AN: Again, I can only repeat myself, but it really is awesome to see, that people enjoy this story. Thank you very much for every single one of you who is reading it.
Today's chapter is a bit more of a filler chapter, but it is needed to introduce some of the upcoming events. One of the mentioned events is El's birthday. For the sake of the story, I took the liberty to make the 07th of November her birthday, the day the boys found her in the woods in the original storyline. I know that this is not her true birthday, but I thought as this an AU, and other things are also not canon like the fact that Hopper is her real dad, it's okay, if I change that detail, too.
By the way, Hopper will make an appearance in this chapter for the first time. He and Joyce are together in my story because I can imagine that happening also in an alternate universe. Whereas, in this story Nancy and Jonathan are not dating, because without the events that took place in Stranger Things, I do not see that happening, or if, it must be well explained how that came about. This would be a story of its own and as this one is focused on El and Mike, I decided against it. Maybe in a future story I will do it differently, but not this time.
And as El and Mike are the focus in this story, there will be of course a lot of interactions between them again. Just as a side note, Mike is going to mention something about a dress in this chapter. Just think back to Millie's dress at the Stranger Things season 3 premiere (which I personally loved by the way), and you get the picture.
So enough of my ramblings, as always, enjoy :)

Chapter 4

03. October 1987

A week had passed, and everything had mostly resumed back to normal. September had turned into October and with it the everyday life routine had settled in, fully evaporating any remains of the summer vibes.
Along with that routine, Mike seemed to have decided to act like nothing had happened and El went along with it. She couldn't blame him though; it had been just a short moment where he had looked at her differently, and after it was over the realization had obviously hit him that she was still his plain best friend El and that there was his gorgeous girlfriend Trish on the other side.

If at all anything was different, El couldn't shake off the feeling that Mike seemingly kept a little bit more distance between them. There was always mysteriously a person standing in between them lately, whenever they were together as a group in the school halls or when they were alone, he seemed to slightly step away whenever she got close. But El couldn't say for sure if this was really happening or all just her imagination.

However, Max had confirmed her suspicions, saying that Mike was acting this way because he couldn't handle feeling attracted to his best friend. But even if Max was right with her presumption, El didn't know what to do with that piece of information.
It would only mean, that Mike had a physical reaction to her looks, something very common to happen to teenagers in general, but having nothing to do with deeper feelings or even result in him falling in love with her.

So, El was very unsettled by now on how to continue from here. Her last approach had worked for the moment, but in the long run it caused Mike to keep his distance from her, even if it was just physically. Because other than making sure they didn't end up being in too close proximity of each other, he acted fairly normal around her, joking around, laughing endlessly, discussing any topic and talking on hours with her as always.
This made her question herself what could be done next. She didn't want to use any other gesture, like touching him, as this obviously made him feel uncomfortable. But other than that, she couldn't come up with any other idea, as all she could think of instead were things she anyway did as his friend, like spending time with him, being there for him, listen to his dreams and fears, assist him in all his ventures, and generally showing him, she would always have his back.

She was very thankful for today's timeout at her dad's cabin, as it gave her a break from everything related to Mike. Over the past years, since she had discovered her feelings for him, she became addicted to everything about him, his cute smile, his endless ramblings, his dark eyes, his soft hair, his fascinating freckles, his affectious laugh, his sheer endless passion for things, his inner childish attitude to see the world, even though he became more manly from the outside by the day.
So, Saturdays with her dad helped her to come down from her high, to clear the head and gain perspective again.
As it was a rainy October day, the late summer days had ultimately ended, they had stayed home, skipping their usual hiking tour. They had spent the afternoon playing board games and El had been reading a novel, while her dad worked through some case files from work, sipping his black coffee at the kitchen table.
El loved the comfortable silence around them. In this regard she was just like her dad. She could talk a lot if needed, but simultaneously liked the silence from time to time.

