A/N: Hello! So, I gave you three chapters in a week and a half, and then I disappeared for three weeks. Actually, I went back to work after being off for Covid isolation. The last three weeks have flown by, and I did not realize how much time had passed! I hope you are all doing well and staying safe and healthy. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please please remember to leave me a review at the end!
Mike and El: Thank you!
Grievesforyou: Of course! Thank you for reading them.
Jbg: I'm glad you enjoyed the character development. What comes of reporting Jason is coming up. And don't worry about a TL;DR version. I LOVE long reviews! Feel free to tell me anything you're thinking. I hope you like this chapter as well.
Longislandgirl88: Thank you so much. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Shrike176: Thank you. I'm glad you like El and Suzie's friendship. I know we only actually had one scene of Suzie in ST3, but she strikes me as a supportive but quirky friend. There is definitely more to come on Mike and El realizing the end of camp is nearing. The Jason report will be resolved soon as well! I'm glad you are liking this, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
FavStarngerthings: Thank you. I'm glad you like it. And yes, I did watch Enola Holmes. I liked it. Personally, I give it a 7/10. Millie was great in it though.
Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger Things or any of its characters.
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The next morning, Mike and El arrived at their classroom, happy to be with each other but both with a sense of sadness knowing this was the last day of their week working together. The campers seemed to have the same type of conflicted feelings, being excited to finish their projects but sad that their week at camp was so short and they would be leaving tomorrow morning. Just before they were about to begin their first lesson at 10am, one of the female advisors stepped into the doorway of the classroom and made eye contact with Mike, beckoning him over.
"Mike Wheeler?" she asked when Mike had reached her, and he nodded to confirm. "The director wants to see you in her office at noon when your campers go to break."
"What for?" Mike asked, furrowing his brow.
"She just has some questions for you," the advisor replied. "She'll be waiting in her office at noon. It shouldn't take too long, and you'll still have time to grab some lunch."
"Okay, thanks," Mike said. It wasn't lunch he was worried about missing though; it was time with El.
The advisor left, and Mike walked back to the front of the classroom where El was waiting with a questioning expression.
"What did she want?" El asked.
"I guess the director wants to talk to me at noon. She has some questions for me," Mike repeated what he had been told.
"Oh, I bet I know what it is," El said. "When Suzie and I went to talk to her with Kayla, the director asked us if anyone else witnessed anything, and we mentioned you and Dustin."
"So she wants to ask me about Jason?" Mike asked.
"That's all I can think it would be," El replied. "It shouldn't take too long though."
"To talk about what a jackass Jason is? No, that won't take long at all," Mike chuckled.
They turned their attention to their classroom full of students and began their final day. During the first lesson, most of the campers still had some finishing touches to put on their balloon-powered cars, so they spent the first half of the hour completing those. When it came time to race them, the ten campers lined up along the wall, and Mike put down a line of masking tape on the floor to indicate the finish line.
"Okay, is everybody ready?" El asked, looking down the line of students who nodded in response. "On your marks, get set, GO!"
Mike and El stood to the side and watched as their campers excitedly rooted for their own cars. One car made it halfway and then stopped, another was moving slowly but steadily, but most were competitively on their way to the finish line.
"Ha! In your face!" exclaimed the young boy whose car crossed the line first. His excitement was met with disappointed groans from several of his classmates.
"Alright, you guys have about twenty minutes before you need to be ready for the dissection," Mike said.
"Can we race our cars some more?" asked one boy who was particularly annoyed that his car had lost.
"Sure. Just have everything cleaned up and ready for your biology lesson in twenty minutes," Mike replied.
The kids broke into smaller groups, some still wanting to race each other, some wanting to admire each other's cars, and some ready to move on. Mike and El went back to the front of the classroom to talk while the campers had twenty minutes of free time.
"I wonder if Dustin got called to the director's office, too," Mike said, pulling out his phone and sending Dustin a text message to ask him.
"I'm sure he did if you did," El said, watching as Mike stared at his phone for several seconds after he finished typing. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. It's just not going through," Mike replied, turning his phone to show her the blue sending bar at the top of the screen that had stopped, showing it was having difficulty delivering the message. "The service here is so weird."
"It works when it wants to work," El shrugged.
"So, what do you want to do tomorrow?" Mike asked, slipping his phone back into his pocket. He saw the sadness briefly in her eyes as she realized they only had three Saturdays left together.
"Remember when we all went on that hiking trail and found that cliff and that stream? It was so beautiful and peaceful… I was thinking maybe we could go out there again, but just the two of us, and spend the day together," El suggested.
"That sounds perfect," Mike agreed.
Soon, it was time for the biology lesson to start, and Mike led the campers in the dissection of the fetal pig. As expected, a few of the campers voiced how gross they thought it was, but most of them were intrigued. After finishing the dissection and cleaning up, the campers were dismissed for their lunch and P.E. hours.
