Disclaimer: I don't own Stranger Things or any of the characters in this story.


Chapter 2: Summer of '69

Mike Wheeler was a talented kid. At 15 years old, he was great at school, he'd won numerous science fairs, was the youngest president of the Hawkins High AV Club they'd ever had, he could write interesting and fun D & D campaigns, and was on his way to becoming proficient on guitar.

With girls, however, it was a different story.

Mike could not get a girlfriend for the life of him. It was two-fold. He had an awkward personality to begin with. This was a guy who was so random, it should have been his middle name. He was a wealth of knowledge on lots of different subjects. Mike tried to infuse these little tidbits into conversations…but it didn't always go smoothly. He also liked imitating people's voices. One minute, he was speaking like regular Mike. The next minute, it was Mike's British cousin. Oy vey.

The second facet was that he always seemed to turn into a sputtering mess around a pretty girl. Mike would either clam up or get a horrible case of verbal diarrhea.

But maybe tonight, his luck would change.

Mike spotted the pretty girl the moment she walked into the crowd. Her brown hair was short and wavy. She was wearing a cool black shirt with blue splotches on it. The splotches almost looked like planets in the Solar System. He couldn't help but wonder if she'd like to go stargazing with him one night. Finally, her jeans were held up by a pair of dark blue suspenders. He liked her style!

"Dude…uh, who are you looking at?"

Mike spun around frantically to face Dustin, who was giving him a shit-eating grin. "What? Nobody…why?"

Dustin made a tsk-tsk noise and shook his head. "Au contraire, my friend! I know that look, and it's the pretty-lady-alert look."

"Pretty lady," interjected Lucas, popping up from behind his drums. "Where at?"

"Somewhere in the crowd. Ask Mike," replied Dustin. "He's been staring at some girl. He had that dopey look on his face."

"Fuck off," Mike hissed. "My face is NOT dopey."

"Guys, come ON," said Will. "We need to finish setting up. Do you want to sound like total assholes tonight?"

Dustin threw up his hands in exasperation. "God damn it, Byers. Why do you have be all logical and shit?

Will wagged his finger at his friends. "Will the Wise…and don't forget it."

As they went back to work, Mike felt the sudden urge to check out his pretty lady again. He couldn't suppress the grin from forming on his face as he saw her look frantically away from him. Seems as though he wasn't the only one who was interested. But he was caught off guard when she shyly looked back at him. Mike felt the redness of a blush stain his cheeks as he saw just how hazel her eyes were; how pink her lips were.

She wasn't merely pretty. She was beautiful.


El smiled back at Mike, his dark eyes seemingly sparkling as she did so. Her gaze moved down the long expanse of his neck to where it ended at his shirt collar. She had the sudden urge to kiss the exposed skin there…

She really needed to stop watching so many soap operas.

"Hello! Earth to El Hopper! Come in, El Hopper!"

Max's voice snapped her out of her reverie. She inhaled shakily. "Yes?"

Max cackled. "Maybe I should start calling you Mrs. Wheeler instead."

"Who's Mrs. Wheeler?"

"You, if you play your cards right."

El frowned. "Play my cards?"

"It's a figure of speech. Wheeler is Mike's last name. You're obviously smitten with him. I can only imagine what it'll be like when the two of you actually meet. Probably nothing but kissing all day." El couldn't help but smile at the thought. She'd be okay with that.

"But anyway, who knows," continued Max. "If you guys get along and things go well, 10 years down the line…you could be married."

El thought about how marriage was portrayed in the books she read, and TV shows/movies she watched. Sure, in some of the soap operas she saw, there was some over-the-top drama. But for the most part, marriage seemed okay. It meant you got to have a lover and best friend for the rest of your life.

As El continued to ponder this, Benny Hammond stepped onto the stage. He lifted his arms to quiet everyone down. "Can I get everyone's attention? We've got a real treat for you tonight. It's their first time playing for you all. Please welcome to the stage Hawkins' own…Rules as Written!"