The rain was continuously falling against the windows creating a soothing background noise. El had snuggled up under a blanket in the living room with her book in the lap.
She felt like it was the first time in days she could breathe freely again, without her heart aching, and with her head clear of the heavy fog of thoughts that accompanied her otherwise.
Mike's deep eyes were still on her mind constantly, but in this moment, they were rather a faraway dream, not like the nightmare that haunted her sometimes, just as they did this week, where they had been so near and still unreachable at the same time.
In this save place that was her dad's home, she could just be a normal girl with a heavy crush on a boy. All the difficulties, like him not returning her feelings, his obnoxious girlfriend or her being stuck in the friend zone, faded into nothingness, and a small smile crept up her face from feeling so content.

"Well, someone looks happy over there, kiddo.", her dad observed from his position at the kitchen table.

"I am.", she simply replied, the smile turning into a dopey grin.

"Good.", he mumbled returning to his paperwork.

She heard the rustling of papers, the scratching of the pen, sometimes being interrupted by a short phase of reading. El's gaze wandered out the window, where the rain was pouring incessantly, creating a dense veil of water. She watched the soothing image, that cleared her mind and let the warmth of her heart spread through her body, engulfing her whole being.
A sigh escaped her lips, speaking of the longing she felt, as she wondered what Mike was doing at this second. She pictured him sitting in his basement, the rain fading into a muffled side noise, while he worked on a new campaign, his head bowed in concentration, and biting his lower lip. Her own teeth started to nip on her lower lip, while she stared dreamily into the outside world.

Suddenly she was interrupted by her dad clearing his throat. Her head shot up and she turned towards him, catching him staring at her. She hadn't realized that he had watched her the past few minutes, observing the strange behaviour of his daughter, and as he studied her face, a deep frown appeared on his own. "Wait a sec… You're not having a boyfriend, do you?"

El's eyes shot open widely in surprise. She hadn't expected such a question. "No, dad.", she gasped. "What made you think that?"

"Just thought so, as you looked so dazed and overly happy." His shoulders relaxed visibly. "But good, you're anyway too young for things like that.", Hopper added as he stood up with his cup in his hand and he walked to the kitchen counter.

El couldn't stop her eyes from rolling in annoyance. "Oh, daaaad, please… I'm turning 17 next month."
Her dad seemed to be not convinced by any means, as he grumpily mumbled something under his breath, causing El to continue with her argumentation. "Max for example is dating Lucas for nearly half a year and Mike is in a relationship with Trish for about four months now.", she added, as if Hopper could be convinced if he heard about her friends' dating life.

Instead, Hopper abruptly turned from the kitchen towards her with his eyebrows raised in surprise "Wheeler got himself a girlfriend?!", he asked utterly shocked.

El felt the irritation rise inside of her by his statement. "Don't call him that.", she said exasperated by hearing her dad calling Mike by his last name in a slightly derogatory tone. "His proper name is Mike. Max is already doing that constantly, so please if you could at least call him correctly, that would be great.", she added passionately. "And yes, as I said he is dating someone for a few months by now."

"That's quite a shocker.", Hopper mumbled contemplatively.

El was getting even more irritated, so she questioned "Why is it?"

Her dad's eye looked uneasy in her direction. "Uhm… I thought that… well… that he was kind of into you."

Now it was El's turn to be shocked. She stared at her dad's tall statue in the kitchen, who shifted uneasy from one foot to another. "No, it's not like that. We're… friends.", she spat out the bitter truth. "How… Why do you think so?"

"Fatherly intuition.", her dad just stated.

"Well, you got that one wrong.", she replied with a heavy sigh. "He's with this girl, her name is Trish, and she's this super-hot, gorgeous and Cheerleader captain at our school. They have started dating almost four months ago and ever since, she is all over him constantly. I don't know what he sees in her, she is just so plain, and demanding, and controlling… I don't know why he is with her. Mike deserves so much better, and he needs someone that truly cares about him and that does not command him around. Someone who understands the real him, that doesn't force him to some stupid sports games, someone who shares his humour with him, and who knows and loves everything about him.", El declared passionately.

"Ah, now I see." Hopper looked at her knowingly, his forehead crinkled in thought.

El doubted that he understood anything. Parents were always acting so understanding, but what did they truly know about being a teenager? Nothing. This was like ages ago for them and El didn't believe parents, and her father in particular, knew anything about a teenage girl in love.

