.
A few days later, the couple is in the hallway. They are, again, waiting for Max to get her books so Lucas can walk her to class.
“Before you say anything”. She says, as she grabs something from her bag. “Here, this is a little something I made in pottery class with Jane”.
Lucas doesn’t know what he is holding. It looks like an ashtray, and he doesn’t smoke. He thanks her before going to class. And, if he puts the ugly ashtray in one of his room’s shelves, in display for the world to see, nobody has anything to say about it.
- Max wins a bet.
“Pay up Sinclair, pay up.” Max says after the game ends. The party is in the high school’s parking lot. A few moments ago, the tigers won the game despite Chance’s poorly made declaration of love. Lucas has just come out of the locker room.
“What do you mean pay up? Chance was the one who clearly made the first move.” he answers back, he was about to give her a victory kiss but has to stop himself and step back a little.
“Oh, come on, that’s not a worthy declaration of love. He didn’t even make the shot.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Asks Dustin. He has his arm around Jane, with her head on his shoulder.
“You won the bet?” She asks at the same time, making Dustin look at her new girlfriend in shock. “What bet?”.
“Since near the end of sophomore year” Max starts, crossing her arms, leaning on Dustin’s car, “We have this bet going on with Lucas about who’s going to be the one that makes the first move between Will and Chance”. She explains.
“We were kind of getting tired of their banter and made the bet as a joke. But imagine my surprise when Chance cornered me at the beginning of this year to know if Will was single.” Lucas continues.
“And the bet became a real thing. We knew Chance was flirting with Will and we banned each other to help either of them. Chance had to find a better way to make him know he wanted to date him.” She interjects.
“And Will, of course, had to realize that and that he also has been harboring a crush on Chance for the longest time”. Lucas completes.
“Which means… I was betting on Will realizing and finally making a move that would be way more forward than anything that Chance has ever done. And Lucas bet that Chance would find a way to make a more forward first move. Hence why I won the bet.”
“That’s genius” Jane said, confident that her brother had it in him.
“Why didn’t you include us?” Dustin asks, offended.
“Did you know Chance had a crush on Will before today? Lucas smiles as he asks him.
“Well, no…”
“That’s exactly why. Besides, you would’ve tried to mediate like you did with Steve and Eddie.”
“And look how that worked up, They are together now.”
“Not the point Dustin” Max says between her teeth.
“The point is that I won, Chance pointed at Will so he could dedicate his shot to him, that’s forward, and that’s a first move.
“Did he stay at the court so he could see how Will reacted? So he could actually make the confession?”
“No… But…”
“But nothing, the ball is on Will’s court, which means he is going to make the actual first move now. You just missed him, he was going to the lockers to talk to him.” She looks so proud.
“That doesn’t mean he is going to make the first move.” Lucas complains, almost whining.
“Oh believe me, he will.”
“Not a chance.”
“Wow guys, you really have a way with words.” Dustins says sarcastically.
Later, when they are alone in Max’s cramped room in the trailer, they discuss it again. “I still can’t believe he would be the one who kissed Chance first. Like, I know Will, he doesn’t usually do this things”.
“And that’s the best part, Chance gave him the confidence to be completely sure he could make the first move.” She told him. Both of them were on her mattress, looking at the ceiling. His hand was running on her back and playing with her hair while she was making doodles on his chest.
“How were you so confident that was going to happen?”
“Well, that’s the same way we got together” She says, like its obvious, Lucas is listening with even more attention now.
“What do you mean?”
“Come on Lucas, you can’t be this dense” Max lifted herself up, looking down on him while they are still on the bed. She’s looking at him with love.
“When you were stalking me with Dustin I knew you two clearly had a crush on me. Dustin because he idolized me a little, that’s why I didn’t care for it. But your crush was different. You saw me. The girl who was going to something at home, and you didn’t put me on a pedestal or tried to win me over.
You listened to me, really listened to me. You treated me like an equal. Like my opinion mattered not because I was a girl that was finally giving you the time of the day, but because you cared about what I had to say.”
