A/N: Welcome back, and Happy Stranger Things Day for those of you where it is still November 6, and Happy Mileven Day for those of you where it is now November 7! I'm not sure why this chapter took me so long to write, but it is finished! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please remember to leave me a review!
NoDownSide: Hopper is so wise! I hope you enjoy this chapter.
LovelyInLavender: I think they are definitely moving in the right direction. Let me know what you think after this chapter!
Shrike176: Who couldn't love Mileven? Lol. Yes, Mike is definitely struggling with anxiety. I like the points you made about El, too. I hope you like how this chapter goes.
Longislandgirl88: I'm glad to hear that! I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Jbg: I enjoyed the rant! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
FavStarngerthings: Dustin and Suzie are here to save the day! I hope you like this chapter!
Betazoid4: I'm glad you liked it and feel like the conversations are moving them forward. I hope you like this one too.
Wolfgp: I'm glad you liked it. I'm glad to hear you liked the female OC's. Writing OC's is fun for me, but some readers are a lot more receptive to them than others. I hope you like how this chapter goes!
Andy: Thank you so much!
IgNighted: Yes, they have definitely both calmed down a lot.
Mikeleven83: I'm glad you like it, and I hope you enjoy the things it set up.
Exploding Helmets: We will see very soon!
Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger Things or any of its characters.
0-0-0
"Did you think that at the end of our last week of actual camp, it would just be the two of us?" Dustin asked Suzie the next morning at breakfast as he looked at their otherwise empty table.
"Not at all," Suzie replied, shaking her head. "Is Mike doing any better?"
"He's still sad and mopey, but I got him to agree to think about talking to El," Dustin said.
"That's great!" Suzie exclaimed. "Because El plans on trying to talk to Mike after classes today."
"Thank god," Dustin sighed. "Maybe we can have one final week of peace."
"So much for not meddling," Suzie laughed, knowing they both pried into Mike and El, trying to get them to agree to talk to one another.
"I think we both knew that rule was not going to last," Dustin said.
"I really hope they can work it out," Suzie said.
"You and me both," Dustin agreed.
While Dustin and Suzie were having breakfast, El was sitting in the grass outside her classroom, her back leaning against the wall of the building as she stared at her phone. She had her texts with Mike on the screen, and her thumbs were hovering over the keyboard but the words would not form. She had told Suzie she would try to talk to him after classes today, but she obviously needed Mike to cooperate for that to happen.
"Come on," she muttered to herself. "It's not that hard… Just ask him."
Hey Mike… Can we talk after classes today? It can be before or after dinner, I don't care… I just need to talk to you.
El hit send and let out the breath she was holding. She stood up, dropped her phone into the pocket of her shorts, and went into the classroom to begin her campers' final day.
Throughout the two morning lessons, El couldn't help but pay extra attention to the feeling of her phone in her pocket, hoping to feel it vibrate against her leg. Every now and then, she slipped it out of her pocket to check the screen to see if she had missed the vibration, but every time the screen was blank. Mike had not texted her back.
Her mind began to race through reasons why Mike may not have texted her back. Maybe he left his phone in his cabin. Or maybe he didn't feel it vibrate and has been focusing on his campers. El knew the most likely scenario was that he read the text and chose not to respond. Her heart clenched at the thought that he was still ignoring her more than a week later.
During lunch, she hoped to be able to catch Mike and ask him if he had gotten her text, but she was not able to. His classroom this week was closer to the cafeteria than hers was, and as he had all week, Mike had beaten her to the cafeteria, gotten food to go, and gone before El arrived. El got her own tray of food and sat down with Dustin, Suzie, and Kayla, Tom following El shortly after.
"Have you talked to Mike today since breakfast?" El asked Dustin when she was seated.
"No, actually, I haven't. Why?" Dustin asked.
"I texted him asking if we could talk after classes this afternoon, and he never answered me," El explained. "I'm just worried that he won't talk to me."
"He better not be chickening out," Dustin muttered. "I'll try to get ahold of him."
"Thanks, Dustin," El sighed.
"Do you know what you're going to say?" Suzie asked.
"I'm going to apologize for keeping things from him," El replied. "I'm going to explain that I didn't mean to hurt him and that I only kept the details from him so he wouldn't worry about me working with Eric. I'll tell him that I didn't know it would upset him this much and that I'll never lie or hide things from him again… I know I pretty much said all of that already, but he has had time to cool down, so maybe he'll listen."
