Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/12789459.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Choose_Not_To_Use_Archive_Warnings, Underage
  Category:
      F/M, Gen, M/M
  Fandom:
      Stranger_Things_(TV_2016)
  Relationship:
      Eleven/Mike_Wheeler, Max/Lucas_Sinclair, Dustin_Henderson/Original_Female
      Character(s), Will_Byers/Original_Male_Character(s), Eleven_&_Max_
      (Stranger_Things), Jonathan_Byers/Steve_Harrington/Nancy_Wheeler, Will
      Byers_&_Dustin_Henderson_&_Lucas_Sinclair_&_Mike_Wheeler, Will_Byers_&
      Eleven, Eleven_&_Nancy_Wheeler
  Character:
      Eleven_(Stranger_Things), Mike_Wheeler, Max_(Stranger_Things), Lucas
      Sinclair, Dustin_Henderson, Will_Byers, Original_Characters, Jonathan
      Byers, Steve_Harrington, Nancy_Wheeler
  Additional Tags:
      jopper_mentioned, Angst, Fluff, Smut, Shameless_Smut, High_School,
      They're_17, Lots_of_Angst, tons_of_friendship_fluff, Friendship,
      Elmax!friendship_is_my_fav, slight_ooc_Max, slight_ooc_mike, Mileven,
      Underage_Drinking, Underage_Sex, all_consensual, Will_is_a_happy_boy,
      dress_by_taylor_swift, they_are_popular, Kinda, Slight_Period-Typical
      Homophobia
  Stats:
      Published: 2017-11-22 Updated: 2017-11-29 Chapters: 3/? Words: 24330
****** I Don't Want You Like a Best Friend ******
by screamingintosilence
Summary
     "Inescapable, I'm not even going to try. And if I get burned, at
     least we were electrified."
     El has angst, Max is the best friend we all want, Mike did something
     really dumb 4 years ago, and now it's time to get drunk and confess
     all. It only gets hotter from here.
     or I listened to Taylor Swift and this is what happens.
     There will be smut between 17-year-olds, you have been warned.
***** Chapter 1 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
“So what are you going to do about Wheeler?”
I glanced over my shoulder at Max, who was flipping through the rack of clothes
behind me. Turning back to the lipstick I was looking through, I tried to brush
her off with a “What about him?”
“Seriously El? You’re my best friend. I’ve known you for almost four years
now!”
“Ok? So?” I tried out the red lipstick. I usually stuck with light pink, since
Hopper would throw a fit over anything else, but we had just finished our
junior year at Hawkins High and I was feeling adventurous. As adventurous as
one can be about lipstick when one’s father is the police chief.  I rolled my
eyes at myself. I was as straightlaced as they came, something which Max
constantly liked to tease me for, ever since I came back for good. I was sick
of it and I wanted a change.
“I don’t understand how the hell you two aren’t together,” I heard her grumble.
“C’mon, El. Everyone and their mother can see that you guys belong together!”
I huffed. “Max, you were there when he threw, like, the biggest fit about us
not being boyfriend and girlfriend.” Yeah, three and a half years ago and that
still stung like a bitch.
......
It had been a few weeks after the Snow Ball of ‘84 and Hopper had let me stay
at the Byers (before him and Joyce were a thing) with the whole party. It was
the only other place I was allowed before my year of confinement was up and I
could start high school with everyone.
We had all just been hanging out and the boys had found out about our kiss.
Lucas’s and Dustin’s favorite thing was to tease Mike, so this was like hitting
the jackpot. They teased endlessly about us being together and how we were as
good as married, and whatever else 13-year-old boys tease about. I had been
blushing the whole time while Max was petting my arm to try and reassure me
that it was all in good fun.
Mike, though, was having none of it. After about 15 minutes of continuous
teasing from the two, he finally snapped. “El and I are NOT boyfriend and
girlfriend! Would you two assholes shut up already?! We’re just best friends,
jesus fucking christ! El, tell them we’re not dating!”
His eyes were begging me. “D-dating?” That was still a word I hadn’t really
learned yet.
“It means together, like Nancy and Jonathan. Tell them how we’re just friends.
Please! Tell them how we’re just best friends!” He was pleading with me now.
Finally grasping what he was say, there was a tight pang in my chest and I
could feel my eyes slightly moisten. So I was wrong. He doesn’t like me like
that. It was just as best friends. Emotions were tearing me up inside, but I
couldn’t let any of the others see, especially Mike.
“Uh, ye-yeah. We’re, um, we’re just best friends, guys,” Mike was nodding at me
and it felt like my heart was breaking. Don’t let it show, I chanted to myself.
“See! Now can we please just watch a movie or something?”
“Yeah, yeah, lovebird,” Lucas threw up his hands. “Just don’t make it
Poltergeist again.”
Will rolled his eyes at the other three boys and turned to me from where he was
seated on my other side. He leaned in to whisper, “They’re all idiots, El. 13-
year old boys don’t know how to act around girls. I mean, just ask Max. We
basically stalked her when she first got here.”
Max was nodding in agreement and whispered back, “He’s right. All of them were
being total creeps, and Mike was rude as shit - given it’s because you were
gone - but the boy can be a real dummy for someone so smart.”
I appreciated their reassurances and was trying to take subtle deeps breaths in
through my nose and out through my mouth to keep the tears at bay. “Uh, I, uh,
have to use the bathroom. I’ll be back.” I whispered as I squeezed both of
their hands to try and convince them that I was fine before getting up and
locking myself in the bathroom.
I let the tears come for 5 minutes as I sat on the edge of Will’s bath tub
before I heard knocking on the door. “El? It’s Mike. Are you ok in there?” I
could hear the worry in his tone and knew I couldn’t let him see me like this.
Wiping my eyes up and trying to sniffle my nose as quietly as I could, I tried
to make my voice sound as normal as possible “Yeah. Just don’t feel good. Must
have been Eggos.” I make my way to the sink and turn on the water as cold as it
would go. I had seen on one of the episodes of Days of Our Lives that cold
water reduced puffiness of the eyes or something.
After giving myself another minute or two to try and look normal again, I
opened the door to see Mike leaning against the wall opposite. When he saw me,
he reached out to hold my hand, but I flinched back. Trying to cover it up, I
rubbed my stomach and made a grimacing face.
He scratched the back of his neck instead, asking again if I was ok, sounding
sheepish. After nodding and mentioning how I probably should eat more than just
Eggos, he gave in with a nod of his head.
When we got back in the living room, I curled up into Max’s side, hugging her
arm with both of mine. She gave me a look in surprise, since that was normally
something I only did with Mike, but I just shook my head looking at her with
big eyes. She sighed, understanding me, because next to Mike she was quickly
becoming my best friend. She patted my hair and leaned her head on mine,
focusing back on the tv.
I could see Mike out of the corner of my eye looking over at us, slightly
distressed. He was sitting next to Will who happened to be in-between us. I saw
Will nudge him and heard him whisper, “It’s probably just women stuff. Like
what Nancy goes through once a month. She’ll be fine.”
I saw Mike’s nose crinkle and he shuddered a bit, before nodding and turning
back to the tv. I didn’t know what Will had been talking about, but I could
always ask Max or Nancy at another time. I appreciated that Will bought me
time, though. Hopefully it was enough to at least let me come to terms with my
feelings being one sided.
......
It had been enough. Over the next week, I avoided Mike as much as possible,
which he thankfully didn’t find suspicious due to Will’s explanation. I let
myself have that week, and then decided to lock all those feelings up in a
mental box and try and bury it as much as possible. I didn’t want to lose Mike
as my best friend, so I would just let things be how he wanted. I also didn’t
want to make anything awkward with the party, so I did my best to act as if I
wasn’t pining over Mike until it became second nature.
