Chapter 11

"My god, Michael, do I have to teach you everything?"

Why that voice sounded so damn familiar?

"You seriously have to improve your skills on learning how to sneak people in; there is no way you can be this dumb."

What the heck was it all about? He was just sleeping, why couldn't people leave him alone in his dreams?

"You both have to wake up, dumbasses!" and with that Mike felt a hard slap… on his head.

"Ouch!" what the…?! His first instinct was to touch the place where he got hit, but for some reason his left arm didn't want to work, it was like it had gotten trapped under something.

Slowly and painfully, he managed to open his eyes, only to find his sister's face right in front of him.

"The sleeping beauty has finally woken up from his slumber!" she said, a weird smirk on her lips.

"What are you doing here? Leave me alone!" why was she waking him up? And why was he so damn hot?!

"You should actually thank the fact that I am the one who found this and not mom."

What? God, there were too many information all at once.

Someone, a third voice, joined the conversation with an annoyed groan; and that's when Mike finally remembered that he was laying on the couch, spooning El. Oh shit.

"Oh shit."

"Yeah, shit." Nancy echoed, still smirking. "She is El, right? It's amazing how I am always right!"

Goddamn.

"Nance, seriously? It's like six in the morning, just shut up."

"Actually, little brother, it's past eleven and mom was looking for you since she saw the car outside."

Crap.

El moved a little, stretching and making a little noise that made Mike smile at how cute she was.

"Mike… stop, sleep." She said softly not fully awake yet.

"Uhm… my sister's here." He murmured close to her ear and in less than a second she got stiff and got up, making him fall from the couch.

"Shit." Mike exclaimed landing on his butt.

"Oh my god, Mike sorry!" El apologized immediately trying to reach for him while Nancy, as the good sister she was, was laughing loudly at the scene.

The poor boy stood up, massaging his back and sitting down on the couch where El looked mortified and embarrassed to death.

"Don't worry," he tried to smile to her. "It's not your fault." And with that he turned to stare his sister who was still laughing.

"What?" Nancy asked looking the most satisfied person on earth. "You guys are so funny!"

Mike rolled his eyes. "Anyways, Nancy this is El, El, this is my annoying sister Nancy."

"Is that my pajamas?" the oldest girl inquired pointing and ignoring what her brother had just said.

El blushed furiously, turning to face Mike and looking almost panicked. "Yeah, uhm, she was cold so I gave her that." He answered trying not to give too many information.

"And why was she cold?"

Mike sighed. Good lord. "Could you give us some privacy? Please?"

"You have two minutes, mister, get dressed while I am going to tell mom that you are a real idiot."

They both followed Nancy as she went upstairs and sighed in relief when they were finally left alone.

"I'm so sorry El, I…"

"It's ok, Mike, you didn't know." She cut him immediately, a small blush still on her cheeks.

There was some kind of tension around them, awkwardness? He really didn't know, El was avoiding any kind of eye contact finding super interesting the messy basement where they were, Mike really didn't know what to do or what to say, it wasn't like he had experience.

She had kissed him too, last night, the second time and then he had kissed her again and well, they had kissed. Like a lot. And it had been nice, more than nice. It had been everything to him. He had seen her falling asleep while she was in his arms, the way her breath had become slower and softer until she was completely pressed against him, looking finally peaceful and… happy.

It had been the best damn night of his life.

But maybe it hadn't been for her? She had told him that she wanted to, so why was it so… weird? Did she regret it? Maybe… maybe she had just needed some kind of comfort?

Stop it, Wheeler. Just shut the hell up. And maybe grow some balls?

He cleared his throat, trying to get her attention. "Uhm… El?"
"Yeah?" she turned to face him, but still not meeting his gaze.

"You ok?"

"Yeah." El answered and Mike was almost ready to die right there.

"Do you…" come on, man, stop being such a pussy. "Are you… ok with, you know…?" Know what? Just… give up and try again maybe in 50 years.

She looked at him almost expectant, like she wasn't getting what he was saying.

"About last night…?" Mike finally whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Do you… like, maybe you… didn't want to?"

"What?" El immediately jumped and finally looked at him in the eyes. "No, Mike, no, I told you I wanted! I just…" she grew quiet and Mike waited for her to talk. "Did you want to?"

"You kidding, right? I definitely wanted to!"

"Cool." A small smile appeared on her lips and the air around them changed as both realized that they had let their insecurities overcome what they both already knew.

"Cool." Agreed Mike, smiling too.