"I hope so," Suzie smiled sympathetically.
"Me too. I really miss him," El said, looking down.
"Tell him that, too. And maybe… the other thing…" Suzie suggested, smirking slightly.
"Suzie," El hissed, nudging her foot under the table.
El hoped Suzie had kept her secret and not told Dustin that she admitted she loved Mike. She really didn't want a lot of people knowing until Mike himself knew.
"Well, I texted him, but he's not texting me back," Dustin said, oblivious to El and Suzie's interaction because he had been texting Mike. "I'll see him after classes and make sure he got your text."
"Thanks, Dustin," El smiled appreciatively.
The rest of the afternoon passed by, and soon the counselors were saying goodbye to their final group of campers. As Dustin was finishing up cleaning his classroom, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and saw that Mike had finally texted him back.
I'm skipping dinner and going back to the cabin. It read simply. Dustin sighed and shook his head in frustration.
Did you at least text El back? She wants to talk to you. Dustin replied. He waited for a few minutes but received no response, so he decided to go meet up with Suzie and El and let them know that he at least heard from Mike.
A bit later in the cafeteria, Dustin had filled Suzie and El in on his brief exchange with Mike. El could not hide the disappointment on her face, and Suzie did her best to offer a sympathetic smile.
"I'm sure he wants to talk to you. He's probably just scared," Suzie said.
"Scared of what? I want to fix things… I'm more scared of leaving next weekend and never speaking to him again," El said.
"I guarantee Mike does not want that either," Dustin said affirmatively. "He's probably overthinking things again. He tends to do that."
Then, Dustin stood from the table and dumped his trash into a nearby trashcan.
"I'm going to get him some food and go try to talk to him, see what's on his mind," Dustin said.
"Okay. Good luck, Dusty-bun," Suzie said as Dustin leaned down to give her a peck on the lips.
"Thanks, Suzie-poo. I think I'll need it," Dustin chuckled and then looked over at El. "I'm going to do my best."
"I really appreciate it," El smiled sadly.
Dustin went back to the other side of the cafeteria, grabbed some dinner for Mike in a styrofoam to-go container, and left for their cabin to try and talk to him.
When Dustin arrived at the cabin, he was the only one there. He furrowed his brow and looked around, not seeing Mike anywhere. Dustin checked in the bathroom, and Mike was not there either.
"Son of a bitch," Dustin muttered. "Where the hell did he go?"
Deeper into the woods, Mike had made the trek along the hiking trail that he and his friends had found earlier in the summer, and he was sitting on the edge of the cliff, his feet dangling over the side as he watched the water coursing below.
He looked at his phone again and read the text message he had read several times throughout the day.
Hey Mike… Can we talk after classes today? It can be before or after dinner, I don't care… I just need to talk to you.
Need. Mike had focused on that word all day. El said 'I need to talk to you,' not 'I want to talk to you.' Something about the urgency in her words made Mike's stomach flutter. She needed to talk to him. Was that because she needed to try and make sure they were on good terms again before they left camp? Was it because she needed to tell him that she hated him for hurting her? Was Mike reading too much into the word 'need'?
He absentmindedly picked some of the grass that was growing next to him and tossed it over the side of the cliff. Maybe he should talk to her. Things had been so amazing… before they weren't. Before Eric. Before his jealousy and anxieties got in the way.
El had made him feel incredible. She was everything he could have dreamed of in a girl and way more. She was smart, she laughed at his dumb jokes, she let him open up and she actually listened to him. She actually saw him as more than just some nerd at science camp, and she got to know who he really was and seemed interested in learning about his hobbies and interests. Hell, she even shared some of his hobbies and interests. It also didn't hurt that she was breathtakingly beautiful. El was perfect.
Well, mainly perfect. She had still lied to him, after all. Maybe her intentions were in the right place, but that did nothing to soothe the anxiety that Mike felt over it. How could he not drive himself crazy when she goes back to Chicago? How could he not feel jealous of every guy who sees her, talks to her, hits on her? How could he not feel anxious about whether or not El could be hiding something from him? She would be so far away.
But that's where trust would need to come in. Mike knew that; he wasn't stupid. Trust was the most important thing in a relationship, especially long-distance relationships. He wanted to trust her again, but he was scared. Mike was scared of a lot of things, actually.
