JANUARY 22 1985
It was 5:18 P.M. There was a knock at Hopper's cabin door. El got up from her bed and ran to the door to open it. She saw her group of friends plus Max standing there, welcoming her with grins and smiles. She immediately went to Mike for a hug, making some of the gang give suspicious looks at her affection for Mike. Dustin and Lucas walked past El and into the cabin to look around.
"Woah, this is a pretty neat set up El," Dustin teased as he saw how official the cabin looked.
"Yeah, totally tubular!" Lucas said, making Max cross her arms together while shaking her head in shame.
"Seriously, guys? You don't just march into someone's home," Max said, annoyed at how rude they were being.
Dustin and Lucas looked at each other and shrugged. Mike held El's hand as they looked at the two boys in the cabin; Will stood beside Mike, keeping to himself. Max walked inside the cabin and grabbed Lucas by the ear to drag him out, making Dustin cackle.
"OW! OW! Max! STOP! That huuurts!!" Lucas cried in pain while the rest of the party laughed at his suffering.
With Lucas out of the cabin, Max looked at Dustin, giving him a mean look that told him to get out.
"Relax, I'm coming out. I just wanted to see if there was anything cool in here," Dustin said.
"Why do you care?" Mike wondered.
"Because I'm bored," Dustin added.
The group brushed off Dustin's comment and got on their bikes. El was the only one without a bike so she had to get on Mike's.
Hopper pulled up to the cabin, obviously taken off guard from the group of teenagers on their bikes. He got out of his police car and walked over to the kids who stood still, anxiously waiting for what Hopper would say.
"Where do you think you're going, El?" Hopper asked.
"You didn't tell him?!" Mike whispered to El, trying to play it cool while being shocked that she didn't even ask Hopper to go.
El was scared. The two biggest figures in her life were now upset at her, or at least she thought they were.
"We… We are going to ride around the town," El said with a shaky voice.
"OK. That's okay. Just remember, don't stay in a place with too many people, too risky," Hopper said as El nodded her head to show she understood.
"And Mike…"
Mike had his eyes away from Hopper but when he heard his name being called, he made direct eye contact with him.
"You better have her back by 7:30 and not a second late if you want me to let her go out with you more. You understand?" Hopper asked, looking intimidating as a protective dad should.
Mike reluctantly nodded his head, understanding the repercussions if he didn't follow Hopper's rule.
"OK. You kids are free to go. Have fun," Hopper said as a sudden grin appeared on his face.
The teenagers exchanged looks at each other, turning their heads to the left and right to see each other's faces.
"Man, there is some tension between you and Hopper, huh, Mike?" Lucas said with a smirk on his face.
"Yeah, I hope it's not, like, sexual tension," Dustin joked, making the group look at him with disgust.
"Jesus, Dustin, you really have to say that shit with El around?!" Mike said, feeling annoyed that El had to hear Dustin's dirty jokes, because he knew El would end up asking him about it later.
"What did he say?" El chimed in, confused what everyone was going on about.
"Nothing, nothing. He's just being stupid, El. Come on. Let's go," Mike replied as everyone followed his lead on their bikes.
They rode into the town of Hawkins; the streets were mostly empty as it started to get dark, but it wasn't too dark yet. The group would make small talk to pass the time while on their bikes.
"I hear they're already working on a 2nd Nightmare on Elm Street," Will said.
Lucas huffed at Will, clearly disgruntled.
"Yeah. It's gonna be the new Friday the 13th. They're gonna keep on making sequels until we wish it would end," Lucas explained.
"What's Friday the 13th? Can we watch it, Mike?" El innocently asked.
Mike remembered all the sex and nudity in that movie, then he imagined watching it with El. NO WAY. He couldn't watch that with her and he really didn't want her watching it at all. She was too pure to Mike and he didn't want to ruin her remaining innocence when it came to things like sex. Mike didn't respond.
"Ah, shit. Hey, we should have a sleepover at the cabin sometime and get El caught up with her horror movies," Dustin said.
"NO!" Mike suddenly shouted as he spooked the rest of the party.
"OK, geez! Just a suggestion," Dustin replied.
"El doesn't need to be seeing too many of those movies. I don't want it messing with her mind," Mike explained.
"I'm fine, Mike. I saw A Nightmare on Elm Street and I'm okay. I can handle scary movies," El whispered in Mike's ear as she tried to defend herself against her protective boyfriend.
