If anyone wonders, I had most of this one written already before I had posted the first chapter of this story. I just changed a few things to make it congruent with the plot that developed. Don't get used to it ^^

El Henderson: Thanks, someone who got it :D

FanGirl70349: Actually, I'm a dude ;)

Enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters and I write for my own pleasure and that of the readers.


"Guys, I got some bad news." Mike said into the speaker, getting his friends' attention in their group video call.

"What's wrong, Mike?" Lucas asked, his face concerned.

"I'm heading back to California." Mike sighed.

"What?" Dustin looked shocked. "Why?"

"Why? Because my dad pisses me off and I can't take it anymore." Mike almost shouted. "He managed to behave for a few hours and at our first dinner, he starts rambling about how I waste my life with what I'm studying and that I have to study what he wants me to study. And I simply don't want to be some business manager."

"And you really need to leave because of that?" Will asked.

"I can't stay here." Mike nodded. "I mean, I love my m om and my sister to death but my dad... I can't stand it one more minute to be in his presence. He even told me that if I don't switch my major to what he wants, he'll stop paying for my tuition from my college fund."

"And what did you say?" Lucas wanted to know.

"I told him that I don't need his fucking money." Mike closed his eyes to take a calming breath. "I essentially told them today that I released a book and made enough money to stay at Stanford for the rest of my life, if I wanted to. That may not be quite true, but at least it shut him up."

"So, when are you leaving?" Dustin asked, feeling sympathy for his friend.

"I'm sitting in my car right now." Mike told them. "I'm going to drive through the night and the next day, spend the night at a motel if I feel too tired to go on and then go the rest of the way."

"Be safe, Mike." Dustin sighed, feeling for his friend.

"We'll see you in a month then." Will added. "Say hello to El for us."

"And declare your love while you're at it." Lucas winked.

"Will you leave that alone?" Mike huffed. "I don't..."

"Come on, don't try to tell us you don't love her." Will interrupted, getting fed up. "I have seen you two interact, you're flirty, she's flirty, you make gooey eyes at each other and she clearly likes you more than she would just a friend."

"How do you know?" Mike asked quietly.

"Wow!" Will laughed. "Mike, for someone studying criminal psychology, you have a bad grasp of recognizing body language."

"What do you mean?"

"When we were playing poker, and you guys sat side by side, her body often leaned toward yours and she wasn't trying to see your cards." Will explained.

"And you kept giving her squeezes." Lucas added, having seen it too before they left.

"I'll think about it." Mike sighed. "Listen, I have to get going, so thanks for the advice and you guys have fun with your families."

"Thanks, Mike." Dustin said. "Please text us when you reach a motel or California, so we know you're safe."

"Will do." Mike nodded and ended the call.

He gave his childhood home one last look, seeing Holly standing in the window and looking out. He waved at her and got out of the car, enveloping her in a hug after she had run out of the car, telling her that everything would be fine and that he would talk to her later. He refrained from revealing the college fund he had set up for her to avoid her accidentally telling their dad and after a few more tears, he said goodbye and got back into his car.

He drank the single can of energy drink he got and started driving, making good time. Since it was already evening, the roads were mostly empty, especially in this part of Indiana and he managed to drive until noon the next day, having his radio blast loud music to keep himself awake and he stopped at a truck stop to get a bite to eat and take a nap for a few hours.

He got back on the road at four, driving again for another ten hours before he stopped at a motel to sleep in a real bed. It was a small motel but the room was clean and didn't have the smell of years of accumulated flatulence and sweat. He got up at six in the morning to make it the rest of the way to California in the day and, after taking a single lunch break and his stops to get gas, he managed to reach his destination just as the sky darkened.


El was suffering. Not just from boredom but also from the lack of cool air in her house. During the day, it became so hot that she was barely able to sit on her living room couch and walking Bella was a chore unless she went in the early morning. The middle of the day and even the evening was so hot, it felt as the soles of her shoes were sticking to the asphalt.