"I wish I'd never come to this stupid camp," Mike sighed under his breath as he tossed a pebble into the stream below him.
If he had never come to camp, he would have never met El. He would not be feeling the pain of losing her, and he would not have the image ingrained in his brain of El's face when he ended things.
But on the other hand, if he had never met El, Mike would have never felt the happiness that he felt all summer. He would have been at home in his basement, tearing himself down over what Stephanie had said to him, scrolling through Stephanie's Instagram to see how happy she was without him.
Why couldn't things just be as easy as they were at the start of camp? When he and El had started getting to know each other, everything just flowed so smoothly. Why did things have to change? Why did he have to fuck everything up? Why did El have to lie to him?
Mike wasn't sure how long he had been sitting up on that cliff, but eventually the sun disappeared behind the trees, and it started to get darker. Just as Mike decided he should start making his way back down the trail and back to his cabin, he heard footsteps and the crunching of dirt and sticks behind him. He looked behind him to see Dustin entering the clearing and walking toward the cliff.
"Dustin?" Mike called, furrowing his brow.
He watched as Dustin carefully climbed up the back of the cliff until he reached the top. Dustin exhaled heavily and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Here's your dinner, you liar," Dustin panted, dropping the styrofoam container he was carrying onto Mike's lap. "I hope it's cold by now."
"Dustin, what are you doing here?" Mike asked as Dustin took a seat next to him.
"I should ask you the same thing, Mr. 'I'm-Skipping-Dinner-And-Going-Back-To-The-Cabin,'" Dustin retorted. "I went to the cabin to talk to you, but you weren't there. I checked the laundry room, the picnic tables by the volleyball court, the lake. I've walked all over this damn camp looking for you."
"Sorry, I just needed to clear my head," Mike said.
"Did it work?" Dustin asked.
"No," Mike sighed.
Dustin nodded with a sympathetic smile and looked down at the stream below them.
"You know, El was pretty upset that you ignored her text," Dustin said. "She really wants to make things right with you."
"I want to make things right with her, too," Mike said. "That's all I've been thinking about up here. I wish things never changed between us and that my insecurities didn't get in the way, that I hadn't been so jealous of Eric, that El didn't lie to me… I've been going back and forth in my head for hours because I know I love her and I don't want to lose her, but I know in order to not lose her I need to trust her when she is back in Chicago."
"I know you don't want to lose her," Dustin nodded.
"Of course I don't," Mike said. "She made me feel better about myself. Like, I didn't hate what I saw in the mirror, and I wasn't embarrassed or worried about her judging me or thinking I was too nerdy or whatever… It's like she took what Stephanie did by leaving me for Troy, and she reversed it or something. I know that might sound stupid-"
"It doesn't sound stupid," Dustin quickly interjected. "It felt that way because El liked you for you. She did – and still does – care about you a lot."
"It's just really scary to me," Mike said.
"Long-distance is scary," Dustin confirmed. "You can't see each other as much as you'd like. You don't know what each other is up to all the time, and you really just have to trust each other to respect your relationship. It's scary, but if your relationship is strong – which yours was – and if you love each other – which I know you love her – then it really does get easier. Plus, it makes the times that you do get to see each other even more special. And El only lives in Chicago. You were planning on making the drive on some weekends anyway. As far as long-distance goes, I know it's still scary, but it could be a lot scarier if she was farther away."
"That's not the only thing that's scary," Mike said quietly.
"What do you mean?" Dustin asked, furrowing his brow.
"Long-distance," Mike said. "Of course, that's on my mind. El being so far away, not being able to see each other. And I'm scared about my insecurities getting to me again and screwing things up because I won't know about the guys up there, and I'm scared about being able to trust her… But there's more to it than that."
"Like what?" Dustin asked. "Those are all the things you've mentioned being worried about."
"I know, because the rest of it is just hard to explain," Mike replied.
"Try me," Dustin said.
"This is going to sound crazy, and I know that, but… I feel like I'm almost scared of letting myself love her and of letting myself be happy with her," Mike admitted. "Like, she makes me feel amazing, but I can't help but wonder how long that's really meant to last. I don't want to let myself get too happy with her and then have it all taken away."
