I'm glad you guys liked the last chapter so much, especially the part about Troy getting a taste of his own medicine. I hope you enjoy yet another update!
Jane sat on her bed, starring at the phone on her nightstand. Her mom's words echoed in her head as she starred down at the paper in her hand. "It would be good for both of us to get out." While her mom, down the hall in her own bedroom, got changed out of her lounging-at-home clothes Jane found herself unable to dial the phone number in front of her. Though she no longer needed it written down, having memorized it already, she liked seeing the scrap sitting on her desk. A reminder that even if she wasn't with him there were remnants of Mike around her, such as his phone number written on a post-it. Yet as she starred both at the phone and the number she seemed unable to do anything with either of them.
"You're being stupid." She muttered to herself under her breath as she picked up the receiver. Jane dialed the number, waiting anxiously for someone to pick up. She wondered if his mother or Nancy would be the one to pick up, like before.
The line range few more times than it had in the past. "Hello?" A very obviously male voice said through the speaker, though it was in no way familiar
"Hi, is Mike there?" She asked
"Yes, hold on please." Moments later she heard the same voice, sounding distant, yell "Mike! Phone!" From what he had told her about his father Jane had a feeling she knew who she had just spoken to.
She counted up to seven before she heard anything from the other line. Finally, after some rustling from the phone being picked up, she heard a voice that was familiar through the phone. "Hello?"
"It's Jane." She said, then instantly cringed at herself. What the hell kind of greeting was it's Jane? She shook her head, covering her eyes with her hand as if hiding from him despite the fact he was nowhere near her.
But he seemed unbothered. "Hey, what's up?"
"Nothing." Lie. "What are you doing?"
"Jus homework."
A frown formed on her face, her plan already taking a nosedive down the drain. There was no way she could take time away from him doing his homework both days of the weekend. The group had stayed out the night before late enough that they had hardly any time to get anything done until the next day. She was already starting to feel guilty that she'd even called him. "Oh, okay." She said, in the best nonchalant voice she could put on
"Why what's up?"
He knew her too well for her own good. Even without looking at her he could so effortlessly read her. "It's nothing."
"Jane." He said, his voice warning her not to keep up the lie
She sighed, leaning her head against the headboard behind her. "Okay, fine." She said. "I just… I really need to get out of the house. But if you're busy I can call Max."
"No, it's fine." He said immediately. "I'll be over soon."
Jane's face morphed into a smile at the thought of Mike so easily abandoning his homework just to spend time with her, knowing full well she would do the same. The feeling of guilt was somewhat overshadowed by the fact that he sounded so willing. There was not a hint of reluctance in his voice, nor hesitation. "Thank you."
"Is everything okay?" He asked. Did he have the ability to read her mind, and been keeping it a secret from her and everyone around them?
"I'll tell you when you get here."
Once she hung up the phone Jane threw a Members Only jacket over the sweater she was already wearing. The sun had fallen and she had been cold last night while they all went to the park, though that may have had something to do with the fact that she was wearing a skirt. After everything Mike said in the parking lot of the movie theater Jane had gone back to wearing jeans. As nice as she may have looked the day before the constant effort to keep her legs crossed was exhausting and completely overruled everything else.
Jane spotted her mom, still in her room, on her way towards the stairs. She leaned on the doorframe as her mom tied her hair up. "Mike is coming over in a little bit." She told her, "Where are you going?"
"To lunch with a friend from work." Her mom replied, looking at her through the reflection in the mirror she stood in front of. "Mike seems like a very nice young man."
Here we go she thought to herself. She had gotten away with avoiding the topic of Mike, for the most part, since she met him. In the back of her mind she knew she couldn't get away without it forever. "Yeah, he is."
Tightening her ponytail her mom turned to face her. "How are things going with you guys."
"They're going fine, Mama." She said, walking into her room fully. "He's going to be here soon so I'm going to wait for him outside.'
Jane gave her mom a quick hug, placing a quick kiss on her cheek before heading towards the door again. "I want to hear more about him when you get back." Her mom said, "I have a right to know who my daughter's dating."
"Okay, promise." She called as she descended the stairs.
