AN: Halftime, my dears!
This chapter marks not only the middle of this story, but this is also a changing point in the storyline. I'm so excited to share this with you, as this is my favourite chapter up to this point, and if I must describe it with one word, I would say… intense (especially the second half of it).
I'm really excited to hear what you think of it!
A side mark on the last chapter: As you saw in that chapter, Will does not have feelings for Mike. That's not because I ignore that those exist in the original story, but this AU is completely Mileven centric, and we already have Trish in the picture. Throwing in one-sided Byler as well would make it really complicated and therefore, I decided against it.
Just so you know, it might take a bit longer than usual for me to publish chapter 8. It's fully written, but I consider rewriting it. I'm not happy with the way it turned out and I really want to say something in a certain way, but I can't find the right tone in writing to deliver that. I hope that makes sense somehow.
So, in case it takes one or two weeks longer, than it's not because I abandoned this story, but just because I want to deliver the best outcome.
I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Chapter 7
10. October 1987
The sun was shining on her face through a small slit in between the drawn curtains. She stirred but kept her eyes closed; El was not ready to rise, yet.
A weekend was made for long sleep ins and making plans on the go. Whenever she stayed at her dad's cabin she slept in as long as she wanted to. They almost never set an alarm clock, as she and Hopper both hated the nasty things. And if she had nowhere to go on Sunday, they could take their time. El's mum expected her back home sometime in the afternoon, but there was no set time when she had to be back.
She rolled to the side and was taken by surprise when she nearly fell off the bed. She stirred again and slowly awoke some more.
Was this not the bed in her dad's cabin? But she had spent yesterday at his place, right? Wasn't this a usual Sunday morning?
Slowly the memories came back to her. She had spent the evening with her dad. But they had been at the Byers' house. And she had seen him on Friday, and not as usual on a Saturday. That meant that today wasn't Sunday…
Suddenly, she sat up in her bed. It was Saturday, but not any Saturday… Today was the Homecoming dance. And that's why she had spent the Friday evening with her dad, and she had not stayed the night there as usual, because she had asked him to drive her home, so she would awake at her own place on this day.
Her heart raced in excitement, while her mind formed pictures about what lay ahead of her; Max would come over to get ready, her friends would pick them up, a night full of laughter and dancing, a sleepover with Max afterwards to talk about whatever would have happened that night…
El searched for the small clock on her desk, which told her that it was shortly after 10 o'clock in the morning. This left her a bit of time until Max would show up.
She decided to go for an extensive shower first to become fully awake. She rose, picked some clothes from the drawer, and trotted across the hallway towards the bathroom.
She took her time, letting the hot water rinse down her body and washing away the sleepiness. Then she used conditioner, the expensive one that Karen had once gifted her and that she only used for special occasions to not waste it, and afterwards she shaved her complete legs, paying special attention to not cut herself. After half an hour, her hair was silky soft, and her skin wrinkled from the long time under the shower.
She stepped out and dried herself up, before throwing on a t-shirt and some jog pants. She thought about blow drying her hair but dismissed the thought. Max would anyway work on her hair later, and as she hadn't shared her plan with El, she had no clue how it should look later and whatever she did now, would most likely be changed by Max anyway.
After El was done in the bathroom, she went downstairs, where her mum was on the run for her shift at the pharmacy. Usually, El would be on her way to her dad's cabin right now, but due to the changed plans, her mum had some more time before she left the house, as she had not to drop El off at the other end of town. Her shift started at 11 a.m. and from their house it was just a ten minutes' drive to the town centre.
"Good Morning, sweetheart.", her mum greeted her, when El descended the stairs.
"Morning, mum."
"I'm sorry, I must leave in a few minutes. But I bought Eggos for you yesterday and there's orange juice in the fridge. So, help yourself.", Terry explained, while packing her keys and purse into her handbag. El just nodded in understanding. "I will be back at around 6 p.m., so I should be in time to see you in your new dress, and I can say goodbye. If Max and you want to eat anything, please take something from the fridge or order yourself a pizza. I left some money for you on the counter."
El's mum put on her coat before she came over to her and kissed El on the forehead. "I wish you a lot of fun with Max today and I will see you soon."
"Thank you, mum.", El replied and Terry stepped out of the house.
El went to the kitchen counter to toast some Eggos and made herself comfortable in front of the TV in the living room afterwards.
She spent the next few hours watching soap operas, eating her waffles, and otherwise spending time spread on the couch, trying not to overthink the upcoming events too much.
Precisely at the agreed time the bell rang and El jumped up in excitement to greet her friend at the door.
"Max!", she exclaimed when seeing the redhead on the doorstep.
"Hi.", Max grinned widely. "You're ready for some girls time?"
"Yeah totally. Come on in.", El stepped aside to let Max in, who was packed with a duffle bag and a garment bag for her dress. "Let me take that.", El offered and took the duffle bag, but nearly letting it fall, as she was taken by surprise from its weight. "Oh, my god, that's heavy. What have you got in there?! You just stay a night."
"Just some stuff we need to transform ourselves into two irresistible ladies.", Max winked.
El laughed and carried the bag upstairs to her room. Max followed with her dress flung over her arm.
In the bedroom Max walked over to El's tape recorder and looked through the cassettes. "Let's start with some music for the occasion.", she stated before inserting one tape and pressing on play.
Shortly after the room was filled with the tracks of Cyndi Lauper playing, and Max and El danced with hairbrushes in hand through the room, singing along at the top of their voices.
The phone rings, in the middle of the night
My father yells "What you gonna do with your life?"
Oh daddy dear, you know you're still number one
But girls they wanna have fun
Oh girls just wanna have
That's all they really want
Some fun
When the workin' day is done
Oh girls, they wanna have fun
Ho hoo girls just wanna have fun
When they were in desperate need of a pause, they collapsed on El's bed and started with colouring their nails, followed by reading multiple magazines while the nail polish dried.
In the afternoon they ordered some pizza and switched through the TV channels.
The hours passed by in blur and El was enjoying it immensely. It was great to spend the time with Max like this, fooling around, laughing, chitchatting, and doing girly stuff. As much as she loved all her boys, in times like these she was very grateful for her only female friend in her life.
