𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝

007: i messed up.

      

      THE FIRST hour of trying to sleep, the girls mostly whispered to one another and talked about random stuff, literally anything and everything until El was the first to fall sleep, then it was just Nicky and Max. "So... you two really good now? Like, no bad shit anymore?" Nicky asked quietly and Max shrugs. "I don't think there was ever any bad shit. Like it was all just me. Because I'm just ruined, like I ruin a lot of things and I cause the most problems." She explains and Nicky huffs.

"Don't say that. You're not ruined." She gulped and took a moment because it was... kind of how she thought of it. The Max she knew before that summer back to school when they were Freshmen, that she was ruined, by that summer. But she's not ruined. She just had a lot to deal with after that. Her step-brother dying, her step-father leaving them and her mom's drinking problem shortly afterwards.

It was all a lot for a fifteen year old. Nicky reached over, grabbing onto Max's hand gently, "if anything, you're strong. For all of it. Everything you've gone through..." She tells her quietly and Max sighed, turning her head to look at her. "Had it not been for you, I don't know where I'd be at this point." She says and a lot of meaning is behind this one saying, it makes Nicky's heart break at the thought. "Well, maybe you'd be on the streets, selling hardcore drugs or your body." She goes for the joke, frowning slightly at the redhead.

Max giggles, rolling her eyes as she turns to look up at the ceiling. "I... do ruin things though. I ruined what El and I had, a friendship, a good, strong bond and now I fucked it up just because I couldn't tell the difference between a platonic or romantic love." She scoffs, rolling her eyes at herself. She realizes rather fast her hand is still in Nicky's, neither of them have pulled their hands away, in fact, they've interlocked their fingers together by now.

"Well, that's pretty hard to do, so I don't blame ya." She says and Max chuckles, before glancing over at the blonde. "What about the bleached hair? What was the reason for that?" She asked curiously and Nicky shrugs her shoulders, glancing over. "Too many people said Eds and I looked alike. I didn't like it. I don't know why, but I just didn't, so I got my hair dyed. I'm thinking of getting it like light brown though, make it look more natural." She says and Max just shakes her head.

"No, keep it like this. I like it this way..."

The two girls fell asleep eventually, hands still intertwined because neither pulled away at all since their fingers laced together. They even woke up like that, it was Nicky who pulled her hand away when she heard Eddie shout, "Nick! Wheeler is on the phone for you!" She got flustered at that, quickly sitting up and getting out of bed to get the phone.

She rushed over to where Eddie is blabbering on and on and on, grabbing the phone from him and shooing him away as he just grins before pointing. "I'm making waffles, invite your friends to join us." He says, then she just nods quickly and pushed him away before she held the phone to the side of her face, "hey, Wheeler," she says, glancing at Eddie and seeing that dumb grin on his face as he got everything ready, the maple syrup, whipped cream, the fruits, jams and whatnot.

She flipped him off before turning her back towards him as Mike sighs, "hey... Last night was weird." He says as if it was shocking news and she hums. "No shit." She says and Mike just took a moment, pursing his lips. "I wanted to... ask if you wanted to hang out with us? Lucas told me, that you, El and Max are having a sleepover and maybe you girls can come over and we all just... hang out in my basement." He says and Nicky just smiles.

"That sounds fun. I'll ask El and Max." She says and Mike grins widely. "Cool. Yeah. Okay. Let me know, or, well, yeah, just call me back." He says and she chuckled. "Okay, Wheeler." She says and he sighs. "Can you call me Mike?" He says and she scrunched up her nose. "Earn it first, 'kay?" She says and he laughs. "Okay. I'll definitely work hard to earn it..." He says and she rolls her eyes.

"See ya later, Wheeler."

After Nicky told the girls to come eat, they sat around the table with Eddie, talking and eating their waffles before they got ready for their day, Nicky telling the two about meeting up with the guys and hanging out with them at the Wheeler house, to which Max raised a brow at her and she just shrugged sheepishly.

It was a little awkward at first, when they got there and Lucas went to give Max a hug and a kiss on the cheek, smiling at her and asking how her morning was. Mike looked at Nicky expectantly as Dustin and Will watch the pair, knowing from Mike sharing, that they've kissed. El watched two curiously, raising her brows as Nicky just smiled at Mike. "I had a nice morning. My brother made us waffles." She says and Mike just chuckles softly.

"That's nice..."

They spent their time, playing Atari, the girls getting their hairs braided by Will who was very good at it because of El's hair length now and the fact Mike's grew a little past his shoulders. Lucas, Dustin and Mike tease him for it but he knows it's all lighthearted. After Will braided two random strands in her hair, tying them off, Mike walked over and she glanced up, Will also looking up at his friend.

Mike glanced between the two quickly, his eyes darting back and forth as his cheeks turn a light shade of pink. "Uh, Nick, wanna talk?" He asks and she raised her brows. "Okay," she says and he held out his hand. Will watched them as Nicky put her hand into his and she got pulled up almost immediately to her feet. "Ooh, you're strong," she teases, squeezing his little arm and he just laughs, blushing more as he glanced over to Dustin and Lucas who are clearly making a face. "Oh, shut up." He murmurs and began leading her away.

Up the stairs and to his room as Max watched the staircase, brows furrowed before quickly looking away. El nudged her and she looked at her right away before sticking out her tongue at her. "Did... they actually kiss?" Will whispers to Max who quickly turned to him and shrugged. "Nicky didn't mention it..." She says quietly and Will looks away. "I'm gonna get a soda." He got up suddenly and Max watched him worriedly as he rushed up the staircase.

In Mike's room, Nicky is walking around the room, smiling widely at the stuff he keeps in his room before looking over with a coy smile. "Do mommy and daddy Wheeler know you bring girls into your room?" She asks mostly as a joke as she notices the knickknacks on his desk, smiling at the little D&D figurines, Eddie has some like that, says this girl named Erica made them for his club, they all got a figurine each and she gave him one of his character for his congratulations gift for graduating.

His was a knight, a little shield that had a heart on it and she glanced up at the painting above his desk next, noticing it's almost the same, of him and his friends going against a dragon, his shield in that also has a heart on it. She smiled softly when she noticed the little W.B. on the corner, meaning it was Will's.

Max mentioned a couple times before that Will has very nice artistic skills, she turns around to look at Mike who was just standing there, looking nervous, or uncomfortable. She walked over and just stood in front of him, smiling faintly. "What's up? What did you wanna talk about?" She asked and he glanced up. "Us kissing was a mistake." He says suddenly and she raised her brows. "Oh?" She said and he hums. "Yeah... I'm sorry." He says quietly, glancing down before he sighed.

"I just... I mess up. All the time. I did, back when I went to visit El, and even now, I'm messing up now and I--I'm sorry, I--I made it seem like I was throwing a party to impress you and I actually just wanted to impress someone else. And now, I fucked up everything and--" "I'm sure El will get over it, Wheeler. If you guys love each other, you'll work through anything." Her voice is a bit quiet and he glanced up.

"I wanna make things right with Will..."

 

  

  

  

  

 

  

  

  

  

authors note
fuck it byler. yk. why not. and so far, idk about lucas tbh. maybe lucas finds someone??? or like... idk anymore lol

+ i still havent written for my nancy & jonathan fics. i'm just so focused on this one idk man i just can't find the motivation i think i'll sit down and force myself to this week 😭