Ch. 6

Illinois, Chicago

Mike got out of the car and opened her door for her. "Why thank you, good sir!" El said, giggling.

'It's good to see her laughing and having fun for the first time in a while.' Mike thought. 'We haven't had a lot of conversation, or actual dates or hangouts. It's either been makeout sessions or screaming matches for a WHILE now. It's good to be able to have that camaraderie with her again.'

They entered the restaurant, where the staff stared at Mike and El like they both had four legs. "Table for two, Mike Wheeler," Mike said as he approached the host.

The host started to talk, "Sir, this is a RESPECTABLE establishment. You cannot just barge in here, and-"

"I have proof of reservation." Mike interrupted, "Do you want to seat me, or should I just expect a refund, plus a FREE reschedule, as promised by your reservation guarantee? For my special favor, they can just fire you."

"That- that won't be necessary, right this way. There you are, sir and madam. A server will be with you shortly, I apologize for the, uh, mixup." the host replied after seating them.

"That won't be necessary. We're not hungry," Mike replied.

"Then what are you doing here? Get out or pay for food! We have paying customers waiting for a table!" the host exclaimed.

"But I AM a paying customer. One who could get you fired, should I choose. You forget yourself. I HAVE paid. I have paid for the use of this table for the next two hours. If you want rid of me, you know how to do it. Now, if you would leave us alone, that would be wonderful." Mike replied coldly, with a sneer of disdain on his face.

"Of offf off cccccourse, sir. I apologize. Please enjoy the unique atmosphere of our restaurant." the host stammered out, before beating a hasty retreat to his podium near the entrance.

"That WAS AWESOME!" El exclaimed, almost falling out of her seat because of her uncontrollable laughter. "He didn't know what to do."

Mike joined in laughing, and soon they were getting dirty looks from some of the other patrons, (some small-time famous people, state politicians, models, B and C-list actors, along with a few people who had managed to get or stay rich, while remaining relatively out of the public eye.) That only made them laugh even harder. They started whispering jibes to each other over the table. About an hour in, they were approached by a group of what were basically spoiled teenage prep school brats who were annoyed someone possessed more brain cells than their group total of 2 and had this idea before them. They started trying to intimidate Mike into running off and also trying to pick up El. El and Mike, as one, told them to go fuck themselves and gave them the finger.

One of them sidled up to El, and grabbed her ass, saying, "Come on, baby. Don't be like that. If he asks nicely, we might even let lover boy waaaaatchhhhh- SHIIIIIITTTT!" (At which point he screamed, El having broke his arm, swung him around, and kneed him in the balls.) They left quickly after that, two of them helping their leader limp away.

One hour later,

Mike and El gather their things, Mike tipped the host $5, and saluted as he sauntered out with El hanging on his arm, laughing at the host's face when he realized how shit the tip was, in comparison to his usual fare. "MOTHERFUCKER!" El screamed, prompting Mike to run over and check on her.

"What's wrong?!" He asked, prompting a long string of obscenities from El.

"Those bastards wrecked my truck! It's okay, baby. I'll fix you up, and then I'll get them back, I promise!" El whispered to her truck as she stroked the smoking hood.

"Can you fix it?" Mike asked "Maybe if I had access to my garage workshop, but that's 3 hours away by car, and it's already almost 1 am. Let's get it towed to a mechanic. Looks like we'll be using that motel room, after all, Mike." El replied, adding, "I'll call a taxi, you call that tow, then we drive to the motel. I'll call Hopper so you don't get shot upon him laying eyes in you next, once we get to the motel. Just let me get all our stuff out of the truck, so it doesn't 'disappear'."

30 mins later, 1:30 AM

Mike and El's motel room,

"NO, Dad, he's NOT sharing my room!" El exclaimed.

"Kid, I'm not stupid. Y'all aren't going to spend money, and forgo opportunities for fooling around just to make me happy. I know you two too well." Hopper replied. "Just promise me you two will be safe, okay? I realize you're getting older, and you're not the same little girl who was brave and strong enough to save her mom's life, but it's hard to let things change. I miss the way things were between us, but you can't turn back the clock, so I'm doing my best to adapt to our new dynamic and make it the best it can be."

El felt her chest tighten when she tried to reply, took a deep breath, and tried again. "Don't worry, Dad. We'll be safe, I know I can be reckless sometimes, but I know not to fool around with this, okay? I know to be safe, and I came prepared."

"Oh, I know. I noticed a couple of boxes of date supplies missing from my room. It took all my self-control, and Joyce's convincing mojo not to drive after you and shoot Mike, but somehow, I resisted." Hopper replied.

"I thought you hadn't noticed!"

"Nope. I just chose not to make you feel like you weren't allowed to be safe. I would rather you not do it at all, but knowing that won't happen, I'll settle for you two being safe."

"Well, might not happen tonight, actually. Mike says we have too much baggage between us or some stupid shit. I'm going to try and change his mind." El replied.

"I wouldn't, kid. If he starts feeling like he's not going to be able to hold out for much longer, he'll say something that will hurt your feelings, then apologize in the morning, when you're no longer about to coerce him into something he has said no to. Not a good idea." Hopper said.

This prompted El to say, "GOOD NIGHT, DAD," and slam the phone down. El showered, put on some less than completely modest nightwear, then went over to Mike, whose eyes damn near POPPED right out of his head. "No. Go. NOW. It's not happening." Mike said crossly to El while looking pointedly away from her and her, um, nightwear, shall we call it? "See, but I see things that tell me otherwise. Like this, right here-" El purred, before having her hand grabbed by Mike.