"I'll meet you in the cafeteria when I'm done with the director," Mike said when he and El were alone.
"Or, I could grab a sandwich for you and meet you in our spot," El suggested, her lips curving into a grin.
"Well that sounds way better," Mike smiled and leaned in to kiss her softly.
"You should get going," El said when Mike had pulled back, and he nodded, knowing she was right.
As El headed toward the cafeteria, Mike made his way to the admin building to speak with the director. He went inside and walked down the hallway until he reached Katherine White's office door which was ajar. Mike knocked on the open door, and Katherine looked up and greeted him with a smile.
"Mike Wheeler?" she asked.
"Yes, ma'am," Mike replied, pushing the door open the rest of the way and stepping inside.
"Have a seat," Katherine said, gesturing toward the chair opposite her own. "There is a matter I wish to discuss with you, and then you will be on your way. Excuse me for just a moment."
Katherine picked up the phone on her desk and pressed a few buttons while Mike waited patiently.
"Ron, Mike Wheeler is here. You can come on over," Katherine said into the receiver before hanging it back up.
A moment later, a man that Mike remembered from the first day of introductions walked in, smiled and nodded cordially at Mike, and sat next to Katherine.
"I hope you don't mind, I prefer to have my assistant director with me when I handle these types of matters," Katherine explained.
"I don't mind," Mike said simply.
"Mike, as you may or may not be aware, there has been an issue brought to my attention regarding two of your fellow counselors, Kayla Schmidt and Jason Reynolds," Katherine began. "Are you familiar with the issue I am referring to?"
"I am," Mike nodded.
"Miss Schmidt seems to feel as though Mr. Reynolds has been harassing her. Of course, Camp Know Where has a zero-tolerance policy regarding harassment of any type, but these types of claims need to be investigated thoroughly before taking action. Certainly, we don't want to wrongly discipline someone over what could have been a misunderstanding," Katherine explained.
"All due respect, I don't think there is a misunderstanding here. I think it's pretty clear that Kayla wants Jason to leave her alone, and he is not leaving her alone," Mike said.
"Miss Schmidt has reported several instances when Mr. Reynolds has made her feel uncomfortable, but she admitted that not all of those instances had witnesses," Katherine continued. "Could you please tell me about any inappropriate conduct that you personally witnessed between Mr. Reynolds and Miss Schmidt?"
"I think the first time was in the cafeteria a little over a week ago," Mike said. "He sat down next to her, and she scooted away from him. At some point he put his hand on her lower back, and she pulled away again. It was pretty obvious that she didn't want him that close to her, and she definitely didn't want him touching her."
"Is that the only physical contact you saw between the two of them?" Katherine asked.
"Well, yeah, but Kayla has been spending more time with me and my friends because Jason won't really approach her if she's in a bigger group," Mike said. "But I've still seen some looks he has given her, and I've heard all of her stories about how uncomfortable he makes her and how he has targeted her when she has been alone."
"What stories has Miss Schmidt told you?" Katherine asked.
"She told me that Jason bumped into her one night when she was on her way back to her cabin after doing laundry and called her sexy," Mike replied. "And the most recent time when Jason was waiting for her outside of her cabin, and when Kayla told him to leave her alone, he said some pretty gross things to her and grabbed her as- er, her butt."
"Miss Schmidt reported those both to me," Katherine nodded. "But all that you personally saw was Mr. Reynolds place his hand on her back one time and look her way a few times?"
"I guess, technically, yes," Mike admitted. "But I believe everything Kayla said."
"Unfortunately, to substantiate these types of claims, we need more than simply believing the stories we are told," Katherine said. "Is there anything else that has happened in your presence regarding Jason Reynolds and Kayla Schmidt that you think I should know, or that you think would assist me in handling this situation?"
Mike pursed his lips. He was frustrated that Kayla's experience was being handled this way, and by a woman. Then he remembered one last component that he hoped would sway the director in the right way.
"Jason's goal while he is here is to hook up with as many of the female counselors as possible," Mike said. "The way he talks about them is disgusting, and he talks about them openly in the cabin, in front of me and all the other male counselors."
"Has he said anything specific to Kayla Schmidt?" Katherine asked.
"Yes. About Kayla, about Nikki, Dani, and even El," Mike replied bitterly, feeling his blood boil as he remembered El's name coming out of Jason's mouth that very first weekend. "The only one he hasn't objectified is Suzie."
"Can you share any details?" Katherine asked.
"Jason said from the very beginning that his goal was to – excuse my language – fuck Nikki by the end of the first week," Mike said, and Katherine's eyes widened. "After he got what he wanted from Nikki, he said that he wanted his turn with Dani."
"And Kayla?" Katherine pressed.
"Just before the inappropriate behavior started toward her, Jason said he was going to go after Kayla because she's the quiet one and he thought it would be fun," Mike said. "I don't think it's a coincidence that Jason decided he wanted to hook up with Kayla and then started paying her extra attention and touching her inappropriately."