"El, listen.", Hopper started, while walking over to her.

He sat down at the opposite side of the couch, waiting for El to put her book aside, before he continued. "I know this may sound hackneyed, but believe your old dad if I tell you, that boys this age are a bit dense sometimes. We don't realize that what we're looking for is right in front of us. I can tell you from own experience, that we sometimes need to look all over the place to find that the most beautiful woman has always been right there.", he explained and El knew he was referring to Joyce Byers, Will's mum, with whom her dad had went to school with. They had started dating recently and El loved how happy her dad was ever since.

She appreciated his fatherly advice, but her situation with Mike was something completely different. Joyce and her dad had been dating back in the days, but they both had been young and foolish, and it hadn't lasted. Nonetheless, they had been in love with each other, and that was not comparable to her situation being damned to love a boy, who didn't return her feelings.
"Yeah, thanks dad.", El replied hesitant, attempting to say something and revert her dad's attention from the topic. "But I'm fine. Mike and I are just friends… which is… great.", she concluded forcing a smile on her face.

"Whatever you say kiddo. But believe me, if Wheeler is not totally out of his mind, he will come around eventually.", her dad concluded, throwing her a half-heartedly smile. He shifted uneasily in his place next to her, obviously feeling uncomfortable discussing the topic of boys with his daughter and as she didn't comment his last statement, he eventually changed the subject. "So, what do you say about pizza?" Hopper rose from the couch and walked over to the freezer to check its content. "I've got pepper, cheese, or tuna?"

"Pepper.", El replied, this time smiling sincerely.

They enjoyed their dinner and afterwards they watched 'Grease', a film El obviously had chosen and which she loved dearly. After two third into the movie her dad fell asleep on the armchair, his head resting on the backrest, as his snoring filled the small cabin living room. El watched him for moment, smiling softly at the grumpy, clueless man. Even though he was wrong about his assessment of her situation with Mike, she knew he cared dearly and meant well, and she was lucky, she could call him her dad.

04. October 1987

The next day the endless rain of the past days had finally stopped, and it was a surprisingly sunny day, though the air was still quite chilly.
After a quiet breakfast with her dad, as both were no morning persons, he drove El back home.
When they arrived at her place, she hugged him tightly before jumping out of his car and heading inside. Her mum was in the kitchen preparing the dinner for the evening.

"Hi, sweetheart. Did you have a good time?", her mum greeted her.

"Yes, mum. It's been nice.", El replied happily, walking up to her mum placing a kiss on her cheek. "Can I help you somehow?", she added as an afterthought, gesturing at the vegetables that were spread on the kitchen counter.

Terry smiled softly at her daughter. "If you like, you can peel the potatoes over there."

El did as instructed. She liked to assist her mum, as she knew that Terry already had enough on her plate. While peeling the potatoes, she talked to her mum casually. "How has work been?"

"You know, the usual; nothing out of the ordinary.", her mum replied. "With yesterday's weather it was rather deserted, as everyone stayed at home if they could. I hope you and your dad stayed inside, too?!"

"Yes, we did, no worries. I like to be outside, but if it pours like that, it's no fun.", El answered honestly. Talking about being outside automatically draw her gaze to the kitchen window in front of her. Being below her own room, she had the same view from the kitchen onto the Wheeler driveway as from her own bedroom window. As her mum told her more about yesterday's shift at the pharmacy, El saw suddenly the well-known mop of black hair appearing. Mike seemed to carry multiple items that he dropped in the driveway next to the car. Then he went back into the garage and reappeared a few minutes later carrying a heavy bucket, from the looks of it.

Being curious and as she was done with the potatoes anyway, she turned to her mother. "Mum, is it okay if I go over to Mike?"

"Yes, sure. Just make sure you're back for dinner at 6.", Terry smiled kindly.

"Thanks, mama.", El replied happily. She put on her Chucks but decided against a jacket. The thick pullover she was wearing would do.
She called a quick goodbye in direction of the kitchen and exited the house, walking the few meters over to the Wheeler's driveway.

"Mike!", she called over the street, while approaching him. "What are you doing?"

