CHAPTER THIRTY:
THE KIDS AREN'T ALRIGHT

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   USUALLY, LIZ HATED Nancy's aggressive driving but right now, she loved it. Nancy had been going at least fifteen over the speed limit through the streets of Hawkins before pulling into the parking lot of a small grocery store. It was clearly closed but they fixed that by throwing a rock through the sliding glass doors. They all filed into the store, Eleven being held by both Max and Mike. They went straight to the first aid aisle as Nancy grabbed rubbing alcohol and bandages, "Okay, get her down."

   They put Eleven down on the ground gently, her back against one of the shelves. Nancy slowly rolled up Eleven's pants, revealing the wound that was oozing blood. Everyone in the room let out an, "Oh shit." Liz thought she might throw up.

   Nancy opened up the gauze package and Max's eyes widened, "What — What — Hey, what are you doing?"

   "I'm cleaning the wound," Nancy explained before pouring rubbing alcohol on the gauze.

   Max placed a hand on Nancy's arm, "No, first, we need to stop the bleeding, then clean, then disinfect, then bandage." Everyone stared at her, wondering how she even knew that in the first place. "I skateboard. Trust me."

   Max grabbed gauze and placed it over Eleven's bleeding wound, "Mike, hold this." He placed his hand on the gauze. "Keep the pressure on it, nice and firm, okay?" Max looked up at Nancy. "We're gonna need soap and water."

   Nancy and Jonathan nodded before going off to find what Max needed. Liz watched as Lucas unzipped his backpack and dumped out everything from it. Max turned around, hearing the noise before glancing down at the random objects. She then looked up at Lucas, "Does any of this help?"

   Max shook her head, "No. Go get me a washcloth and a bowl."

   "A bowl?" Lucas questioned.

   "Lucas," Max glared at the boy.

   Will patted Lucas's arm, gesturing for them to go. Lucas sighed, rolling his eyes and going with Will. Max then looked up at Liz who was watching Max treat Eleven's wound, "Can you go with them? Make sure they actually get what I need."

   Liz nodded, "Yeah."

   Liz left the aisle, following Will and Lucas. She saw they were going towards the cereal aisle and she rolled her eyes. She walked into the aisle, "Max said she needed a bowl and a washcloth, not cereal. Snacking is not our main priority right now."

   "We are looking for a bowl," Lucas argued. "It's obviously with the cereal."

   Liz furrowed her brows in confusion at the two boys, "What? Why would it be with the cereal, a food item when a bowl isn't food?"

   Lucas looked at Will then back at Liz and chuckled, "What else do you use a bowl for?"

   Liz sighed in frustration, "Please tell me you're joking."

   "Why would I be joking?" Lucas asked, completely serious. "Cereal is the only thing bowls are ever used for."

   Liz sighed once more before nodding. She then turned around and waved at the boys as she walked off, feeling like she was losing brain cells, "Nevermind."

   Liz tried looking for signs that pointed to where the dishware was. Sadly, this convenience store didn't have any signs indicating where things were. Liz groaned in annoyance and started scanning the aisles up and down, searching for dishware. All she needed was one bowl and one washcloth. She didn't understand why they were so hard to find. After going through five aisles, she finally found the one that housed both dishware and towels.

   Liz smiled and headed into the aisle. She grabbed a plastic bowl just as Max popped into the aisle. She sighed in relief once she saw Liz, "Oh, thank God you're actually looking, unlike Lucas and Will." The redhead walked over to Liz. "They're looking at fireworks, thinking they're gonna be any help in fighting this monster. We have El, I think we're good."

   Liz watched her rant and she started to think back to the hospital in the bathroom. They still hadn't talked about what almost happened. Liz wanted so badly to know for sure if the girl Max was talking about was Liz. She wanted to know if Max liked her just as much as she liked Max. So, despite this being the absolute worst time, Liz took a deep breath, "I know this is literally the worst time to talk about this, but I don't know when I'm gonna get the chance to again, so..."

   Max looked at her, waiting for her to continue, "Yeah?"

