"Thanks for taking me to the nurse and that awkward moment with Nancy in the halls. And for…" Protecting me, Max trails off leaving that last part out. God, I'm bad at this.
"See ya," she says as they get back to the parking lot and was about to get back on her newly repaired board when Steve interrupts her.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where do you think you're going?" Steve asks with eyebrows raised.
"Umm... Home?" she stops in her tracks and looks at him confused.
Steve lets out a tired sigh. He's doing that a lot lately. "Come on, I'll drive you home," he added walking past her.
"You don't have to do that," Max replies looking down at the ground. It's suddenly interesting again.
"I know I don't. I just…" Wanted to make sure you get home safe, Steve trails off leaving that last part out.
"Jesus, Mayfield, it's a free ride just take it, okay?", he adds looking at his own car keys this time finding it very interesting at the moment.
God, I'm bad at this, he thinks.
With neither person fully comfortable, Steve unlocks the car and gets on the driver seat and Max opens the door to the passenger seat, settles in and they drive off.
"Can I drive?" she asks with a smirk on her face looking to break the ice.
"Sure, maybe when I'm concussed again. Just make sure I don't wake up mid-trip this time," he replied deadpan.
He should've been more exasperated with his reply because the smirk on Max's face is gone and he's not sure but he thinks she looks guilty.
Uh-oh. I said something wrong, didn't I? he thinks to himself while nervously glancing at Max.
"I'm sorry about last night," Max says without looking at him.
"Hey, hey, no. I was only kidding. Look, if you didn't drive us, we never would've made it to the tunnels in time. I overreacted in the car because I was disoriented from getting whacked in the head," Steve says as he parks the car so they can talk.
Max winces again as he mentioned getting hit in the head before speaking.
"Not that. I mean for getting you beat up. If I didn't sneak out, Billy never would've come for me and you wouldn't have been hurt," She's staring at the floor now guilt making her head heavy.
"Hey Mayfield," Steve starts while looking at her.
God, she shouldn't be feeling this way. She's too young to be feeling this guilty about anything. It's not her fault her step-brother's a douche, Steve thinks.
"Max, look at me," Steve calls again softly.
Max stirs and tries to look him in the eye.
"You snuck out, sure, but you didn't tell him to hurt anybody. He made his own bad decisions. Hell, I'm pretty sure he's just looking for an excuse to fight. You saw him in the parking lot earlier. You stopped him twice now. So, thank you. Whatever happened last night or whatever it is Billy does it's not your fault. It's his. Okay?" he hopes he sounded convincing because he meant every word of it.
Max nods her head and says, "Okay."
She's not sure if she believes him but he certainly believes what he said, Max could tell. It makes her feel a bit better.
"Besides, if anything it's Dustin's fault. Who the hell keeps a trash slug as a pet?" he joked as he starts driving again.
He was worried he said the wrong again but he sees her smile and hear a small laugh from her.
Damn good babysitter, he thinks to himself.
"I was surprised you went to school today. Did the boys go to school too?" Steve asks switching subjects entirely.
"No, they weren't there today. I would've stayed at home too but Neil insisted I go," Max replies. Shit. I probably shouldn't have said that, she thinks after the words escape her mouth. She can still hear Respect and responsibility ring in her head.
Okay, her stepdad is also a dick. It is genetic, Steve thinks to himself. He'll file that away for later, unsure of what to do with it. He doesn't want to assume the worst because he barely knows her or her family but then again this is Hawkins and he knows he's not that lucky.
"So… what's the deal with you and Nancy?" Max asks with an eyebrow raised. Her turn to switch topics entirely.
"What? No deal between us. We're friends. Just friends." Steve says trying to sound convincing but even he's not buying it and he's the one doing the lying.
"Yeah, totally. That's how I greet the boys at school too. I say nothing but their name sounding sad while being shocked to see them. We just let the awkward tension build in the air after we greet each other," Max says deadpan while looking at Steve.
"Fair point," Steve concedes glancing at Max but eyes going back to the road again.
"We…" Steve elongates the word like he's trying to think of the right word to use. "Used to date," he completes the sentence. A bit anti-climatic, sure, but it's accurate. Painful but accurate.
"Oh," Max says in reply. She remembers Nancy was with Will's brother when they found them before going to the lab. They were also close together, physically, before and after they came back with a possession-free Will. It must've not been easy for Steve to see his ex like that. Last night must've been a bad night for him. For everybody really, now that she thinks about it.
"Who's King Steve?" Max asks remembering the blonde trumpet girl.
"What?" Steve asks off-guard.
"There was that girl in the nurse's office. She called you King Steve like Billy did and said you're an asshole," Max asks curiously.
"Oh. Well, whoever that girl is she's right. I'm an asshole. I made fun of people. Bullied people. Hell, I broke Jonathan's camera and humiliated Nancy last year. Got my ass handed to me then too. King Steve's an asshole." Steve says contemplatively.
Max thinks about that. Trumpet girl may have had a point but that's not who Steve is now. He doesn't bully, he protects. She saw them with Jonathan and Nancy last night. It doesn't look like there's a grudge there but there is awkwardness trumped only by the Upside Down. And last year. That was when Lucas said all the craziness started. Dustin even said Steve fought one of those things. Maybe King Steve died last year. A casualty in all that happened. King Steve died and only Steve is left.
