Back To Hawkins.

El quickly runs upstairs and shuts the door of her bedroom with a quick move. She turns around and lets out a loud sob, sliding down the door. She doesn't know that the tears that are flowing out of her brown irises are of happiness, sadness, anger, or fear.

Is she happy that she'll see Mike after a very, very, very long time? Yes, she is.

Is she sad that he's probably just coming for Lucas' birthday? Yes. Or maybe angry too.

Is she afraid that she might not be able to face Mike after everything happened? Yes.

So many questions spin in her mind as she continues letting out loud and hysterical sobs. Her chest starts to heave up and down as she clutches her chest, feeling a familiar stinging pain in her chest.

No. Not right now! She can't deal with this in the situation!

Panic attacks were often in these situations for her. Whenever someone mentioned her past or even the name of her ex-boyfriend, panic attacks attacked her, making her feel even more miserable in her life.

Right now, she had no one with her that could calm her down. Sometimes, Max helped her whenever she felt her best friend suffering, but on those late nights when she accidentally had nightmares, there was no one to help her. She was alone with her feelings.

She feels her phone vibrating in the pocket of her jeans as she immediately reaches for the phone to answer.

"H-hello?" She shakingly answers, still gasping for air.

"El! Oh my god! You have no idea how much I was worried. Are you okay?"

"M-max, I-I can't b-breathe. I n-need help." El rambles, leaving the redhead confused on the other side of the phone.

"What?" Max asks but then hears El sniffle and slightly gasp.

"Oh my god! You're having a panic attack again! I'll be there, El. Just take some deep breaths. Deep breaths, okay?" Max responds in a rush before hanging up the call.

El puts the phone beside her as she tries to take some deep breaths as Max told her. She crosses her legs and tries to remember the voice in her head as she sucks a deep breath in and releases it out. She sniffles again and tries to take a few more slow breaths to calm herself down.

After a few more practices, she finally succeeds as she feels her breaths going normal again. She sighs and bends her head down in her hands.

Max didn't take much time to come as El finally hears a familiar honk coming from outside. "Max," she mumbles as she hears loud footsteps reaching towards the door and finally reveals the redhead with concern plastered all over her face."El!" She kneels down and hugs her best friend who immediately sinks in her arms. She tightly hugs Max and blinks her eyes causing the tears to flow again.

"I c-can't face him, Max." El sobs. "I can't."

"Hey, hey. Shhh." Max rubs her best friend's back. "You can." El pulls away and looks at the redhead with her puffy eyes. "No, Max. I'm so weak to face him. I can't."

Max smiles at her and responds, "El, You're stronger than you know."

"And talking about Mike; he is a coward and weak that he didn't face the situation you were in and left you alone when you were suffering."

"Max-"

Max puts a hand on her shoulder before responding, "El, you have to believe in yourself and overcome your fears."

El sighs and looks away, knowing that Max was right. How much time will she be having panic attacks like this and crying herself to sleep? No, this wasn't the option. She has to get rid of this.

While El was thinking about this, an idea pops into Max's head. "Hey, why don't you stay at my house for a few days?"

El's face converts into a horrified expression. "What? Max-"

"Hey, hey, no bullshit, okay?" Max points a finger toward the brunette playfully. "You have to come and also... it's been really long since we had a sleepover."

El sniffles and lets out a low laugh. "We had a sleepover three days ago!"

"Yeah, and that's long." The redhead giggled, realizing that El's mood is lightened up a bit. "So come on, snatch your phone and let's have some fun!"

"Okay, okay." El giggles and stands up, Max doing the same. She walks to the shelf and clutches her purse and phone from the ground before exiting the house with her best friend.


"Hey, Mikey?" Ashlyn's voice sounds through Mike's ears as he smiles and looks back at his girlfriend. "Hmm?"

"You said that your friend is going to pick us up. Where is he? It's been half an hour since we landed." She whines making him frown. "I don't know. He said that he was on his way 10 minutes ago- Oh! There he is!"

Mike sees a familiar figure jogging up to him as he also walks a few steps forward to recognize him better. Lucas immediately hugs him and Mike accepts the hug, patting him on his back. He pulls away and takes a better look at his best friend. "Dude, you look 25."

Lucas laughs, "Yeah, and you still look the same." Mike chuckles at his response and then sees his best friend's eyes, staring at something behind him.

"Dude, you even brought your sibling with you?" Lucas jokes causing Mike to scrunch his eyebrows in confusion. He then turns around to see whom he was referring to and sees his eyes locked on the blonde.

"Oh!" Mike walks to Ashlyn and holds her hand, dragging her to his best friend. "Meet my girlfriend, Ashlyn." Lucas' mouth hung open. Why didn't Mike mention her before? "Wait...girlfriend? When? How?"

"It's a long-ass story but it's amazing, I promise. I'll tell you in some free time?" Mike says and Lucas nods. He then stretches his hand to shake Ash's. "Hi, I'm Lucas." She shakes back, giving a fake smile. "Ashlyn, short for Ash." And saying that, she quickly pulls her hand back and rubs it off on her skirt.

Lucas sees the whole interaction with her and smiles sarcastically, understanding one fact. She could be Mike's girlfriend... But nothing compared to his ex.

"Let's go, yeah?" Lucas asks before taking the luggage that was in Mike's hand and guiding both couples to his car.

Mike and Ash were in the backseat of the car as Lucas was driving. His eyes shift to the middle mirror as he sees Ash's head resting on Mike's shoulder and Mike's resting on Ash's, her body all snuggled up on his left arm.

Lucas lets out a loud huff as he diverts his eyes back to the road. Oh, he's so going to be in deep shit when El finds out about the couple.


Another shitty chapter, here! Finally, we saw Mike and Ashlyn, land in Hawkins. They think everything's going to be fine but hey, as you know that there is always calm before the storm. Hope you liked this chapter!

-Lilia