Work Text:
Summer had sucked. There was simply no other way to put it. Their summer had been pretty great until July, and then it totally sucked. But now, lying on the grass, watching the clouds roll by, the suckiness washes away into the fall air.
Max glances over to her left, to Lucas, and can’t help but smile at that boy. An hour ago she had been standing outside of the sold Byers home as El drove off to her new home. However, right now, she got to just lay here in an expansive field with her boyfriend like nothing bad had happened today, or yesterday, or three months ago. Everything in the crazy world has melted away just leaving the two of them to enjoy the fresh crisp autumn air and sky full of puffy white clouds.
Lucas catches her glance and smiles back at her. “Hi.”
“Hi,” Max parrots back.
“I say four years from now we come back here with our shared fluffy dog.”
This makes Max laugh. “How many college dorm rooms let you keep a dog, Stalker?”
“Okay, you’re right,” he laughs. “Six years then, we’ll probably be living off campus, and we can live in an apartment that allows pets. Or eight years because we will both have our undergraduate degrees by then.”
Max’s eyes go soft. “You see us together six years from now? Hell, eight?” She can see the sheepish look that breaks out across his face the moment the words come out of her mouth.
“I mean… yeah.” Where he had been holding eye contact with her that was bordering on unblinking, he has gone to watching the clouds float idly across the expanse of sky above them. This means he can’t see the slight happy smirk that settles on her lips.
“Do you have any more plans for our future bouncing around in your head, or have you only thought about finally achieving your dream of owning a dog once you’ve moved out of your parents’ house?” Internally Max congratulates herself; man, can she make her boyfriend blush.
“Well, yeah… I mean, no.” Lucas is refusing to look at Max now while she can’t help think how cute he is when he gets all flustered. “No, I mean I’ve thought about my future because you know who doesn’t spare the future a thought every now and then. Have those little thoughts of my future included you? Yes, you are there, but you know it’s silly.”
“Silly?” she finds herself echoing.
“Yeah, it’s silly because we’re fourteen years old, and visualizing our future is about as real as coming up with a D&D campaign.”
And maybe the comment about it being silly hurt her even though it is sort of true; however, his defense manages to make her laugh just a bit. “That may not be your best comparison for realism based on the course of your life,” Max quips. That gets him laughing a little too.
They go back to laying in the grass silently enjoying the tranquility of the outdoors without other people around. Max moves so that their conjoined hands are not resting between them. Instead, she rolls into Lucas’ side, her head resting on his chest.
After a few minutes of nothing, Max decides she has to know what pictures and scenes of a future this wonderful boy next to her has come up with. Especially since that’s all she’s been doing herself ever since he mentioned it.
“So,” she starts with a gentle poke to his side, “what were some of the silly things you came up with?” Max can feel Lucas place a soft kiss to the top of her head making her feel older than she actually is for whatever reason.
“You don’t want to hear any of that. Like I said, silly fantasies of mine,” he tries to deflect. But, Max uses her power over him (really all it takes is a pleading look in this situation). Sighing, Lucas slowly speaks, “Okay, fine, you win. The most realistic picture I had in my head was me getting to drive you around in a couple years. The two of us driving out of this place by ourselves, just for a day, escaping.”
“That sounds nice. I hope we get to do that.” Max is glad that based on their position Lucas can’t see the lovesick smile on her face. She knows that they’re not perfect, but she really hopes that despite everything--the apparently cursed nature of this town, disagreements, and unexpected mood swings--they’ll still be together to enjoy the freedom of driving.
“Yeah… I had built up the idea of all six of us in high school at the beginning of Summer, but that’s not happening.”
Before the two of them can dwell on their friends leaving, Max asks, “Which ones are a little more idealistic?” She doesn’t like that word, it doesn’t feel right, but it’s all she could think of.
“Nah,” Max knows he must be shaking his head, “you’ll just laugh at me.”
With mock outrage, she sits up to look down on him. “Will not!” is her oh so mature comeback. His eyes seem to bore into her own reaching into her soul. He must see something because the next thing she knows, he is sitting up facing her, hands resting on his knees, and talking.
“College in the same state. I’ve thought about what it could look like in California, staying in Indiana, going up to Illonis, even New England which is a region not a state, but it’s not that big. Depending on how it works out, we could get an apartment together off campus Junior year; then, I could cook you a nice dinner once a month--”
“You can cook?” Max asks a bit incredulously.
Lucas shrugs back helpless. “My dad’s been teaching me for the last couple years.”
“You’ve been holding back on me! I expect you to show me this secret cooking ability, no way am I waiting six years.”
“Okay, one night when I’m home alone babysitting Erica, I can cook dinner. Just don’t tell Dustin.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it. This is mine.”
They return to a companionable silence until, “I’d want a Golden Retriever.”
“What?” Lucas asks.
“You said you wanted a dog. I would want a Golden Retriever. We had one when I was little. Bell, that was her name, shed everywhere, but she was so sweet that it didn’t really matter.”
“A Golden Retriever. I like the sound of that.” The two of them shared a smile of hope and longing to see the future together. Voicing little things he’d imagined in a future for the two of them made Lucas realize just how much he wanted it. Her smile told him she was thinking the exact same thing.
Today had been added to the 'days that suck' list Max mentally began keeping since the day she found out her parents were getting a divorce. El had driven away to start a fresh new life. El, who had finally given up whatever grudge she had and been Max’s first real female friend since moving to Hawkins, had moved somewhere not possessed. With her went Will who had never seemed to push and resister her like Mike. As much as she liked and would miss Will, what really broke her was seeing the other three boys she’d joined over the last year look so lost watching Will leave. And of course, taking them away was Joyce, the only adult Max had trusted since she found herself in this scary ass small town in Indiana.
Laying here with Lucas though gave the day the brightest silver lining. Listening to him talk about what he dreamed about, she didn’t care how improbable or unlikely it was, she knew she wanted to remain with him and see that future.