She had been alone before but she hadn't felt this bored, and that was before having a dog to keep her company. As she unglued herself from couch, her sweat making her cling to it, she wondered briefly why that was but she knew the reason of course. It was Mike. That damn Mike. The guy who had somehow wormed his way into her heart but who she was too afraid to tell because she was scared of being rejected.

She had even taken to walking around in her underwear, with as much skin open to air as possible. She even eschewed a bra, rather wearing a loose undershirt, which she tied under her breasts to have her stomach open. A slip that rode up her ass so it became almost a thong rounded out her home outfit, though it became a hassle if someone knocked on her door since it took her a minute to throw on some clothes.

During the first night without an AC, she had gone into Mike's bedroom, opting to sleep in his bed because thanks to the window positions and his ceiling fan, his room was the coolest in the house, almost ten degrees lower than the others. It was still warm but the airflow from the fan helped with that too. And his scent on the pillows calmed her even further, allowing her to fall asleep quickly until Bella woke her up in the morning.

Now it was four days after the AC had broken and she was feeling blue. She was still extremely bored, the only good time she had was during Real Housewives, which she still giggled over, although she knew that it was fake but it hadn't bothered her until Mike had mentioned it. Now she only saw the performance aspect of what these women did, especially when they argued and threw things and not the interpersonal drama they were acting out. As she was sitting in her room, about to change her sweaty shirt, she heard a voice she didn't think she would hear for another three weeks.

"I'm home!" Mike shouted and let his bags fall to the floor, hearing nothing. "Anyone here?"

"Mike?" El's voice came from her room.

"Yeah, it's me." Mike wiped his brow. "Jesus, it's hotter in here than it's outside."

"The AC is busted!" El shouted from her room. "Repairman should be coming by tomorrow!"

"Why can't that thing break in winter time." Mike groaned and was about to pick up his things again when El came out of her room.

His chin hit the floor when he saw her. She was wearing nothing but a slip and an undershirt that was like a very loose tank top. He noticed that she clearly wasn't wearing a bra, not just because there were no shoulder straps of one but also because the shirt was sweaty and it had become partially transparent and her nipples and areola stood out starkly against the light color of the fabric. She quickly closed in on and crashed against him, wrapping her arms around him and he trouble not to move his palms down to cup her ass when he hugged her back.

"I really missed you." she sighed and stepped back again. "Was really boring being alone, even with Bella around."

"Well, I'm back again." he smiled warmly down at her, El only grinning back.

"I'm gonna get me some ice." she said and turned around.

When she walked into the kitchen, he had to bite his fist to avoid himself from groaning. Her slip had ridden up on her butt, turning it almost into a thong and to his eyes, she had the most perfect ass of any girl he had ever seen, which included models and porn actresses. He had thought from the beginning that El was a beautiful woman but now, he knew that she was downright gorgeous, the most sexy thing in the world. He still couldn't believe that a girl like was single, she could have any guy she wanted.

"What's wrong?" El asked as she returned from the kitchen, sucking on a Popsicle.

"Uh, nothing." Mike snapped out of his dream state and picked up his stuff again. "I'm just bringing this into my room."

"Why are you back already anyway?" she wanted to know, though feeling more than happy that he was back as she followed him and he couldn't decide if she was doing this on purpose or was truly unaware what she was doing to him by wearing only this underwear.

"I couldn't stay with my dad a day longer." he sighed and let his bags fall next to his desk before sitting down on his bed and flopping backwards.

"Why?" she asked and stretched upwards to pull the chain to start the ceiling fan, giving him a good look at her toned stomach and even the underside of her breasts that became visible when the shirt was lifted. "Problems at home?"

"I don't know if I can call them problems." he put his forearm over his eyes. "I love my parents and my sister but... I don't know. My dad..."

"What about him?" she sat down on the bed next to him.

"Well, my dad is my dad and he has always just been my dad." he shrugged, trying to find the correct words to describe him. "But he was never really my father. I don't know if I explain that well enough."

"Are you saying he isn't your birth father?" she wondered.

"No, I'm his son." he clarified. "But my dad never showed the love you would expect a father to show his children. No pats on the back, no words of encouragement when you do bad in school, only demands of excellence that put pressure on you."

"Was it really that bad?"

