When El Was 14

El would always remember her first kiss.

The way he held her, the way he kissed her. She had almost fainted dead away, when they'd parted. She was breathless. She thought she replied to Mike's remark with a corny cliche, but Mike didn't laugh. He pulled her into a hug and she had been so overwhelmed with emotion she cried on his shoulder.

"It's ok, El. I feel the same way." She had cried harder, and he had hugged her a little tighter.

He had looked so relieved when El had said yes. Her heart fluttered a bit whenever she thought of it . She finally knew that Mike liked her lot. Mike was very shy, so it must have taken a lot of courage for him to ask her out. They were already really good friends, and something like that can ruin a good friendship if both don't feel the same way about each other.

Mike Wheeler had captured her heart. She had given it without hesitation. They had biked back to his house, El's arms were around his waist, holding on to him tightly. She didn't want to let go, but Mike was wheezing and told her he couldn't breathe. She giggled at his back, and loosened her grip, but just barely.

They had gone immediately to his basement and had talked and kissed for hours. She didn't know about Mike, but her lips were sore. She never kissed anybody for that long or that intensely before. It was a delicious sore, and she would go through it again gladly the next time she was alone with Mike. She would have kissed him all night but the Wheeler phone rang, El's dad said she should probably come home.

A few things happened over the year that El really liked, and a few things she didn't like.

Her dad was officially dating Will's mom, and he seemed to have mellowed out. A little bit anyway.

She told her dad that Mike had asked her to be his girlfriend. He had grinned at her and said, "so he finally made it official did he? I don't think I won the office pool. I think Powell actually did."

Her body was growing. Will's mom had helped her out with things she needed to know. She was happy about that. She was sure Mike would be too.

One day his hand went to her hip instead of her waist, he stopped suddenly and said, "whoa!"

"What is it Mike?" She looked down at herself to see if something was wrong.

"Um, uh, you have uh, hips. And uh, boo-, uh I didn't notice before."

"I'm turning into a young woman, Mike." She said half joking. Mike turned very red, he was adorable. El knew then, that when it was time for them to be intimate, she would have to take the lead. Mike would curl up and die of embarrassment first.

El had surprised herself when discovered by accident that she had some drawing talent and started doing simple pencil landscape sketches. It didn't take long for her to start sketching during game night, sometimes three for four sketches on each of those nights. She ended up with hundreds of her favourite subject. Mike.

She tried to capture his gentle eyes. His quiet demeanor. She wanted other girls to see the sketches of her boyfriend and want him.

So El was happy about all those things.

She considered herself lucky. She was only unhappy about two things. Neither one of which she could do anything about.

The first thing, was that in the year of being Mike's girlfriend, her hair hadn't grown. Not an inch. She complained to Mike that she wanted to be prettier for him, but he just looked at her surprised.

"Are you kidding? You're beautiful El. You look badass with that hair. And I already know you are badass with that other thing you can do." He smiled at her.

"No, El. If you don't want to take my word for it, ask any of the guys. You're really pretty. I think even Max thinks so. I don't care about your hair El. I don't. I can't tell you not to worry about it, I just want you to know it doesn't make any difference to me. It never has."

He'd made her smile. "Thank you Mike you are the perfect boyfriend." She had shaken her head astonished at how easy going he was. At the time El was having a hard time wrapping her head around the idea that Mike was so perfect for her. She hoped with all her heart that he felt the same way. Even just a little bit.

The second thing, she wasn't happy with was her monthly cycle. Guys had no idea how lucky they were not having to deal with it.. Will's mom had told her that there were going to be bad days, "no way to sugar coat this sweetie, but there will be days when you are bitchy. Even to Mike."

El was horrified. She couldn't be mean to Mike. She just couldn't. He would break up with her for sure. El was scared of that, terrified. She couldn't lose Mike just because her hormones had gone out of whack for a week, or however long it was going to take.

When it happened, El was awful to him. Called him names, and she started crying for no reason whatsoever. Called him more names, and then cried because she had. Mike took it all in stride, he looked down, slightly confused. He was his usual, considerate self. He immediately took the blame for making her angry and then making her cry. He said he didn't know what he'd done but he was sorry.

El cried some more, it wasn't his fault and she needed to let him know. She managed to tell him through her blubbering what was happening to her. Mike had turned red again.

He had cancelled the game that night, and suggested they could just sit and talk, or snuggle, if she didn't feel like talking. They didn't have to kiss or anything.

"Mike Wheeler, there's no way you're getting out of kissing your girlfriend when she feels like this." El had said in mock anger.

Mike had then given her the sweetest most gentle kiss she could remember up to that point in their relationship. That made her cry again. He hugged her until she fell asleep on his shoulder.

She had apologized when she'd gotten through it. Will's mom told her that the first few were the worst.

Mike didn't care, he told her as long as she was still his girlfriend when she felt better, they would get through them together. El assured him that she would always be with him.

That was the first time she'd seen Mike cry. He must have been thinking that she was on the verge of breaking up with him when she had her period. El had been hoping before, but now she saw that he hadn't over-reacted. Instead she saw that felt very strongly for her... he looked so vulnerable… her bottom lip trembled a bit. She recovered quickly and pulled him into a crushing hug.

They seperated enough for Mike to look at her. He could scarcely talk. "I don't want to lose you."

She shook her head, "You won't lose me."

That was that day she realized an absolutely unignorable fact.

When El was 14 she knew she was in love with Mike Wheeler.

And she knew it would be forever.