STRANGER THINGS 3 | CHAPTER ONE
"After Shock"
When they approached the cabin, hand in hand, Mike Wheeler and Jane Hopper, preferably El, made their way up the rickety wooden stairs. Their minds raced with thoughts, mainly about how giddy they were since they'd just left the Snow Ball school dance. Mike had been wanting to take El there since last year, but.. some /things/ got in the way.
As soon as they reached the door, hopper had already passed them, disappearing behind the wood and leaving the two alone to say their goodbyes. Mike glanced from hopper to El, the smile on his face growing slightly before he spoke, "Thank you for coming, El. God, I missed you." shaking his head, he took both of El's hands in his, relieved that he had the chance to even speak to her.
"I missed you too." she responded, her cheeks painted with a red tint as the butterflies in her stomach sky rocketed. Mike pulled her into a hug, wrapping his skinny arms around her and resting his chin on top of her curly hair. They stayed there for a moment, not wanting to let go.
The last month that they had been reunited, the only time they spent was with each other, constantly showing up randomly to each others houses and even when they were apart, they were never too far from the walkie talkies. They couldn't risk not seeing each other again, but the boys and max perpetually teased the two, grinning whenever they were with them and making kissy faces in their direction.
When they pulled away, Mike began to lean in, his nose inches away from El's, both their cheeks burning up before they launched apart at the sound of Hopper clearing his throat in the doorway. "Alright kid, I promised your mom i'd take you home. Let's hit the road." Hopper said, walking between the two in the direction of his police truck. Mike chuckled uncomfortably, shaking his head at Hoppers obvious act to set them a part.
"Alright." Mike responded, glancing back to El with a toothy smile. "I'll see you tomorrow?" he asked hopefully, his eyes wandering her face, admiring how beautiful she looked, her makeup still present on her eyelids. She didn't need makeup to be beautiful, Mike thought to himself before El responded.
"Yes." El smiled a small smile as Mike made his way down the steps, reaching his hand out so he didn't let go of hers until the distance forced them to part. As soon as they did, El sighed sadly, watching him catch up to Hopper who was already almost out of sight. She couldn't hide the smile that was placed on her lips as she walked through the door, closing it behind her and making her way to her room to change.
Lucas had biked Max home, knowing all too well that her brother wouldn't have the heart to pick her up.. not that Max would want him to anyway. They approached the Mayfields' residence, stopping his bike with ease before helping Max unmount. She walked over to her window, glancing at it before turning around with a sigh and a sly smile, "Thanks for the lift, Stalker," her smile grew teasingly before relaxing and a sincere tone replacing the sarcastic one, "I really had fun. Really."
"Me too, Madmax." Lucas responded, his own toothy smile filling his lips. He was so overwhelmed with everything that went down tonight.. he surely wasn't expecting to kiss Max, but he enjoyed it none the less. Since the dance, the smile on his face never rubbed off. "Whenever you need a ride to ANYWHERE, you channel me, okay?" He asked, tilting his head down and lifting his eyebrows softly.
"Well, once I get a dorky walkie talkie, ill let you know."
"Oh my God, it's not dorky." he responded, rolling his eyes sarcastically before smiling even wider. All the sudden, a muffled sound of music was blasting through the wall beside Max's room. Billy.
Max sighed, shaking her head with annoyance before looking back at Lucas. "I should go. Thanks, again." she said, her confidence gaining as she leaned in and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. She smiled bashfully, her pale face reddening before she climbed through the window of her room. She turned around, peeking out and smiling even wider now, "Don't forget about going to the arcade tomorrow, okay?"
"Of course." Lucas responded, laughing slightly. Max nodded in return before backing away from the opened window, closing it and locking it shut. She waved through the window before pulling the shades closed, causing Lucas to climb back onto his bike and push off to his house. The smile never escaping his expression.
"Okay, let me get this straight. Those shitheads said no to dancing with you," Steve started, Dustin nodding in return as they made their way down the road, "then Nancy.. THE Nancy Wheeler, came over and asked you to dance?"
"Yeah, okay? Why didn't you believe me the first time?" Dustin asked in a whiny tone, noticing Steve's look of disappointment.
Steve, having dated /the/ Nancy Wheeler, grew jealous of Dustin. Ever since they broke up, he missed her dearly, regretting ever breaking up with her. He lightly tapped his fingers against the cars steering wheel to the beat of the song playing over the radio.
"Alright, i'm sorry. I believe you, okay? I just..." he glanced out the window beside him, "I don't know."
Dustin didn't respond, pulling down the rear view mirror to check out his new hairstyle. He smiled at his reflection before returning it to its original position, "those girls missed out." Steve teased, a smile crossing his lips as they approached the Hendersons house. "Alright listen here, it only takes one shower to get that spray out, okay? Don't clean your hair too much or else you'll start losing it, alright?" Steve said, holding out his hand to Dustin. Dustin nodded understandingly, yet with nervous eyes, and accepted Steve's hand into a bro fist. He pushed the car door open, stepping out carefully and shutting the door behind him.
Before Dustin could make it to his front door, Steve rolled down the window of his car, "Hey dipshit."
Dustin turned.
"Don't go around telling anyone that i'm jealous you danced with her, you got it?" he said sincerely, pointing at him.
Dustin smiled and nodded, waving as Steve drove away before entering his warm house.
Will Byers spent the car ride boasting about how a girl asked to dance with him. Jonathan was psyched for his little brother, ruffling his hair every chance he got to practically congratulate him on his accomplishment. Joyce, however, raised her eyebrows at her son, a small and sarcastic smile appearing on her face. "Hey you, don't grow up too fast okay? Geez, you're already getting taller. Pretty soon you'll outgrow me, leave home to become a professional criminal,-" Will laughed, shaking his head as the rest of them laughed in return. Jonathan might've been excited for Will, but truly all he could think about was Nancy Wheeler. His girlfriend. /His/ girlfriend. His smile grew just thinking about her, wanting to mention her to his mom, but decided to keep it to himself and tell her another time. He didn't want to rush anything in fear that as soon as he said anything about her, she'd disappear.
When they reached their house, they all headed straight to their rooms, exhausted from tonight. Will walked over to his bedside table, setting down an extra colored pencil he found in the car, before pulling the covers up to his neck and drifting off to sleep
Max was exhausted, laying down in her bed sloggingly and groaning at the remaining light in the room. When she reached for the lamp on her bedside table to turn it off, a large shock stretched through her arm, causing her to wince in pain without forcing a sound out of her mouth. She stared at her hand, seeing that the shock made her finger bleed and burn intensely. She grimaced at the thought of putting a bandaid on her wound before deciding to just sleep it off.
Little did she know there was more to that burning shock than just static.
AHhhhh! I hope you guys liked my very first chapter! i'm so excited to continue this and see how the story lays out. PLEASE leave a review about how I can improve, what your favorite part was and if you want to see more of this storyline! Thanks for reading!
~ elevenhcppcr