When the clock turned 5 o'clock, Max rose from the couch. "Okay, enough of the fun part. We need to get to business."
El rolled her eyes and stood up reluctantly. She felt so content spending a fun afternoon with Max, that she could have stayed right there. Screw getting ready, screw the dance, screw boys, screw Mike…
But she knew it would not make any sense to argue with the fiery girl, so she followed Max back upstairs.
"So, what have you planned?", she asked Max.
"Let yourself be surprised.", she replied vaguely.
El fully trusted Max when it came to preparing a memorable look for the evening, and so she let her get to work. Max started with El's hair; she had decided to style it curly this time and not to straighten it again. She worked on defining the locks and letting them curl up more than usual, so that her hair ended at the height of her chin, instead of being of shoulder length.
As soon as Max was done with El's hair, she worked on hers, braiding one strand on the front and clamping it to the side afterwards.
Then she worked on their makeup, applying mascara, eyeliner, foundation, and a bit of rouge. El was impressed with Max's talent every time; she really knew how to accentuate her features to make her look beautiful.
Suddenly, it knocked on her door. "Girls, can I come in?", Terry called. El hadn't even realized how fast the time had passed during the styling and that her mum had come home in the meantime. She walked over to the bedroom door and opened it.
"Oh my dear, you look so beautiful!", her mum exclaimed as soon as she lay eyes on El.
"All thanks to Max.", El replied truthfully.
Max was just about to apply the finishing touches on her own makeup and waved over from across the room, where she was standing in front of the mirror, that hang on El's bedroom wall. "Hi Terry."
"Nice to see you, Max.", El's mum greeted her in return. "You look splendid, too."
"Thank you. But we're not quite done, yet.", Max noted. "We still have to get dressed."
"Okay, then I will leave you to it and wait downstair.", Terry winked and left the room.
Max took her dress bag and left the room as well to get dressed in the bathroom, while El got changed in her room. First, she put on her green dress and afterwards added the bracelet, that she had bought during the shopping trip, and finally added some earrings from her own collection. When she finished putting on the small ear studs, the bedroom door opened again, and Max stepped in wearing her dress.
El turned towards her friend, who looked even more beautiful than the first time, she had seen her in the black dress. "Max, you look stunning!", she shrieked. "I can't wait to see Lucas' face when he sees you in that."
"You look not that bad, either.", she teased in return. "But wait a second."
Max went over to the desk, picking up her makeup bag and searching through it until she pulled out a rose-coloured lip-gloss. She went over to El and applied the colour to her lips.
"Now, it's perfect.", Max concluded.
El stepped in front of the mirror and took in her appearance. The dress made her look like a real lady and Max's work on her hair and makeup completed the whole outfit. El felt truly beautiful and couldn't take her eyes off her own reflection.
Max stepped behind her and hugged her around the waist, grinning at both of their reflections. "Ready for tonight?"
"Yes. Shall we go down?", she replied.
"Just another second.", Max stopped her, before El could walk towards the door and looked her right in the eyes. "I know I said that you shall sweep Mike off his feet and I'm pretty sure you will do exactly that but promise me not to put all your focus on him tonight. Please have some fun no matter if with Mike or without him and make it your night and maybe try out some new things. Just let the night happen and see what it brings"
El was slightly surprised by the apprehension in her friend's voice. She had also noticed that she had called Mike by his first name instead of calling him Wheeler like she usually did. That showed how serious and concerned Max was about her, so El replied by nodding and heard herself saying, "Promise."
She would try her best to enjoy this night for her own and Max's sake. To underline her determination, El hugged her best friend tightly, trying to put all her love and gratefulness into the embrace.
"Okay, enough of the heart-to-heart.", Max said, trying to sound nonchalant, but El knew better. "Let's go down. The boys will be here soon."
They walked downstairs with their purses and shoes in hand, where El's mum was awaiting them in the hallway, and who gushed as soon as they came into view, "Oh, you both look gorgeous!"
When El reached the bottom of the stairs her mum approached her and gazed lovingly at her daughter. "El, you look so grown up and beautiful."
El sensed that her mum was at the verge of tears, so she quickly excused herself to the living room, where she sat down in the armchair to slip into her shoes before her mum could become too emotional.
While she busied herself with checking if everything was securely stored in her purse, it knocked on the door and Terry went over to answer it.
"Good evening, boys.", she heard her mum say cheerfully. "Come on in."
Will, Dustin and Lucas all greeted her mum and stepped into the living room, where El and Max were waiting. El's first thought was how amazing the three of them looked this night. Will was wearing some cloth pants and a dark blue knitted polo shirt, Dustin had chosen a Bordeaux red suit with a black turtleneck underneath, and Lucas went for the more classical look with a black suit and a white shirt, but he had left the top two buttons open.
Of course the dark boy's gaze immediately searched out his girlfriend and looked at her in awe for a few seconds, before he approached her and kissed her passionately.
El observed the scene in adoration of how well her two friends harmonized and obviously loved each other. But she couldn't dwell on it for too long as the other two boys came towards her, and Dustin took her in a bone crushing hug.
"Wow, you look amazing, El!", Dustin said after letting her go, only to grab her hand and swirl her around so that her dress swung around nicely.
"That dress looks really good on you.", Will added in his kind voice.
"Thank you, guys. You look so handsome, too.", El grinned excitedly at them.
Their greeting was interrupted by Terry, who came into the room with a camera in her hands. "I would love to take some photos of you lot." And upon seeing her daughter's unnerved expression she added, "El, your dad explicitly instructed me to take some pictures of you for him."
El groaned in reply but obliged and let her mum take multiple pictures of her, followed by some together with Max, then Max and Lucas, the boys doing some fun poses and finally Terry announced to take some last pictures of all of them. When they moved closer together to be able to fit on the photo, El's mum looked up from the camera in surprise.
"Where is Mike?", she asked, as she obviously just had realized he was missing on their group photo. "Didn't he come with you?"
Lucas was the first to respond. "No, he left earlier to pick up Trish. We will meet him at the school."