Jane sat on the stairs on her front porch as she waited for his car to appear, remembering the last time she sat in the same spot. It was strange how much their relationship had changed in such a short amount of time. She went from trying to hide every flaw about her and her life from him to being more honest than she had ever been with anyone, besides her mother. Mike knew more than her friends upstate knew and even more than what Max and Lizzie knew, which was saying a lot since they knew a good deal. The two girls hardly brought up the topic of her father since they parted ways the morning after they snuck her out. But Mike, as gently as he could, pressed her to tell him more. She always let him, knowing his intentions were pure and that he was just worried about her. Jane had told him everything she was comfortable opening up about, and she was about to tell him even more.
She was on her feet before his car was fully parked. Once she was sitting next to him, and noticed the sweater he had on, she was suddenly disappointed in herself that she hadn't planned ahead and left her jacket up in her room. The opportunity to subtly hint that she was cold in hopes of him offering an extra layer, which she then took home and kept forever, had passed her by. Jane had half a mind to take her jacket off during the car ride and very conveniently leave in behind.
"Where do you want to go?" He asked her as she clicked her seatbelt
"Anywhere."
He pulled away from her house, seeming to already have a place in mind. A few blocks away he looked over at her. She could practically hear the question before he actually asked it. "What's up?"
She met his eyes, noticing that his hair was messier than usual. It only made him look even more cute, which was hard to believe was possible. "My dad posted bail." She said, "So he's out now."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Mike shook his head, "God, Jane." He said, "I'm so sorry."
She shrugged, trying to make it not seem like a big deal despite the fact that it really was. The last thing Mike needed to do was spend his time worrying about her. "It's fine. The order of protection is supposed to be finalized in the next few days, so we're just going to spend a lot of time out of the house. My mom went out with a friend from work and I called you."
"I'm glad you did." He told her, causing a smile to spread on her face. "Do you want to come over tomorrow? We can do homework or whatever, just so you don't have to go home right away."
The thought of sitting in Mike's room, just as she had in hers, and doing homework made her stomach do a summersault. When she'd been to his house before she only stayed for about half an hour, and was too busy completely freaking out that she was at his house to actually enjoy being there. She wondered how long she would be able to stretch her stay, hoping it would be much longer than half an hour.
"That sounds great." She said
Jane looked out the window as he turned onto an unfamiliar street, having no clue where they were headed. Though she usually felt a need to be in the know about plans and destinations, yet she found herself unbothered by her cluelessness. Not only did she know next to nothing about what was in Hawkins and where, but Mike had lived there his whole life. He knew ten times better than her where the good places in town to hang out were. Needless to say she trusted his judgement more than her own in the situation. So she looked out the window, occasionally glancing over at him as if to just make sure he was still there, and enjoyed the view of houses which were all new to her.
A few minutes after they no longer passed houses but instead wooded area Mike parked the car in a spot similar yet different enough to know it wasn't the same spot he had parked when they went to the quarry. Jane got out of the car, walking close to his side as they entered the trees. Though every inch of land in view looked exactly the same as what they left behind Mike seemed to know exactly where he was going. She had no clue how long they'd been walking when the trees started to thin until they stood in a clearing, but the answer didn't matter. As far as she knew she didn't have a curfew that night.
When the trees stopped, making a clear boarder line, Jane found herself standing in a clearing with a small body of water (the different names, such as rivers vs lakes, was something she had never excelled at) about 7 feet wide. Probably half a mile away was the view she'd had of the quarry, circular and less massive from ground level. If Jane squinted enough she could see the very spot she and Mike had sat at not so long ago.
"This is really nice." She said, looking away from the water so she could see him. He was a much better view. "I like it here."
Mike smiled, visibly glad she approved of the spot he'd chosen. "Good."
They walked close to the edge of the water, Mike this time beating her by grabbing her hand before she could his. As they walked he told her about how his younger sister had her first dance lesson the night before and that his mom had cried. Jane was slightly envious that he had not one but two siblings. She was an only child, which she had a feeling was entirely her moms doing. In her mind she tried to picture what his little sister looked like. She imagined a midway point between Mike and Nancy, despite how bad and short lived her view of her had been, and turned back the clock. Jane then instantly hoped she would get to meet Holly one day.
"What's it like being an only child?" He asked her
She rolled her eyes, "Boring." Jane replied. "When you're really young and both your parents are too busy doing adult things to play with you you're just totally on your own. Then when you outgrow a baby sitter you're home alone every time your parents are at work, which isn't nearly as exciting as it seems."
Mike shrugged, "I don't know, it sounds pretty cool."
"That's what everyone who's not an only child says." She glanced down at the running water on the other side of him. The current was so slow and gentle she could almost describe it as cute. As if the water in the circular quarry was the mother and the river they stood by was the little kid. "How deep is that?"