The guys stepped up to their respective instruments amidst the light applause – Will smiling shyly, Lucas pumping his fist in the air, Dustin hamming it up and bowing to the audience, and Mike…

Well, Mike…

"Ello, 'Awkins! I'm The Paladin! 'Oo's ready to rawk?"

Mike's nervous laugh/squeak broke the silence that followed.

"Um, Mike. I'm Mike."

"Nah, you're just a frog face," came a shout from the back of the crowd. Mike didn't have see him to know that it was his nemesis, Troy.

"And you're just an asshole," spat Dustin into the microphone, followed by a chorus of "oooooh's" from the audience.

"Hey," shouted Benny off to the side, "Less swearing, more music!"

Dustin saluted in Benny's direction. "Yes sir! Sorry sir!"

Eleven had been watching the exchange between Mike and this other mouthbreather. While she didn't quite understand why Mike had started talking differently – or what a Paladin was, for that matter – she thought it was pretty rude of this other boy to call Mike a frog face. His face in no way resembled a frog. She should know – she'd been staring at it for quite some time.

She was lucky, however, that she happened to glance behind herself in the direction of the mouthbreather. He had a Styrofoam cup of what looked like strawberry milkshake, and was preparing to throw it directly at Mike.

Not on my watch, she thought.

It was like time slowed down. As Troy began to wind up, El concentrated as hard as she could on that cup. Almost immediately after it left his hand, it exploded in mid-air, raining down on the girl in front of him.

"EEEEEEEEK," she screamed. "Troy, what the fuck?!"

For his part, Troy looked mortified. "Holy shit, I didn't mean to, Stacy! I was aiming at frog face!"

"Aim better next time, you douche!" With that, she grabbed his t-shirt collar and dumped her French fries down his front.

That was all it took for someone to yell, "FOOD FIGHT!"

The air then became a mess of screaming, milkshakes, burgers, and hot dogs. El had never seen anything like it. She looked frantically around for Max, who from the looks of things, was joining in on the food fight, too. Max was crouched behind a chair, and was scooping up fries from the ground to throw at people.

El swung around to try and figure out what her next move was, when suddenly, she was splashed clear in the face with a stream of chocolate milkshake. She gasped and covered her eyes, the intrusion making them water and burn.

As she began to sink to the ground in fear and pain, she felt a pair of arms lift her back up. "Are you okay? I've got you."

She wanted to cry in relief, but also in embarrassment. This was not how she wanted her first meeting with the cutest boy on earth to go. Plus, she was covered in chocolate milkshake.

El tried to open her eyes amidst the stinging, but could only just squint. Her vision was blurred, and Mike's face swam in front of hers. "Mike?"

"Yeah, I'm Mike. Let's get you out of here."

He got her inside as the melee continued, and helped her into the bathroom. "Come on, we've got to rinse your eyes out. I'll hold your hair back if you rinse, okay?"

El nodded feebly. "Okay."

Mike gently pulled her hair away from her face as she began to splash her eyes, taking care not to accidentally tug too hard. Some of the strands of her hair were coated with sticky milkshake, and smelled like chocolate. But Mike could also pick up on something flowery and fresh. He'd have to do some research later and figure out what it was.

After a few minutes, El reached up and turned off the water. Mike handed her a wad of paper towel to dry her face. Thankfully, the stinging had subsided quite a bit, and El could now freely look up and see her rescuer up close.

Good lord.

He was quite a bit taller than she – a good 6 inches taller. El liked that. She could just imagine snuggling in his arms and tucking her head under his chin. But up close, El was able to see just how many freckles Mike had running across his nose and his wonderfully sculpted cheeks.

"Hey…are you okay?"

His voice snapped her out of her trance and she looked back into his eyes. His beautiful, dark eyes… Ugh, El was turning into a sap.

"Yes. Thank you, Mike."