"That's nice. I didn't realize he wasn't with you earlier. I am so used to seeing all of you together all the time, that I just assumed he was with you.", Terry replied before returning to the task of taking a picture of the group of teenagers.
By their exchange, El was painfully reminded once more, that her best friend was not with them… not with her tonight. He was probably right now at his girlfriend parent's house, complimenting her on her looks and taking pictures with her like they did momentarily. But she had promised Max to have a great time and not letting the situation with Mike get to her. So, El pushed the nasty thoughts aside and smiled towards the camera.
After ten minutes, Terry finally decided that she had all the photos she needed, and they one by one said goodbye and left through the front door. El was the last one and she hugged her mum goodbye.
"I wish you a great night, El. Will you get a ride back home?"
"Yes, mum. Lucas drives us to the dance, and he will also make sure we get back home.", El replied.
"Great, I know he will bring you back safely. You can stay as long as you want. Just make sure you wake up in your own bed tomorrow.", Terry winked at her daughter.
"Oh god, mum!", El cried out embarrassedly. "Max and I will come home together after the dance. No worries." She hastily walked towards the exit, before her mum could come up with any other embarrassing comments and called over her shoulder, "Love you, mum." And with that she closed the door behind herself.
The others sat already in the Sinclair family car. Lucas was driving, Max had taken the place on the passenger seat, while Will and Dustin sat in the back, and El slid in next to Dustin.
The journey to school was a short one, only taking about ten minutes. Dustin entertained them with his plans for the night, that were focused on getting some girls to dance with him. He was very confident that this was going to be his night and El sincerely wished he was right about his gut feeling. After a one-and-a-half-year long distance relationship with Suzie, in which they had only seen each other during the summer of 85' and 86', she had eventually dumped Dustin beginning of this year, claiming that she had met someone else in her hometown. Dustin had been left heartbroken and so El thought he truly deserved a fun night, and maybe he would even get to know someone.
Lucas pulled into the parking lot at school, and they emerged the vehicle. When they walked towards the gym entrance, Dustin came up to El and intertwined their arms.
"Would you do me the honour to walk in with me?", he asked a bit theatrically.
"Any time with you.", she grinned back widely at her friend. El leaned into him, feeling comfortable at his side and being happy to accompany Dustin inside.
They reached the entrance and were met with loud music and the gym was already crowded by dancing students. As there was a bit of a tailback, they had to wait in the doorway before they could proceed further into the hall. El used that time to take in her surroundings.
With every dance that took place at their school, she was surprised each time how the committee managed to turn the gym into a shiny dance hall. The ceiling was covered with tulle fabric panels and a disco ball hang in the middle of it. The light was dim, only some spots were turned towards the disco ball, turning the room into a flickering light. There were round tables at the sides, surrounding the large dance area in the middle. On one side was a large buffet and two bars served drinks, non-alcoholic of course. Opposite to the buffet on the other side of the gym was a photo booth, where several girls were taking picture after picture.
El let her gaze travel over the setting and all her classmates being well dressed for the occasion, searching the room for Mike. She was about to think that he had not arrived, yet, when a group of dancers returned to a table, and she suddenly saw the black curls that she would recognize just everywhere.
He stood diagonal to the entrance on the exact opposite of the room, in a group of people. There were Trish and some other girls that El assumed to be her friends, some of them with a date, others on their own.
Mike was standing with the back towards the dance floor and the entrance. El took in his appearance and even though she only saw him from behind, she was taken aback by his beauty. He wore a pair of dark cloth pants and on top of that one of his knitted sweaters, she loved so much on him. This one was a darker colour, she couldn't tell exactly which one due to the distance and the dim light, but she assumed it to be anthracite. Below that he was wearing a crystal blue shirt, that she identified by the collar that stick out of the sweater at the neck. Further up, she saw his usual mess of black hair that was styled as always, but the light made it shinier as the reflections of the disco ball flickered over it.
El was suddenly overwhelmed by the urge to run her hands through it. She couldn't stop staring, not even noticing that Dustin made a few more steps forward, dragging her along.
As if feeling her intense stare on him, Mike slowly turned around, searching the crowd with his eyes. His gaze fell on Lucas and Max, his recognition written all over his face when he identified his two friends. The two were in the front of their little group and El saw his eyes travel from them over to Will, who was standing behind Lucas and Max, and finally his gaze went all the way to Dustin and El herself, being the last in the queue. His eyes met hers and El's heart stopped. He looked so handsome and even from this far away she felt the intensity of his stare. It was again as if he was looking right into her, and she forgot everything around her.
In the corner of her eyes, she saw some movement, but she didn't pay it any attention. Only when she saw that Mike's head slightly moved, breaking the eye contact, she turned her head as well to see Dustin waving over at Mike with his free hand.
Slowly, as if he was in a daze, Mike pulled his hand up too, to greet his friends across the room. He looked at all of them before his gaze fell once more on El, to greet her as well. El tried to form a smile, but was not very successful, as she struggled to steady her breathing.
She was not sure, but it seemed as Mike's eyes travelled up and down her body as to take in her appearance. Meanwhile, El continued to stare at him outright at him, trying to understand what he was thinking. As Mike realized she was observing him checking her out, his cheeks turned red, and he dropped his gaze to the floor.
He suddenly moved around again, turning his back towards them, ending whatever happened seconds before.
El took a few deep breaths, to steady the rapid beating of her heart, and fill her lungs with much needed air.
From the front Max turned around, grinning widely and her lips formed the word "Smooth.", but El decided to ignore the teasing of her friend.
For the next minutes El felt like her mind was disconnected from her body. Her thoughts were running repeatedly around Mike's actions. She was quite sure, that he had checked her out and if his large eyes were anything to go by, he had liked what he saw. But what she was marvelling about even more was the memory of how he had stared at her before even really taking in her appearance. It was like he had immediately located her eyes and locking them with his, not caring how she looked like, as if all that mattered was her, just her being and nothing else. And even her manipulative mind couldn't come up with any other explanation or reason for his staring, than that he wanted to look right at her in that moment, not caring about his surroundings one bit.