"Well, that is certainly some new information," Katherine said. "Who was present in the cabin that would have heard Mr. Reynolds say these things, other than yourself?"
"Everyone. Dustin, Tom…"
"And Eric Lawson?" Katherine asked, looking up from the notepad she was writing on.
"Well, yes, Eric was there," Mike replied reluctantly. "But you should know that Jason and Eric are sort of friends, and Eric is actually the one that Jason was saying these things to, so I don't know if Eric would lie for him and say Jason didn't say these things."
"Noted," Katherine muttered as she finished jotting notes on her notepad. "Well, is there anything else that you want to tell me?"
"That's all of it," Mike replied.
"Thank you for coming in to speak with me," Katherine smiled as she, Ron, and Mike all stood.
As Mike walked out of Katherine's office, he saw Dustin sitting on a bench along the wall in the hallway.
"Dustin?" Mike said, and Dustin looked up at him. "So you did get called down here."
"Yeah, what's it about?" Dustin asked.
"The Kayla and Jason situation," Mike replied simply. "I take it you never got my text?"
"No," Dustin shook his head and looked at his phone again.
"Okay. Well, it's pretty simple. You just have to tell her how much of an asshole Jason is," Mike said.
"I think I can handle that," Dustin chuckled.
"Dustin Henderson?" came Katherine's voice from the doorway.
"Good luck," Mike muttered and walked toward the exit as Dustin went inside Katherine's office.
Mike started into the woods and considered shooting El a text to let her know he was on his way from Katherine's office, in case she had not left the cafeteria yet. He decided not to bother trying since service seemed to be particularly bad today. Luckily, when he stepped into the clearing, Mike saw El in the grass waiting for him with a styrofoam food container next to her.
"Hey," Mike smiled as he sat down next to her and kissed her on the cheek.
"It's about time. I'm starving," El said with a smile as she opened the styrofoam container to show two sandwiches.
"You could've eaten lunch without me," Mike chuckled, and El shrugged.
"So, how was it with the director?" El asked before biting into her turkey sandwich.
"Frustrating," Mike replied, and El furrowed her brow. "I mean, I know they need to have as much evidence and as many corroborating stories as possible to have a strong case against him, but damn. It really felt like Kayla wasn't going to be believed because nobody witnessed the times Jason actually grabbed her… And he probably made sure nobody would witness those times before they happened."
"I know," El agreed. "That's kind of how I felt too. But she made a point to remind us of the zero-tolerance policy."
"Yeah, she said that to me, too," Mike nodded. "And then she basically just asked me what I saw and what I knew."
"Well, thank you for talking to her and supporting Kayla's report," El smiled.
"I just hope it works out for her," Mike said.
El nodded in agreement, and the two of them finished their sandwiches in peace. When they were finished, Mike closed the styrofoam box and set it off to the side.
"When I was leaving her office, Dustin was waiting in the hall for his turn," he said.
"Hopefully she can make a decision pretty quickly then. I'm sure you and Dustin will confirm what Kayla, Suzie, and I told her," El said.
"Yeah… she might talk to Tom and Eric, too, though," Mike revealed.
"Why would she talk to them?" El asked, furrowing her brow.
"At the end, she asked me if there was anything else I could tell her about Jason, and I told her about some of the shitty things he's said about all the girls in the cabin, particularly about Kayla," Mike replied.
"Like what?" El asked, and then thought better of it. "Wait, do I even want to know?"
"Probably not," Mike chuckled. "Just how he wants to hook up with all of you and that after he slept with Nikki, he was targeting Kayla… But I'll spare you the words he used."
"What a pig," El scoffed. "Did he ever say anything about me?"
"Only in the beginning," Mike replied. "I think he could tell from the start that you weren't going to be into him… And then you embarrassed him by slapping the shit out of him in front of everyone."
"Seriously?!" El laughed exasperatedly. "You're still bringing that up?"
"I'm going to bring that up for the rest of our lives. That was badass," Mike laughed.
El felt her cheeks blush slightly when Mike mentioned the rest of their lives, but she just playfully rolled her eyes and look down at the grass. Mike followed her gaze down to the wildflower she was twirling between her fingers. He reached down and pulled it out of the ground. El watched as he brushed the dirt off the stem and moved it toward her head. Mike gently tucked the flower into El's hair, just above her ear.
"Beautiful," he marveled, and El's eyes shone as she smiled back at him.
El leaned forward and kissed him, bringing one hand to the back of his neck and weaving her fingers into his hair. As she started to pull away, Mike pulled her closer to him, deepening the kiss, and El melted back into him.
"We should get going," El murmured against Mike's lips when they finally separated.
"Yeah," Mike sighed. He pecked her on the lips one last time before hopping to his feet and extending his hands to pull El up. "This was nice, though. Great idea."
