"Pass me that blanket, El," Mike requested, pointing to a fluffy, white piece of fabric draped on the back of the sofa. El walked toward it and passed it to Mike. He put it across the two chairs that were holding up the rest of the blankets, and realized that it was not going to be big enough for both of them.
"Hold on, let's get something else to support it. We need it bigger," he concluded.
"Okay," she replied. "What should we use?"
Mike stepped back, and put his hands on his hips. "Let's take that table, we can use that," he improvised, pointing toward the small coffee table where he played D and D with the rest of the party.
They grabbed some extra blankets and the table, and found a foldout chair in the closet. When it was all said and done, the two of them stepped back and admired their handiwork.
"Looks pretty damn good to me," Mike boasted.
"Yes," El agreed. "Damn good." Mike's lip curled when El said that. He always found it cute and endearing when El repeated him, even if she wasn't sure what it meant.
"It feels like I'm...going through the same thing again," she thought aloud, after looking at the fort.
"That's called deja vu," Mike said.
"What's...deja vu?" El inquired, looking at him with confused eyes.
"It's what people call the feeling you're having. When you feel like you're seeing or doing the same thing over again. Sometimes it even happens when you don't even remember it."
El nodded. It always made her feel happy when she learned something new from Mike. She had learned a lot from him in the past six months, especially words.
"You wanna go in?" Mike asked jubilantly.
El gave him a toothy grin and nodded her head. The two walked into the fort, hand in hand and sat down in it. Mike leaned back and put his back and head against the wall. El did the same and Mike eased his arm around her body and around her shoulders. El sighed contentedly and leaned her head against Mike's chest.
"This is nice," el said.
"Yeah," Mike agreed.
El eased herself down into a lying position, and stared at the blanket ceiling of the fort. The sight of it reminded her of her first night at Mike's house, and a whole whack of emotions poured into her soul. Even though the thought of Mike brought her happiness, her mind started to think about the other things about that night; the bad men killing Benny, running around on the painful forest floor in nothing but her bare feet. She had spent hours and hours fleeing from them, away from the lab.
And inevitably, she began to grow angry and upset, angry and upset because of her other life; it was because of the bad men that she never had a Mom, it was because of the bad men she never had a regular life, it was because of the bad men that she had gone to the void and opened the gate. And it was because of the gate that all of this had happened. The death, the destruction, the horror.
It was because of the gate that the only true parent she had ever had was gone.
She squeezed her eyes shut and felt wetness on her eyelids. Mike must have noticed, because then she felt his hand brush her face and clear her tears away. She grabbed his hand and pulled it toward her cheek. His touch calmed her.
"Shhhh," Mike soothed. "Come here."
El sat up and put her head into Mike's shoulder. She rotated her neck so that her ear was near his chest, she could almost hear his heartbeat. "Are you thinking about...about Hopper again?" Mike asked in as soft a tone as possible.
El was thinking about her Dad; she had been thinking about him nonstop since the parking lot last night. But right now, something else was on her mind.
"No, it's not that," El sniffed. Mike looked at her strangely. "I mean...I have been thinking about him, all the time. But right now I was just...thinking about other things."
Mike started to stroke her hair slowly and soothingly. "What other things?" he pressed.
"I thought building the fort would be fun. But it's just making me think," El continued to cry softly.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Looking at the ceiling of the fort... made me remember the night we met, but it also made me remember the other stuff," she said. "When the bad men killed Benny, and when I was running for hours away from Papa, and how I opened the gate…"
Mike was still silent, allowing her to vent all of her emotions before he spoke. "I never got to be a...a normal girl. I never did anything. And it was because of Papa and the bad men that I opened the gate, and that's why all those people are gone."
It broke Mike's heart to hear about El's thoughts. Whenever she told him about the lab and what they did to her and how they treated her, it made his blood boil. And he felt terrible for building the fort with her, especially because it seemed that it had triggered these memories for El. He had dealt with enough of this stuff in the last six months.
