It had been over an hour, and Max still was not sleeping. Even though she was utterly exhausted, she couldn't manage to calm down her mind. All she could think about was Billy. Every time she tried to close her eyes, all she could see was her brother, lying in a pool of his own crimson blood, whispering those words to her. I'm sorry. She blinked salty tears out of her eyes, and sniffed.
"Max?" It was Lucas. He was awake too.
"Yeah?" she replied. Lucas was quiet for a moment.
"I, uhh.." he meandered. "I just...I was gonna ask if you were okay, but, I know you're not."
Max didn't say anything, but Lucas continued talking anyway. "I'm here for you, and... and I want to help. I don't know what you're exactly what you're feeling, because I've never been there...but I know it's not good, and, just...tell me if you need anything, anything at all. I'm here."
As unceremonious as his words were, Max was touched. All she had done for the last forty-eight hours was bash Lucas and Mike, and despite all of that, Lucas was still here, comforting her as if nothing had even happened between them.
"I don't know why I'm upset," she started. "He was such a terrible person the whole time he's been in my life. But after El went into the void, and reminded me of that memory of his, it made me realize that maybe the whole time he was just...hurting. He was just in pain, the whole time."
"Obviously, deep down he was a good person," Lucas responded. "Look at what he did for El. He threw himself right in front of the Mindflayer, just to protect her."
"I know, I know, and then…" she started to break down again. "God, I don't know what the fuck is wrong with me."
Lucas grabbed her hand with both of his and shifted on his side to look at her.
"Hey," he soothed. "Nothing is wrong with you. It's gonna be okay, it's all over now." He leaned into her and hugged her, and Max reciprocated. Lucas gently stroked the hair on the back of her head, slowly easing her into a state of calmness. When they broke apart, Lucas laid back down on his back. Max rested her head on Lucas's chest, her wrapped her arms around his abdomen. Lucas reached out with his fingers and tenderly caressed Max's cheek.
Max could not even wrap her head around how Lucas was being so nice about Billy and patient with her. Considering the fact that Billy hated him, and was racist, and had nearly killed him at the Byers' six months ago.
"He almost killed you last year," Max said. "Why are you being so…"
"Because," he interrupted. "It's not his fault. You've told me before about your stepdad. If he's lived with him his whole life, then there's no question about why he is the way he is. You're right. He was just hurting."
Max looked up at Lucas, and brought her lips to his mouth. She let them stay there for a few seconds, moving gently across his. She pulled away.
"Thanks, Stalker."
Lucas gave her a small smile. "You're welcome, Madmax."
El woke up, and immediately felt Mike's body wrapped around hers. The sensation made her feel safe and warm inside, and she smiled.
But then the events of last night came over her like a wave of ice cold water, and the smile slid off her face instantly. She wasn't in her cabin, and Hopper wasn't in the kitchen. She wasn't going to leave the room and have Eggos with her dad. She wasn't going to spend the whole day in her cozy bedroom making out with Mike to the mixtape he had made her. She wasn't going to do any of that. Because her home was destroyed, and her Dad was gone.
She felt a lump rise in her throat and she didn't even try to hide it. Her body shook, and the tears came unwillingly from her eyes. She grabbed Mike's hand and squeezed it, but a little bit harder than she had meant, because then he woke up. His eyes opened slowly, and saw El. He immediately came to her aid and brushed the hair out her face.
"Shhh, it's okay," he comforted her. "It's okay."
"I'm...sorry," she hiccuped.
"Shh, no. Why are you sorry? Don't be sorry for anything."
"I woke you up," she sniffed, wiping her eyes.
"No, it's okay, it's late anyways. Don't worry."
Silence descended upon them, the only noise being El's quiet sobs.
"I miss him," she said, between tears.
"I know," Mike replied sadly. "Me too."
El sat up, and shifted into a cross legged position. Mike did the same, so that they were sitting across from one another. El's gaze met Mike's, and wiped her eyes again. "Why?" she asked.
"What?" Mike replied, an incredulous look on his face.
"Why do you miss him?" El repeated.
"Why wouldn't I?"
"You guys hated one another. Hopper was always yelling at you, and you always told me that he didn't want us to be happy. You didn't like him, I know it."