"No, El! Respect my choices! Isn't that what you always say to me, when I try to tell you something isn't a good idea?" Mike shouted, before locking the bathroom door and taking an ICE COLD shower. El went to her bed (Mike was on the couch), and cried (like soft crying, almost sniffling, but a bit louder) for a bit. Mike came out, saw her crying through a crack in the door, got dressed, sat on the bed, and put his arms around her.

"I want to, I just don't want to hurt you." He said quietly, as she turned around to face him. She then kissed him, twisting her fingers in his face.

"I love you, Mike."

"And I, you, El, that's why I have to say no."

"But you don't." (I hate u, l love u, starts playing)"But I do, and if you can't respect my decisions, then maybe we aren't right for each other. If you want a yes man, who jumps, no questions asked, when you say, that's not me. I want you, El, and I want to be with you for the rest of my life, to never be apart, but I can't be in a relationship where I am expected to shut up and let you do what you want. If you keep trying to coerce me, we're done until you can respect my decisions. I'll always be available until I die, or you take someone else. However, you need to be able to listen, or I won't be able to date you. That's not fair to me or you."

El replied, "So, you want me to shut up, do what you want, be a good little housewife? Nope! I need to listen? YOU need to compromise!"

"I did. I didn't say no, just no right now. When we don't get in fights like THIS all the time, then I'll say yes. You are illustrating WHY I have to say no."

"Fuck you, Mike! I'm done with your shit! I just want to be with you! What's wrong? Am I not good enough for you?" El spat at Mike.

"Stop guilt-tripping me. We're done here. I'm going to get a ride back to Hawkins. I'll see you tomorrow. I'm sorry you feel you're not beautiful enough just cause I care about you."

"Walk out of here, and we're done," El said coldly. "I'm sorry you feel you have to threaten me to get what you want. Sorry, El. Hope you change your mind."

"WE'RE DONE!" Mike heard Eleven screech as he walked out of the room. He kept his composure until getting to the stairs, when he broke down, knowing that El probably would actually end breaking up with this. He staggered to the lobby and called the Byer's house.

"Who is this?" Joyce said groggily, after picking up the phone, having gone to the bathroom.

"Mike. I need a ride or a place to stay that isn't owned by someone close to El."

"Mike? I thought you and El were staying at a motel?"

"She wanted sex, I told her there was too much going on between us to add something that to the mix, and that if we, God forbid, broke up, I didn't want to make the breakup hurt worse for her, she tried to argue, coerce, then basically gave me an ultimatum, which I chose to ignore, for her sake. She broke up with me. She's made THAT clear."

"Oh, honey, I'm so sorry. You WERE probably right, though. If it didn't feel like the right time to you, it probably wasn't."

"Could you not tell anyone until 12 hours from now? I don't want to deal with this right now."

"Sure, Jonathan's coming to pick you up. Where are you?"

"I'll be outside the motel."

"Okay, be safe, and we'll try our best to fix this." Joyce hung up, leaving him to sit under the motel canopy, and listen to the rain bounce off, and hit the ground.

(sorry for the irregular posting, guys. A bit of writer's block concerning this chapter.) (I mean, there might be times I don't post new chapters for a couple of weeks, but I'll usually tell you why. Plus, I might just not have any ideas.) (you guys have been awesome with all the support you have shown this story. I did not expect this kind of support right from the beginning. Already at 75 views as I'm writing this! I'll post a link to an audio recording of a monologue outlining the plot for a story I might post on FictionPress, when I see we've gotten to 80 views to celebrate!)

NEW PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT/AN: THE WEED THAT EL SMOKES IS 80'S WEED. THAT HAD WAY LESS THC, SO WHILE IT WAS STILL BAD FOR YOU, IT WAS SIGNIFICANTLY LESS SO. NOW WEED WILL MESS YOU THE HELL UP. DONT DO IT. Also, I can hear you saying, "But if it was still bad for you, and El claims to get extremely high every day, how is she not getting messed up?" The answer is that she smokes in public, never in private. She only does it to provoke Hopper. When she doesn't want to do that, she doesn't get high. She was EXTREMELY exaggerating her drug usage there to make Mike look bad. Also, some characters, (not main ones) will use some harder drugs. Honestly, that will probably only be ecstasy. THAT IS A DEADLY AND EXTREMELY ILLEGAL DRUG. EL ONLY PRODUCES IT BECAUSE SHE IS BEING THREATENED WITH SERIOUS PHYSICAL HARM. THE CHEMICAL PROCESSES THAT PRODUCE THIS DRUG ARE JUST AS OR MORE DANGEROUS AS THE USAGE OF THIS DRUG. IT IS FOR SURE MORE ILLEGAL THAN THE USAGE OF IT. LIKE, DEA BLACK-OPS UNITS WITH MACHINE GUNS KICKING DOWN YOUR DOOR IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT ILLEGAL. Simply put, don't use or produce any illegal drugs, and I KNOW you know not to, but just DON'T, okay? Ok, I'll step off my soapbox now. That was mainly for legal reasons. I DO NOT ASSUME ANY LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY CONSEQUENCES ARISING FROM YOUR PRODUCTION OR USE OF ANY ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES.