CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO:
EYE SPY

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LIZ, WHO COULDN'T help but be the mom in her friend group, was very hesitant on the idea of choosing people to spy on by spinning a bottle. They had written down names of people they knew including parents and teachers and whoever the bottle landed on, El would use her abilities to find them and basically spy on them. Max and El were both hooked on the idea and wanted to do it while Liz was more on the edge and had repeated the phrase, "I don't know about this," about a million times.

"Come on, Liz," Max whines. She grips onto Liz's arm and shakes it. "We all have to agree."

"I just don't know," Liz sighs. She was sitting on her knees on El's bed with her hands in her lap. "I mean, isn't that a huge invasion of everyone's privacy?"

"They'll never know," Max explains to Liz. Liz parted her lips, sighing, still not sure. Max scooted over to Liz and sat beside her, grabbing her arm and resting her head on Liz's shoulder. "Please, Liz! We don't even have to do all of them. We'll only do one if you really want."

Liz looked down at Max who was staring up at her. Their blue eyes were locked onto each other and Max had the most adorable look on her face. Liz smiled at the girl, "You're lucky I love you."

Max sat up, a huge smile gracing her face. She then leaned over and placed a kiss upon Liz's cheek, "Thank you!"

Liz felt her cheeks heat up and butterflies fill her stomach at the feeling of Max's lips still tingling on her cheek. She watched as Max wrote down one last name onto a piece of paper and put it in the circle with the rest. The empty Coke bottle was in the center, ready to be spun, "Holy shit, I can't believe we're doing this! Ready?"

El nods, "Ready."

Max turns to Liz, waiting for her answer. Liz nods, "Ready."

El grabs the bottle and spins it. The two girls watch it spin for a few seconds before it stops. The head of the bottle pointed to Mr. Wheeler's name and all girls collectively read out, "Mr. Wheeler."

Liz frowned. She wasn't exactly excited about the whole idea of using El's powers to spy on people but if they were going to do it, they should do it on someone who's actually interesting. Max agreed with her, "Ugh. Boring."

El nods, "Yeah, boring."

"Spin again," Max giggles.

El puts her hand on the bottle but pauses and looks back at Max, "Against the rules?"

"We make our own rules," Max tells her, flashing her a smile.

El smiles back before spinning the bottle. It spun for a couple seconds before eventually landing upon Billy's name. All three girls read out, "Billy."

"This could be either really good or really bad," Liz admits. She knew Billy was an asshole but he was also a mysterious person. Liz didn't know what he got up to in his spare time. She thought maybe he could be doing something embarrassing that they could hold over him for the rest of his life or he could be doing something really gross that scar them for life.

Max hesitates but when she's El's smile, she sighs and gets off the bed, "Okay, look, I should just warn you, if he's with a girl or doing something gross, just get out of there right away before you're scarred for life."

Max grabs the radio and the blindfold from El's dresser before coming back to the bed. El takes the blindfold, "Max—"

"No, I'm just saying, I'm serious," Max continues. "He's really gross."

"Max!" El scolds, knowing she needs quiet in order for her ability to work.

"I think El will be fine," Liz tells Max, chuckling slightly. "She's a big girl."

Max holds up her hands in surrender, "Okay, shutting up now."

Max tunes the radio to a station that wasn't in use. The crackling static echoed throughout the room. El gave one last look to the girls before putting on her blindfold and focusing. A few minutes went by and El's nose had started to bleed just as she announced, "I found him."

"What's he doing?" Max asks.

"I don't know," El starts. "He's... on the floor... talking to someone."

Liz furrows her brows, "Who's he talking to?"

El started to breathe heavier, like she was scared. Liz and Max exchanged a confused and worried look before looking back at El. The blood was starting to drip farther down and then she suddenly ripped off her blindfold and gasped loudly, like she was gasping for air. El was visibly shaking, so Liz reached over, "What's wrong? What happened in there?"

"What is it?" Max asks, grabbing her as well. "What happened?"

El was breathing heavily, her chest rising up and down faster than it was supposed to. Liz moved closer to her and wrapped an arm around the girl, rubbing her hand on El's upper arm to calm her down and make her feel safe. Max grabbed El's hand and both girls patiently waited until El felt comfortable enough to explain, "He saw me."

Liz and Max exchange a confused look before Liz looked back at El, "What do you mean he saw you? How?"

"I don't know," El states. "There were screams. The girl was screaming. He was hurting her."

"That's really not that unusual with Billy," Max admits. Liz gags once she understands what Max means by it's not unusual for girls to scream when they're with Billy. "He wasn't hurting her, in fact, she probably felt really good."

Liz shakes her head, not wanting Max to continue talking about her stepbrother's sexcapades, "Max."

