A/N: Hey, so I know this is really late, but I had a lot to do today and this week and it is still technically Stranger Thursday so here is the second chapter to "This Town"! Be prepared, it's a long one :)
Thank you so much to everyone who has followed and favorited this story just from one chapter, I really, truly, appreciate you all! A special shout-out to MeetMeAtTheQuarry for being my first and only reviewer for this fic!
Enjoy!
I saw that you moved on with someone new
December 30, 1987
El Byers felt incredibly tense, and not for any immediately apparent reason. Any outsider would just see a teenage girl running an errand for her parents to the local grocery store. She absentmindedly pulled her knit hat lower over her forehead and tried to hide herself in the bulkiness of her coat. She trudged towards the sliding doors, across the snow covered parking lot, hoping that the managers wouldn't remember a girl with a shaved head who destroyed the store a few years previously. El had begged Will to go in her place but he was going to be out with Dustin and Lucas the whole afternoon, which left only her to run the errands, since Jonathan was only back home for a week for winter break and wanted to catch up with old friends.
Clutching the list from Mrs. By—Mom, she corrected her thoughts—she meandered through the aisles, looking for the listed items. As the amount of groceries piled up in her arms, she struggled to see around the stack of boxes and bottles. El was desperately looking for a cart, as the items started growing heavier, and she was debating using her powers to lighten the load, when she abruptly hit another solid object and fell to the ground.
"Oh my gosh," an unfamiliar feminine voice gushed. "Baby, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," groaned a much more familiar voice. "Are you o…" Mike trailed off when he noticed the brunette girl sitting on the ground surrounded by boxes of Eggos, soda bottles, and bags of chips.
El felt tears quickly form in her eyes, and felt her face heat up at the embarrassment of literally running into Mike, who was once again witness to her naivete about normal human customs. She snuck a look at Mike, whose unruly dark hair was being flattened by a pretty, blonde girl, whom she knew was in their year at school.
"I'm so sorry," the blonde girl turned to El, sticking out her hand as if to help the girl off the ground. "I'm always telling him that he's too distracted and of course he manages to run into the only other person in the aisle!"
El allowed the girl to take her hand and gingerly lift her off the tile floor. When she turned her gaze to Mike, choosing to ignore the sweetness of the girl, he immediately ducked his head to hide his reddening cheeks and scrambled to help pick up her groceries.
"Here you go, El," he mumbled, practically shoving the items into her arms, but El was so shocked, that many of the boxes tumbled out of her numb arms.
"Wait," the blonde drew out the word, her smile settling into a frown, "do you already know her?"
Mike nodded sheepishly, gesturing towards the sixteen-year-old who was attempting to hide behind her long, brown hair. "Cathy, this is my ex, Elev—El Byers."
The girl's—Cathy's—face became measured, as if she was trying incredibly hard to keep her expression pleasant and neutral. "Cathy Burges, nice to meet you."'
El kept staring at her feet, hoping that she could keep the tears from falling if she didn't look up, but she did stick her hand out to shake the other girl's. "Nice to meet you too," she echoed, her voice sounding hollow, even to her own ears.
"Is all of this for the New Year's Eve party?" Mike interjected, obviously trying to diffuse the tension. "That's pretty funny because we're actually here looking for stuff to bring too. Are you, um, going to be there?"
El nodded mutely, feeling the familiar sting of tears and the lump in her throat preventing her from speaking clearly. She mustered the courage to raise her face and glance at the couple standing before her. Cathy was looking up at Mike with confusion on her face, but it was clear that there was affection lying underneath her expression, and as she watched, Mike grabbed his girlfriend's hand, subtly pulling her closer, while steadfastly refusing to meet El's eyes. Just as she felt the tears finally start to fall, she bent down, scooped up the forgotten groceries, and started for the exit.
"El…" she heard Mike call her name, probably wondering why she was retreating so quickly, but El refused to turn back.
She quickly paid for the items, trying to keep a mask of normalcy in place for the cashier, but once she was outside, she broke out into a run, never slowing until she reached her house.
Flinging the door open, she tore through the house, dumping the bags on the kitchen table with a loud clunk! El ignored the questioning looks from her brothers, who had looked over from playing their Atari game at the noise—if they were planning on getting home early why did I still have to go to the store?, she wanted to scream at them—and ran to her room, using her powers to slam and lock the door behind her.
She sobbed into her pillow, the pain of seeing the boy she cared for more than anyone else, content with another was almost too much to bear. Their break-up had been messy, as anyone could attest who had witnessed it—and sadly, many people had—and El felt the sting of his words cut through her heart on a daily basis. It was the most painful experience of her new life when she had lost the one person who made her feel safe, and warm, but seeing Mike again—with his girlfriend nonetheless—was not very far behind.
In the pub that we met he's got his arms around you
December 31, 1987
"El!" Her mom called from the living room. "Are you ready to go sweetie?"
"I'll be right there," the teenager responded, as she looked over her reflection, scrunching her nose at her appearance. Her brown hair seemed dull, and hung a few inches past her shoulders in loose curls that seemingly refused to be tamed. Even as she grew up and her face became defined, she continued to think that her hazel eyes were too big for her face. The large, white sweater she wore, nearly swallowed up her "dainty"—as her mom always praised—curves, while her hand-me-down jeans from Nancy needed to be rolled up several times in order to fit properly. She felt too small, even though all of her girl friends were jealous of her petite size, and too skinny, feeling that the year of malnourishment in the Upside-Down, and a childhood of abuse, had stunted her physical growth to a rate much slower than perhaps what was normal.
Sighing one more time at her reflection, El made her way to the living room, where her family was waiting with sympathetic looks on their faces.
"You don't have to go," her mom reminded quietly, brushing a curl behind her adoptive daughter's ear.
"I'm gonna' kill that Wheeler kid," the chief growled, but El knew he wasn't being serious when he flashed her a sad grin.
"Let's go," El said, smiling at Will's overenthusiastic gestures towards the door.
The family of five piled into the chief's truck, El finding herself crammed in the backseat in between Will and Jonathan. She listened contentedly to the family's lighthearted bickering over the radio station, and as Joyce finally settled on one still playing Christmas music, the Wheeler's large house came into view. Warm yellow light spilled from the house's many windows onto the lawn, and she could see people milling about inside, even catching a glimpse of Nancy and Steve talking sweetly together in the corner. The short walk from the parked car to the doorstep was a chilly one, and El started counting her steps to keep her mind off of the cold air that whipped through her sweater. She had left so distractedly that she hadn't even remembered to bring a coat.
"Happy New Year's!" Mrs. Wheeler greeted, a wide smile on her face, opening the door and pulling El's mom into a hug.
"Happy New Year's, Karen," the Byers mother replied, awkwardly trying to keep a tray of cookies from plummeting to the ground.
Mrs. Wheeler ushered the family inside, graciously taking the tray from the other woman despite the fact that the cookies looked like small lumps of charcoal.
"Sorry Mrs. Wheeler," Jonathan apologized quietly, noticing the brief flash of horror on her face, as he drifted off to say hello to Nancy, Steve, and a few other of their friends. "I'm only really good at making breakfast food."
"No problem at all," she set the tray on the counter and turned to teenagers who were looking anxiously around the crowded living room for their friends. "The boys and Cathy are downstairs, if that's who you're looking for."
"Thank you, Mrs. Wheeler!" Will and El chimed in unison, making a quick getaway to the basement's door, not seeing the sad look the two mothers fixed on the brunette girl's back.
The two Byers heard their friends before they saw them, since Dustin's criticism of the New Year's television program could've been heard in New York, while Lucas was loudly having an argument with Mike over what the best movie had been that year
"Guys!" Will shouted, trying to cut through the deafening chatter for a moment. "Sorry we're late."