Alerted by her call, Mike looked up and turned to her, smiling broadly. "Hey, El. Nice to see you!"
As she reached him, she saw the bucket was filled with water and cleansing agent and multiple cleaning supplies were spread across the floor. "I was about to start washing the car.", Mike explained additionally.

"Oh, did you do something wrong?", El asked assuming immediately it was some kind of punishment for any misbehaviour.

"No, nothing like that. I asked my mum if I could earn a bit of extra money, so I'm doing some works around the house here and there."

"Ah, I see. Are you saving for anything special?"

"Well, I'm broke, as it is seemingly not cheap to have a girlfriend and additionally, I spent the last money at the arcade, the other day." El internally asked herself, what he had bought for Trish, that he had no money left anymore, but decided against voicing the question out loud. Whatever it was, she most likely wouldn't want to know in the end. Mike meanwhile continued, "Further, I have realized with Christmas coming up in a few months and my best friend turning seventeen before that, so I would need to put a bit more money aside than usual."

It took a moment before El realized he was talking about her, when referring to his friend's birthday. "Mike, you do not have to buy me anything special. I don't mind and can fully understand if you do not have the money to spare."

But Mike brushed her off. "No discussion. You will be turning 17 and I plan on a more special present this time, not just a book or movie."

El smiled at him softly, feeling the butterflies in her stomach again by the thought about the effort he was taking to get her something special for her birthday. She was wondering what exactly he had in mind.
"Shall I help you with it?", she offered to distract herself from her inner giddiness and pointing at the car in front of them.

"Wouldn't that actually imply that you are working for your own present?", he asked sheepishly.

"Maybe, but I'm happy to help. I don't mind keeping you company.", El grinned widely at him.

"Okay, I'm not gonna complain about that.", he laughed. "Take a sponge."

They started with the work before them, beginning with the inside of the car and working from there to the outside.

"So, how was your day with your dad?", Mike picked up the conversation.

"It was nice, even though we couldn't go hiking due to the rain. So, we stayed at home, reading, playing games, and watching a movie in the evening."

"Sounds good. Haven't seen Hopper for a while, how's he holding up?"

"He is doing fine. To be honest, I have never seen him as happy as he is currently. You know, he started to date Joyce recently and she seems to be just what he needed. I have a feeling that this is getting serious.", El smiled happily. She had always been fond of Joyce. The little, lively woman had always been super kind to her whenever she had visited Will, and since she saw how happy she was making her dad, she adored her even more.

"Oh, I totally forgot that they are dating.", Mike replied. "Isn't it weird for you and Will? I mean, if it is as serious as you say and they get married, you two would become like brother and sister?"

El thought about that statement for a moment. She hadn't considered it, yet, but the more she thought about the possibility of her dad and Joyce tying the knot, the more she liked the idea.
"No, it's okay. I would love to see them getting married if dad actually has the guts to ask her at some point. And Will becoming my brother would only be a bonus and I guess he wouldn't mind either. You're all anyway like my extended family. As I do not have any siblings, you, Max, and the others are like my sister and brothers in a way.", she concluded.

Mike made a strange face at her last sentence, but before she could analyse it further it was replaced by his usual broad smile again. They fell silent for some time and continued to wash the outside of the car.
Suddenly, Mike looked up and smirked at her. "If the wedding is taking place, I assume you'll become the bridesmaid?"

"I don't know… Maybe.", El replied hesitantly, wondering where he was going with that question.

Mike's grin grew even wider. "I hope I get invited, and just for the single reason to be able to see Ms. Eleanor Jane Hopper in a cheesy bridesmaid dress. This must be a once in a lifetime occurrence I don't wanna miss at all costs.", he laughed whole heartedly.

It was true that El hardly ever wore dresses, since she was old enough to vocalize it to her mum. She considered them impractical, as for example when riding the bike with her friends. She hadn't worn a dress in ages, not even to special occasions.

Mike, who was still laughing, continued. "I bet it's gonna be pink and all fluffy. I can already picture you with a big bow – " He was roughly interrupted by a wet sponge hitting him frontal in the face.