"Of course, m'lady." Shit. Why did his British accent have to come out now? Mike smacked his forehead in embarrassment. He wasn't expecting, however, that El would try to mimic him back.

Her eyes screwed up in concentration as she tried to form her words in this new voice. "You ah soooo coined."

Mike grinned hugely. It was clear this girl was not great at accents – who was he kidding, neither was he – but she was trying. No one, and certainly not a girl, ever played along when he got this random. He needed to hold on to this one. But first, he needed to find out her name.

"So, I don't really want to have to call you milkshake girl from now on. What's your name?"

El grinned back at him. "El. Short for Eleanor." This was what she and Hopper had agreed would be her formal name.

"El…that's really pretty."

She had been doing very well with her social skills and mannerisms over the last year, and had learned a great deal. But occasionally, she did slip up. Like when, for example, her hand suddenly made its way into Mike's thick hair.

Ugh. She had guessed right. Soooooo soft.

Mike was frozen in place – not expecting El's reaction, but not shying away from it either. He kind of liked it, actually.

"What kind of shampoo do you use?"

He barked out a laugh, but quickly stopped when he saw El's face. Apparently, it was a genuine question. He just hadn't thought he'd be talking with her about shampoo.

"Um, I'm not sure. It's whatever my mom buys."

"Well, I like it. It makes your hair all fluffy."

Mike had the sudden urge to run home and find out what shampoo it was…then buy his weight in that shampoo.

He could feel his cheeks getting red. "Thanks. I, uh…I like your hair, too."

El giggled. "Thanks." She was suddenly aware that her hand was still in Mike's hair. But she couldn't bring herself to care. And he wasn't stopping her either.

She decided to let her hand roam across his cheek, and all the freckles that were there. "Like stars," she murmured.

"What," Mike asked just as softly.

"The freckles on your face," El clarified. "There are so many…they look like stars."

Mike remembered that he wondered if she'd like to go stargazing sometime. He decided to be brave and just ask. "Hey El?"

Bang.

The bathroom door flew open, breaking the couple out of their bubble and revealing a smirking Max. She looked behind herself and shouted, "Found 'em!"

Dustin appeared around the corner, his eyes covering his hands. "We're not interrupting anything are we? Were you two sucking face?"

"Or sucking something else," cracked Lucas.

"What? No," Mike shouted. He respected El way too much to let it go that far that quickly. Not that he was opposed to doing that at some point…

El had only known Mike for about 10 minutes, but she already felt extremely loyal to and protective of him. He had rescued her, after all. She didn't really understand this conversation about sucking, but it seemed like Mike was being made fun of. She found herself getting mad, not just at his friends but at Max, too.

She fixed Max with a steely glare. "Mike was helping me get shake out of my eyes. Where were you, Max? Oh yeah, you were throwing food, too."

"Hey," Max retorted, "I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have abandoned you like that. I kind of just got caught up in everything. You know? Someone throws a burger at you, and you throw something back."

"No, Max, I don't know. I don't get why people would just throw food for fun. You're supposed to eat it. I'm sure a lot of poor little kids would love those fries you were throwing."

El's voice had gotten progressively more choked up, and Max's face softened. She suddenly realized that El was referring to her time at the lab, and she felt horrible about it.

Max moved forward and gathered El in her arms, whispering apologies again and again. The minute Max's arms enveloped her, El broke down.

While all this was happening, Mike was looking past El and Max at his friends. They were all confused at the emotional turn this had taken. But they were good guys, and they wanted to offer their support in any way they could.

After a few moments, the girls broke apart, El wiping her eyes. Will, who had been silent this whole time, spoke up. "El, is it? I'm Will. I'm a friend of Mike's. I don't really know you, but if you ever want to talk about anything, I'm a good listener."

Lucas stepped forward next. "Hey, El. I'm Lucas. I'm always happy to help out a friend in need, even new friends."

El looked at the group of guys. "You want to be my friends?"

"Definitely," said Dustin. "Max said you were awesome when we were looking for you. And we always love to have new friends. I'm Dustin, by the way…at your service!"

