please leave me suggestions on what to do with this story because I kind of have no idea!1!

The mid-October Indiana air was still thick with humidity that stuck to every inch of exposed skin. Every year that passed the whether got stranger and stranger. The AC was blasting in the small restaurant and washed over the two teens when they stepped inside. Even with the windows open in the car during the ride over they still managed to get a layer of sweat stuck to their foreheads. Mike glanced over at Jane just in time to watch her pull her sleeve over her hand and wipe off her face.

There were only a few occupied tables inside and they chose one in front of the windows. They both skimmed the menu despite the fact that they already knew what they were getting. The water brought over by the waitress was an extra relief from the heat outside. Once they both ordered and were left alone they looked at each other across the table, Jane being the first to speak up.

"I think I'll tell Max that I'll go with her to any movie she wants if she comes with me to Star Wars." She told him. "I might leave out the fact that it won't just be the two of us."

"What if she wants you to go see that scary movie again?" he asked in between sips of cold water.

Jane shrugged. "I don't know." She admitted. "Maybe it won't be as bad if I already know what's coming." She propped her elbows up on the tabletop. "I feel bad I made you come with me today. I didn't know it was going to be that scary."

"It's fine, really." He said quickly.

A grin forced its way onto her face despite how clearly she tried to hold it back. "You sure?" she asked. "I don't want you to have nightmares."

Mike scoffed at her. "I'm not a kid, I don't get nightmares anymore."

She raised an eyebrow at him, squeezing her straw between her thin fingers. "Everyone gets nightmares."

"Including you?"

"Yeah, of course."

Curiosity got the better of him. "What about?"

Jane fell silent as she thought, taking a sip of water and letting her eyes drift out the window. "Hm…" she hummed to herself. "Well I have this one recurring nightmare that I get, like, once a month. So I wake up in the middle of the school and I feel like I can't breathe. And everything is… different."

"Different."

"Cold and dark. Kind of like the whole world turned into a zombie." She propped her elbows up on her table and rubbed her hand over her mouth. Though talking about the dream clearly made him uncomfortable he was more curious about her than ever. "So I get up and start wandering around, and I'm looking for someone. I'm screaming their name as loud as I can, of course I never remember their name when I wake up, but I'm all by myself. I always wake up right when I realize that whoever I'm looking for isn't there."

Mike blinked at her a few times, speechless. "Wow." Was all he could say.

She grinned at him from across the table. "I think maybe I should take a break from the scary movies."

"That's probably a good idea."

Their food came shortly after and they fell into an easy and comfortable conversation about school. They talked about their classes, Jane in honors English and history and Mike in honors math and science. Jane made a joke about them being a homework dream team and suggested they study together sometime. In his head he heard both Nancy and his friends teasing him about everything 'study' could be a codeword for and hoped his face didn't flush. They exchanged stories about Troy but quickly moved on when they both started getting angry about everything the other person said.

Eleven's gaze moved to the view of the street out the window and an expression he couldn't identify quickly passed over her face before she turned back to him. "Hey, so, if Max does end up coming with us to the movie don't take anything she says too seriously."

"What do you mean?" he asked in between fries.

"Well, she's been teasing me nonstop ever since the party because she knows that we… you know."

Mike felt blood rush to his face at the speed of sound. "Oh."

"Yeah." She finished the last of her water and set it on the end of the table for it to be refilled the next time the waitress came around. "She's convinced that it's impossible for us to be friends after that."

"My friends have said pretty much the same thing." He admitted, leaving out the part that Nancy was the worst of them all.

Her lips turned up. "Really?" Mike nodded, a bit too embarrassed to say much. "It's kind of stupid, right? What do they know?"

"I guess we'll just have to show them."

"Good." She said before pointing a finger out the window. "Because Max just pulled up."

Mike followed her gaze just in time to see a familiar head of red hair climb out of the passengers seat of a flashy car. His stomach did a nervous flip as she walked up to the front door of the restaurant, wondering if she would tease them just as bad as her friends did. She walked up to the counter and handed over a few bills before grabbing the to go bag next to her and the cashier. Max turned back to the door when her eyes landed on him and Jane and she quickly changed her direction.

"Hey guys." She said in a bright voice he could instantly tell was fake. "What are you up to."

"Eating." Jane said flatly. If he looked at her close enough he could see splotchy red marks in her cheeks, almost blush.

Max sat on the edge of the bench next to her and forced her way into the booth. "Well I can see that." She said. "But what's the occasion."

"No occasion." Jane replied, not looking directly at either of them. "We're just hanging out."

Unphased by how shut down her friend was Max turned her attention to him. "You guys fix your machine?" she asked.