"I know, I know," he sympathized, wrapping both his arms around her torso, planting a kiss on the top of her scalp. "No one deserves that kind of shit, El. But it's over now, and Papa is dead, and all of the bad men are too. Just...try not to think about it. They got what they deserved."
El tried to find resolution in Mike's words, but it was difficult. The words of that man that night with Kali had haunted her since she had heard them. No...he is alive. What was his name? Ray...something? She had not stopped thinking about it, and she was afraid to admit it.
But she suppressed these thoughts, and focused on the fact that she was at home, in the arms of the boy who she loved. "Yes," she sniffled. "I guess."
"Do you want to take the fort down?" Mike asked.
"No, I want to keep it up."
"Okay," Mike told her, rubbing her arm. He lay down, and brought El with him, so that both of them were on the ground, looking at the blanket ceiling of the fort. Mike was about to tell her to focus on the good things in her life, but then he realized that, tragically, there was nothing. Her home was gone, her Dad was gone, and she was completely lost. Fuck, he thought.
Well, the least he could do was try to help her get through this hard time in her life. He made a silent promise to himself to never back down, and to always do everything in his power to be there for her whenever she needed it.
He took her gently by the wrist and kissed the top of her hand. Then her wrist, and a few times on her forearm. El giggled at the feeling.
"Mike, what are you doing?" she laughed. Mike smiled, but never stopped bombarding her with kisses. He continued to trail up her arm, gradually moving closer and closer to her face. El, not wanting to stop feeling his lips on her bare skin, pulled down the sleeve of her t-shirt, exposing her shoulder. Mike noticed this, but did not break his rhythm. With every second that he continued to inch upward on her arm, the chills within El grew more and more. As he approached the top of her bicep, El was quivering with anticipation. She just wanted to feel his lips on hers. The teasing was driving her crazy. He let his mouth linger on the top of her shoulder near her collarbone, and El had to bite back a groan.
When Mike reached this point, he decided to go a little further. He let his tongue slip out and he dragged it lightly across the skin on her bare shoulder and toward her neck. El moaned and placed both her hands on the back of his head, pulling him in deeper. Mike rolled over onto El and continued to kiss and gently suck the skin at her shoulder and collarbone.
"Mike, go higher…" she moaned, curling her fingers into his locks of fluffy, dark hair. Mike happily obliged, tracing a slow and wavy line up to her neck with his lips and tongue. He took care to not go too fast, he wanted El to experience this slowly. He reached her neck and felt El's body become rigid and then relax after a second or two.
He parted his lips and placed them on her skin with more aggression, and began to suck. She let out a soft moan of contentment in response, and raked her nails down Mike's back. Mike ran placed one of his hands on the side of her head and massaged it through her hair.
El was in ecstasy. She couldn't believe that in the six months they had spent sharing moments similar to these in her room, Mike had never done this. She tilted her head behind her and arched her back to allow him to gain access to the front of her neck, where he moved his lips and continued to gently lick and suck.
"Oh, yes, Mike...like that…" she breathed, eyes closed.
"HEY! KEEP THE DOOR OPEN THREE INCHES!"
El's eyes shot open and she practically threw Mike off of her. She bolted upright and whipped her around the room and toward the door. Did Hopper say that? No, he was gone, he couldn't have said that. She turned to Mike, who was so shocked he couldn't even speak by the looks of it. He snapped out of his trance quickly.
"Oh my God, El, I'm sorry I must have gotten carried away, I…"
His voice seemed to fade away in that moment, and all she could hear was her Dad's voice in her head. Keep the door open three inches, that's the rule! Hey! What're you doing in there?!
What was happening?
Mike's voice returned, and he was still rambling. "El? El, are you okay, oh my God…"
El erratically crawled out of the fort and stood up in the center of the room, and looked around. Was she going insane? She started to walk toward the couch, but she collapsed on her knees before she could even make it.
"He's...gone," she whispered to herself. "What's happening…"
"El, what's going on, I-" Mike started to say before he was cut off my El.
"Mike, I...I heard him," she whispered.
