Author's note: First of all, if you're having this chapter before the end of January, it's because my beta is super efficient, so a round of applause to Jenna, please!
For a second there I really thought that I was finally writing a shorter chapter, but lol. When I reached 9k words I was like well...
I hope you enjoy and don't get too mad at me.
IMPORTANT: I know a total of nothing about Dungeon and Dragons, so please don't care much about the specifics of the game here.
Also, do you have any idea of what they will be fighting in this fic? heh
5. not how the game is played
August, 1986
Dustin Henderson
"Well, this isn't creepy at all," Dustin sighed alone in his room as he looked through a bunch of paintings and drawings Will had given to him.
Not exactly given, more like loaned, but anyway. They were creepy. Maybe even a little disturbing. Dustin had been looking at them for quite some days now, because Will had assured him that there was something similar in the museum, and maybe he could have access to it, seeing that he worked there.
So far, Dustin didn't have much success at the museum and when he showed the drawings to Mr. Androutsos, the man couldn't inform him on anything. Meanwhile, all he had was no answers and some legit nightmare material.
His concentration was broken by his nephew's loud laugh. When at home, Dustin could hardly accomplish anything, not with Andre around, and it frustrated him because he couldn't help the feeling that something was holding them back.
Sighing, he dropped all the papers on his nightstand and was ready to go make a sandwich when there was a knock on his door.
"It's open!" he exclaimed, and before he could turn around, somebody opened the door.
"Hey, you have a visitor!" Femke said overenthusiastically. He was standing behind Jennifer Hayes, who was just looking at Dustin with this smile of hers. Dustin smiled too.
"Jenny," he greeted cordially.
"You forgot your book," she said showing him the copy of Ender's Game. Before he could say anything else, she stepped inside and shoved the book on his chest.
Dustin took a look at the cover. He would probably have to start over the reading because he didn't remember anything. He'd spent the summer worrying about Shakespearian plays and weird supernatural cocoons; there wasn't much space to keep the first couple of chapters of the book fresh in his head.
When he looked up, Femke was still standing there in the corridor, which made him frown. His older brother gave him an impressed thumbs up, making him roll his eyes.
"Don't you have to take care of a toddler?" he asked before closing the door on his brother's face. Dustin turned to Jennifer. "I'm sorry about him."
"It's okay," she said. "I feel like I still owe him for letting us stay at his place to watch that game."
"He doesn't shut up about it!" Dustin exclaimed. "Keeps asking when me and my friends are heading to Chicago again, that we can totally spend a weekend there. Seven people!"
"Well, you guys are from a pretty big household," Jen observed.
"Tell me about it," he sighed. "How was camp?"
"It was good," she answered, her eyes shone a little. "This guy from Brown gave me his card."
"Brown?" Dustin asked. "Ivy League Brown?"
"Are there others?" Jen said. "He said he saw me playing for Ohio last season and was glad to see me in camp too. He didn't know I go there, because I wasn't in the final game last year. Not even if I didn't have to come back for my grandpa's funeral he probably wouldn't have seen me, I think. I was with the 14U."
That was so cool. Jennifer already was paving her way to a great school, just like him. Dustin always wanted to move to a big city, study in a big college, that was why he always wanted to –
"What's wrong?" Jennifer asked frowning. Dustin shook his head.
"Nothing, it's just…" he said frowning too. "My number one option is Stanford."
Jennifer closed her mouth and said nothing, mostly because if you looked at it coldly, there was nothing to say about it. They hadn't even started their sophomore year yet, there was no guarantee that they'd make it to the colleges they wanted. They had a lot of time left yet. When she spoke, it was about something else entirely.
"Why did you cut your hair?"
"Work," Dustin replied, glad to think of something else. He put the book on the nightstand on top of Will's papers.
"At the museum?" Jen asked raising an eyebrow.
"I wanted to make a good impression," he explained. His hair wasn't that short, but it was way shorter than before, just a little over a couple of inches long now.
Jennifer reached and touched a curl that was falling on his forehead. She curled it around her finger, a gesture that he grew used to and kind of missed in the past couple of months.
Dustin's eyes lowered to Jenny's exposed shoulders, noticing that her usually white skin was tanned, with some tan marks too. She looked so fresh and beautiful with her summer clothes and her hair down, he couldn't believe his luck.
"Elle knows about us," she said still fidgeting with his hair. Shocker. "You're not surprised."
Dustin shrugged.
"It's El, she knows everything," he said. "It's her super power."
Jennifer raised an eyebrow again.
"Aren't you afraid she'll tell someone?"
Now, that was a little offensive and Dustin stepped back. There were so many things wrong in Jennifer's assumption that he didn't even know where to start.
"Have you met El?" was the first thing that came out of his mouth and Jen sighed.
"I know," she said apologetically. "I mean, if Sonic kept coming to ask me if I was seeing someone, it probably was because she didn't tell him anything."
Dustin gestured as if saying "See?" and then-
"Who's Sonic?"
Jennifer shrugged, smiling and avoiding eye contact. Okay, he wouldn't press it. Not even if it meant that for some reason that guy had to ask Jennifer over and over about a possible someone else. It wasn't as if they were something anyway.
"You have a tan this time," he said instead, and then she looked at him, her smile larger.
"That's what you get with so many sunny days," Jenny said excitedly. She pushed her hair from her shoulders. "See? This one is from the training bra during morning trainings, this one," she turned around and held her hair high to show her back, the cross mark between her shoulder blades seemed new. "Is from catch the flag before dinner and this one," she pointed at the mark that seemed to be from what she wore with more frequency, and lowered the rack of her top a little, showing him part of her breasts and making Dustin catch his breath. "Is the bikini I wore while waiting for Ellie to get her crazy ass out of the lake day after day."
Dustin took one, two deep breaths and then he turned to lock the door, because there was a nosy toddler in the house, and when he turned around to face Jenny again she was there kissing him, and he immediately kissed her back, because Gosh, he missed this girl! He missed her clear blue eyes and her nice blonde hair and her soft lips, and how she leaned into him and allowed him to hold her, even if he didn't know that she had a bad bruise on her back and would only find out about it later.
"You know," Dustin said breaking the kiss. Her fingers were efficiently undoing his jeans. "Sometimes I think you just like me to use my hot body."
"Shut up," Jennifer replied, kissing him again.
"See my point?" he insisted and she got back only enough to remove her top. Not that he didn't know it already, but she wasn't wearing a bra.
"How do you feel about talking now?"
Dustin shook his head, mouth shut, and shrugged. Jennifer smiled and he leaned in to kiss her, making her giggle as his fingers held her waist.
"Dustin Henderson," she said on his lips. Their eyes were open and he could see the mischief in hers. "Is that your bed?"
He just nodded, already mesmerized by her. What a girl he had found. They kissed and stumbled to his bed. He was indeed very lucky, and they had two months of catching up to do.
"Whose stash is this?" Jennifer asked after, when they were laying in his bed and Dustin decided to roll a joint.
"Grant's," he answered casually.