While she thought about all this, they progressed further into the room and El was happy that she was attached to Dustin, who dragged her along. Her mind was fully occupied with her musings and couldn't spare any thought about navigating through the room.
Finally, they reached a free table and El forced herself to return to the present, when she sat down with her friends.
"Does anyone want a drink?", Lucas asked in the round.
"I'll take a Coke.", Dustin replied immediately.
"For me a lemonade, please.", said Will and added, "Shall I come with you?"
"That would be great, thanks. What can we bring you ladies?"
"A Coke what else, Stalker.", Max added and El finally piped up, her voice a bit husky, "For me the same."
Lucas and Will walked off towards one of the bars, which were surrounded by multiple students, and Dustin stood up as well. "I get us some snacks.", he declared and without waiting for any response, he was gone in the crowd.
As if she just waited for the chance to be alone with her, Max jumped up from her stool and walked around the table to El and slumped down in the stool next to her. El cringed, knowing exactly what was coming now.
"What the hell was that?!", Max started immediately.
El decided it would make no sense to play dumb, but she simultaneously didn't know how to voice out anything of the past minutes. "Max, I don't know", she whined because that was the truth. "I can't explain it."
"Well, I can. The tension between you two was heating up the whole room. It gave me the chills; that was just out of this world." El felt her cheeks reddening by her friend's explanations. A wide grin formed on Max's lips, and she added, "Wheeler is lucky that Trish was too occupied chatting with her friends. She would have killed him on the spot."
With Max's words El remembered that Mike was here with someone else, his girlfriend to be precisely. Since the second his eyes had locked with hers, she had totally forgotten about her existence.
The hope, she had felt that Mike could see more in her than his best friend came crashing down on her. In the end it didn't matter what he saw in her, even if it exceeded pure friendship, because he loved another girl.
Her eyes scanned the room again, as if she needed just another confirmation that he had a date for the night. She soon found him still standing with Trish's group of friends. For the first time that night, El took in the appearance of Trish, who stood next to Mike, and looked breathtakingly beautiful. She was wearing a simple crystal blue dress, that matched her eye colour and Mike's dress shirt perfectly, and that hugged her body, showing off her well-formed curves. Additionally, she wore high heels that were at least 10 cm high, but still she gracefully balanced on the thin heels, as if she never had done anything else in her life.
Mike's hand had moved to the small of her back, just as to display it to everyone that he and Trish belonged together. El's heart clenched painfully at the sight, and she felt tears forming in the corner of her eyes.
Max observed her changing mood and followed her gaze, sighing when she saw the cause for El's sadness. "Well, I guess it would be too much to ask from him to dump his girlfriend on Homecoming night. He might need a bit more time to figure it out. But even he can no longer deny anything after the staring contest that you two pulled off earlier. And until the day he figures it out, you will spend an awesome night with us."
El remembered the promise that she made earlier and tried to keep it together. She didn't want to destroy her friend's night by her sad demeanour and drowning in self-pity. So, she put on a smile and nodded in confirmation towards Max.
"Great, that's my girl.", the red head grinned at her.
In that moment Dustin returned to their table, the hands full with finger food and snacks, multiple platters stacked on top of each other. They enjoyed nibbling at the food in front of them and a few minutes later also Lucas and Will returned with their drinks.
They settled down and started joking around, ignoring everything else happening around their little table and group.
At some point Max decided to interrupt their easy chatting and pelted a M&M towards Dustin, hitting him at the head.
"Hey!", he exclaimed, throwing her a stunned glare.
Max sniggered, "What happened to your plans? I thought you wanted to show off your dancing moves and get all the girls out there."
"Do not rush the maestro. I'm gathering my energy." He drank up the remains of his cup and stood up. But instead of turning towards the dance floor, he turned right towards El, who looked up at him in surprise, while he held his hand out to her. "Will you do me the honour?"
"Didn't you want to find some girl to dance with?", El asked in astonishment.
"The night is still young and the first dance if saved for my beautiful friend.", he replied sincerely.
El grinned at him and took his outstretched hand. Dustin guided them through the mass of students towards the dancing area in the middle of the room, until they found a free spot.
From the speakers the first tones of 'Walking on Sunshine' sounded and they started to move to the fast rhythm. Dustin bounced up and down, and El was quickly carried along by his enthusiasm. They stood opposite of each other moving their bodies to the music, not caring if they looked ridiculous, and with the second refrain they started to sing along at the top of their voices.
I'm walking on sunshine, wooah
I'm walking on sunshine, woooah
I'm walking on sunshine, woooah
And don't it feel good!
El sang loudly, while Dustin threw his arms in the air with each 'woooah', making El laugh out hysterically during her singing. She grinned at her friend widely, loving to let loose and finally clearing her mind of her sad thoughts.
The song ended way too soon, but luckily Dustin was not willing to leave the dance floor yet, either.
So, they kept on dancing and singing along to the following tracks, 'Another One Bites The Dust', 'P.Y.T, 'Tainted Love' and when they finally reached 'I'm still Standing' they were out of breath and their moves became more and more frantic.
Dustin took her hand and swirled her around multiple times until El's head started spinning and she held onto Dustin's shoulder for support. Both laughed hysterically and once El had calmed down enough to speak again, she leaned in to speak directly into his ear, so that he was able to hear her above the loud music. "I need a pause and a drink." Dustin nodded in understanding, and they turned towards their table.
When they walked up to the others, she was surprised to discover that her seat was already taken by Mike. He looked in their direction with a deep frown on his face, somehow looking moody, and El searched the table for Trish, but she was nowhere in sight.
Max cheered as they came closer, "That escalated quickly."
She high fived Dustin, while El slumped down on a free stool next to Max, still alternating between laughing and catching her breath.
"Shall I get us something to drink?", Dustin addressed her.
"That would be awesome, thank you. A Coke, please.", El replied gratefully, as her throat was dry and itching from the excessive dancing and loud singing.
"At your service.", Dustin saluted. "Anyone else want something?"
The others named their orders and when Dustin was about to walk off, Mike spoke up, "I come with you."
