"Do you have a plan?" Will asks Lucas.
"A plan for what, Will?" Lucas asks taking a shot of whatever he can find.
"Hey! Be careful with those shots. You have no idea what's out on this table!" Dustin demands overbearingly.
"What do you know anyway?" Lucas says banging the now empty glass on the countertop. "I mean—did you hear the way she said my name? As if she was looking for me or waiting for me. She's such a faker."
"What are you saying about my girlfriend now?" Troy walks into the kitchen.
"Nothing, just ignore me," Lucas says rolling his eyes. Troy isn't willing to let it go.
"Why are you even here, Luke? If you have a problem, you should find your way out. I'm guessing you can find the door." Lucas avoids his eyes. Troy inches closer, "Trust me, she doesn't want you and she definitely does not need you so go back home and play games with your freaky little friends. What's up Zombie Boy? Still kicking?" Lucas holds his tongue, but makes a threatening motion. Troy laughs and grabs a bottle of water and an Ibuprofen from the cabinet. Will and Dustin exchange looks wondering if the smart move would actually be to leave before something starts.
In the time that Mike and El are sitting with Max. She regains some mobility and tosses over confused. El is ready and smiling, rubbing hair from her face.
"It's hard to get up."
"You should stay there. He's getting you water and some medicine. He should be back soon."
"Lucas?" she asks almost hopefully.
"No, um—what's his name?" El asks Mike. He mumbles it. "Yeah, Troy."
"I saw Lucas," she says insistent.
"He's here. He helped you get to the couch," Mike adds.
"Well, I'm a mess," she throws her hand up to her face covering her eyes. "Can you get me Lucas? I think I want to talk to him. I would get up but um," she looks down at herself. Eleven gets up. Mike would rather walk away than be left alone with Max, but El sits him back down.
"I'll be right back," she says before she disappears into the crowded living room maze.
"So, um, how's—school?" Mike asks Max to break the silence between them. All around the party is still going on and the synth music playing makes it hard for her to hear him especially with her headache kicking in.
"I'm sorry about the kitchen. I think I lashed out at you. I shouldn't have done that. I only wanted to come here tonight because I knew you were bringing El."
"Oh well, I'm glad. I know she missed you a lot."
"She missed you more I'm sure," she pauses. Mike shifts uncomfortably. Max and him never had the strongest relationship. If they bonded at all, it was over El and doing their best to keep her safe last summer. Although they definitely had different opinions on what that meant. "Things changed after she left. Nothing here was really the same."
"It can be hard to deal with," Mike agrees.
"You mean for me," Max replies quietly.
"No! No, I—I didn't. I didn't mean you specifically. All people! Like, hard on people in our party—sort of," he continues speaking trying to find the right words. He doesn't want to end up in a hole, but it seemed he already dropped himself in it.
El was lucky to go into the kitchen when she did. A second after and she would have been trying to pull the boys apart. She listens in before making her presence known.
"You think she's "fake". I'm sure she'll love to know that's what you think of her. Give it up! It's obvious you're jealous. It's pathetic," Troy says with such assurance, narrowing in on Lucas who he has pushed up against the counter.
"Lucas!" El yells out. "She's up. She wants to talk."
"To me?" Lucas balks. Troy is late to understand. His friend redelivers the same information.
"No—no! If you go to her, you're dead. You hear me? Not a policeman alive can protect you. She's drunk. She doesn't know what she's saying and if you try and take advantage of her, I'll have you knocked out and locked up, freak!"
"She wants Lucas," Eleven repeats with intensity. She has never been scared of bullies. Why should she worry about them after her experience with the Upside Down and the Bad Men? She hadn't made many more friends than Will in high school. They sometimes teased the way she spoke, although her English had gotten much better since she started attending school formally. Still, she'd gotten used to being surrounded by Mouth Breathers.
Lucas takes advantage of El's distraction to get under Troy and catches her by the door.
"Hey, is there something going on here I should know about?" a drunk Reggie dressed as a king is in the doorway.
"Nothing, man. Great party, except for these idiots." Reggie looks at the ragged group of them.
"Aren't ya'll Mike's friends?" They all nod in response. Yes, they are. "Nah Troy, these guys are cool. If you have an issue, you should come back later." Reggie says drunkenly waving them out of his house. Troy and his friends' guffaw assuming he's joking. When he manages to narrow his eyes at them, they realize he's kicking them out. Troy cracks.
"This isn't over, Luke."
~A.N. Anyone else surprised that Max would ever be with Troy?! Well I think I have some psychological reasoning that will make more sense in a future chapter.
~A.N. I love to explore El without powers and how she sees the world. Season 4 is going to be great. Leave comments on how you think El is going to be without powers or maybe some theories on when/how she'll get them back... :)