"Doesn't he get mad?"
Dustin chuckled.
"He gets to get mad when he starts taking care of his plants," he said. "This is my payment."
"Clever," she replied stretching over him to get the lighter. Dustin finished the joint and offered it to her.
Jennifer sat up to lit it up and took a long drag of the joint, and then let out a slow string of smoke. She smiled and looked at Dustin, offering him the joint.
"You know," she said. "In camp, no one had weed like the Henderson weed."
"Oh, so it's not just about my hot body, it's also about my super dope weed that you're with me," Dustin joked and Jennifer looked at him still smiling.
"You figured me out," she said leaning in to kiss him.
Their kiss mixed with smoke and the sweet smell of marijuana and it went on for several minutes – smoke, joke, kiss.
"These drawings," Jennifer said sitting up again and putting on one of Dustin's tees. She reached for one of the papers on the nightstand. "They are Will's, right?"
Dustin pointed at Will's signature at the bottom and she nodded.
"I don't know why he's so obsessed with these things," she said, getting more pictures to look at. "Remember when we saw them during that 8th grade trip?"
No, he didn't remember. Dustin sat up too, frowning, a half smoked joint between his lips.
"What trip?" he asked and she looked at him incredulously.
"Dustin. The museum. You work there. Remember the archeology part, how creepy it was? It had a bunch of things like these," Jen flipped though some drawings as she spoke. "I wonder if they're still there."
She looked at Dustin, who was still frowning. Now he was remembering the visit, it was one of the first things their class did as 8th graders. It was also the first time they saw Max and her brother Billie, who worked there at the time. He gave them the tour around the new exhibition hall of archeology that was, indeed, very creepy and it had no dinosaurs at all, which was very frustrating.
He also remembered something else: that Will wasn't on that trip because he was too sick that day, and he kept complaining about not being able to go see that exhibition everyone was talking about. So either Will fooled everyone, or he really was dreaming about those things he'd been drawing.
There was only one way to know, but –
"I don't know," Dustin said still frowning, the joint now between his fingers. "That hall's been closed for years now."
Odd, to say the least. If Dustin remembered correctly from the files he read when he started working there, that archeology exhibit was one of the most profitable ones Hawkins Museum ever hosted, but what happened to it?
Internally, he smiled. Guess his detective work had just found its starting point.
[...]
Mike Wheeler
It wasn't normal for Mike to get anxious before a Dungeons & Dragons game. He'd been doing that for a very long time, he and his friends had regular meetings every month for a game. He liked to think that he was becoming a bit of a pro DM, and so far this new campaign – after almost three months of not playing at all – was his most proud work, he had to admit that.
He was nervous. And Lucas kept teasing it was because El would finally participate this time, which was true, but Mike would never admit that. It stunned him how El could sit through a whole day binging Star Trek, how she always picked the most complicated books on his shelf, but could never play D&D with them. Storytelling was El's thing. Was there any place with more storytelling than his campaigns?
So yes, he was anxious. Even if he didn't need to be. Even if he should be paying attention to what Dustin was telling Nancy – something about an exhibition they saw in 8th grade and Will's drawings. At that moment, all Mike could think of was that he couldn't wait for El and Will to arrive so they could finally start the game.
The door of the basement opened and there they were. Mike caught his breath when he saw El. She looked so healthy and tanned and happy. Her hair was lighter, probably because of the sun, back in a ponytail. She was wearing a cropped top, jeans and boots, and her smile… gosh, her smile could move mountains.
"You look… amazing," he said as a way of hello, and he could swear El blushed. "What have you been doing the past couple of days?"
"Thanks," she replied. "And not much. Playing with the dogs and stuff. Saw my mom."
They were in front of one another and she was so small when she was near him, it made Mike want to protect her. Except that he didn't have the right to want it anymore. He had revoked that right alone.
"Really?" he said interested. "How was it?"
"Nice," she replied with simplicity, in that way that said that she wouldn't give him any detail. El let out an excited sigh, and looked up at him with expectant eyes, open hands as if he was supposed to give her something. "So? Where is it?"
"What?" Mike asked, a little confused. El smiled again.
"The campaign, where is it?" she insisted, and he shook his head to be rid of the confusion.
"Oh, it's here," he pointed at the table in the middle of the basement where the game was set, and when they looked, they realized they were the only people there. "Where the hell is everyone?"
"Upstairs to get food," El informed him, walking towards the table. She stopped beside the chair he usually sat on and pointed at a pile of papers. "Is that it?"
Mike nodded.
"Your charac-what are you doing?" he said when he saw her taking the papers that contained the whole plot of the campaign, the papers that only he was supposed to read. Mike stepped in El's direction. "El! You can't read that!"
"Why not?" she said as she sat on the sofa, eyes focused on the pages, scanning them with attention. "You let me read your other campaigns before."
"Yeah, because you weren't playing them!" he protested. He tried to take the papers from her hands, but she just shoved him away with her mind, making him fall on his ass across the room. He hated it when she did that. "El, seriously, you're not supposed to read that before the game!"
Instead of listening to him, she just shushed him, which was rather rude, if someone asked his opinion. He tried to get up to make her stop reading, but with a sigh he realized that she was trapping him there, on the floor.
She wanted to read the campaign beforehand? Okay, good. So be it. Mike crossed his arms and closed his mouth, observing her from afar. Part of him was afraid she would lose interest in playing if she knew all the moves, but no. She had asked him to write, she asked for a character. She wouldn't leave him with an empty chair now, clearly.
His concern grew as Mike saw El turn page after page with a deeper frown at each turn. She wasn't liking it. Oh God, she wasn't liking it.
"What the fuck are you doing on the floor?" Lucas asked, coming down the stairs with lemonade and a plate of focaccias in his hands. The other boys were coming down with him, each one carrying something to eat or drink. Mike just gestured towards El.
"Oh, yeah," El said without looking at him, and suddenly the weight was taken from the top of him and he could stand again.
Mike helped the boys organize all the food on the table, unable to focus on their theories about whatever it was they were theorizing, because his attention kept diverting to El.
"This can't be right," she said, almost so low only Mike heard – or maybe he was the only one paying attention to hear. El looked up at him. "Why this monster?"
"Because I wanted something epic and classic," Mike answered, daring to get closer to her. This time, she let him. Part of him almost wished she didn't, because she was looking at him differently, almost in a creepy way.
"You could've chosen anything, but you chose this," El said seriously, now catching the attention of the other boys, who were all choosing their seats and looked at them. "I don't understand why."
"I told you, I wanted to make a throwback, but like a reboot. It couldn't be exactly like the other monster."
Seriously, he didn't know why it was so hard for her to understand that. Nor why it bothered her so much, to be honest. It was just a D&D campaign and nothing else.
El got up and handed him the papers, and he was careful not to touch her. Mike frowned at the floor, and it was only when the first step of the stairs creaked that he realized that she was leaving.
"Where are you going?" he asked, making her stop midway and look back again.
