Absence makes the heart grow fonder
Chapter One - Retrouvaille
The loud sound of a door slamming open echoed in the bedroom as two individuals could be found, lips locking heatedly and hands rummaging over skin. The boy had hurriedly fumbled with the girl's shirt, peeling it from her body. Heavy breathing increased when they fell onto the king-sized bed, the sheets fluttering from the impact.
The girl's hands were threading into the boy's massive curls as he slowly trailed a path of kisses down her neck before she picked herself up on her elbows to unclip her bra.
Hungry brown eyes bore down to her naked breasts, then found their way back to her bright blue orbs.
The boy's shirt had already been long discarded and she raked her hands up and down his toned abs, eliciting a sharp gasp from him. Just then, his hand shot down to the belt on his jeans and he pulled it through the loops in one swoop, not stopping to pull the button out and unzip the zipper, tugging the jeans down along with his boxers.
The girl did the same and before anyone knew, they were both completely naked, needing release.
But this boy wasn't one to gear away from teasing. He latched onto her left breast with his mouth, squeezing the other one lightly in his hand. The girl groaned, the boy's name leaving her lips in a mewl.
He let go and allowed his lips to go further and further down, never breaking eye contact with her.
Her breathing became ragged once he reached his destination, leaving tentative kisses around her inner thighs, occasionally flicking out his tongue.
Her patience grew thin and she grabbed his face. "Stop playing, I need you inside me."
A smirk played on his swollen lips but he did as she wished and pulled himself up to her, their lips meeting once more, tongues stroking desperately.
And with that, he grabbed her waist, gazed into her eyes, and entered her in one hard thrust.
Their eyes rolled back in unison. It wasn't like this was their first time with each other, but for some reason this moment felt euphoric in comparison to their other encounters, even though they had plenty of time to make up for it, being as they were clearly a couple.
His thrusts became more insistent, making the girl moan louder. His own moans escaped him until he felt the familiar, firmer squeeze of her walls around him, signaling her climax was near.
His own orgasm was building up inside of him and he twitched, just as he always did and at that moment, one more thrust was all it took.
He came quickly and hard, moaning a name, one different from the girl underneath him and his eyes gazed back up at her, but the eyes that were looking back at him did not belong to her.
These eyes were dark, just a tinge lighter than his but hard to tell through how blown they were. His senses were filled with shock as he looked down to her lips.
His throat closed as he realized who was really underneath him.
"M-Mike," she whimpered, clutching onto his biceps tightly. His body could take no more and he exploded, saying this name once again.
"Mike," he heard once more, this time a different voice. His ears were ringing but he couldn't take his eyes off the girl.
"Mike!"
...
Mike shot up in bed, gasping loudly. He felt hands grab his cheeks and he turned to look.
It was his girlfriend, Olivia. This realization caused his eyes to widen, realizing what he had experienced was all a dream.
"Are you okay, honey?" She asked him worriedly.
His heart sank, disappointment running through him. No. He wasn't okay. He hasn't been okay for awhile now. That much was true.
Five years he spent missing her, those five years he would never get back. He thought it was all over now because when he met Olivia ten months ago, things got just a little bit better. I guess better doesn't mean much when it certainly didn't get easier.
By this point, he was just merely convincing himself he was over her. He loved Olivia, he really did, but he had also never had a dream like that before so it was either it meant something more than just missing her or he's been living in denial as if he didn't have those dreams every single night.
He knew he didn't. The only thing he knows for a fact is that he tried to reach her for five years straight, calling her everyday she was gone, hoping for an answer, hoping he didn't just lose the love of his life.
What did this mean? He swore he was fine, that he moved on, so what the fuck is this? After ten months of being happy again, although it didn't exactly measure out to the way he used to be, why now?
He didn't want to hurt Olivia, ever, so he promised himself he would keep this a secret. If she knew about his history with the other girl, he would lose her forever. There's just too much to compete with, and she wasn't even with him anymore.