Mike felt his heart sink. Everything that El said was true. And he couldn't take any of it back. He couldn't even count how many times he had insulted Hopper behind his back, or gave him attitude. And he couldn't change that. But he wasn't lying when he said that now he was gone, he felt a hole in his heart that would never be filled; a hole that could only be filled by Hopper.
"I know but...now that he's gone, I guess that I've realized something," he said, looking down at his feet.
"What?"
Mike fiddled at his watch, knowing that he had a lot of things to say. But he wasn't quite sure how to say all of it. He exhaled and just decided to start speaking. "I know that I didn't really give him much respect, but now that he's not around anymore, I kind of...regret it. I know that he loved you, and I know that he was like...he was a father to you. And he protected and cared for you, and put a roof over your head for a year and a half, which is much more than what I gave you."
Mike started to tear up, and silently cursed himself. He was supposed to be comforting El, and he couldn't do that if he was a crying mess. But he still had more to say, so he continued anyway.
"Maybe if I had just been nicer to him, he would have been nicer to me. I was always rolling my eyes, or talking back to him, and I was just...such an asshole. And I don't even know why. I just wanted to spend time with you, alone, and not have him snooping on us. But he was just concerned for you the whole time, and I guess he knows about horny teenagers and their thoughts. And now that I'm thinking about it…"
El looked at him, her eyebrows raised.
"I just want to talk to him, and hear is voice again. I want to tell him I'm sorry."
At this, Mike finally felt his emotions overcome him. He felt himself start to cry. "Fuck, El, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be acting like this, you're the one who-"
"Mike," El interrupted him.
"Yeah?"
"It's okay. Hopper felt the same way about you," she said, smiling bittersweetly.
"He did?"
"Yes," she told him, taking his hand. "I remember a conversation we had, one day."
Mike readjusted himself, and sat closer to El. "What was it about?"
"It was the start of June," she sighed. "You had just left the cabin, and it was because he had yelled at us for having the door closed."
"I remember. He opened the door and saw me on top of you."
"Yes," she nodded. "He took us to the living room, and he said, 'Just keep the door open!' and you said, 'Why? What are we gonna do?' and he just looked at you. Then you walked out of the house."
Mike bit on his lip, vividly recalling that argument. And he was kicking himself for being such a fucking dick to Hopper. "Yeah," he said, rubbing his face. "Those are the kinds of things I regret."
"Well," El continued. "After you left, I asked him why he didn't want the door to be closed. And he looked at me...strange. And said that sometimes, when two people care about each other a lot, they do certain things together."
Mike blushed, fully aware of what Hopper had been talking about. "And I asked him what he was talking about, but he told me he'd tell me later. But then I realized what he had said. He said 'When two people care about each other, sometimes they do things together.' So I asked him."
"Asked him what?"
"If he thought that you cared about me."
"And what did he say?"
"He said, 'Of course he cares about you. I know he does. And I care about him.'"
Mike's eyes widened, and felt himself smile a little bit at this.
"He said that he just wished that you were nicer to him. And that he wanted to be nicer to you, but it was hard for him because he didn't really know how."
"Oh," Mike said. A million thoughts were rushing through his brain all at once. He felt happy that even though Hopper seemed to hate him, he actually did care about him, and wanted to be nice but just didn't know how.
But he also was pissed at himself, pissed for being such a stupid fucking teenager for six months when he could have just been more respectful to Hopper.
"Thanks for telling me that, El," Mike said almost fully in tears. El nodded and Mike leaned in to grab her with his arms. El grabbed him back, and the two fell on their sides on the bed, still clinging to one another. And they cried.
"I wish he was here," Mike said. "Even if he just came back to yell at me."
"Me too," El replied, letting out a small chuckle through her crying.
Mike was feeling a lot of things in that moment, but he felt one above all of them. He wanted to tell El that he loved her. It was something that he felt like he had to say, he just wanted her to know so badly. But it wasn't a good time to drop the L word, not right now. So he settled for something a little less.
"Thanks, El," Mike breathed.
"For what?' she asked.
"For just...being here."
El smiled. "Thank you, too."
