Mike was nervous. Very, very nervous. So nervous that he was, in fact, pacing. All his friends had hyped him up for this moment, yet all he could think about was the worse case scenarios. What if she says no?
But she did kiss him the other night. Well, she didn't stop him from kissing her. But what if she hated it? What if Mike had just made things awkward. Mike had no experience with girls, ever. All the girls he has ever been around have been set up by Steve.
Sure, he could perform in front of a couple thousand people, but girls? No way. However, even with his doubt, just the thought of El made Mike smile ecstatically.
"Mike?"
Mike turned around. "Oh- Eleven, you're here."
She smiled at her. "Yes I am. Three-one-five."
"Wow," Mike checked his watch and laughed awkwardly. "It is exactly 3:15, isn't it?"
"What can I say, I'm a stickler for timing. Hey," She walked over to him. "Is everything okay?"
Mike waved it off. "Yeah, Yeah. Everything's great."
"Well then," She smiled and beckoned him over to where she was standing. "I want to show you what Max and I just figured out I can do."
He walked over and she told him to sit down, and then she backed away. Her nose started bleeding, and Mike was confused as to what she was doing. "El? Wha—"
Mike realized he couldn't feel the ground anymore. He looked down. "Holy- El?" Mike laughed, and he saw El break into a smile.
She lowered him onto the ground before her knees gave out, and then she too was on the ground. Mike rushed over to her. "Are you okay?"
She rubbed her forehead. "Fine, just a little dizzy. It takes a lot of energy."
Mike laid down next to her. "That was super cool."
She laughed. "Yeah, Max thought so too." They spent the afternoon talking and laughing, just as they should.
Mikes phone dinged. It was Will telling him that they were all at the arcade, and to head over soon. "When do you wanna head to the arcade? Everyone's there already. And it's going to get dark soon."
El got up. "Let's start walking there now? Just let me take care of this," She motioned to her nose. They ribaaly should've cleaned it up earlier, but they had quickly fallen into conversation. It seemed that whenever these two were together, they never ran out of things to talk about. She walked down to the quarry and washed it away.
C'mon Mike, ask her! Preferably before the arcade!
The two started walking to the arcade. El was going on about her and Max and what they did today. Mike tried to listen, but he was caught up in his own thoughts. All he had to do was start the question, and then technically he had to finish it, right? He couldn't just start something and then leave her hanging.
God, Mike had never felt this way before. It was seriously messing him up... but in a good way. How could one girl have the ability to change him so much?
Mike stopped walking. "Hey El?" This was it.
"Yeah?" El turned to him. "Something wrong?"
"No, the opposite. Well yes. No. Nothings wrong." This was starting out terribly. "Damn, I'm terrible at this."
El laughed. "I'm not so sure what you mean?"
"What I'm trying to say is," Mike tugged on one of his curls. "I really like you? Not a question. I do. Really like you. Um.. Well I mean we kissed, damn. I'm sorry." He covered his face.
El giggled. She grabbed his hands. "It's okay Mike, you're doing great."
He swung their clasped hands. "Do you want to be my girlfriend?"
"Mike, I would love to be your girlfriend," She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him. It felt like it was the Fourth of a July because of all the fireworks he was experiencing.
She came away blushing. Mike was shocked, and extremely happy, that she actually said yes. "Really?" He whispered.
"Yes Mike," El laughed. "I just don't know how I'm going to tell my dad."
"He knows." Mike deadpanned.
"What?"
"I mean, I asked him for permission to ask you to be my girlfriend." Mike rubbed his head awkwardly. "I just, I know how much you two have been through. And I didn't want to get in the way of your relationship, because I know how close you are."
El smiled a dazzling smile. "That's really sweet of you."
"Well, what can I say," Mike said smugly, "I'm a pretty sweet guy."
"Shut up," El laughed and playfully shoved him.
"Now now, that's no way to treat your new boyfriend." Mike chuckled, and reached down to hold her hand as they started walking again. He didn't mess it up!
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El was unbelievably happy. Her and Mike walked the whole way to the arcade, talking and laughing, but importantly: holding hands!
A body guard escorted them to the back room where they would be hanging out with everyone else. Max stood up as they walked in, and immediately noticed the couple holding hands.
She shrieked, "Ah! El! He didn't chicken out?"
Mike was flabbergasted. "Me? Chicken out? No way!" Everyone laughed hard at that.
They had fun the rest of the night... well.. Max and El did. The boys were a bit upset at the fact that MadMax destroyed them at the game Dragon's Lair.
Will walked over to where El was sitting. "You good?"
"Yeah," El was focusing on a board game hung up on the wall. "Have you ever done an Ouija Board?" (Pronounced wii-jii for anyone who doesn't know)
Will grimaced. "No, but they sound pretty freaking scary."
"I think we should take it home." El was infatuated with the idea of talking to spirits.