"I know, El. But these movies… aren't just scary. There's graphic things in them. And like, I don't want your mind getting messed up from seeing them. Sorry if I sound like I'm controlling, I just care about you," Mike whispered back to her.
El didn't know how to respond to that. She was just happy to hear that he cared about her.
Mike sighed, knowing he couldn't protect her from bad movies forever.
"I'm sorry, El. You should be able to see whatever movie you want… with Hopper's permission of course," Mike said, causing El to giggle as she rested her head on his back.
They got to a spot in the town that felt familiar to El. She remembered why it felt so familiar; she was on Mike's bike in 1983 riding down the same road with a blonde wig and dress on her.
They passed by all the stores in Hawkins Square and made there way to the suburban area. Dustin felt the need to call out a particular house when he saw it.
"Guys, guys, stop, I wanna show El something," Dustin said, having a huge grin.
The gang stopped and looked at Dustin with curiosity covering their faces.
"What?" Mike wondered.
"That house right there, you see that, El?" Dustin asked as he pointed at the house.
El nodded her head, still wondering what Dustin was trying to show her.
"That very house right there is where the great Troy lives. You remember Troy, right?"
El remembered the name and the boy with the name after thinking about it for a little too long.
"Mouth breather?!"
"Yep. That's mouth breathers house all right," Dustin confirmed with a small chuckle.
"Good thing he's in high school this school year, bad thing is that we join him in 7 or 8 months," Mike said in a quiet but upset tone.
El thought back to Troy and his friend making Mike jump. She thought back to them constantly making fun of Will's apparent death. She thought back to how the bullies hurt Mike's chin. El WAS NOT about to let that happen again; she would do much more than break his arm this time.
"Are they going to hurt you?!" El asked, showing concern on her face.
"I don't know. I hope not. I hope nothing happens but… you never know," Mike replied.
Mike saw the upset look on Elevens face that shortly turned to anger. He knew what she was thinking and he didn't want her to have that mindset.
"El, it's okay. We'll be fine. Don't worry. We'll be able to handle ourselves," Mike tried to sound confident but failed miserably.
Like most of the gang, El wasn't buying that they could handle themselves against Troy and however many goons he had. An awkward silence followed that only Dustin could break.
"Yeah. Sure. Handle ourselves. Or, if things get bad, we can just have Eleven break his arm again," Dustin suggested in a joking manner.
"I'm still pissed I didn't see that. AH, I wish I saw the look on that stupid assholes face when his arm snapped like a twig!" Lucas shouted, clearly passionate about his hate for Troy and people like him.
"Guys, enough. It's getting dark. We need to go," Mike ordered.
Max sighed.
"Where are we going exactly?" Max asked.
"Just follow my lead," Mike replied once more.
They took off and followed Mike to wherever he was going.
They arrived at the junkyard. It brought back unforgettable memories from when Hopper took out the bad men as the kids hid on the bus. And Dustin, Lucas, and Max couldn't forget about the time they fought off DemoDogs on the bus with the help of Steve Harrington.
"Why here?" Lucas asked.
"Cuz we can't bring El to places with a lot of people, so why not here? It's low profile but also familiar," Mike explained.
The party couldn't argue with him. He thought a lot about El's safety and where or where not to take her.
The teenagers got off their bikes and walked around the junkyard. It was a mess like always. They were laughing at stupid jokes Dustin made about people in school; Mike was happy to see El smiling and happy out in the world, however limited the world was for her, it was still a good feeling for him.
Mike and El were holding hands the entire time, not risking separation of one another. El looked down at Mike's hand and it was way bigger than hers. She liked that for some reason. It comforted El to know how big he was getting; he would always protect her.
They eventually made it to the bus. Everyone looked at it and took in the sight.
"Holy shit, I just remembered my life flashing before my very eyes as I saw a DemoDog open its mouth on top of the bus, getting ready to eat me," Max confessed.
Lucas couldn't hold in his laughter. This made Max very upset. She punched his arm really hard.
"OWWW!!!" Lucas yelled, feeling the sharp pain.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" Lucas shouted in pain as he held his affected arm.
"I talk about almost getting killed and you think it's funny?!"
"OH, SO I'M JUST SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHEN AND WHEN NOT TO LAUGH? LIKE I'M A PROGRAMMED ROBOT OR SOMETHING??!?!"
"What the hell was so funny about what I said?!?!" Max wondered.
"It wasn't really what you said, it was how serious you sounded. I just thought it was funny!"