"WHAT?!", he exclaimed dumbfounded, while El doubled over from fits of laughter; his shocked facial expression was just priceless.

Slowly, Mike recovered from the first shock and processed the situation. "You're gonna be dead, El.", he growled.

He took his sponge and dipped it into the bucket next to him, before throwing it in her direction. El quickly hid behind the car, so that the sponge flew over her head. Still, some droplets fell down on her and she dried her face with the back of her hand. Then, she picked up the sponge that had landed behind her on the ground. She stood up and started circumnavigating the vehicle. Mike copied her movements on the other side of the car, each of them daring the other one to do the next move.

"Will you apologize for making fun of me?", El asked playfully.

"Nope. You must admit it would be hilarious if you get stuffed into such a voluminous dress. Don't rip me off that fun.", he mocked her.

In reply El threw her sponge, missing Mike by a few centimetres, as he stepped aside in the last second.
From there on a full battle erupted. Both ran around the car trying to get a good throw at the other one. El laughed and shrieked whenever she was hit and soon her pullover and trousers were soaked. From all the laughing and movement, she was running out of breath, slowing her down the longer it went.
After minutes of fighting, Mike suddenly caught up on her and grabbed her from behind.

"Got you.", he announced triumphantly.

El protested and tried to free herself from his grip, but he only put his arms closer around her. Then he lifted her up, her feet hanging in the air. She tried to kick him, but he seemed to be untouched by it.
"Let me down!", she shrieked and giggled at the same time.

"Do you surrender?", he breathed from behind into her ear, causing El's hair on her neck to stand up.

Stubbornly she stated, "No way."

"Okay, then you have to learn it the hard way.", he replied laughing.

Holding her as if she weighted nothing, he moved both of them nearer to the bucket still half-full of water. El continued trying unsuccessfully to free herself, at the same time laughing hysterically.

"Let me down… Mike, please… noooo", she shrieked once more, as the bucket came closer.

"What was that? I can't hear you."

Again, she tried to kick him, but to no success. "Okay, okay… you win.", El breathed in between the laughter. "I surrender… please let me go."

Just in front of the bucket, Mike stopped and put her back on the ground. "Why not immediately like this?! You're too stubborn for your own good.", he laughed heartily.

Both leaned breathlessly against the car, trying to gain their composure after the fight and the heavy laughing. While taking deep breaths to steady her racing heart and reduce the stitching in her sides, El realized happily that Mike seemed to have forgotten about his fear from earlier in the week to be close to her. Even now that they were slowly calming down, he didn't move away from her.
In fact, they were so close, that El could have counted all his freckles on his rosy cheeks.
Suddenly, his hand reached forward putting a lose strand of her slightly wet curls behind ear, that had fallen into her face. Her breath hitched and her heartbeat became so loud, she was certain that Mike must hear it. But if he had, he didn't mention it.

"We should go inside and change into some dry clothes before we clean up this mess.", he declared, gesturing around them.
El, who didn't believe she was capable to speak one word, as her mouth had run completely dry by his actions, just nodded in response.

They went inside the house and Mike led them upstairs to his room. Surely, El knew his bedroom, but it was still not common for her to be up here; they usually stayed in the basement. Sometimes she was considering if Mike actually lived down there. But from the dishevelled condition of his bed, she assumed that he at least came up to his room for sleeping.
Mike rummaged through his drawers and pulled out two knitted sweaters and sweatpants. He tossed one pair over at her. "Here something warm for you to wear."

El thanked him and went across the hallway to the bathroom, where she took off her own pretty wet pullover. She pulled the knit sweater, Mike had given her, over her head and was slightly taken aback by the intense scent that surrounded her. It was like Mike was encasing her and she got dizzy by the smell that was so typically him.
She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply a few times to get used to the intensified sensation that she was feeling. When her senses had adjusted and she had changed into the sweatpants, she picked up her own discarded clothes and went back into Mike's room.

He was sitting on his bed and had changed into one of his signature sweaters, too. With her entrance he looked up at her and grinned glowingly. "You look even tinier in my clothes."