"It's fine, Byers," Mike said, turning back to his argument with Lucas, "as long as you tell Lucas here that Spaceballs was the funniest movie this year!"
"No way," Lucas protested, throwing his hands up in apparent disbelief, "Nightmare on Elm Street is the best horror movie to come out in the past couple years."
Will just smirked, settling on the floor next to Dustin, grabbing a handful of chips from the bowl on top of the D&D table, clearly enjoying the scene two of his best friends were making.
El stood on the bottom step, for a minute or so more, merely observing the room and trying to figure out where she fit in. A year or so ago, she was sitting next to Mike, cuddled into his side…but, as she painfully reminded herself, that was not where she fit anymore. In fact, Cathy waved at her, the blonde in that exact position next to Mike, and patted the seat on her other side.
"I don't know how you did it," Cathy gushed, curling one hand around Mike's arm, an action that made El narrow her eyes imperceptibly, "being friends with all of them for so long. I mean I would have been so annoyed with all the bickering after the first week, that I would have just gone to find some girls to be friends with. Just for the sake of normalcy for a bit."
El nodded her agreement, not really understanding why Cathy was so angry at the boy's banter. To her, it was just what friends did. They argued with one another about stupid things, and although they did seem to legitimately get mad at each other, it was just their way of having a conversation. She had seen what could happen when the boys got into real fights, and this constant bickering was certainly not that. "Well, there is Max," El replied, remembering the red-headed tomboy who had become part of their little group during her time…away, but she had quickly become fast friends with after her return.
"Yeah," Cathy conceded, "but she's not that girly, you know? She's not someone that you can talk about boys with or do each other's hair. Speaking of which, I would kill to have curls like yours! Do you curl your hair or are you just lucky?"
Tucking a stray hair behind her ear, El blushed, wondering why anyone would think her curly brown hair looked any better than Cathy's pin-straight blonde strands. "It's just like this. I think your hair is so much prettier."
"Aww, you're too sweet," Cathy fluffed her own hair proudly, before leaning in to whisper conspiratorially. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you that I would just love it, if Mike were to say something like that from time to time."
El stamped down the surge of jealousy that rose at the reminder that the girl next to her was dating her ex. Selfishly, she thought about telling the blonde about all of the times Mike had twirled a curl around his finger, or combed through her hair, or just said how much he loved the exact color of brown her hair was. "He really is awful at compliments like that," El replied, glancing up at Mike before turning to look Cathy right in the eyes. She didn't want her words to lead to any fights between the two.
"Max!" Dustin cried suddenly, running up to the red-headed girl who was still on the step above the floor as he twirled her around in a massive hug.
"Calm down, you Wookie," the girl quipped, but El secretly saw Max hide a pleased smile and self-consciously run a hand through her hair. "Put me down, it's time for the countdown."
The group gathered around the TV, and El couldn't help but feel like she was merely a fly on the wall, watching her friends welcome a new year. Mike had his arm wrapped around Cathy, and although the girl had made an effort to include El, it was obvious that her full attention was on Mike, whenever he was near. Dustin and Max had been dancing around their feelings for one another for years, but they were standing close together as well, chanting along with the countdown. Lucas and Will were across the semi-circle, and she could tell that they were shooting her concerned glances in between their recap of their latest outing to the arcade, where Will had apparently ended up alone in a photo booth with Jennifer Hayes.
"Happy New Year!" The room erupted in cheers, and El was startled by the loud noise, so lost in her thoughts that she had missed the entire countdown.
She was well-aware of the tradition of kissing a loved one on New Year's, "to start the year off with something good," Mike had explained to her years ago, so she quickly turned away from the lip-locked couple. El smiled to herself when she saw Max grab Dustin by the shirt and pull him down into a fiery kiss.
"Happy New Year, El!" The loud voices of her friends rang in her ears, making her tense her shoulders slightly, before relaxing as Lucas and Will pressed friendly kisses to her cheeks.
"Happy New Year," she returned the sentiment, wrapping her two friends into a tight hug, letting the prospect of a new year fill her mind with hope that it would be a better one than the year that had just ended.
It's so hard
So hard
January 1, 1988
"Happy New Year!" Six teenagers screamed in unison, turning to embrace one another, and Mike didn't hesitate to plant a kiss on his girlfriend's lips.
Cathy responded eagerly, running her hands through his hair, and he looped an arm around her waist, tugging her even closer. However, he couldn't help but notice—like he always did—that her cinnamon scent permeated all of his senses, he could even taste the heaviness of it on his tongue.
Mike was the first to pull away, unable to take the cinnamon-laced kiss for much longer, or to push what it was like to kiss El out of his mind.
El. He had been doing a decent job at avoiding his ex-girlfriend since their break-up, certain that if he had seen her again in those early months, he would have tried to get her back, which could have only ended in disaster. Mike had known that he would need to move on, in order to give her the chance to move on. So, he had gone and asked out the blonde girl who had been flirting with him for months in science class, and him and Cathy had been a couple ever since. But the past two days had been like a punch in the gut, because it brought all of his buried emotions back to the surface. He always knew that he would never be over El, no matter how far they drifted apart, but seeing her standing on the step, in her cuffed jeans and with her curls spilling over her oversize sweater, made him realize how much he wanted to go over to her and pour all of his regret and pain into a kiss.
A tug on his arm, brought him out of his El-centered reverie, immediately bringing a wave of guilt washing over him, as he stared into the bright blue eyes of his girlfriend.
"What's up?" He asked casually, unable to keep El out of the corner of his eye.
"I thought it would be weird, us being the only couple here, but I guess not," she joked, pointing to where Max and Dustin were still wrapped up in their New Year's kiss. They were so into each other that it seemed like there wasn't anyone else in the room, and Mike smirked when he saw Dustin's favorite hat lying on the floor.
"Gross!" Lucas pretended to gag when he caught sight of his two friends still locked in a passionate kiss. "Cut it out you guys!"
Reluctantly, Max and Dustin finally broke apart, her face turning a shade of red so bright that it matched her hair, but neither looked particularly embarrassed or regretful.
"Come on, it's not like we don't always see Mike and Cathy sucking face," Dustin retorted, gesturing one of his arms wildly, the other remaining wrapped around Max's shoulders.
The shift in the room was immediately obvious. Max slapped the back of Dustin's head, jerking her head towards the curly-haired girl that was now, suddenly and without warning, the center of attention. Lucas shook his head, in complete disbelief at his friend. Cathy blushed, possessively snaking her hand around Mike's forearm, a sly grin coming over her face, reaching up to give her boyfriend a proud kiss on his lips. On the other hand, all of the blood seemed to drain from Mike's face, leaving his freckles standing out even more prominently than usual, and when he pulled back from the kiss, he glanced over to El, who seemed to be frozen in her place. If someone was to look at her right now, Mike thought, trying hard not to study her features, they would have no idea what she's feeling. Her face was set like a stone, as if she was one of those famous Greek statues, like she was some powerful goddess wondering if mankind was worth her time. Will glared in turn at Dustin, then Mike, before his gaze softened when he caught sight of his sister.
"El…"
Her head snapped up, clearly not expecting Mike to be the one to break the awkward tension in the air. In fact, Mike was surprised to hear his own voice, expecting Will to be the one to comfort El. He knew he was probably the last person she wanted to hear from, but he couldn't stop himself from trying to reach out when he saw that much hurt in her expressive eyes. Mike wanted to tell her how much he missed her, how much he hated himself for causing her so much pain. Mostly, he wanted to tell her how unhappy he was with Cathy, and how much he still lo—cared about her.
But, the words stuck in his throat when he felt Cathy tug on his arm, looking up at him with confusion and a thinly veiled mask of jealousy. He let her brother go and ask if she was okay, and plastered a ridiculously fake smile on his face, when she assured Will she was.