We would still hold hands and he would walk around the halls with his arm slung
over my shoulder once I started school with them. He’d give me little pecks on
the top of my head, since he towered over me now. And I’d give him quick pecks
on the cheek. The guys and Max would tease us good naturedly about how “Are you
guys sure you aren’t secretly dating?” and there was constantly a rumor going
around about us being together, but true to my part I would roll my eyes with
him and we’d laugh it off.
He was my best friend. He owned my heart and he didn’t even know. All our
innocent gestures further solidified my love for him, but it was something I
could never admit to. We had been toeing the line for 3 years now and he was
still calm and sure as ever in our friendship, while never knowing that my
heart still went erratic every time we touched.
It didn’t help at all that Mike really grew into his looks in high school.
Puberty hit the boy hard, and man did it almost destroy my façade. He might
still be a nerd, but looks can truly help one’s popularity. Girls would
constantly be trying to get him to notice them; how he never did is something I
still don’t understand.
And to be honest, all the boys came out of it on the winning side of growing
up.
So did Max. She was a stunner. If it wasn’t for her steady relationship with
Lucas that started after that fateful Snow Ball, she’d have guys begging her
for a date. Not that she didn’t anyway, but after Lucas took up baseball, most
guys didn’t want to even try messing with her.
I came out literally plain Jane. As much as Max tried to tell me otherwise, I
know it’s a lost cause. The girls in our grade would constantly tease me about
how plain I was and how they didn’t understand why my friends liked me. It
lessened a bit when Max actually punched one of them in the face after gym one
day. She had smugly said how much it was worth it once she got out of her week
suspension. The boys wouldn’t stop talking about how epic it was and how they
wish they could do the same, but since they were boys… I may have rolled my
eyes at that.
So with Lucas’s popularity from being on the baseball team, and Mike’s
heartthrob looks they were an easy win to become student body vice president
and president respectively for our upcoming senior year. Dustin’s and Will’s
skills at campaigning didn’t hurt either.
The summer had started and Mike’s parents were gone with Holly for the weekend
on some trip to Kiddieland or somewhere. Mike had won them over in letting him
stay home, using Nancy coming back from college as his excuse. In reality, Mike
Wheeler was planning to throw an all out, incoming-seniors-only party. This was
a far cry from the Mike Wheeler I first met, but I guess wanting to have the
full high school experience and now being the student body president, he had
this air of confidence that 13-year old Mike Wheeler would be in awe of.
We also lucked out with Joyce and Hopper taking mine and Will’s newest little
sister to our grandma’s and going away for the weekend. Without the chief of
police breathing down our necks and with Steve promising to buy us alcohol
(after a ton of begging, puppy dog eyes and maybe some guilt tripping on
Dustin’s part), it was the perfect storm of events. Nancy and Jonathan had even
promised to stay out of our hair, planning a movie night with Steve at Steve’s
house.
All of this is why Max and I are currently at the mall shopping.  She had
insisted that we needed new outfits for this type of thing, “I want to stun
Lucas. I want his jaw to drop and I want him drooling.”
I made a face at this. “Max, you already have the boy hook, line, and sinker.”
(Dustin had taught me that saying.) “Hell, you guys have already done it!” She
had told me about how they had sex down by Lovers’ Lake last July, not sparing
me any details no matter how much I begged. Lucas was my unofficial brother,
like Dustin. I so didn’t need to know all that about him, but Max just laughed
at me, “You’re so innocent and pure, Ellie. Someone has to corrupt you.”
Shuddering at the memory, I finally walked over to where Max was flipping
through the dresses, if you could call the tiny scraps of fabric that. “When’s
the last time I could dress like this for him? I love him, and I love teasing
him,” my nose crinkled at her explanation.
“So gross. I don’t need to know this.”
She laughed, “Oh, c’mon. You’re my best friend. Who else am I going to talk
about sex with?”
“I don’t care! Not me! Knowing it’s Lucas that you’re letting bone you makes me
want to vomit.”
She just smirked, “You’re one to talk, Miss I-want-Mike-Wheeler-to-pound-me.”
Flushing in embarrassment and glancing around quickly to make sure there wasn’t
anyone close to us to overhear, “Oh my god, Max, shut up! No I don’t! We’re
just friends! How many times do I have to tell you?!”
“Mm-hm. The starry-eyed gaze you guys give each says otherwise. You guys are
literally sickening.”
“I have no clue what you are talking about.” I knew I sometimes looked at Mike
like that, I couldn’t help it, but there was no way he looked at me the same.
That’s just wishful thinking. Really wishful.
“Ellie,” she was the only one besides Hopper ever allowed to call me that. A
fact that she relished. “You’re my best friend. I know you better than you
think. You like him. Fuck what he said after Snow Ball, the boy is stupid, all
boys are. He was just embarrassed. But if there was one thing I know about Mike
Wheeler, it’s that that boy would lay down his life for you. He would walk
through the seven pits of hell just to make you smile. Jesus christ, he already
threatens every boy that even thinks of looking at you.”
My eyebrows pulled together in confusion and I glanced up from the dresses I
was looking through to face Max. “Ok, now I really have no clue what you are
talking about. Boys don’t look at me. Outside of group assignments almost no
other boy has ever even talked to me. Just plain ol’ Jane, remember?”
She glared at me, “I love you Ellie, but God you are being stupid right now.”
“Hey!”
She grabbed my hand over the clothing rack and dragged me over to the closest
mirror. Putting her hands on my shoulder to make me face it, she stood behind
me.
“Look at yourself, El. Really look. The reason all those bitches try and say
that you’re plain is because you’re fucking beautiful, with or without make-up
or ‘stylish’ clothes, and that makes them jealous and bitter. You have the
school heartthrob hanging on your every word, and quite literally hanging on
you, that they would kill to be in your place. Wheeler looks at you like you
put the stars in the sky. He knows how amazing and gorgeous you are and that’s
why when the QB last year, Tony Hill, was going to ask you to homecoming, Mike
threatened him and made sure that everyone knew you were his date.”
“He only asks me because he’s my best friend, he probably just doesn’t want to
have to deal with the hoard of screaming girls who want him to ask them.”
Max started shaking me by the shoulders, “I. Want. To. Strangle. You. Right.
Now! El!”
“Max!”
“He loves you! My god the boy couldn’t be more in love with you!”
“You’re crazy!”
“Am not! I’m going to prove it to you!”
“Oh yeah? How are you going to do that?” I gave her my best skeptical look.
She glared back at me in the mirror, “The party.” She then grabbed my arm and
dragged me back over to the dresses, furiously flipping through them until she
found one that seemed to appease her. Still having a strong hold on my arm, she
pulled me over to the fitting rooms, shoving me and the dress in one and
closing the door.
My eyes flitted over the fabric. There is no way that this qualifies as a
dress. It’s basically a shirt. “Max, what the hell am I supposed to do with
this?!”
“Put it on!” her muffled voice snapped at me through the door.
Knowing that I would never win in an argument against her, I shrugged out of my
clothes and wrestled with putting the dress on. It was a black, strapless
concoction, with cutouts on either side of my waist. Struggling to keep my
hands from getting caught, I managed to get it situated pretty much right, but
couldn’t finish the zipper. I wrenched open the door to a no-nonsense look on
Max’s face.
“I can’t finish the zipper,” I panted out while turning around. She quickly did
it up and turned me around, her eyes quickly growing wide.
“Holy shit, El. You’re fucking hot!” she exclaimed. My nose wrinkled in
disbelief. “See that,” she shoved me back into the changing room so I could
look in the mirror. What I saw looking back at me was a girl who I didn’t
recognize. “You have hips! You have an ass! You have boobs!! That’s what’s been
hiding under all those old sweaters of Mike’s?!”
“Max, they’re all average size,” I try to calm her. “And I like Mike’s
sweaters! They’re comfy. Plus he said he likes seeing me wear them, so he knows
I’m warm.”
“Yeah right! Ellie, average on you is like mega gorgeous! Besides, Wheeler is
probably just trying to hide that body all for himself.” I was starting to get
sick of her making up lies about Mike liking me like that. “You have this
perfect face. Your cheekbones are to die for. And you’re petite enough,
especially to Mike-skyscraper-Wheeler. And now you have this banging body.”