Shit, this was bad.
"I'm alright, Liv. Just had a really bad dream about this big, hairy man jumping us." He almost cringed at his description, swallowing away his inner turmoil that he usually got when lying to someone. He wasn't used to it.
He never lied to her, or anyone really. She looked at him for a moment and made a disgusted face. "That sucks, I'm sorry."
Ugh. She really was a sweetheart. Damn him. Damn his feelings.
"It's fine. I'm sorry too, if I scared you." I'm sorry I had a wet dream about someone who wasn't you.
"All good," she grinned and gave him a peck on the lips. His fingers involuntarily touched his bottom lip, a tear threatening to escape from the corner of his eye.
She then got up and put some proper clothes on, him watching her intently.
Reality dawned on him. This marked the end of an era. He knew things would never be the same again.
He had no idea.
…
Five days later…
"Son of a bitch, where are my keys?" Dustin yelled from the kitchen, searching through his bag with shaky hands.
"Dude, you're drunk, you can't leave." Lucas told him.
"Like hell I can't," Dustin slurred, stumbling backwards, knocking over a pencil holder.
Lucas rolled his eyes at him. The guy could not hold his liquor for shit.
Just then, Mike entered the room, whistling slightly, hand in hand with Olivia. "Morning, Dustin and Lucas. Where's Will?"
"He said he had stuff to do so he left early." Mike nodded. Will was the only one who wasn't drinking last night.
They spent pretty much all night drinking, from 8PM to 1AM, some more than others, but Dustin was the most shit-faced out of all of them. Although Mike had to admit he was feeling pretty good.
"Mike, can you h-help me find my keys," Dustin babbled, almost losing his balance.
"Sit your ass down before you break something, dingus," Lucas scolded him.
Mike laughed at their bickering and the state of him. "I think you should wait it out a bit, you're in no shape to be driving. Drink some water or something."
Dustin groaned and went into the living room, muttering to himself.
Mike and Olivia went back upstairs to Mike's room, in the mood for dancing to some music.
He pulled her inside and closed the door, heading for the record player. He turned it on and leaned down to peek inside his shelves that held a bunch of records. He skimmed through, a finger tapping his chin in wonder of what he may find. Most of these he forgot he even had, and some he wished he had gotten rid of but they had too much emotional value to do so.
Suddenly he pointed to A Kind of Magic by Queen. This one in particular had his favorite song on it and he knew he had to play it.
He released the disc carefully and placed it on the record player, skipping to Who Wants To Live Forever.
Olivia beamed at him as he turned around and he smiled back and grabbed her waist, pulling her to him.
She instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck and they began dancing to the music.
There's no time for us
There's no place for us
What is this thing that builds our dreams
Yet slips away from us?
Mike gulped inaudibly as he now started realizing what the lyrics meant. He shook his head away from the thoughts and leaned in to capture Liv's lips, hoping to forget everything and just focus on them.
Who wants to live forever?
Who wants to live forever?
She responded to him immediately, licking at his lips and he opened for her, reveling in the feeling as they got lost in the song.
There's no chance for us…
The phone rang and Mike hesitantly pulled away from her to check who it was. When he picked up, it was Will.
"Hello?"
"Mike, I know this isn't a good time but something has happened." Will said softly, making Mike's eyebrows raise.
With wide eyes, he responded. "What is it? Is something wrong?"
There was a slight pause before, "No. Nothing's wrong. It's just-" he paused again, longer this time, scaring Mike.
"Will, what happened!?" Mike exclaimed.
"It's El. Hopper just called me and said that he found her. She's still alive, Mike."
You could have stabbed him in the gut and he wouldn't have even flinched at the utter shock he was in once those words left Will's mouth. He caught himself gripping the phone so tight, his knuckles were white.
"Mike?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm here." He looked over at Olivia, who was very confused and he sighed.
