dating advice from lucas and max

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A brand-new summer day dawned in brilliant gold, and Alina woke, not realizing her promise to Dustin last night would be broken. Swinging out of bed and landing on light feet, she crossed over to the photos on her desk and bid her dad and Bob her usual good morning before getting dressed. One of Jonathan's shirts was in her dresser, so she wore that, tucking the oversized garment into a pair of jeans. She'd woken up a little later today, so she assumed that he had already gone to work with Nancy, and he wouldn't mind if she wore his clothes.

After braiding her hair into two pigtails, Alina made her way into the kitchen, where she found Will and Skywalker, the latter curled up in his bed, fast asleep. On the other hand, Will was perched at the kitchen table, eating cereal, his floppy brown hair falling over his eyes. He smiled when he saw Alina come into the room.

"Morning, Byers," said Alina, saluting Will, who was looking half-asleep. Will nodded, spooning another bite of cereal into his mouth.

"You don't have to call me that, you know," he said. "I mean, we're literally brother and sister. Your last name is Byers, too."

"Fairgrieves-Byers," Alina corrected, crouching down to stroke Skywalker, who woke up with a start, immediately leaping off of his bed and winding himself around her ankles. She scratched his chin, grateful for her cat, who had been with her through all of the messed-up stuff she'd gone through. "There's a difference there, William."

Will shook his head, amused. "You're so weird." Stretching his legs out under the table, he asked, "so, what are we doing today? D&D?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure," said Alina, shaking out some food into a bowl for her impatient feline. "I mean, we've got you, me, Gabe and Dustin. That's definitely enough for a campaign. It'll be fun. Like the old days." She grinned. "Jeez, I'm saying 'old days' like I'm seventy."

"Yep, we're practically ancient," said Will. "Fourteen whole years old. We're basically immortal beings at this point."

Alina laughed and poured herself her own bowl of cereal and paired it with orange juice, moving to sit beside her brother at the kitchen table. Skywalker, placated by food, crunched away as the siblings ate, their hearts light with anticipation for the day ahead. After all, they were just kids.

"Hey," she said suddenly, her grin widening. "Do you think Dustin's still on that hilltop?"

"Knowing him, he would be." Will took another bite of his Lucky Charms. "But don't you feel kind of bad, for leaving him up there by himself? Maybe we should've stayed a little longer or something."

"I mean, I kind of do feel guilty," said Alina, her grin fading slightly, "but you know we couldn't stay up there for the whole night. I mean, at least we stayed longer than El and Mike. They didn't even try to act like they were interested."

"Yeah, I guess that's true..."

Alina was beginning to take a sip of her orange juice when the phone rang, its shrill noises making it rattle in its holder. She hadn't expected it, and started, inhaling by accident, causing the orange juice to shoot up her nose. Will jumped, milk spilling out of his cereal bowl, as Alina burst into a coughing fit; still choking, she staggered to her feet and answered the phone.

"Hello?" she wheezed, slowly beginning to regain her breath.

"Al."

That was El's voice on the phone, but that wasn't what made Alina pause (and nearly burst into another coughing fit). No, it was the fact that she sounded so upset. Her voice was shaking, and Alina could tell that she was halfway to bursting into tears. She hadn't sounded like this since... well, Alina couldn't remember a time when El had been so sad, except for maybe the time she willingly sacrificed herself to bring an end to the Demogorgon's reign of terror.

Alina swallowed, finally regaining her breath (although her face was now sticky with orange juice) and felt her face soften. "El," she said. "What's wrong? Is everything alright? What happened?"

"I need your help," El replied, taking a stuttering breath. "Come to Max's house."

"Max's?" Alina repeated. "Uh, okay. I'll be there as soon as I can, alright? Just take some deep breaths, and I'll see you soon."

She was about to hang up when El's voice crackled out of the phone again. "Alina?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"Of course," said Alina. "You can call me anytime. Bye, El."

"Bye."

Alina hung up the phone and turned to the mess in the kitchen. There were splatters of orange juice on the table, milk dripping on the floor (which Skywalker was currently lapping at) and Will, leaned back in his chair, wheezing with laughter from his sister's coughing fit, clutching his sides. She couldn't help but laugh at the look on his face as she moved to mop up the mess she had made. After she was finished, she sat down again to finish her cereal.

"We're going to have to have a raincheck on that D&D," she said sheepishly. "El needs my help. Maybe you can play without me?"

Will sighed, but he was still shaking with laughter. "Sure, I'll go to Mike's. If he's not being totally insufferable, that is."

"Cool," said Alina. "And you can invite Gabe, Lucas, and Dustin, too."

Will nodded, and Alina hustled to finish her cereal quickly so she could get to Max's house in good time. It wasn't very far away, so she could run instead of riding her bike (it was still quite the relaxing practice for her even after all this time), but she wanted to hurry nonetheless. Throwing her bowl into the sink, Alina slid into the bathroom, where she brushed her teeth quickly before heading out into the fresh summer day. The sun beat down on the top of her head, and birds chirped on telephone poles. Alina walked down the driveway and then broke into a light jog, making her way down the streets of Hawkins she knew so well. She passed neighbours watering their lawns and little kids playing hopscotch as she ran, her hands curling into their usual fists.

She sped up, running like she was being chased by psycho scientists desperate to perform experiments on innocent children. Well, considering she once had been chased by psycho scientists, she could compare that she was running at nearly the exact same speed she had been in the halls of Hawkins Middle. It was in no time at all that she arrived at Max's house, where she found Max and El on the street outside, the latter clutching Max's skateboard. They jumped, whirling around at the sight of Alina barreling towards them, but at the least second, she dug in her heels, spitting gravel everywhere.

