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Chapter 3

"So, you managed to send me on the worst date of my life," Kelley told Max.

"I know," Max said, having the decency to look a little guilty. "I was kind of hoping it would be bad. . . the two of them, they're kind of ridiculous and I was hoping it would give them the push to get back together."

Kelley took a sip of her latte. "Why did they break up?"

Max sighed. "I don't know. I guess Mike's sister made some comment back at Christmas about how it must be interesting to be with the same person for 9 years. Mike, being the kind of person he is, took this to mean that El needed to find out what she was missing out on. So, he broke up with her. He's kind of been a loser ever since though. But we've seen him like this before. It's actually kind of pathetic, the way the two of them act like they're so lost without each other—"

"You don't really think they're pathetic," Kelley interrupted. "If you did, I don't think you would be trying to get them back together this hard."

"They're good together," Max admitted. "For as long as I've known them, they've been this little army of two. For better or for worse, they're each other's person. El certainly hasn't gone out and found somebody else to see what she's missing out on. I don't think it's ever crossed her mind."

"Mike never outright said El was it for him, but from what I gathered the feeling is mutual." Kelley folded her hands in front of her. "He's adorable but I'm not going to be the person who stands in the way of true love. So, I want to help you get them back together. But we have to have better ideas than setting them up on a blind date with other people. You can't unleash El some poor unsuspecting soul."

"She will probably be as bad as Mike. . ." Max's face twisted into a smile. "It would kind of be hilarious, actually. But El can't be fooled as easily fooled as Mike can be and that might be a good thing."

"Has anybody told you blind dates are the worst idea?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, my friends might have mentioned it a few times to me. But it's not like they had better ideas. Will wanted to lock them in a room until they got back together. Have you ever heard of something like that working?" Max held up her hand. "I know my idea hasn't exactly worked out either because one bad date with you and Mike still hasn't asked El to be his girlfriend again."

Kelley nodded. "Right because he was supposed to know what was going on."

"For someone so smart, he's kind of dumb."

"Well, I'm sure between the two of us and your other friends we can think of something to get them back together."

.

El pulled on a sweatshirt and leggings and walked to the kitchen in search of coffee. She was thankful it was Saturday because her eyes were swollen and gritty from crying all night. She really didn't want anyone to see her.

Mike had gone out with somebody else.

The thought made her heart constrict painfully and then it stopped completely when she saw the object of her affection sitting at the table, his shoulders hunched while he ate Cheerios and read the newspaper.

Like usual, he could sense they were in the same room. Their eyes met and she realized he looked just as bad as she felt. She wondered if he had sat up all night, staring at the ceiling listening to Jeff Buckley and thinking about how much he wanted her back.

He broke up with you, El reminded herself.

You let him, a voice that sounded a lot like Joyce's added.

"El, I didn't know. . ."

It was the first time Mike had spoken to her directly since January. It was enough to make her turn around and listen to him. "You didn't know what?"

"M-erm, somebody told me that Kelley needed tutoring. So, I went. . . I didn't know until I got there it was a date."

"I overreacted," El lied. "I know we're supposed to be seeing what we missed out on by being together for so long."

It's stupid, tell him it's stupid!

"Yeah. . ." Mike trailed off and scrubbed his face with both his hands.

"Did you like her?" El didn't realize how much the question sounded like a trap until the words had left her mouth.

"Did I like her? I don't know. I talked almost the whole time. I'm pretty sure she started to tune me out by the time it was over."

"Doesn't sound like anything new to me." El broke out into a smile despite her best efforts to keep a straight face.

Mike shook his head, the mood considerably lightened. "I really hope you believe me, El. . . if I had known, I wouldn't have gone."

"Don't worry about it," El said as she turned around to continue looking for coffee.

"I just made a pot of coffee," Mike told her. "You could have some if you'd like. There's more than enough for two people."

El smiled gratefully and nodded. "That would be nice, thank you."

Mike pushed his bowl of soggy cereal away and jumped up from the table to prepare it for her. He grabbed her favorite mug from the cabinet and poured some of the dark brew into it, making sure he added a liberal amount of cream and sugar just the way she liked it. Because she was really more of a fan of soda, but she could drink more coffee without the guilt of Coke.

He wanted to make up for the night before and serving her felt like the only way he could do it. "Do you want some breakfast?" he asked.

"That's okay. I'm not that hungry," El replied her stomach grumbling despite her words.

"You should eat something. . . I think we have one more cinnamon bagel left, you better get it before Max does."

El grinned sheepishly. "Fine. But don't think for a second that I don't know what you're doing. You always take extra good care of me after you've done something wrong. Whether it was imagined or for real." she bit her bottom lip. "I can 100 percent assure you, you really didn't do anything wrong. I knew it would happen eventually."

Mike contemplated telling her that he didn't even think about dating other people. He'd only done it for her, to give her the opportunity to see what she was missing out on by being with him. He couldn't imagine how she would react to him saying that though.

He knew her well enough to know she'd probably get angry at him. She hated it when people made decisions for her, a lasting effect of Max's influence on her. Maybe in retrospect, he had done the wrong thing by breaking up with her. But there was no way he could take it back now, no matter how much he wanted to. He didn't know how to.

Not without looking like a complete idiot or without her rejecting him.

It would serve him right for being the world's biggest idiot.

But maybe. . .

He looked up at her, butter knife posed over the block of cream cheese. "Hey, El. . ."

"Yeah, Mike?"

"Do you think we could start over again. . . as friends?"

"Yeah, I'd like that," she replied, nodding slightly. "I'd like that a lot."

.

"Max," Lucas groaned. "I can't believe you've roped more people into trying to help Mike and El get back together."

Will sighed. "Yeah, I think we just need to let things happen naturally from now on. Your plan didn't work last night, I can't imagine that you're going to come up with anything better than sending them out on blind dates."

"Aren't you willing to give it a try? El and Mike's happiness is at stake."

Dustin shook his head. "I'm with Will on this one. Maybe we should leave it alone now. I can't imagine how Mike would react if El went out with somebody."

Max rolled her eyes. "First of all, he'd probably tell himself it was what he deserved since he went out on a date. Second of all, since all that resulted in it was El listening to sad music all night, we need to come up with another idea. Kelley says she has some good ideas on how to do it. Come on guys, let's just make one more ditch effort to get them back together. If it doesn't work this time, we'll give up."

There were times Lucas just had to give into Max, he wasn't a horrible boyfriend, after all, so he sighed, caving quickly. "Fine! But if it doesn't work this time then you are giving up. One more chance, Max. You better use it well."

TBC. . .

.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the late update! We lost power last night, so I didn't get the chance to finish this. A quick note before leave, since I conceived this story, I played around with the idea of Mike and El secretly becoming a couple again while the rest of the Party tried to get them back together. The more I thought about it, I decided that I'd have them sneak around and just be friends again. I hope you're still with me. After all, I did say this was the Dummies guide to getting your best friends back together.

Hope you'll leave a review!

Until Next Time!

Love,
Holly