"Imagine coming home with an A minus on a test and instead of congratulations, you get 'Why didn't you get an A?'. Never an 'It's okay, son.' or something like that. And these days, he's up my ass due to my choice of major and minor."

"Why?"

"He wants me to follow in his footsteps and become a business manager at a big firm because it pays well." he explained. "I want to help people in a different way, hence my major."

"Don't let him get into your head." she rubbed his arm.

"I'm just afraid that I'll turn out like him someday, you know?" he worried. "Having a beautiful wife, beautiful kids but never showing them the love and support they deserve. They think I don't know but I can see that my mother is unhappy in their marriage due to his apparent indifference. Even my sister has noticed and she's just thirteen. Have you any idea how it feels when your thirteen year old sister says to you that, quote, 'mommy and daddy will get divorced once I'm moving out'?"

"Mike, if there's one thing I've learned about you in the last few weeks, you're not anywhere close to what you describe your father to be." El smiled at him and he turned his head to the side, his nose hitting his pillow.

"Why does my pillow smell like your shampoo?" he wondered, taking a deeper whiff.

"Yeah... I slept here the last few nights." she admitted. "Your room is simply the coolest in the house. Don't worry, I'll wash the pillowcase when I do laundry the next time."

"Actually, it smells really nice." he smiled at her. "You should sleep in here every night."

"I..." she gasped, wondering how he meant his comment and her eyes locked with his.

El felt herself fall into those dark orbs. They stood out in contrast to his fair skin and his freckles, giving him an aura of vulnerability and sensitivity that stood in contrast to the athletic body she knew and the brilliant mind she had already glimpsed. Here was a man she would be willing to give her virginity to but despite the looks he gave her sometimes, she felt unsure of what he felt regarding her.

When Bella finally barked her approval at his return, demanding to be petted, her gaze snapped away from him and she quickly got up from his bed. He sat up too, kneeling down to to run his hands over Bella's head and unzip one of his bags and she was keenly aware that his head was on a level with her crotch and she became somewhat embarrassed at the realization that she was only in her underwear.

She left the room and took a deep breath, running into the bathroom to get some cold water on her face. It was still scorching hot in the house so she decided to not put on a pair of pants, given that he had already seen her like that. Twenty minutes later, he had unpacked his luggage completely and joined her in the living room, copying her decision and only wearing his shorts and nothing else to bear the heat. He even put one of his extra large towels on the couch before sitting down to avoid his sweat going onto the leather.

"You know what you need right now?" she asked and got up, placing a towel on the couch too to copy what he did.

"What?" he asked as she ran into the kitchen.

"This." she giggled and showed him the bottle of vodka and the cranberry juice, carrying two glasses in her other hand.

"Yeah, I think I could do with some." he agreed and took the glasses from her, letting her fill them.

"Cheers." she smiled and clinked her glass with his.


Several hours later, when the sky outside was dark already, the two were sitting and laughing on the couch, the empty vodka bottle between them and both sometimes drinking more cranberry juice, though both had trouble actually getting it to their mouths before some spilled. If El had sat beside herself, she would have gasped and groaned at the things her inebriated mind was telling him and a sober Mike would probably thought the same about his drunk self.

"And then Max said, 'you know what we should do? We should wax our pussies'." El laughed, more or less stinking drunk and recounting another milestone in her teen years.

"How old were you?" Mike laughed too, not quite as drunk as her because of his larger mass but also quite inebriated.

"Not even sixteen yet." El hummed.

"Did it hurt?" he wanted to know.

"Fuck yes!" El yelled and laughed again. "I thought waxing my legs was painful but when Max ripped the waxing tape off down there, I really found out what pain is."

"I never thought about waxing and I don't think I ever will." he grinned. "I only use shaving cream and a razor."

"On your legs?"

"No, my legs have hair, it helps against the cold during winter." he chuckled. "I do shave my balls and chest though."

"Jeez, how do you shave your balls?" she gasped.

"Very, very carefully." he laughed again. "You still shave your pussy?"

"Yeah." she nodded. "After I waxed it, there were several reasons I couldn't stop."

"Which were?" he was very curious now.

