CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR:
WONDER WOMAN

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   THE RAIN WAS still falling hard when they reached Heather's house. The only thing that was helping them see through the rain was the street lights that were the main sources of light since the sun had gone down. They had decided to stop and get bikes as they all preferred to ride their bikes in the pouring rain rather than walk. El, who didn't have a bike, rode on the back of Max's.

   Liz was completely soaked. There wasn't a single portion of her body that wasn't soaked in rainwater. Her entire body felt like a prune and all she wanted was to go home, take a warm shower, and go to bed. El nodded to the two girls when they stopped in front of the house, confirming that it was the same one she had seen in her head. They walked up to the front door and set their bikes down on the lawn.

   El narrowed her eyes as she stared at the door. The lock clicked and the door slowly opened up. As they stepped inside, they lowered their raincoat hoods. The sound of soft music filled their ears. It sounded like the kind of music you would hear at a fancy restaurant. They walked into the foyer and turned a corner down a small hallway. Picture frames lined the hallway, one of which showed Heather and her family, confirming to the group that this was Heather's house.

   "This is her house," Max announced. El seemed confused, so Max continued. "Heather's house."

   A faint laugh was heard echoing from another part of the house. The three girls shared a look before turning down another hallway. It lead to the living room which was connected to the dining room. When the girls walked in, Liz was met with a scene she didn't expect to see. It was Billy have dinner with Heather's parents and they were laughing, clearly having a good time. There was music playing and wine was being poured. Nothing seemed dangerous or strange. When the three girls walked in, it went quiet except for the music playing softly from the stereo. Heather's parents looked very confused while Billy's smile only fell slightly, "Max."

   "We didn't mean to... barge in," Max starts, also not expecting this scene in front of her. The way El described everything, they all thought Heather was in danger. "We tried to knock, but... maybe you didn't hear us over the storm."

   "I'm sorry, who is this dripping all over my living room right now?" Mr. Holloway asked, clearly annoyed that three girls he didn't know were making puddles on his floor.

   Billy chuckled before setting down the fork he had been using to cut up a steak, "I'm sorry. Janet, Tom, this... is my sister, Maxine."

   Janet smiled "Oh!"

   Billy stood up from the table and walked over to the three girls. He was smiling but something seemed off, "What on earth are you doing here? Is something wrong?"

   "We just wanted to make sure everything was okay," Max answered.

   Billy's smiled dropped, "Okay? Why wouldn't it be okay?"

   "Where is she?" El asked.

   Billy's gaze moved to El, "I'm sorry. Where is who?"

   Suddenly, the door to the kitchen flew open and out walked Heather Holloway with a try of cookies fresh from the oven. Liz furrowed her brows in confusion. Heather looked fine. She didn't have a scratch on her or any strange bruises, "Well, they're a little burnt, I'm sorry—"

   "Heather!" Billy exclaimed. Heather stared at the three girls in confusion, but the three of them were also staring back with just as confused looks. Max and Liz shared a look, both confused at how Heather looked perfectly fine. "This is my sister, Maxine. This is her friend, Elizabeth, and..." He paused as he looked at El. "I'm sorry, I did not quite catch your name."

   "El."

   "El," Billy nods. "Now, what is it you were saying, El? You were looking for somebody?"

   El moves her gaze towards Heather who still looked confused as she watched. El started to point towards Heather, "I—I saw you—"

   Liz's eyes widened before she interrupted El, "Your manager. At the pool."

   Max nods, continuing for Liz, "He said you guys didn't come into work today, so we got worried."

   "Heather wasn't feeling so hot today, so we thought we'd take the day off to nurse her back to health," Billy explains to the girls before looking back at Heather. "But you're feeling just fine right now, aren't you, Heather?"

   Heather nodded. "I'm feeling so much better." Billy turned back to the girls, a smile on his face. Liz felt uneasy. So many things about the situation felt wrong, including Billy's smile which seemed so forced. She didn't know what was going on but she had a feeling the sick story wasn't what actually happened that afternoon. "Do you girls want a cookie? They're fresh out of the oven."

   There was a moment of silence as everyone stared awkwardly at each other. The three girls shared a look before Liz smiled politely at Heather and shook her head, "I'm sure they're as great as they smell but we should probably be getting home. It's starting to rain harder and we're all soaked."

   "Okay, well, it was nice to meet you girls," Janet smiled.

   "Yeah, you too," Liz smiles back.

   "I'll walk you girls out," Billy offers. El didn't even wait for Billy to start walking, she just left the room. Max grabbed Liz's hand and the two walked out together as Billy followed them. He watched from the door as the three girls got on their bikes and started riding off down the street, the rain pouring even harder than before. Liz looked over her shoulder and saw him watching them from the window as they rode down the street. She didn't know what was really going on but it all felt strange.

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   The girls ended up at Max's house. Once they left the Holloway household, Max had asked both girls if they wanted to spend the night at Max's. They both agreed, thinking it would be fun. Max promised both girls they could shower and borrow pajamas from Max, which made Liz even happier. She loved when it rained but she couldn't stand when her hair got soaked from the rain.

   Liz had just gotten out of the shower when Max knocked on the bathroom door. Liz wrung out her hair before putting a towel around herself. She walked over to the door and opened it. Max was standing there with a smile and in her hands was some shorts and an oversized t-shirt. Liz took the clothes, "Thank you."

   "Of course," Max smiles. "You can borrow some clothes tomorrow too. My closet is your closet."

   Liz chuckled, "I would love nothing more."

