Chapter Text
Max was never much of a drinker. Her mom did enough of that for the both of them, so when Dustin brought out two six-packs of beer at this week's Friday night movie, Max saw the rest of her evening laid out before her. It would be her, sober, taking care of five obnoxious drunks. As much as she loved her friends, they were not fun when they drank.
The night had been getting boring anyway, since it was Mike's night to pick and he chose Rise of Skywalker for the 10th time. This, however, just wasn't exactly how Max had hoped to bring excitement back into the night. Thankfully, she didn't have to explain to the party why she didn't want to drink, that being the only upside of this night.
At the moment, Lucas was hanging off the edge of the couch, attempting to play some school-yard type game with a slumped-on-the-floor Dustin, who was way drunker than Lucas, as usual. Mike, Will, and El sat together, seemingly trying to lift various objects off the ground. The twins were in some kind of competition, at least Max is pretty sure because Mike had a whiteboard with tally marks on it, and although El was clearly winning that, it seemed like it was discarded long ago. Max sat on the chair and took a sip from her coke, which Lucas had insisted on being the cherry kind. His flimsy defense was that it "reminded him of her hair," to which Max responded by pushing him into the shelf with more types of water than any one person could ever possibly need. Her boyfriend was truly an idiot, though it somehow made her love him even more.
Her thoughts were cut off by El stumbling towards her, almost falling on top of her in the process. Max was met with her deep brown eyes, always full of curiosity and hope. That was the way Max saw them most of the time now, and she was forever grateful for that. Her hair, now long, tickled Max's arms gently. She smelled like a fresh flower field, which was slowly (quickly) becoming one of Max's favorite scents.
"Max!" She said, as if she hadn't expected to find Max here despite the fact that she'd been sitting there all night long.
"Hey." Max replied, letting a fond smile slip through, reaching to steady El with a hand on her arm.
She waited, expecting El to say something more, except she didn't. She just smiled at Max. It was the goofiest grin she'd ever seen from her, save for when they were 14, running through the mall, arm in arm, shoplifting to their hearts' content. There was a certain sparkle in her eyes, making Max far too aware of just how beautiful her eyes are.
Max is sure she must be drunk now, maybe just by proxy as she still hasn't had a drop of alcohol, because she's never thought of any of her friends' eyes this way. The only person whose eyes she's ever looked at this closely was Lucas', but he's her boyfriend and that's different. Of course it's different.
Her head is spinning now with panic when El reaches out with her free hand and gently taps the tip of Max's nose, and she thinks her heart might just melt right then and there. She lets out a giggle, which El returns. It was the kind she hasn't heard from herself since she was a stupid middle schooler. It surprises her, just like El's carefree smile did, but she tries to ignore it this time.
Then, there's a sudden drop in El's features. Not sad or anything, just serious. Like she's thinking really hard about something. She's seen drunk El before. This thinking face is reserved for when someone has asked her a question beyond her mental capacity in her drunken state, or the time she met someone at a house party that she ended up making out with the whole night, or the time El threw up all over Max's favorite jeans, which she then had to burn because she couldn't wear them, let alone put them in the trash because of how bad the smell was. And, well, they had barely said a word to each other, so it had to be one of the other two.
"Don't make that face. I can't tell if you're about to kiss me or throw up." Max laughs more than says to El.
She just keeps staring for a few more moments before responding. "Maybe I'll do both." The seriousness doesn't leave her face. Max's heart rate was probably fast enough to power the house, maybe even the whole neighborhood.
"Well, uh, I don't know if that's a good idea, but if you've gotta throw up then let's get you to the bathroom," Max manages, she'll pat herself on the back for that save later.
Before Max has the chance to even get up, El rushes in front of her and plants her lips on Max's. It isn't light or all that gentle, it's just a press of lips. Max finds herself kissing back, if this is even kissing. If this is even happening. Wait, what the fuck is even happening. Just when she thinks to push the girl back, she's already pulled away making a beeline for the bathroom. Max has no time to think about the kiss, she just follows behind, holding El's hair back while she pukes her guts out. Okay, so she found a way to do both. Point El.