"The most important one, it itches like hell when it's growing back!" she grumbled. "When it happened the first time, I sat in school and had to scratch my crotch during classes."

"Did someone see you?" he laughed again.

"Only Max sometimes and she understood." El laughed with him.

"What are the other reasons?" he asked.

"For one, I think it's more hygienic." she shrugged. "No pee sticking in it or other fluids, like when I have my period."

"Ew!" he made a face, even his drunken mind finding that gross to hear.

"And the last reason is of course that I like the way it looks." she smiled and looked down before lifting one leg on the couch and turning to him to essentially spread her legs before him. "I mean look down here."

"Beautiful." his eyes glazed over when he looked between her legs, her slip still covering it.

"You see this?" she asked as she rubbed her hand over it. "No bulge. Have you seen some of the pictures in catalogs when models are in there for underwear?"

"Yes." he nodded, having seen those on numerous occasions, even when rifling through the discount ads for stores that also sold clothing.

"Let me show you an example." she said and bent over the side of the couch, involuntarily lifting her ass and giving him a good look.

"Jesus Christ!" he hissed, feeling a sense of longing to touch and kiss it and maybe do even more than that.

"Look." she showed him one page. "That bulge down there, it looks like the underwear is pressing a bush together."

"It could be her pussy lips, couldn't they?" he suggested, the very small sober part of his inebriated brain gaping at the way he talked.

"No, this bulge is way too high for that, this is hair." she said and grabbed his hand, pressing it on her covered vagina. "Feel this."

"Oh god!" he gasped, not believing what was happening.

"Feel that?" she grinned and held his hand to keep it where it was. "No bulge, nothing. Smooth."

"I like shaved pussies." he admitted, the small sober part screaming at him for revealing that to essentially his landlady.

"Why? Lots of experience?" she asked and even though he tried not to answer, the alcohol made him.

"Kind of." he shrugged. "But even though when it happened it was more than weird, it felt good when my mouth was on it."

"Ooooh, do tell." she giggled and sat on her knees, facing him directly. "Did you have lots of sexual partners?"

"Actually, I had three." he admitted. "In one night."

"What the...?" she gasped. "You dog, you. I didn't even have sex at all yet."

"It wasn't like that." he argued, his whole body feeling heated when he heard again that she was still a virgin. "It was the just before the Christmas after my eighteenth birthday and my older sister Nancy was home. My parents and my younger sister were at my aunt's and so my sister had a party with her friends. They drank way too much and began playing truth or dare."

"How old were they?" she giggled.

"At that point? They were twenty-three." he sighed. "Anyway, during their game, the dares, as was to be expected, went to 'kiss Mike for x amount of seconds' and that evening, every single woman in the house except my sister kissed me. Then, it was around one in the morning, I was in my bed and their noise kept me from sleeping and suddenly all of my sister's friends came in and I could see them stumbling from being drunk."

"What did they do?" she asked, enraptured by his tale.

"They kept giggling the entire time, and one of them pulled the covers off, while another took her clothes off. Long story short, I lost my virginity that night." he chuckled sadly and his thumb began moving on its own over her covered core.

"Wait, isn't that rape?" she gasped, though less from shock but more from the feeling she got from his thumb moving over the fabric of her slip where his hand was still on.

"You could say that." he nodded. "On the other hand, I didn't say no because at first I was too surprised that she was taking off her clothes and once she rode me, I was still surprised but was also kind of enjoying it. Though that was the strangest thing I ever experienced. While that girl, I think her name was Heather, rode my dick, the other girls watched and cheered her on. I felt like a French prince before the revolution."

"How so?" she wanted to know, never heard of that.

"Back then, when a French prince got married, and remember, they often were still like fifteen or sixteen at the time, the nobles at the court accompanied the newlywed couple into the bedroom and applauded as they lay in bed." Mike explained, his voice slurry. "Though I don't know if they stayed there as the newlywed couple had their first night."

"That would feel really weird." El chuckled. "But you said three girls in the same night?"