"I thought so," El beamed. "Maybe we can do this for lunch once or twice a week the next couple weeks."
"I'd like that," Mike agreed.
They grabbed their trash and walked hand-in-hand back through the woods toward their classroom for their final two lessons together.
The afternoon seemed to fly by, and before they knew it, Mike and El were dismissing their campers for the last time. After the kids had gone, Mike and El finished cleaning up their classroom, neither of them wanting to leave, both of them knowing this was the week they would get to spend the most time together, and it was over now. Soon enough, they were sitting in the cafeteria with Dustin, Suzie, and Kayla eating dinner.
"Why the long faces?" Dustin asked in a cheerful tone, sending Mike and El a questioning look.
Mike and El glanced at each other and both tried to perk up. Neither of them had realized they looked sad to their friends.
"It's nothing," Mike muttered for the both of them.
"Oh, you two are sad your week together is over," Dustin realized and his tone became less teasing. "I'm sure Suzie and I will feel the same way after next week."
"It sounded like you two had a lot of fun working together this week," Suzie smiled.
"Yeah it did," Dustin quipped, wriggling his eyebrows suggestively, causing Mike to kick him under the table with a smirk on his face. "Ow! Hey, at least I got you to smile."
"I don't know… I guess it's also because camp is half over now. That's starting to set in," Mike admitted, glancing sideways at El who nodded.
"You can't start thinking about that yet. After the next two weeks, we still have all of cleanup week with no campers. That's the best part!" Suzie exclaimed.
"It is?" El asked.
"Yeah. They don't enforce the curfew as strictly, there's barely any supervision, and there's another bonfire," Suzie explained.
"See, your little summer escapade is not over yet, lovebirds," Dustin teased, and Mike and El both rolled their eyes at him.
"So, you two are together next week. I'm with Eric. Who are you two with?" El asked, looking back and forth between Mike and Kayla.
"I have Tom," Kayla replied.
"I'm with Dani," Mike said, and El's mind involuntarily flashed back to the beginning of camp when she thought Dani had a crush on Mike. She could practically hear Dani's voice saying Mike was cute and saying hi to him as she bounded down the cabin steps in those high-waisted shorts.
"Good luck," Dustin said, pulling El out of her thoughts. "You're gonna need it if Eric ends things with her."
"I hadn't even thought of that," Mike groaned. "Damn it."
Dustin laughed and Suzie rolled her eyes. The five of them finished their dinner and hung out in the laundry room that evening, playing Uno while the girls did their laundry. They finished up shortly before curfew, and the five of them walked back to the female counselors' cabin. Kayla went inside while the two couples said goodbye to each other.
"I'm excited to spend the whole day with you tomorrow," Mike murmured as he pulled El close and wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Me too," El smiled, cupping his cheek and letting her fingertips nestle into his hair while her thumb rubbed over his cheekbone.
"I'll text you in the morning. First thing," Mike said.
"Okay," El nodded. She stood up on her tiptoes to meet his lips with hers.
"Good night," Mike said softly when El had pulled back.
"Good night," she returned.
Mike and Dustin headed back into the woods toward their own cabin, leaving El and Suzie for the night. As soon as they entered the male counselors' cabin, Mike and Dustin could feel something was off in the atmosphere inside. Suddenly, Jason came storming out of the bathroom, holding his towel and all his toiletry items. He threw them on his bed where an open duffle bag sat. Mike and Dustin exchanged a wide-eyed glance.
"I guess you two know the news," Jason growled when he saw Mike and Dustin in the doorway.
"What news?" Mike asked, though he had an idea.
"Don't act like you didn't help her," Jason said firmly.
"Help who do what?" Mike asked.
"I got called to the director's office after dinner tonight. Some bullshit about sexual harassment," Jason said. "I know you two had something to do with it."
"Actually, I think the fact that you were sexually harassing someone had something to do with it," Dustin quipped back, and then flinched when Jason aggressively moved toward him.
"I didn't harass anyone. It's not my fault if a bitch wants to get worked up about a compliment," Jason said. "But that bitch of a director didn't see it that way. She said she heard the same story from several of my fellow counselors. And I know that means you two and your stupid girlfriends."
"Hey!" Mike took a step toward Jason, his blood boiling in his veins.
"What I don't understand," Tom suddenly interjected, and the three of them turned to look at Tom who was sitting on his bed, "is why you're so upset about being sent home. Science camp doesn't exactly seem like your place."
"I don't like being accused of shit," Jason spat, jamming a finger into Mike's chest to emphasize his point.
Just then, the front door opened again and Eric walked in. He stopped with a surprised look on his face at the scene in front of him.
"What's going on?" Eric asked, looking between all four of his cabinmates.
"The fucking nerds and their girlfriends teamed up and got me sent home," Jason said.
"That's not exactly what happened," Mike said.