And without looking away, they both started to lean down, their lips almost touching…

"Ok, lovebirds! Time's up!" Nancy exclaimed scaring both to death. "You still in pjs?! Come on!" she complained once again in front of them.

"Nance, what do you want?" Mike asked feeling a little bit frustrated.

"An explanation would be a good start." She answered sitting down between Mike and El on the couch.

"Nothing to say, El needed a place to stay for the night and this was the best option."

"Uh… So the best option was to cuddle with you on the couch and steal my pajamas because she was 'cold'?"

"Nancy…" Mike started annoyed.

"It's my fault, I was at a party and I got drunk and called him and he helped me." El said interrupting his lie.

Nancy nodded in silence, not saying anything back until she turned to face her brother. "So is she your girlfriend now?"

"Nancy!" Mike exclaimed blushing furiously. "Ok, this is it. You need to leave!"

"Nope, I am not done yet."

"Yes, you are, you are making El uncomfortable."

"So why did you get drunk?" the oldest girl kept going ignoring her brother.

"I was upset and seemed like the best idea."

"Nance, stop…" he tried again but in vain.

"And why did you call my brother?"

El flushed and stared her hands. "Because he is the only one I trust." She murmured nervously.

Mike's heart skipped a beat at her words and he just wanted to reach for her ignoring her sister and wrap his arms around her small figure.

Nancy, on the other hand, looked the girl for a few seconds, a hard and weird expression on her face that Mike had never seen before.

"Ok," His sister said getting up and startling them one more time. "I told mom that you were busy doing your nerd things and she left with Holly because we are out of milk, so you guys are safe. Nice to meet you, El." She waved at the girl and left again.

What the…

"I swear that was completely strange even for me!" Mike said as soon as his sister was out of the way, still not sure what had just happened.

El laughed a little. "It's ok, I kind of like her."

"Yeah, well I don't." he laughed back, glad she didn't want to run away after that really creepy meeting.

"There is one thing that it wasn't clear, though." She said sounding a little uncertain.

"What?"

"Am I your girlfriend?"

"Are you… am I… I, we… what?" Mike stuttered barely able to understand what she had asked him. This is how you get the prize for being the best moron ever.

El, instead of freaking out, laughed lightly, probably used to the boy making fun of himself every second of the day. "Breathe, Wheeler, I was joking."

"No, no, wait. I mean, do you want to?" Oh god… did you just said that?

"Well… I mean…"

There was a buzz that interrupted them, again. Then another buzz and another and another.

"Shit." El whispered jumping out of the couch and running to get her skirt on the chair.

"Is everything ok?" Mike got up too, although unsure of what to do.

"Yeah… it's… him."

"Oh… do you need to go back?"

"No, I'm… I'm just going to tell him that I spent the night somewhere and that we are hanging out."

"And he is not going to ask you anything?" what the hell was wrong with that man?!

"No if it is someone from the group, he usually doesn't care."

"Oh…"

They didn't speak while El typed her message to her… father, even if he really wasn't one.

Mike still needed time to process everything that she had told him the night before, a part of him wasn't even sure how that could be real; but the other part, wanted to take El far away from everything and hide her somewhere safe, where nobody could hurt her anymore.

"Ok, so he thinks I am at some dumb friend's house." She informed him sounding almost exhausted.

"Won't he check?"

"No, they will probably be too wasted to even remember who was really there, so I'm safe."

"I'm sorry." Mike whispered, taking a step forward at the same time she did, finally able to hug her, pulling her as close as he could.

"I'm ok, now I'm ok." The girl muffled pressing her face into his chest and tightening her arms around his waist.

"Are you sure?" he pressed a soft kiss on top of her head, smiling a little.

"Promise."

El parted just a little from him, on her face there was a look that he was slowly starting to understand what it meant, or better, what she wanted. He was never going to get used to this, wasn't he? The sparkle in her eyes, the little blush on her cheekbones, the way she licked her lips, parting them as they were both moving, her perfume everywhere around him and…

Buzz buzz buzz

Buzz buzz buzz

"Oh my god, seriously?!" El cried out exasperated, he couldn't blame her. "Please tell me this is not happening!"

Buzz buzz buzz

Buzz buzz buzz

"Sorry…." He tried but yeah, she was right.

Buzz buzz buzz

Buzz buzz buzz

"It's not mine." El said, looking at her phone.

Mike reached for his coat and went through the pockets and found the phone. "It's mine." He spoke surprised. "And it's Will."

"Going to answer?"

