For anyone that was concerned about the fate of this story, worry no more. A million apologies. Love you.

"You two know each other?" Hopper asked, looking between Nancy and I, from his seat adjacent to me, at the foot of the table.

"Uhh," I tried to form words as Nancy took a seat next to Jonathan and diagonal from me.

What was the answer to that?

Clearly, based on the way she looked at and greeted me, I couldn't deny the question. But saying yes would require an explanation into how and that meant I would have to go into the whole story of how I even know Mike, after school tutoring included. That's something Hopper, somehow someway, still doesn't know about. I didn't want this, an unexpected Thanksgiving dinner with an unexpected guest, to be the way he found out.

What was she even doing here anyway?

"Jim," Joyce spoke, and I had never been so grateful, "can you help me bring out the turkey please?"

Without saying anything, Jim got out of his seat and followed Joyce into the kitchen.

"What are you doing here?" I asked Nancy in a tone I knew I had no right to be using.

"It's Thanksgiving," Nancy replied in a tone identical to Hop's this morning.

"I know," I snapped, annoyed. "What are you doing here here?"

"Sorry, do you two know each other?" Jonathan interrupted my investigation.

"No."

"Not really," Nancy and I spoke at the same time.

"Well, she knows Mike," Will piped up, causing the three of us to look at him.

What the hell? The quietest person I've probably ever met, saying something that could ruin everything.

"Oh, that makes sense," Jonathan answered.

"She stopped by my house a couple weeks back-" Nancy's explanation to him was cut off when Jim brought out the tray topped with turkey and Joyce came in after him, carrying another side dish. "This all looks amazing Joyce," Nancy complimented her and I was glad to have the distraction.

"Thank you Nancy," she smiled in her direction as she and Hopper placed the plates they brought from the kitchen onto the table. "What were you kids talking about?"

"How Nancy and El know each other through Mike," Jonathan unnecessarily answered.

Kill me.

"Oh, yes, that would make sense," Joyce echoed her son's words from moments ago. "That's how she knows Will too," she clarified.

"Who's Mike?" Hopper said as he turned to me and it hit me that, by not knowing who Mike is, he really was the most uninformed person out of everyone. Since I didn't know what to say, my mouth opened slightly in shock, while also noticing that everyone's eyes were on me.

"Ahh... uhh, shouldn't we say grace now? Now that all the food's out and everyone's here. There's no more guests coming right?" I spoke to the table though it was meant for Joyce and I didn't care if she could tell how frantic I sounded.

"No, no. We're all here. But, yes, let's say grace." With that, Joyce held her hands out, intending for Nancy to take one and for Will to take the other.

I was only half paying attention to who was speaking, what they were saying, and whatever came after, not noticing how much time might have passed.

"...El?"

"Hmm, what?" I shook my head, breaking out of my thoughts.

"How do you know this... Mike?" spoke Hopper.

I blinked a couple of times because I didn't realize we were still on that.

There was no way I was getting out of this without, somehow, embarrassing myself.

With any other group of people, I could probably get away with some BS reason for how and how much I know Mike. But that's not easy to do while sitting at the same table as his blood relative and close friend. Apart from them thinking I'm lying, what's worse is that, most likely in Will's case, they might know the truth.

But, if I'm careful, there's no reason I can't bend the truth. After all, no one knows why I'm in the tutoring program.

"Umm," I started, no going back now. "So, Mike is in the tutoring program at school. As a uh, tutor." And that, I noticed, caught Hop's attention. "And I went because I was having trouble with calculus," where it all began. "And then Nancy I know because, well," and this, due to what happened with Mike on the night I met Nancy, is the harder part of the story. "To thank Mike for being... nice and helpful and patient I uhh, wanted to take him out to dinner. And it also turned out to be his birthday. So I wanted to surprise him and when I got to his house, Nancy," I gestured to her as if no one knew where she was sitting, "answered the door." I ended with bringing too large a portion of mashed potatoes into my mouth, hoping no one would have any questions and not imagining they would with how thorough my story was.

"And you did all that for the kid who's just tutorin' you?" Hopper said, the first one to reply to my story.

Damn. I guess I did do all that for the kid who's just tutoring me.

