THE DATE THATS NOT A DATE
-
mike wheeler and el hopper have only gotten closer in this one week they've known each other. something that they had found out the first day they met each other was that el had moved in right next to mike. mike offered to walk her home after school since her father was working late and she let him.
mike soon realized that he was walking the same direction he'd walk to his house and once they got there. they both realized they were right beside each other and so were their houses.
mike wheeler also had realized that next morning that from his bedroom window on the second floor of his home it had a clear view into el hoppers bedroom. for the next few days mike would just stare at her, it was weird, but it got even weirder.
one day, mike wheeler had his video camera in his hand and he found himself just filming her, her sitting on her bed and reading a book, not knowing someone was watching her. acting her true self because she had no one around to impress.
mike knew it was wrong. he knew he shouldn't be filming this girl he had developed some sort of crush on without her knowing. her thinking she has privacy when someone is watching everything she does and capturing it on film. mike wanted to feel guilty. he wanted to stop.
he kept filming.
he would film her all the time, he would film her reading, her sleeping, her watching tv, her eating and thankfully mike still has never caught her changing. mike knew that if he saw her changing, he would always feel like a creep for filming her. or would he? a part of him hopes so. a part of him wants himself to know this isn't normal.
one day, el came over to his house.
knock knock!
mike heard the door knock but let his mother answer it.
"yes?" karen wheeler had asked the person unknown to her. "hi, is mike here?" mike could recognize that soft voice anywhere. mike nearly jumped off the couch and made his way to the door.
"el." he said smiling once he saw her. "el?" karen asked her son. mike looked at his mother, "oh right sorry, mom this is el. she's our neighbor, she also goes to my school." mike says.
"oh! you're chief hoppers daughter? i've met your father before, he's a nice man." she says, smiling. "it's a pleasure to meet you, mrs. wheeler." she says, putting her hand out for her to shake. karen shakes her hand and smiles, "i'm sorry, where are my manners? why don't you come in?" she said.
el smiled and walked into their home. "you have a lovely home." el said. "thank you very much. we've had some interior designing done." karen said.
"so el, what are you doing here?" mike asked. "my dads working late again today so i wanted to see if you wanted to hang out." el said.
"of course! i would love to hang out with you." mike told her. he felt so special. she wanted to hang out with him.
"great." el said just smiling at him. karen wheeler was not a oblivious and she could tell that these two teenagers felt more than what'd they'd admit to each other. "that would be great. mike could show you some places around hawkins to hang out." karen said.
"i'd love to see some new places to hang out. it gets quite boring being in the house all day." el says. "yeah, i'll just get my coat and we'll go, okay?" mike said. el nodded and mike basically raced upstairs.
he went into the bathroom upstairs before going in his room. he brushed his hair a little and put on some of cologne that mike's friend, will, had gotten him for christmas last year. then he went into his closet and put on a dark grey jacket over his plain black t-shirt.
mike sighed, taking one last look at himself in his closet mirror, "you got this wheeler." he told himself.
-
"oh yeah! he's crazy about that stuff-" mike heard his mother say as he walked down the stairs. soon mike reached the end and karen and el both looked at him, "talking about me?" mike asked, smiling, looking between his mother and el.
"snooping in on our private conversation?" el said with a smirk. mike could tell she was being sarcastic, mike had realized she was sarcastic a lot, he liked it. he liked it a lot. he chuckled, "hey not my fault you guys talk so loud!" he said in his defense. "alright you two, be back my 9:30 please." karen told the two teenagers.
mike looked at his watch and saw the clock read 6:47. they had time.
"yes, mom." he said as he walked to the door, holding it open for el. "thank you, mike." el said as she walked through the door. on her way out she caught a whiff his cologne he had put on and she tried to remember if he'd had it on before.
mike walked out and closed the door behind him. "i like the smell of your cologne, mike." el said sweetly. mike felt nervous now, had she noticed that he just put it on for her? the way she says his name when she speaks makes him nervous. "thank you. i got it for christmas, my friend will bought it for me." mike said. suddenly he felt as if he gave her unwanted information.
"will? does he go to hawkins?" el asked him, referring to hawkins high school. "he used to. his family moved this year though. it kinda bummed me out because he was like my best friend." mike said. why was i telling her this? she doesn't care. "hey, do you wanna take our bikes or do you wanna walk? stuff around here really isn't that far a walking distance." mike said, trying to change the subject so he wouldn't bore her.