And I want to tell you everything
December 14, 1996
His mother always made breakfast for the family on Saturday mornings, and Mike wasn't about to break tradition. So, when he smelled the comforting smell of eggs and bacon radiating down the stairs, he immediately jumped up and dashed up the stairs.
"Morning, Mom," he greeted, taking the proffered plate she had made him.
"Your friends are going to be over in a few minutes so eat up," she said, turning back to the stove, but he still saw her wipe the tears away with the. "Everyone else seems like they're going to sleep in today, so don't make too much noise."
Mike hummed his assent through a mouthful of eggs, devouring the rest of his breakfast in five minutes flat. Although he wasn't sure if it was the nerves or his hunger that made him eat so quickly.
The doorbell rang about fifteen times in a row, and Mike rolled his eyes at his friends' continued child-like behavior. Well into our twenties and they're still acting like twelve-year-olds, he thought, but then reconsidered his train of thought, when he remembered that he had been reading the old Dungeons & Dragons binder only a few hours earlier.
Opening the door led to a cacophony of shouts and cheers from the three young men standing there, and Mike quickly shushed them, a smile on his face. "Calm down you guys. People are still sleeping here."
"Sorry," Will apologized, giving Mike a quick hug, before the friends made their way to the basement.
"How can people sleep?" Dustin exclaimed, not bothering to lower his voice at all and throwing his arm around Mike's shoulders. "It's not every day that Mike Wheeler…"
"Shut up!" The other three shouted, their voices overlapping one another and drowning out the end of Dustin's sentence.
"Boys!" A warning shout came from the top of the stairs, as Mrs. Wheeler managed to make four, fully-grown young men feel like adolescents with one word.
"Sorry, Mrs. Wheeler," came the chorus of Will, Dustin, and Lucas.
"Sorry Mom," Mike called back, his face burning red. "We'll be quiet now."
The four friends heard the basement door shut quietly, and they all exhaled in unison, like they had so many times when they were kids.
"Nothing has really changed, has it?" Lucas remarked, looking at the basement. Everything seemed cleaner than they were used to, but all of their movies were stacked in the same order, the D&D box sat proudly on top of the table they were all too big to sit at anymore.
"Nothing except us," Will said sagely, gesturing lightheartedly to the shorter haircut he now sported, instead of the classic "Byers bowl cut."
"I don't know," Mike shook his head, "that is definitely what Will the Wise would've said."
That seemed to break the tension, and the friends dissolved into laughter, starting to retell stories of their old campaigns—both fictional and not—faltering only when they got to the infamous Demogorgon, but a curt nod from Mike reinvigorated the storytelling. They soon lapsed into silence, each reminiscing about the time they had all spent in this very basement. At some point, they had gravitated to their old seats at the D&D table, as if they were just about to start whatever new campaign Mike had cooked up.
"Dudes," Dustin piped up, a wide smile coming over his still-somewhat chubby cheeks. "I first kissed Max right over there. Remember? It was New Year's Eve, junior year…"
"We don't need a play-by-play," Lucas interrupted, punching him in the arm.
"Besides, that was kind of an awkward experience for everyone else," Will reminded them. "At least Mike and El were never that gross."
"Especially not that year," Mike said, unable to stop a bitter edge to creep into his voice. "Do you guys really not remember? We had broken up by then."
"Oh yeah," Lucas sighed, "you were with Katie then, right?"
"Cathy," Will snapped, shooting Mike a fairly harsh glare. As good-natured as he could be, Will had never really forgiven his friend for breaking his sister's heart.
Mike nodded sullenly, fully accepting his friend's righteous distrust. "It was a thoroughly awkward night. El had come too, remember? She had to see me and Cathy…"
"Sucking face," Dustin supplied. He shook his head, as if he didn't believe his own thoughts. "Why the hell did you think it would be a good idea to break up with El?"
Mike's cheeks burned under the scrutiny of his friends' gazes, wishing they could just forget the last few minutes and go back to talking about D&D. "I don't know," he muttered, an obvious lie to everyone in the room, staring at his hands.
"Yeah, that was a pretty dumb move. She was the only one who thought your teenage self was not awkward as hell," Lucas teased, giving the dark-haired boy a playful nudge with his elbow. He was clearly worried about his friend being sucked into the past, as had happened so many times over the years whenever the break-up was mentioned. Although the three boys had been there to witness what had happened right before he dumped her, no matter how many times they put their heads together, they could never figure out Mike's definitive reasons for the break-up.
"I might be biased, but I've always said she was the best thing to happen to you," Will remarked with a grin.
She certainly was, Mike thought, stealing a glance back to the corner where a blanket fort once stood—the most obvious change to the basement itself.
The words I never got to say the first time around
February 13, 1987
The hallways of Hawkins High School were plastered with red, pink, and white streamers, and many girls had decorated their lockers with paper hearts. Since Valentine's Day was going to be on a Saturday this year, many of the couples were taking today to give sappy displays of their relationships for the whole school to see.
In the back of his mind, Mike was thinking of where he was going to take El for their Valentine's Day-day out. Taking her to the arcade seemed too simple, but what else was there to do in the winter? Besides it had snowed the other day so they wasn't really any incentive to going outside…unless he could make a makeshift dance… His thoughts trailed off as he fought his way through the cloyingly romantic atmosphere, finally yanking his locker open, only it to be violently slammed closed, and he counted himself lucky that it only banged the back of his hand.
He sucked in a sharp intake of breath through his teeth, cradling his numb fingers, before turning to face his usual tormentor. "What do you want Troy? Don't you have a bridge to vandalize or something?"
"Watch your mouth, Frogface," the bully hissed, shoving Mike's shoulder back into the locker. "I didn't know you could be brave when you don't have all of your little friends to hide behind."
Mike cringed—Troy would never let him live down the year when he had let Lucas, Dustin, and Will try to stand up to Troy, when he wouldn't—the memories ached every time he heard someone call Dustin "Toothless" or trip Will on the way to his bike, and braced himself for the next blow. When one didn't seem imminent, he started to walk away, desperate to get to his Physics class without any further humiliation.
"No smart-ass comeback, huh?" Troy growled, his voice raising so the entire hallway could hear him now. "God, you're such a coward, Frogface," he scoffed loudly.
He quickly saw that nearly everyone in the hallway had stopped talking and were simply watching the two of them. "Get some new insults Troy," Mike stopped walking, but didn't turn around, "they're getting a little repetitive."
Troy's face burned red, and he opened and closed his mouth several times, clearly unable to think up an original taunt.
Mike smirked triumphantly, making his way through the crowd towards the classroom, expecting to receive a fist bump or two, and pats on the back from his friends as he passed, but everyone was staring in horror at the purple-faced and enraged bully.
"You should probably get out of here," Lucas hissed, shoving him in the other direction, his fists raised as if he was about to physically fight Troy. "Dude, like now!"
The dark-haired boy barely had time to say 'huh' before he was yanked backwards by his backpack strap and practically put into a headlock by the much stronger bully.
"You and your little friends think you're so clever don't you, Wheeler?" Troy snarled, his arms tightening and constricting Mike's air supply. He spoke so menacingly but quiet enough that no one but Mike could hear his words. "You thought no one would notice that the freak you three brought to school, the freak who broke my arm, had reappeared right under our noses. It doesn't matter if she's got blonde hair, or no hair, or even brown curls," he paused letting Mike ponder the full implications of his words, before unleashing Mike's worst nightmare, "I know who she is, and I know who can lock her up again."
That pushed him over the edge, and anger surged through his veins as he twisted out of the headlock. He tripped over his own feet, scrambling to get back to the safety of anonymity, but Troy wasn't done with him yet.