He nodded and touched the screen to accept the call. "Will?"

"Oh! Hey! Hi!" he heard other voices and smiled without realizing it. "Are you ok? You left in hurry yesterday and we wanted to check on you."

"Tell him that he is an asshole!" someone shouted, and Mike recognized Dustin.

"Shut up, man! You don't know if it was serious!" Lucas yelled back.

"Can you both shut up? I can't hear anything!" Max, without any doubts.

"So yeah, you are on speaker, by the way." Will said.

"Oh, yeah, I'm ok, I uhm…" he looked at El who was staring at him with an amused look, probably able to hear everything. "Someone needed my help." He explained shortly.

"Are you busy now? We were going to have a Harry Potter marathon."

"Well…" Mike didn't know what to say, he didn't want to disappoint them but at the same time he didn't want to leave El alone. "I'm sort of busy?"

"Oh come on!" Dustin yelled. "Stop being such a dickhead!"

"Why don't you let us know? We are going to have breakfast so we'll start in about 40 minutes. Send me a text ok?"

Thank god for Will.

"That sounds great, uhm, thank you!" he hung up before he could hear more yells from the others.

"You ok?" El asked.

"Yeah, they just wanted to invite me to a movie marathon."

"Oh… are you going?"

"What? No, you are here!" he responded quickly.

"So? I mean… we could both go?"

Mike opened his mouth, but didn't say anything, not really sure what to tell her. "Is it a good idea?"

"Well, we could tell them to, you know, keep the secret."

Bad idea, Michael, bad idea.

"Come on!" El tried. "You left yesterday for me, you own them some time!"

"I do, but you…"

"We are going to make it work."

"I don't think it's…." but El reached for his phone, stealing it from his hands and quickly typed something. "El what are you doing?"

"Too late, I texted him that we are going to be there."

Oh god, this is bad.

It wasn't like he didn't trust the group, even if he had met them only a few weeks ago he had felt an incredible bond with all of them, like if somehow they had known each other for years. He had never felt that comfortable with people like he was with them. But, to put El in the middle of all of that?

They knew her as 'Troy's friend', were they going to accept her? Were they going to tell their secret to everyone? And what if Troy and her dad would find out? Oh they were both going to be so screwed.

"Mike." El called him, snapping him out if his thoughts. "It's going to be ok."

"You don't know this, they could tell someone and you could…"

"Stop." She placed her hand on his mouth, looking in his eyes. "It's going to be ok, either way we are going to be fine."

"But…" Mike tried to talk.

"No buts, I'm tired of living in the constant fear that something is going to happen. I want to start to enjoy more and I want to do it with you, got it Wheeler?"

She made him those… puppy eyes that he just couldn't… So he nodded, surrendering and El smiled triumphantly and let her hand fell down.

It's now or never, man.

So, without letting her gloat too much and tired of the constant interruptions, he closed the distance between them, pressing his lips against hers, surprising the girl a little.

Last night their kisses had been cautious, innocent and slow; exploring and giving time to the other to adjust to something that was completely new.

But this kiss, well, it was different, there was a certain security and also a certain need to feel the other closer than before. It was sweet but deeper.

El's hands were lost in his messy hair, pulling him towards her as she slowly opened her mouth to him. Their short breaths creating some kind of new music that was slowly becoming Mike's favorite sound; her hair tickling his forehead and while his left hand cupped gently her cheek, his right hand was on her back, pushing her against him. He was sure that he was going to fly away if he would stop holding onto her. His hand moved unconsciously to her waist, caressing her gently and she made a little noise of appreciation that made Mike's heart almost jump off his chest.

It was like there was nothing else in the whole world, like the world itself had been sucked away and there were only Mike and El left in the entire universe.

"Oh." El gasped, pulling away after a few moments, both their lungs praying for air. "Feel free to do that whenever you want." She chuckled panting but smiling.

"That was…"

"It was." She agreed rapidly.

It seemed like they had run for miles, both breathless and flushed. There was no way that it could be this good. How was that really happening?

"You ok?" El asked after a minute, touching gently his face.

"Yeah, I'm just… Trying to…" Understand? Believe? He really didn't know.

"Me too." But she understood. "However, your friends are waiting for us, so go change!"

El took a step back, parting from him, while he just groaned and pouted like a little child. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously! Come on, stop complaining!" and with that she stood on her tip toes and pecked his lips one more time, giving him that smile that made his stomach flip. "Ok, I'm going! Wait here, though, I'm going to steal some clothes from Nancy for you."