"Heard who? The Mind Flayer?" Mike gasped, panic rising in his voice.
"No, Hopper," she said through tears. "He was-he was yelling at-at us."
Mike instantly felt terrible. He hadn't been thinking, he just wanted to try to help El forget about all the shit that was going on, but maybe he went about it the wrong way. The more he thought about it, the more stupid he felt. Her fucking Dad had died yesterday, and what was he doing? Making out with her like nothing was wrong in the world. Fuck!
"Oh my God, El…" he said, and walked toward her with his arms out. A crying, hysterical El came to meet him in the middle, and she collapsed in his embrace.
"Why did he have to die?" she wept.
"I know, El, I know, shhh," he told her, backing up to sit on the couch, with her lying down with her head in his lap.
"I miss him-him so much," she wheezed. She felt mucus about to drip from her nose, and she inhaled sharply. She started to cough. She was a mess, a complete embarrassment, all in front of Mike. She didn't want Mike to see her like this.
She heaved herself off the couch and began to walk toward the front door, still with a limp from the bite.
"El, where are you going?" Mike asked frantically, jumping from the couch to get to her.
"Just leave me alone!" she yelled, getting to the front door and opening it.
"El, wait! Just let me-" El slammed the door behind her, walking away, tears streaming down her face. She wasn't mad at Mike, she just didn't want to be near him. In reality, she was mad at herself for making herself look stupid and weak in front of Mike. She was mad at Hopper for leaving her and then getting himself killed. She was mad at Joyce for letting him die. She was mad at the whole FUCKING world.
She heard the door behind her being thrown open, followed by the distressed calls of Mike.
"El, please! Come back!" he called out. She continued to walk, starting to speed up. She didn't even know where the hell she was going, she just wanted to be alone. She tried to run because she heard Mike's footsteps behind her, but her leg would not allow that. Pain exploded from shin, but she didn't fall. She had already humiliated herself enough that day.
So she slowed down, and like she expected, she felt Mike's large hand clamp down on hers and pull. She tried to yank it away, but when it came to physical strength, Mike was superior. If she still had her powers, she would have flung him off of her in a second.
"El, come back, please," he begged. "Tell me what's wrong? Was it something I did?"
El stared at his eyes, his image slightly blurry from the salty liquid in her eyes. She shook her head no, and looked away.
"El, please, tell me the truth. It was me, wasn't it? I shouldn't have been kissing you like that, I-"
"GOD DAMMIT MIKE!" El screamed.
Mike took a step back, startled by her outburst. "It wasn't you, okay?! My FUCKING Dad just died," she shouted, blinded by rage and frustration. "Do you actually think you just kissing me like that would make me this FUCKING upset?! Not everything is about you all the time!"
Mike continued to stand there, speechless. El had never cussed before, let alone used the word '"fuck." And here she was, having said it two times in practically the same sentence.
"All I want to do is spend time with you and kiss you and be with you but all I can think about is the fact that I'll never hear his voice again," her voice broke, and another round of tears started to cascade down her cheeks.
"And whenever I want to do things with you, all I hear in my head is his voice telling me not to! How can I…" her voice trailed off and she turned around again to walk away.
Mike, now snapped out of his confused daze advanced toward his girlfriend once again, except this time he didn't speak; he didn't even say a word. He simply snaked his arms around her from behind and pressed his cheek against hers, and didn't let go. And El stood there, caught in Mike's arms. She tried to force herself away, but Mike didn't give.
"Let go of me," she choked, barely able to form a sentence. "Please."
"No," Mike replied, determined to help her. "I won't."
"Why?" she sobbed, still trying to break from his hold.
Because I love you. No, not now. He couldn't drop that bombshell on her in this state.
"Because you mean too much to me for me to let you go," he decided to say instead. It was simple and true.
El was too emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausted to refuse anymore. She let herself go limp in the arms of Mike, and she felt herself get hoisted up by him, and she started to move backward, back toward the door of Mike Wheeler's house.
Steve and Robin sat in the backyard of Steve's house, sipping on beers sitting on lawn chairs on the patio. They had had a couple each. Robin, being her first time drinking, had a good buzz going, but was still functioning decently. Steve, a seasoned drinker,was operating as if he had had nothing.
"Okay okay okay," Robin slurred, flinging her hand around in a wild gesture to get Steve's attention.
"Yeah," Steve asked, biting back a laugh.
"I have to ask," she began, after putting down her third beer on the table in front of them. "How did you and Nancy break up?"
Steve cringed, vividly recalling everything that had happened that night at Tina's party. He played it cool, though. It had been a long time ago, but it was still something that he did not like to talk about. His eyes fell on the still water of his pool and he began to retell the events of the party.
"Me and her were at a Halloween party last year, big house. Really intense. This was after Nancy and I had a little bit of a disagreement-"
"About what?" Robin interrupted.
Steve sipped his beer again, signing into his can through his nose. "Back in '83 her best friend died. She was killed by one of those things, we called them Demogorgans. And as you know, after all the stuff happened, none of us were allowed to tell anyone about what had happened. Like, nothing. And I'm talking, like, government invading your house and shit."
"Really? Are you bullshitting, Dingus?" Robin asked quizzically.
"Nah, on God," Steve assured her. "So she was having a real time keeping the truth a secret. The parents of her friend, Barb, still thought she was alive, thought she had ran away from home. But she was actually dead. Her parents were about to sell their house to get the money to pay for a detective to find their dead daughter."
"Jesus Christ," Robin gawked. "That's...fucked up."
"Yeah," Steve nodded his head, fiddling with his now empty can. "She wanted to tell Barb's parents. I didn't. So I told her to just...just forget about all the crazy shit, and go to this party, and act like stupid teenagers for a couple hours."
"Makes sense," Robin nodded her head. "I don't get why the hell she would want to tell them, if the government would have fucking killed you guys or something."
"Yeah, exactly," Steve replied. "So we were at the party, and Nancy was drinking a shit ton, she was getting drunk. So I told her to watch her alcohol, take it easy on the punch. She didn't want to, we got in a fight, and she spilled some punch on herself. We were talking in the bathroom and she, uh…" Steve rubbed his chin.
"Then what happened?" Robin pressed, sitting up straighter in her chair and chugging down the last of her can.
"She told me that she didn't love me, right to my face. Called me bullshit, and that we killed Barb. She had been stringing me along for a fuckin' year. She didn't love me when I loved her."
Robin was silent for a moment, contemplating what she had just heard. Her initial thought was that Nancy was a bitch, but then she realized that falling out of love wasn't unheard of, nor was it her fault. But the way she went about it was definitely a bitch move. And Steve didn't deserve her.
"She didn't deserve you, then," Robin said. "It's not your fault. She just...wasn't the one, I guess."
"Yeah, I suppose," Steve said melancholically.
The two sat in their chairs, watching the sun slowly dip below the horizon, bathing the clouds in a fiery glow. Steve had opened his fourth beer, and was enjoying the taste. He loved summer evenings like these, relaxing on the patio watching the sunset while indulging himself in some light drinking. He suddenly had an idea.
"Hey," he spoke out to Robin, shattering the cool evening silence. "I got an idea, but I don't know if it's stupid or not."
Robin, become progressively more intoxicated by the minute, perked up at this statement. "Hit me, Herrington."
"You think it would be fun if we gave all the little shits alcohol?" he said with a mischievous smirk. He couldn't tell if it was him or the booze talking, but it was a good idea either way. "We just have to make sure they stay at my house, don't throw up, and crash here so they can sleep it off for the next day," he planned.
"That. Sounds. Awesome," Robin said, laughing maniacally at just idea at a bunch of fifteen year-olds getting drunk in Steve's basement. "Oh my God, this has to happen ASAP."
"I'll drink to that," Steve smiled, clinking his can against Robin's.
Thanks for reading this chapter. As always, leave a review, it lets me know if you are liking it so far :)
