Chapter Text
Max looks into the mirror. Both hands on the vanity. She has been trying to tried to do something with her unmanageable, long, wavy hair for the
last half hour. First she braids it, but that makes her look like a second greader. Then she twists the braid in a bun. Now she looks like a stern librarian. She sighs. Why does she even care? She cared way less when she was going to the snowball with her not ex boyfriend. But now that she’s going to the Hawkins high prom as friends with El....her stomach won’t stop flipping around and her hair won’t let behave. She eventually settles on just leaving her hair be and praying that El can help her sort it out.
Her eyes drift to the clock. “oh no. oh no no no, shit”
It’s 6:45. She agreed to be at the Byer’s at 7 so they can get dressed. It’s a 20 minute skate and El is VERY punctual. She grabs her dress and unceremoniously stuffs it into her backpack. She grabs her skate board and jumps out of the backyard window.
She arrives at 6:59, breathless with messy hair, but on time. She knocks on the byer’s door and almost immediately it swings open, El stands on the front steps, grinning. “Hey! Come inside!” she says and she grabs Max’s hand and yanks her though the door. She lets go once they reach her bedroom door. Max can still feel sparks of electricity where their had hands touched.
“Here let me fix your hair, I love you but it’s a mess.”
“Making the inside match the outside” Max replies, half to El and half to herself.
El grabs a brush off of her desk and gets some spray conditioner out of the drawer. She spritzes her hair, avoiding her eyes and gently lifting her hair to get the underneath. after that she sets the bottle on the desk and sits down on the bed. She pats the spot next to her.
Max ungracefully sits down and tries to steady her heart rate as El leans in and starts to pull pieces of hair into the correct spots, her brow furrowed in concentration. She uses her fingers and parts her hair to the side and starts to brush roughly in the same style as Max always wore it, only neater and with more care. El tries to grab a piece of hair to section it but accidentally yanks it harder than intended. To her absolute horror, Max automatically sighs deeply. it could’ve also be interpreted as a moan.
god damn it you kinky ass bitch she screams at herself internally.
Thankfully, poor innocent El assumes it was a noise of pain. “Oh no are you alright? Sorry I thought the strand was longer!” She exclaims, trying to smooth out her hair as it checking for injuries.
Max prays her face isn’t beet red and tries to sound nonchalant
“Oh it’s totally fine, you’re way more gentle than I usually am, I rake the hairbrush though my hair and hope I still have a decent amount after”
She laughs softly
“Maybe I can start doing your hair in the mornings. That doesn’t sound comfortable and you’re bound to run out of hair eventually”. she says as she continues to delicately untangle her hair.
Once that’s done and she’s makes sure every strands is in the correct place, she sets down the brush and leaps up.
“Okay! let’s get changed!” She practically yells as she bounces around the room.
She opens the closet and takes out her dress. Max stands and much less bouncily zips open her backpack, taking her slightly wrinkled dress out of the bag. She turns around and starts to say “Would you like me to change in the bathroom?” but all she got out was “would,,um..” because right before, el turns around, completely naked except for her bra and underwear.
She feels her mouth go dry and her gaze lingers slightly longer than it should before she quickly glues her eyes to the floor. A white hot rush of shame overcomes her for looking for too long.
“Yes, Max?”
She mumbles something that vaguely sounds like “restroom” and rushes out. She makes sure her eyes are closed as she turns to slip out the door. She walks to the bathroom, closes the door, and grips the sink. Trying to turn her face back to a normal color.
Her heart pounds “you should be ashamed of yourself” she quietly says to her reflection. El trusted her enough to change in front of her because they’re friends. and what did Max do? Stare like a disgusting pervert.
“El deserves someone better and not a fucking predator.” She thinks
She sighs and peels off her shirt, slightly flinching due to a broken rib that never quite healed and the fresh bruises on her rib cage.
Neil missed his favorite punching bag.
she ungracefully takes her jeans off and grabs her dress off the counter. For a second she strokes the soft fabric. She didn’t particularly want to wear a dress but her mother and El insisted she get it when they were at the mall dress shopping. She didn’t argue at the time because she knew that if she expressed that she wanted a suit, her mother would report it back to Neil who would in turn try to beat “the gay” out of her. She sighs and slides the dress on over her head, trying her best to not ruin her hair and the ghost of El’s touch that still lingered.
She shakes her head to free her hair from the straps, and looks at herself. The dress gave her curves and fit well over her stick like frame. It was a black spaghetti strap dress that has a full skirt and a v neck. She twirls and almost laughs to herself at her dress fanning out. The skirt was slightly fun.
She steps out of the bathroom and gently knocks on El’s door
“You descent?”
“what?”
“are you dressed?”
“yeah”’
She opens the door and nearly gasps. El is wearing a knee length pink lacy dress with two thick straps crossed on her shoulders. The neckline slightly dips into her chest.
she pulls the skirt out on both sides in a partial curtsy and gives a worried smile. “Does this look okay? Is it over the top?”
“It’s prom, everything’s over the top,,, you look really really pretty”.
the last part comes out fast so it almost sounds like a single word.
She grins “thank you. you look really pretty too”
Max blushes, hoping that it doesn’t look too obvious.
“what time is it?”
El turns and picks up her watch from the desk
she squints at it for a second before stuttering out “It’s seven-five-oh”
“Fuckk, we’re running late. it starts at 8:20”
“Fuck” she echos.
Hearing El swear was almost comical, like a toddler who somehow picked up a word they’d heard a sibling say.
The girls rush through their makeup and finish right before Joyce knocks on the door and pokes her head in “hey guys, will says it’s almost time to leave, are you ready?”
they nod and grab their purses (or ratty backpack in Max’s case) And follow her to the car.