"Yeah, it was about an hour or so later when two of the others came in and double-teamed me." he chuckled. "Again, I didn't say no. Couldn't really. When they began undressing, my dick snapped to attention and any thought of running fled my mind. And I kinda thought, having a threesome was something I could brag about later."

"And how did that lead to you loving shaved pussies?" El wanted to know, still desperate to hear more.

"What do you think happens when a guy has a threesome with two women and both want pleasure at the same time?" he chuckled. "One can ride him but the other is pretty limited in her options."

"So she made you lick her?" El looked at him wide-eyed.

"Yep." he nodded. "And she was shaved. But when they switched places, the other one wasn't and afterwards, I had to pick a few pubic hairs from my tongue and teeth."

"Ew!" El shuddered. "That sounds... disgusting."

"It was, hence me liking shaved pussies now." he laughed, the tiny sober part of him still amazed that he was telling her this.

"Why didn't your sister stop them?" El asked.

"Probably because she was too busy being passed out on the couch." he told her. "After graduation, I left for California and never really found a girl I wanted to spend a lot of time with outside of school."

"Never found some that were your type?" she inquired, feeling warm and safe with him and not just from the alcohol, and also becoming aware that she was still holding his hand against her slip.

"I don't think I have a type." he said. "I want to find a woman who I can feel comfortable around. One who challenges me. My perfect woman would be one I would love to have around me at all times and not because being with her would make me look cool to others. I don't care about hair color or a minimum cup size or other shit like that. There's a guy in my class who only dates girls with D cups or bigger."

"Yours is a rare attitude. About you, I mean, not the D cup guy." El nodded. "I feel the same way."

"You like girls with D cups?" he looked amused.

"No, I wanna find a guy who does the same to me that you described." she laughed.

"Can you answer me one question, though?" he looked at her, his eyes still transfixing her, even with all the booze in her system.

"Sure." she agreed, swallowing hard.

"Why are you still a virgin?" he asked. "I mean, you are one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen and you could have any guy."

"As I said, I feel the same way you do when it comes to partners." she shrugged. "I don't want a boyfriend who makes me look cooler to others, I want one that makes me feel safe and comfortable. One that I would like to keep. I'm more of a one and done kind of girl. I wanna meet a guy, fall in love and stay with him for the rest of my life. Someone like you."

"That's nice." he hummed, his head flopping back on the headrest of the couch, her last three words getting lost in the haze of his drunkenness.

"Do you really think I'm beautiful?" she asked, her voice becoming almost a whisper.

"When I first saw you, I thought you were the most beautiful girl I've seen in my life." he nodded. "Just from the fact that you barely wear any makeup, you have such a natural beauty. And today, when I saw you coming out of your room wearing that, I upped my assessment to downright gorgeous and impossibly sexy."

"Mike?" she breathed, simply wanting his lips on hers now but suddenly her eyelids felt extremely heavy. "Can you...?"

"Can I what?" he turned his head to her and saw that she had fallen asleep.

Finally taking his hand away from her crotch, he smiled down at her and got up, swaying a bit thanks to the alcohol he had consumed. He went into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of juice, knowing from his sister that drinking lots of non-alcoholic, non-carbonated fluids before going to bed after consuming lots of alcohol helped with averting a hangover in the morning.

He uncapped the bottle, downing it in six large gulps and then took a second one, drinking only a sip and taking the rest to his room for later. Then he went into the bathroom to put cold water on his face and head to get his bearings and once he had dried his face, he took a bucket and filled it with a palm-width of water, so it wouldn't smell too much in case she had to vomit during the night.

After bringing the bucket, a few bottles of water, a box of hardtack and a few pain medications into her room, he came back into the living room, finding her still asleep. He smiled at this angel in human form and put his arms under her neck and knees, gently lifting her up and carrying her into her bedroom. He made sure that he didn't hit her head on anything and once he was inside, he just as gently put her into her bed, putting the thin covers over her body.

"Night El." he whispered, giving her a kiss on her forehead and leaving the light on its lowest setting so she could see the bucket if she woke up. "Sweet dreams."