“Max.”
“You might turn me gay, El,” she laughed dramatically. “Ah, nah. I like my
chocolate thunder too much.”
“Gross,” I gagged. She had that starry look in her eyes that she always got
when she thought about Lucas, mainly sex with Lucas.
Her eyes snapped back to me. “Ok, you’re getting this dress.” I made to
protest. “Nah-ah-ah,” she held her hand up to silence me. “You are getting
this, and we are going to make Wheeler eat his heart out. Maybe eat you out,
too.”
“Max! Why must you always make it so crude?!” I whined.
“Because, the boys never talk like this around you since they somehow think
you’re still so delicate and innocent, and because Hopper is your dad so they
don’t want him killing them. Who else is going to make sure you’re prepared?”
“Prepared for what?!” I threw my hands up.
“For when you finally have sex with Mike! I need to make sure you’re safe.”
“Max, I’ve been through health class. Joyce has even given me the talk. I think
I’ll be fine.”
“Only the basics. That’s all the ever teach you. Who else is going to inform
you of all the other things that happen?!”
“I hope not you. I actually want to burn my brain out for having to picture you
and Lucas like that.”
She huffed. “Whatever. We are still getting this dress.”
After another hour of shopping, Max finally found her own dress to wear, as
well as heels for us (“It’s just a party at Mike’s. Why do we need heels?!”
“The Look needs to be complete. Besides, they’re heeled boots, El.” God I must
have turned her girly), and some new make-up.
“I want to give you this smokey look. Like Olivia Newton-John’s make over at
the end of Grease. It’s going to be amazing.”
“Fine, as long as you skip the hair fluff. I don’t feel like choking on
hairspray,” I amended to her.
“Deal,” she squealed, rushing up to the counter to pay for all our things. Her
dad, her real dad - not Neil - had sent her a bunch of money for her birthday
last week. He was loaded, though Max doesn’t talk about it. “It happened after
my mom left him and married Neil. She didn’t want to wait around for his
‘money-making’ scheme to finally, ya know, make money. Complete bullshit. At
least he’s making something of himself now.” I didn’t really like her paying
for me, but she claimed something about at least she wouldn’t be spending it
all at the arcade or on food for the boys. “Like they need more food. I’m not
giving into their growth spurts any more than I already have. Besides, who’s
mainly funding this party tonight? Me.”
Since we still didn’t like hanging out at Max’s house, even with Billy gone, we
drove in Max’s cherry red ‘68 Ford Mustang convertible (another present from
her dad, but for her 16th birthday last year) to my house. When Joyce and
Hopper got married, we all moved into a house over by Dustin’s neighborhood,
since Joyce’s old house wasn’t big enough and even considering the cabin or
Hop’s trailer was a complete joke.
The convertible was Max’s pride and joy, as well as all the boys’. When Max had
first gotten it, they would constantly demand to be driven around in it, even
though we all struggled to fit. I always ended up in Mike’s lap, since he
always suggested that would be easiest. Most of the time I would prop my feet
up on Will’s and Dustin’s lap so I could lean my head back out the side. The
feeling of the wind blowing through my hair was freeing, and Max had taken her
role of zoomer pretty seriously.
Lucas obsessed over making sure the Mustang was always maintained and washed,
since all he got once he had his license, was his dad’s old town car that Mr.
Sinclair was still making him work for. Max didn’t mind though, since it gave
her a reason to always be over at the Sinclairs’ instead of her own place when
she wasn’t with me or the whole party.
When we finally pulled up into the drive, I spotted Jonathan’s car as well as
the beat up Chevy Will and I shared that Hop got from old man Jacobs. They both
must be home, probably with Nancy in tow. As we entered, I could hear the tv
going and glanced into the living room to see Nancy and Jonathan curled up on
the couch together and Will sitting sideways on the overstuffed arm chair that
Hop usually sat in.
Seeing us, Nancy jumped to her feet. “El! Max!” She squealed while running over
and engulfing us in one of her signature hugs. I had always loved Nancy, she
was like the older sister Max and I always really wanted. I do still think of
Kali now and then, but always remember how her path was one that I was not
meant to follow. Nancy, however, always tried to help guide us and would just
be there for us whenever we needed her.
“Nancy! I’m so glad you’re home,” I buried my face in her hair. The only people
her hugs didn’t top were Joyce’s, Hop’s, my baby sister Lila, and… Mike’s.
Sigh. “We missed you so much.”
“I missed you both too! Oh my goodness, are you guys ready for the party?!” she
seemed way more excited than us.
“Yes!” Max squealed. Ok, more excited than me. “Please come help us get ready?”
Max was already dragging us both up the stairs to my room while Jonathan and
Will laughed from their places in front of the tv.
Upon entering my room, Nancy bounced onto the bed with Max while I quickly
tried to gather all my clothes into a big pile in the corner. “Sorry,” I
mumbled.
“El, it’s fine. It’s not like I don’t spend every day with you,” Max snickered.
“Ok, it’s 5 now and the party is at 9. That should give us enough time for
everything.”
I groaned, “What does everything entail?”
“Well, we need to shower and shave-”
“I did both of those this morning.”
“But did you shave everything?” Max retorted. “Bikini line?” her eyebrow
quirked as I blushed.
“Oooo! Did my brother finally get his head out of his ass?! Or did El get tired
of waiting on the dummy and find someone else?” Nancy quipped from the bed
while clapping her hands excitedly.
My eyes went wide as I looked at her, “Mike doesn’t like me like that, Nance!
You know that!”
“Sure,” she smirked at me. “And I’m the reincarnation of Cleopatra.”
“All of you are ridiculous. I give up. And no, there is no guy. Max is just
crazy. And I’m not shaving that, Max.”
“Oh yes you are! You don’t know who might want to rip you out of that dress!”
I crossed my arms with a glare, “No one will be ripping me out of the dress.
I’ll stab them before they get the chance.”
“Unless it’s Mike!” Max chimed back, shoving a razor into my hand and pushing
me into the jack-and-jill bathroom that connected my bedroom to Will’s as Nancy
continued cackling from the bed. She was being very pushy today, something I
was not appreciating in the least, no matter if she was my best friend or not.
Two hours of grooming that also included facials and nail polish later, and
having ingested a large pizza between the three of us, Max declared that all
that was left was hair and make-up.
Nancy volunteered to do mine, since Max’s would take her a while, and sat me
down in front of an old vanity that Joyce had bought for me from the thrift
store, and Hop had painted.
“How about we put some relaxer in your curls so they aren’t so tight, do a side
part and put in a small french braid on one side?” Nancy suggested. I had
always thought that Nancy’s hair creations turned out great, so I nodding
readily.
I could see Max in the mirror, sitting on my bed, using my mousse to slick back
the sides of her hair as she pinned it. She then took a teasing comb she had
brought and started going to town, trying to give her long red hair some volume
on the top.
“Ok, all done,” Nancy stated in my ear. I looked into the mirror, admiring her
work. I had never been that great at doing my hair. Normally I would just throw
some mousse in it to make it seem like my crazy curls were intentional and call
it a day, since I kept my hair shoulder length to make it relatively easy.
“Thanks, Nance. It looks amazing.” She squeezed my shoulder as I ran my fingers
over the braid.
At that moment, Will poked his head through the adjoining bathroom. “El? You
decent?”
“You’re fine, Will,” I answered back.
He came into my room and settled himself on my bed next to Max, already ready
for the party. “What the hell happened in the bathroom?” he laughed.
Max shoved him, “You’re not a girl. You don’t know the crap we go through to be
pretty.”
He flung his hands behind his head as he laid down fully on my bed. “Sure,
sure. Just clean it up tomorrow, yeah?”
“Ok, neat freak,” I banter back.