"Really?"
"Yes. Besides," She laughed, "It's probably bogus. I doubt anything will actually happen. But if we do what to scare the others.. I could do some stuff."
Will smirked. "You're probably right." He raised his voice. "Guys! El and I have an idea!"
They all turned to Will and El. El flicked her fingers, and the box flew over to her. A couple days after she told Mike, she had given Mike the okay to tell the rest of the guys. That way they know how important it is for El and Mike's relationship to stay secret.
"Let's take the Ouija Board home and do it!" She smiled.
"Aw hell nah," Dustin paled. "My granny did one of those things a while back, and she hasn't been the same since."
"Cmon, Dustin," Max poked his arm. "It'll be fun! They aren't even real anyways, so there's no harm in trying."
Lucas put his arm around Max's shoulders. "I'm in. But can we stop somewhere for dinner?"
"Foooooooodd," Dustin moaned and stuck his arms out like a zombie.
Mike piped up, "There's a little diner on the way home, Bobby can probably drive us."
Max turned to him. "Bobby?"
"One of the body guards."
Max nodded in understanding.
"Okay, but how do we know Keith will let us take the Ouija Board home with us?" Lucas asked.
El and Max smirked at each other. El said, "We got this. You can just head to the car, we'll be right behind you!"
Mike looked back and forth between the the two girls. "If you say so.." The boys walked to the car, only stopped once by some girls who recognized them.
Max and El hurried up to Keith. "Oh my god, Keith!" Max gasped.
"This box," El shook it, "It was making sounds—"
Max interrupted, "Terrifying sounds!"
"Yes, very scary." El nodded solemnly. "It's very haunted."
"And you definitely don't want a haunted board in your arcade!"
El shook it harder. "Bad for business. So we're just going to borrow it—"
Max waved her arms around. "So we can de-ghost-ify it! We're the Hawkins Ghost Busters." She pulled out a twenty dollar bill and handed it to him.
A look of confusion passed across Keith's face, but he took the money.
El made the box start to float and shake uncontrollably. Keith screamed and ran behind the counter.
"We'll bring it back when it's de-ghost-ified! Thanks!" El waved at him, and then the girls ran out of the arcade giggling.
El slid into the car right next to Mike, and he put his arm around her. "What happened in there?"
El and Max looked at each other and laughed even harder.
"Hey, can someone turn on the radio?" Will asked.
Someone turned it in. Coincidentally, the song that was on was one the boy's.
"Oh nooooo," Mike covered his face in embarrassment. The others, however, did the exact opposite. They sang it at the top of their lungs, only fueling the girls laughter.
El paused and turned to Mike. "Is this you singing?"
Mike groaned, "Maybe.."
"You have a nice voice," (think Daniel Seavey mixed with Finn's voice now) El smiled and leaned into him. Mike mumbled a quiet thank you into El's shoulder.
Dustin turned around to look at her. "You wanna hear a nice voice? Well get a load of this," The next voice on the radio was Dustin's. He had a perfect run, and he sang it along with the song for El. Everyone laughed, but he was right, he did have a good voice.
As the rest of the group was jamming out, Mike leaned in towards El again. He whispered, "Do you think the board is real?"
El took a pause before whispering back, "I don't know. I've done it once before, with Max, and it was weird. It gave me the chills. I believe in spirits, sure, but I don't know about the board."
"Do you promise not to use your powers on anything?"
"Yeah, I promise." She sighed, "I doubt anything will happen though."
"You're probably right." Mike said.
El looked at him when he turned to look out she window. She couldn't tell if he knew she was staring, but honestly, she didn't care if he did. This was her boyfriend. The word sent joy flowing through her. She remembered the way that the magazine had described Mike. 'Freckles to die for.' I mean... they weren't wrong.
El was watching Mike as he joined back into the conversation. He laughed at something Lucas had said, and she watched him smile. The car passed under a streetlight, and for a moment the light hit Mike just right, and damn, she noticed how Mike had such an unfairly gorgeous face. His cheekbones were defined, his jawline was so damn sharp. How could she manage to get Mike?
But she wasn't just admiring his looks. She saw how the corners of his eyes crinkled up when he laughed, and he had the most adorable dimples and oh— she had definitely been staring far too long now, Mike was smiling at her.
She zoned back into the conversation, it was something about Dungeons and Dragons? The car had pulled up to the diner now, and the group rushed inside. Surprisingly, it was empty. It was close to sliding time, but the chef was more than happy to feed the hungry kids. El looked around at her friend group. She realized how lucky she was, not just to have Mike, but to have all of them! Not because they were famous, El couldn't care less. She would love these people just the same if they were some random boys, and Max, that she had picked up of the street.
Mike leaned down and kissed El in the red booth. The night has started out perfect at this diner.
If only it would stay that way.