"Now that I'm thinking about it, how could she actually be in to you?" Troy taunted, as only to clarify just exactly whom he knew the telekinetic girl to be. "Frogface Wheeler, President of the A.V. Club. There's no way any girl—and especially not one that hot—would date you."
"Shut up Troy," Mike turned around, the words shot through him, and he froze, his entire body becoming rigid and the color draining from his face. But as he faced his lifelong bully, his dark eyes blazing with anger, and his hands were balled into fists.
"Come on, it's not like everyone here isn't thinking it," he continued, gesturing at the throng of observers that had built up since the start of their confrontation. "How much are you paying her?"
With barely a sound leaving his lips, Mike launched himself at the bully, arms flailing wildly. He managed to knock the larger boy to ground, and began to land an onslaught of punches to Troy's torso. He felt arms—probably Lucas and Dustin—try to pull him off the bully, while he heard Will yelling incoherently about El—but her name only fueled his punches. Troy took a momentary pause in his attack, to flip the situation, and slam Mike into the ground, punching his stomach repeatedly before switching the focus of the attacks to his face. Mike tried to move his arms up to shield his face, but that proved fairly ineffective against the stronger boy.
"Break it up!" The booming voice of the principal literally cut through the crowd, all of whom immediately started running down the hallway to their classes, leaving the two brawling teenagers out in the open. The principal held the two of them by their collars, an arms-length from each other, and shoved them in opposite directions. "Grow up, and get to class."
Mike stalked toward the bathroom, and as each breath expanded in his chest, he felt a sharp ache that radiated through his body. He tasted blood from a split lip and knew that his face was probably bruised beyond an acceptable amount for an "accident." Which meant he would have to tell his mom about the fight and even worse…
"Mike," El's soft voice matched the soft hand she reached out to stop him. He had been so distracted by his own self-pity that he didn't even notice his girlfriend standing at her locker, which he had just stalked past. "What happened? Did Troy—?"
"Let go," he growled, his face burning with shame and his eyes stinging with tears that were building up. Her hand immediately retracted, as if he had burned her, of course, making him feel terrible, which in turn fueled his self-hatred at the fact that he could hurt her so deeply.
"W-what's wrong?" Her lower lip trembled as he took his anger at Troy and himself out on her. "Is there anything I can…"
"No!" He shouted, turning to glare at her. When he looked at her, all he could see was the beauty in her large eyes, in her brown-gold curls, and all of the taunts and threats from Troy flared white-hot in his mind. "What is wrong with you?"
El's eyes widened, tears beginning to fall down her cheeks in black rivers. She shrank away from his advancing fury, clutching her arms to her chest, yet she refused to look away from him.
"You could have any guy at this school, so why date me, huh? Is this just out of pity 'cause I'm such a-a-a geek?" Mike practically spat out the last word, right before another, more horrifying thought dawned on him. "Or just because you don't know how to break up with me?" He took a deep breath, choosing not to think too hard about what he was about to say, before staring El directly in the eyes, his voice hard and cutting.
"Well, this is how it's done. We're. Through."
And I remember everything
February 13, 1987
El practically skipped through the hall, mildly curious as to why the corridor was practically deserted, but she had learned not to question the strange circumstances that occurred during a normal day at high school. She quickly twirled the combination lock on her locker, depositing some of her books, and plucking the folder for her next few classes out of the meticulously organized locker. Glancing at the mirror she had hung on the door, she ran her fingers through her curly hair and studied the outfit she had carefully picked out for Valentine's Day. Mike always surprised her on the day with flowers, and they would bike or walk around Hawkins—no matter the temperature—just enjoying each other's company, but she secretly hoped that he would make some gesture during the school day, like she had seen so many other couples do today.
A thunderous roar echoed through the hallway, and her head whipped up, her eyes darting frantically between the ends of the hallway. A wave of kids sprinting through the hall crashed over her, and she flattened herself against the wall of lockers, mentally pushing against the stampede of teenagers.
The crowd passed quickly, and she wiped the small trail of blood underneath her nose, cringing at the start of the headache building behind her eyes. Checking the hallway for any more sudden stampedes, she started to make her way towards her classroom. A familiar head of dark hair was moving steadily closer, and her heart leapt in her chest…before plummeting when she saw his bruised face and split lip.
"Mike," she called out to him, laying what she hoped to be a comforting hand on his forearm, effectively stopping him in his tracks. She wanted to move a hand to cup his cheek, but the darkness in his eyes made her pause. "What happened? Did Troy—?"
"Let go," he barked harshly, still refusing to meet her eyes.
Those two words shot straight to the pit of her stomach, and she snapped her hand back to her side. She felt her lip begin to wobble as she thought, I must have done something wrong, normal girls must not do that. "W-what's wrong? Is there anything I can…"
"No!" He turned to yell at her, his face a twisted mask of rage. "What is wrong with you?"
It felt like all of the air had been sucked out of her lungs and she felt tears start to well up and spill from her eyes. El felt like she was twelve years old once more, hiding behind a fire truck or standing in a junkyard, and she felt her heart being ripped out of her chest as she failed the one person who truly mattered to her. The tears surged, and she had to imagine what a mess she looked like, with her mascara running down her face and her arms curling into her chest, as if she wanted to be as small as possible.
Her lack of response only seemed to inflame his anger even more, and he flung his arms into the air, his eyes narrowing contemptuously in her direction. "You could have had any guy at this school, so why date me, huh? Is this just out of pity 'cause I'm such a-a-a geek? Or just because you don't know how to break up with me?"
El managed to hold back another wave of tears at his cruel words. Why doesn't he think that I love him? She asked herself, as another stab of pain when she realized that she would never get to tell him how much she loved him. Is he going to…?
He raised his sharp eyes to meet her teary ones, and when he spoke, El didn't recognize the cool tone of his voice. "Well, this is how it's done. We're. Through."
She shook her head emphatically, covering her mouth with her hand as silent sobs wracked her body. Teens were starting to glance out the classroom door due to the shouting, and their gazes seemed to stab her torso with hundreds of invisible knives. Unable to look at the boy who was casting her so callously aside for a second longer, El turned and ran blindly through the halls until she found a girl's bathroom. El's knees gave out when she caught sight of her reflection, and she managed to make it into a stall before she broke down into chest-wracking tears.
She hardly cried in the years since the Upside-Down, and only when she had a particularly awful nightmare about that place, but today she cried and cried, until there seemed like she had rid her entire body of every kind of fluid that could be used as tears. El leaned her suddenly aching forehead against the coolness of the tile wall, as the reality of the conversation crashed over her. Before she could dwell on the consequences, she heard the door open and shut quickly.
"El," Max called softly as she gently knocked on the stall door, "can I come in?"
"Yes," she replied, using her abilities to unlock the door, to reveal the red-headed tomboy.
"Oh El," her friend breathed, immediately crouching next to her, and placing a sympathetic hand on her back. Max was normally not a very touchy-feely person, preferring to keep her distance or turn the other way when a particularly emotional situation presented itself, but the sight of El's distraught, mascara-streaked, face brought out her comforting side. "Tell me what happened."
"Mike," she choked out, her voice barely above a whisper. "He broke with me," she explained choppily, her speech slipping back into its broken version as tears started to flow once more.
"He dumped you?" Max asked incredulously, her tone one of disbelief. "No way. That boy would cut off his own arm before he dumped you."
El's heart sunk at her friend's words, shaking her head sadly. Clearly, her friends thought, like she had for so long, that Mike would be the one person who wouldn't hurt her. She snorted to herself at her naivete. There's no one in this world that cannot hurt me, she thought. I guess he was just the one who could hurt me the most.