“Hey, I heard at the new kid, Adam, is going to be there tonight,” Max quipped
at Will and poking him, making him blush a deep red. “I also heard he’s going
to be a lifeguard at the pool this summer,” causing him to blush even further.
Adam had come from a South Carolina beach town, with wavy blonde surfer hair
and sea blue eyes. Almost all the girls in Hawkins were in love with him. Too
bad for them, I thought as I looked at my step brother lovingly.
“Heard his hot ass has never had a girlfriend,” Max wiggled her eyebrows at
Will as she stuck the last bobby pin into her poof.
“Suck a dick, Mayfield,” Will mumbled. I don’t think his face had ever been
more red.
“Mmm, only my chocolate thunder,” Max smirk.
Nancy, Will and I all made gagging noises. “That’s absolutely disgusting. I
need to bleach my brain after that,” Will retorted as he climbed off my bed.
“She obviously has some plan, and that’s why her comments are dirtier than
normal,” he said as he looked at me and I shrugged as nonchalantly as I could.
“You are right, Byers,” Max smiled devilishly in my direction. “I have a
fantastic plan which involves your beloved step sister and our very own
heartthrob, Michael Wheeler.” Nancy was just giggling beside me as Will
frantically glanced between Max and me.
“Yes!” he pumped his fist. “This is so happening! I’m sick of hearing them be
gooey and try an deny this shit!” He hi-fived Max and lifted me into a bear
hug.
“No, no, no, no! Nothing is happening because there isn’t anything besides
platonic feelings between Mike and I. You all know this! Ugh!” I sat back down
on the stool that I had been on when Nancy was doing my hair, with my arms and
legs crossed.
Will kneeled in front of me, rubbing my arms and looking much more serious.
“Elle Belle, you know we love you. You know that Max and I saw how much you
were hurt when Mike was being an idiot. And you know we’ve been there every
step of the way for you guys. Now, you might have been trying to deny it ever
since then, but all three of us in this room can see how much you still like
him.” That was the understatement of the year. “The three of us have watched
how Mike is around you and how deeply he cares for you. Maybe you’re just
blinded by words said 3 and a half years out of annoyance, but we can see how
crazy that idiot is about you. Tonight, you need to stop being passive Jane and
grab that boy by the balls and tell him how it’s going to be.”
My hands were shaking so bad and I could feel tears starting to track down my
face. I wanted to believe them, but all the self doubt I’d held for years felt
too much to overcome. Nancy bent over and wiped my tears away, stroking my
cheek. All I could think about was how much I wished it was a different
Wheeler.
“Tonight-tonight I’m going to need a drink,” I finally stammer out.
This of course caused a cheer to go up from Max as she pulled a handle of vodka
out of her bag, “Yes! Finally El!” Will and Nancy looked on in amusement.
My eyes went wide, “Where the hell-”
“I took it from Billy’s room. Mom and Neil never go in it and he must have left
it by accident when he left for California,” she shrugged.
If my eyes could have pop out of my head, they would be right now. “You went
through his stuff?!” I gasped out.
“Yeah, figured it was time. The asshole hasn’t been back in 2 years, so I doubt
he’ll be back tonight or any time soon.”
“Ooh, Red. You’re a badass,” Will snorted. Max flipped her middle finger up at
him before shoving the bottle into my face.
“You. Take a swing. And a full swing, not a half-assed sip, we’re trying to
start the night off right.” My nose scrunched up in distaste at the thought.
“Wait!” Nancy ran out of my room and I could hear her pounding down the stairs
and then sprint back up them seconds later before bursting back in with the
carton of orange juice in her hand. “You can’t not let her have a chaser. This
is El we’re talking about, Max.” Max nodded in agreement, twisting the caps off
both before returning to shoving the bottle and juice carton into my face once
more.
“Drink up, girl.”
Knowing I was on the losing side - one does not win against Max, ever - I
grabbed both and tried to keep from gagging from the stench of vodka. “I want
to puke already.”
Will took the juice carton out of my hand and put it on the vanity behind me.
“Here, now just plug your nose when you drink it. It’ll make it easier.”
Nodding, I pinched my nose with one hand and tilted the bottle of vodka back
with the other, taking a sizable amount into my mouth. As I started to tip it
back down, Will quickly switched the alcohol for the juice as I swallowed the
liquid in my mouth down and tilted the contents of the carton into it. I choked
it down as I unplugged my nose, sputtering and coughing at the intense burn in
my throat and belly. Max let out a whoop as she grabbed the OJ and vodka,
taking her own turn as Will patted my back with a slightly concerned grin.
“How do people enjoy that?” I asked bewildered, staring at Max throwing both
back easily without making a face before handing them off to Nancy.
Will shook his head with a laugh, still rubbing my back. “Oh, El,” Nancy
answered after taking her own turn. “Come college, this will become second
nature. Trust me,” signaling to Will that it was his turn.
“I think I’m ok if it never does. I think I’ll stick to wine,” I shook my head
vigorously. Will and I had snuck in glasses of wine and eggnog whenever Hop
hadn’t been looking during the holidays over the past few years, but I had
never had anything this hard, especially straight.
Will  took his turn, reacting much like me, but at least he didn’t have to hold
his nose to get it down. “God, this stuff is rough Max.”
“It was Billy’s. Are we really surprised it’s not some fancy shit?” she rolled
her eyes as she capped the vodka and juice, stowing the former back into her
bag. “I’ll save the rest for later, when I’m intoxicated enough not to taste
it.”
“You’ll need to be blacked out for that,” Will retorted before clapping his
hands together. “Well, I want to see El’s get up before I head over to make
sure those idiots actually have everything set up.”
Three pairs of eyes turned to look at me and it felt like I was a deer caught
in the headlights. Max snapped around to our shopping bag, pulling out more
than just the dress and heeled low top boots we had bought, shoving several
scraps of fabric into my arms and shoving me back into the bathroom.
I let everything drop to the ground before picking through it all. “MAX! What
the fuck is this shit?!” I yelled through the door and was met by her laughter.
She poked her head around the bathroom door.
“Well that,” she responded, pointing to the red underwear in my left hand, “is
a thong. And that,” pointing to the black fabric in my right, “is a garter
belt. And those,” she pointed to the rest of the pile at my feet, “are
stockings and a hot ass lace bra, if I do say so myself.”
I glared at her. “You’ve been planning this! What the hell am I supposed to do
with all of these?!” I gestured wildly.
She stared at me blankly before giving me a grin so evil, the devil would be
terrified. “You’re supposed to wear them. And yes, I have been planning this.
Do you know how long I’ve waited for the perfect opportunity to make my best
friend realize her potential? Years! Now chop chop.” She swung the door closed
again.
I stood there, staring at all the pieces of fabric in my hands and on the floor
for a few minutes more before Max knocked on the door, startling me from my
contemplation. “I know you’re nervous, but would you please just trust me?!”
I let out a sigh. Max could be trouble sometimes, but her heart was always
looking out for mine. I did want to be adventurous, after all, so looks like
I’m getting my wish in the most unexpected way.
Slipping on the bra and underwear, this so doesn’t qualify, I turned my
attention back to the garter belt and felt at an extreme loss as to what to do.
“Max?”
She poked her head around the door once more, eyes going wide. “Damn, girl. I
think Wheeler is going to have an aneurysm over you.” Huffing at her, I held
out the garter belt.
“Help? How the hell do I work this thing?” I asked with a slight panic.
She snorted while grabbing it out of my hands. After a minute or two she
finished getting it around just above my hips. Indicating the straps as she
handing me the stockings, she said “You secure the tops of the stockings with
clips.” I nodded as I slipped the silky material up my legs.
“Why do I have to do all this?” I sighed.