"We've got a puker!" Drawls a very, very drunk Dustin.
That pulls a howling laugh out of Drunk Mike, as she dubs him. Drunk Mike is his own thing, unlike any other drunk she know, which is regretably a lot.
Max should be laughing at their banter, maybe even joining in, but all she can think about is the girl whose hair she's holding back. Her lips burn, and guilt builds in her stomach. El kissed her. Of course, she was drunk and probably didn't think it through, but Max wasn't. And she kissed back. Not only did she jeopardize her friendship with El tonight, she also cheated on Lucas. It didn't really seem like he noticed, just joking along with the rest of the party like normal, but still.
She studied his face. A gentle smile, occasionally interrupted by laughter when one of the others made a joke. He was perfect. An idiot, maybe, but perfect. At least for her. She joked about being annoyed with him a lot, but at the end of the day both Max and Lucas knew she didn't mean a word of it. That she loved him more than words could describe. But you don't kiss someone else when you're in love. Max didn't know what that made her.
Finally El was done, so Max led her over to the couch. She settled her down in the corner of her couch, easily the most comfortable spot. Max wanted to make sure she was as comfortable as possible, but she couldn't help but wonder if it was still right to be treating her like this when she'd practically taken advantage of El?
She glanced over at Lucas, who still had that same smile. He glanced between El and Max and Max's face went hot. Despite the big grin plastered on his face when he finally settled on her eyes, she couldn't shake the guilt. She cheated on him. That perfect boy, who'd been with her through so much, who knew her so much more deeply than anyone had ever cared to, was the same person she had just betrayed. And he didn't even know it. He couldn't because he was still looking at her with so much love in his eyes.
Max turned away, going to get the sleepover stuff. She could do this. Just get everything settled and make sure no one died, then deal with her royal fuck up. She set everything up like normal while their usual conversation played in the back. Max just couldn't bring herself to be part of the conversation right now. The kiss was playing over and over in her mind and she mentally jabbed herself every time. It hurt, and made her heart light on fire, and sent her into a dizzying state.
She quickly swept over the room with her eyes, noting that every one seemed sleepy enough that she could leave. She usually stayed, concerned that one of them would throw up in their sleep and suffocate, but El had to be sobering up now and Lucas hadn't had all that much to drink in the first place. He could take care of them all. Of course, he could. They were in good hands.
Lucas reached out his arms from across the room, a silent ask for Max to come closer. Her already hot face felt like it was being pushed against the surface of the sun now. She swallowed hard before mumbling something about looking after the people who were still drunk to Lucas, to which he nodded and crossed the room to give her a kiss. Max couldn't help it. She pulled back. He frowned slightly before changing course and planting a kiss on her cheek. Tears pricked at her eyes, so she mumbled a thank you.
Max made for the stairs and got out of the Wheeler house as quickly as she could. She'd ridden her bike there, not for lack of having a license, but for lack of a car to drive. The fast pedaling helped a little. She felt less sick to her stomach, less like there was a burning in the pit of her stomach. Tears streaked her face, however, as she attempted to stifle sobs. Thankfully, it was late and dark, so no one was there to bear witness, or if they were, they couldn't actually see her.
When she got home, she quickly cleaned up after her mom. Beer bottles left everywhere, a half-eaten dinner. The TV was still playing some random game show. Her mom, being the blackout drunk she was, meant that Max didn't have to hide her crying at all. Once she was done, she went to her room and just fell onto her bed, only stopping to kick off her shoes. Her body was wracked with sobs, and for just this night she let them be. Soon, sleep overcame her mind and her sobs died down. She would sleep this off, maybe it had just been a terrible dream. Maybe she would actually believe that in the morning.