"What are you planning on doing?"
"I'm gonna go find Hopper."
"Mike, are you sure that's a good idea?" Will checked, knowing what could potentially become of this.
"I have to see her, Will. I'm going." With that, he slammed the phone down and shot up like a lightning bolt, much to Liv's further confusion.
"See who? What's happening? Do you want me to go with you?" She asked frantically as he paced around, lacing his fingers in his hair.
"There's this girl who I haven't seen in ages and Will just told me that he saw her and apparently Hopper is involved somehow so I need to go. I'll be back later, okay?" He couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth and how bad the whole situation sounded the moment he mentioned 'a girl'.
Olivia narrowed her eyes, confirming the inevitable. "Why can't I just go with you?"
Mike ground his teeth together. "Trust me, it's not like that, I'm just reuniting with an old friend. Don't be jealous. I love you, okay?"
"Who said I was jealous? You bring this up on me, saying you're leaving and now you can't fully explain to me what's going on and I can't even go with you?"
He huffed. He knew this wasn't going to be easy. "Look, I'll be back. I promise. You have nothing to worry about."
"Fine," she sneered. "Go."
Guilt flooded him but he gave her a quick kiss, said 'I love you' and was out the door.
…
Rushing feet sounded until he was at his Monte Carlo, driving down the deserted streets at 3AM to Hopper's house. It never occurred to him that he was going 15 over the speed limit until he spotted a cop parked in a field, causing him to slow down.
Mike didn't know what to say, or do, or think. All he knew was that El was alive, after all this time. He spent five years believing her to be dead. Gone forever. That was when they were just twelve years old.
Now he was seventeen with a girlfriend but his mind couldn't help but paint pictures of what she may look like now, though he tried to resist because of Liv.
He didn't want to see El that way anymore. The way he did back then. It was already bad enough back then because she didn't have a clue about the world nor did she understand that his body was fighting against the hormones that threatened to escape him every time he was around her, let alone what that meant.
He feared that now that they were older and it's been so long, it would be even harder, despite having a girlfriend.
This whole thing had him freaked out. He never wanted to be known as a cheater, and he's said it before and he'll say it again, he truly loved Olivia. He would hate himself if he upset her and if she found out about El, but it wasn't like El died or they broke up. She sacrificed herself for him, for his friends, hell, for the whole goddamn town! It wasn't like he stopped loving her, because he didn't. As much as he tried, he couldn't. Yes, he moved on and found happiness but the hole never left and no one else can fill it but El.
He couldn't think like that. He had to let the past be the past. Him and El were over and he was with Olivia now.
From now on, he kept his guard up. He refused to let the feelings back in. His heart couldn't take it.
Now he was at the chief's house, pulling into the driveway. He parked the car but sat back for a moment, looking at the house. His heart was racing as though it would beat out of his chest and fall to the floor.
With a strung out exhale, he got out of the car and made his way to the porch.
His hand balled into a fist and raised up to the door, preparing to knock when a faint voice could be heard on the other side.
"He'll be here soon."
El.
He closed his eyes and rested his forehead on the door. She really was there, it wasn't another dream. He leaned back and softly knocked.
Not a moment went by as the door swung open and he was met with the eyes of the girl who meant everything to him.
His breath caught in his throat as he looked at her, as she looked right back at him with the same intensity. Tears welled up in their eyes and a relieved smile twitched against Mike's lips.
El let out a gasp and a bright grin spread across her face. And then they were in each other's arms, his hands squeezing her waist in a big hug as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Mike," his name escaped her lips in a sob. His own tears began to fall intensely and he hugged her tighter. Closer.
"El."
After awhile, they pulled away and gazed into each other's eyes, their faces slickened and red from tears. "You have no idea how much I've missed you. I never gave up. I knew you'd come back. I knew it, El." He beamed.
"I missed you, too," she smiled, pulling him in for another hug.
He never wanted to let go.