"Do you not think you deserve to feel happy and loved?" Dustin asked slowly.
"It's not that I don't think I deserve it, it's just… Shit, I don't know, Dustin… Putting myself out there and being happy with her, I mean, it's huge. And the fact that it could end is scary, but the fact that it could work is scary too, and just not knowing what's going to happen is fucking terrifying," Mike said.
"That's what a relationship is, Mike," Dustin laughed. "No matter how much you trust each other, there is still going to be an amount of unknown because you can't predict the future. But you've got to face that fear and take a leap of faith or you'll lose her. Do you hear me? You're going to lose her."
Dustin's words rang in Mike's ears over and over, and Mike felt the realization hit him that Dustin was right. He was going to lose El because he was being stubborn. He needed to talk things out with her and do his best to trust her and have faith in their relationship. He needed to fix this.
"I need to talk to El," Mike said, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
Do you still want to talk? Please? he texted her rapidly.
Yes. When and where? came El's response right away.
Twenty minutes. Our spot. Mike replied and felt the corners of his mouth curl into a smile.
"I gotta go. Thanks for everything, Dustin," Mike said as he hurried to stand up.
"Any time," Dustin smiled. "Now go get her!"
Mike hurried ahead after Dustin encouraged him to go by stating he could get back to the cabin himself and Mike needed to get to El. As Mike trekked through the woods, it began getting darker. He furrowed his brow; it normally did not get this dark this early. Mike shook his head and continued through the woods, focused only on getting to El.
El was also on her way through the woods on the opposite side of camp. She had been in her cabin with Suzie and Kayla when she received Mike's text, and the girls had immediately encouraged her to go, not that she needed to be told. El was ecstatic that Mike was finally willing to talk about everything that had happened between them.
How was this going to go? El knew she would want to jump into his arms the moment she saw him, squeeze him tightly, kiss him, and tell him she was sorry and would never hide anything from him again. She also knew that pouncing on him may not be the best idea.
Was Mike still upset with her? She knew Tom said that Mike never seemed mad, but El wondered if he was still hurt or upset in any other way. After all, they had not spoken in over a week, and he had ignored her text message all day. Even if he was still upset, El decided that the fact he agreed to talk to her could only be a good sign.
Since jumping on him was realistically out of the question, what was El going to say to him? She could say what she had rehearsed in her head and had told Suzie earlier when Suzie had asked. But El wondered if in the moment something completely different would come out of her mouth. Would she even be doing the talking first? Maybe Mike had things he wanted to say and that's why he finally responded, willing to talk.
El decided it didn't matter how long it took, she was going to make sure that Mike knew she was sorry and that things were good between them again. She would listen to anything he wanted to say, and she would let herself speak from the heart.
El had been walking through the woods lost in her thoughts, and she had not been fully paying attention to where she was going. She stopped suddenly and looked around at the darkening woods. Was she still on the right track? She spun around and looked at the trees surrounding her. This area looked familiar, didn't it? El continued onward, feeling less sure of where she was and hoping that she was going in the right direction.
A few minutes later, El nearly fell when she tripped on a large log laying on the ground. She caught herself and furrowed her brow in confusion. Again, El stood upright and spun around, looking at her surroundings. This wasn't right. She narrowed her eyes, squinting to see better in the darkness. She must have taken a wrong turn or missed a turn earlier in the path. But how could she find her way out of the woods and to a place she recognized?
El pulled her phone out of her pocket and tried calling Mike. She watched the screen of her phone as it tried to make the call, but she noticed she currently did not have strong service. Her stomach sank as the call was unable to be made. El swallowed down the panic that was starting to build, and she decided the just walk straight back in the direction from which she had come until she either found herself on a path she recognized or found herself out of the woods. Yes, that would work.
Shortly after El began walking, she heard a low roll of thunder, and her panic built even more. El felt the first raindrop on her head, and soon there was a steady rainfall coming through the trees, clogging up El's vision even more in the dark woods. She hurried over to a large tree and stood as closely to the trunk as possible, hoping to find some shelter from the rain as she pulled out her phone again.
Mike, I'm lost. I took a wrong turn somewhere. El hit the send button and watched as the message failed to deliver.
"Shit," she whispered.
El turned on the flashlight on her phone and decided to keep walking. Eventually she would find her way out.