"What about Steve?" Max follows-up.
"What?" Steve asks confused.
"I don't know this 'King Steve' but he sounds like an asshole. But I've known 'Steve' for over a day and he doesn't seem like an asshole." Max continues hoping he'll pick up on it. Steve smirks. He understood.
"Steve's a work in progress with a headache. He has cool hair and a cool car though." He quips to Max with a smile.
"You think your hair is cool? That's presumptuous of you." Max says with a laugh.
"Aha! You're arguing the hair but not the car. Interesting. I'll take it." Steve says with a laugh of his own.
Max replies with laughter and an eye roll.
They continue bantering and the atmosphere seemed lighter after that exchange. Steve turns on the radio and asks Max to find a station she likes. They continued idle chit-chat this time with less heavy things than step-families, ex-girlfriends, and being royalty and more on to lighter things like what California was like, what are must-visit spots in Hawkins, and where is the best burger spot in town.
Hawkins isn't a big city, it's a small town so they reached Max's house fairly quickly cutting their conversation about The Karate Kid short. The blue Camaro is parked out front and they can hear music blaring from the house.
They're both running on no sleep from the morning earlier and they both want their bed but neither wanted the car ride to end. One has to go back to a house that cannot be safe for her, and the other goes back to a big, cold, empty house that's been housing one person for a while now. The car kept moving along the sidewalk slowly and minutely as if Steve is trying to prolong a moment that they both know won't last. He is. It slows to a halt in front of the blue Camaro and neither person moves at first.
"Hey, Max…" Steve starts and trails off. Max turns to him and they look at each other.
I've had worse, he hears Max's voice echo back in his head.
He wants to ask if Billy's been hurting her but he already knows the answer to that question. He remembers how her voice sounded when she realized it was Billy's car pulling up. It's oddly similar to how he sounded whenever he talked to or about his parents. He remembers that look on Billy's face when he had Lucas pinned against the wall. It's not unlike the one Steve's own father has before everything starts to hurt.
That sound of fear and look of violence? He remembers it all too well.
"Does he do that often?" he motions to her arm.
"No," Max answers. Technically, it wasn't a lie. Yes, Billy usually grabs her or pushes her around and does other dickhead things but nothing this bad and if it is this bad, it wasn't often. He must've been still mad from what happened last night.
"It's usually just yelling and threats and telling me to skate home if I piss him off enough", she answers throwing him a bone.
Steve nods not believing the 'No' but believing the second part. A compromise between truth and lie.
"What about what happened in the house? Does he do that often?" he asks again but with a softer voice.
"No, my step-father would kill him if he did," she answers honestly this time. She's not sure why she said the last part out loud.
That explains Billy, he thinks. It sucks for Billy but he's glad someone keeps him in line. For Max's sake.
"What about your stepfather? Does he…" he asks trailing off leaving the 'do that to you' implied.
"No. My mother wouldn't let that happen to me," she answers again with an uncertain certainty.
That hope in her voice is also familiar. He wishes she was right. That she has a better mother than he did. He remembers being asked questions like these before and it made him feel uncomfortable. He bet Max is feeling the same.
"Sorry for asking too many questions. I'll drop it now," he offers waving a symbolic white flag.
He sees her nod and slowly feels more at ease like a weight's been lifted off her.
"And I'm sorry your brother's a dick," he says unhelpfully.
"Step-brother," she corrects. A simple sentence laced with exhaustion. "Don't be. It's not your fault. I'm sorry he's one too," she continues.
"Right. Well…" Steve starts again grabbing his pen and writing something down in his notebook before peeling off a piece of paper and handing it to her.
"If you ever feel unsafe or uncomfortable or if you're hurt or, hell, even if you're just bored and need someone to talk to give this number a ring and I'll pick up. Whatever you need, okay?" he says sincerely. At least he hopes it comes across as sincere. He hopes he believes her.
She did. Max takes the piece of paper and stares at it for a beat longer, committing the number to memory, before putting it inside her backpack. Steve winces slightly thinking he scared her off because Max has this look on her face that he couldn't quite pinpoint. That expression is new to Max too. She feels warm, thankful, and cared for. She's not used to someone giving a shit about her.
Maybe moving to Hawkins didn't have to suck, she thinks not for the first time. Even despite the monsters and government conspiracies and messed-up step-families, it'll be all right.
"Thanks, Steve." For everything, she said leaving that last part out again.
"Get some rest, Mayfield. Take care of that arm. And if he ever leaves you high and dry or you just don't want to be in that car, you have my number. Or just wait by my car. I got you," that last part slipped out his mouth before he knew it.
Steve's worried he definitely made it weird but she gives him a small smile before unlocking the door and getting out. He's pretty sure he heard her say 'for everything' as she got outside and closed the door but maybe it's just the lack of sleep getting to him.
He watched Max walk to the front door making sure she was safe before driving away. And by safe, he means inside the house because that's as safe as he can guarantee it. It was a low bar.
Sleep, the two thought separately a sidewalk and a walkway away. One behind the wheel, one behind a wooden door.
Tired minds think alike.