BRRING
BRRING
BRRING
Mike rubbed his eyes, waking up to Eleven still sound asleep on his chest. He was still in his suit from last night, his tie coming loose and his hair messy.
Slowly it dawned on him "Damn it! Oh no! El! El! Wake up!" He yelled, shaking her "We fell asleep!"
She woke up yawning, while Mike ran over quickly to answer the phone
"Hello?"
"This is Mike"
"Yeah El is right here. She's with me. Yeah, I completely understand." He replied, anxiously scratching the back of his head
BANG
BANG
BANG
"Mike there's someone at the door" Eleven said, groggily getting up from the couch to answer it
"Wait El!" he whispered loudly, putting his hand over the phone
She opened the door
"Hey Mike so I came by to get-" Dustin said, stopping mid-sentence "Oh.. You're not Mike"
"Hey Dustin" El smiled
He noticed she was wearing Mike's sweats and suddenly his face reddened "Uh.. so.. Just tell Mike I um.. came by to get the history notes" He choked out, backing away
"Okay" Eleven had no idea why Dustin was acting so odd but she just shrugged it off and closed the door
She looked over at Mike who was still on the phone
"Yes. It will never happen again. Yes. Okay. Yes. We'll be there soon" he deeply sighed, hanging up the phone
"Dustin wants the history notes"
"Ugh... He's the least of my worries but I have to get you home NOW" he emphasized, quickly leading her out the door.
"Mike is everything okay?" El asked, noting that he was driving faster than usual
He gripped the steering wheel tighter "I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm so dead.. I shouldn't have fallen asleep"
"It's okay, it was an accident. Hopper will understand"
Mike's tone grew serious "No, you see that's the thing El he won't"
Eleven didn't know why Mike was so stressed out about this. She knew that it was just a simple mistake and Hopper was always very understanding with her, so why would this time be any different?
Mike grew tense as they approached her house. He practiced what he would say a hundred times in his head, hoping for things to go over well.
The door swung open before he could knock on it
"I'm so sorry! We didn't mean to-"
Hopper interrupted him, his voice cold "Wheeler, It be in your best interest to leave now"
"But-but- I can explain!"
"LEAVE NOW" Hopper barked
Mike gave El one last apologetic look before he put his hands in his pockets and walked away
She watched as he left, trying to register what had just happened
"Get in the house Eleven!"
Rachel put her hand on Hopper's arm "Jim.. she's home, she's fine, let's not make this worse than it should be"
"No." he said, brushing her off "El, What the hell were you thinking?! Do you have any idea how worried we were? You were supposed to be home at 12 last night but no, instead you spend the night with that boy!"
El fought back tears, she had never seen Hopper so angry before especially with her."It was an accident" she softly uttered
"An accident!? Spilling milk is an accident, losing your keys is an accident, Hell, even calling someone pregnant who is actually just fat is an accident! but having sex, that's no accident! You knew what you were doing!"
Eleven knew what sex was. Rachel explained it to her while she discussed the whole puberty and journey into womanhood thing. She told El to wait until she was older and to make sure it was with the right person but even then to be sure to use protection. Wait. Hopper thought she and Mike did.. sex?
"But..we didn't do sex"
"See Hop, nothing happened, it's all just a misunderstanding." Rachel stated, coming to her defense
"Look at her! she's wearing the boy's clothes for crying out loud! Eleven just go to your room. I can't handle this right now."
"Dude I think Mike and El are doing it" Dustin mentioned, parking his bike outside of the arcade
"Doing it?"
"Yeah you know.. it" he said, doing an exaggerated thrusting motion
"First of all, don't do that ever again." Lucas shuddered "Second of all, what makes you say that?"
"So I went to Mike's this morning to get notes for our history exam next week and guess who answered the door?"
"El?"
"Bingo. But that's not even the best part, get this.. she was in his clothes!"
Lucas eyes grew wide "Wow, Mike is actually.."
"Getting some" Dustin finished "and he's the first one of us to have actually had sex"
"Pfft.. you don't know that" Lucas scoffed
Dustin deadpanned "Lucas, we all know you would have bragged nonstop already if you did it "
"Okay, fine. Maybe you're right… but why didn't Mike tell us? That's a huge milestone and we're his best friends"
"So I've come to rightfully claim my high score" Max barged in, swinging by on her skateboard
Lucas laughed "Yeah, good luck with that"
"So where's Mike and El?" Max asked, looking around
Dustin faked a cough "Too busy getting it on"
Max choked on air "Wait. What?"