"Oh yeah, I was called down to talk to the director earlier today," Eric said. "She was asking me if you ever talk about hooking up with the girls or whatever. I said you kind of had a thing with one of them, and you would talk about her sometimes."
"Well if that's not the understatement of the year," Dustin muttered.
"They're seriously sending you home?" Eric asked, ignoring Dustin.
"Yep. First thing tomorrow morning. I have to be off the property by 9am," Jason replied. "My old man will be fucking thrilled to have me back three weeks early."
"Does Nikki know?" Eric asked.
"What does that matter? I'm never gonna see her again," Jason shrugged.
It seemed that Jason had calmed down since they had entered, so Mike and Dustin walked past Jason and Eric toward their own bunks. Mike rolled his eyes when he heard Jason tell Eric that the best part about being sent home early is that he won't have to be around all these nerds anymore. Mike and Dustin got ready for bed while Jason finished packing his duffle bag. As soon as Mike crawled into his bed, he pulled out his phone to text El, when he saw he already had a message from her.
Is Jason really being sent home? Nikki is PISSED.
Mike chuckled and texted her back.
Yeah, he is. How does Nikki know? Jason said he didn't tell her.
The director told her because this means she has to do the rest of PE with an advisor as her partner. El responded.
Think she's more upset about that or about losing her hookup buddy? Mike asked.
DEFINITELY the sex lmao. She is so mad at Kayla right now. But Kayla's happy. And I'm happy because now Kayla won't be leaving. El texted back.
Yeah. I'm happy for Kayla. I'm so glad this worked out for her. Mike responded.
Me too. Thanks again for helping. El said with the kissy emoji, causing Mike to smile dopily at his phone.
Of course. Mike sent with a smiley emoji.
I'm gonna get some sleep now. Can't wait to see you tomorrow! came El's reply with two hearts, which caused Mike's own heart to pound in his chest.
Me too. Good night babe. He texted back, adding "I love you" in his head, but adding only the kissy emoji to his text.
Mike plugged his phone into his charger and rolled onto his back, staring up at the bottom of Dustin's bed above him. Jason was leaving; things were going amazingly with El. These next three weeks would be the best yet. He just knew it.
The next morning, El woke up to two text messages. One, from Mike, she was expecting. The other was from her best friend Brandon who she had not spoken to since she left for camp.
Jane. Eleanor. Ives. I need you to come back home. Who ever thought living in Chicago could be this boring?
El laughed at Brandon's text before typing back, I'm sorry. Just three more weeks until you get to see my face again!
She's alive! And speaking of seeing your face, wtf is up with not facetiming me once for the past three weeks?! Brandon responded.
Sorry. Service is shit here. Plus I've been busy, you know, molding the minds of the youth. El chuckled as she hit the send button.
Oh, dear God, bless those children. Brandon responded quickly, and El sent only the middle finger emoji as a response.
For real, though, how has camp life been? Has it been as awful as you thought? Brandon asked.
Not at all. I've actually made some friends, and… I met someone. El responded and added a blushing emoji.
You WHAT?! Girl. Details. Brandon demanded.
His name is Mike, and he's amazing. He's from here in Indiana. He's like the perfect combination of smart and funny and nerdy, and he's so cute. And sweet. El explained.
Ooh, am I hearing church bells, or…? Brandon responded.
I've only known him for three weeks. El replied simply.
That's true. Plus he doesn't have my seal of approval yet. And after last time, that's a necessity. Brandon said.
I think you'd like him. El said.
We'll see. Brandon responded with a shrugging emoji.
But I'll let you get back to camp life. Text me sometime! Love you dahling. Brandon texted before El had even responded to his previous one.
I definitely will! Love you too! El responded.
Then she opened her text from Mike which read simply Good morning beautiful.
Good morning. El texted back with a smiley face.
How did you sleep? Mike asked.
So good. And I'm so ready to see you. El responded with the kissy emoji.
Me too. Wanna have breakfast with Dustin and Suzie first? Mike asked.
Of course! El responded.
Great. Dustin and I will be at your cabin in like 45 minutes. Mike said.
Can't wait! El sent with the heart emoji.
She dropped her phone onto her chest and sighed contentedly, looking up at the bottom of Suzie's bed above her.
"Talking to Mike already?" Suzie asked after hopping down from her bed.
"How did you know?" El asked.
"You have that dreamy look on your face. How long did you stay up texting him last night?" Suzie asked, sitting down next to El on her bed as El sat up and leaned her back against her pillow.
"Not too late," El replied. "Then I woke up to a good morning text from him."
"You guys are too cute," Suzie smiled.
"I talked to my best friend from back home about him this morning, too," El said. "I've just been really happy ever since I met him… I don't know. I just know I love spending time with him."
"Is that… all you love about him?" Suzie asked with a smirk. "Have you thought any more about what we talked about the other day?"