Dustin, ever the ham, got down on one knee and opened his arms. El giggled and gave him a hug. "And I always like to make my friends laugh!"

"And what about me," questioned Max. "Are you guys my friends now, too?"

"Hell yeah," said Lucas, a little too enthusiastically. Everyone glanced at him questioningly, and he chuckled sheepishly in response. "I mean, yes. You're pretty cool. A little scary, but cool."

Max snorted. "I am not scary."

"Uh, yes you are. I saw you stuff a French fry up someone's nose out there. Plus, you have a skateboard."

"Newsflash…having a skateboard doesn't make you scary."

"Oh I'm sorry, does it make you totally tubular?"

"I do not say totally tubular!"

"EXCUSE ME! CHILDREN," Dustin cut in, "Can you please pipe down? We've got to get out of here. Benny told me he would reschedule us for another day…once the place has been cleaned up."

El let out a little whine. "But we never got to hear you guys play."

Mike smiled comfortingly. "We can play for you anytime we want, El. Just name a time and we'll do it."

"Yeah you will," Max quipped, causing the other guys to stifle their laughter.

"Anyway," Mike cut in "You guys want to go out for some food or ice cream or something? And actually eat it?"

"Actually, we probably need to get going, El," Max said, looking at her watch. "Your dad said we needed to be home by 9, and it's 8:45."

El could feel her body deflate. She'd loved being out for the night. It had been an eventful time, that's for sure.

"I don't want to go," she said quietly, looking directly at Mike.

He smiled tenderly back at her. "I don't want you to go, but I don't want you to get in trouble with your dad either. We can hang out another time."

This seemed to placate El, and they all walked outside together, chattering animatedly. It made El smile when she saw Troy helping Benny pick up food and trash from the food fight. Served him right.

"Hey El," Mike began, letting the others walk ahead, "It was awesome meeting you tonight. I really would like to hang out with you another time."

El's stomach clenched in excitement. If she could do a backflip, she'd probably be doing one now. "I'd like that, too, Mike."

Mike let out a shaky exhale. "Can I have your phone number?"

"Yes," El nodded feverishly. "Do you have any paper?"

"Uh…" Mike dug around in his pockets and fished out a napkin and a pen. He wrote down his number, tore it off, and gave it to El. "This is mine. Write down yours."

El eagerly pocketed Mike's number, wrote hers down, and gave it to him. "I can't wait to see you again," she said honestly.

"Me too! That is, I can't wait to see you, too."

"El, shouted Max, "We gotta go!"

El turned to see Max straddling her bike, and began to walk towards her. But something inside her told her to be bold. She ran back towards Mike and kissed him quickly on the cheek. "Thank you for rescuing me," she said.

Mike let out a little squeak in surprise, but cleared his throat to try and cover it up. "Anytime. I'll call you tomorrow."

El smiled and bit her lip. "Okay. Night, Mike."

"Night, El."

She ran back to Max again, smiling giddily. She couldn't believe she'd actually done that. As she hopped on the back of Max's bike, she let out a little squeal.

"Someone's happy," Max commented as she began to pedal towards the cabin.

"Max, he's so cute," El gushed.

"Yeah, yeah. I know he thinks you're cute, too. It's super obvious. When are you seeing him again?"

"Soon, I hope. He said he'd call me tomorrow."

"Woah, woah, woah," Max said in surprise. "You gave him your phone number? What are you going to tell Hopper when he calls?"

El hadn't thought about that.

Well, shit.


Hola, readers! I hope you're enjoying my little story! Some summer fluff and fisticuffs this chapter. Please leave me a review.

Chapter title is taken from the great Bryan Adams…as is the story title and Chapter One as well. He was HUGE in the 80's (listen to the albums "Cuts Like a Knife" and "Reckless!"), and is still touring today. Bryan was a major source of inspiration for me, and I want to try and use one of his songs as a title for each chapter!