Chapter 7
"So, are you going to tell me more about her?"
Mike almost faced palmed himself, trying to understand why in the world he had agreed in the first place, to let his sister to take him to school. He knew she was going to interrogate him, he had just hopped that maybe she would have kept the questions for later.
When he had woken up that morning he had been too sore to even get down the stairs, there was no was that he was going to ride his bike all the way to school, so he had asked Nancy to give him a lift, and here he was, in her car with no way to escape her questions.
"Nance…"
"What? I want to know who is this 'friend' that helped my little brother!"
If looks could kill…
"I have already told you everything! She is friend and yesterday when I blanked out, we went to her house and then she drove me back, end of the story."
"Do you like her?" she teased.
"Do I… What?!" he was shocked. "No! I mean, yes, I mean not like that!" And he knew he had just screwed himself up.
"Like that?" she repeated with a smirk. "What does it mean?"
Oh god! "Nance, come on!"
"Hey! I am just asking! You are the one getting all… heated up." His face was indeed on fire.
"I am not!"
"Listen, I am not trying to make you feel uncomfortable, I just want to know more. Since I have been gone, well, we barely talk to each other." Her voice was sweet and a little nostalgic, showing him that she really wanted to know because she cared and not to bother him.
That's how Nancy was: a big sister who acted more like a mom, plus the fact that she was studying Psychology and all that crap, didn't help his position, she would always find a way to make him talk.
"Well, I met her in detention and she asked me to be friends." He didn't want to give a lot of information, though, and mostly he didn't want to explain the whole story.
Nancy nodded, like she was waiting for more. "And?"
"And what?"
"What do you guys do? Is she in the group with the other kids you told me about?"
Ah… "Ehm… no."
"Ok… so, was she new or lonely?"
"No…"
His sister turned her head and glared him. "Do I have to keep asking or will you tell me already?"
"She is… one of Troy's friends." He gave up, not able to lie to her.
"Wait, what?!" she yelled almost slamming the breaks. "Are you kidding me?!"
"It's not what you think!" Mike cleared immediately. "She is not like them."
Nancy didn't say anything, she looked like she was trying to understand the whole situation.
They were both silent and it was only when they reached school that his sister spoke again. "I want to meet her."
"What?" this was definitely the last thing he was expecting from her.
"You heard me."
"You can't." he said, they couldn't risk their friendship, he couldn't risk her. "I… I know her, ok? She is great and I can't…" he didn't finish his sentence; he couldn't tell her that if someone would find about them they would both be in a lot of troubles.
But Nancy understood, she always did. "Ok, I trust you on this, but I still want to meet her at one point." Then she grinned. "Even more if she is going to be your girlfriend!"
"Nancy!" he shouted feeling his face red again. Geez, he loved his sister but that was way too embarrassing.
She laughed loudly when he rushed out of the car, shutting the door. "Call me if you need me!" Nancy told him before driving away.
Mike walked inside, a certain amount of anxiety running through his body; he just hated that place. Trying not to be recognized through the crowd, he arrived at his locker and opened it, feeling like he was going to burst with excitement when he saw the little note. He opened it immediately, trying not to think about the fact that a piece of paper was the only thing making him happy in that moment.
'Hey you! So glad you decided to come, thank you for your message this morning :) I really don't know why I am still writing you these notes since you have a phone, now, but honestly, who cares! I would like to talk later, maybe after school we could go to Benny's?
Let me know, El.'
Talk? Why did she want to talk? Talk about what? He furrowed his eyebrows as another wave of anxiety hit him. Was it about Troy? He really didn't want to fight with her again.
As tons of different thoughts came into his mind, he didn't notice the guy standing by his side, staring him.
"How's that possible that every time I find you, you look like a truck hit you?"
Mike turned his head surprised and kind of scared, at the beginning, only to find out that Dustin and the rest of the group were watching him.
"You guys scared me." He said hiding the note.
"So what? Are you a little girl?" Max asked almost laughing.
"What are you doing here?" Mike looked at them, ignoring the redhead.
"We go to school here?" Lucas commented and Dustin started to laugh, while Max snorted.
"Guys, come on." Will emerged from behind Dustin, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, I don't know what's going on with them today." He smiled apologetic and Mike thought that he really liked the guy.
"Anyways," Dustin started as he stopped laughing. "We are here as support!"
Uh?
"Uh?"
"Yeah, you know…" Lucas explained becoming serious. "To help you."
"I know what support means." Mike said confused. "I just don't understand why."
They all looked at each other, like they didn't really know how to answer, until Will sighed. "We heard what happened yesterday."
Oh… "I don't need your pity." Mike answered defensive.
"Yeah, we know" Max rolled her eyes annoyed. "Nobody is giving you pity, it's just what friends do, so now stop complaining and move your ass before we are all late for class."