El sighed. Of course she had. She pretty much felt her feelings confirmed in the lake that night.
"Yes," El replied.
"And?" Suzie pressed.
"I think I do, Suzie," El said.
"You think you do what?" Suzie asked, unable to contain the grin on her face.
"You know what," El said.
"I want you to say it," Suzie insisted.
"I think… I love him," El admitted, and Suzie squealed next to her.
"I knew it! I knew it all along. And so did Dustin. You two are so obvious," Suzie said excitedly.
"It's just, it's really fast, so that's kind of scary… but we'll be separated in three weeks, and that's really scary too," El said.
"I know," Suzie sympathized. "Have you and Mike talked about that? Like, really talked about it? Your plans for when you go back to Chicago and he goes back to Hawkins?"
"No," El shook her head. "I don't think either of us want to be the one to bring it up."
"That makes sense. But you don't want to wait too long," Suzie said. "Long distance can work really well, but you both need to be clear on what your plan is before you leave camp."
"You're right," El nodded. "Mike said he and Dustin will be here in about 45 minutes to meet us for breakfast. Then Mike and I are spending the day together."
El and Suzie each showered and got dressed and ready for the day. As they were coming out of the bathroom, Kayla was standing at her bed laying clothes out to wear after her shower. Nikki pushed past her, bumping her shoulder harshly and causing Kayla to stumble forward.
"Hey! Watch where you're going," Kayla exclaimed.
"I'm sorry I touched you. Are you going to go cry harassment on me too?" Nikki taunted.
"Is this how things are going to be for the next three weeks?" Kayla asked.
"It wouldn't have to be this way if you didn't go and get Jason kicked out," Nikki replied.
"Jason got himself kicked out," El interjected, and Nikki spun around to face her.
"And now I have to lead phys ed for those kids with a stupid advisor," Nikki said, annoyed.
"There are worse things that could happen. Like being sexually harassed and groped," El said curtly. "But if it bothers you that much, I'm sure the director would let you go home early, too."
Nikki rolled her eyes and scoffed as she walked by El and Suzie to go to the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day.
"Do you want to join us for breakfast?" El offered Kayla.
"No thanks. You guys go on ahead," Kayla replied.
El and Suzie left the cabin, and a few minutes later, they were joined by Mike and Dustin. The four of them went to the cafeteria for breakfast, and to all of their surprise, they saw Eric and Dani sitting together. Dustin commented that maybe Mike would get lucky and not have to deal with a post-breakup Dani after all. Mike hoped Dustin was right, but he had a feeling that Eric was just biding his time.
After breakfast, the two couples parted ways. Mike and El set off for the hiking trail they had explored a while ago. They hiked through the uneven terrain, holding hands when the trek would allow it, and stopping for water every so often. Finally, they reached the small cliff overlooking the stream that ran through the woods. Mike climbed up first and reached down for El's hand when she was near the top to help pull her up.
"We made it," El panted, leaning back against the clifftop and admiring the full green trees and the stream of water coursing below them.
"We did," Mike sighed, leaning back beside her.
El smiled up at him and scooted closer so she could rest her head on his chest. Mike wrapped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed her against himself, kissing the top of her head. They laid there silently together, enjoying each other's presence and the warm summer breeze that blew by and rustled the leaves above them. Suddenly, an idea struck El, and she pulled out her phone to see that she had good service.
"Mike," she said, propping herself up on an elbow and turning to look at him.
"Hmm?" Mike asked, opening his eyes from the state of serenity he had been in.
"I want you to meet someone," El said, unlocking her phone and pulling up her contacts.
"Who?" Mike asked skeptically as he sat up next to her.
El did not answer, but Mike heard the ringing sound of FaceTime trying to connect with someone, and he wondered who she was calling.
"Ellie! Long time, no talk!" came a male voice that Mike had never heard, but he had an assumption of who it was.
"Hi Brandon!" El exclaimed, confirming Mike's suspicion.
"Girl, are those trees behind you? Are you calling me from inside the woods right now?" Brandon asked.
"Yeah, we went on a hike," El replied, shifting her phone around to show the trees and stream behind her.
"Oh, so you're camping camping, huh?" Brandon laughed before adding, "And what do you mean we? Are you with-"
"Uh huh," El nodded. She scooted as close to Mike as possible so they were both in the view of the camera. "Brandon, this is Mike. Mike, this is Brandon, my best friend from back home."
"Nice to meet you," Mike said politely.
"You too! El has told me so much – well, that's not true – El has told me a moderate amount about you," Brandon said, and El laughed and shook her head.
"Brandon texted me this morning to see how camp has been going, and I told him I started seeing someone, and then I told him a little about you," El clarified to Mike who nodded.
"But you didn't tell me the two of you would be sneaking off into the woods together," Brandon teased. "Is this a regular occurrence for you two?"