"Yeah, a bit." He answered, wiping his now sweaty palms on his jeans. "She actually helped us out big time with a wire problem."

"Her looks are deceiving but she's actually a huge nerd."

"So I'm learning."

Max looked back over at Jane, who was suddenly very interested in the salt shaker. "You still coming with me to that new horror movie next week."

Jane perked up slightly, a small smile replacing a fairly miserable expression. "Yes." She said, "If you see whatever movie I want to go see."

Mike watched Max carefully as the thought over the offer. "See, now, I know exactly what movie you're going to make me see." She said. "Is the movie under two hours?"

"Yes." Jane answered even though Mike was pretty sure the movie was two hours and fifteen minutes exactly.

Max rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine, I'll go."

Jane's face lit up." Thank you." She said, putting her hand on Max's arm and giving her a hard shove. "Now go away."

"Wow." Max said as she got to her feet, then looked at him. "Do you see how she talks to her best friend?"

"Go!"

Max quickly grabbed her to-go bag and turned for the door just as Jane started to get out of the booth. Once she was outside he saw Jane let out a sigh of relief and leaned against the back of the booth.

"She seems nice." Mike said with a hint of sarcasm.

A grin spread on her face as she picked her head back up and looked at him. "She is." Jane answered, "When she's not being a pain in the ass she's the best friend in the world."

Mike dunked one of his fries into the ketchup puddle on the side of his plate. "So was it your idea or hers to go to Jennifer's party?"

"Hers." Jane said. "She wanted to see if the guy she liked was going. She had this big plan to make a move on him but we got a little sidetracked."

"Oh yeah?" he asked, "Sidetracked with what?"

She rolled her eyes and threw her rolled up napkin at him. It bounced harmlessly off his shoulder and landed on the floor. "You know what." Jane said. "She spent the rest of the night trying to get me to talk to you so she wouldn't have to talk to the guy she liked."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You were gonna talk to me?"

Jane shrugged. If he didn't know better he would have thought her cheeks turned pink. "I don't know, maybe." She said. "But I threw up in the backyard and had to go home so it doesn't really matter."

"Yes it does matter." Mike kicked her foot underneath the table. "What were you gonna say?"

She groaned, "I don't know." She whined. "Probably something really awkward and dumb. I was pretty drunk."

"Yeah, you were." He agreed before doing his best impression of drunk Jane. "That's why I made sure I was coherent." She burst out laughing and reached across the table push him, which only made him laugh harder. "You looked miserable when the bottle landed on you."

"Not because of you." She assured him. "Just the whole idea of the game seemed kind of awkward. Plus the whole, you know, not having my first kiss thing."

"Sorry."

Her eyebrows met in the middle of her forehead. "Why are you sorry?"

Mike shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Kind of a crappy first kiss, if you ask me."

"Why?" she asked. "Because of the alcohol, the closet, or you?"

"Yes."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Shut up, Mike. It was fine. You're not a bad kisser. Besides, we might not have been friends if the bottle didn't land on me."

Mike felt his cheeks burning at her comment about him being a good kisser. If he had feelings for her it was the kind of comment that would turn him into a lovesick mess. Thankfully they were just friends. "That's true." He said, choosing to ignore the comment all together.

Once they finished eating they got back into Mike's car and decided to drive to a local ice cream shop. They sat next to one another on the hood of the car and watched the road in front of them. He was once again surprised by how easy spending time with Jane was. Like hanging out with a friend he had known all his life. The more they talked the more they realized how much they had in common.

"Why did you guys go to the party?" Jane asked as she bit into the cone of her ice cream.

Mike shrugged and scooped up another spoon. One thing they didn't have in common was her preference of a cone and his preference of a cup. "We've never been invited to a big party like that before. We figured we might as well go since we'd never get invited to another one again."

"I heard Margret is throwing a Halloween party." Jane said. "I'll go if I go you go?"

"How'd you hear about it?" he asked, avoiding agreeing to go.

"From Margret. She sits in front of me in Chemistry. Said I could bring whoever I wanted." She bumped her shoulder against his. "So, you coming with me?"

He groaned quietly, unable to come up with an excuse to not go. "Yeah, alright."

Jane lit up. "Good." She said, taking another bite of her waffle cone. "We gotta start brainstorming costumes."

When Mike dropped her off at her house a little less than an hour later he spotted Chief Hopper sitting on the front porch. Mike could feel him watching them as Jane opened the car door and promised to see him at school the next day before jogging up the walkway. She waved at him once last time before he started the car back up and pulled away from the house. As he drove back to his house he sincerely hoped that Chief Hopper didn't know the specifics of how he and Jane had met.