He glanced down at the water for a moment or two, "I don't know, maybe like five or six feet." Mike looked back over at her, "Why?"
A cheeky smile spread over her face. In one quick movement she put both her hands on his arm and pushed him towards the water, knowing full well he was standing close enough that he would fall in. She nearly collapsed into a fit of laughter when his head resurfaced after only a quick few moments of submersion. He rubbed the water out of his eyes, then pushed his hair backwards and off of his forehead. Despite having just been pushed he mirrored the smile on her face.
He reached the edge of the water, likely tall enough to have simply walked over and looked up at her. "Help me out." He said, reaching his hand up towards her
"Okay." She said, still giggling. "I'm sorry."
As soon as she wrapped her hand around his he, with one quick tug, pulled her into the water with him. She fell into the water, which was colder than she had anticipated, the shriek she let out quickly silenced. Before Jane could even try to resurface Mike pulled her up until her head was above water. She took a gulp of air, her eyes opening to find he was smiling even wider than he was when she was dry.
"I deserved that." She said, moving her hair away from her face. Though she knew the second it dried it would puff up twice in size she didn't care.
"Yeah." He agreed, "You did."
Jane wrapped her arms around his neck to keep herself afloat and simply because she wanted to. Mike quickly responded by wrapping his arms around her waist, keeping her close to him. They were tightly pressed against each other, both fooling themselves by using the current as their motives for holding onto one another. Though Jane felt her face go warm at the closeness she couldn't help but notice how perfectly they fit with one another. Like two puzzle pieces that were finally paired. Puzzle pieces that were also magnets. A puzzle that consisted of only two pieces that were also magnetic.
Mike kissed her, once again surprising her by being the fist to initiate contact. Jane was so used to reaching for him first. She had never dwelled on it much, the extent of her thought being the simple assumption that she always beat him to it. For some strange reason, which she intended to investigate further, kissing was so much better when Mike kissed her. Instead of her expression of affection being reciprocated he was the one being affectionate. The world melted away until there was nothing but Mike and Jane, who was floating. She had experienced the feeling several other times when they kissed, but this time she was literally floating.
Jane could honestly say that her favorite feeling in the world was the feeling of being kissed by Mike. Despite being almost completely submerged in chilly water and the breeze that nipped the wet skin on her face she was perfectly warm. She was so hyperaware of everything that her brain was starting to short circuit. It would be a total mood killer if he had to take her to the hospital for brain failure, yet there was nothing she could do about it. There were no friends waiting for them nearby nor curfew hanging over their heads. If they wanted to they could have stayed in that spot as long as possible. She wanted to stay like this forever. Jane would have been mostly content if the world ended that very second because then she would have lived the last moment of her life kissing Mike Wheeler, which sounded like of a hell of a way to go.
Without any sense of time, due to her short circuited brain, she had no clue how long they stood (in her case floated) in the water lip locked. As much as she wanted to remain there for eternity they eventually had to pull away for the intake of air. At the sight of his now blue tinted lips Jane insisted they get out and dry off. He gave her a boost out of the water before she then lifted him up next to her. While they made their way back to his car, both of them half running from the cold air that had once seemed so warm, Jane was surprised with herself. She couldn't believe the lack of self consciousness that she felt at the fact that her wet clothes clung to her body. It may have had something to do with the fact that his did the same.
Once they reached the car Mike blasted the heat and they both ripped off their top layer, his sweatshirt landing onto of her jacket in the backseat. Jane kept her eyes fixed forward, knowing that if she dared to look at him she would have ended up starring. While he pulled back onto the road she wished she had worn a tank top under her sweatshirt so she could discard another sopping wet article that was only making her more cold.
After the heat kicked in and she was no longer shivering she pulled down the sun visor and flipped the mirror open. A frown formed on her face at the sight of her unruly hair, which hadn't even fully dried yet. She instinctively looked down at her wrist for a hair tie, remembering the one she'd been using had broke only when she found none present. Jane tried her best to smooth down her hair but had a feeling it didn't do much.
"Do you want to go back to my house and change into something dry?" He asked her once she had given up
"Yeah that sounds good."
They arrived at his house only minutes later. She followed him inside, doing a quick survey of her surroundings. Jane wanted to absorb everything she could about the house he lived in. But she wasn't given nearly enough time since Mike instantly headed for the stairs the second he spotted his father asleep in the living room. She followed him up, her jacket hanging over her arm. On her way up she had to make a conscious effort to not look back to see if she was leaving any water behind, knowing she would be guilt ridden if she in any way damaged Mike's house.