By this point, Mike had arrived and been waiting at their spot for nearly ten minutes. When the rain had started, he moved out of the clearing and tried to use the nearby trees for shelter, but he was still getting soaked as he stood there waiting for El. He looked at his phone again. When they decided to meet up, El had never been this late before.
Are you okay? How far away are you? Mike texted her. He felt his stomach turn when the message failed to deliver.
Mike immediately tried calling El. The phone did not ring, and eventually the call failed. Mike slid his phone back into his pocket and looked around, scanning the edge of the clearing hoping to see El coming through. She was not there.
"Oh shit," Mike muttered, running a hand through his wet hair.
Where was she? Was she lost? Was she hurt? Did she fall and twist her ankle? Was she laying somewhere in the woods, injured and wet and alone? Mike tried calling her again only for the call to not go through.
"Shit, this is not good," Mike muttered, shifting from foot to foot as he began to panic.
He had to find her.
Mike took off into the woods toward El's cabin, hoping to run into her along the way. His mind was racing. He just felt like she was laying somewhere scared and alone, in pain, in the dark, in the middle of a rainstorm. Mike couldn't help but feel responsible. If he had just talked to her earlier today after classes like she wanted…
He couldn't think like that. He just had to find her and see that she was safe.
Mike continued through the woods, brushing against wet leaves and branches as he made his way through the trees. His eyes were peeled for any sight of El, but she seemed to be nowhere.
"El?!" he called into the night. "El?! El, where are you?"
El had been making her way through the woods, and she finally stumbled out onto a path. She lost her footing and fell forward, catching herself with her hands as her knees hit the dirt path. El looked around and saw the lake in the distance. She breathed a sigh of relief knowing that she at least knew where she was.
Then she immediately thought of Mike. He had to have been waiting for her for so long now, and she had not been able to call or text him. Did he think she was standing him up? Did he think she changed her mind? Was he just wet and angry and –
"El?!" she suddenly heard her name being called faintly. "El?! Can you hear me?"
El sat up on her knees. She knew that voice. He was looking for her.
"Mike?!" she called out as she stood up, the front of her pants covered in mud.
El neared the edge of the path where the trees thickened again and shone her phone's flashlight into the woods in search of Mike.
"El?!"
"Mike! I'm over here!"
El waved her phone, hoping the light from her flashlight would catch his attention. She still couldn't see him.
Deeper in the woods, Mike thought he heard El's voice responding to him and calling his name. He stopped in his tracks and looked around until he finally saw a light moving around. Mike took off toward the light.
"El?!" he called out again.
"Mike?!"
It was her. He knew that voice. Mike ran toward the light until El's silhouette came into view. As soon as she was within arms' reach, Mike grabbed her and pulled her against himself, squeezing her tightly and burying his face in the crook of her neck.
"Thank god," he whispered against her wet skin.
El squeezed her eyes shut tightly, letting a couple tears sneak out the corners of her eyes, knowing they would blend in with the rain anyway. She hugged him tightly, never wanting to let go.
"Are you okay?" Mike asked when he finally pulled back. He looked down and saw the mud covering her legs. "Did you fall?"
"Yeah, but I'm okay," El replied. "Are you okay?"
"So much better now," Mike said in a sigh of relief. "I thought you were hurt or lost or something."
"I was lost," El admitted. "I tried calling and texting you, but nothing would go through."
"I tried too, but mine wouldn't go through either," Mike said. "I'm just so glad you're okay."
El was happily surprised when Mike reached for her again and pulled her into another tight embrace.
"Let's go somewhere dry to talk," Mike suggested, and El nodded.
Mike took her hand and led her down the path toward the lake, remembering that Dustin had mentioned an equipment shed earlier in the summer. When they reached the shed, Mike pushed the doors open, and the two of them hurried inside, eager to get out of the rain.
With the doors closed, the only sound inside the shed was from the rain hitting the roof. Mike used the flashlight on his phone to look around, and he found a single lightbulb on the ceiling with a cord hanging from it. He tugged on the cord, and the lightbulb dimly illuminated the small shed.
"At least it's warmer in here," El said, breaking the silence and trying to keep her teeth from chattering.
"Are you cold?" Mike asked, scanning the room for anything dry that they could change into.
His eyes landed on a plastic tote on the top shelf along the far wall. It seemed to have clothes inside it. Mike reached up and pulled it down, opening it to find several green crewneck sweatshirts that read Camp Know Where Advisor 2018 and several pairs of matching green sweatpants.
"Looks like a box of leftover sweats from last year," Mike observed.
He pulled out a sweatshirt and pair of sweatpants and handed them to El.
"Here. Put these on so you can warm up," he said gently.
"Thank you," El smiled as she took the clothes from him.
Mike pulled out another set of clothes for himself and turned away to change. They both peeled their drenched clothes off and pulled on the warm sweats. El sighed and hugged the sweatshirt closely around her body, warming up immediately.
"Is that better?" Mike asked when he had finished changing.
"Much," El smiled.
Then, the silence began to set in. El opened her mouth to speak, wanting to start the conversation before things had the chance to become too awkward.
"Mike, I'm sorry," she said. "I'm sorry for not being completely honest with you. I didn't want you to worry about me being around Eric, but I know it was wrong. I promise I'll never lie to you again… I just miss you."
"I miss you, too," Mike said softly.
"You do?" El asked hopefully.
"Of course," Mike replied. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about you all week."
El smiled despite herself.
"I hated that I hurt you, but I was just so worried about being able to trust you in Chicago and worrying that I would drive myself crazy with jealousy and everything," Mike explained. "At the time, I was trying to convince myself that it would be easier to just end things… But there was nothing easy about this past week."
"Not at all," El agreed.
"I've been thinking a lot about it, though, and it's still scary to me… a long-distance relationship, not knowing what could happen," Mike continued. "But I don't want my fears to get in the way of what we have."
"They're not just your fears, Mike. I'm scared, too," El said.
"You are?" Mike asked, furrowing his brow.
"Of course. I've never been in a long-distance relationship before either," El replied. "It would be just as new to me as it would be to you. And I hate the idea of you being all the way in Hawkins where I can't see you every day… But that's why we made a plan. We'll text, call, and facetime as often as we can. We'll visit on weekends and holidays."
"And those times together will be even more special," Mike parroted Dustin's words from earlier.
"Absolutely. I really think we can do it, Mike. We just have to have faith in each other and trust each other," El said. "I trust you. I'm sorry for damaging your trust in me, and I hope you believe me that I won't do it again… But to do this, we both need to be all in. Do you think you can trust me again?"
Mike took a deep breath and looked into her hazel eyes which were pleading with him to say yes. El was putting herself out there, completely vulnerable and asking him to trust her and take this leap of faith together.
"Yes. I trust you. The distance will be hard, and I know I'll probably struggle some with jealousy and anxiety, but we can get through it," Mike replied.
"If you're feeling that way, I need you to tell me about it so we can talk," El said. "And I promise I'll do a better job of really listening. I'm going to do whatever I can to make this work, Mike. I… I don't want to lose you."
Mike thought it seemed like she wanted to say something else.
"This will work. We'll make it work," Mike agreed. "And I don't want to lose you either. El, I…"
He looked into her eyes again, and his entire body warmed in the glow she was giving off. It was now or never.
"I love you," Mike said slowly.
He watched El's face for a reaction, and soon her lips formed the most beautiful smile he had ever seen and her eyes rimmed with tears. El jumped forward, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. Mike laughed as he caught her, holding her around the waist. Their lips met instantly for the first time in over a week.
El tangled her fingers into his still damp hair and glided her tongue across his bottom lip. When he parted his lips to let her in, he tasted like home to her.
"Mike," El whispered against his lips when she pulled back. "I love you, too."
"You do?" Mike asked softly, his eyebrows raising in surprise.
"Yeah," El nodded, her smile spanning her whole face. "So much."
Mike leaned in to connect their lips again and stepped forward, sitting El down on a table along the side of the shed. He ran his fingers through her wet hair and opened his eyes to look into hers while their foreheads rested against one another's.
"Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?" he marveled.
"It's been a while since you've told me," El giggled.
"You are the most beautiful girl in the world," Mike said, leaning in to kiss her again. "And I'm going to remind you of that every day."
"I think I can get used to that," El smiled, wrapping her arms around Mike's neck again and leading his lips back to hers, where they belonged.
0-0-0
A/N: They're finally back together! I hope you all enjoyed it. I have one more chapter for you which will be up soon. Let me know what you think, and please remember to leave me a review. Thanks for reading!