And she’s explaining this with so much fondness in her voice, it makes Lucas smile. He is seeing it now, what she’s trying to say. But he wants her to end her idea.
“You built a space where I could be totally sure that you respected me, that you liked me without it being something that I should reciprocate or our friendship would come to an end.
That’s why I was so happy to be the one that took you for a dance fist at the Snow Ball. Cause I saw the way you saw me, and you didn’t make me scared of what that meant. You waited for me to make the move.
And that is exactly what Chance did. He never tried to put Will on a pedestal or tried to force him to reciprocate. Every time he fucked up, he apologized immediately. Building over time a trust that allowed Will to be the one to make the first move.” She ends.
And Lucas is so happy. He loves her, he’s probably going to marry her one day. Because the way they saw each other, they understood what it meant. That love that’s not easy to have in life. He doesn’t know how to answer that, how to articulate all the feelings he is having for her right now. So he just says.
“I love you”.
And Max, naturally, answers.
“I know”
- The promposal.
It was near the finals week. Everybody was at the edge of their seats. School was coming to an end and promposal’s were just starting. The recent addison of the Hellfire table was hugging Will’s back, head on his shoulder.
“I can believe you fall for such a cheesy thing like a promposal Will.” Mike says. He doesn’t ruin the mood though. The couple is so in love by this point that they don’t care what he has to say.
“Don’t be a sore loser Wheeler” Chance says, smugly.
“I’m not a sore loser. Lucas over there is secure enough in his relationship with Max that he doesn’t have to make a gesture like that to let her know she loves her”.
“First of all, what makes you think he is not planning on doing it? And second, Will knows how much I love him, I’m confident in that. But that doesn’t mean I would assume that because of that I don’t have to ever lift a finger to make him feel special.” It’s said with a smile, words cutting directed at someone who does not have the best track record in relationships. So Mike doesn’t answer.
The lack of Dustin, Jane and Max on the table is noticeable, and before Lucas can make a comment to save the situation he hears a song. “Knock on Wood” by Amii Stewart starts playing from a boombox Dustin is carrying.
He is carrying it with his arms up in the air, a big smile on his face, with a silly walk that is intended to have some rhythm. Behind him, there's the tigers mascot dancing stiffly. And behind the mascot is Jane, who has two pompoms and it’s following Dustin's steps combined with the tiger dancing. Everyone in the cafeteria is moving their heads to the rhythm.
When they get closer to the table Lucas is looking for Max. Whoever is going to make the promposal for Mike has some balls to make Jane and Dustin help them. But as they get closer they start dancing in front of him. Not Mike. They are dancing making the same moves the singer makes in the video. And while the music is at its peak it happens.
His friends grab each of the tigers hands and pull, revealing a girl inside the costume. A familiar figure to Lucas, he is dumbfounded. The girl takes away the tiger’s head and reveals herself, wild red curls falling from it. Max Maxyfield is smiling smugly. She keeps dancing a little and lifts her arm up. Behind Lucas, Will grabs the hidden sign and throws it to the redhead. She swings her hips a little, rolling her eyes while she opens it.
The sign says in big letters, “LUCAS SINCLAIR, WOULD YOU BE MY DATE TO PROM?”
And he can’t believe she had the upper hand. He was planning the proposal with Chance, they already had a few ideas but they were waiting a little to get the things. But that feeling gets replaced with pure love and joy. Here is this girl that he loves, that loves him back. Someone who’s way to show her love is through little things and small actions.
Not a few months ago he was surprised she was planning on studying psychology at the same college he was going to go to study to be a nurse. Making plans for a life together after high school. After all the times where he was the one who saw them being a couple when they graduated.
She was now holding a sign that asked him to go to prom. For the whole cafeteria to see. Even when it was probably something she was not confident in doing. Displaying her love so publicly. As the song is coming to an end he grabs her waist and pulls her towards him, lifting her up in the air as they kiss.
“I’ll be the happiest man in the world. I’d love to go to prom with you”.
Fin.