El was surprised to notice that his voice sounded strained and wondered what was wrong with him. She waited until the boy in question stood up and followed Dustin in direction of the bar, before she leaned in to Max and whispered, "What's wrong with Mike? And what is he doing here anyway?"
"Don't know the details, but apparently Trish is currently taking pictures with her girls. But when he came over it didn't seem to bother him, so I have no idea why he is suddenly all mopey and grumpy.", Max whispered back.
El thought about this for a few minutes without any result. Will, Lucas and Max were engaged in conversation, but she didn't bother with getting involved into it. Her mind was too occupied to ponder over Mike's demeanour and she wasn't eager to talk anyway, not when her throat was dry as sandpaper.
Luckily, Dustin and Mike returned soon after with their drinks. Mike approached her and handed her wordlessly the Coke, before sitting down on the opposite side of the round table, staring at his hands.
Meanwhile, Dustin distributed the drinks to Max, Lucas and Will, but he didn't sit down himself.
"I guess it's time for me to put myself out there. Wish me luck.", Dustin said with suppressed anger in his voice. El was again surprised that one of her friend's moods had rapidly changed downhill. Where did that come from?
She turned to Max with a questioning look, but she seemed to be as stunned as El was and only shrugged her shoulders in response.
El didn't dwell on it too much, more consumed by the soothing feeling that the drink caused in her throat, and she drowned half of the glass in one go.
After that she regained enough composure to be able to participate in the ongoing conversations at their table again.
"…and that's when he got really scared and threw the sofa cushion over his face. He didn't put it down anymore until the end of the movie. It was so hilarious.", Max narrated grinning, while Will laughed and Lucas grumbled embarrassedly, "'The Shining' is just very scary."
El looked at him sympathetically, "I can totally relate, Lucas."
"Thanks, El. At least you are on my side.", he replied thankfully.
"Speaking of horror movies, Mike and I thought it would be cool to do a movie night and sleepover on Halloween.", El exclaimed and remembering a certain detail she turned to Mike. "Mike, did you ask your mum about the sleepover at your place?"
But he didn't react, still staring at the hands in his lap, seemingly taken in by his own thoughts.
"Mike…, Mike, do you listen?", she tried again and finally he looked up at her with eyes wide open in surprise.
El was about to phrase her question again, when she was interrupted by a shriek from Max. "Look, it seems like Dustin was successful."
They all looked in the direction Max pointed to and El saw her lively friend dancing with a small blond girl, that she had seen in the school hallways a few times but didn't know what her name was. She guessed that the girl was a year below them.
"Oh well, well.", Lucas grinned widely. "Looks like it worked out for him."
Turning to them he added, "So, what about us? Shall we hit the dance floor as well? We didn't do any dancing so far, except for El of course.", he winked in her direction.
"I'm in.", Max said excitedly and jumped up.
El stood up as well and turned towards Will and Mike, who both hesitated. "Come on.", she challenged them. "It will be fun."
"Okay.", Will sighed and stood up, too, followed by a conflicted looking Mike.
The later threw a quick glance in El's direction and she was taken aback by all the emotions she read in the single look. She saw uncertainty, fear, longing, anger, hope, and likely some more she couldn't identify in the fraction of time before he looked back at the ground. Her heart started to race again, but before she could overthink anything, El was pulled by the hand and Max dragged her along to the dance floor.
At a free spot they came to a stillstand, the boys following them one by one. They came together in a circle, El and Max standing next to each other and naturally Lucas joined Max on her other side. Will and Miked lined up next to Lucas and by closing the circle, Mike ended up to El's right.
The song playing was 'Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go' and El and Max started dancing immediately to the rousing beat, enjoying themselves enormously. Also, Lucas willingly joined in, possessing a natural sense of rhythm.
El looked over to the other two boys and had to stop herself from laughing. Will's shyness was clearly showing in that moment, and he moved awkwardly to the music, scanning he room frantically if anyone was watching him. But Mike was even worse, his dance moves being completely beside the tact. El watched him moving his legs and arms independently of each other, as if he had no control over his long limbs. A small smile crept up on her face on how cute he was being, and she was feeling the sensation of grabbing his hands and guiding him to the music. But she shook off that impulse quickly and focused on dancing with the group.
For a few songs, El let herself be carried away by the music and danced to it boisterously. She was very happy for her flat shoes she was wearing, as she was therefore able to let loose completely, swirl around or jump up without second thoughts. She swung her hips and threw her arms in the air, laughing or singing along most of the time. She either danced on her own or turned to Max, lip syncing a certain part or the two took each other's hands and danced along together, swirling each other around, cheered on by the boys. El had so much fun, fully forgetting everything else around their little circle.
After numerous songs, Lucas decided that his girlfriend had danced enough with El, and he grabbed Max by the hip and swirled her around with him to the track of 'Never Gonna Give You Up'.
El turned towards Will and Mike, giving the dancing couple some privacy, just to discover that Will was no longer with them. She looked around and saw his figure disappearing in the crowd.
Mike sensed her question and leaned in, so she could hear him above the loud music. "He's gone for something to drink and to get some fresh air outside."
El felt his breath near her ear and abruptly had the urge for some fresh air herself. It was like the room had heated up considerably with just his presence so near to her own body.
She became fully aware of them being alone and that this were the first words he had spoken to her this evening. They had so far only shared multiple intense stares at each other, that left her breathless, but also more confused with each time it happened.
But now they were alone, more or less at least, even though they were still standing in the middle of the crowded gym, nonetheless only paying attention to each other. And now that she was supposed to say something, she couldn't form any words. It didn't help that he had come this close to her for speaking, so that she was able to smell his scent, while his breath tickled her skin, causing her to shudder from the sensations.
Not knowing what to do or say, El decided to resume the dancing. But she suddenly felt very awkward and questioned every move. She became aware of Mike's eyes on her but kept her own gaze to the floor. If she would look up and see him watching her, she was sure she was not able to move any longer.
All of a sudden, she felt a hand on her hip, startling her to an abrupt stop, while she sensed that Mike was leaning in once more. Her heartbeat rose as his face came closer and he leaned toward her right ear to speak. If possible, he was even closer than the first time. She felt his breathing on the side of her neck, causing goosebumps to erupt all over her body. "You look beautiful," he breathed against her ear. "I've meant to tell you this the whole evening."