"Wow," Max sank down to the floor, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with El. "If you two can't make it work, there's no hope for the rest of us. I mean, you guys have been together for so long, and been through so much when you were kids…damn, I didn't know love could suck so much."
El nodded sullenly, and although she appreciated her friend's comforting words, she couldn't stop fear and pain from coursing through her bloodstream. "Now that Mike and I are…broke, will-will you still be my friend?"
"Of course," Max said adamantly, looking at the curtain of curls hiding the teenager's upset expression from view. "I'm always going to be there for you El. No matter what."
"And will Dustin, Lucas, and Will still be my friends?" She asked quietly, and was met with silence. El braced herself for the answer, since she knew that Max was always honest, and she was counting on the redhead to be blunt with her.
Max sighed, hanging her head, "I don't know about the guys. I mean, they're really tight and I'm sure they will still want to be with friends, but I can't speak for them. I mean, imagine if Dustin and I started dating, and then broke up, would the guys really pick me over him?" Max cringed slightly at the harshness of her words, but El exhaled, almost as if she was relieved by the answer.
"I don't want to break up the party," she murmured, tucking some hair behind her ear. She had seen what could go wrong when the boys were separated and she never wanted to be the cause of that…again.
"Hey," Max stood up, sticking out her hand, "if Mike Wheeler let go of an awesome, freaking telekinetic girl like you, he had no idea what was right in front of him."
El blushed, allowing her friend to pull her to her feet before pulling the redhead into a tight hug. "Thank you. And I think that if you and Dustin were a couple, you guys would never break."
Max beamed, reaching out and giving El one of her rare hugs, the kind that almost made her friend forget about the horrible break up. "Besides, if the guys are jerks and ignore you, you and me can be our own party of two."
Smiling meekly, El allowed herself to be led out of the bathroom, but her heart was throbbing with a pain that was not going to be dulled for many years.
From when we were the children playing in this fairground
September 3, 1988
El Byers sprinted across the middle school parking lot, her curls streaming behind her, the golden strands catching the few scattered rays of sunlight filtering through the patchy clouds, and as the first few drops of rain fell. Her mom had warned her that she should cut her time at the library short today, since a severe storm was supposed to be coming to Hawkins that afternoon.
She counted herself lucky that Mrs. Morris had a stack of books that needed to be loaned out to the middle school's library, so El had been able to outrun the harshest part of the storm. The wind slammed the doors behind her, and El jumped, dropping a few books in her shock. She was unused to objects opening, closing, or just generally moving on their own accord when she was not using her powers. Shaking her head and fighting a blush, she was relieved that her friends weren't there to tease her about her jumpiness.
Dustin and Lucas would have asked why I was so scared when I normally cause events like that, as they refused to admit they were scared, and would probably keep horsing around and try to scare me again, El smiled to herself at the thought, creating the images of her friends in her mind. Will would've jumped as well—he will always be haunted by the Upside-Down, even more than I wa-am—but he would be secretly proud of himself that he managed not to scream, and would take a few deep breaths to calm himself. As she wandered the empty halls, making her way towards the library, she forgot to check her thoughts and her mind plowed ahead with her imaginary scenario, full-force. Mike would have snapped at them to stop teasing me, and would ask if I was actually okay, putting an arm around me—he never really cared how much grief his friends gave him whenever did something to show how much he…cared.
El stopped in her tracks as two events happened at the same time, the minute the thought entered her head.
One, was that the little voice in her mind, a voice that sounded too much like her Papa, immediately interjected with the harsh reminder: he wouldn't do that anymore. He broke up with you, remember?
Two, she had absentmindedly been glancing at every doorway she passed, and stopped dead when she caught sight of a familiar science classroom. When she started school, it was in ninth grade, so she didn't have to set foot in the room where the Demogorgon tried to kill her and her friends.
She stared into the unchanged room, entranced by its stillness, and she couldn't help thinking that she was seeing things—some long-hidden side-effect of her time at the Lab—because there was no way that the room had not changed. Memories flashed through her mind, throwing her into a storm of emotions and images that rooted her to the ground.
Pain all over. Rocks flying from a slingshot. A tortured scream. The terrifying roar of the Demogorgon. Pain in her heart. The iron smell of blood. "Goodbye Mike."
Her lips formed the words, the last words she thought she would ever say to Mike Wheeler, but she couldn't bring herself to speak those painful, heartbreaking words aloud.
Wish I was there with you now
September 3, 1988
Mike brushed the drops of rain from his dark hair, shrugging out of his soaked raincoat once he made it inside the middle school doors. He groaned as lightning lit up the dim hallways, a loud crack of thunder right behind it. He had just managed to pull into the parking lot before the rain started coming down so heavily that he couldn't see out his car's windows. Since the storm didn't see like it would be letting up for the foreseeable future, he wandered farther into the school.
The threat of bad weather seemed to have been enough of a reason for the administration to call for an early dismissal, so Mike hadn't come across anyone, until he turned down a familiar hallway, and spotted a small, curly-haired figure standing just outside a science classroom.
To most observers, she would seem odd and out of place, staring into space in front of a closed door to a perfectly normal science classroom. Others wouldn't even give her a second look, and would miss the tension held in her shoulders or the fact that her entire body was shaking with said tension. No one else would find it out of the ordinary that they could walk across the entire hallway to within an arm's length of her, and she didn't make a noise, as if she didn't even notice that there was another person observing her.
But Mike wasn't most people, and he saw all of those little things and his heart managed to tear itself into even more pieces than it was currently made up of.
"El," he whispered, trying his hardest not to startle her, but she jumped anyway, never so much as a gasp escaping her. Her eyes widened, but she still made no noise, and merely hugged the stack of books in her arms tighter to her chest, as she turned to face him. "Hey El," he said quietly, his hands had a slight spasm as he went to reach out to her, before remembering that he had forfeited that right over a year ago, "are you…?"
She shook her head, swiping a hand beneath her watering eyes, and she didn't need to explain to him why this particular room had her so shaken.
"I couldn't stand to be in this room for such a long time afterward," Mike started talking, turning to look through the small window on the door, unable to look at her distraught expression for much longer. It was this dormant desire he had to make El feel normal, and merely understood. "I got into so much trouble because I skipped nearly every science class I had in that room, for the rest of the year after…everything happened. I point-blank refused to have a class there during eighth grade. I made my mom go to the school and switch me out, or else I would simply keep skipping." The shadow of a grin made its way onto his face, as he remembered his mother's face when he told her that he was going to skip science for an entire year of school.
"I'm sorry," El croaked, her voice sounding thin, almost as if it was about to break. "It's my fault you had to go through all of that."
Mike's head snapped in her direction, and he studied her downcast face, the first tears hovering in the corners of her eyes, a look of bewilderment adorning his own face. "What? No! None of that was your fault." A horrifying thought crossed his mind, and his voice rose to a shout. "Have you thought…this entire time, have you been thinking that what happened that week was somehow your fault?"
She was silent for so long, that Mike was about to launch into a tirade about the evils of Hawkins National Laboratory and about how she saved him, when he heard her quiet response that managed to anger him even further.
"I'm the monster. I've always been one. Why else would you dump me?" He could tell that the word was unfamiliar on her tongue, causing his shame to completely redirect his anger back onto himself.
"You don't really believe that I think that, do you?" He winced when her response to his question was merely a glance in his direction and an arch of her eyebrows. "God El! That's not even close to what I think, and even if it were, that's not why I would break up with you!"
He heard her take a deep breath, and she turned to look him in the eye, never once flinching as she asked him what he knew must have been weighing on her since the last February thirteenth that didn't immediately cause either of them pain.
"Why did you break with me?"