His room was so Mike. And she loved it. She stared at the posters hung on the wall and whatever knick knacks laid around as he tossed his sweater into a hamper nearby. The most important item she spotted in the room was the phone next to his bed. The very same phone he had spoken to her through multiple times. While she struggled the put words together the day she had found out about his feelings for her that was the phone he listened to her with. It was just a phone, yet it was so much more. Jane felt silly for dwelling on it so much and turned her attention back to Mike as he went through his dresser.
He pulled out a pair of grey sweatpants and a navy sweatshirt, handing them to her and then pointing out the bathroom down the hall. She closed the door behind her, making a face at her unruly hair in the mirror before turning her back on it. As she peeled her clothes off she tried not to to focus on the fact that Mike was only fifteen steps away from her while she wasn't wearing a shirt (also attempting to ignore the fact that she had counted the steps on her way to the bathroom ). She hung her clothes on the shower curtain rack, unsure of where else to put them.
Jane pulled on the sweats he gave her, the length of the pants just another reminder of how much taller he was than her. Once she pulled the sweatshirt over her head she looked at herself in the mirror again, keeping her hair tucked under the collar. She smiled, despite the sight of her crazy curls. These clothes had once been on Mike's body, and were now on hers. It was a closeness different from when they kissed in the lake. He had likely worn both articles long before he had met her. She knew she had owned the clothes she had just taken off before they moved to Hawkins. While she couldn't quite describe the exact feeling she got standing in his bathroom and wearing his clothes she certainly felt it.
She walked back down the hall towards his room, now barefoot since she ditched her still wet shoes and socks in the bathroom. Since his door was open she assumed he was fully clothed and it was safe for her to walk in, yet she still found herself bracing for the alternative. With a strange combination of relief and disappointment she spotted him sitting on his bed just as covered as she was.
"Better?" He asked her as she walked over at sat next to him.
She crossed her legs underneath her, fully facing him. "Better." He reached towards her, his hands slipping to the back of her neck. Jane completely expected him to kiss her. Instead he pulled her hair out from underneath the sweatshirt she intended on keeping it. Realizing what she was doing her hands gathered her hair, trying to contain it and stuff it back into it's hiding spot. "Stop, it looks bad."
"No it doesn't." He said, smiling at the frown on her face. Mike moved her hands away and took her hair back out, his smile growing. "I like it."
Jane grimaced but didn't attempt to confine her hair again. "I look like a poodle."
"Poodles are cute."
She hit his arm as lightly as she could but allowed herself to smile none the less. As much as she may have hated her hair when it got crazy Mike liked it. He also liked the way she dressed. Maybe he had damaged vision.
"Mike!" A voice down the hall called, followed by the sound of a for opening and footsteps approaching. "Who's clothes are in the bathro- oh."
Nancy, now standing in the doorway, stopped mid sentence as her eyes fell on Jane. She looked back and forth between her and Mike a few times, clearly knowing the answer to the question she hadn't even finished asking. Jane's cheeks burned bright red as her mind started imagining all he things Nancy could have assumed from finding a girls clothes in the bathroom and finding a girl in her little brothers room wearing his clothes.
Her expression changed from surprise to a slightly mischievous smile. "Are you Jane?" She asked
"Yeah."
"Mike's told me about you." She said, her gaze moving over to him. "What are you guys up to?"
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Mike shoot her a look, a look reserved solely for someone annoyed with their sibling. "Nothing."
Nancy raised an eyebrow at him. "Really? Nothing?"
"Yeah. Nothing." If Jane hadn't been so mortified she would have been struggling to hold back laughter at their back and forth. "We went swimming."
Confusion crossed over her face. "Swimming in April?"
Mike rolled his eyes and got to his feet, "Okay, bye Nancy, see you at dinner." He said, shutting the door before she could reply. They both stayed perfectly still until they heard footsteps retreating down the hall.
Somewhat over the total embarrassment Jane spared herself a small smile. "She seems nice."
"She's annoying." He replied, coming back and sitting next to her again. "Not to mention nosy."
Jane bit her bottom lip, feeling her grin starting to grow against her will. "So… you talk about me?"
She watched closely as his freckled face turned pink. "You already knew that."
