Chapter Text
Max slowly cracked her eyes open and shuffled around in bed. It was finally winter break and she was going to make the most of it, but not just with sleep. This was her first holiday season where she was with El. The holidays had never been a time for laughing in her family like most. It always led to Max arguing with whatever boyfriend her mom had at the time. This year was slightly different though. In July, Max’s mom had gotten a divorce from her current husband, Neil. It was a huge weight lifted off her shoulders, leaving a positive lookout for the future. While Max was thinking of how much freedom she had this holiday season, she noticed something shining outside of her window. She got up out of bed and walked over to the window, opening the curtains. Outside was a fresh sheet of newly fallen snow, untouched by anyone outside. Instantly Max’s mood perked up and she ran to call El. She dialed the Byers’ number and listened to the phone ringing. When someone picked up she launched into everything she wanted to say without shaking who was on the other end.
“Uh Max, I'm not El, I’m Jonathan.”
Max smacked herself in the face while saying, “Is El there?”
“Yeah she’s in her room, let me get her.” Max decided to sit on the floor while waiting for El to pick up the phone. Once she heard the sunshine that was El’s voice, she shot up to her feet. “Hey Max, whatcha up too?” El asked.
“Have you checked outside yet?”
“Yes and I’m so excited! This is my first Christmas with you and my family and it turns out to be a white Christmas!” Max loved listening to El talk with all the joy in her voice.
“I was thinking, do you want to go sledding and then get hot chocolate or see a movie?” Max suggested.
“Yes! What time were you thinking?”
“Do you want to meet at the sledding hill at 1:00?”
“Yeah that works. See you there, girlfriend,” and with that El hung up the phone, leaving Max a blushing mess on the other end.
A few hours had passed by and Max had gotten all of her stuff ready to go to the sledding hill. She had called Robin an hour ago asking her if she could drop her off and Robin was able too. Max sat by her door, waiting for Robin. Once she heard a familiar honk outside, she opened the door and walked to Robin’s car.
“Hey girl!” Robin said.
“Hi!” Max said with more cheer than usual
“So I take it you’re excited to hang out with your girlfriend.”
“Well it’s our first holiday season together, so I want to make it as special as possible.”
“Aw, that’s so cute,” Robin teased
“Hey,” Max said while hitting Robin’s arm. Normally Max wasn’t so fond of the teasing, but the thought of her having El with her made it a bit more bearable. The ride there was full of Robin and Max singing along to The Smiths while Robin gave Max advice on how to woo El. “Robin, I don’t need to woo her, she’s already my girlfriend,” Max laughed.
“Well she’ll be impressed by your amazing sledding skills, so she’ll be wooed again.”
“I don’t think El is gonna fawn over me sledding down a hill.”
“Well use my tips for a great snow date.”
“Why, have you used them on Nancy?” Max teased. Robin started sputtering words and Max just laughed. “No need to get flustered on Nancy in front of me now.”
“I am not flustered,” Robin said with a red face.
“Yeah, definitely.”
“Oh would you look at that, the sledding hill,” Robin said, trying to focus Max’s attention away from her.
Max turned to look out the window and she could see El standing and waving at her.
“Thanks Robin,” Max said as she got her sled out from the backseat.
“No problem, just remember to woo her with your sick sledding skills.” At that, Max laughed and closed the car door.
“Hey!” El said as she bounded up to Max.
“Hi!” Max replied.
“Are you ready to get your sled on?”
“Definanity,” Max laughed. They walked over to the edge of the hill and set their sleds on the ground, but Max was having a bit of trouble with her’s. She kept trying to sit on it, but it always shot out from underneath her. Max grabbed the sled out of frustration, shoved it on the ground, and tried to sit on it one more time, but instead of Max sliding down the hill with the sled, the sled left on its own. Max sat on the ground, annoyed with her finicky sled. While Max was stuck up on her sled having a mind of its own, El was laughing next to her.
“Maxie?” El asked.
“What.”
“Do you want to go on my sled with me?”
“Oh um sure, I mean yeah, definitely,” Max stuttered. El smiled and grabbed Max's hand. She pulled her over and sat on the front of the sled.
“You’ll sit on the back because I trust myself to steer the sled more than you.”
“Hey! That sled just hated me, I’m sure I'll be better with this one.” Even though Max protested, she still sat on the back of the sled.
“You should wrap your arms around me,” El said.
“Wh-what,” Max stuttered.
“You should wrap your arms around me, so you don’t fall off.”
“Oh yeah.” Max slowly put her arms around El, something that felt so natural.
“Ready?” El smiled.
“Yeah,” Max smiled back. El took her legs and pushed against the ground to get the sled moving. Once the sled got going, it felt like they were flying. They were coming towards the end of the slope, but the sled wasn’t slowing down.
“Uh, Max, how do we slow down?”
“I don’t know!”
“Ok, uh, roll off the sled in 3..2..1!” Both of them flung themselves off the sled, once they stood up, they realized the sled had hit a little kid. El instantly ran over to the kid to help them, but Max stood in her spot and laughed. Once El was able to calm the kid down, the kid's mom had found them and took them away. El got up and walked back to Max. She was still laughing, so El hit Max on the arm.
“Why are you laughing!”
“Because it’s hilarious.”
“Little kids getting hurt isn’t funny,” El said.
“El, look at him, he’s fine now,” Max said. El glanced back at the kid to notice he was laughing with his mom now.
“Okay fine, but what if he wasn’t?” El asked
“If it was a serious injury I wouldn’t laugh, but he just fell over, so I think it’s okay to laugh.”
El sighed and said, “Why am I dating you?”
“Because you like me,” Max said with puppy eyes. El shoved Max while smiling.
“Come on, we have to get your runaway sled now.” El took Max’s hand in hers and they walked over to grab the sled.
For the next couple of hours they laughed, made a snowman, had a snowball fight, and made snow angels.
“As the last things we do here, I think we should carve our initials into the snow,” Max declared. El sat up and drew an “E” into the snow. Max proceeded to draw a “+ M'' into the snow with a heart around it. El looked at Max in the eyes and smiled. They stared at each other for who knows how long until they both heard a voice pierce through their tension.
“Are two lovebirds gonna stare at each other forever or are you gonna come in the car,” Robin yelled. Both of them got up and walked over to Robin’s car. Once they were in the car they noticed that someone was with Robin, Nancy Wheeler.
“Nancy!” El said excitedly. Nancy was like an older sister to her and she helped her with everything from girls to school situations.
“Hey El!” Nancy replied. “So I was wondering if the two of you wanted to join us for hot chocolate and holiday movies back at my house with Robin and I?”
“Yes! Max, what do you think?” El said.
“Yeah, definitely.”
“Great! Any movie suggestions?” Robin asked.
“Gremlins,” Max said.
“Weird, but yes. Any objections?” Robin said. There was silence in the car, everyone agreeing with Max.
“Gremlins it is,” said Nancy as the four of them drove off to the Wheeler’s house.
An hour later the four of them were finally ready for their holiday movie with hot chocolates in hand. Robin was sitting on the end of the couch with Nancy’s head on her lap. Max was sitting on the la-z-boy with El laying on top of her and her head hanging off one of the arms. Nancy started the movie, but no one was ever focused on the screen. Both of the couples were too in awe with each other to remotely care about the silly little creatures.