Jim brings up a good point. Mike is, given how he came into my life, nothing but my tutor. So why exactly am I jumping through all these hoops to let him know I appreciate it? I'm pretty sure no one else in the program is doing this. Not that I speak to anyone else in it to be positive.

"How do you know where we live?" Nancy spoke and I cursed myself internally for overlooking that.

"I, uhh, I dropped him off once after tutoring. It was raining really hard and he only had his bike so..." I trailed off, knowing that answered that and hoping that was the end of the integration.

With everyone's attention going back to their plates in front of them, full of food which even I had to admit was really good, I knew I was likely not going to be the main subject of conversation anymore.

Based on the way Hopper was looking at me though, I don't feel confident saying the same for when I get back home. Trying to avoid him, I kept my face down and stabbed my fork into the turkey breast.

"Nancy," Joyce spoke, saving my ass for the second time since we sat down, "I was surprised to hear you would be joining us. I thought you were going to spend Thanksgiving with your dad?"

"Mom..." Jonathan warned, and it was clear that Joyce's concern wasn't supposed to be mentioned. Naturally, and especially because as far as I knew, Nancy wasn't going to be in town today, I now paid more attention.

"It's okay, Jonathan," she replied in a somewhat sad tone before turning to Joyce. "Yeah, I was supposed to spend Thanksgiving with my dad. That's why I spent Mike's birthday with him a couple of weeks ago. But he, uhh, cancelled on me at the last minute. So I decided to come back to Hawkins instead. It's for the better anyway." Nancy ended with a shrug.

So that explains it.

"Um, so Joyce," Nancy perked up, completely different to how she just sounded, and looked at our hostess. "How did you and Chief Hopper meet? Jonathan refuses to tell me anything so I've been really looking forward to asking." Jonathan's reaction to that wasn't easy to put into words, but it sure wasn't anything positive. I, on the other hand, was just as curious as Nancy.

"Umm, well," she blushed and smiled widely at Hopper across the table, and he looked back at her with that same stupid grin he had on back when we first arrived.

"You can tell it," he chuckled.

"You tell it a lot better," Joyce laughed.

Gag me with a spoon.

"So it was that day those guys had that fight at the lake -El, remember I left you that voicemail?- and when they came to, I wanted to start questioning them right away. But Joyce was one of the nurses working that day-."

"I'm still in school and wasn't able to do much then so I had to get the head nurse's help on some things. It was also really busy that day and Hop was just being very impatient."

"And I kept telling her that the faster I could talk to them, the faster I'd get out of her hair, but she wasn't having that," Jim continued, not seeming to care that Joyce interrupted him.

"I just wanted to do my job properly and I didn't want to get into any trouble. I didn't even realize he was the Chief until another nurse pointed it out to me. So I was all embarrassed and I wanted to go up to him and apologize. But he was busy doing his job so I just tried to let it go." By now, she was looking up and down the table, like she was expecting everyone's attention. And based on the way we were all looking at her, I'd say she has it. She took a sip from her wine glass before continuing. "Later, I went back to the nurses' station and after a few minutes, Jim came up and properly introduced himself. And then... well, I'll spare you the details, but that's basically how it went." She ended by facing the person who posed the question and the reason we all had to sit through that.

Way to go, Nancy Drew.


At long last, the most awkward holiday dinner ever, or perhaps the most awkward dinner of any ever, was over. Before any sort of post-meal conversation started, I excused myself to use the bathroom. No one seemed to notice that I took my jacket with me. Remembering where Will said Joyce's smoking spot was, I headed there after my stop at the restroom.

With the chance to finally have a cigarette, I quickly dug out the small box from one jacket pocket and my lighter from the other. Within seconds, I was exhaling desperately, not realizing how much I needed it after what I just survived.

There was a lot to think about and take in and I didn't really know where to start.

"Um, hey," I jumped in surprise and looked back, not expecting Jonathan to be standing right there. "We're serving desert. My mom asked me to come find you."

Ugh, already?

"Thanks," I answered smokily. He nodded and I knew I would only have seconds to say anything else. "Hey," I spoke before I could stop myself, "your dad's not around, is he?" I'd been thinking about it since looking around their living room and I knew I very likely was not going to have another chance to ask.