"Upstairs," El replied. "Holly and Nancy are watching Sixteen Candles."
"But the game is about to start!" Mike protested, maybe louder than necessary. The boys just exchanged looks. Should he really be surprised that she was ditching them so easily?
"I'm not playing," she said simply, as if it was just insignificant. And maybe it was, but not today. Mike stepped ahead.
"What do you mean, you're not playing? I wrote a character for you," he practically begged. At least that was how it felt for him – like begging. For her to stay. Even if he knew she wouldn't. "El, you asked me to write."
El nodded.
"Thank you for that," she said and then she didn't say anything else, just went up the stairs and to the TV room, letting the door close after her. Mike stood there staring at the closed door.
"Well, that was faster than expected," Lucas commented, breaking the moment. "We all lost the bet."
"I think you all should pay me," Will reasoned. "Because my bet was closer to reality."
"You said she'd last three hours," Dustin argued. "She didn't even start."
"Better than the five hours you bet," Will replied, raising an eyebrow.
Mike still was in the same place, but he was looking at his friends now.
"We need another player," he said. "I'm going to convince her to come play."
"Dude, forget it," Lucas said. "You know she's not coming back. And seriously, I think it's a well-deserved payback for what you did to her." Will chuckled. Of course it would amuse him. "Right?"
"We really need another player?" Dustin asked and Mike nodded. "We can call Lexi, she's not working today."
"But this character is El's," Mike complained, taking the paper where he had written all the characteristics of the character and shaking it in front of them. He had left the name for her to pick. "She has to play it!"
"Oh, my God, Mike," Lucas snatched the paper from his hand and reached for the pen he always kept close to keep tabs of the moves. Lucas scratched El's name from the top of the page and wrote Lexi's beside it. "Here, now Lexi can play it. Let's call her."
"I'll do it," Will offered, getting up. Mike was too in shock with the boldness of his friends that afternoon to do anything. "Sit down, Wheeler, you're not growing anymore."
Shock made him compliant and he did as Will said, sitting down in his chair. In his right hand, he still was holding the papers of the campaign and they were a little crumpled, so he set to straighten them.
"Mike," Dustin called very carefully. "Mike, it's just a game."
Mike stopped all his movements except for his eyes, that slowly raised to face the boy in front of him.
"I know it's just a fucking game, Dustin," he said very slowly, feeling the rage boil inside him. "You don't need to tell me that."
"Okay, I'm canning this right here," Lucas interfered in his most definitive voice. "First of all, you both know I hate it when I have to be the moderator, so don't you fucking start. Second of all, Mike," he turned to Mike and only spoke again when he looked at him. "You need to chill the fuck out. Right now. Because one, you don't get to be mad at her and two, you worked your ass off to write a great comeback campaign, so let's just play the goddamn thing in peace. Understood?"
Lucas looked at Dustin, who looked very peaceful about the whole situation, Mike being the one who snapped in the first place, and then he looked at Mike, which probably made him feel like he needed to emphasize it.
"Understood?" he said again, looking right at Mike this time, and the boy sighed.
"Yeah, whatever," he replied, going back to straightening the pages, trying to look less angry while doing it.
"If you start the last bit of drama, Wheeler, I swear to fucking God-"
"Relax, okay?" Mike cut him sharply. "I'll behave."
Both Lucas and Dustin scoffed and Mike couldn't blame them. He didn't have a good track record of playing nice after being annoyed by something, but at that moment, he couldn't focus on them. In his head, he kept playing back to how everyone kept saying that El was paying back his ridiculous behavior which also led his thoughts back to that morning a little over two months ago when they had that one decisive fight – it was especially hard to shake the image of clarity and heartbreak in her eyes when his words hit her.
He had been so stupid, Mike knew that. But that was water under the bridge already, and he had to let go – he had to, or he'd go crazy.
It had been easier without El around. Things with Spencer… they seemed to be good, walking towards a productive direction. Mike struggled to understand how so many beautiful girls managed to like him – first El and then Hilston, then El again, and now Spencer – but it wasn't as if he would complain. As Will liked to say, he'd better enjoy it, right?
Mike was so deep in his own thoughts that he didn't even realize how much time had passed. It was only when Lexi touched his shoulder to greet him that he came back to reality. He forced a smile to her and Lucas handed her the character when she sat by his side, he and Dustin giving her the quick explanation of how the game was played and what she should do.
"Okay, I think I got it," Lexi said, eyes on the list of characteristics of her character. She already was showing a level of concentration that El never did, but that was something Mike would never admit. "Are we good to go?"
"I think we are," Dustin said at the same time Lucas nodded excitedly and offered his fist for a fist bump with her.
"No, we're not," Mike said making them stop midway as he realized. "Where the fuck is Will?"
Between annoyed 'Oh my God's and 'for fuck sake's, Mike got up again and strutted upstairs to go look for Will, already forming in his head a big argument he would have with the boy.
He didn't have to go far, though. Will was in the TV room with the girls, "watching the movie." Except that he was more talking to Holly, who was pressed between him and El on the sofa, than anything else. From the door of the basement, Mike watched Will shake hands with his little sister as if sealing a deal, and then they both reached for the plate of Jonathan's biscuits on El's lap. Nancy had spent the whole morning trying to bake them.
"I like this part when her father apologizes for forgetting her birthday," El commented.
"And it's funny after, when the mother apologizes and then the brother is a total jerk," Will added and they all laughed. Mike couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Will," he called, catching everyone's attention. "The game?"
"Is Lexi here?"
"Uh, yes! Come on, man, we don't have all day."
"Alright, damn," Will complained, getting up. Mike crossed his arms, waiting. "Don't forget to pass me all the details, Hol."
"I won't," Holly guaranteed, mouth full of biscuits.
Will headed to the basement, but slowed down as he passed by Mike to go downstairs.
"Did you ever, in your life, have a day without stressing out?" he questioned with that legit tone that he grew to learn and that pissed Mike off more each time Will used it. "It's not rhetorical, I'm really asking."
"Fuck off," Mike replied rolling his eyes, trying not to get even more annoyed about Will's crooked know-it-all smile.
His eyes stopped on El and for the first time he noticed that she was wearing the ring he had sent to her after a lot of convincing on Nancy's part. That was unexpected. Part of Mike expected for El to hate him, and maybe he would've dealt better if it had been that way. It would be easier to justify his own anger.
Mike held on to the door handle, ready to go back to the basement, knowing that he should leave her alone. A voice in his head had to keep trying to remind him that he had caused it all, that he was the one to blame, but this whole campaign thing was just so stupid, and she had confirmed through a call once when he picked up the phone before Nance that yes, she wanted him to write it and now-
"Why did you do that?" Mike caught himself asking. El was looking at him with her doe eyes that were both intense and scary and she didn't say anything, she just let him rant. "Why would you let me take time from all the other things I was supposed to do and have this stupid hope that you were finally into something I like just to snatch it away in the first opportunity? Huh?"
"Taking time from other things was your choice," El said evenly, which enraged him more. Mike held the handle tighter.