Wiping sweat off her brow, she smiled at her friends. "So, what did I miss?"

"Nothing," said Max, arching an eyebrow. "I have absolutely no idea what is going on."

"Can we talk?" El asked. "The three of us?"

"Uh, sure," said Max, looking to Alina, her face lit up with confusion. Alina knew why. Even though they were technically friends, the three of them hadn't hung out on their own at all. In fact, Alina didn't think Max and El had even had a conversation that was between just the two of them. It was weird.

"Let's go inside," said Alina quickly, and Max nodded. Alina had been here before, but El, apparently, had not, as she looked around curiously as Max lead them to her bedroom. Ushering the two of them into her room, Max watched as Alina and El took a seat on her bed, where the latter immediately started to spill out the story of a suspicious phone call she'd gotten from Mike this morning.

"...and then he said he—he missed me," El continued now, watching Max pace around her room. "And then he just hung up."

"He's a piece of shit," Max blurted.

"What?"

"Mike doesn't have jack shit to do today, and his nana obviously isn't sick." She stopped, pointing a finger at El. "I guarantee you, him and Lucas are playing Atari right now."

"But friends don't lie," said El, repeating the party's motto, the one she'd been taught so long ago. Max just shook her head.

"Yeah, well, boyfriends lie. All the time."

"Well," said Alina, thinking about Lucas, "I wouldn't say all the time—"

"All the time," Max repeated.

Unfortunately, she was right. At Mike's house, the boys had done the same thing El, Max, and Alina were doing, and had met up for advice. Everyone except for Dustin, that was. Gabe had tried to invite him over when Will had called him, but he hadn't responded, so now it was just the four of them. They were in the basement, Lucas on an armchair, Mike pacing around the room, and Gabe and Will sitting at the table where they were setting up D&D. But it didn't seem like Mike was in the mood for a campaign right now. He, of course, was worried about El.

"She knows I'm lying," he blurted now. "She knows I'm lying."

"I don't even understand," said Lucas. "Why lie?"

"Hopper," Mike explained. Gabe suppressed a yawn. He was getting tired of talking about girls all the time, and really was just in the mood to play D&D. He wasn't very good at it, but it was fun, roleplaying elves and whatnot. He just hoped that Lucas and Mike would hurry the hell up so that they could actually get to it.

Mike continued, "He threatened me."

"Did he say he'd kill you?" Lucas asked seriously.

"What? No."

"So then, what's the big deal?"

"Yeah," said Gabe. "I mean, Hopper can be a little scary sometimes, but do you really think he'd hurt you? He's the Chief of Police! He'd have to like... put himself in jail."

"The big deal is that if I don't do what he says, then he'll stop me from seeing El," said Mike. "Like, permanently."

Gabe rolled his eyes. By the way Mike was acting right now, maybe not seeing his girlfriend would be a good thing. And, besides, it was definitely an empty threat. Hopper couldn't do shit about their relationship, not when he was at work for most of the day. Perhaps they'd have to be a little more subdued about it, but that would be good for them.

"You guys don't understand," said Mike, looking from Lucas to Gabe. "He's crazy. He's lost his mind."

Yeah, right, thought Gabe, just as Will piped up, "Hey, guys, we're almost set up here."

"I had no choice, guys," Mike continued, like he hadn't heard him. "I really had no choice."

"I just wish you'd consulted me," said Lucas, "because the way you handled this... you're in deep shit."

Deep shit indeed. Back at Max's, the redhead was sitting El down. "You're going to stop calling him," she said seriously. "You're going to ignore his calls. As far as you're concerned, he doesn't exist."

"Doesn't exist?" El asked, her eyes widening.

"He treated you like garbage," said Max. "You're gonna treat him like garbage. Give him a taste of his own medicine."

"Give him the medicine," El repeated, causing Alina to stifle a laugh. Max nodded.

"Mm-hmm. And if he doesn't fix this, if he doesn't explain himself... dump his ass."

"Wow," Alina whistled softly. "You sure know a lot about relationships."

Max grinned, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "I may have been in a few back in California."

That explained it. El had only ever had Mike, who was currently groaning in his basement, falling back onto the couch as he realized what he'd done. Lucas was leaning forward, still spewing advice that Gabe wasn't entirely sure was totally accurate.

"I'm not going to lie," he said, "it's gonna be bad. But... you can fix this. It's just one little mistake." He stood up. "I've made hundreds, thousands. Alina and I... we've fought. Quite a few times, in fact. I can be stupid sometimes. But what have I done? Huh? Have I despaired? No. I've marched back into battle, and I've won her back every single freaking time."

"How?" Mike asked as Gabe's eyes flickered down to the D&D board, another yawn making its way past his lips.

"I'll show you," said Lucas solemnly. "Come on."

He and Mike stood up.

"Come on," said Max, to Alina and El.

Alina grabbed her outstretched hand and stood up, just as El asked, "Where are we going?"

"To have some fun. There's more than life to stupid boys, you know."

The three girls headed off, and Mike and Lucas made their way upstairs as well, completely forgetting about the two others who were still sitting at that table. Will's eyes widened, and he tried calling upstairs for them. "Wait, guys!" he yelled. "We're still here! Guys?"

But his cries fell on deaf ears, and Gabe chewed his lip. It seemed like they wouldn't be playing D&D after all.

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: this is my last day of school!! i know a lot of you have already been off for a month, but here in canada we get out in june and go back in september. online school has been kicking my ass and i'm super excited to be done with it and focus more on my writing :)

speaking of, the next chapter we're at the mall! i'm so hyped for this and the sleepover scenes afterwards, because that's when we finally get the juicier stuff to happen!! unfortunately, this also means gabe and will both have to suffer through lucas and mike's obsession with girls. oops.

'till next time!