Mike didn't really know what to say, but before he could protest Dustin got closer and pointed at Max. "You better listen to her, I think she has her stuff and she becomes even scarier during those times." His whisper was everything but a whisper and in fact, everyone heard him.
"Dustin!" the girl yelled.
"Shit, sorry Max!"
Mike couldn't help to laugh as they started to discuss again, he had to admit that they were hilarious.
"Hey," he heard Will's voice, lower than the shouts. "We really want to help, we've all been there."
Mike nodded, sort of touched by his words. It couldn't hurt, could it?
"What do you have now?" Will was much shorter than Mike and he kind of had to look down to meet his gaze.
"Oh… I have History."
"Ok, then let's go!" Lucas screamed interrupting the other two. Mike didn't even realize that the other guy was listening to him.
"So, is it bad?" Dustin asked looking at Mike.
"Man!" Lucas exclaimed. "Leave him alone!"
"What? I'm just worried, asshole!"
"Yeah, well maybe he doesn't want to talk about it!"
"Well, why don't you let him talk then, you son of a bitch?"
They started arguing and Mike looked at Will. "Are they always like this?"
"Sometimes they are quiet too… although I don't think I have ever seen those moments." The shorted guy joked smiling.
Mike glanced at the boys that were still discussing, he didn't mind, actually it helped with that weird feeling of worry that was part of him since day one.
He spent first period and most part of his second, thinking about El and that weird message that she had sent him the night before. When he had woke up, that morning, he had made sure to tell her that he was going to school, but before writing the actual message, he had read the other one at least another hundreds times, he wasn't sure what she meant with those words. It wasn't like he had a lot of experience with girls. How could he know what she meant? How was that obvious?
For a second he thought that maybe he could try to ask to Nancy, she was a girl herself, so she could help…right? But he really didn't want to go through the embarrassment again.
As third period arrived, Mike was ready to give up, it probably didn't mean anything so why worrying about it?
Before he knew, it was lunch time and he walked into the cafeteria, trying to find the guys. They had told him that he had to join them for lunch, no excuses accepted. They were pretty serious and he had to agree or, as Dustin said: "We are going to look for you and drag you here no matter what."
He smiled when he saw them sat at the same table where they were yesterday, already yelling at each other, but laughing at the same time.
"Yo, Mike!" Lucas smiled as he took place on the chair. "We just made a bet!"
"About what?"
"So" Dustin said cutting Lucas. "I was thinking about asking Stacey out again and they told me no…"
"Yeah, because you run away yesterday! You have already embarrassed yourself enough." Max laughed interrupting the boy, who gave her his middle finger in response.
"So the bet is that he has to ask someone else out, but without running away." Will completed rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, or without fainting."Added Lucas.
"Or throwing up." Concluded Max.
Mike was speechless, he kind of felt bad for Dustin, but he had to admit that it was a fun bet. "I bet ten bucks that he starts to scream and then runs away." He said with a smile.
"I trusted you!" the curly boy yelled while everybody started to laugh again. "I feel so betrayed, Wheeler!"
And Mike lost it too, laughing so hard that his stomach started to hurt. He really couldn't remember last time he had laugh like that.
"Ok, then, who is going to be the lucky lady?" Dustin asked once they had stopped laughing.
"Uhm… good question." Max whispered starting to look around.
They all did, and it was a stupid thing to do, but the bet was on, so…
Pretending to do the same thing, Mike stopped his gaze once he found her table, he didn't even fight the fact that his heart started to pound faster (he was almost used to that reaction), when he saw that she was watching him, on her lips the ghost of a smile.
God, she is perfect… he thought. Wait what?! Oh, that's creepy!
"Who are you staring, Wheeler?" Max snapped him out of his thoughts. "Found someone?"
"Oh… no, I…"
"Wait!" Lucas screamed startling the whole group. "I know who you can go ask to!"
"Who?!" they all exclaimed.
"Jane Brenner!" the boy answered smiling like he just had the greatest idea ever.
Mike's stomach flipped in a very bad way; they couldn't. "What? No." the only thought making him panic hard. Everybody turned to face him.
"Why not?" Lucas asked, his eyes looking at Mike, with the most suspicious look.
He didn't know why, he just knew that they couldn't. El wasn't some kind of bet, they had no right and… she was… they just couldn't. But of course he didn't say all of that aloud, he didn't even know where it had came from.
"Well…" he mumbled, looking for a good excuse. "She… isn't she Troy's friend?"
Mike saw Lucas' face relaxing a little. "He has a good point." Will said and both Max and Dustin nodded, agreeing.
"Ok, but she barely hangs out with him anymore!" Lucas continued. "And if she says yes, Dustin, well, she is pretty good looking."
"I don't know, man, I agreed on the bet but I don't want troubles." Dustin told him, seriousness in his voice. "But I have to admit that she is… pretty good."
