"How could you do that to him, El?" Max was crying in the message she left on El's answering machine.
"I did what you told me to do. You have now officially broken up. I guess you're happy now. I left no room for any change of… anything. No room for hope for him.."
Max was crying harder now, "I've never seen anybody cry that hard. He loves you so much. You don't deserve him."
A tear ran down El's cheek. She continued to listen.
"I thought he was going to die of a broken heart. Right there on the floor."
"I don't think we can be friends any more El. Not after this."
"I hope the new guy you're screwing is worth losing your best friend over. And the guy who was going to love you forever. If I thought I had any chance with Mike… I…"
There was a click. That was the entire message.
How had it fallen apart so quickly? They were the talk of the school. Mike and El. You very rarely saw one without the other. Just a week ago they had been happy and in love.
She thought back to the day in the mall. She had been scared to tell Mike that she wouldn't see or talk to him the next day. He was always the most understanding. He wouldn't flip out over something like that.
She had been nervous the next day. Her appointment with Dr. Owens was going to result in bad news. News she had been expecting and had already come to terms with. She was still nervous.
What she hadn't expected was the second bit of bad news. News he had written down on a piece of paper and shown her and her dad:
BRENNER KNOWS YOU ARE HERE EL. PUT ON THE SPARE LAB COATS AND FOLLOW ME DOWN THE HALL.
As they walked down the lab hallway, Dr. Owens had given her dad another piece of paper. Her dad passed her the new note while he was driving back to the cabin.:
BRENNER WILL USE EL'S FRIENDS TO GET TO HER. SHE NEEDS TO CUT TIES WITH THEM. NOW. AND THEN GO INTO HIDING UNTIL HE IS CAUGHT.
"What does Dr. Owens mean by cutting ties?" She had asked her dad.
"Honey, you are going to have to make it look like you and Max are no longer friends. At all. And that you and Mike are no longer going out."
"Oh, no." She had started crying right away. "I can't. Not Mike. I love him."
"I know, you will have to compromise. It will be a pretend breakup. But it has to be convincing."
El had no idea how to do that. Her dad could see it in her face.
"All you do is have Max tell Mike you've broken up and then don't to to her or you can even blame her. Word will get around."
"For how long?"
"Until I can catch that psychotic son of a bitch."
"I don't want to."
"You have to honey, it will keep Mike safe for you… it will keep you safe for both Mike… and for me."
There was a funny sound to her dad's voice. It wasn't so much what he was saying, although that was bad enough, it was how he sounded when he said it.
She'd heard it before. Her dad didn't want to lose her.
She would do this for her dad, for Max, and especially for Mike. She would die for Mike.
"Ok." Her voice didn't convey the conviction she felt.
Because of all that. She had probably lost her best friend. She had broken Mike's heart, and her own with a pretend breakup. It was a lie. The most important rule the Party had. She had broken it. She hated the word " pretend" .
El had cried on her dad's shoulder for hours.
XXXXX
Watching the news while sitting on the sofa, a report that Mike Wheeler had gone missing. He was nowhere to be found.
At first it didn't register. When it did, when she saw his picturing confirming that it was her Mike, she went cold inside.
A little of the girl that made up El Hopper was torn from her that night. El wasn't sure she would ever be whole again.
Not without Mike.
Nothing was possible without him.
Nothing.
XXXXX
"I'm so sorry Mike."
El was looking into the eyes of the boy she still loved. The one she had pretended to break up with.
He collapsed on the floor.
"Mike!" She ran to him, she was almost stopped in her tracks. She knew it was Mike but he was almost unrecognizable. He was gaunt and haggard looking. His face was almost great and a shallow.
"Are you ok?" Her voice was barely a squeak.
She managed to get him to the sofa. "What are you doing here? Hopper said I would be alone and no one would bother me. Go away El. I got your message loud and clear."
"I had to be convincing Mike."
"Five stars for you. You were. Leave me alone please."
"It was supposed to be a pretend breakup."
"Ok, I'll pretend I care. Go away El."
"Your heartbroken and feeling insecure right now. That's on me... I got these the day I went to my appointment." She handed Mike two notes Dr. Owens and written.
He reluctantly took them from her and read them.
"Who's Brenner?"
"Papa."
Mike looked mad, "That's the asshole that had you locked up. And he's still after you?"
El looked at him a second a nodded. "That's why I'm here. And I begged my dad to find you and bring you here."
"But why is he still after you?"
El tilted her head forward and took the notes of Mike's hands and put them on the coffee table. Her hands hadn't moved.
He looked back and forth from the notes to her over and over again.
"My name is Eleven. That's the last of my secrets Mike. You know everything now."
"So… Eleven." Mike looked at her, with such hope in his eyes that El's tears started again. "You… you still love me?"
She could see he was close to a breakdown. She nodded, "I still love you Mike. That's why I did all this. I ruined both our lives."
He smiled and said weakly, "Maybe after Brenner is caught, you can be my pretend wife. My telekinetic wife."
"No."
Mike looked down, the sadness in his voice tore at her heart. "Ok."
"It can't be a pretend anything anymore, Mike. It has to be real. From this day forward."
"Ok then," Mike looked up at her. "Will you be my real wife then?"
"Yes… but." She said gently, "We're too young to get married Mike." It was El's turn to look down.
He just asked me to marry him!
"Not in Hawkins, Indiana we're not. We're both seventeen, we can register and get married the same day. We don't even need any witnesses. Some paperwork is involved. I don't think it will be a problem."
El's eyes went wide. "You're serious."
"I've never lied to you El." She winced knowing she would never forgive herself for the horrible lie she'd had to tell Mike to keep them safe.
He caught the wince, "You had to do it El. I get it now. It hurt. It hurt a lot. But being with you the rest of our lives… well… it's done and forgotten."
XXXXX
El lay her head on Mike's chest as they snuggled into bed.
I'm going to be Mrs. El Wheeler… Forever.
A/N: Sorry. Ran out of story, I tried for a clean ending. :/