For one of the few times in his life, words failed him as he tried to choke out an answer. Mike knew that she was taking his lack of response as proof of her misunderstanding of social norms, but he couldn't bring himself to tell her what had been going through his mind on the worst afternoon of his life.
"I know I shouldn't be asking you this," El continued, a surprising move by the normally shy teen. "You made it clear that I wasn't fit to be your girlfriend, or even your friend. But I was hoping that it was far enough in the past, that you felt okay telling me why you didn't want me."
Mike sighed, hanging his head, because standing in front of this classroom, where she once whispered the words "goodbye Mike" in such pain but with pride in her eyes as she saved her friends; he felt such a weight to say exactly the right words or else he thought that when she said those words again, he would be the source of her pain instead of a Demogorgon. "I never stopped wanting you—as a girlfriend or as a friend. It ripped my heart to pieces to break up with you that day, but you have to understand that I had to break up with you, so you could experience life outside of dating a geek. Besides Troy had said something really…"
"Don't try and say that now, when you didn't care to tell me that day! And breaking up with me wasn't very helpful!" El exploded, causing a lightbulb to burst, scaring both teenagers nearly out of their minds. "I didn't care about what life was like if I was never dating you. I lo—" she choked on the end of the word, and Mike felt tears of shame burn his eyes when he realized the extent to which he hurt her. "I was so worried of losing you and Dustin and Lucas and Max as friends that I know I tried too hard to be normal, but I never wanted to be someone else's girlfriend!"
"I'm sorry," Mike apologized, but the words seemed hollow and pathetic to his ears. After the two of them had broken up, he became determined to cut El out of his life nearly completely. So he stopped inviting her over for D&D or always managed to find homework he had to do in the library when she sat down at their lunch table, and it put so much pressure on the rest of their friends—the guys especially—to navigate the turbulent waters. In the beginning, Dustin and Lucas tried to get them back together, but they eventually stopped making an effort and let their friendship with El decline to that of casual school friends. Max had no trouble putting Mike in his place after the break up and stuck by El, her fiercely protective side emerging in a pretty terrifying way. Mike felt the worst for Will because he was torn between his friends and his sister, and he knew how much it hurt the quiet boy to say that he was going to the Wheelers but that El wasn't invited.
"I'm sorry too," El stated simply, turning away to walk down the hall. Other girls might have made the statement sound spiteful or bitter, but El simply sounded sad, as she was genuinely sorry about what happened between them.
Mike knew the two words that would seal his fate were on the tip of her tongue, so he shouted out, "I broke up with Cathy."
It had the desired effect, since El turned back around and looked at him with a surprised expression. He tried to dismiss the glimmer of hope in her eyes as a trick of the light, but he failed miserably.
"It was a few months ago," he continued, shoving his hands in his pockets to stop from fidgeting. "I kept being reminded of that New Year's party and how wrong it felt every time I was with her. I know you probably don't hate me, but you should. I hurt you, and friends don't do that to each other, they tell the truth…and I haven't told you the real reason why I broke up with you. You saw me after a fight, like an actual fistfight, with Troy, and he had said some pretty awful things, about you and me—and that week—that I just kind of saw red that day." He looked down sheepishly, to keep El from seeing the tears threatening to spill. "I didn't think I deserved you. But at the same time, I didn't want to lose you"
"Mike," she murmured, "don't think that." Mike refused to meet her eyes, continuing to stare at his shoes as the tears splashed on the tile floor.
This is exactly why I don't deserve her, he thought sadly. Even after everything I've done to her and the pain I caused her, she's still being supportive and cares about how I think of her. She's always been too good and caring and amazing for such a wasteoid like me. His self-deprecating train of thought was interrupted when he felt her soft hand cup his cheek. He squeezed his eyes shut, as he felt vibrations echo through his cheek due to the shakiness of her hand.
"But I don't," Mike had never felt so small in his life. El's gaze always managed to see straight to the heart of him, and right now, he knew she was seeing every single one of his insecurities.
"Friends don't lie," she stated simply, and he finally opened his eyes. Inky-black met hazel, and he found the mystery and innocence that had first drew him to her one rainy November night.
"Promise?" He replied, and El rose on her tiptoes to plant a soft kiss on his cheek.
'Cause if the whole world was watching I'd still dance with you
May 19, 1989
Mike stared at the door of the Byers's house, a terrified look on his face, and he fiddled with the plastic box in his hand as Lucas rolled his eyes at him and knocked on the door. Before he could sprint back down the driveway, the door was opened by possibly the last person Mike had wanted to see open the door.
"Wheeler, Henderson, Sinclair," Chief Hopper greeted the boys, nodding briefly to Dustin and Lucas, but merely narrowed his eyes when they fell on Mike. He glanced around the porch noticing that their party was one short. "Where is my own son?"
The trio exchanged nervous glances, none of them excited about getting grilled by the police chief at the start of their prom night. None of the three wanted to answer, but Mike spoke up when Hopper arched an eyebrow—it was probably a good idea to get on the chief's good side. "He's, um, kind of trying not to throw up."
"Did you guys already start hitting the punch?" Hopper joked dryly, stepping outside and finding Will doubled over in the bushes that bordered the side of their house. He sighed, waving a hand at the three teenagers still standing on the stoop, wearing various expressions of terror and confusion. "Go say hello to the girls, they're right inside. I'll talk to Will."
Dustin nodded a little too enthusiastically, Lucas said, "Yes sir," and Mike just sighed, clearly relived that Hopper wasn't interested in arresting him the second he stepped through the door.
Mrs. Byers-Hopper was directing the four girls into different arrangements in front of one wall based on height, then by dress color, then different pairs and trios, all while Jonathan snapped away on his camera. They were both so focused on getting every single picture necessary that they didn't notice that the boys had arrived, until El caught sight of Mike over her mother's shoulder.
"Mike!" She exclaimed, pushing past her older brother to give the dark-haired boy a long hug. "You came," she whispered into his ear, sounding genuinely surprised and relieved.
He felt a pang in his chest, realizing that she had been worried that he could somehow forget he was taking her or if he suddenly wouldn't want to. "I promised," he whispered back gently, grinning when he felt her smile against his neck.
"El, honey," Mrs. Byers-Hopper said frantically, "you don't want to mess up your dress. Jonathan, how much film do you have left, I just realized we still need to take pictures of the boys, and of all the couples."
"Mom," Jonathan placated his mother, finally lowering the camera from his face, revealing bags underneath his eyes, probably due to the jet lag from the late flight he had arrived on earlier that morning. Mike was surprised that he had taken the time out of his job as a freelance photographer to come back to Hawkins, but then again, he knew that the brotherly bond between Will and Jonathan had been strengthened ever since the latter had first left for NYU.
"I know, I know," the frazzled mother raised her hands in surrender. "I'm being crazy."
"It's fine Mrs. Byers-Hopper," Jennifer Hayes said in a calm tone, but her eyes darted from face to face, looking for her date.
"Oh my God," Max suddenly exclaimed, punching Dustin on the arm, "stop staring at me like that, you Wookie! It's not like I never wear dresses!"
Dustin opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, doing a great impression of a dumbstruck fish, as he continued to stare at Max. She was wearing a simple, knee-length, green dress, with slightly puffy sleeves and low heels. Her hair was also curled, something none of the boys ever thought they would see her do; it was an action, right up there with wearing make-up, which she was also sporting, that they thought she never would've been caught dead doing.
When Dustin finally recovered his senses, the two of them started their version of flirting once more, a version that included quite a lot of arguing. Lucas quickly moved to compliment his own date, a girl in the grade below them named Mary, whose short, fluffy, purple dress complemented her short dark hair and light brown skin.
Mike realized that he hadn't said anything about how El looked, and quickly turned to look at her all dressed up. He was immediately struck by how mature and stunning she looked, and thought to himself, she will never stop surprising me at how beautiful she can be.