El wanted to respond, but her ability to speak was completely lost by now. She was holding her breath, her body fully out of order. She couldn't move or do anything. She just watched Mike pulling away as in slow motion, a soft smile forming on his handsome face, while his hand remained on her hip.
As from a faraway universe, she heard the music changing and a new, much slower track started.
"Would you do me the honour and dance with me?", Mike asked softly.
El outright stared at him, eyes widening by his words, but something in the back of her head clicked and she forced herself to speak. "Y-y-es.", she only stuttered breathlessly, though she was proud that she at least had said something to him.
Mike's smile grew wider by her response, and he placed his second hand on her hip, bringing them even closer together.
El's heartbeat quickened further if that was possible by any means. Her brain went fully blank and all she saw was the beautiful boy in front of her. As if on their own account her arms went up around Mike's neck and she just stood there, not moving and only staring up at him. From their position she became even more aware of how tall he was. He gazed down at her, his eyes full of warmth. She felt his hands on her hips guiding her to the music and she went along slowly, not knowing if they were in the tact or not. She couldn't even make out the song that was playing, only hearing a constant ringing in her ears.
As they swayed to the music of her beating heart, she continued to stare up at him. Her vision zoned in on his face, as everything else faded away in a blur of blackness.
All her senses were on edge and fully consumed by him; her skin was tickling where his hands brushed against her hips holding her tenderly, her head feeling dizzy as she took in his scent with each breath that only seemed to intensify with each passing moment, being a combination of something earthy and spicy like nutmeg, rounded up by a hint of sweetness that always reminded of maple syrup.
But his eyes were the most intense of all these sensations, as they looked back at her own and she drowned in their dark depths, getting lost in his stare.
From the corner of her eyes, she caught a movement of his lips, but her mind was not able to take in the words. "W-Wha… What did you say?"
"I've been saying that I'm sorry for my poor dance skills.", he repeated.
El stared blankly at him, confused by that statement. Didn't he know the effect he was having on her?
She never had felt something remotely similar and no one else would be able to erupt those feelings in her, no matter how good that person's dance skills may be.
"No, no it's fine.", she tried to reassure him, knowing how insecure he sometimes felt about himself. But her own words made her cringe slightly, being far away from the truth. Because her insides screamed how amazing it felt to have him pressed up against herself, taking him in like never before. She wanted to say something, anything that expressed her sensations, but all words couldn't even remotely describe what she was feeling. So, she settled on a simple, "I like it.", knowing it was the understatement of the century.
But his eyes lighted up by her simple words, and a shy smile broke out on his face.
El was taken aback once more, and her breath hitched. How was it physically possible that this small smile intensified the feelings of the past minutes even more?
Her heart felt like it would burst any second from all the love she held for him. It was nearly too much, the emotions and sensations that mingled inside of her.
In a desperate attempt to get some of it out of her system, she breathed the only word that still made sense to her, "Mike…"
That single word carried all the love for him, all the longing, the unconditional acceptance of who he was, the reason he was bringing to her life, being the drive of her heartbeat.
His eyes widened, as he caught a glimpse of the deeper meaning, she tried to carry over to him. He stared down at her, his pupils moving quickly, as if he was searching for answers in her face. El felt exposed, being sure, that the emotions were written all over her features, but for the first time she didn't try to hide them. The warmth of his eyes was reassuring her that her heart was save with him, that she could trust him with it.
Distantly, she felt his right hand leaving her hip, before it came into view in front of her, slowly reaching forward. With shaking fingers Mike cupped her cheek. He barely touched her, only hoovering his hand over her skin, like a faint imprint of the real thing. But it was enough to set that part of her face on fire. And when his thumb just slightly intensified the pressure and moved over her cheekbone, El was sure she would be fainting any second.
Mike's eyes stopped their frantic search and settled on her eyes again, like he found the answers, he had been looking for, in there.
"El…", he breathed, sending shivers all over her body.
And with that she knew it; he had finally caught up on her.
The past two and a half years it had been like she was running a mile ahead of him, the distance between them only becoming larger with each passing day, as her love for her best friend was carrying her further away from him. But by some miracle he was now next to her on the running field, erasing the distance in the blink of an eye.
It was written all over him, the adoration, the caring, the love.
And El could tell by the shock glistening momentarily among his features, that he knew all of this, too. She observed him processing everything the realization catching him off guard, as his mind was only slowly recovering lost ground. But with each passing second the shock was further washed away from Mike's face and was replaced by a tenderness, that gave her the feeling to be the most precious thing he had ever seen in his life. His thumb kept stroking her cheek in a steady rhythm but halted abruptly when his eyes moved downwards to her lips.
El gulped heavily, knowing that expression from the countless soap operas she had watched. As in slow motion he leaned in, closing the remaining distance between them. She saw his lips coming closer, his eyes heavy and dreamy, about to shut, ready to get fully lost in the feels.
Her heart raced, and she had the feeling it got stuck in her throat. At the edge of her deepest dream turning into reality, she froze up not able to get her body to move one fraction. But suddenly her instincts took over the control and her arms increased the pressure on his neck, guiding him towards her, while her own eyes fluttered shut.
A loud commotion broke the spell in an instant.
Suddenly there were people cheering and howling around them, and El's eyes flew open, looking at the confused face of Mike. He seemed to be as startled and dazed as she felt.
Her mind only slowly started to catch up on her surroundings, realizing that they were in the gym, dancing, surrounded by their fellow students, that the music had changed again and that the song 'You Give Love a Bad Name' was playing, which caused some to cheer in excitement, while everyone danced boisterously.
Next, El realized she was still standing pressed up against Mike's chest and his hand rested against her cheek. He was extremely close, even though he had pulled back slightly through the fright caused by the sudden change of atmosphere around them. And he had been about to… Her mind struggled to form the word in her head. It felt so surreal, but there was no room for misunderstandings.