   "So, um, in the hospital bathroom, you know, when I told that I'm gay," Liz started, Max listening intently, a smile growing on her face. "You said that you liked girls too and you started talking about a girl you like and that you broke up with Lucas for this girl. I thought maybe you were talking about me when you were describing her but I mean, that might just be me reading too much into things or playing out a fantasy, I don't know." At this point, Liz was ranting. Max, however, thought it was adorable. "So, yeah, I guess, what I'm asking is do you like me? If you don't, then cool, we don't have to ever talk about this again, but if you do that would be so great because I like you. Like, I really like you, like so much. I've liked you ever since I met you and you are just so amazing and smart and funny and the most beautiful girl I have ever seen —"

   The feeling of Max's soft lips pressed against Liz's cut off Liz's ranting. Liz thought she was dreaming. Max softly ran her hand up to Liz's cheek and held it, pulling herself closer to Liz's body. Liz felt like there were fireworks bursting throughout her entire body. Max pulled away after a few seconds and smiled at Liz. Liz was speechless, her face turning a light shade of pink, "I — um — wow."

   "I like you, too," Max tells her.

   Liz found herself smiling so wide. She had never felt so happy. Liz leaned forward, grabbing Max's face and kissing her again. It felt like every amazing emotion you could feel, rolled into one. Liz didn't know what drugs felt like but if this was it, then she understood why people did them. Max deepened the kiss, pulling the girl even closer if that was even possible.

   The two girls eventually pulled away, although, they both wanted to kiss forever. They knew they had jobs to do. They smiled at each other until Max stepped back, "As much as I want to keep doing that, we need to get this to El."

   Liz agreed, knowing what the main priority was at the moment. The two girls grabbed a bowl and a towel before heading back to the group. When they got there, the group was already helping Eleven up. They quickly explained that they needed to find Dustin and everyone knew the only way they could do that was with El. They took her to the frozen foods section and placed her in front of a freezer full of Eggos and opened all of the other freezers around them so El could use the humming of the freezers instead of static. They gave her an American flag to use as a blindfold and then they waited.

   It had been a couple of minutes, all of them being quiet so El could concentrate. Liz was standing next to Max and Lucas as Lucas opened a can of New Coke, the can opening echoing across the store. Max whipped her head towards him, "Quiet."

   "Oh, sorry," Lucas whispered before taking a sip from the can.

   "How do you even drink that?" Mike asked, a disgusted look on his face. Liz was wondering the same exact thing.

   "Because it's delicious," Lucas tells him.

   Max, Mike, Will, and Liz all furrowed their brows at him as they exclaimed, "What?"

   "It's like Carpenter's The Thing," Lucas explains. "The original is a classic, no question about it. But the remake..." He took another sip from the can and sighed. "Sweeter, bolder, better."

   "You're insane," Mike tells him, shaking his head.

   "So, you prefer the original Thing?" Lucas asks, clearly not understanding Mike was referring to New Coke.

   "What? No, I'm not talking about The Thing, I'm talking about New Coke," Mike shakes his head at Lucas.

   "It's the same concept, dude," Lucas argues.

   Liz shrugs, "I prefer Pepsi."

   "Uh, actually, it's not the same concept," Mike argued back, ignoring Liz's comment.

   "It is the same concept."

   "No, it's not."

   "Yes, it is!"

   Finally, El ripped off her blindfold and yelled at the two boys, "Hey!"

   They whipped their heads towards the girl and both apologized as Mike awkwardly asked, "Did you... find him?"

   Eleven informed them that he was at the mall, watching a movie. It confused the entire group, none of them understanding why he would be at a movie if he was apparently freaked out by the gate that he said was going to be opened. They grabbed the fireworks that Lucas wanted so badly to bring as he apparently thought it might help them if Eleven couldn't finish the job herself. Liz was skeptical but the filled a cart full of every single firework on display and shoved them in the car before Nancy stepped on the gas and off they went to what Liz was sure would be the final fight.

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[ 1595 WORDS ]

after thirty chapters, my babies
finally kissed!!!

their story is coming to an end y'all &
i'm not ready to let them go!!