She put her hands on my shoulders. “Look at me, Ellie,” as she tilted my chin
so my eyes met hers. “You are the baddest chick I know. You have quite
literally saved us and the world ever since you were 12, several times over, in
fact. You might not talk about sex, or really drink alcohol, but you’ve kicked
ass.” She reassured me as I started rolling my eyes. “I look up to you. No,
really. You’re my best friend, and the fiercest, most loyal person I know. You
don’t have to fucking do anything that you don’t want. If you don’t want this,
then fuck whatever I say. You should only do it if it would make you happy. I
just want you, and everyone else in this fucking place, to get their heads
outta their asses and realize what an amazing, stunning, punk chick is behind
the ‘prim and proper Jane Hopper’. I might put on this punk, skater, badass
persona, but you actually can own it. I just want you to be confident and stop
hiding behind ‘Mike Wheeler’s best friend’. You’re his girl, you need to
realize that he is yours and you’re not going to let giggling girls fawn over
him when all his attention is on you. I want to see the El Hopper that walk
back through that door that November night. That badass punk chick that
travelled to Chicago and back on her own, saved all our asses from the goddamn
demo-dogs, and closed a huge fucking portal. The girl who wasn’t afraid to tell
Mike Wheeler that she was always on the other side of his calls, and that she
would always come back to him. I want to see the girl I know you’ve kept locked
away after the douche was the biggest wastetiod in the whole world. I want my
confident best friend, who’s not going to take shit from anyone, not even the
guy she’s had a crush on for almost 5 years.”
I pulled her into a tight hug, sniffling from the tears she caused, “God, how
do I deserve you Mayfield?”
She squeezed back, “Well, you saved my ass several times over, so it’s more of
how do I deserve you, Hopper?”
I let out a watery laugh, “It’s a good thing you didn’t do my makeup yet.” I
rested my cheek against her shoulder as she patted my hair.
“Yeah, otherwise I would kill you for messing up my masterpiece,” she joked.
The knocking on the door startled us both as Will’s voice drifted through the
wood. “Did El fall into the toilet? C’mon, I have to make sure the incompetent
fools are doing everything right.”
“And you need to make the jungle juice for me!” Max yelled back.
“Then hurry the hell up!”
Max wiped the tears from my cheeks as I took a deep breath to calm myself.
“God, I hope I’m not a huge emotional drunk,” I laughed.
She patted my face, “I’ll kick who's ever ass needs kicking if I see you
crying.” I giggled at the thought.
“Ok, ok,” I finished putting on the stockings, taking a look at myself in the
mirror. Feeling a huge burst of confidence from seeing the vixen staring back
at me, I felt better about this scheme. Stepping into the dress, I turned so
Max could zip up the back and I slipped on the heeled booties.
Looking into the full length mirror that hung on the back of my door, I could
see the straps of the garter belt peeking out from the mini-dress. Fixing my
hair to the side, Max put her chin on my shoulder and her hands on my upper
arms. I smiled at her and then at my reflection. “Eat your heart out, Mike
Wheeler.”
Max squealed, wrapping her arms around me before pushing me out the door and
into my bedroom.
Both Will’s and Nancy’s jaws dropped as the took me in.
“If you weren’t my sister, this would be way better. Damn, El. I don’t think I
should let you out of this house!”
“If my brother doesn’t have a brain hemorrhage from looking at you, then I
don’t know what is wrong with him. You’re going to have almost everybody in the
house wanting to date you once you walk in the door.”
“Mike’s going to cream his pants,” Will added, making Nancy gag at the mental
picture while punching him in the arm. My face flushed at their words.
“We still have to do makeup. Go on over to the Wheelers, Will. Just make sure
not to even drop a hint about El! I want it to hit him like a train,” Max was
giving a grin the Cheshire cat would be proud of.
“Do you want me to tease Lucas, though?” Will smirked.
“Oh hell yeah, go for it!” she hi-fived him before turning back to me.
“See you guys in an hour or so!” Will waved as he walked out the door.
“Ok, Sandy make-over time,” Max smiled, turning to me.
An hour later, with help from Nancy, Max had completed a dark, sensual, smoky
look for both of us and then ran to the bathroom to also change.
“Do you still have that leather jacket I gave you last year?” Max queried,
opening my closet to rifle through my clothes. “Ah ha!” she pulled it out,
holding it up triumphantly.  She threw it my way and I slid the cold fabric
over my arms. “Now you are perfect,” she proclaimed.
Grabbing her own jacket out of her bag, she threw it on. “I declare us ready!”
“You guys look amazing!” Nancy squealed. “Stay here,” as she ran out of the
room once more in search of Jonathan’s camera. After a few minutes of
searching, she returned. “Now, pose! Give me your best Madonna pout.”
Both of us stared broodingly into the camera as Nancy snapped away. “These are
amazing!”
We heard the phone ringing, quickly followed by Jonathan shouting up the
stairs, “El, Max, Will is saying you guys are already 30 minutes late and that
the house is filling up fast!” We glanced at each other slightly panicked. We
hadn’t realized what time it was. Sure enough, the time on the clock read 9:30.
“Shit!” Max yelled, gathering up her bags and my purse, dragging me by the hand
down the stairs and out the door.
“Bye!” “Have fun!” Jonathan and Nancy yelled after us, with an added “What the
hell are you wearing, El?!” from Jonathan that I chose to ignore.
Jumping into Max’s car, she revved the engine before reversing out of my
driveway and peeling down the street. It was only a 5 minute drive to the
Wheelers, and thankfully it looked like Will had saved us a parking spot. He
waved us into a spot in the Wheelers’ driveway before jumping out of the way of
Max’s ridiculous driving.
“Jesus H Christ, Mayfield. I didn’t plan on dying tonight,” he quipped at her
from the driver’s side door. She just smirked and turned to me before pulling
out a tube of lipstick from her purse.
Holding it up, she smirked, “I almost forgot. I saw you eyeing it at the store.
You have to wear it, it’ll really tie the whole thing together.”
I pulled the cap off of the scarlet red lipstick she handed me and glanced at
her with wild eyes. She just nodded and made a hurry-up motion with her hands.
Pulling the visor of the passenger’s seat down, I quickly applied the color,
making sure that it didn’t smear. Max was applying her own shade of red next to
me. She looked over at me once she was done, “Irresistible. Let’s go, Hopper,”
and we jumped out of her car, my stomach in knots over what was to come.
Will put an arm around each of our waists to guide us inside, but not before
James Montgomery from the football team yelled out, “Damn baby, you are looking
fine tonight! Let me get a taste of you!” Still feeling extremely confident
from Max’s pep talk earlier, I flipped him off.
“Fuck off, Montscumrey!” Max yelled, disgusted. “Shut your fat mouth or I’ll
cut your balls off and feed them to old man Merrill’s pigs!” Max was always
frightening when she threatened people.
James threw up his hands in defense and muttered “Bitch.” I made sure to trip
him with my powers when he tried shuffling away. Will smirked and Max hi-fived
me as we continued our way into the house.
I could hear the beginning notes of Jessie’s Girl by Rick Springfield before a
burst of excited screams went up from the girls in our class. Making our way
through the front door was a challenge, but we were met by Steve in the foyer.
“Mayfield! Small Byers! Small Hop-?!” Steve suddenly stopped as he took in what
I was wearing. “How the hell did you get out of the house like that?!”
“Parents aren’t home, duh!”
“Jonathan let you out like that?! Do I need to talk to him again about what you
can wear?!”
Max rolled her eyes, “Can it, Harrington! El can wear whatever she Goddamn
wants!”
“She’s barely wearing anything!”
“Get over it, Steve,” Will nudged him. “Not worth the fight.” Steve made an
upset noise. “Besides, you’re holding up your movie night with Jonathan and
Nancy.”
Steve glanced at his watch, his eyes going wide with panic. “Shit! Shit! Shit!
See you dipshits later! Be semi-responsible!” he screamed as he pushed passed
us out the door.
We laughed and turned back to making our way through the crowded house to find
the rest of our friends. People started looking at us in awe, parting as we
passed. Knowing this, I felt an ego boost, though it didn’t calm the
butterflies in my stomach at all. I clung to Will’s bicep so no one could see
how bad my hands were shaking.