Mike Wheeler, her best friend for life, the one she had been in love with for ages, the only boy that had ever caught her interest and she was sure would remain the only one she ever wanted to be with, had leaned in to kiss her.
And not just any kiss, like one of those that you share when you get caught up in the moment when the heat rises between two people. No, she had seen it in his eyes, the way he had looked at her before he had been leaning in. They had shown what she had wanted for so long, what she had wished for when she had cried herself to sleep. He had gazed down at her with love written all over his features and the desire to close the little bit of distance that would vanish if his lips would have touched hers, expressing the emotions that they now shared for each other.
While El processed all of this, Mike seemed to do the same on his part. Realizing that they still stood on the dance floor not moving, he suddenly removed the hand from her cheek and took a step back. His eyes searched the crowd and finally settled on his own shoes. He seemed to be no longer able to look at her straight in the eyes and his face became redder with each second that he digested the situation further.
"I… uhm, I… we…", he started in a desperate attempt to say something, but stopped as no proper sentences were forming.
El realized she had to be the one to do the next step, while he was obviously still too overwhelmed by the revelations of the past minutes. "Uhm, do you want to go outside?", she asked a bit hesitantly, but also excited to explore this further, whatever this was right now. "To get some fresh air and… uhm, talk?"
Mike solely nodded in agreement as words were still failing him.
El smiled shily and set off towards the entrance doors. She figured that she had to lead the way, as Mike was clearly still lost in thought, only able to follow her mindlessly.
While pushing her way through the dancing crowd, she frantically tried to figure out what to say when they would finally be alone. How does someone start a conversation like that?
Even though she was now pretty sure that he felt something for her, too, she couldn't just blurt it out and confess her love, right? That would probably scare him away and he seemed to be confused already as it was without her spilling her heart out in front him. But she was eager to talk about it, learning how he felt for real and gaining certainty.
Another thought shoot through her head; would he lean in to kiss her again? Her lips tickled from the sensation that she had felt earlier. It was like she could still feel his breath on her skin, as he came closer with each exhale.
Her heart hammered so fast in anticipation, excitement, and nervousness. Her palms were sweaty, and she absentmindedly dried them on the fabric of her dress.
By now they had crossed the dance floor and walked the remaining distance to the entrance. Mike walked half next, half behind her, his gaze still glued to the floor. El was growing inpatient, desperately wanting to talk to him and hoping he would finally look back up at her, but she bit down the urgency. First, they needed to find some private, quiet place, and then she could focus on the rest.
A sudden shriek startled her and made her stop in her tracks. "Mike… Mike, babe.", Trish called from a few meters away.
El froze and she felt Mike stiffen next to her, too. She had completely forgotten about Trish, had forgotten that Mike had a girlfriend, who was his date for night. The dance, the proximity, the stares, the caressing, the almost kiss… All that had made her forget that he wasn't hers. That it was not her that he had asked out, not her that he had picked up for the dance, not her that he had led by the arm into the crowded gym. But it was her that he had had asked to dance with her, it had been her that he had called beautiful, and it had been her that he had looked at lovingly.
A frightening thought shot through El's mind. Had she seen their dance? Had she seen them getting caught up in each other's eyes and breathing each other's names, before nearly kissing on the middle of the dance floor?
No, she told herself. If this would have been the case, she would have made a scene right then and there. But nonetheless, this got El thinking; did someone else see them? They had been right on display for the whole school to see. How could they have gotten so lost in the moment that they forgot about everyone around them and forgot about HER?
Trish had in the meantime reached them. "Mike, I've been looking for you all over the place. Where have you been?", she addressed the tall boy, who looked like he had been slapped hard in the face.
El sensed that Mike was shifting uncomfortably on his feet next to her, clearly searching for a suitable reply. But before he could come up with anything, Trish spoke again. "Doesn't matter; I found you. The girls and I are done with taking pictures. I would like to dance now.", she declared with authority.
Her gaze fell on El and she was sure in that moment, that Trish did not know anything about what had happened between her boyfriend and his best friend some minutes ago. Because even though she guarded El with some distaste, El was sure there would be indescribable hatred displayed on her beautiful face if Trish had just an idea about their closeness from earlier.
"You don't mind if I take Mike with me, do you?", Trish asked condescending, while grabbing Mike's hand and pulling him back in the direction of the dance floor, but he refused to follow, helplessly looking from one girl to the other.
"Actually, we were about to… uhm, wanted to…", Mike stuttered, but shutting up when he realized that he could hardly explain what he and El had been up to. His gaze fell to the floor again and he didn't dare to look at any of the two girls as he spoke, guilt and dread written all over his face.
El was as always overcome by the urgency to save him from the misery. "No, it's okay. We can… you know, talk… later.", she said sadly, hating every word she spoke, but she knew there was not much they could do if they didn't want to cause a scene at the Homecoming dance.
Trish smiled triumphantly and continued to drag Mike along, who followed this time, but not without taking one look back at El and she thought she saw him sending her a silent apology.
El watched his large figure disappear from her and her heart ached. How could she have forgotten about him having a girlfriend? How could she have let herself fully open up to him only for her heart to be broken the next minute? How could she let herself lose all control over the situation?
She was sure now, that he felt something for her, too, but they shouldn't have gotten carried away the way they did, not when he was here with someone else, his girlfriend to be precisely. They almost kissed, while he was still committed to someone else. That came dangerously close to cheating in El's opinion.
The situation she found herself in suddenly, was too fucked up to handle, and she felt tears forming in her eyes. She had to get out of here, to get some fresh air and sort out the mess in her head and heart before she would explode in tears in the middle of the school gym.
So, she dragged her eyes away from the dark mop of hair in the crowd and practically ran outside.
The cold brise of the October night hit her unprepared but cleared her blurry vision considerably and she deeply inhaled a few times.
There were a few students scattered outside; a group of girls that gathered around one that cried her heart out, a couple heavily making out leaning against the brick wall, two boys sharing a cigarette half hiding behind the dumpsters, and a few boys and girls standing around just catching some fresh air or chatting with their friends.