"Is it bad? Is that why you won't play? You didn't like my writing?" He didn't give her space to answer. "Or are you just really fucking desperate to hurt my feelings, El? At least that's what everyone says. At least it's what makes sense."
El was quietly looking at him. She wasn't much of a speaker, never been, but it was him and her and they were different. Usually, she was the one asking the questions. Usually, she was much calmer too, with a little crinkle between her eyebrows to emphasize her confusion. Mike wasn't confused, he was frustrated. And that was a lot worse.
"I'm sorry," El said. The way she said it let him know that she shouldn't be the one apologizing.
Mike couldn't take that. He turned around and closed the door behind him, just to face a very angry Will instead.
He didn't know what he expected would happen after El came back. No, correction, he did know. He expected her to run right into his arms and say that it was alright. He expected to hold her and say that he was sorry. But instead, she hugged Lucas and talked to Dustin, and to him she only offered half-information and silence. And she was never, ever silent with him.
"Shut up," he said to Will, passing by him and going to his seat. A little after, Will joined him and finally they could start their game. "Before anything else, each one of you roll the dice," he instructed, and even though that wasn't very conventional, they all did as he said.
As soon as the game started, however, Mike's mind cleared. He was in his lane with the fantasy and the epic storytelling, and within half an hour, something inside him settled. His story was good, his writing was interesting. He shouldn't second guess it because of anyone's opinion, as long as he kept doing it, and kept working hard to get better.
Half an hour became a full hour and one hour became four really fast. Before he expected, their small crew was starting to face the main monster they would have to destroy in order to get in the dungeon to collect their prize.
"The tunnel is dark and humid, and the only way you can go through is sticking together."
"Can I use the witch stones for light?" asked Dustin and Mike nodded. It was a low number, easy to get when he rolled the dice. With the number Dustin got, he could use about five stones.
"Each step could be a trap, so you try to be as careful and silent as possible," Mike continued. "Who knows what could be waiting for you. The first bifurcation is easy to choose. All you have to do is remember the prophecy."
"For the right path is the only one that can lead you to glory?" Lexi recited from heart. She was doing a surprisingly good job as the brave princess. "I thought we agreed that the prophecy didn't make sense."
"Of course it does, Lexi!" Lucas said excitedly. "At least part of it now! We follow to the right."
"That's correct," Mike said nodding. Too bad their joy would be short. "Except that you are all so thrilled to start figuring out the prophecy and getting closer to the prize that you don't realize that one of you is quietly taken from under your noses."
"Who?" asked Lucas frowning.
Mike didn't answer, but just kept narrating the story, pulling booby traps and small prizes here and there, if they got the right numbers on the dices, guiding them through the maze-like tunnel that would lead them to the dungeon – and the monster that was his most proud work.
"This is it, right?" Dustin asked. "The entry of the dungeon. Where is it?"
"Exactly," Mike said. "Where is it?" he smiled looking at each one of the players in front of him. Will had been quiet the past hour, which was very convenient considering what was to come. "The witch stone in your hand runs out of power and you're all covered in darkness again. Darkness brings along silence, and you all struggle to come up with a plan."
"There's got to be a witch stone that still works," Lexi suggested, so Dustin rolled the dice and looked at Mike.
"The stones together produce a dim light, and you now can start looking around to find the entrance of the dungeon, careful and silently, unsure of when they will run out of light again. It's a small room, and the sound of breathing makes it seem that there are twice as many people there."
"Why can't Will recharge the stones?" asked Lucas.
"There's no answer from Will, the wise," Mike said. "And too late you realize that he's not there. For a second, it's like you are running out of light again, but in fact it's a shadow growing in front of you, a shadow of something that you don't recognize, something that seems to grow larger and taller at each second, taking up all the space in the small room at the end of the tunnel."
"Where's my sword?" Lucas asked and hurried to roll the dices, getting such a high number that he celebrated. The score meant that he could conjure special gadgets for the sword that could be really helpful. "I cast emerald lance."
"You are all blinded for a second when the green light of the sword illuminates the room, but when you can focus again…"
"Shit, it's a Beholder, isn't it?" Dustin groaned. Mike smiled. It could be, certainly, but he had better plans for this evening.
"…you see that the monster is holding Will hostage, its arms so tightly around the wise that he's almost losing consciousness."
"It's not a Beholder, they don't hold their prey hostage," Lucas argued.
"How did you choose who would be taken?" Lexi wondered.
"The first dice roll," Will said quietly and Mike nodded. "I got a four, the lowest number."
"It's a Mind Flayer," Lucas continued and Dustin shook his head.
"Like shit it is!"
They could go on forever, Mike knew, and Lexi was looking right at him knowing that the only way they could move forward was with Mike's next information. Will, however, was staring at the table and the avatars on the board.
Well, it was about time they knew what monster they would be facing.
Mike got the monster's avatar from his pocket and put it in the middle of the board.
"The Thessalmonster!" he announced making many eyes widen and then getting a bunch of protests.
"What the heck, Thessalmonsters are not that smart!" Lucas said taking the dices, but Mike stopped him before he made the move.
"A Thessalmonster is as smart as its heads, and this is no average thessal," he explained. "Built in a very specific magic, each head with its own special power, and its only goal is to protect the entry of the dungeon at any cost. And there's more. You can either get Will back or fight your way through. If he wants to break free, he'll need to do this alone."
They all looked at Will. It was very convenient that he was the one taken by the monster, because this monster wasn't affected by magic, and so his main trait was useless. Now, he had to get a really high score in order to break free, or even a considerate amount to have a chance of fighting. Mike couldn't wait to see what he would come up with.
Except that Will didn't move. He didn't even take his eyes from the board and he was breathing shallowly, almost as if he was having a… panic attack? But why?
"Will?" Mike called. Nothing. He tried again. "Will!"
Startled, Will looked at him.
"Your move," he encouraged and the other boy shook his head.
"I can't," he said weakly. "I can't face a Thessalmonster."
"Well, you can at least try," Dustin argued. "At least until we get rid of enough heads to help you."
Still, Will kept shaking his head.
"No," he said and covered his eyes with his hands, drawing in a sharp breath. Mike frowned. Was Will getting sick again?
"Will, are you alright?" Lexi asked worried, touching his arm lovingly.
"I, uh," Will started to say, dropping his hands.
The door on top of the stairs opened and El came down quick and steady.
"We're going home," she said firmly, walking towards Will and taking his hand. He didn't even protest.
"We're halfway through the game," Mike said, though his voice was really low.
"You've been playing for over five hours," El argued, looking right at him. "Will is sick. You can continue another day."
Mike looked at Will again, saw how he was holding on to El and how she kept him steady. That was something he had seen before, but the other way around. Funny how things changed.
"I don't mind coming back another day," Lexi said quietly. Dustin and Lucas nodded. "Maybe next weekend, after we kick everyone's ass at the class tournament again," she suggested.