As we made our way to the kitchen, people seemed to stop talking, staring at us
instead. The music seemed to get louder without so many people talking over it.
I could see Mike’s dark hair over the crowd because he was so tall. He was
standing at the island, looking like he was pouring some jungle juice into a
cup and arguing with Lucas as Dustin stood by.
Dustin was the first to see us and with how few people were talking, I was
actually able to hear him yell, “HOLY SHIT!”
Lucas’s and Mike’s heads snapped up to us. I didn’t pay attention to Lucas’s
reaction, though, as all my attention was trained on Mike. He dropped the cup
he was holding back into the tub they were using for the cocktail, his jaw
dropping with it and eyes going as wide as saucers.
I felt Will nudge my side, and I managed to choke out, “Your face is going to
get stuck like that, Wheeler,” and gave a small smirk, before grabbing the cup
he had been filling and downing its contents.
Chapter End Notes
     I should be writing my other story, but here I am.. Please leave a
     review. There will be smut in the coming chapters, I know I teased it
     here. Please leave your hate at the door.
***** Chapter 2 *****
Chapter Summary
     Drink, drank, drunk.
     Warning: very slight homophobia mentioned right at the beginning.
     That's it.
Chapter Notes
     THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR ALL THE AMAZING FEEDBACK. You are
     all amazing and I am planning to respond to you all soon!
See the end of the chapter for more notes
“Damn! How did Byers score two of the hottest chicks?! I thought he was queer!”
I heard someone yell from the direction of the living room. Will just rolled
his eyes and I let out a snort as Max tossed her long hair over her shoulder
before walking into Lucas’s arms.
“Holy shit, my girlfriend is the hottest thing alive,” Lucas exclaimed before
proceeding to completely forget his argument with Mike and begin what looked
like devouring Max’s face. They are so grossly cute. No one needs to see that
much tongue Lucas.
Dustin punched Mike’s arm to try and get him to come to before turning to me
and enveloping me into one of his signature Dustin bear hugs. “Elle Belle!
Don’t you look ravishing tonight?!” he said with a dramatic flair. I slapped
his chest playfully as my nose scrunched in amusement.
“Lay off, Dustin. Isn’t there a certain Betty Jones, president of the drama
club, that you should be bothering tonight?” I teased him with a smile,
chuckling as I saw him blush.
“N-no,” his voice breaking high at the end. Clearing his throat, he tossed his
head dramatically before looking at me, “I have already captured a beauty in my
arms, why would I need someone else?” I tossed my head back as a bubble of
laughter broke from my lips.
I could feel arms pulling me out of Dustin’s and my favorite voice grumbling,
“Find your own best girl, Henderson.” The heat pooled in my belly and it felt
like my body had erupted into goosebumps and butterflies.
Dustin just snorted and rolled his eyes, “El isn’t exclusive to you, Wheeler,”
adding in a head tilt for good measure and a wink in my direction which caused
me to blush in turn.
The fever of my face wasn’t helped at all by the fact that Mike’s hands were
holding me by my waist and my back was flush with his chest. His toned chest, I
thought as I acknowledged that working for Mr. Eugene at his farm this past
year had really helped in that department. His fingers were touching my bare
skin through the cutouts and I couldn’t hide the tiny shiver that ran through
me as it felt like my body was going up in flames.
Feeling the shiver, Mike leaned down to whisper in my ear, “Are you ok?” Not
trusting my voice, I just gave a small nod as I tried to get my breathing under
control. Mike’s thumbs brushed my waist in what I’m sure he thought was a
comforting gesture, but it didn’t help the erratic fluttering of my heart.
Max had finally pulled back from sucking face to check to see how I was faring
and saw my wide, panicked eyes. Flouncing over to me, she pulled me from Mike’s
grasp, subtly steadying my shaking knees by slipping her arm around me. “Yeah,
Wheeler. If anything, El is my best girl,” she smirked as Mike just rolled his
eyes.
“Oh please. You’re way too busy sucking off Lucas’s face like some sort vampire
half the time. Everyone always thinks of ‘Mike and El, El and Mike’ not ‘El and
Max’,” he huffed in annoyance.
“As if. First of all they think ‘Jane’ not ‘El’, dummy. And second of all, in
what capacity do they think of ‘Mike and El’ over ‘El and Max’?” her eyebrow
was raised, daring him to respond. Instead he made a noncommittal noise and
crossed his arms. This caused me to raise my eyes to the ceiling before tilting
my head to Max with a see gesture. She gave a subtle shake of her head,
refusing to give this up.
“Well, since you can’t answer me, I can have her back. Ooo, El! Tequila! Let’s
go!” she pulled me to where the various liquor bottles were stationed on the
kitchen counter, near where Will was standing. “Will, grab the limes and salt,”
Max ordered as she started looking through the cabinets for where Karen Wheeler
kept her shot glasses.
Upon finding them, she pulled the stopper from the tequila bottle, pouring out
six shots to split between the three of us. She handed Will and I each two
glasses, grabbing two wedges of lime each for me and her.
“Ok, so it’s really simple, El. So you lick and put salt on the back of your
hand - or wrist if you rather - then when you’re ready you lick the salt off,
drink the shot, and then bite lime,” she instructed me as she salted her wrist
and Will salted his hand. I took the salt shaker from his outstretched hand as
Max whispered in my ear, “Do your wrist. It’s a good tease.” I gave her a
skeptical look. “Trust me.”
I shook my head but decided to heed her advice because why not? Either way, I
was on my way to becoming drunk, so I was starting to drop my inhibitions.
“Ok, one, two, three,” Max counted and we licked, sipped, and sucked our way
through the first shot, my face once again screwing up at the burn of alcohol
sliding down my throat.
“Damn, baby. That was hot!” Lucas yelled across the kitchen from where him,
Mike, and Dustin were still standing, looking at us. Max just winked and waved
her fingers at him, practically eye-fucking him, before turning back to me.
Pulling my head close to her’s she whispered, “He’s practically undressing you
with his eyes.”
I glanced over at Mike and sure enough, I could basically feel the heat coming
off of him in waves, crashing over me. His gaze felt like the most intimate
caress, the heat from the liquor and his stare pooling lower than my belly. My
thighs squeezed and my lips parted, desperately trying to suck in air.
“Round two!” Max shouted, as if she needed to be heard over the music. As I
went through the motions of taking the second shot, I kept my eyes locked with
Mike’s. If possible, his gaze intensified as I slowly licked the salt off my
wrist, threw the tequila back, and sunk my teeth into the flesh of the lime. I
saw his nostrils flare and his eyes widen, the burn of the liquor not even
fazing me. He shoved himself off the counter he was leaning on and started
stalking towards me.
“Jane, right?” A huge body cut into my line of sight, forcing me to glance up
into the face of Jake Jeffries, captain of the hockey team. He was definitely
one of the more good looking guys in our class, he even had his own group of
snow bunnies that would follow him around, desperate to go out with him. He was
a huge presence, but not my type. I smiled politely and nodded, “Yeah, that’s
me.”
“You’re friends with Dustin?” I nodded once more. Dustin played goalie for our
high school team, which thankfully didn’t conflict with his love for the drama
department. He had fallen in love with hockey when Steve had taken him to Indy
to see our state’s Double-A team play one time a few years ago.
“Yeah. He talks about you a lot. Says that you’re a hell of a cool chick.” I
just stood by politely, trying to act like I was actually interested in
whatever he was saying. Damn me and my politeness, I thought as he placed his
hands on the counter behind me, blocking me with his body and the counter. I
tried leaning as far back from him as I could, but it was a fruitless task. I
could smell the beer on his breath.
I wasn’t used to this sort of attention and my body felt frozen in place as he
lifted one of his huge hands to try and stroke my face. A hand shot out,
grabbing his wrist before he could touch me. “Don’t even think about it,
Jeffries,” Mike’s voice cut through my frightened haze. “How many times do I
have to threaten you meatheads? She not yours or anyone else’s.” His teeth were
clenched and I could see Jake’s hand turning red from cut off circulation.