"we can walk. i wanna talk to you more." el says, "i like talking to you, mike." el added, smiling sweetly at him. mikes heart skipped a beat, "i like talking to you to, el." he said looking at her, they lock eyes for a moment before mike looks away. el's eyes still say on him. "i'm sorry about your friend though, losing friends suck." el said.
"did you have any friends? back in chicago?" mike asked her. mike and el were now walking down the street making their way to the most popular part of town. the place that had all the activities and stores and restaurants. "yeah. my best friend, max. she was great, you would like her." el said, "she was like...a total badass. one time a guy whistled at her while looking at her up and down and she pantsed him in the middle of the hallway." el finished.
"no way!" mike said in disbelief, laughing. "i swear to you! she's great. she's the thing i miss most about chicago." el said. "she sounds great." mike says.
"she was." she says, "i still talk to her everyday on the land line." el adds. mike nods, "me and will talk too everyday. it's good to keep those real friends around." mike adds. "yeah." she simply agrees. after a moment of silence, el asked, "so mike, where exactly are we going?" she asked him.
mike chuckled, they'd been so caught up in talking about themselves that mike forgot to tell her where they're going. "well el, that's up to you." he said, "tell me, what do you feel like doing? go to the movies?arcade? the mall? go to a restaurant?" mike said. el smiled at him, "the movies sound nice. in fact, "can't buy me love" came out today and i really want to see it." el said excitedly. mike saw the "can't buy me love" trailer on tv, it seemed kinda like a chick flick but right now he didn't care. he'd be with el and that's all that mattered.
"okay," he smiled, "maybe after we can get something to eat from benny's?" mike asked. "benny's?" el asked him, with a confused look on her face. "oh el. there's so much you don't know." he said dramatically which made el laugh, "benny's is the best restaurant in this town. we're definitely going there after." he told her.
"whatever you say." she told him, smiling. soon enough, the most popular spot in town came into view. mike and el could see the movie theater and saw how many people were there. right, that new movie just came out, of course there'd be a lot of people, he thought. "that's on hell of a line." mike told her. el looked over, "wow you're right, wanna just go to the arcade?" she asked.
mike shook his head, "no, you wanna go to the movies so we're going to the movies." he told her. el smiled, she loved how selfless he was, "if you say so." she said. mike and el continued to walk until they were at the theater.
right when they arrived they heard a teenage female voice yell, "mike!" el and mike both looked in the direction of the voice and el spotted someone unfamiliar while mike spotted someone familiar.
it was jennifer hayes. mike smiled and waved at her. "come in line with us!" the girl still unknown to el yelled. mike and el walked up to the girl and mike smiled, "hi mike!" jennifer hugged him. this made something stir in el. mike pulled back, "uh jennifer this is el, el this is jennifer." mike said. el smiled at the blonde girl, "hi." el said. "hey!" jennifer said back, "this is cathy, brenda and jessica." she said pointing at the girls behind her. the girls, that el would definitely not remember the names of, smiled at her. el returned the gesture back.
"so are you two...?" jennifer trailed off pointing at the two of them. mike and el understood what she meant though, "oh no!" they both said in unison. "no no, el's kinda new here and i was just showing her around." mike said.
jennifer laughed, "well el you must be some sort of magician, got mikey here to see a chick flick." she said nudging mikes arm and smiling at him. mike let out a small smile too.
mikey? barf. el thought.
el just laughed a little, "so um, how long have you been here? you're almost in the front of line." el asked her. "oh we've been here since what? 5:00?" the girl behind jennifer–el knew she'd forget their names–said.
"yeah. worth it though. we're gonna get the good seats." jennifer said, "want to sit by me, mike?" jennifer asked looking at him, smiling. el felt jealous. she wouldn't admit it, not even to herself but she did. would mike not sit by her? would he ditch her? "um...well i can sit in between you and el." mike said, looking at el, mainly to check if it was okay with her.
