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Earlier that day, Nancy told Mike that after lunch, the girls would all be going back to the Byers' to start decorating the house for the holidays and he was welcome to come if he wanted. He mentioned that he might stop by later, giving the excuse that he was going to the local library for research on a class project. He didn't feel that he had to tell his sister the truth about his meeting with Hopper.
Full of excitement from the result of it though, he rode his bike down the familiar street towards Will's house. Once he arrived, he left his bike on the front lawn in a similar position as he left it at the cabin. He approached the group, who noticed and greeted him one-by-one while he did the same.
Joyce and Will were setting out pumpkins and haystacks along the porch while Jonathan was struggling to keep a scarecrow upright next to the front door. But El and Nancy were, oddly enough, not in sight.
He turned to Will, who was standing closest to him.
"Hey, where's El?"
"She and Nancy are inside sorting the Halloween stuff back into their boxes." Mike nodded his thanks and walked up to and past the front door, his determination never faltering.
He found the girls in the living room talking with several boxes and decorations scattered on the couch and coffee table. Eleven, who was facing his direction, noticed him first.
"Mike!"
She walked around Nancy and went to give him a quick and tight hug. As of lately, those hugs had done more to Mike than they had to El.
With each one they shared, Mike found it difficult to ignore how much closer they ended up. He knew it was all due to the fact that El's body was maturing in a way everyone noticed. Being the only person their age who got to be such in close physical proximity to her made him feel a way that he couldn't quite yet identify.
El, of course, not knowing any better, was completely oblivious to it.
"Hey, El." He replied shakily. Once their hug broke apart, she spoke again.
"You came."
"Yeah... Not for too long though. I actually wanted to talk to you about something."
"Okay." El waited for him to start.
"Umm," He stumbled. "I was kind of hoping privately." Even though he was speaking to El, he glanced in his sister's direction.
With a sly smile that Mike didn't fail to see, Nancy spoke.
"I'll go see if they need any help outside." She was out of sight shortly after.
Once Nancy was gone, El looked at Mike, eyes wide and expectant.
And now, seeing as they were all alone and despite how prepared he felt, he had difficulty coming out with it. The hard part, asking for Hopper's permission, was over. So why did he feel like he had to climb another mountain again?
"I uhhh. I was wondering El... If umm..." He rubbed the back of his neck while El just blinked up at him. "Since it's almost been a year since...everything, you can start coming out." He said it as a statement, like she didn't already know.
"Dad has rules," she spoke cautiously, as if reminding Mike. "But yes," she nodded.
"Yeah, I know..." Mike trailed off, deciding not to tell her that he already spoke to him, thinking it may have brought questions from her. "So since it's okay, I was wondering if uhh... maybe you'd like to go on a... date? With me?"
The girl's face changed slowly but it didn't take long for her to give a knowing smile and glance down as her face reddened, a reaction Mike was not expecting at all.
"You-you know what a date is?" He asked. He had been prepared to explain it but since she already knew, he could only wonder if someone, although it wouldhave had to be one of his friends, had beaten him to it.
"TV." She looked back up and clarified. With a sigh of relief, he realized that she might be more cultured than he thought because of all the television she's been watching.
"Hehe. Right."
"Like Snow Ball?"
"Yeah!" He exclaimed, happy to have that existing example. "Only it's more... private. Just the two of us." She nodded.
They each looked down, waiting for the other to say something. Slowly, Mike started again.
"So... what do you say?"
El was quiet for a few seconds and the anticipation killed him.
"When?" She finally responded.
"Uhh, whenever you're free." He smiled to himself, knowing she really didn't have much going on. "I was thinking Saturday night?"
"Yes." She grinned.
"Um great!" He sputtered. "I'll pick you up at six. Does that work?"
"Sure." She smiled a much wider one now. He smiled back and turned to the sprawled out
Halloween decorations and asked how he could help.
The week passed way too quickly, in Mike's opinion.
A chill what had nothing to do with the cold November weather went through his body when he mounted his bike to head over to Hopper and El's cabin.
He already had a plan for what he and El would be doing tonight, one that he had already ran through with Hopper earlier this week. While that wasn't a requirement for Hopper to give his blessing, the gesture was appreciated and, although he wouldn't want to admit it, boosted the kid's likeability.
Needless to say, Hopper was struggling with how to handle tonight. Being protective of his own child wasn't something he thought he'd have to deal with after losing Sara. To have his little girl out there in the dating world was not something he was prepared for, no matter how inevitable and unavoidable it was. This wasn't even the kind of thing he could ask Joyce for advice on since she, having two sons, doesn't have experience with the dating life of a teenage daughter.
As a result, he decided that the best thing to do would be to stay up and wait out the night's events.
However, Eleven was the only one who wasn't a total mess. She has been eagerly been looking forward to her date with Mike all week. In many ways, she knew that this was different than the Snow Ball, and not just because Mike had told her so.
At just a few minutes before six, Eleven placed a small pink clip onto her hair, one of the many hand-me-downs from Nancy, and looked at herself in the bathroom mirror.
It seemed that too much time had passed when Hopper knocked on the door, asking if she was ready.
With a smile and a deep breath, she opened the door and walked out. A few seconds later, she saw Mike sitting on the couch.
"Mike!" She all but ran up to him. "You're early."
"Yeah," he spoke of his four minute early arrival as he got up. "Hope that's okay." She nodded fervently. "You umm... you look..." He glanced over to Hopper, leaning against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed, knowing he would have to choose his next word carefully. "Great," he finished.
She wore a simple outfit made of a thick grey sweater that she recently purchased while out with Joyce and blue jeans she had received from Nancy. She looked comfortable and happy, both of which mattered the most to Mike. Her hair was now past her shoulders and even though she looked so much different than when they first met, he never got tired of looking at her.
"Thank you." The teens smiled at one another before Mike spoke again.
"We should get going." They both turned to say good-bye to Hopper, but not before he could get a word in.
"You two have fun. Have her back by nine."
Eleven turned to her father and gave him a look. It was a similar one to when he didn't allow her to have Eggos at a mealtime other than breakfast.
"Ten." She spoke, not asking it.
"Nine," he looked down at her in a way that was supposed to remind her who's in charge.
"Ten," the girl held her ground.
The Chief huffed, realizing this was an argument he was likely going to lose. With a triumphant smile, El lead Mike out the cabin door.
"Uhh.. see you Hop," he gave a weak wave and was barely able to speak before leaving the building.
I didn't mean to do this again. I WAS going to include the date in this chapter, but I'm leaving it here for a few reasons. As of now, it's very close to the length of the first chapter and, when writing a multi-chapter story, I like them all to be somewhat equal in terms of word count so including the date would have made this too long. I also really wanted to have something up by tonight and if I included the date, I would have been rushing to get it done, resulting in a crappy job and then nobody would be happy.
I do hope you enjoyed this though. Reviews?