“How about we actually let the lady decide for herself for once Wheeler? You
can’t always claim her.” Jake snapped at Mike, trying to grab Mike’s shirt with
his other hand. Max was there in a flash, twisting his arm behind his back,
causing him to cry out in pain.
“Now, now, Jeffries,” Max hissed as I looked on in confusion and fright. “I
thought I told you last time you got a little too close to a girl who wasn’t
interested that I’d make damn sure that the next time, your swimmers would be
swimming with the fishes.” Max was down right scary. Jake’s eyes widened at the
reminder. “You thought I don’t take me threats seriously,” she flashed the
switch blade she always carried on her from her experiences with Billy, causing
Jake to start sweating bullets.
“Now I put too much time into looking good tonight, so I don’t feel like
getting blood all over me, or seeing your disgusting, hairy balls, but my good
friend Mike here might not feel as inclined to not go to the police chief with
claims of sexual harassment against his daughter.” Jake was sputtering and
desperately trying to pull away from both of them. Mike’s eyes were blazing
fire and ice at the guy, making sure he knew damn well he was more than willing
to do such.
“I-I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Ok? I just came out to have a good time. That’s it, I
swear!”
“Yeah? That’s it? I think you owe Jane an apologize, asswipe,” Max bit back,
her hair like a fiery halo around her.
“I’m sorry, Jane! Really, I’m sorry!” I just nodded my assent, nervous what my
friends were doing. A lot of attention was already being turned our way, and I
just wanted this whole situation dissolved.
“Get out of my house,” Mike said through his clenched teeth, shoving the
heavier male into the direction of the front door. He kept his eyes trained on
him until he was out the door and then tilted his head at Dustin, silently
asking him to make sure Jake was gone. Dustin nodded, rushing out after the guy
to check.
Once Mike was sure that was being dealt with, he turned back to me, wrapping me
up in his embrace. I instantly felt calmer and more on fire than ever before,
shaking what just happened out of my head and recalling the look Mike had been
giving me before this whole fiasco.
His hands were stroking the small of my back just above my ass, and my nose
smelling his intoxicating scent at the base of his throat. My hands clung to
his t-shirt covering his chest as I felt his lips brush my ear.
“It’s ok, sweetheart,” my legs trembled at the endearment. It wasn’t one he had
ever used before, and it made it feel like my heart was going to fall out of my
chest. “It’s ok, he’s gone now. Are you ok, El?” I nodded with my forehead
pressed into his shoulder, thinking about how he was leaving me breathless. The
heady combination of being wrapped up in Mike and the alcohol working it’s way
through my system was leaving me feeling hazy.
He pressed a kiss into my hair, like always, but lingered a few seconds longer
than normal, not helping my situation whatsoever. He finally pulled away,
taking a step back, and moved his hands to my upper arms to keep me steady.
“You’re absolutely sure you’re ok?” his eyes searched mine.
“Y-yeah,” I let out a small giggle. “Tequila, ya know?” He brushed his thumb
across my bright red cheek before dropping his hand as his face flushed.
“Yeah, tequila.” Was it me or did his voice change into something huskey and
smokey? My thighs were being permanently squeezed together. This boy is going
to be the death of me.
“Yeah, tequila!” Max cheered from next to us while giving me her most innocent,
wide eyed stare. Yeah, right. “Here,” she shoved another cup of the jungle
juice into my hand. “Nurse this one, lightweight,” she laughed.
Mike rolled his eyes and slung his arm around my waist, once again pulling me
into my usual place by his side. I shivered at the feeling of his hand grazing
my bare skin before wrapping my own arm around his waist. While I normally held
him here, he would usually only place his arm around my shoulders. What’s
gotten into him tonight?
We started just wandering around the party, Mike greeting people every few
steps and talking and joking with me about our usual shit, as much as we could
over the blast of music. Every so often I would feel his fingers stroking my
skin instead of just resting and it would cause me to shiver and squeeze into
his side. I could feel his eyes on me every time it happened, but I’d force
myself to just look around the room and sip at my cup. Just act normal. It’s
fine. It’s just Mike being Mike, not Mike being more touchy than normal.
He had finished 3 cups of beer by the time I had finally finished my one cup of
the juice and he kept randomly dropping kisses on my head, which was definitely
something that wasn’t normal. We turned from the front room to make our way
back into the kitchen, where we assumed all of our friends were still at. The
likelihood that Max was still trying to take shots was very high.
Just then, a curly, petite blonde bounced up to us. “Janey! Thank goodness!
I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” Betty Jones was a very pretty, bubbly
girl in our grade, and just happened to be the girl that Dustin had the biggest
crush on.
“Hi Betty,” I smiled at her. She had always been very sweet to me, always
talking to me when we had class together. Max thought she was tooth-achingly
sweet, not really her style, but acknowledged that it was a perfect fit for
Dustin.
“I knew that if I followed Mike’s head I’d fine you next to him!” Even her
smile was like cotton candy.
“What’s up, Betts?” Mike grinned at her bouncing on the balls of her feet.
“Gosh, you two are just so cute! Like Max and Lucas, we guys are always with
each other!” I blushed at what she implied. Betty was who she was and I
couldn’t get mad over her observation. Oblivious to the awkward tension her
comment caused, she plowed on, “I need your help, Jane!” Her eyes grew wide,
hoping I’d understand what she meant.
“Is it about-” she cut me off with a vigorous nod.
“Can I steal her for a little bit, Mike?” Betty glanced up, since she was even
shorter than me.
Mike smiled in amusement, giving me a little push in her direction, “As long as
I get her back, Betts.” She grinned widely, grabbing the hand that had fallen
from Mike’s side, pulling me in the direction of the stair case. I threw a look
over my shoulder to see Mike watching me go with an odd look in his eye. It’s
nothing, El. Get yourself together. Mike’s your best friend. Mike’s your best
friend.
Speaking of best friend, I glanced in the direction of the kitchen, managing to
lock eyes with Max and tilting my head in the direction of the stairs, widening
my eyes for emphasis.
The great thing about us is that we can communicate with just a look, so a
second later I could hear Max screaming at people to get out of her way as
Betty continued pulling me up the stairs.
“In here,” I pointed in the direction of Nancy’s bedroom, receiving a grateful
look from the blonde. “Max is coming too,” I managed to get out before said red
head barrelled through the door.
“More like, Max is here,” the firecracker responded. “Betts! You made it!” Max
pulled the smaller girl into a hug. Huh. Max must have definitely done shots
since she’s normally only that touchy with Lucas or myself.
The blonde girl was stunned, but being a touchy-feely person herself, her
immediately reciprocated.
“I hope it’s ok I crashed your guys pow wow,” Max giggled.
“No, totally fine!” Betty gushed. “I mean, you two are the only ones that could
help me anyways, and I need all the help I can get.”
Max and I were now both sitting on Nancy’s bed, my head on her shoulder and her
head leaning onto mine. With how much liquor each of us had, we couldn’t help
the giggles that erupted.
“You’re so fucking cute,” Max mentioned to answer Betty’s bewildered look.
I held my hand out for her, “Oh, Betty. Are you crushing on Dustin?” She nodded
as her face started looking pink. “Oh, don’t be embarrassed! We just think it’s
cute! Especially since we know how he feels about you!” She was starting to
look closer to a tomato now, something our giggling probably didn’t help.
“How he feels about me?” she responded quietly.
“Girl! Dustin doesn’t shut up about you!” Max flung herself prone onto Nancy’s
bed, trying her best to quell her laughter. “It’s sickeningly cute.”
“Wha-what do I do?” she stammered out.
Poor girl, this is what I must be like to Max, Nancy and Will.
Max shot up from her position. “Don’t worry! I have the perfect plan!” Oh no.