   "If you want, after you get dressed, I can braid your hair," Max offered. Liz knew she must've had a surprised look on her face as Max's eyes widened. "O—Only if you want, I mean. If you don't want a braid in your hair you don't have to, of course, but—"

   "Max," Liz interrupts. Liz couldn't help but smile at the redhead. Seeing the girl stutter and seem almost nervous was something Liz wasn't used to but she thought it was cute. "I would love that."

   Max smiled largely, "Okay, great! I'll let you get dressed now."

   Liz watched and giggled softly as Max turned around and walked back to her bedroom. Liz closed the door and leaned against it. She couldn't help but have a smile on her face anytime she was around Max Mayfield. Liz set the pile of clothes on the counter and started to get dressed. The clothes smelled exactly like Max. She couldn't help but pull the collar of the shirt up to her nose to smell it. It smelled like Max's hair and it made Liz smile.

   Liz ran a hand through her hair before opening up the bathroom door. She made her way back to Max's room where Max was already grabbing a hairbrush and a scrunchie. When Liz walked in, Max smiled, "Ready?"

   "Yep," Liz nodded.

   Max handed her the hairbrush and the scrunchie before grabbing her desk hair, "Let's do it in the bathroom."

   The girls went to the bathroom where Max sat the chair down in front of the counter. Liz sat down in the chair before handing the hairbrush and the scrunchie to Max. Max took them and started to brush Liz's damp hair. Liz watched in the mirror as Max put all her attention on Liz's hair. Liz smiled at Max's focused face. She started to think about if this is what it would be like if they were dating. Would they basically live at each other's houses? Would they share clothes? Would they do each other's hair? Would they cuddle when they slept? Liz found herself smiling as she pictured herself dating Max. She didn't know if it would ever happen but she let herself dream.

   As Max brushed her hair, Liz couldn't help but close her eyes and lean back. She heard Max's light chuckle and smiled, "Does it feel good?"

   Liz chuckled, "Yeah. I love when people play with my hair."

   "I think everyone does," Max agrees.

   Max set down the hairbrush on the counter before starting to braid Liz's hair. Liz could feel that she was going slow and she liked it. It made her savor the feeling more. What she didn't know was that Max was going slower on purpose because she knew Liz loved the feeling. Liz kept her eyes closed the entire time as Max braided her hair. She could've fallen asleep right then and there if Max had kept braiding for another five minutes, "Alright, what do you think?"

Liz slowly opened her eyes and was met with the smiling face of Max Mayfield. Max had moved so she was standing in front of Liz and was holding a out a mirror. Liz stood up and turned around before looking in the mirror to see the back of her head. Her hair was woven in an intricate braid that Liz thought looked like a professional had done it. Liz's mouth dropped, "Oh my god, Max..."

"Is that a good or bad reaction?" Max asks, her smiling falling slightly.

"Good!" Liz promises. "Amazing, actually. Wow. Can you do my hair tomorrow morning?"

Max smiled largely once more, "Yeah, sure! I would love nothing more than to be your hair stylist."

Liz chuckled before setting the mirror back down onto the counter, "We better get back to El. I'm sure she's lonely."

   "Oh, yes, I almost forgot I wanted to show her my comics," Max agrees before grabbing the chair as the two girls exit the bathroom. "She pretty much only hangs out with Mike and needs to be shown actual good comics rather than the ones Mike likes."

   When they got back to Max's room, El was already making her bed on the floor. Just like the other night, Max kept her promise and was letting Liz sleep with her while El slept on the floor. Max grabbed two comic books from her night stand before sitting down on the floor beside El. Liz watched from the bed as Max held up the two comic books with an enthusiastic smile, "Which one?"

   "I don't know," El shrugged. Liz could tell something was off with her. Despite knowing Heather was okay and Billy didn't kill anyone, El still seemed on edge and distracted. Liz wasn't surprised since El had gone through a lot in her fourteen years of life and was always worrying.

   Max frowned, "Hey, there's nothing to worry about anymore, okay?"

   El sighs, "It doesn't make sense."

   Max furrowed her brows, "What doesn't make sense?"

   "Heather," El answers. "The blood. The ice."

   "Heather had a fever, so she took a cold bath, but she's better now," Max explains. El looked like she wanted to believe it but was having difficulty. Liz understood El's suspicion but she didn't want to think about it too much. "That has to be it. I don't know where that blood came from, but... we saw her. We all saw her. She's totally fine."

   "What about Billy?" El asks.

   "What about him?" Max questions.

   "He was acting kinda weird. He wasn't really himself," Liz explains, remembering his strangely nice behavior. "But, then again, if he was having dinner with her parents, he might've just been trying to look good for them."

   "Yeah," El agreed. "He seemed... wrong."

   "Wrong is kinda like his default," Max starts before starting to chuckle. "But it's nice to know he's not a murderer, because that would've totally sucked."

   Liz laughed along with her as did El. Liz noticed El starting to feel better and loosen up. El glanced at the comics Max had been showing her and her eyes lingered on Wonder Woman, "Who... is that?"

   Max seemed very surprised, "See, this is why you can't just hangout with Mike all the time." Max picked up the comic and opened it, showing El. "This is Wonder Woman, a.k.a Princess Diana. She's from Paradise Island, which is, like, this hidden island where there are only women Amazon warriors."

   Liz smiled as Max eagerly introduced El to Wonder Woman. El seemed very interested and Liz wasn't surprised that she was. Wonder Woman was a powerful warrior just like El was and Liz thought El needed to see more representation of that in her life. Liz watched happily as Max explained Wonder Woman's powers and abilities along with her back story. She thought it was cute how interested Max was in showing El new things. And so, as the night went on, Liz watched her two best friends obsess over Wonder Woman with a smile and wondered how she got so lucky.

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[ 2327 WORDS ]

ugh the stuff i have planned for max
& liz soon🥰🥰🥰🥰

i'm so excited!!