"I knew you talked to your friends, who know who I am, about me." She corrected. "I didn't know you talked to your family about me."
"Same thing."
"Not at all the same thing."
Mike groaned, leaning back until he was laying on his bed. Jane wanted to curl up next to him bury her face in his neck. Yet at the same time she was thoroughly enjoying the view of his increasingly red face and struggled expression as he likely debated whether or not to tell her the truth. She quickly decided to stay sitting up and watching him.
He covered his eyes with his hands like he was hiding from her. "My mom asked me who you were when you called and she answered. Then after everything with your dad I told everyone that if you called no one else could use the phone until I was done talking to you. Plus Nancy saw you in my car and got really nosy and kept asking me questions so I just told her about you. But I don't think she said anything to my parents."
Jane leaned over him, grabbing his hands and moving them away from his face so she could look at him. Even after his face was uncovered she kept her hands wrapped around his and pinned on either side of his head. She didn't even bother attempting to hold back the smile that had taken over her face. "I told my friends upstate about you."
"Really?"
"Yeah." She said. "My friend Kelly keeps trying to convince me to take a picture of you so I can mail it to her because she wants to see what you look like."
His lips twitched upwards. "She sounds weird."
"She is." Jane made no effort to move from her position over him, and he made no effort to move her. His chest rose and fell with every breath he took, and with her practically half laying on him she could feel each muscle underneath her moving when he did. "When did you first start to like me?" She asked, finally voicing the question she had been curious about ever since he admitted his feelings for her. Why she never had the courage to actually ask him, or why she suddenly did now, was a mystery.
"Instantly." He said, the reply coming out easy.
"Really?"
He nodded, "Yeah. You have no idea how excited I was that we had a class together and that I would actually get to talk to you." Hearing him describe the exact same experience she had was strange. It was like hearing her own thoughts in his voice. "What about you?"
"The same day." She told him. "It started with the fact that one of the empty seats in homeroom was so conveniently in front of the cutest guy in the room." She watched him half heartedly roll his eyes at her. "But then you offered to show me around town and I could not stop thinking about it."
This seemed the genuinely surprise him. "Seriously?"
Jane shook her head, "Of course! Not only did I desperately need to be shown around, but the fact that the person who offered was the same guy I purposely sat next to just so I could look at him close up."
He reached up and ran his fingers through her hair, which she didn't doubt had grown even more. She could see a thought working and forming in his mind yet he remained silent. Jane wished that she could read his thoughts, like he sometimes seemed to read hers, and see exactly what was going on in the mind of Mike Wheeler. She desperately wanted to know what he was thinking while he starred at her the way he did as they lay on his bed.
Before she could consider asking him what he was thinking about he pulled her by the arm up towards him and kissed her again. They'd kissed standing up, they'd kissed sitting down, and they'd kissed fully clothed in the water. But the feeling of Mike kissing her while they lay in his bed was the best feeling by far. She was totally surrounded by Mike. Instead of everything but them disappearing it was everything outside of the room disappearing. Every inch of the room, and everything inside of it, belonged to him. Jane felt like she fit right in.
While she always hated when people described falling in love as "they're my whole world" she suddenly ate her on words. Suddenly Mike was her whole world. The only room that existed was Mike's bedroom, and the only two people alive were him and Jane. Suddenly they were the last two beings on earth with no one to interfere with them kissing on his bed. No Nancy, no Max, no Troy, and no fathers who threw books at their daughters and hit their wives.
The world consisted of only Mike and Jane, kissing on his bed and avoiding everything else.
And she loved it. She loved that any and all responsibilities suddenly no longer existed. She loved that anyone who had anything bad to say had faded into nothingness. Most of all she loved Mike. She loved Mike. After everything he had done for her in the short time they had known one another how could she not? Jane could have easily remained nothing more than the new girl he sat next to in English. Instead she was someone he cared about enough to stand up to the person who had tormented him for his entire school career. She was someone he cared about enough to sneak out of her house even before learning all the secrets she had been keeping for him.
Jane loved Mike, fiercely and vehemently. She loved him in a way she vowed never to love anyone when she was young and saw her parents relationship for what it was. In a way that she had been terrified of when she started noticing boys for the first time. If she loved him after knowing him for a month she couldn't begin to fathom how she would feel about him by summer vacation. It was a thought that was equal parts terrifying and exhilarating. But instead of thinking about how she might feel in two months time she focused on the feeling of him kissing her with his hands in her hair which she no longer wished she had tied up.