"Pretty?" El asked in a worried tone. She was wearing a pink dress, it went down to her mid-calf, yet looked like the fabric was floating due to all the layers in the skirt. A silver snowflake pendant hung above a sweetheart neckline that led into off-the-shoulder sleeves, and a matching silver headband rested in her brown hair, which was twisted up into a fancy knot at the top of her head. She seemed to be glowing.
"Beautiful," he replied, reaching over to take one of her hands and giving it a gentle squeeze.
She smiled shyly, and gave him a brief kiss on the cheek, but then blushed when she realized that he now had a pink lip-shaped smudge on his freckly cheek. "Sorry," El murmured, trying to wipe it away with her wrist, to no success.
"It's fine," Mike said nonchalantly, taking a tissue from one of his tux's pockets and scrubbed at his face, but never broke eye contact with El.
She blushed under his gaze, but didn't look away, moving her hand from his cheek to rest on his shoulder, and his eyes followed her movement, catching a glimpse of harsh black marks on her forearm.
"You didn't cover your tattoo," he remarked, but immediately regretted his words when her other hand unconsciously went to cover the marks. "No don't! It looks really cool. And it makes you…you," he said feebly, mentally slapping himself for ruining the night, before it had even started, with such a stupid remark.
El smiled, slowly withdrawing the hand that covered the numbers, before holding it out to him. He suddenly remembered the corsage box he had been holding, and slipped the small cluster of white roses, baby's breath, and ribbon over her wrist. Mike broke into a wide smile as he saw that the flowers didn't cover the tattoo and as she pinned a matching boutonniere on his jacket.
The opening door cut through their bubble, and the couple giggled to cover up their embarrassment at the fact that they had completely forgotten about the half dozen other people in the room. Will entered, looking only slightly gray-faced, but his odd complexion didn't last long because once he caught sight of Jennifer, his face completely lit up. Jennifer blushed down to the roots of her blonde hair, running her hands down the front of her floor-length, navy blue dress.
"Well," Jonathan clapped his hands loudly, breaking through all the awkward teenage tension, "now that everyone's here, I think it's time for another round of pictures."
After a half-hour to an hour of picture-taking, once more cycling through every conceivable combination of the eight teens, Will and El convinced Hopper to let them ride in his truck's bed to prom. The girls squealed as the vehicle jerked to a start, and all the kids quickly took seats on the blankets that covered the bed.
"Dude," Dustin fist-bumped Will, "this is totally going to be the coolest ride at prom!"
The eight teens dissolved into laughter, and before long they had arrived at the high school. A long line of cars wound through the parking lot, but the boys simply jumped down from the truck's bed, each extending a hand to his date to help her down.
"I'll be back when the dance is over," Hopper told the party. "I hope you kids have fun, it's not every day that you get to go to prom."
A chorus of thanks, agreement, and good-byes nearly assaulted the chief's ears, but a good-natured smile spread over his normally stoic face.
"Oh, and Wheeler, Hayes," his tone turned curt, and the smile dropped from his face, "don't try any funny business with my kids. I can and will throw you in jail if I hear that something inappropriate happened at this dance."
Mike and Jennifer nodded, identical expressions of fear graced their faces, letting out twin exhales once the chief's truck was out of their eyesight.
"Let's get going!" Dustin shouted, punching his fist into the air.
As they made their way into the school and the gymnasium, Mike couldn't help but feel nervous about how El would react to the dance. After all, the only other time the two of them had been to a dance was the Nightmare-Snow Ball he had dreamed up in seventh grade.
"Mike," she said softly, and as he looked around he noticed that they were the only two left in the corridor.
"Where did everyone go?" He asked, his eyes darting to the open gym doors, as if he could see his friends in the dimly lit room.
"They went inside already," El explained, continuing to stare at him, and only the slight furrow of her brows let him know that she was worried.
"Sorry, I spaced out for a second," he apologized, taking her hand. "Let's go inside."
The two quickly caught up with the rest of their friends, and the eight claimed their own spot on the dance floor, and simply lost themselves in the music, reveling in the joyously fun atmosphere of the night. Lucas and Dustin kept trying to outdo one another with the craziest dance moves, while Mary and Jennifer simply laughed at their antics. Max grabbed El and spun her around, genuine smiles lighting up the faces of two girls who didn't smile as often as they should. Mike hung back with Will, neither of their personalities lending themselves to extravagant dancing, so the two simply nodded their heads in time with the music. But it didn't take long before their dates dragged them out of their shells and Mike knew he must be grinning like an idiot as El danced with him, but he couldn't bring himself to care.
It was less than an hour later when a slow song came on, and nearly every teenager in the gym stopped dancing. For about half a minute, the eight teens stood in a circle, the girls staring at their feet, and the boys exchanging glances with each other.
"Mike," El whispered, making the first move and sticking her hand out to her boyfriend. Mike blushed, his cheeks turning a shade of red more often associated with fire engines than skin tone, but he grabbed her hand, leading her out to the middle of the dance floor.
Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Will make some sort of awkward half-bow to Jennifer, as she laughed good-naturedly and took his proffered hand. Lucas was the next to ask his date to dance, and Mary nodded her head enthusiastically. Max and Dustin stood apart for probably another five seconds, sneaking glances at one another, but Max eventually rolled her eyes and pulled Dustin closer.
Mike stared back at the prettiest girl in the room—in his eyes at least—and settled his hands on her waist, pulling her in close, close enough to smell the hint of strawberry perfume she had used. El's hands went around his neck, and they simply swayed together, not even in time with the music. Staring into her expressive eyes, Mike saw an internal struggle; she was clearly debating something in her mind, but he had no idea why or what she was struggling with.
"Is there something—" he started, but El had started to speak nearly at the same time.
"I love you," she had nearly whispered the words, but he heard them all the same.
All of the confusion, and nervousness, swirling in his mind suddenly disappeared, replaced only with affection and inexplicable joy. He couldn't explain it, but his mind felt like it had been shorted out, and the only thing he could think of to say was, "I love you too."
El's face took on one of relief, before a slight grin, one usually reserved for Mike, lit up her face, and Mike had to revise his earlier statement. He didn't just love her in this moment, or simply over the past few months, he had loved her for years now, and he would never stop loving her.
Drive highways and byways to be there with you
May 20, 1989
As the dance was ending, just past one in the morning, a small group of four couples stood outside the doors of Hawkins High School, waiting for the chief's car to pull up. Will had called his father earlier, asking for Hopper to round up the boy's bikes from their respective houses, and bring them to the school. Mike wasn't sure if the chief would be okay with the eight of them riding around Hawkins so late at night—or early morning, as Dustin would point out.
"Hop!" Will cried, waving a hand to signal his father, the other clutching Jennifer's, who just so happened to get cold and was wearing Will's suit jacket over her prom dress.
"I don't know why you kids need these things anymore," Hopper grumbled, sticking his head out the window, "all you boys can drive."
"It just seemed like it was the way to get home today," Mike explained, straining as he pulled his bike out of the truck's bed. But, when he extracted it from the pile of bikes, the back wheel rushed towards the ground, aiming directly towards his foot, yet it miraculously jerked to the left at the last second, bouncing harmlessly on the ground. "It's like the end of an era," he grinned, winking at his girlfriend who was sneakily wiping her nose.
"Whatever you say," Hop said gruffly. "Just have fun and don't get killed or captured by some otherworldly monster." Mary and Jennifer laughed at the chief's joke, while Dustin, Max, Lucas, and Mike forced their laughter, but Will and El simply rolled their eyes at their dad.
However, Mike reached over and gave El's hand a comforting squeeze, before climbing onto his bike. He felt a flutter in his stomach as El hopped on the bike behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist, and glanced over his shoulder, flashing her a bright smile.