"Do you think I can take a shower? I feel gross." She said sheepishly.

"Yeah, uhm, you have a shower in the bathroom here, I'm going to leave your clothes on the couch."

Keep it cool, Mike.

"Awesome!"

Mike run upstairs, quickly got into Nancy's room, thanking the fact that she was busy watching TV in the living room, and rushed back to the basement with a pile of fresh clothes, really trying to ignore the fact that there El was taking a shower in his bathroom.

He decided to take a shower too and fifteen minutes later, all dressed and ready, he went back downstairs, waiting on the stairs.

"Hey, uh, you ready?" his voice unsure.

El appeared after a second, her hair dampand dressed with her sister's pink sweatshirt and blue jeans. "Pink suits you." He told her before he could stop himself.

But when she blushed slightly, he knew he had said the right thing. "Thank you."

"So, my mother is not back yet… do you mind if we go with my bike? It's actually a nice day and not too chilly."

"Oh yeah! Are you sure is it ok for you?"

"Absolutely! I don't mind it at all!" little bit too excited.

They sneaked out from the door in the basement; Mike had left a note in the kitchen telling his family that he was going to spend some time out, not that someone would actually care, but just in case.

"It's been a while since I've gone for a bike ride." El admitted taking place right behind Mike and putting her arms around Mike's waist holding onto to him.

"I think it's one of the best feelings in the world." he declared happily while starting to pedal.

His bike wasn't the last model, but it had always worked fine for him, of course with El pressed against his back things were more difficult than usual as he wasn't really focusing and he was pretty sure he was going to crash at one point.

They didn't say a lot, there was no need to talk as they were both enjoying the ride. Mike could feel her little figure on him; her face on his back, her arms embracing him firmly and her hair dancing, there was no way he was going to be able to ride alone again, without thinking about that moment, how he felt by having her with him.

There were tons of things that they still needed to discuss, he wanted to ask more questions and understand more about her situation and how to help her, but he knew that she needed time and, just as she had talked to him the night before, she would tell him more when she would feel like it.

"Does your friend live far?" she asked surprising him and whispering softly in his ear making him shiver.

"Uh, not really, we should be there soon."

"Oh, ok." Was she disappointed? "I'm kind of enjoying this."

She was definitely going to be the death of him.

"Well, we could always go for more rides if you want to."

"I'd love to." El said and Mike knew that he was going to do even the impossible to be able to ride with her even one more time after that day.

As they got closer, he just couldn't stop thinking about all the things that could go wrong, well it was his favorite hobby to imagine even the impossible, but there was no way he could risk El too.

When they arrived at Will's house, ten minutes later, Mike's first thought was that there was no way he was going to use the car again when he could simply cut through the woods and make it easier; his second thought was a pray to whatever god or divinity asking to make things… well, not too messy.

"Mike, it's going to be ok." El told him while getting off the bike. "I can hear you thinking from here."

"You don't know it, I mean what if…" She got closer, her face just a couple of inches from his, making him stop mumbling.

"Relax, it's going to be fine." Oh god…

She parted just in time as two seconds later they both heard someone shouting from the window. "You made it! Finally! We were…" Dustin stopped talking when he realized who was with him. "Holy shit! Holy shit!"

This started well.

"Shall we?" El grinned at a very pale Mike.

The door was already opened and the whole group was there, their faces almost not believing what they were seeing and keep looking first Mike and then El.

"It's her! I told you!" Dustin yelled pointing the girl.

Nobody said another word for what it felt years; the group in complete shock, Mike almost ready to faint and El… well she never thought her presence would cause such a reaction.

It was Lucas the first one to speak. "Uhm, Mike, care to explain what she is doing here?"

"Well, uh," but he really had no idea what to say as the whole linguistic side of his brain had decided to go for a momentarily vacation.

"Is she a spy?" Dustin asked with wide eyes.

"Seriously Dustin? A spy?" Max shook her head in disbelief.

"What?! I mean she works for the enemy!"

"The enemy? Come on!"

"Guys," Will interrupted them weakly. "Why don't we let them explain?"

"I still think she is a spy." Dustin murmured under his breath gaining another bad look from Max.

They all stared at them expectantly and only when Mike felt El's hand brush his own, he cleared his voice trying to find the words to finally talk.

"So, uhm, we met at school and… well, we started to hangout in secret, so Troy wouldn't find out and El is not a spy." Worst introduction ever.

"El? Who's El?" Dustin looked at him confused.