El rolled her eyes in response and sat down next to him, taking in the room around her.
It hadn't changed much over the years. The walls were coloured in a warm blue and matched his wooden furniture. Only things that had significantly altered since the room was first set up, were the bed, which Mike had replaced two years back from the single loft bed to a standard double, and the number of toys got less. El remembered the days when every corner was stuffed with all kinds of Star Wars spaceships, Dinosaurs, and science stuff. There was still quite the amount left, but for Mike's standards the number had reduced considerably.

Her eyes fell on his closet door. The usually white door was now plastered with photos, postcards, tickets, and a lot more. El stood up to take a closer look and Mike followed her gaze.
"I started that recently. Wanted to have a collection of some cool memories.", he explained.

By now El stood in front of Mike's closet and looked at the collage in more detail. A photo that was directly on her eye level showed Nancy on graduation day. The beautiful girl was dressed in a robe grinning widely and holding up her school certificate.

"We still got one and a half years to go", she sighed heavily, pointing at the photo of Nancy. El couldn't wait until they would finally graduate.

"I'm honestly quite glad that it's still a bit ahead of us. Can you imagine all of us leaving town and going to college?", Mike asked, standing up and walking over to her.

El contemplated his statement for a moment. It definitely would be weird to leave Hawkins and settle down somewhere else, all of them spread across the state, some may even go further away. That was surely a part she didn't want to think about just, yet.

"No, that part is pretty scary. But I can't wait for Maths to be over for good and I also won't be sorry if I never have to see Troy's stupid face again."

Mike laughed, "Yes, that's definitely something to look forward to."

El's eyes scanned the collection further and stopped on a picture of the four boys dressed up for Halloween. This one happened almost three years ago, and the boys had dressed up in self-designed Ghostbuster costumes.
All four were posing proudly in the picture, but she was missing, and she knew exactly why. It had been the time that Max moved to Hawkins and that had led to different events, that caused her not joining the boys on that specific night for the first time ever. This was a part in their friendship all together, that she didn't like to think back to.
So, El rather concentrated on how incredibly cute the boys were on that picture. Mike was standing in the middle next to Will looking a bit awkward. His facial expression was always a little strange whenever a photo was taken of him. El knew he felt extremely uncomfortable about it.
She regarded the tall, lanky boy next to her. In the direct comparison to the picture, it became obvious how much he had grown over the years. Back than he had only been a few centimetres taller than herself, but now he overshadowed her easily.

Studying the picture, made her suddenly consider something. "Do we have any plans for Halloween, yet?", she asked Mike.

"I have discussed this with the boys a few days back. I guess we became a bit too old for trick or treats.", he replied shrugging, but El was sure she heard a bit of melancholy in his voice. In this regard he would always remain a little boy.

"But we could still do something together? I mean, all of us... Maybe a movie night or something like that.", El suggested.

"That's a brilliant idea. We could do that in the basement."

"And maybe if your mum allows it, we could do a sleepover and all sleep down there. That would be fun, and we haven't done that in ages.", El finished excitedly.

Mike studied her for a moment. "I really like that. I will ask her later about it."

"I hope she says 'yes'."

"Then you should maybe ask her.", Mike laughed. "I can't see her refusing you anything. She adores you too much."

El felt her cheeks redden slightly. It was true, that she got along with his mum splendidly. In a way she regarded Karen as her part time mum, considering that she knew her El's entire life and spent so much time at Karen's and Ted's house. And if she was honest with herself, she sometimes dreamt about the day, that they would share the same surname, just as mother and daughter, but not quite, as they would not be related by blood.

"Do you remember that one?", Mike asked, unaware of the images that were running through El's head. It was now his turn to point out a picture to her. El looked at the one that he was referring to and gasped in shock. "Oh my gosh! You seriously put that one up?"