El moved to the right, away from the crying girl, as she couldn't handle the sadness when her own heart was at the verge of breaking, and rather passed the couple in their passionate embrace. Several hundred meters away from the entrance she reached the picnic area of the school and sat down on one of the benches, resting her elbows on the table in front of her and burying her head in her hands.
What was she supposed to do now?
She had dreamt countless times about the day he would finally fall in love with her. She had pictured it in her head, drawing numerous scenarios from breathless declarations of love up to passionate embraces. But none of those scenarios had included him finally and ultimately falling for her in the middle of the school gym, dancing with her, while he was supposed to be with his date, his girlfriend. Him being in a relationship had never been a part of her daydreams, and once she had been forced to deal with the situation in June, she still had tried her best to ignore this fact and had hoped that he would just end it already. But he hadn't and now they were in a much more complicated situation.
However, there was not much she could do about it. She could only sit around and wait for him to end it. And Mike would end his relationship with Trish now that he had feelings for her, right?
El started to chew on her fingernails in anxiety; this all was driving her crazy. She had been so sure about everything just fifteen minutes ago, about her feelings, about his feelings, and them finally becoming one. They had danced, they had looked at each other, and suddenly he had seen her. Not just the best friend El, but all of her, every single facet, and he had accepted it, the love for her written all over his face.
And it was not just that El had seen it, Mike had realized his feelings, too.
Over the years she had learned to read her best friend like an open book. He anyway was easy to figure out as he was bad in hiding any of his emotions, but El had perfected it and was able to decipher the smallest changes in his facial expression or body language.
And in this moment his whole body had screamed the realization when he haltered in shock for a moment and his eyes had widened. But instead of running from the change of emotions, he had decided to stay and give into the feeling. He had taken the lead and had closed the remaining distance. Mike had been willing to go all the way, no matter of the consequences, and El knew he would not do that if it was just based on pure attraction. He was way too much of an overthinking-person to flippantly risking their friendship. At least in that moment he must have been sure of his own feelings, but he must also have seen something in her eyes akin to love, otherwise he would have never taken the risk.
And he must have forgotten about Trish, like she had, because if he would have spared just one thought about her, he would have never leaned in. El was sure about that; Mike wasn't a guy who would cheat on his girlfriend intentionally. She bet he was right now beating himself up for letting it get that far already.
It had not been just the incidence itself, but afterwards he had willingly agreed to follow her outside to talk, not thinking one second about Trish. So, Mike was definitely feeling guilty right now, and even though El knew she should be a bit more remorseful, too, she could only think about the fact that she had made him forget another girl even existed. For her it was only another proof that they were destined for each other if they were able to erupt these feelings in one another.
She was sure of it; the only logic consequence could be that he would break-up with Trish and afterwards they would finally talk for real. El's heart skipped a beat in excitement thinking about that upcoming meeting with Mike. She glanced over to the entrance half hoping he would come running towards her, but the logical side of her knew this was not about to happen. No one would dump his girlfriend on Homecoming night, that was something you just wouldn't do.
Well, usually you also wouldn't almost kiss your best friend and afterwards sneak out with her to talk about your newly discovered feelings, but no one is perfect.
El sighed heavily. No, she would need to remain patient and wait until Mike had sorted it all out; the events of the night, his relationship status, and his feelings towards El. She knew she must give him some days for that. In the end, she had two and a half years to figure everything out, so it wouldn't be fair to expect from Mike to catch up on all of that within a few hours.
She sighed another time, realizing she could do nothing else than wait. But she had waited so long already, so a few more days would make no difference really, right?! She would give him the necessary time and after another small wait, they could finally be together the way she had always dreamt about.
El rose up from the bench. The cold made her shiver, and her limbs were rigid. It was time to go back inside for the rest of the night.
She walked past the pair again, that seemed to be glued together ignoring the pang of jealousy she was feeling. As El was walking up the stairs, she was hit by the loud music from inside and a wave of heat, that radiated through the open entrance doors. Spending some time outside made the anyway hot room seem as if it was boiling inside.
Entering the foyer, El halted for a moment evaluating how to go on from here. She had only thought about going back into the building, but now she was hit by the reality that Mike was somewhere in the mass of dancing students. And even though she had made up her mind to remain patient and wait for him to sort out everything, didn't mean she was fine with watching him dance with another girl or even worse… No, she couldn't let her mind wander there. It hurt too much thinking about him being close to her, now more than ever.
Best would be to try to ignore them being in the same room as her and if she was lucky, she might not need to see them together.
Her gaze steadily fixed on the ground, El made her way back to the table she had sat earlier with her friends, desperately ignoring the urge to look up and scan the room for a glimpse of dark, curly hair. She bumped into multiple people, always mumbling a hasty apology, but it didn't falter her determination to keep her face down.
Finally, El reached the table and was glad to see Lucas, Max and Will seated there and eagerly chatting. She sat down next to Will, her back fully turned to the dancefloor, facing the cold gym wall.
"El, where have you been?", Will asked. "Haven't seen you for at least half an hour."
"Here and there, just been outside to get some fresh air.", El replied vaguely. She hadn't realized how much time had passed. "And before that I have been dancing with – ", she mumbled on before stopping herself, as she was not able to finish the sentence and instead dropping her gaze.
Luckily, her friends left it at that and didn't push her any further on the matter. But El could feel Max's eyes on herself and was certain her friend was studying her closely. She knew that the moment that they would be alone, Max would demand some further details, and El was eagerly awaiting to share the event of the nights with the girl. She wasn't interested in spilling the news with the whole party so long as everything was not sorted out, yet, but if all would develop as she hoped, the others would find out soon enough anyway.
Nonetheless, she had to talk to someone as she felt as she would burst any second from the excitement inside of herself, and Max was the right person to confide in. Fortunately, her friend would return home with her, and they could talk for hours in the privacy of her room.
Sleep would anyway fail her this night for sure. Her mind was too occupied with drawing the next meeting with Mike, that would be the starting point of a new chapter in their story.
Lyrics:
She wears high heels
I wear sneakers
She's Cheer Captain, and I'm on the bleachers
Dreaming about the day when you wake up and find
That what you're looking for has been here the whole time