Chapter Seventy-Four: Teardrops On My Guitar

It felt like the second the Harrington siblings re-entered the trailer, they were being ambushed. The others had clearly been waiting for them to start talking strategy and figure out where they were going to be getting these Vecna-killing weapons.

Eddie started talking about something called 'The War Zone' that would apparently have everything they hoped and desired. However, Annie didn't care to listen. She had her headphones on, drowning out all the planning.

Besides, this stuff didn't apply to her. She was the distraction. Not the killer.

Annie felt a nudge and looked over at Max, who had been the one doing the nudging. She paused the tape and removed her headphones. "What's up?" she asked quietly, not wanting to draw anyone at the table's attention.

"Can we go talk?" Max asked, nodding her head in the direction of her room.

Annie nodded right away, and they walked off to her room. They wouldn't be too hard to find if the others needed them.

The brunette went in first, taking a seat on the edge of Max's bed. Once inside, Max closed the door, only leaving about a one inch gap. Just so they weren't too hard to find. But she also didn't want anyone eavesdropping.

"What's going on? Please don't tell me I'm getting two heart to hearts in one day. I don't think my heart can take it all," Annie said, kind of joking, but kind of not. "I just spent a few minutes out there with Steve trying to convince him. Don't tell me I have to convince you too?"

Max sighed, taking a seat right beside her girlfriend. She grabbed the other's hand and started drawing patterns on the back of it. "No, I don't need convincing. If I were in your shoes, I'd do the exact same thing. I just..." Max sighed.

After a second of Max staying quiet, Annie took in a breath. "Look at me, please?" she asked. Max finally moved her eyes from their hands up to Annie's face, where she saw the girl smiling gently.

The redhead couldn't stop the smile from reflecting on her own face. "I'm scared. Hell, I'm flat out terrified," she admitted. "I feel like I've almost lost you so many times, and yet you always pulled through. The demo dogs? The car accident? Pretty much last July? I've always been scared to lose you.

"It hasn't always been death, though. In my head, there's been this thought that you might decide to leave me for some reason. And while it would possibly kill me, at least you'd be alive. This time... this time I'm scared to lose lose you, and yet I can't sit here and say to not do it because I know you have to."

At the end of her rant, Max had tears dripping down her face, collecting at a point on her chin, and making the last fall to her shirt.

Annie moved her free hand up to try and wipe the tears. She really didn't know how to answer. Telling her "it'll all be okay" felt like a shitty option, because it's very possible nothing would be okay. So what does she say?

The truth worked. "I'm scared, too. God, I am so freaking scared right now. I know that there's a chance this is a one way trip, and that is just downright terrifying to me. But... we don't have any other options. Like, nothing. If there were another option that were feasible, trust me I'd be running for it. But we don't. So I'm trying to be brave."

Max sniffed and a look of sadness came over her face. "Annie, you never have to prove your bravery. Especially to me. Do you remember last summer? When you saved Billy? Or, how about in February, when you took a hit from a speeding car instead of me? You are so brave. Now's not the time to try and prove that when you really don't need to."

Annie knew she meant well. While the words were somewhat harsh, she knew Max. She knew that her girlfriend was only trying to give her an out. "Max-" Annie started, in that tone Max knew well.

"No- no, I... you charged the literal Mind Flayer with a gun- a gun! That, no offense, did nothing to severely damage it," Max said. "But you did it anyway and succeeded. You have no idea how brave you are because you still try and prove it to us and yourself even though we all know you don't need to."

Tears were dripping down Annie's face now. "Max..." she whispered this time, and the redhead finally stopped to listen. "You know that's not what this is about. This is about us not having any other options. Not a one."

Another sniff, followed by a watery, "I know. Was just hoping that maybe there was just... something. Anything that could guarantee you being okay. More than okay, safe."

Annie couldn't help but smile at the protectiveness of her amazing girlfriend. "You know, you're starting to act a little too much like Steve," she joked, and the girls laughed.

"Yeah, well, we have the same interests at heart," Max answered. "We'll keep our Barbie safe. And you can count on that, okay?"

Annie nodded. Even though she knew this already, hearing the words out loud being spoken so confidently made relief flood Annie's chest. A warmth, as if she had just swallowed a freshly made cup of hot chocolate. It was nice.

"Of course, Red. Besides, I've gotta make it through all this. We still have a trip to California to plan and take. My plate's too full for me to not see this through," Annie said.

Max smiled, and the tears were finally starting to slow back down. "Oh, we do! We need to have the most solid plans known to man in order to convince your parents to let you come. We'll rope in Steve and maybe Billy to help with the convincing. Knowing there will be two adults with us the whole time? Should help."

"Yeah... but the argument I had with my mom might not."

Max gave her a confused look, so the girls leaned back and Annie told Max what happened that day at the Harrington house. Unlike with Steve, Annie didn't feel the tears coming this time. Maybe because she got them out of her system multiple times now.

That, of course, made no impact to the unceasing hand holding. Max would squeeze it every now and then, offering support through harder parts of the story. By the end of it, the two girls were right next to each other, their sides touching entirely.

Their conversation started to go down random paths, going from them talking about Annie's parents (neither liked the adults all that much), their California trip, their worry about those in Lenora, and then it just kept going from there.

Annie was laughing over something that Max had told her when the door to the room was flung open. The girls sat up and looked at a panicked Eddie with confused expressions. "I know it wasn't closed, but it's still nice to knock. What if we were making out?"

"That's... whatever, I'm just not gonna-" He sighed and shook his head, resetting. Eddie looked to Max. "I need a ski mask, bandana, anything like that?" he asked.

At first, the girls looked at the bandana hanging out of Eddie's back pocket. Then, Max's eyes gravitated toward her closet, where a certain something was peaking out.

"What do you think?" Max asked, giving Annie's arm a bump with her own. The brunette looked to where the redhead was looking and saw the same thing.

"Oh, I think it would be just perfect," she answered.

Eddie, still standing in the doorway, looked between the girls. "Do I get to know, or is it a surprise?"

Max looked back over to him. "I think you'll like it either way." She got up from where she had been sitting, Annie standing up as well, and went over to pull the mask from her closet. "It should fit you okay, it was a little big on me a couple years ago."

She grabbed the mask and then tossed it over to Eddie. When he caught it, his eyebrows went up in surprise and in confusion.

He turned the mask around to face the girls. "Mike Myers? Really?"

Annie shrugged, then crossed her arms. "You wanted something like a ski mask or a bandana, this is what you've got. Just... watch the hair."

Eddie's hand went up to his hair and he had the same thought process as Annie did. Rubber mask? Might pull his hair right out. Would hurt.

"Right. Well, let's go. We've got a plan."

A/n: and we followed up a cute Steve and Annie moment with an adorable Max and Annie moment. I felt, again, the timing was right for it to happen here. After, there's not going to be a lot of alone time for them. Hope you enjoyed, see you tomorrow :)