Mike knew it was unreasonable to continue that game now, not with one of them not feeling well. Besides, the day already was feeling awfully long. So he nodded, agreeing with the decision.
"Everyone agree with next weekend?" he asked fidgeting with his pen ready to add some last minute notes so he wouldn't forget exactly what was going on for the next half of the game, and they all nodded.
"Works for me," Dustin agreed, settling it.
"Next weekend it is, then," Mike said, and as soon as the words were out of his mouth, El dragged Will out of there. He knew it was because she wanted to take Will home, where their parents were and where they could take care of him the way they did best, but it still kind of hurt, as if she was desperate to get away from him as fast as possible.
The rest of the guys left too, Dustin and Lexi together, since they were neighbors, and after helping Mike take everything upstairs and with the dishes, Lucas went too. At this point, Mike's frustration had become a silent one, and he much rather chew on a piece of chicken pie his mom had made for dinner.
Truth was, he had to calm down. And there was no calming down when El was around, so he had to keep distracting himself with something, anything. Anyone, maybe.
Mike dropped the half-eaten piece of pie on his plate and went back to the basement, where his Moleskine was. He flipped the pages to the end where the phone number he was looking for was written in Spencer's neat handwriting. His first moment of luck in the day happened when he picked up the phone and Nancy wasn't on the line.
"Hello?" That was the second lucky moment. Spencer picked up the call.
"Penny?" Mike replied. "It's Mike."
For a second, she didn't say anything, but Spencer was a hell of a talker. She was a pro at filling silences, and she wouldn't fail him this time.
"Mike Wheeler," she said. She sounded a little different on the phone, but recognizable all the same. "Didn't expect to hear from you so soon."
"Yeah, I was thinking here…" he checked the calendar. "If you have plans for Labor Day."
Spencer chuckled.
"Couldn't you wait to ask me that tomorrow at work?" she asked. Well, of course he could, but he needed to think of anything but El right now, so he called. Penny was easily his best choice.
"Didn't want to," Mike replied, and he wanted to believe that on the other side, all the way in Indianapolis, Spencer was smiling.
"I usually go to the park with my parents, but I don't have any specific plan yet, why?" Penny said. Why was a really good question. Mike didn't have plans either; he didn't even have a plan for that call, which was a first – he was known for knowing what to do. Dustin even used to call him Top Cat when they were kids. Right now, he would have to improvise.
"Have you ever visited Hawkins' National reserve?" he suggested.
Labor Day was also Nancy's last day at home and she would have to go back to college the following morning. Jonathan would take her as far as New York City, and from there she'd take a bus to Portland. That day, after they went to the reserve and after having ice cream downtown, Nancy looked distracted, so Mike decided to help her finish packing.
"You letting your hair grow again?" Nancy asked, barely looking up from the bag she was organizing. Mike shrugged.
"I guess," he said. "Maybe I'll have a mullet, what do you think?"
Nancy looked up at him with wide eyes and he laughed.
"I'm joking," Mike guaranteed. "Mom and Dad are paying for my driving lessons," he commented, folding shirts and tops the best he could according to his sister's instructions. "Did you know?"
Nancy nodded.
"Dad almost made me pay for mine, remember?" she said, and Mike nodded, trying not to laugh. "Because I would start a little after he found out about me and Steve."
"If you're old enough to have a boyfriend, you're old enough to pay for your own classes," Mike mimicked and Nancy laughed.
"Did he say anything like that to you?" she asked and he shook his head no. "See what I mean about double standards?"
"I know, Nance, believe me."
"So," Nancy said casually unfolding a shirt he had just put in front of her and folding it again. "Is there a reason you suddenly put me in your date plans today?"
Mike tried not to sigh. He knew it, that if he left enough space she would ask him that, and that was the last thing he wanted to explain.
"You said you didn't have plans," he answered vaguely. Nancy stared at him, eyebrow raised. Mike said nothing else.
"My theory," Nancy dared to say. "Is that you got cold feet. You saw this beautiful girl who's been clearly falling in love with you and you started to doubt if it was a good idea because you're still in love with El."
Mike scoffed, trying to make her theory sound absurd.
"Not even close," he replied, but she wasn't done.
"So you panicked and you needed an easy way out, and that would be to make it look the least like a date as possible. That's why you turned to your good, amazing older sis for help, but I have news for you, little brother."
"Are you going to tell me that I have no right to still like El and that I better start 'seizing the day' or I'll go crazy? Because I've heard that a thousand times already."
Nancy smiled.
"Not exactly, actually," she said. "I mean, more or less. What I'm going to say is, you gotta move on! Breaking up was your idea in the first place and you deserve to enjoy it."
"Do I?"
"Mike," Nancy said, relaxing her shoulders. "Of course you do. When you gave that option to El, did you even consider you were giving it to yourself too?"
He had no answer for her. Fact was, he didn't give it a thought, too afraid to drown in what ifs. Him breaking up with El, it was so sudden and abrupt. Mike told El that she only knew how to live around him, but if the past two months were of any proof, he was the one who couldn't live without her.
When did he become so pathetic?
"Is that why you were so mean to El last week?" Nancy asked. "Because you don't know what to do?"
Mike sighed.
"I don't know, Nance," he replied sitting on Nancy's bed. "I guess it was a bunch of things. Work is pissing me off."
"I told you already you should quit. No car is worth the effort."
"And this whole thing with the cocoons and the DOE is really weird," he continued. "Plus, you gotta admit that the way El ditched the game was really fucked up."
Nancy sat down the bed as well and smiled, looking at him with soft eyes.
"Did it occur to you that she might have asked you to write for another reason than to play the game?" she commented and Mike frowned.
"Do you know something I don't?" he asked looking right in her eyes. Nancy shook her head. "Did she tell you something?"
"No," Nancy said softly. "I don't know, Mike, I'm just speculating. But I guess that's something you should think about – a little less about your reasons to write the campaign, a little more about hers." She reached for her nightstand's drawer and took his Dungeon Master Monsters Guide out, handed it to him. "This is yours."
"Like the reading?" he asked, taking the ratty book he had bought from a garage sale ages ago. Nancy's smile widened.
"I actually did!" she replied. "The whole points system was a big miss, but the monsters are neat. Some more than others, but it's cool. I never dug so deep in D&D facts, all I've ever done was to help edit campaigns."
Mike flipped some pages of the book, always enchanted by the colorful drawings. Nancy had raised a valid point though; he didn't for a moment think of El's reasons to ask him to write. And he wouldn't have time to think it over now, because Holly interrupted them by coming in with her blanket, climbing up the bed and getting comfy between her older siblings.
"Can I sleep with you tonight, Nance?" Hol asked using her adorable baby voice that melted everyone. Mike and Nancy exchanged a look and smiled at the same time.
"Of course, Fozzie, why not?" Nancy told Holly, bopping her small nose with her index finger. "It'll be girls' night in here tonight."
Holly's eyes shone and she opened the biggest smile, and then they both looked at Mike. It took him a moment, and then he got it.
"Oh, right!" he said, getting up, his book in his hand. "Girls' night, got it."
