Mike and El's hands swayed together, latched onto each other so hard it was like if they let go the other would leave.
Mike was explaining E.T. to her as they walked through the mall. El always loved looking at her surroundings, but in this moment, she couldn't look at anything else than the boy she loved. She loved his bright eyes and big smile whenever he was explaining something he was passionate about. She always listened because she was generally fascinated with all the different stories Mike could tell.
"El, have you ever tried frozen yougurt?" Mike asked out of the blue, which caught El odd guard for a second.
"Frozen... yo-gat?" El questioned.
Mike chuckled. "Frozen yogurt. It basically tastes the exact same as ice-cream just a slight difference in texture," Mike explained. He always explained things so well.
El smiled at the thought of it, "can we try it?"
"Of course! That's why I asked in the first place because there is a store right here!"
El brought her gaze up to the stores sign.
"Yogurt castle," the sign read. She furrowed her eyebrows. El knew what a castle was from the books Hopper or Mike would read her, it normally involved a tall pretty building with a princess inside.
But the store didn't look like a castle at all. She didn't see a princess ethier.
She puts her confusion to the side as she got side tracked from some flowers that were growing in big pots. She mesmerized the beauty and the different colors from a far, wanting to get closer to inspect it more.
She started to let go of Mike's hand to walk towards the flowers before Mike grabbed her wrist.
"Where are you going?" He asked, a slight hint of worry in his voice.
"Flowers. Pretty," she responded, pointing to the assortment of colored plants.
"Oh... okay. Should I get the frozen yogurt for you?" He asked, his hands still tightly latching on to her wrist.
"Yes. Please," El smiled, remembering what Hopper said, that she should always say 'please' and 'thank you' when asking something or someone did something nice.
She started to walk away again before Mike caught her again.
"Just... please don't go anywhere else okay? I'm- I trust you, I just..." Mike got interrupted with a giggle from El.
"I won't, promise," El smiled with a hint of amusement by how much Mike worried about her with the smallest of things.
With that, Mike nodded and let go of her wrist, watching her walk off just to make sure.
He walked into the frozen yogurt shop only to realize he didn't ask what flavor she wanted.
Oh well, he'll just surprise her.
El happily inspected the flowers, seeing the different colors and patterns if she got close up.
'These will look so cute in Mike's hair!' She thought, giggling and blushing, she started to pick them off the stems for Mike, not knowing that wasn't allowed.
She went around the pot, picking the prettiest ones, before she bumped into someone.
She almost tripped but managed to get herself up straight.
"Sorry," she said.
After the person backed up a little, she could see that the person was a boy, a boy around her age.
"Sorry too," the boy responded. El was waiting for him to leave but he wouldn't. He was just standing there so she couldn't do anything but look down and shift her feet awkwardly.
"I'm Mike," the boy said, reaching out his hand to shake hers.
El furrowed her eyebrows. He wasn't Mike. Mike was way prettier and taller.
"No," El frowned, getting a bit angry that someone would try to pretend to be her Mike.
The boy looked at her, confused. "No...what?"
"You. Not Mike," El pointed at the boy.
The boy chuckled, "What kind of game is this? My name is Mike."
El was getting more angry by the second. She didn't know there could be multiple people named Mike.
"Stop pretending to be him," El spat, "Mike is my boy-friend," El used the new word Mike taught her ever since he confessed his love to her, saying that's what they call each other, "You're not my Mike."
The boy in front of her honestly thought this was some type of pick up line or joke.
"Woah you're moving fast! I'm already your boyfriend?" The boy laughed, and El gave him a death glare.
"Not Mike!" She ran from the boy; running towards the frozen yogurt shop.
She bursted through the doors, scanning for Mike.
"Oh hey El! I got our fro-" Mike got all the air knocked out of him when El hugged him so hard.
"El? Is something wrong?" Mike questioned, wishing he could hug her back but his hands were full with frozen yogurt.
El tugged on his shirt. "A boy. He tried to be you. He's not my Mike, you are."
Mike raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"
El frowned. "He said his name was Mike. But you are Mike."
A lightbulb just then went bright in Mike's head.
"El," he couldn't help but to laugh, "I'm not the only one in the world named Mike."
El left from his embrace.
"No?"
"Names aren't meant for only one person. Almost everyone has thousands of people with the same name."
El blushed out of embarrassment and bit her lip for not knowing. She felt stupid.
"El, it's okay, you didn't know," he said, "and why were you talking to a boy?" He asked, feeling slightly jealous.
"Ran into him as I was picking flowers for you," El responded, lifting her hand so he could see the handful of flowers.
"Elllll," he sighed, smiling, "you can't pick flowers at the mall."
"But..." El pouted, "they for you."
Mike laughed and blushed a little.
"I know you were trying to do something nice, but next time, don't pick the flowers," he chuckled, "they are pretty."
El's face brightened. "For your hair!" El exclaimed, placing them in his hair as they sat down at a small table meant for two.
Mike rolled his eyes but couldn't help to blush and admire the girl.
"Try your frozen yogurt angel," Mike said.
El smiled at the nickname Mike came up with a while ago.
"Okay."