Mike, El, Dustin, and Will were getting tired of hearing them bicker over nonsense. They thought that maybe it would end if they stayed out of it but that clearly wasn't the case.
"Guys, guys, guys!" Dustin said.
The couple stopped talking and paid their attention to their friends.
"Seriously, it's getting annoying," Mike said.
Max and Lucas looked at each other. They were still unsatisfied with how the argument ended. They needed more time to settle things.
"We'll just leave you guys be for now. Me and Lucas have some things to talk about," Max said with an evil smile.
Max grabbed Lucas' hand in an aggressive way, making him wince in pain once more as she pulled him away from the group. They walked away to where their friends couldn't hear them and continued arguing.
Mike looked at El who was very confused by how Lucas and Max were treating each other. Sure, she got mad at Mike because she thought he was interested in Trisha, but she would never hurt Mike or even yell at him like that.
El noticed her boyfriend's eyes were on her and looked up to see them. She gave a warm smile to Mike. Mike smiled back with heart eyes. Then he got an idea.
"Uh, wanna hang out on the bus, just me and you?" Mike shyly asked as he scratched his head, knowing Dustin and Will were looking.
El had the biggest smile ever while nodding her head yes. Mike gave Dustin and Will a little nod. It was understood that Mike wanted alone time with El. They did a little nod back, then Mike looked at El walk inside the bus in front of him. He followed her up and closed the door.
El went to the seat all the way in the back. She didn't have time to breathe as Mike immediately sat down beside her, somewhat spooking her as she giggled.
She picked out one tiny strand of hair from his big head, slowly rotating it, then she put her other hand on the side of his face. Mike was lost in her eyes, unable to think of something to say.
The way he was looking at El made her go crazy on the inside. She couldn't wait any longer. El pressed her lips against his, having both hands on each side of his face, absolutely making sure that Mike belonged to her and no other girl. The long kiss would turn into heated smooches. Both of them weren't taking it lightly on each other as each kiss got more intense than the last. Mike rubbed her leg and El had her arms around his neck.
The kissing was over. They pressed their noses against one another, both smiling at how much love they just shared.
"God, El. You… are… amazing," Mike said.
El bit her lip as she felt a fiery passion roam through her body; she could only get that feeling from Mike.
"No. You are amazing, Mike," El replied, making Mike blush.
Mike wasn't thinking clearly anymore. He forgot that they were even on a bus near their friends. All of his thoughts were about her and what he could do to please her.
Mike saw that his hand was still on her thigh and decided to slowly rub it some more. El liked the sensation of his big hands moving back and forth on her thigh.
"El, I… I wanna try something," Mike said, clearly not thinking straight.
"What?"
"It's something that can make you feel good. Really good. You wanna try it?" Mike asked, his eyes looking at her with lust, but he was also nervous of what she would say.
El wasn't gonna say yes or no to something that she didn't know about. She wanted to know what could possibly make her feel as good as Mike's lips.
"It has something to do with your vagina. I could... maybe try something and … and… see if you like it?"
"... OK…"
El didn't know exactly what Mike was going to do, but she always trusted him, and this time was no exception.
Mike felt too nervous to actually do what he was planning to do. Mike would never tell her, but he was going to finger her. He always controlled himself so it would never get to this point when he was with her for the past three weeks, but this time was different. El finally made him lose control of the dirty urge in the back of his head. That dirty urge was to sexually please her however he could.
The feminine voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Mike?"
"Uh, yeah?" Mike replied, trying to act like he wasn't a nervous wreck.
"What exactly are you going to do to make me feel really good?" El asked innocently, honestly wanting to know.
"I'll… I'll walk you through it, El. OK?" Mike softly said while putting both hands on her thighs.
"OK, Mike" El softly replied.
Mike moved his hands to the top of her blue denim jeans. El gave him a suspicious look.
"First… I'm gonna… unbutton your pants," Mike said as he unbuttoned them, the sound of it coming undone making things more intense.
El's eyes were wide with curiosity as she stared at Mike.
"Then I'm gonna pull down your zipper..."
Mike did what he said, the sound of the zipper making Mike almost lose it.
El couldn't do anything. She saw how intense Mike was and knew this was something big, something special for her.
They stared into each other's eyes. Mike's were full of lust, and El could see that something was different about Mike. He never looked at her like this before.
He could see a little bit of her pink underwear and he wanted to see more.