"Let's go, we're burning daylight here," Dustin called, laughing at his own joke as Max chuckled from her spot behind him on his bike.
The other two couples quickly mounted the boys' bikes, and Mike was shocked at how swiftly the popular girl twisted up her long dress so she could sit behind Will more easily.
"Will looks like he's going to pass out," Lucas whispered loudly to Mike and El.
"I'm surprised he hasn't fainted yet to be honest," Mike responded, turning to grin at El, whose face was lit up at the joy of seeing her brother happy.
"Let's go!" Dustin shouted again, drawing out the last word so it sounded kind of whiny.
The four bikes were soon speeding down the streets of Hawkins, the wind biting at their arms and turning cheeks slightly pink. As they were passing Mary's neighborhood, Lucas announced that his date had been asleep for nearly twenty minutes, and he dropped her off at her house. The other six slowly continued down the road, but all the boys teased him mercilessly when the stoic Lucas came back with a lopsided grin and lipstick smudges around his mouth.
The party spent a few more minutes, all seven thoroughly enjoying their group's version of "after-prom," but Mike couldn't shake an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, as they biked aimlessly through the deserted roads of their town. Will—who frankly still looked moments away from unconsciousness—spoke up, after a few more blocks of silent riding.
"Why don't we go to the lake?" He called to his friends, already setting his bike on the route down to their shore.
"Hold on," Mike warned El, as their bikes veered off the smooth asphalt and into the more bumpy terrain of the forest. He dropped behind the rest of his friends, observing how happy Jennifer and Will looked once they were finally to able to admit their mutual feelings for one another, and for Will to overcome the stigma of being the "zombie kid" and ask out the most popular girl in school. And speaking of admitting mutual feelings, once Max and Dustin were officially dating, their friendship didn't change much, but Mike saw how much more comfortable his friend was around the redhead. As he looked at the happy couples, there was that weight in his heart as he reminded himself once again, of his boneheaded idea to break-up with El, and his shame at how long it took him to realize his mistake. Realizing that there were some things he still needed to tell El, things that didn't quite fit with the friendly atmosphere surrounding the biking teens, he started mapping an alternate course.
"I'll catch up with you guys later," Mike shouted to his friends, angling his bike away from the direction of the rest of the guys. Shaking his head at the immature "oohs" and kissing noises that his friends threw his way, he pedaled as fast as he could away from the others.
"Where are we going?" El asked simply, her curls escaping her hairdo to brush his neck.
"Uh," Mike stalled, the inevitable fear and anger that would flare up once the old quarry came into view.
Over and over the only truth,
Everything comes back to you
May 20, 1989
Mike felt El's breath becoming shorter as he slowed the bike down, stopping several meters away from the edge of the quarry. Making sure that El knew to get off, he gently set the bike down on its side on the side of the gravel road. He thoroughly hated the place, and he hadn't been back since…that night, but he knew that facing his fears about El and her place in his life, meant facing the fears in his past.
"Why did you bring me here?" She demanded, her face twisted in confusion, and barely contained rage. El had never told him exactly why she hated the quarry—and he didn't want to ask, and bring up the awful memories—but he could guess it had to do with that afternoon when he jumped to save Dustin.
"I haven't been here since seventh grade probably," he started, shoving his hands into his jacket's pockets, to hide their shakiness from her. His eyes scanned the ground, as if he was looking for something he had dropped. My courage? He thought sarcastically, his mouth going dry as El's feet came into view.
"I haven't been back since that day either," El agreed, her voice sounding incredibly small and far away.
Mike felt his heart pounding in his chest, and his blood roared in his ears, blocking out nearly all sound. This seemed marginally more scary than saying "I love you" to El, because he had been sure of his feelings for her, and he had been for a long time. But this? Telling the girl he loved that he contemplated stepping off that ledge one more time, in the hopes that she would reveal herself, he didn't know what she would think of him. "Not that day," Mike said hoarsely, feeling her eyes boring into his head, as if she could see past the dark hair covering his eyes, and stare into his very mind—without using even a lick of her powers.
"What do you mean?" El's feet shuffled back and forth, and he slowly brought his head up to look into her large, round eyes.
"I came back one night after you were…gone," Mike basically choked on the last word, but powered through before she could interject. "I-I was trying to contact you. It was a few months after you…disappeared. And so I was biking in the middle of the night, trying to get back into the lab," he paused, noticing that there were tears turning El's hazel eyes into mirrors, "I just wanted you to come back."
"And I did," El said soothingly, grabbing his wrist and squeezing tightly. "You, and everyone else, you found me and brought me back."
"I know, I know," he nodded vigorously. He clenched his hands into fists inside his pockets, trying not to look away from his girlfriend's troubled expression. How do I make this next part not sound like her fault? He thought, taking a deep breath, "I just thought you would be back in time for the Snow Ball. And I know that you physically couldn't get back that early, but I didn't know that then. I remember thinking about how I promised to take you, and I hated having to break that promise. So, I came out here that night—the night after the Snow Ball—and thought, if I jumped off, maybe you would save me, and I could see you again."
El clapped her free hand over her mouth, turning away, but letting herself be tethered by her grip on his arm. Once more, Mike's heart sunk at seeing how much pain he caused her, and the nagging voice in the back of his mind told him to cut her loose, breaking her heart for one more time tonight, to spare her a lifetime of more heartbreaks a future with him must hold. Who knows how many more times he could hurt her? He smirked at what he thought her face would look like if he broke up with her again; he thought she might actually use her powers to keep him by her side until he realized how stupid that would be—he would follow her anywhere, even the Upside-Down, for the rest of his life. But, when he pulled himself out of his own head, he heard the soft sobs emanating from the small girl.
"I'm so sorry," he apologized, but the words seemed so inadequate, compared to the pressure and guilt he must have just put on her.
"Friends don't lie," she breathed, so quietly, that Mike thought he had imagined them, until she turned around. Her hand was shaking as her palm slowly reconnected with his cheek. The tears streamed down her face, cutting streaks into her make-up, and Mike was furious with himself for making her cry on what was supposed to be a happy night. One of the best nights of their lives so far. "Friends don't lie," she repeated, her eyes brimming once more with unshed tears, "and I did. I never told you how I felt after I came back."
"That's not your fault," Mike assured her, trying to keep his voice from raising to a shout. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I was the one who didn't figure out how to get you back earlier."
It was as if she was in her own world, and her eyes seemed to look past him—she was remembering her year-long stay in the Upside-Down. "I was afraid. After I came back, I was still afraid. I never thought I would leave Upside-Down, and that it would stay," she pointed to her own chest. She fell silent for a minute, and Mike felt, once more, that words were failing him. "I thought I was the monster and there was no way you could like a monster."
"So you didn't say anything," Mike continued, almost at the exact same second she stopped talking. "You've never been a monster to me, El," he said softly, finally unclenching his hands, bringing them out of his pockets, taking her hand with one and brushing a stray curl behind her ear with the other. "I love you."
She looked up at him, her cheeks finally dry of tears, but her eyes held apprehension and fear. Without needing any words, he knew the question that was sure to be dancing in her head, and seemed to be on the verge of asking him, promise?
He chuckled softly, in awe at how someone so pure, and innocent, and good could come from the midnight-dark background she had. Her powers made her a force to be reckoned with, but it had been her heart, and personality that he had fallen in love with, and it constantly amazed him that she couldn't see just how in love he was. "I promise."
A/N: Okay, so while the first chapter was a mix between fluff and angst, this one definitely skewed more towards the angsty side, but don't worry, there's fluff on the way! As always, please review, I love seeing and reading your all's comments about my writing/the story in general!