El broke away from the hold, and looked Mike in his eyes. "What's wrong?" Mike asked. El's eyes flicked down to his lips, and felt an urge come over her. She didn't fight it.
She brought herself forward quickly and latched her mouth onto Mike's bottom lip. She held herself there for a moment, and went to pull away because she sensed discomfort from Mike. But as she moved backward, he came forward and leaned into her. She lay on the bed, guiding him to her as she did so. He lay into her, putting nearly all his weight onto her body.
Their lips continued to dance together, slow and gentle. El moved her hand to the back of Mike's neck, the ends of his hair brushing her fingertips. She ran her hands through it, and as she did so, everything that had happened yesterday seemed to fade away.
Fueled by her emotions and the euphoria of the kiss, she grew hungrier, and she opened her mouth a little more and let her tongue run across Mike's mouth. He granted her access, and opened his as well, and their tongues met in the middle. The feeling made her crazy.
She moaned into the kiss, grabbing his head with both of her hands and pulling him even closer to her. Mike ran his hand along her body, starting at her knees and up her thigh, around her hip and toward her armpit, and ended at her shoulder.
"Hey, guys, my Mom made…" Mike sprang off of El and turned to the doorway, where he saw Will standing. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to, um...interrupt you."
"It's okay," Mike said, slightly disappointed that Will had broken their moment. "What's going on?"
"My Mom has breakfast."
"Okay, we'll come out in a second," Mike said.
He turned back to El, who was still looking at him. "Mike?" she asked.
"Yeah?"
"Are we still…" she began, looking at her feet. "Are we still broken up?" Mike drew a sharp breath in. If he was honest, he had completely forgotten about that in the last twenty-four hours. "I, um...I don't know."
"I don't want to be anymore," she said rather loudly, and with confidence. Mike was taken aback by her abruptness. "No?" he echoed.
"No," she said again. "I want you to be my boyfriend again."
Mike smiled. "I want that too."
He then grabbed her hand and kissed the top of it. "I want you to be my girlfriend again."
El grinned, and kissed him. This one was short and sweet, but made him feel butterflies in his stomach all the same. She pulled away, and received a kiss on her forehead.
"Let's go get some breakfast."
It was noon when they walked into the dining room. They were met by the rest of the party, along with Jonathan and Nancy on the couch in the living room. Joyce saw them and smiled.
"Hey, guys," she greeted. "Sleep okay?"
"Yeah, we were good," Mike replied.
"I went and got some groceries, we have lots of stuff for breakfast. Take what you want."
"Thank you, Mrs Byers," Mike said politely. Him and El walked toward the table where Will, Lucas, Dustin and Max were sitting. They had all helped themselves to toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon.
"Is there any Eggos?" El asked.
"Yes, we have some in the freezer, sweetie. I'll toast them for you."
"Thank you," El said.
Her and Mike pulled up chairs and sat with the rest of the party, but not after helping themselves to some eggs and pouring some milk. Dustin was the first to speak. "How are you guys feeling? Was the bed nice?" he asked with a hint of humour. Mike glared at him.
"Yeah, it was nice," Mike said.
"What about the rest of you guys?" he inquired.
"The air mattress was surprisingly comfy. We had a good night," Lucas said, to which Max agreed. "Me too," Will pitched in. Dustin gave a nod in response, taking a massive bite of his toast as he did so.
When the group had finally finished eating, Joyce had already left the house. She told the group that she was going to run some errands, probably something to do with Hopper, planning his funeral or something. Jonathan and Nancy had also left the house; they had gone to work to see if they were able to get their jobs back.
Max and Lucas got up and moved to the living room, and sat on the couch together. The rest of the party moved toward the room to join them. They sat in silence for a few moments before Mike spoke.
"So what are we gonna do?" he asked. The rest of the room sighed.
"I don't know," Will said, rubbing his eyes. "This all feels like...a dream that I haven't woken up from yet."
"I wish it was," El whispered.
"Me too," Max said.
"Our parents are probably worried shitless," Dustin pointed out.
"Oh, fuck!" Mike and Lucas said at the same time, eyes widening. "Shit!"
"Will, can we use your phone?" Mike asked.
"Yeah, it's in the kitchen."
The three boys moved toward the kitchen, and Dustin called first.