"perfect." she said. then she rested her head against mikes arm, "so, ellie, what bring you to a small town like hawkins?" jennifer asked.
ellie? only max is allowed to call me that.
el gave jennifer a small response on why she left chicago and she didn't question it anymore. her attention focused on mike for the rest of the wait in line. even though jennifer stole mike away from her for the next five minutes they had to stay in line until the movie start, mike would still be looking at el when jen was talking. el would smile at him softly and he would return it.
el didn't want to have anything against jennifer. she genuinely did seem like a sweet girl but it just bothered her that she could clearly tell how all over mike she was.
soon enough, they were let into the theater and jennifer made sure to be next to mike. luckily, el still got the spot on the right side of mike. throughout the movie, el could see from her peripheral vision that jennifer would be just staring at mike or whispering things in his ear. in the middle of the movie el noticed mikes hand resting on the arm rest. el brought her hand up to her arm rest as well and now their hands were dangerously close together.
el was contemplating for a good 3 minutes wether or not she should touch his hand that she couldn't concentrate on the movie. slowly, el let her pinky slide across the arm rest. soon, her small pinky grazed his larger one. she saw it flinch very slightly and thought he didn't like it. she was about to pull back until she saw his pinky slide, searching for her's. their pinkys touched and both mike and el felt as nervous as ever. mike was the one who put his pinky on top of el's, then he slowly started to grab more of her fingers. this led to them soon holding each others hand. neither of them looked at each other, afraid it would break the connection they were both feeling right now. el would be lying if she said that when his thumb started to rub the back of her hand didn't do something to her.
the movie ended. everyone started to get up, sadly mike and el had to break their hands apart. right when mikes hand left el's she desperately wanted it back.
they were outside the theater now. "okay, well my rides here. bye mikey." jennifer turned to mike and hugged him. mike hugged her back, "bye." he said, smiling. "bye el." jen said when she pulled away, then she walked away. jennifers friends didn't bither saying bye and just followed her.
mike turned to el, "so how does benny's sound?" mike asked her. el smiled at him, "delicious!" she told him.
-
mike and el both ordered their own hamburger and they shared their fries. they sat at a booth in the corner of the store.
"so...jennifer's cute." el said, not looking at mike but looking at her burger like she's examining it. mike looked at her, he took a drink of his soda, "i guess." he said.
"do you uh...do you like her?" el asked him, looking at him now. mike looked up at her also. el was kind of nervous to hear his answer now. "of course i don't." he told her. el tried not to sigh in relief.
"she likes you." she told him. mike chuckled, "i don't know about that." he said. el playfully rolled her eyes, "oh come on! do you even see the way she is with you...mikey." she said, making sure to accentuate the last word. mike laughed now, "you caught that nickname huh?" he asked.
"oh well she only said it 1,000 times tonight." she smiled, playing with him. mike smiled, "jen flirts with everyone. it doesn't really mean anything." he reassured. "okay..." el said, taking a fry and dipping it in the ketchup, "mikey." she finished taking a bite of the fry.
"and what if she did like me?" mike asked. he smirked, "would you be jealous?" he asked. wow mike sure had a lot of confidence once he got comfortable around people, didn't he?
el almost coughed on her fry. "why would i be?" she asked trying to sound as normal as possible. mike gave her a knowing smirk and shrugged, taking a sip of his drink. "oh wipe that shrug off your face, mike wheeler." el said, throwing a fry at him.
mike laughed, "hey! don't go waste our perfectly good fries now." he said. el laughed, "shut up."
-
the walk back to their houses was playful. mike and el would be nudging each other, cracking jokes. they certainly have gotten more comfortable with each other tonight. not that they hadn't been before, but mike nor el feel that nervous feeling like they used to. now that feeling is replaced by butterflies.
then they were at their houses. "let me walk you to your door." mike said. "how kind of you." she told him. mike just smiled and walked her up to the door. el turned to mike, "i had a really great time tonight." she told him. mike smiled, "so did i, maybe one of the best if i'm being totally honest." he said. this made el smile.
"maybe we should hang out more often." el said, "i like being around you, mike." she said. "i like being around you too. a lot." he told her. el smiled, now they were there just looking at each other in complete silence.
something takes over el and she slowly leans in and plants a sweet and delicate kiss on his cheek. when she pulls back she looks at mikes face and sees his face turn into a small smile. "goodnight mike." el said.
"goodnight el." he told her. el smiled and unlocked her door. giving mike a small smile before closing it. now mike was left outside smiling like some love sick fool.
the only difference was that el was inside smiling like some love sick fool.