"And then I'm gonna pull down your pants-"
Mike and El got startled when they heard the door open. They quickly got in a normal position as El buttoned and zipped her pants back up. It was Will.
"Hey, Mike, do you know when we're going home?" Will asked, oblivious to what was going on between the
couple before he interrupted.
"Uh, you know what, it is getting pretty dark, huh? I guess we could go now. Right, El?" Mike said as he turned his head to her.
"Yeah. Let's go home," El replied and nodded her head while smiling at Mike.
Mike let El past her, the ladies first motto never leaving Mike's brain. Will was standing right beside the driver's seat, allowing just the right amount of room to allow El to walk out. He stepped in front of Mike who was also about to walk out.
"Hey, can we talk?" Will asked.
Mike was caught off guard but he couldn't say no to his best friend.
"Sure. What is it?"
El was waiting for Mike to join her as she looked up at him on the bus. Mike saw El waiting and couldn't ignore her.
"El, I'll be right with you, just give me a minute. See if you can tell Lucas and Max to get back here," Mike said.
El nodded her head and walked away from the two boys.
Mike looked back at Will and waited for whatever he had to say.
"You were saying?"
"I was wondering if you wanted to play D and D tomorrow?" Will asked.
Mike felt bad about the feeling he had, but he just didn't want to play Dungeons and Dragons anymore, at least not for a while.
"Ah, sorry, tomorrow I'm gonna be with El."
"OK. Sunday then?"
"I'm gonna be with El again…"
Will looked disappointed and frustrated at Mike's responses.
"But you've been with El all week! I spent a couple of days making this campaign!" Will simply replied, sounding annoyed that he was getting blown off because of a girl.
Mike hated being in this situation, knowing he wasn't being truthful. He could tell Will that he's not into Dungeons and Dragons anymore but he didn't want to hurt Will after all he had been through. Mike stayed calm and collected as he looked into Will's eyes.
"I just… really wanna spend time with El right now. You know how much I care about her."
Will nodded his head, then he glanced down at the floor so Mike couldn't see the flash of sadness that appeared on his face. He looked back up at Mike with a smile.
"Yeah, I know. You and her deserve to spend time with each other after everything that's happened," Will said, holding his true feelings buried deep within.
They exchanged smiles and nods before getting off of the bus. Mike spent a couple of minutes waiting for El to get back with Max and Lucas. She eventually did but only Lucas was with her.
"Where's Max?" Mike asked.
Lucas played it cool with a grin.
"She's just a little mad. She had to cool off and go home early. No biggy."
The party could have commented on that but decided not to. They got on their bikes and started riding home. They would ride together to one person's home. First it was Will, then Dustin, then Lucas. Lucas waved Mike and El goodbye. He walked into the house and slammed the front door shut. Mike and El clearly saw that Max and Lucas' fight annoyed Lucas much more than he lead on.
Mike took El back to the cabin. Thank goodness Will interrupted them, or else they would've been late. It was 7:27 PM; he brought El back home with three minutes to spare. She slowly stepped off of his bike and planted a kiss on his cheek. Mike smiled widely at the kiss and pecked her on the lips as he remained seated on the bike.
"Mike…"
"Yeah?"
"Can you make me feel really good tomorrow like you were going to do on the bus?" El asked, not knowing how dirty she was being by innocently asking him that.
Of course Mike was speechless, dumbfounded, amazed, shocked, and any other word that came to mind.
Mike hesitated to even think of a response. But she was asking him about it. What he did was wrong and he knew that. He lost control because of her passionate kissing, and although he knew it wasn't right, he couldn't exactly turn her down.
"Um. We'll see, El. Just… don't tell Hopper about any of this!" Mike really wanted to implant that sentence into her skull.
"I won't."
Hopper barged out of the cabin a few minutes later with a wide grin on his face while resting his hands on his hips. Normal people usually wouldn't be excited, but Hopper felt so happy that Mike actually listened to him. He followed his rules, and that made Hopper feel like he was in charge.
"Come on, El," Hopper simply said, motioning her to get inside the cabin with his hand.
"See you tomorrow, Mike," El said to Mike, having a heartfelt smile.
"See you tomorrow, El," Mike replied, returning the smile to her.
El ran up the cabin steps and hugged Hopper, then went inside the cabin. Hopper crossed his arms together and stared down Mike. He let out a chuckle.
"Thanks for bringing her home on time, kid. I really appreciate ya for realizing who the real one in charge is."
"You're welcome, Hopper," Mike said in a snarky tone.