Max flashes a small apology smile to Liz before looking back at El, "I'm sure she's fine, same with Billy. I'm sure he didn't actually see you."

"But, he did," El assures. "He looked right at me. He knew I was there."

"We can check it out tomorrow and see what Billy's up to if you really want," Max tells her. "But, I promise you, he didn't see you and those screams weren't what you think they were."

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Liz couldn't sleep. She could never sleep at sleepovers. There was something about sleeping in someone else's house that made her unable to get any rest. She loved sleepovers and loved the fact that she was with her friends for hours but it was the sleeping part that she was unable to enjoy.

Max and El were sharing the bed while Liz took the floor. Max had apologized a thousand times and had told her that the next time they have a sleepover, it could be at Max's and Liz could sleep with her while El slept on the floor. Liz really didn't mind since either way she wouldn't get any sleep. Well, unless it was at Max's house. The first time Liz slept over at Max's, she was surprised when she actually woke up in the morning. It was the first time she was actually able to sleep at someone else's house.

Liz didn't understand why she was able to sleep at Max's but she was pretty sure it had someone to do with feeling safe. She felt safe with Max by her side. The two would lay together in her bed and Liz would rest her head on Max's shoulder while Max wrapped her arms around Liz. It was one of Liz's only safe place. She also thought it might have to do with the fact that Max was the first girl Liz had ever had a sleepover with.

Liz glanced up at the clock on El's bedside table and saw the time read 3:05. Liz sighed and turned over, closing her eyes to try and at least get an hour of sleep. She had at least five or six more hours before the girls woke up and she knew they would go by slow if she spent them staring at the ceiling all night.

A few minutes went by with Liz still trying to fall asleep when she heard shuffling. She assumed it was one the girls moving in their sleep but once she heard the covers move aside and feet softly touch the carpeted floor, she knew one of them was awake. Liz assumed it was one of them going to use the bathroom but when she felt the girl lay beside her, she opened her eyes and furrowed her brows in confusion. She knew it was Max but she didn't understand why Max would lay beside her on the floor when she had the bed.

"You can't sleep either?" Max whispered.

Liz turned over again, this time so she was facing Max. Liz shook her head, "How did you know I wasn't asleep?"

Max chuckled softly, "Liz, we've had enough sleepovers that I know when you're faking. When you're faking or trying to fall asleep, you tighten up your face. When you're actually sleeping, you look content and comfortable and you let yourself breathe."

Liz sighs, "Can I tell you something?"

Max nods, "Always."

"I never sleep well at other people's houses. Sometimes, I don't even sleep at all," Liz explained. Max turned so she was laying on her side just like Liz was. She was listening and cared which made Liz smile. "When I do sleep, I toss and turn all night and I woke up multiple times. When that happens, it's like I never even slept at all."

Max furrowed her brows, "But... at all our sleepovers, I never felt you move. And when you sleep with me, you're head is always on my shoulder, so I would've felt it."

Liz felt her cheeks heat up. She almost didn't want to tell Max but in it was three in the morning and this beautiful girl was beside her, smiling at her and waiting. The window was open and it was letting in the warm summer air and Liz knew she was safe to tell Max anything, "You can't laugh."

Max smiled, "I won't laugh, Liz."

"Promise?" Liz asks, still feeling nervous. "It's kinda embarrassing."

"I promise," Max smiles. She holds out her pinky and Liz bit her lip to keep from smiling as the locked their pinkies together.

Liz sighed, "I feel safe with you. When you lay next to me, it makes me feel safer. I don't know why, but it does."

Max smiles at her and if there were more lights, Liz would've seen a red hue light up Max's cheeks, "Liz, that's not embarrassing. In fact, it's actually really cute."

Liz turned over, now laying on her back. She smiled, feeling embarrassed at Max calling it cute, "Shut up."

Max giggled and lightly shoved Liz, "It is!" Liz shook her head, covering up her face with her hands and thanking the darkness for covering the blush on her cheeks. "Now, scoot over and give me some of the blanket."

Liz furrowed her brows as she did as told, "What?"

Max covered herself with half the blanket and scooted closer to Liz, "I'm sleeping next to you."

Liz turned her head, looking at Max who was laying on her side, "I'm tired and we have a big day tomorrow with figuring out what the hell my idiot brother is doing."

Liz shook her head, "Max, you don't have to. That bed is probably way more comfortable."

Max shushed her and grabbed Liz's hand, entwining their fingers together. Max shut her eyes and scooted even closer to Liz, if that was even possible. Liz smiles and lays down as well, moving so Max was resting her head in the crook of Liz's shoulder. The last words she heard from Max before she drifted off into her dreams was, "You make me feel safe, too."

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[ 1996 WORDS ]

these girls make me
so soft ugh i love