"So apparently our little Mikey is growing up" Lucas remarked
"How do you guys even know this?"
Dustin looked over at her "El spent the night at his place so I think that's pretty self explanatory"
"I knew they were being all lovey dovey last night but I didn't think that…"
"None of us did" Lucas added
"Hey! Sorry I'm late, had to take El home" Mike joined, getting off his bike
"Well, well, well, If isn't Michael Wheeler the virginity stealer" Dustin smirked, pointing at his friend
"So when were you gonna tell us that you and El were boning?" Lucas questioned
Mike threw up his hands "Whoa hold on guys"
"Stop hounding him, I'm pretty sure he wants to keep his private life private" Max countered
"Well it's not private anymore" Lucas mentioned
"So dude was last night like your first time?" asked Dustin
"Guys.."
Lucas nodded in agreement "Yeah was it? And why haven't you told us man! We're supposed to tell each other everything!"
"You two are the nosiest" Max mumbled, rolling her eyes
"Hey, this is a big deal! he's venturing into manhood" Dustin intervened
"GUYS!" Mike shouted.
Suddenly everyone stopped talking and eyed him curiously
"Nothing happened last night okay?" he replied exasperated
"But I saw.."
"I know what you saw Dustin, but it wasn't like that. I gave her clothes to change into so she'd feel comfortable while we watched a movie last night but we ended up falling asleep. That's it. Nothing more."
"So you didn't?"
"No."
"Did you want to?" Lucas asked
"It doesn't matter what I want. I would never put El in a situation she isn't okay with. Right now, I'm not even thinking of that, I just hope she isn't in deep shit because of me"
"Ohh That's right, I didn't think about what Hop must've thought, oh damn.. Sorry man" Dustin said, placing a hand on his shoulder
"So was Hopper that mad?" Lucas questioned
"More like beyond pissed"
Max gave him a sincere look "How do you think El is handling all of this?"
"I have no idea"
El stared at her ceiling.
She reviewed the past events and put them together like a puzzle in her mind. She now understood why Hopper must've thought what he did but still didn't quite know why he was so angry about it all.
There was a slight knock on her bedroom door "El, it's Hop, Can I come in?"
"Yes"
He gazed at her solemnly "I'm sorry about blowing up on you earlier kid but you've become like a daughter to me ya know"
El faintly smiled, she liked the idea of being his daughter. He was a lot different from how her papa was. She knew that Hopper was actually how a papa was supposed to be.
"I know you're getting older.. And that's just something I'll have to come to terms with I guess. I also know that means that you're interested in.. well.. uh.. sex.." He said his voice growing quieter
"We didn't" El interjected
A smile slowly made it's way on Hopper's face "Okay, I'll take your word for it."
"Why does that make you mad?" She inquired
He scratched his beard "Well it's kinda hard to explain. You'll understand one day when you have your own kids, but just don't have em anytime soon! I'm too young to be a gramps" He chuckled "However, I don't want you thinking sex is wrong either. It's not El, it can be a wonderful thing when it's with the right person at the right time."
There was that phrase again. "What's the right person?"
"Well the right person won't pressure you into having it, they'll wait until you're ready. They'll also be someone who you share a deep connection with and that you find yourself in love with"
El held a confused daze "In love?"
"Well there's levels to love, ya see. You can love your friends and your family, that's platonic love. But being in love is a lot more than that.. It's thinking about that person day in and day out, it's putting their needs above your own, It's wanting to be with them throughout the ups and downs of life."
"You and Rachel are in love right?"
Hopper smiled "Right kiddo. She's my better half"
Her mind suddenly flashed to Mike. She recalled the day they first kissed at the gym and the day they watched the sunset across the lake together. In each of those instances she felt a spark. She then thought back to homecoming and that's when she knew that spark had become stronger and set ablaze a new feeling in her, kinda like a wildfire.
Now she finally had a term for what this feeling was.
"In love"
No worries guys this story won't get explicit or branch into M rated material, but they are sixteen so I wanted this topic to be somehow incorporated.