"I'm El," the girl said. "It's a nickname."

"So you brought her here because…?" Lucas intervened almost ignoring her.

"She, uh, was at my house when you guys called."

"Is she your girlfriend?!" Dustin yelled startling everyone.

"Well…" Mike started unsure of what to say.

"Actually I am." El answered surprising even him.

"You are?!" he turned to face her astonished.

"What? Do you think I am going around kissing guys randomly?" she whispered with a smirk.

"No, no! I…"

"Am I the only one not understanding what the hell it's going on?" Max cut them sounding a little annoyed.

"Nope, I'm in the same." Lucas agreed.

"Can we come in?" El tried smiling a little. "We are going to explain everything."

Will nodded and they all moved from the entrance to make them walk in; Mike was in some kind of trance and really wasn't sure of what was going on.

"Ok, so spill." Max said as soon as they were all in the living room, some sat on the couch some on the floor.

"So, a month ago or so, both Mike and I were in detention and well, I went to talk to him and we became friends. We didn't say anything to anybody because of Troy and…" El turned to look at Mike.

"I was afraid something would happen so we kept the secret." He finished after a second. "But El is not like them, she is not like him or the rest of those idiots." That was something he needed to make clear as soon as possible. "She, uhm, she doesn't want to be part of that group."

"So why is she still hanging out with them?" Lucas asked suspicious.

Mike saw El shifting a little. "It's kind of a complicated." Mike said immediately.

"So you thought that bringing her here would be better?" Max looked at the other girl like she was the most dangerous thing in the room.

"No, that was my fault; I was at his house and since he had to leave you guys yesterday I thought that he needed to spend some time with you." El murmured avoiding their gazes.

"Right!" Dustin shouted. "You got a call from 'El' last night!"

Nobody said a word for a couple of minutes and Mike knew that he needed to say something if he wanted to work out things.

"Listen, I know what you are thinking, but I promise you that you can trust El, we can't tell you everything, yet, but it would be great if you guys would trust us. She doesn't want to cause troubles and she is also pretty amazing, it would be great if you could give her a chance."
He felt her hand on his as she gently squeezed it in what was definitely a 'thank you'.

Will, who had barely said a word, stood up from the chair and walked in front of El. "I'm Will." He said offering her his hand.

El smiled brightly and shook it enthusiastically. "Nice to meet you."

"We had a class together last year, right?"

"Yeah, we had History."

"Oh you are right!" he nodded smiling. "Well, we were just having breakfast and there are some Eggos left, do you guys want some?"

"Yes, I'm starving!" Mike exclaimed excited that at least one of them was trying.

"I love Eggos." El smiled politely.

"Awesome! Then come and have some!"

They were about to stand up and follow Will when they heard Lucas clear his throat to get their attention.

"What?" Will asked nonchalantly.

"So, are we good we this? We don't even know her!"

"Lucas, you are being paranoid. I trust Mike and if he says that El is cool then she is cool."

"Plus she is his girlfriend!" Dustin laughed loudly.

"Well, at least he had the balls to do something about it!" Lucas replied to the guy.

"Shut up, Lucas!"

"No, you shut up!"

"Oh you both shut up!" Max screamed. "My god, you guys are a pain in the ass! Anyways, I agree with Will, and I actually need the support of another girl."

"I'm with Will and Max." Dustin said smiling. "And now I also know why you didn't want me to ask her out!"

"What?" El whispered looking at Mike with a smirk on her lips.

"Oh, uh, nothing."

"Oh, that's not nothing! Let's go have breakfast and I'm going tell you everything!"

While Dustin, Will, El and Max walked away from the living room, Mike stood to observe Lucas who was still sat and looking like had no intentions to move.

"Hey, I'm sorry if this is making you uncomfortable, I really didn't want to cause troubles." Mike apologized, hoping it would help.

"It's not that Mike, she might be a good girl, but I can't wonder what is going to happen if they find out."

"I know, I do that too and if they find out, we'll do our best to keep you all out of it, I promise."

Lucas stared at him one more second before nodding. "That sounds good to me." And Mike started to finally breathe again.

"So, Wheeler, tell me exactly how she became your girlfriend." The other guy grinned at him as he stood up.

"Uh…" If I only knew, man…

A/N: Hi guys! I apologize for the late update but I have been sick basically all week (and I am still sick) but I'm starting to feel better so… here's the new chapter!

I'd like to thank all of you for your support! It really means a lot!

Hope you guys have a nice weekend and until next time! :)