"Hi Mom… yes, I- no, it's fine, I'm alright. I was just at, uh, Mike's. His phone was down, I'm...yes, I'm sorry, I wanted to call you but...no, we weren't at the mall when the fire happened," he said, pursing his lips tightly. "Okay, yes, I know. I'll be home soon. Okay. Bye...yes. Bye."
He hung up the phone, and walked over to the couch and collapsed. "Jesus Christ," he huffed. "I'm gonna be grounded for so long."
"Okay, give me the phone," Lucas muttered, preparing himself for the scolding that would ensue. "Hi mom," he said into the receiver. "Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't call, I spent the last couple nights at Mike's house, their phone was dead so I couldn't call…"
He continued talking for a few more moments. When he hung up, he sighed. "Okay, she was a lot nicer about it than I thought she was gonna be."
"Wish I could say the same," Dustin grunted, running his hands through his uncombed mop of curls.
"Alright, let me call," Mike said.
After spending a few moments on the phone with his Mom, telling her that he had spent the night at Will's, he got off with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. His Mom told him to come home immediately, and that they would take more later.
"I gotta get home," Mike announced.
"Yeah, us too," the boys agreed.
"Max, don't you wanna call you Mom?" Lucas asked.
"No, it's fine," she replied. "I'd rather just talk to them when I get home."
The party gathered up their things, and headed to the front door. "Are you guys gonna be okay?" Will asked, wondering if it would be good for his friends to leave.
"Yeah, we'll be fine," Mike said. "El will come home with me, we'll just hang out in my basement."
"I'm under house arrest anyway," Dustin said. "I'm gonna head straight back. I'm in deep shit I think." The remark was met by pitiful laughs among the teens.
"Max, do you want to come home with me? My parents won't mind."
Max had been at Lucas's house many times; his parents were more accepting of the fact that she was a different race then them. If she was to bring Lucas over to her house, she knew her Mom would be okay with it. But her step dad wouldn't, and she didn't want to make her Mom lie to him. That wouldn't be fair to her. So, knowing that she would be greeted with open arms in Lucas's house, she smiled.
"That would be great," she replied thankfully.
"Alright, then, let's go," Duston said, clapping his hands together. Dustin reached toward Will and gave him a hearty hug. "Thanks for everything, Will. And thank your Mom for us too. She's amazing."
"I will," Will replied with a grin.
Lucas and Max said their good-byes to everyone and headed out, leaving El, Mike and Will standing in front of the open door.
"El, I'll be out in a minute, just, could you wait outside?" Mike asked. El nodded. She walked out and closed the door on her way.
"What's going on?" Will asked.
Mike inhaled deeply, then blew it all out. "I, uh, just wanted to say that…" he started. "I'm sorry. For everything."
"What do you mean?" he asked him, as a questioning look swept across his face.
"I've been a real asshole to you. With the D and D game, and about El, and I just...I feel terrible. You're a great friend, and I don't want that to stop. And, the campaign you wrote was really cool, but I was just thinking about El, and how she broke up with me, and-"
"Mike," Will interrupted him. "It's okay. I was being unfair too."
"No, I was the one who was being a dick. I completely shut all of you guys out, and I shouldn't have. I'm sorry."
"Yeah, but the girl you love disappeared for almost a year. You deserved to make up that lost time with her. There's more to life than games. I've realized that now." This comment was met with a flustered Mike.
"I don't...I don't love her, Will, I…"
"Mike," he said, with a knowing look in his eyes. "Yes, you do. I've seen it. We all have."
Mike was shocked to hear this. He didn't realize that his feelings were so apparent.
"Look," Will continued. "Maybe we both screwed up a little bit. But I forgive you. You deserve to be happy, but maybe just don't completely forget about us," he said with a slight, teasing smile.
"It's okay, I forgive you. And I'm sorry too. I promise I'll try to spend some more time with you guys."
"Good," Will said.
"Maybe...we can play D and D sometime soon?" Mike suggested.
"Yeah," Will replied. "I'd like that."
Mike pulled will into a hug, which he reciprocated. Will patted Mike on the back affectionately. When they separated, Mike stretched out his hand. "Shake?" he asked.
"Shake."