"Umm, a couple times a week," El replied playfully, and Mike was surprised she had answered so honestly so easily.
"Ooh, get it," Brandon laughed, and El immediately blushed.
"Anyway, since you gave me such a hard time about not facetiming you earlier, I wanted to call you and say hi and introduce you to Mike," she said, changing the subject.
"I'm glad that you did. Mike, have you ever been to Chicago?" Brandon asked.
"I have," Mike replied. "El has told me I should visit around Christmas time, though."
"You totally should. If I know El, she probably told you that you should see A Christmas Carol at the Goodman. But if you like Christmas lights, you should spend an evening at Millennium Park – actually, you could do that after the show at the Goodman," Brandon recommended.
"That sounds like a fun time," Mike said.
"If Mike comes to visit, we should double-date one night so you can meet him," El said.
"Duh. I thought that was a given," Brandon said.
"How is Ethan doing, by the way?" El asked.
"He's great. He's working a lot this summer, so I need you to come home so I can have my best friend back," Brandon replied.
"Three more weeks," El reminded him, and Mike felt a pang in his chest.
"I can't wait!" Brandon exclaimed. "Well, I'll let you two get back to whatever you do all alone in the woods."
"Shut up," El laughed as Brandon wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"Mike, it was so nice to meet you, and I hope I can meet you for real some time," Brandon said.
"Nice to meet you, too. And I definitely think that can happen," Mike replied.
"Alright. Have fun, you two, but not too much fun. Love you, Ellie," Brandon said.
"Love you, too," El replied before hanging up the phone.
"Well, he seems nice," Mike said when El dropped her phone back into her pocket.
"He's a blast," El said. "I could tell he liked you."
"So I passed the best friend test?" Mike asked.
"Looks like it," El laughed.
Mike wrapped his arm around her shoulders again and leaned back against the ground, cradling her against him. El closed her eyes and sighed contentedly against his chest.
"This is nice," she murmured. "I really love being here with you."
Mike swallowed hard while his fingers softly rubbed circles on her back.
"I, uh… I love… being with you, too," he said softly.
El smiled against him and squeezed her arm around his waist before they fell back into a comfortable silence. The only sounds were the sound of their breathing and the leaves in the trees.
"Mike?" El asked softly, not looking up at him from her place on his chest.
"Yeah?" Mike answered.
"What is going to happen when camp is over? When I go back to Chicago and you go back to Hawkins?" El asked, voicing the dreadful thought that had been creeping into Mike's mind too.
Mike sighed deeply and held her even tighter. He was silent for several moments, and El almost thought he was not going to answer her question.
"We'll figure it out. We can text and facetime each other. Plus, I bet I can talk my parents into letting me visit you some weekends. I could drive up Friday after school and drive home Sunday night. It would be a long drive, but it would be worth it," Mike replied.
"It wouldn't just have to be you making the drive," El said. "I could talk my aunt into letting me visit Hawkins sometimes."
"There isn't nearly as much to do in Hawkins as there is in Chicago," Mike chuckled.
"Maybe not. But you'll be there, and so will your family and friends who I want to meet," El said.
"So, you really think we can make this work long-distance?" Mike asked.
"I really do. Don't you?" El asked.
"Yeah, I think so," Mike replied.
"Good," El smiled, finally looking up at him.
She scooted up so her face was hovering over his, and she leaned down to kiss him deeply. Mike had one hand resting on her lower back and moved the other hand into her hair, tangling his fingers in her soft chestnut locks. El deepened their kiss even more, sliding her tongue in between his lips, and she repositioned herself so she was straddling his hips.
Mike moved both of his hands to El's hips and gently caressed up and down the curves of her body while he lost himself in the taste of her watermelon chapstick, the scent of her lavender shampoo, the feel of her soft skin against his –
"El," he said abruptly against her lips.
"Hmm?" El hummed, opening her eyes and looking into his blown pupils which were filled with lust.
"We… have to stop… You need to move," Mike said.
"Are you okay?" El asked, and when she began to shift her hips off of his, her cheeks blushed slightly when she felt what the problem was.
"I just don't want to cross any lines with you. I respect you way too much for that," Mike admitted, remembering what El had said the last time things had gotten this hot between them.
To Mike's surprise, El did not move off of him. She repositioned herself on top of him, and he saw a look of mischief fill her eyes as she bit her bottom lip.
"You know, just because I'm not ready for that doesn't mean we can't do some other stuff," El said with a smirk.
"Wait, really?" Mike asked, his eyes widening in anticipation. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure," El replied with a nod.
Mike smiled and pulled El's lips back down to his, both of them eager to explore the next step in their relationship.
While Mike and El were exploring their intimacy, Dustin and Suzie were coming out of the lake and wrapping themselves in their towels to dry off. Suzie pulled on a pair of shorts, and Dustin pulled on a t-shirt before they packed the rest of their clothes, towels, and sunscreen into Dustin's drawstring bag.