The drive over is peaceful, the two girls in a comfortable silence while Joyce and Will chat. Max’s hand lays flat on the seat in between them. She stares out the window, lost in thought, when she feels a warm soft hand intertwining with hers. El tilts her head like a confused puppy and gives a nervous smile. Max doesn’t make any kind of objection and El goes back to her previous looking out the window. It was almost impossible to tell in the dim car, but Max could’ve sworn she saw a blush creep up the brunettes ears and cheeks. They stay like that in limbo the rest of the way there. Neither wanting to separate but also not wanting to do anything further.
They quickly let go as Joyce parks upfront.
“Now, be home by 12, don’t try and walk home and for goodness sake, call me if you decide to get a ride home from someone else. If you have to drink, do it safely, and please sweetie make sure you have a cond-“
“MOM” Will yells, absolutely horrified.
She raises an eyebrow. “Just reminding you. And girls: that all applies to you too. and don’t go anywhere by yourself with any guys you don’t 100% trust”
Max tried not to let the look of disgust show. She wouldn’t be caught dead with another guy.
Joyce turns to look at all of them.
“You all look so grown up, have fun you guys” She says, tearfully.
They jump out of the car and wave goodbye to her. El links her arm onto Max’s and they head over to the entrance. Music is already blaring and a bored older kid hands them their tickets back and waves them though. his eyes are slightly glazed over and his “water” bottle smelled very suspicious. Max didn’t doubt that they could’ve given him a dnd card and he still would’ve waved them though.
“I’m going to find the rest of the party” Will yells over the music
“okay!” el shouts back.
they wander aimlessly through the crowd, at one point they’re almost separated by a heard of jocks and El clasps her hand onto Max’s yet again. Shs doesn’t let go until they get to a clearer spot over by the bleachers. All at once El drops her hand and yanks up the straps on her dress, making sure only a sliver of skin shows from her chest. Max gives her a curious look and El stares at a point in the distance. Her face stone hard and unreadable.
“Is-is everything okay?” she tries
“yeah..why wouldn’t it be?”
“i don’t know, you just seem kind of distant and upset. you were so excited since you bought the tickets a month ago ”
The younger girl purses her lips and fiddles with a loose string on the hem of her dress.
“Do you think i’m gross?”
“WHAT? no of course not! El why do you say that?”
she averts eye contact. “just...earlier when i was changing, you looked away and left the room quickly. And when I tried to hold your hand you made a face, and when I brushed your hair you looked angry. Did I do something wrong?”
Once agin Max’s body flushes with shame. This time, for a different reason
“El I am not angry or grossed out.... I’m.. I was just worried you’d think I was creepy or predatory?”
Her sentences turned up like questions
it was El’s turn to look confused.
“why would you seem predatory? we change together all the time”
Max’s legs itched to run away and escape the situation.
“I’m,,, gay. El. I like girls.”
She didn’t seem phased
“So? what does that have to do with it?”
Max sighs, sometimes she wished that El understood social stuff like this.
“Just...some people think it’s gross. And some people think that all gays want to do is to date their friends”
She thinks about that for a second, biting her lip and swinging her legs like a toddler. She finally looks at Max and then looks down at her feet.
“Max?”
“Yeah?”
“What if someone..a gay, wants to?“
“Wants to what?”
“Wants to look and wants to date their best friend?”
Max’s eyes widened as she realized what she was implying.
“Well,,, it depends on if they’re both gay and both like each other”
She takes a deep breath.
“What if,,,one best friend liked her other best friend who she knows is gay”
“Then....she should ask her to dance at prom.”
El giggles and holds out her hand.
“Maxine Mayfield. I’m a gay and you’re a gay. Would you like to dance?”
She laughs and blushes.
“Of course m’lady” she says, while curtsying but not very well
“you’re a dork” El says
“no you”
She drags her to the dance floor “Wait this isn’t really dancing music” Max says . and she is right. It was an awful rap Song everyone was raving about.
El smirked and closed her eyes for a second. The song shut down and for a count of five, there there was just static. But as soon as it stopped, a dreamy slow song came on instead. There were a few complaints from the students of hawkins high, but mostly everyone scrambled to find their partner and start an awkward slow dance.
close your eyes, give me your hand, darlin do you feel my heart beating do you understand...
the song blared on the loud speakers and Max looked into El’s eyes. El looked around and then leaned in
“Um.. Max?”
“yeah?”
“i...don’t know how to dance”
She almost laughed before she saw how panicked she looked.
“okay so first you put your hands linked around your partners neck.”
She did and even at arms length, Max’s head spun at the scent of El’s cherry and vanilla scented perfume.
“here come a little closer, you’re gonna choke me”
“El inched forward until their chests very nearly touched. She tried to keep a straight face as she feels El’s breathing on her.
“Um now I put my hands on your waist like this” she demonstrated
“and now we just sway side to side like this”
As they swayed and made their way around the dance floor, El stumbled on her heels and her entire body was pressed up against Max’s. She almost fainted from the joy and excitement. It was way too much, but in a good way.
with me do you feel the same? am i only dreaming or is this burning an eternal flame?
The song was coming to an end and Max couldn’t get her emotions under control as she gathered all her courage.
say my name sun shines though the rain a whole life so lonely and then you coma and ease the pain, i don’t wanna lose this feeling ohhh
At the last lyric, Max slowly leans in. She pauses a couple of inches from El’s lips, silently asking for permission. El responds by lunging forward and pressing their lips together. The kiss is fairly long and tastes of cherry lip gloss. Her hands travel from El’s hips to her soft hair.
They stay like that for a while, and for the first time in a long time, Max felt at peace, she felt safe, and she felt happy. She didn’t worry about Neil or about people seeing them, for that moment, the only thing that mattered was her and El. Alone in that moment together.