He had to get mentally ready for school coming back anyway, because it could be a hell of a long week with the whole sports thing. Mike walked to his bedroom, closing the door behind him but opening the window right after. It was another hot night, so he took off his shirt, opting to go to sleep only with his pajama bottoms. He changed the time of his alarm and sighed. Two less hours of sleep for the next many months, and a part-time job that he barely tolerated, he was in for a great year, wasn't he?
Mike got his Moleskine and the Monsters Guide that he had dropped on his bed and sat down after turning on his bedside lamp. By now, he already had gotten used to his new bedroom, the bed was twice as big as the previous one, he had put up posters of movies, guitarists and books on his walls, and his guitar was hanging between his bed and the door. He realized that it'd been a while since he practiced some music, being so immersed in writing lately. He made a mental note to play some this week, just to dust off the cobwebs.
Turning to his Moleskine again, first Mike checked the notes on the moves from last Thursday's game, thinking about how they would affect the rest of the plot. He got a pencil and kept flipping back to the end of the notepad to write down some reminders until he reached the point the game had stopped – when the monster was revealed.
Mike stopped. The monster's reveal had also been where El had stopped reading and started to ask weird questions, it was when Will got quiet. Why was it important? He got the Monsters Guide again and flipped to the page about the Thessals, where there was a small note about the original Thessalmonster created by a Lich, about how instable it was, and that was why it didn't last nor reproduce. It was strong and deadly, but a unique monster with very specific ways to kill it. He didn't think it should ring any bells.
Time passed and Mike didn't even realize when he fell asleep. The only thing he knew was that one moment he was looking for more info on the Thessalmonster – he couldn't find details anywhere – and the next he was being jolted awake by his alarm, which he turned off with an annoyed and considerably strong punch. Sighing, Mike rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands to shake off the sleep and sat up, finding that he had slept on top of some of his DM books, his bedside lamp still on.
He got ready on the automatic, but fast, and then went to get Holly in Nancy's room. By the time he woke up, he knew that Nancy had already left, so Holly was alone in the bedroom sleeping right in the middle of the bed. Mike shook her lightly.
"Fozzie," he called sitting on the bed. "Time to get ready, it's your first day of school."
Holly groaned and pretended to be sleeping, which made him smile.
"Come on, Holly, I thought you liked kindergarten," Mike argued, tickling his little sister and making her laugh. "Didn't you even separate your clothes already? Huh?"
"Stop it, Mikey," Holly said between giggles trying to push away his hands and he stopped, letting her breathe. "It's so early, and Nancy left."
"I know," he nodded. "And you knew she would leave, she had to." Holly nodded, wiping away the tears of laughter from the corner of her eyes.
"She left you a note," she said pointing at the nightstand, and Mike saw an envelope with his name on it.
"You awake yet?" he asked turning to his little sister again and she nodded and crawled to his lap, small, bony arms around his neck. Her hair was a mess.
"Do you remember your first day of school, Mike?" Holly asked, her cheek pressed against his shoulder. Mike rubbed her back and got up, leaving the envelope for later.
"I do," he said taking her to the common bathroom. The smell of eggs and bacon filled the house. "I remember being a bit jealous of Lucas, because he had another friend, but it didn't last much."
"Why not?"
"Because," Mike put Holly down as he answered her. "She found new friends in the first week and I had Lucas just for me for the next year until Will came back."
"I thought Will was always your friend," she questioned frowning.
"We were," he said getting a hairbrush to brush her hair while she brushed her teeth. "But the Byers moved out for a couple of years when we were little. It was a job thing, I think, that didn't work out, so Ms. Murphy came back with her sons."
"Zu ink au wee vine?" Holly asked with the toothbrush in her mouth.
"You'll have to spit before you speak, Fozzie," Mike instructed, even though Hol knew that very well. She did as he told her.
"You think I'll be fine?"
Mike scoffed.
"Are you kidding me? You'll nail it!" he guaranteed. "And if you ever feel like you're not nailing it, you just tell me, okay?"
Holly nodded and went back to brushing her teeth. That had been something that Nancy had told him so many years ago too, that she would always be there for him when he needed, that she could always help him. He hoped he and Holly wouldn't have a moment of falling apart like he and Nancy had for a while.
Mike finished brushing Holly's hair and let her out the bathroom to go get her clothes. His mom already had conferred her backpack, so his only job was to make sure that Hol would be ready in time. While he waited for her to change, he got his own backpack and then the envelope Nancy had left for him. He didn't read it right away, instead he put it in the middle of his Moleskine for later. If tradition followed, he would have a lot of time on the bench that afternoon to see what she had left behind for him.
He took Holly on his bike to Hawkins Elementary and then went to school where, as he expected, tradition followed. Not even with last year's accident did the council think that maybe it would be a bad idea to put older teens competing with younger teens in such intense sports. Even worse, now not only did the seniors want to take the title from Mike's grade, the freshmen thought they had a chance of winning and that fired up most of the sophomore students.
"I say we'll have our asses handed to us in two days," Will bet during the meeting in the auditorium. Mike was sitting between him and Dustin, all shrunken in order not to be seen.
"You're being optimistic," he said.
"We just have to pray they don't put football first this year," Dustin commented leaning closer to Mike so Will would hear him too. It wasn't necessary. Dustin was loud even when he was trying not to be. "Then we can find a way to be on the bench for the rest of the week."
Lucas shook his head.
"You guys shame me," he said with displeasure.
"Just because you can shoot some three shots it doesn't mean you'll survive football, Lucas," Mike argued.
His much valid point was interrupted by the end of the meeting and it was time for class. With the new school year, they also had new subjects and now everyone was splitting up for real. The only subject Mike had with all of his friends was English II. He and Will were together in AP Latin, and he would have trig with Dustin and chemistry with Lucas.
The surprise came in third period, though, when he found El in his creative writing class. By then, Mike already had time to read Nancy's note, so he took a deep breath and tried not to be stupid.
"I thought you hated English," Mike said when El approached and sat in the chair by his right. She shrugged.
"It was Jon's idea," El answered. "He said that maybe I'll feel better about it if I take writing, since I like to read so much. And then maybe the main subject won't be such a torture. "
Mike weighted it internally.
"It's a plan," he said. El smiled.
"It is."
He smiled too and she looked ahead. It took a lot of convincing in his head to take his eyes from her and look at the teacher too. For the first time since El came back from camp they had a civilized, if short, conversation and that was progress, right?
The first game that afternoon was mixed lacrosse that Mike and the boys managed to stay out of, but when they sat down to watch the girls' soccer game, Lucas and Dustin had some news.
"Did you hear about Spanish II?" Lucas asked trying to sound casual. All Mike knew was that they were having that subject with El this year.
"No," Mike replied. "Should I?"
"Well," Lucas breathed, as if whatever it was that had happened in class was a heavy burden to carry. "I kinda feel like I have to tell you."
"You don't have to tell him anything," Dustin corrected and then shrugged. "But yeah."
"When are you two ever in synch?" Mike asked suspiciously. They exchanged a look before Lucas spoke again.
"First exercise teacher gave us was to talk about three interesting things that happened this summer and El, well," he hesitated, forcing Mike to take his eyes from the field where the girls from his year and the juniors were warming up to look at him. "She mentioned three things: how she's single after you two broke up, the hockey camp and that she kissed two people there."
Mike was silent. In part it was shock, in part it was because he didn't know how he should react to that.
"She said that?" he asked instead. Lucas and Dustin nodded.
"Her Spanish is really good," Dustin commented. "I don't know how."
"I heard the Chief saying something about her cognitive system being highly developed in the labs," Lucas replied and Mike rolled his eyes.
"You didn't bother to come here to talk to me about that," he said, trying to bring them back on track. "Is there something specific that I should care about?"
"Oh yeah," Dustin said. "First, notice how she said 'people', instead of 'guys'? At first we thought, did Will really have that much influence on her and this bisexual thing is contagious? But then we asked and she said it was a truth or dare situation where she was dared to kiss the prettiest person of the camp and apparently she kissed her bunk counselor, "because she was obviously the prettiest person she'd ever seen in her life"."
"That's unsurprising," Mike said shrugging. One of the things El hadn't shaken off was the literal way of taking some phrases.
"Yeah, but what really matters," Lucas said, glancing at Dustin as if he had started with the wrong part. "Is that when she said she was single, there were like three or four guys who immediately sat straighter, clearly interested. And since you're having cold feet with Spencer, we thought you should be aware that you'll have competition."
"Competition?" Mike echoed frowning.
"Look, we know you're El's favorite, but you fucked up," Dustin continued. "And she did exactly what you told her to do, she went sailing. And now that the news of your break up is out, there will be a bunch of sailors after her."
Mike shook his head. He was ready to tell his friends that they shouldn't be worrying about him and El, because they were friends now, and it was good that she was finding her own voice and doing what she wanted – even if it pained him a little, if he was to be honest. He liked being the one she turned to, but some things were just not meant to be.
Involuntarily, his eyes looked for El on the field. She was benched, but she was learning how to do some freestyle soccer with-
"Like Patrick?" he asked, signaling to the border of the field. Dustin and Lucas nodded.
"He's in our class, yes," Lucas answered. "He's certainly investing quickly."
He also was a P. Patrick was a senior and Phyllis's cousin, and every now and then he was seen with his cousin's group of mean girls, but Mike didn't say anything about it. El didn't need a hero, never did. She would know if something was wrong.
Mike hummed.
"Good for her," he said. He was surprised with the coldness of his tone, as if it wasn't affecting him at all. It was. But he wouldn't let it show. "And by the way? I'm not having cold feet with Spencer, why's everyone saying that?"
Dustin looked at him with a humorless smile.
"Didn't you invite your sister to crash your date?" he asked and Mike sighed. "You better stop being a pussy and kiss the girl already, Mike, we're getting bored."
"Shut up," Mike replied. Mature, clearly. But also true, that's why he was shutting off. He needed to make it up to Penny if he really believed it was worth it – which he believed was. She was awesome. Very different from him, but awesome all the same. All he had to do was stop beating himself up, like Nancy had said in her note.
Today, he thought, today he would invite Spencer out again, and this time he wouldn't chicken out. He put himself out there, he could face it.
When the school day was over and they got out of the showers, finally allowed to leave, Mike still had ahead of him a few hours of work. He was leaving the school listening to Will laugh about El understanding that kind of baseball jokes, but as soon as he stepped out to get his bike, he was surprised to see Penny's Mercedes there, with the girl leaning against the car checking her beeper.
"Spencer?" Mike called frowning, and she looked at him and smiled. He left his bike there, the rest of the guys waited for Will, Jenny and El to put on their skates. "Lost?"
"No…" she replied blushing and standing straighter. "I thought you might like a ride."
Mike raised an eyebrow and looked back at his bike, and then looked at Spencer again. She stepped closer.
"Tempting," he said. "But I have my bike today."
"We can put it in the car," she suggested. "It fits."
He looked at her sportive model and raised an eyebrow.
"You think?"
"No," Spencer replied and chuckled. She was really close. When did that happen? Not that he was complaining.
"You came here to offer me a ride to work," Mike revised just to make sure.
"And to thank you for yesterday," she said.
"Oh," he said. "You're welcome."
Oh, God, how lame.
"Also because I forgot something," Penny said and reached to touch his cheek with light fingers.
Spencer traced the curve of his cheekbone down to his jaw and then touched his lower lip. The whole time, Mike was looking at her brown eyes and he saw her bite her lip and sigh – that was the what the hell moment for him. Screw everything, Nancy was right. He deserved nice things, even if he had fucked up, even if he had been an asshole. He had a chance to start over and he would.
So he leaned over, and Penny met him halfway, and at last he was kissing her, his first step actually moving on.
It felt like finally.
"What are you doing Friday?" Mike asked when they broke apart and she shrugged.
"Homecoming."
He hummed.
"In your school or in mine?" Mike suggested making Penny smile.
"Are you asking me out, Mike Wheeler?"
"For real this time," he said. Spencer nodded.
"What about yours?" she looked over his shoulder. "Looks charming."
He chuckled.
"Of course it does."
Mike accepted that ride she offered, and with Spencer around the week even seemed to be less awful. He actually enjoyed playing table tennis, gladly covered for Will in baseball – even though he didn't hit one single ball – and it didn't feel weird to sit by El's side every day in third period. Sophomores got first prize again and they won tickets for the football game against the San Diego Chargers at the end of November, as well as the discount in the school's shop again for the rest of the semester.
And to close the week with a golden key, for the first time in his life, Mike went to the Homecoming dance.
"Last year," he was telling Spencer as they crossed the gym doors. "We didn't feel like coming at all, we were going to the movies instead. But then El broke her leg and we ended up doing nothing."
There were no cheesy decorations in the gym for Homecoming, as he came to know, just a photo booth and a table with drinks and nachos. No band, just a DJ with big amps blasting Poison's biggest hit.
"What's that song?" Spencer asked over the loud music.
"Remember that time Will came talking non-stop about an album he had just listened to? David Bowie and Bon Jovi's ironically dark sided baby?"
She thought for a moment, trying to remember.
"Poison?" Mike nodded. She laughed. "I see what he means now."
"Oh, you haven't seen nothing yet!" he guaranteed. He had to admit that he pretty much enjoyed the band, even though it wasn't what he would normally listen to.
"You're really good friends with Will and Elle, aren't you?" she asked holding on to his shoulder to stay closer. Mike had his arm around her waist. She was wearing a beautiful black shoulder to shoulder dress that was almost too much for Hawkins, but that wasn't a problem at all for him.
"Will is my best friend," he answered.
"And Elle isn't?"
He sighed.
"Yes and no," Mike told her. "It's complicated."
He had no idea if Spencer knew about him and El, and he didn't feel like telling her, not that night. He could have some time just to enjoy being with her without any ghosts, that wasn't much to ask.
"I heard your friends calling them twins. Are they really?"
Mike chuckled.
"Well," he answered. "They are both really weird with similar brown hair, but besides that, and besides their annoying attractiveness, no. They're actually over a month apart. But it doesn't even matter, their parents are together now, so…" Mike shrugged.
"Siblings anyway?" Spencer added and he nodded. "I think I saw Will already," she said sliding her hand down his arm and holding his hand. They walked to the dance floor.
"He said he'd come early with Dustin and Lexi, something about helping with announcements."
A slow song started to play and the dancing crowd started to divide into pairs. Only then Mike saw her, El, across the gym, and she left him speechless. Her hair was back in a loose braid filled with small baby's-breath; she was wearing a colorful knee-high dress with her back exposed. It was different from everything he'd ever seen her wear, a dress in shades of yellow and orange, light pink high heels on her feet.
"Wow! It's like she's wearing autumn," Spencer commented, catching Mike's attention.
He guessed that was a way to put it, in his head the words started to quickly get together in that poetic way they dared to form whenever he was with El, but he wasn't with her now, he was with Spencer. So he shook his head lightly and turned to the girl by his side, taking in how beautiful she looked.
"Wanna dance?" Mike asked and Penny smiled.
"I thought you'd never ask," she said taking his hand and following him to the dance floor. George Michael was playing, the song about dancing that everyone sang along to at their 8th grade winter formal. "I love this song," Penny told him. Everyone did, but he didn't tell her that. He just danced with her.
[...]
Elle Hopper
Because Will had to go get the instructions with Mr. Fresno and Lexi was helping with the beverages, El was alone near the bleachers. The DJ was playing a bunch of slow songs now and Patrick didn't try to approach yet, even though he'd spent the week trying to convince her to go to the dance so they could dance together or something.
El didn't really mind. She still wasn't sure about Pat's reasons to go after her and besides, she just wanted to relax. It was the first time she wore that dress she had bought in Illinois with Jennifer, and she liked the way Lexi had braided her hair with flowers and added glitter on her face.
Everything stopped when she looked over to the dance floor and found Mike. It was like she would always automatically look for him in crowds and for a long time she thought that he would be the only one. But he was dancing with someone else, the beautiful blonde that Will told her was called Spencer and worked with him.
She looked happy in his arms, and Mike looked so handsome. El's vision blurred when they kissed, but for a long moment she couldn't look away; with her thumb, she fidgeted with the ring on her finger, feeling her heart tighten.
"Ellie?" Lexi called, appearing by her side with two cups of punch. "You okay?"
El took a deep breath and quickly dried the tears that were threatening to fall from the corner of her eyes with her fingertips.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she lied. "This song is kinda sad."
Lexi looked at her in silence and then back at the dance floor. Of course she knew why El was upset. Lexi could be annoying sometimes with her hardcore tendency to talk too much, but she was perceptive and smart, and she was one hell of a good friend.
"Here, drink some," she offered a cup to El who just shook her head no. "There's no alcohol."
"It's not that," El assured and looked at the door. "I just… uh…"
She didn't know how to put it in words, and she knew that she wasn't supposed to just drop everything like that and leave, but that was exactly what she would do now.
"Ellie!" Lexi still called, but there wasn't stopping El, not even if she really tried.
El went all the way to the back of the gym and then to the door, so she wouldn't have to cross the dance floor, and she was almost crossing the street when Will caught up with her, gently grabbing her elbow and making her stop.
"El, where are you going?" he asked trying to catch his breath.
"Home."
"Why?" he asked and she looked at him with the favorite expression she learned to make – Really? "El, don't do that."
"I'm not doing anything, I just want to go home," she argued. Will let go of her elbow.
"Do you, really?" he challenged, and she looked down at her hands, feeling the stupid tears gather up again.
"Yes."
"Care to elaborate why?"
She didn't say anything at first, just passed her fingertip on the stones of her ring. It was hard to put it in words. She thought she would be fine, she had been while she was away. But it was so hard when she was so close to him.
"First time he kissed me, it was because of a school dance," El finally said, not looking at her brother. "And when we really got together, it was a school dance. He rapped to me for the first time at a school dance, making up the lyrics on the spot."
"Mike rapped?" Will asked, surprised. El looked at him.
"Now, he's dancing and kissing someone else. At a school dance."
"Oh, sis," Will sighed, wiping away a tear that fell on her cheek with his thumb. "Don't cry because of him, he's an idiot."
"And so am I," El replied taking off the ring. "This is stupid."
Will shrugged.
"It is," he agreed. "You know what I think, he doesn't deserve your tears. But more important, you don't deserve to suffer. You deserve to have fun and find things and people that you like, you deserve to enjoy, Ellie. Like you did back in camp."
El swallowed a small sob and a couple more tears fell on her cheeks. She was so angry for having so many feelings, and such contradictory ones! She knew that Will was right and she wasn't supposed to feel so desperately helpless, but the whole situation with her and Mike was ridiculous.
"This is bullshit," she said, and in a sudden decision, she threw the ring away.
"No!" Will exclaimed, reaching for it. The object stopped mid-fall and slowly made its way back to his hand. "Don't do anything you'll regret, I know you loved this ring."
"Will," El started and he closed his hand keeping the ring safe.
"I'll hold on to it for a while, okay?" he said. "Until you decide that it doesn't hurt anymore. But you can't go home right now, you have to go back to the dance. Look, it was supposed to be a secret, but you got the MVP title this year, and you need to go get your certificate."
"I did?" she asked, smiling a little.
"Of course you did, you were great!" Will exclaimed. "See, it's a good evening, you're smiling. Also, didn't Patrick Curry promise you a dance?"
El sighed.
"He's a P, Will," she argued.
"A really cute one," he replied right away, making her giggle. "Besides, you can totally break his neck if he tries to do anything you wouldn't be up to, or if he tries to embarrass you or whatever it is the Ps could be planning."
"I can?" she asked. Will smiled.
"You could," he corrected. "But you know what I mean, right?" El nodded. Will put the ring in his pocket and then hugged her, kissing her forehead. "You already had a lot of suffering in your life, sis, it's time to enjoy life without worry."
"Okay," El said, her voice soft.
They heard someone approaching, so she looked over Will's shoulder and saw Lexi a few feet from them, her handbag ready and a small transparent tube in her hand. El signaled to Will and he turned around, saw Lexi too. The petite girl raised her bag and make up.
"I thought you might need some more glitter," she offered and El smiled. She was lucky, and she would be fine.
a/n: I'm sorry. I was listening to Bruno Mars' 'When I was your man' on repeat while writing this last scene.
For El's make up, think Drew Barrymore in 'Ever After: A Cinderella Story'. For her dress, loosely inspired by this bit. ly/ 2jRncl6 (remove space) but short and with her back exposed; and for her hair, something like this: bit. ly/ 2kOqeZ1 (remove spaces).