"What time is it, Suzie-Poo?" Dustin asked.
"3:30," Suzie replied before tossing her phone into the bag as well.
"Did Mike and El say what time they were going to come back?" Dustin asked.
"I don't think so. They just said they were going to spend the day together," Suzie replied.
"Well, they've spent all day together. Do you want to go find them and hang out a bit before dinner?" Dustin suggested.
"Sure," Suzie replied. "They went back to that cliff we found a while back."
Dustin and Suzie made their way to the hiking trail and set off on their way to the cliff where they knew Mike and El had intended to spend their day.
"Dusty-Bun, has Mike talked to you about concerns about his and El's relationship once camp is over?" Suzie asked as the two of them trekked through the woods.
"Not in great detail," Dustin replied. "I know he's worried about it, though. I just don't think he wants to think about it much."
"That's kind of where El is, too," Suzie said. "I encouraged her to talk to Mike about it, though. I think they need to be on the same page before camp is over. I know at lunch yesterday we kind of told them not to focus too much on camp ending, but I do think one real conversation about it needs to happen."
"That would be a good idea. Mike can just get so down on himself and get inside his own head and sabotage things. What Stephanie did to him didn't exactly help with that, either," Dustin said.
"I bet not," Suzie agreed. "I hope they got the chance to talk about it today."
"They've been alone in the woods for over five hours. Something tells me they haven't done too much talking," Dustin smirked.
Eventually, Dustin and Suzie came to the bottom of the cliff. They could see that Mike and El were still on top of it, so they climbed carefully to the top as well. When they got to the top, they found Mike laying on his back with his arm around El's shoulders and El resting her head on Mike's chest and her arm draped over his waist. They were both asleep. Dustin eyes were then immediately drawn to something laying on the ground a couple feet away from El. It was a light pink bra.
Dustin could not contain the snort of laughter that left his throat, and Suzie swatted his arm as Mike and El both startled awake.
"D-Dustin? What… what are you doing here?" Mike asked sleepily as he tried to focus on his friend.
"Clearly, not having as much fun as you were," Dustin smirked, tilting his head to the left and making Mike follow his gaze to the bra laying next to them. "Did you wear yourselves out?"
El saw what Dustin was looking at, and her face flushed a hot red in embarrassment as she adjusted her tank top to make sure she was fully covered.
"Shut up, Dustin," Mike warned.
Suzie pulled Dustin's drawstring bag off of his arms and quickly slid El's bra inside it, and El offered her a smile of gratitude.
"We figured we would come find you guys and see what you were up to, maybe hang out a bit before dinner," Suzie said as she and Dustin took a seat near Mike and El.
"We've been up here most of the day," El said, making eye contact with Suzie and avoiding Dustin. "We actually facetimed my best friend from back home a few hours ago. Then we talked for a while, and eventually I guess we fell asleep. It was nice."
Suzie nodded and offered a small smile, exchanging a look with El, knowing that El would tell her everything that really happened later.
"So how was meeting the best friend?" Dustin asked.
"It was good. He was pretty cool. I think we'd get along," Mike replied.
"And then did you facetime your best friend, too? I know you didn't, because my phone didn't ring," Dustin said.
"It wouldn't have rang anyway because it would've been Will," Mike quipped back. "But no. We did not."
"We should facetime the party sometime. Make sure Will, Lucas, and Max are all together so El can meet everyone at once," Dustin suggested.
"We'll see," Mike said.
"So is Nikki still being mean to Kayla over the whole Jason thing?" El asked.
"I didn't really see Nikki much today," Suzie replied. "I bet she'll tone it down and just be passive aggressive about it." El and Suzie both rolled their eyes.
"I think the real question now that we haven't addressed is how will Eric act now that Jason is gone?" Dustin asked.
"Why is that a question that needs addressed? I thought we agreed Eric is a creep," Suzie said.
"We did, but for some reason he still hasn't broken things off with Dani," Dustin pointed out.
"You think he might have been playing up the douchey jock attitude because of Jason?" Suzie asked.
"Anything is possible," Dustin replied. "Tom said Eric was a nice guy a few years ago. I'm just wondering if he'll let that part come out again and things will be smooth sailing for the remaining three weeks."
"I wouldn't hold your breath for that," Mike chuckled.
"Well, I guess El will just have to let us know, since she'll be working with him all week," Dustin said.
Mike turned to El and felt a sense of worry pooling in his stomach. He tried to ignore it. El was his girlfriend who was making him happier than anyone ever had before and who he had just reached a new level of intimacy with. She felt the same way. It didn't matter whether Eric still acted like a jerk or changed his tune and put the nice guy façade back on. Mike had nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.
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A/N: Well that was a long one. I hope you guys liked it and are enjoying everything that is happening. Please remember to leave me a review and let me know what you think. Stay safe, and I'll see you next time!