The photo was one from last summer. It had been quite a hot day and they had lazily chilled in the sun behind the Wheeler's house. El well remembered that after days, where Mike had been constantly bringing Trish to any of their group meetings, it had finally been a day with just the two of them again. They had hung out doing nothing in particular except for joking around like in the old days, where no Trish had existed.
Due to the warm weather, El had at some point put her curly hair into a messy bun on top of her head and Mike had brought ice cream from the freezer.
So, El had been sitting cross legged in the grass, happily licking her ice. Unnoticed by her, Mike had also brought his father's camera outside and suddenly she had heard him saying, "Say cheese!"
El had played along and had turned to him holding the ice in front of herself, grinning widely so that her eyes had nearly been closed and her teeth had showed off, while her hair was just all wild in the bun on top of her head.
Back then they had laughed heavily about what most likely was the stupidest photo of all times. But she never had considered that he would get the photo developed and put it up on a closet door.

She looked horrified at the ridiculous picture of herself. "You must take that one down. That's just the worst picture in history.", she whined.

"No, it's the best. It will definitely stay.", he stated when she attempted to reach for it to put it down. He grabbed her hand before she could come close to it. "Otherwise, I have nothing I can laugh about on a bad day.", he grinned mockingly.

"You're cruel." El tried to be offended, but smiled, nonetheless.

"Maybe.", Mike laughed. "But it's actually my favourite. You're just so cute on it."
He dropped her hand that he had grabbed before to keep her from taking the photo down and jokingly touched the tip of her nose with his index finger. El just rolled her eyes in fake annoyance about his gesture.

Mike sighed, "I guess we should go down and clean up the mess in the driveway. My parents will likely come home from their visit at the Clarkson's, soon."

El had totally forgotten about the car and the chaos they had left outside, but she nodded in agreement.
So, they spent the next half hour finishing cleaning the car and putting away all the supplies that lay spread around in the driveway. And when Mike's parents came home from their afternoon spent at the house of a friend of Karen, who lived in the neighbourhood, all was in place and neat.

Karen offered El to stay for dinner, but as her own mum was waiting for her return, she declined with thanks and bid her goodbye soon after.
Mike walked her to the front door and handed her clothes over to her, which she had left earlier in his room, and which was still a bit damp.
El was questioning herself if she should quickly change back into her own clothes in the little toilet down the hallway, but Mike took that decision for her.

"Keep it.", he pointed to his sweater, she was still wearing. "It looks quite good on you."

"Thanks.", she grinned and hugged him goodbye, but quickly let go of him, before she could get carried away.

She stepped outside and walked the few meters over to her own home. At the door she turned back again to his house and saw him still standing in the entrance grinning widely. She waved at him, which he returned immediately, before he closed the door and El opened her own.

The evening was spent with her mum. Shortly after El's return, they ate dinner and afterwards they watched one of El's favourite soap operas.
El loved the cheesy series, a trait that she could have only inherited from her mum, as she was the single person who even considered watching them with El. She had tried to introduce these to Max, Mike and even her dad, but failed miserably. The best shot had been with Mike, who had at least tried a full afternoon once, but had fallen asleep in the end. Max and Hopper on the other hand had made their distaste known from the beginning. El had thought at the time, that they might have a secret battle going on among them, who would be the first to back out and doing it with the most complaint simultaneously.
After those experiences, she had sticked to watching them either on her own or with her mum, who at least liked to watch a soap opera from time to time.
So, El enjoyed the evening with her beloved mum, watching episode after episode, only interrupted by themselves if either one of them made a comment on the storyline or one of the characters.

When it was time for her to go to bed, El kissed her mum on the cheek and went upstairs.
Snuggled under the covers, she thought back to the events of the day. It had been a perfect day from start to end and El felt utterly content. What made her the happiest was that it had been the first in a long time that Mike and she had been that carefree with each other. Lately, there had always seemed to be something in the way that made the air around them heavier, missing the ease of their childhood. And even though El couldn't pinpoint it, she suspected her own feelings to be the cause for it. But today had been different. Her feelings were still omnipresent, but today they had only been a sidenote, not ruling her as usual. Mike and she had just been each other's best friend, and in those moments, it had been all she needed.
While closing her eyes and inhaling his scent on the sweater, that she was still wearing, she thought, "I actually could live with being just his friend forever, if it wasn't for a certain other girl that claimed his time and love, too."
Because sharing was something she was just no good at.

Lyrics:
If you could see that I'm the one
Who understands you
Been here all along
So, why can't you see?
You belong with me
You belong with me