When Mike Was 19
Mike had not been expecting that night.
It seemed like El had been about to laugh the entire time they were making out. Mike's confidence took a little bit of a hit.
When he saw why, when he felt why, he was embarrassed and turned on at the same time.
El had been very understanding. When she put his hand back, he knew. It was time. They were both ready.
Mike thought that the only thing that had really surprised him that night was how adventurous El was. Mike didn't complain.
They had both quickly gotten over their shyness and let nature take over. Afterwards they both felt closer to each other. Nothing would separate them. They would be together forever. Mike didn't need to think twice about that. He didn't need to think about it ever again.
In the morning they had made breakfast together, each smiling at each other through the whole process.
He had given her a few quick kisses.
"Mike, those are very chaste kisses. You can do better."
"If I do better, El, we'll just end up back up stairs."
"Then we end up back upstairs, Mike. Kiss me."
And that was exactly what had happened.
The year had gone well for Mike and El.
El had been commissioned to do sketches for a variety of companies in Hawkins, her work was getting known as far away as Chicago.
She had created her own niche in the art world, taking it by storm. Her pencil sketches had been in high demand to the point where she had to start charging more for them. Will told her she could go even higher. Will did more fringe genre stuff then El did, but he knew talent when he saw it.
A state historian had come to Hawkins to research a book and wanted El to do a sketch of the town. She didn't really want to do it, so she told him she was backlogged for current work.
He had told her to name her price. When she had asked Mike, he told her to give him a ridiculous number if she wasn't up to it.
The guy didn't balk at the price at all. Said he would gladly pay that for one of El Hopper's pencil sketches.
It was a very big boost for El's confidence. The word got around even faster and what was once high demand, was now a career spanning opportunity for her.
El felt guilty that she could sketch them so quickly but charge that kind of money.
"It's called talent, El. You have it, everyone wants a piece of it."
Mike could not have been prouder of his girlfriend.
Mike and Dustin had turned their computer repair hobby into a business. With personal computers becoming more and more popular they had no end in sight for customers. They eventually had to hire someone to help. Even the local Radio Shack had hired them to fix computers.
Dustin had the great idea of offering home service, and the number of customers doubled and then tripled.
They eventually came up with a name for their business: "Nerds In Your House"
Surrounding towns started asking for help, and they finally had to open up offices in those towns.
Mike's parents weren't exactly pleased that he hadn't applied to any colleges. There was a bit of an argument with them where he tried to explain that he didn't want to go to college just to say he'd gone to college. He wanted to learn something that he could actually use to make money. Otherwise it was just a waste of their own money.
His parents hadn't argued with them. Mike's logic was infallible. They did ask him what he wanted to go to college for, and only Mike's dad even half understood what a "computer programmer" was.
The problem was that the whole market was so new, colleges were not offering courses for it yet. At least not modern ones where punch cards weren't involved.
So Mike would wait. He knew that living at his parents place was going to wear thin soon, maybe not for his parents, but it would for him.
One day Mike put on a very serious face for El, he took her to the basement and sat her on the sofa.
"I have two things very important to tell you El."
He could see the worry in her face, he didn't let it get too far.
"Um, one, you've been sleeping with a nerd. And a successful nerd. Dustin and I have been doing really well with the business."
When El smiled it wasn't just with her mouth, the smile went to her eyes. Her whole face smiled at him. Mike forgot to breathe.
"You really do take my breath away El." He looked into her eyes. She nodded back to him. He held her hands and gave her a soft kiss.
"But that wasn't the second thing. It was important, but not as important as what I'm about to say."
"Ok, Mike."
"You probably haven't noticed because you're too close to it, but… um, you're hair is growing longer."
El immediately looked around for a mirror. Mike reached over to the coffee table and picked up a waiting hand mirror.
El looked into it, ran her hands over her head. Her beautiful eyes had gotten as big as Mike had ever seen them. Somehow she seemed prettier than she had a minute ago.
"It is!" She had thrown her arms around Mike and kissed him all over his face.
"Uh, I don't think I had anything to do with that El, but I'll take the kisses."
She suddenly stopped and looked at him, "Do you want me to grow my hair longer, Mike?"
Mike was speechless at first. He didn't know how to answer. El saw the look on his face, had put a hand on his shoulder and said, "There's no wrong answer Mike."
"I've known you since you were nine with that hair. It's ok if you want to keep it short. Doesn't change how pretty you are, will never change how much I love you. But, you can always cut it short if you don't like it long… go for it El." Mike wasn't sure if that was the answer she'd been looking for.
"Good answer," El said with her beautiful smile.
"Um, there is one more thing." Mike was suddenly nervous and shy again around El. He'd thought he was over that.
"Mike?" El could almost directly sense his feelings.
When Mike was 19 he asked El to move in with him.
El never hesitated. She nodded, smiled, said yes and kissed him all at the same time. At least it seemed that way to Mike.
