As the smell of popcorn reached her from the kitchen, Max Mayfield found herself settling into the couch comfortably, well, as comfortable as she could. Even though her broken bones had healed by now, her injuries were so severe that even after so long her body was still carved with the same pain that she felt that night in the Creel House, subdued by time but still felt every so often. Even so, she tried to look at the positive side of things, something she had been trying to learn from El. When Max remembered all the horrible things her friend had been through and how she still smiled at the little things, how grass tickles when running through it barefoot and how those god-awful manufactured waffles were still somehow so delicious, Max thought that she could appreciate things like that too. And she had learned that since she had lost her sight, she had come to use her other senses more, and right now the savory, buttery aroma of popcorn floating in the air was pretty damn good to appreciate. That is until it started to smell kind of...
"Lucas! Did you burn the popcorn again?"
"Uh, no! It's fine!" His voice rang from the kitchen, along with a hiss, then a clang, then a whispered curse.
"Lucas. Did you burn yourself with the handle?"
No answer. Max smirked to herself. She had gotten pretty good at figuring out what was going on around her based on the noises her friends made. Lucas wasn't very clumsy, but when he was, he tried to make a little as fuss as possible, but that just made the silence more telling. Dustin is loud, it seems his mind works best when he is talking things through so he is always letting his train of thought run wild and everyone in a three-mile radius would know. Mike, well, Mike is whiny. He bitches and moans and complains, which isn't always bad as he is always the first to smell bullshit and call it like it is, which Max could respect, but dear lord he can be annoying sometimes. Only sometimes though. El was the hardest to figure out by sound because she is so quiet, but Max never had to worry about it because El was the most touchy-feely of the bunch. Even if El didn't always speak Max always knew she was there because she would be holding her hand, leaning on her shoulder, or even just booping her every once in a while, just to make Max smile. It always worked. Now she could her Lucas' footsteps coming in from the kitchen and setting the popcorn bowl in the table in front of the couch. As Lucas sat down on the creaky couch, he grabbed Max's hand and led it to the bowl and once she felt the heat in her fingertips, she stretched her hand out to grab some popcorn, and Lucas let her go, taking the opportunity to grab some of his own.
"Let's see," Max said as she tasted the buttery snack, "not bad. A little on the crisp side but you're getting better"
Lucas smiled to himself, tasting the improvement from the last time he had tried to make them. He opened the box of Reece's Pieces and took Max's hand to give her some, then pouring a few directly into his mouth. He pressed the play button and the usual pre-movie commercials started rolling. His parents had gone out and Erica was with her friends, leaving the house to themselves. They looked forward to a quiet afternoon away from the party for a bit.
"Give me your hand." Max said holding out hers expectantly. He complied, trying to interlace his fingers but she wasn't looking for that, instead she grabbed it and held it close to her nose, inhaling.
"Mm, crispy."
Lucas scoffed, holding in a laugh. "I did not burn my hand Max."
She turned to him, raising her eyebrows. She couldn't see his face, but he could at least see hers and he could not resist his pride that much with that look.
"Not that bad at least."
Max let out the giggle she had been holding, Lucas joining in her laughter. She still had his hand in hers, and when they settled down, she held it close to her face again, giving it a small kiss, before finally interlacing their fingers together, and she rested her head on his shoulder, settling snugly in his support.
"Ok now the movie is starting. There is a black background, and now the title is appearing in white letters. Well, they're not white-white, they're like silvery metal, and they are getting bigger on the screen."
Max furrowed her eyebrows, tossing some popcorn into her mouth. Lucas slowly continued the description.
"Ok, so now the credits are appearing in the same metal letters as the title, there's uh Ryan Kressley, then Stephanie Bell, and-"
"Lucas. Lucas, you don't have to describe everything, you know. Just the important parts."
"Right, right. Just the important parts." He felt a bit silly, of course Max already knew the title and actors, she picked the movie. His cheeks got a bit warm, looking down reaching for the Reece's Pieces again as the starting credits continued to roll.
"Lucas?" Max turned to him, softer now. "Thank you." She reached her face a little bit further, closing her eyes expectantly. Lucas leaned in, giving her a kiss, short and sweet, taking a moment after to look at her, at all the freckles in her face, before she leaned back against him. Now the movie was actually starting and he started describing what went on the screen. One of the benefits of not seeing, another one of the small things she had been trying to appreciate, was the fact that she didn't have to keep her head looking at the tv to "watch" it, so she could lean to the side more comfortably, and closer to Lucas. As he talked his hand found the box of Reece's pieces and he went to take some, and Max upon hearing the chocolates in the box opened her mouth, angled at Lucas. He took one of the candies and threw it at her, landing in her tongue. Content, she smiled, but couldn't help but take a jab at her boyfriend.
"Guess I'm lucky one of the few things you're actually good at is aim."
Without thinking Lucas replied "We weren't champions of '86 for nothing."
"Oh my god, shut up." Max scoffed, holding in her laughter. Well, she couldn't deny that, he was right. And in that moment, everything else felt right too.