Unfortunately for El, her dreams weren't sweet in the traditional sense. She kept dreaming of herself being in a room she didn't know, watching Mike in a bed and a plethora of women entering the room to have sex with him. Some of those women smirked at her and El kept shouting at them to leave him alone, not because what they did was wrong but because she felt furious at them for taking what she considered hers.

Then her eyes opened, sweat on her forehead and she wondered briefly how she got into her room when it began spinning. She was about to jump out of bed to run to the bathroom but in the low light of her lamp, she saw a bucket next to her bed and she held her head over it to vomit the contents of her stomach into it.

After several more dry heaves, she lifted her head and sat the bottles on her nightstand. Not bothering to wonder where they came from, she opened one and rinsed her mouth, spitting into the bucket and then drinking some of it. She collapsed back onto the bed and fell asleep after a few minutes, this time not dreaming anything.


"Oh god!" El groaned when she opened her eyes.

Her head was pounding, the headache from her hangover all-encompassing and blurring her vision. She noticed the bucket next to her bed, the image of her vomit mixed with water making her heave again, expelling a small amount of liquid into it. She laid back and tried to get the pounding of her head under control while knowing that it was impossible.

She turned her sweaty head to the side, noticing that her shades were drawn, keeping out the morning light. She thanked whoever did this and when she saw the bottles of water, hardtack and the two different pain medications on her night stand, she vowed that whoever did this now has earned the right to take her virginity. She lifted her upper body and noticed a piece of paper next to the bottles.

Good morning beautiful. You fell asleep last night and I brought you to your room. Hope the bucket wasn't misplaced. Got some advil and, if your headache is too bad even for that, some stronger pain meds next to them. Only take one of those pills though. - Mike

She smiled at his consideration and his term of endearment, quickly taking one of the stronger pills and popping it into her mouth, washing it down with a swig of water. She groaned and pulled the covers over her head, feeling her stomach roil but she knew enough that she had to eat something. Ripping open the box of hardtack, she munched on a few, swallowing them down and lying back again, taking a few deep breaths and feeling the headache recede into the background.

As soon as she felt herself able to move, she quickly got up and hurried to the bathroom, finding the house quiet. After doing her business, she washed her face with cold water, feeling a bit better but vowing never to drink again. She could barely remember the night before, she knew that she and Mike had talked while being in their underwear but at some point, her mind drew a blank.

"Good morning." a tired voice startled her when she came out of the bathroom.

"Hey." she greeted Mike, who was looking better than she felt but he was clearly a bit under the weather too as he came into the house with Bella on her leash.

"How are you feeling?" he asked as he let the dog go.

"Like shit." she admitted. "How much did we drink last night?"

"We killed at least a bottle of vodka." he shrugged, pointing to the empty glass container on the floor.

"And you let me fill my petite body with half a bottle of vodka?" she accused him, but smiling to show him that she wasn't actually blaming him.

"And lots of cranberry juice." he nodded to the other bottles. "Did the pain meds help?"

"Yes, thank you!" she nodded vigorously, regretting that immediately. "But still not completely pain free."

"Give it time." he chuckled and checked his phone. "So, breakfast?"

"I don't think I can eat right now." she groaned, sitting down on the couch.

"I'll make something that will help you." he winked at her and walked towards the kitchen. "You should take a shower."

"Are you saying that I smell?" she gasped.

"El, you stink." he chuckled and walked through the door.

"I resent that." she grinned, enjoying the banter but agreeing that he had a point when she smelled her shirt. "Jesus!"

"Told you." came from the kitchen.

"Shut up." she laughed and went into her room to grab some clean clothes.

With a new pair of underwear and some shorts and a tank top in hand, she walked into the bathroom again and stepped into the shower stall. Using a generous amount of soap, she cleaned the grit and sweat from the day before and the night off of her body and washed her hair for good measure. After drying herself off, she put on the new clothes and wrapped a second towel around her head before heading out into the living room again.

"There you are, feeling better?" Mike smiled at her, holding two plates and noticing again that she didn't wear a bra.

"Refreshed certainly, better, not so much." she mumbled and sat down at the dinner table, watching as he put the two plates down and returning to the kitchen to return with a glass containing a clear liquid, a pot of juice and two empty glasses.

"So, what do I get and why?" she asked, looking at her plate.

"Eggs, bananas and watermelon." he replied and held out the glass with the clear liquid. "But first, drink this, down it all at once."

"Okay." she nodded and threw it back, gagging from the sour taste. "Jesus, what the fuck was that?"

"Brine." he chuckled. "From a pickle jar. Sieved of course."

"Why would you make me drink that?" she shuddered.

"Because it boosts your sodium levels." he explained. "Bananas are rich in potassium, eggs contain cystine that your body needs to produce glutathione, which helps break down the toxic byproducts of metabolized alcohol and watermelons simply because they're rich in water. Everything you need to fight off the worst effects of a hangover."

"Aren't you a walking biology book." she grinned as dug into the scrambled eggs.

"Hey, you asked why." he chuckled again as the doorbell rang.

"Can you get that?" she asked him as she put the first forkful of eggs into her mouth.

"Sure." he nodded and opened the door, finding an older man with an overall standing outside. "Can I help you?"

"Good morning, I'm Harry, I'm here for the air condition." the man introduced himself.

"Yes!" El shouted and ran to the door. "Come in."

"Okay, where is it?" Harry asked, smiling at El's appearance, looking at the windows.

"It's down in the basement, it's centralized." El explained and pointed to the basement door.

"Thanks, mam." Harry nodded and quickly walked down the stairs.

"Why did he look at me that way?" she asked him.

"Touch your head." he chuckled.

"Shit!" El laughed, pulling the towel from her head.

"Is it wrong for me to say that I had hoped he would have come a few days later?" Mike looked innocently at her.

"What?" she gaped at him. "Why? Why would you want this heat in the house?"

"Because seeing you walk around in your underwear was quite a treat for my eyes." he whispered into her ear before walking into his room, leaving her breathing heavily.

"Right back at you." she whispered to herself when he had already left, thinking about him walking around in his shorts.

It took almost two hours and extensive cursing from Harry before the AC began rumbling into function again. El sank into the couch cushions, feeling the room cool down as the air began to flow through the vents. Since every other room except Mike's was empty and their vents closed, most of the cool air flowed into the living room, quickly lowering the ambient temperature from the ninety degrees it was down to the seventy-two it was supposed to be.

"Thank you so much." she smiled at Harry when he emerged from the basement.

"Just doing my job." Harry nodded and handed her two documents to sign, one for the acknowledgment that he has done his job and the other with the bill.

El signed both and got her purse, taking out the money she needed to pay the man. After the deed was done, she let him out and closed the door before skipping to the couch, jumping on it just to enjoy the cool air again.

"I see he finished the repairs." Mike chuckled when he saw El sprawled out on the couch, a grin on her face.

"Yeah, isn't it nice again?" she giggled.

"Still, you in your underwear would be worth the heat." he chuckled and sat down next to her feet, pulling them into his lap to massage them.

"Wow, that feels nice." she hummed, enjoying his touch.

"Can I ask you something?" he looked at her, still gently squeezing her skin. "It may be a bit embarrassing for you."

"Okay." she looked apprehensive, wondering what he was going for.

"You told me already that you were a virgin..." he began.

"Oh god." she groaned, putting her hands over her face. "I don't even remember that."

"You told me the day I left for Hawkins." he reminded her. "Anyway, my question is, why do you take birth control pills if you don't have sex?"

"I... it's helps against the cramps." she told him, feeling a blush come on.

"Cramps?"

"You know, for that... particular time of the month."

"Oh, I get it." he nodded. "Forget I asked."

"Hey, it's a natural process of the female body." she moped, giving him a gentle kick.

"I'll remind you that you said that should you ever comment on my morning erection." he laughed.

While he kept massaging her feet, El blushed a deep red when she thought about the things she'd rather do with his morning erection apart from commenting on it. She was about to pull her legs back to talk to him about their relationship when Bella barked loudly, holding her leash in her mouth, demanding in her own way to be walked again.

As he left with their dog, El sighed at the missed opportunity, hoping she would find the courage again to talk to him.


Dun, dun, dun :D Aren't drunk El and Mike fun? ^^

Review please :)