He gave a look that told me I should have worded my question better, especially coming from me. "I just mean," I blew smoke out, "he's not in any of the photos in there." I nodded towards the house. "If your dad died, he would be. But he's not so..." Not wanting to make him uncomfortable since I had no reason to, I looked away, not expecting him to answer.

"He left when I was nine."

Oh.

"Oh. And it's just been Joyce raising you two ever since?"

"And doing a hell of a great job." I slightly smiled at the way he put it, not caring if it changed the appearance of carelessness I've been giving off all day.

"I uhh, can't help but notice you're not so thrilled with the idea of her and my dad?" I asked the question I've had in mind since I saw the way he greeted Jim.

He took a little longer to answer than when he told me about this dad.

"She's dated other guys since the divorce. But this is her first serious relationship so I think you can understand why I'm hesitant."

Her first what relationship?

"Um, yeah. Same." I spoke before really thinking about it. "I get it. Come on, let's go inside." Not wanting to think so much on that new piece of information, I stubbed my cigarette out and hurried back in, leading the way. Immediately, the smell of sweets wafted through the air and if I wasn't already going back to the table, I would have to see what food matched the delicious scent.

On the table, damn near perfectly presented was a pumpkin pie and a tray of blueberry cobbler. In between the two was an unlidded carton of vanilla ice cream.

"Didn't get that pie done, did you?" I teased Jim as I passed him on the way back to my seat. On the plate closest to me, though I figured it was meant for all of us to eat, were the cinnamon sugar cookies I could have swore I smelled when we first arrived. Shocked, I picked one of them up.

"I love these," I said aloud.

"I know," called out Joyce and I faced her. "Your dad told me." In a way that they weren't trying to hide, they smiled at each other.

The word Jonathan used to describe the two of them rang in my head.

Serious.

Since I don't know how much he knows, I don't have to take his word for it. But based on what I've seen today, that's a pretty accurate way to describe it. They're serious enough, at least, that they've shared information about their kids to each other, like how much I love these cookies that taste as good as they smell. I'm not really sure how I feel about that but if it was something negative, I wouldn't be thinking so much about it.

Overall, this dinner wasn't as entirely terrible as I thought it would be. While being here gave me more information about Hopper and Joyce, the only truly bad part was that it also caused me to open up to him, with limited information, about Mike and the tutoring. It's something I totally did not plan on happening but seemed unavoidable when I saw that Nancy would be joining us. It was bad enough having Will around, even though he barely spoke two words the whole time.

I've only seen Mike twice since the day after his birthday weekend. Twice, both times at tutoring, since he said he'd do it again "given the chance". I still haven't worked out what that means and I'd be lying if I said I haven't been thinking about it since then.

Finding out we were coming here, and the few hours leading up to it, was just a brief distraction. Once Nancy arrived, and I had a visual reminder of that Saturday night's activities, the thoughts about him became stronger and having to talk about my... relationship with him, if you will, did nothing to help.

It all leads to one conclusion.

I can't get Mike out of my mind.

The way he talks, stumbling over his words like he's double-thinking everything he's about to say. The way he reads, writes, or references anything in a school book, hunched over with his head down, and yet doesn't have bad posture when he sits or stands.

The way he rides his bike around town, thinner and ganglier than him, even when it's about to pour rain. The way he thought his Dungeons and Dragons T-shirt was appropriate attire for a house party.

The way he still, sometimes, starts saying my full name, before he remembers how I liked to be called.

I wouldn't say that means I have feelings for Mike. I just can't. We're so different and we have nothing in common. Even though we get along, it doesn't mean there should be anything more between us. Like Jim said, Mike is just my tutor. And that should be the only reason I pay any particular attention to him.

But it's not. The most that I should do is be thankful and show up prepared to work on the days we meet. We shouldn't meet at coffee shops and talk about our personal lives as much as we do, and we definitely shouldn't be going to parties and drinking together.

Despite that though, yeah, I'd do it again too. Given the chance.

Oh, fuck.

Well, let's put it this way: things are going to get a lot more interesting. As you can probably already tell.

I am super sorry for the long absence. To avoid the TMI, please just know that I've been going through some major changes in my personal life. I try to work on my writing a little each day (this and my other ongoing story), but some days are better than others. I really feel that I have more of a handle on it now though. So please hang in there, because it's going to get good, I promise. Please leave a review if you can and thank you for reading!