Keep it down, Wheeler. Why they were talking about her like that?! She wasn't… Well, yeah she was pretty but… He couldn't help that growing bubble in his stomach that made his feel like he wanted to punch them in the face. El was out, period, they weren't allowed to talk about her in that way! Well, you are not allowed either… a voice whispered softly. Oh, shut up!
"You ok, Wheeler?" Max asked getting closer to his face studying him carefully. "You look like you are going to throw up."
"What? No, yes, I'm ok." He tried, sounding like child caught in the act of doing something he wasn't supposed to do. "It's just my headache."
The group spent the rest of their lunch time trying to find the 'perfect girl' for Dustin, but Mike, on the other hand, the was just miles away from everybody.
Since when he started to… feel that way towards El? He knew she was pretty… beautiful, a voice corrected him, well he had eyes too and yeah, El was … El… but… he really didn't know.
The rest of the day flew away like a blur, too deep in thoughts to actually pay attention to anything else.
He knew he was over thinking it, but for some reason he needed to find the answers to all his questions.
"Hey, little brother!"
Mike didn't even notice Nancy standing outside the car waiting for him. "Oh, hey."
"You ok?" she immediately asked, noticing his cloudy eyes.
"What? Yes, I am just… thinking."
They got in the car quietly and before his sister started to drive she glanced at him with a worried expression.
"Ok," Nancy said after few minutes, making him jump in surprise. "I understand that you have things going on but you can't shut me out."
"I'm not" he promised. "I am just trying to figure something out."
"Is it about El?"
How does she… "Oh come one, Mike!" Nancy smiled tenderly. "I have been you sister for the past seventeen years, give me a little credit!"
He snorted, maybe a little annoyed by the fact that she knew him so well.
"So, what about El?" she didn't give up.
"Nothing really, I just…"
"Do you like her?"
"Oh give me a break!"
He heard her laugh and he couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes.
"Look," Nancy started. "I just want to help you." And Mike knew, she always helped him. "And I know it might be hard to admit to ourselves that we might like someone, but if you do, well, there's nothing wrong with that."
She was right, but it was different for him, El was completely out of his reach, they weren't even supposed to be friends in the first place!
"Why don't you talk to her?"
"What?" his eyes wide. "Are you crazy!?"
It was her turn to roll her eyes, it must have been a family thing, Mike thought. "You don't have to make a declaration or tell her that you are going to love her for the rest of your life! Just ask some questions and try to understand if she likes you back!"
"I'll think about it." He murmured and snorted when saw the look of satisfaction on his sister's face.
They easily switched subject and they spent the rest of the ride talking about a new book that Nancy had found 'incredibly interesting'. Mike smiled as he realized how nerd she sounded, but he knew that he was a nerd too.
When they arrived home, he ran into his room and took out the phone from the drawer where he had hidden it that morning. There was a message that had arrived just few minutes earlier.
'So… I'm already at Benny's, feel free to join me when you read this message."
Mike smiled, again, it was stupid to smile like that to a screen but, well…
'Just got home, be there in 20" he typed, feeling proud as he realized that he was already better at texting.
What a stupid thought.
He was still sore and riding his bike wasn't the best idea, but he didn't want to ask to his sister again and most important, he didn't want her there to embarrass him. Plus, he needed to think.
Mike got out of his room and went downstairs.
"Hey, I'm going out, don't wait for me." He informed his mom while grabbing his coat.
"Where are you going?" she asked without looking at him, too busy pouring wine in her glass.
"Outside." He answered and ran out, without giving her the change to ask more.
He pedaled slowly at first, trying to understand if his body was going to be fine and when he felt no pain he went faster, letting the cold breeze hit his face and mess his black hair.
Nancy had told him that it was okay to like someone, but how could he know if he liked her?
He had never had feelings for anybody, how was he supposed to know? And then, feelings? What kind of feelings was he supposed to feel?
Of course El was special, she was smart and kind, and funny and she was always ready to cheer him up even if she was having a bad day too and when he was with her he would always lose track of time because it was just so easy to stay with her; and then there were all the times when she would smile at him and he would just… melt because that smile was just perfect; and all the times she would laugh and he would laugh too because how couldn't he? And every time she had grabbed his hand or touched him and… he would just feel that… weird spark all through his body and then… the way she always made him feel normal and… happy.
He arrived at the diner without even realizing it, his head spinning from all those thoughts. There were too many things to consider and to understand and then… then he walked in, and she was there, sitting at their table, her curls going in all directions and when she looked up and saw him and she gave him that smile that would light her eyes up like she had just seen the most amazing thing in the whole world, everything started to make sense and he lost his breath as realization hit him.
'Isn't it pretty obvious?' her words echoing loudly in his head and… yes, it is pretty obvious, he thought as he finally understood.
A/N: Hello! First of all I want to apologize for the long wait, work is driving me insane and sometimes I can't keep up, so… I'm really sorry guys! Second, I would like to thank all of you, for your support and your reviews… it really means a lot and you guys are amazing!
Until next time! :)