She had that scheming look in her eye. “I already had a plan for tonight to get
her,” she pointed a finger at me, “and heart-eyes down there to come clean and
get together.”
“You guys still aren’t a thing?!” Betty looked at me wildly. I shook my head in
embarrassment. “Crap! I thought for sure you were! I mean, you guys had your
arms wrapped around each other, and he was kissing your head, and then that
thing about making sure about him getting you back! I thought for sure!”
Max spun to look at me and started slapping my arms. “He. Did. What?! He. Said.
What?!”
“Damnnit, Max! Ouch! Quit it!” I tried to fend her off. “It was nothing! It
doesn’t mean anything.”
“Yeah, right,” Betty snorted and rolled her eyes, something I didn’t think she
was ever capable of. I looked at her like she was crazy. “Oh, c’mon! I see you
guys all the time in the halls! You think I couldn’t tell the difference
tonight?! I mean, you’re even dressed like that,” she gestured to me. “I
thought it was finally a done deal.”
“Nope!” Max popped the p. “This is perfect. I get Ellie and Mike together, and
then I get Betty and Dustin together!” She was clapping her hands, being a
spastic ball of excitement.
“Ellie? Who’s Ellie?” Betty questioned.
I glanced a Max and rolled my eyes at her for slipping up. “It’s short for
Eleanor, my middle name.” That was our go to story for whenever the party
called me El. “I never really liked the name Jane, and I’m not a huge fan of
Eleanor, but Mike started calling me El one day and it just stuck. Even my dad
calls me El now,” I gave her a small smile.
“Ah ok,” she accepted my explanation easily enough. She turned back to Max, “So
what exactly does your plan involve?”
“It involves,” then she paused for dramatic effect, eyes flicking between the
two of us. “Truth or Dare.”
“The jazz hands are unnecessary, Max,” I deadpanned, crossing my arms. I was
not at all liking the sound of her plan, not one bit.
“They are very necessary,” she stuck her tongue out at me. “And you have to
trust me, missy,” she stuck her finger into my face which I promptly batted
away.
“Max,” I gave a small whine, “what if all your planning and scheming and set up
doesn’t do anything and you were wrong and I end up embarrassing myself! I
don’t want to lose what Mike and I have on some silly whim of yours.” My
breaths were coming fast and I could feel my anxiety breaking through the haze
of liquor in my system.
She held my shoulders as Betty grabbed one of my hands, “Breath with me El.” I
focused on her, slowly matching my pace to hers and letting the anxiety ebb,
but not the fear. “You’re El fucking Hopper. I know you see what I see with
that boy, but you are trying to convince yourself that you don’t. Plus, hello,
I’m dating one of his best friends. I’m one of his best friends. You don’t
think between the other four of us that we are totally oblivious? Have a tiny
bit of faith in us, sweetie.”
I lowered my head, taking in one deep breath before pulling her into my arms
and squeezing tightly, “Ok.”
I know that the four of them definitely had our best interest at heart, but I
also knew that they had no clue just how deep my feelings for Mike ran. He was
my other half - even if he didn’t know - and I would follow him to the ends of
the earth, saving him to the point of death once more if I had to.
“Great!” And just like that, she was back to being a tipsy ball of energy. She
grabbed both mine and Betty’s hands and pulled us out of Nancy’s bedroom and
back to the direction of the party.
At the bottom of the stairs I could see my favorite four boys milling around
with Lucas and Dustin looking to be in a heated discussion and Will busy trying
to look through the crowd in the living room. He was the shortest of the guys,
so that in itself was a bit of a challenge, but I would bet my meager life
savings that he attempting to find a certain new kid.
As we reached the bottom, Max practically tripped into Lucas’s not-completely
waiting arms, causing me lose balance on the second to last step. Before I
could face plant, however, my favorite arms were pulling me into their embrace
once more.
“Woah, I got you sweetheart,” there it was again, his newest term of
endearment. My stomach was a riotous mess of butterflies and my legs were once
again squeezing to try and relieve the ache I felt as my feet firmly met the
ground.
“You seem to be saving me a lot tonight,” I whisper to him as he had bent over
to set me down. I could see his face flush, matching my own.
“Well, I have to try make up for all the times you were my superhero,” he
whispered teasingly back.
“You don’t have to,” I answered truthfully. “You never have to. I would save
you a million times over if I had to and never want a single thing in return.”
The booze was definitely giving me a loose tongue tonight, which wasn’t helped
at all by the fact that Mike was constantly breaking down my walls.
“That’s one of the infinite things I love about you,” His hands were stroking
my waist and his gaze was penetrating me to my core. What the hell?
“Is it now?” I whisper back. It was impossible to break away from his eyes. I
could feel the goosebumps erupting.
It felt like we were magnets, our breath mingling together and our heads
inching ever closer. I couldn’t breath.
“Hey! C’mon!” Max popped up right beside us, causing us to quickly jerk apart.
I’m pretty sure I face was on fire under her all-knowing grin. Scratch that, my
whole body is on fire. What just happened?
“What do you want now, Max?” Mike seemed a bit annoyed at the red head.
“Basement. Truth or dare. Right now. Chop chop! Grab a drink and let’s go!” Max
grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the kitchen. My other hand shot out
behind me to lace my fingers with Mike’s and drag him along. I could hear my
heart pounding in my ears, Max’s, Will’s and Nancy’s advice about seizing this
moment running through my mind.
I felt him squeeze my hand, following along easily. He grabbed a new cup of
beer just as Max shoved a cup of pink wine into the hand she dropped.
“What is this?” I inquired.
“It’s rosé. My mom practically swears by it. She likes sweet wines,” Max’s nose
crinkled as if the thought of sweet wine was unappealing to her. “You’ll like
it though, since you have a sweet tooth.” That was something I couldn’t deny.
“Now, let’s go!” she directed us down to the basement which thankfully didn’t
have anyone other than our group of friends as well as some other kids in our
class that we liked. They must have made it down here when I was being lost in
Mike.
I could see Betty sitting beside Dustin and the new kid, Adam, subtly leaning
into Will on the Wheelers’ old love seat that had made it’s way into the
banished basement. Will was blushing and trying to coolly sip at his drink as
if the really hot guy next to him wasn’t totally flirting with him. Yes! That
is so happening. There were also some kids from the drama club and a few of our
other classes grouped into a rough circle on all the random chairs and bean
bags that were lingering about the basement.
The only spot open was on the old couch and there was only enough room for a
person and a half. Max went to sit on Lucas’s lap while Mike led me in the
direction of the couch. He sat down and started to try and pull me onto his lap
but I didn’t comfortable with all the other people around us, so instead I sat
down on the ground in front of him, his legs framing me. It was a position we
were used to, but like everything else tonight, it felt a hundred times more
intimate than usual.
I saw him frown a little so I patted his leg in reassurance and he carded his
fingers through the loose side of my hair. It was a gesture so comforting and
gentle that with all the alcohol already running through my system as a
lightweight, I started zoning out.
I could hear Max explaining the rules of this version of truth or dare, and
people asking question every now and then. I could hear them going around the
circle, asking truth or dare to whomever they chose as their victim. I could
hear the laughter at unexpected answers and the exclamations over silly dares.
I could hear it all, but I wasn’t processing any of it.
The only thing I could focus on was Mike’s fingers in my hair and his legs on
either side of my body. At one point I believe I actually pressed a kiss into
the side of his knee and heard a sharp intake of breath, but I couldn’t tell if
I had imagined myself being that daring or not.
I continued sipping at my wine and zoning out. Mmmm, this is good wine. I
couldn’t even taste the alcohol in it, from how tipsy I was. I finally came to
when I heard Max yell my name from her perch on Lucas’s lap.
My wide-eyed gaze swung to her in the middle of me taking another sip of wine.
This of course caused everyone in the circle to let out burst of laughter at my
expense and I could feel Mike’s fingers stroking my hair as I felt him shake a
little in laughter as well.
“Truth or Dare, Ellie?!”
My eyes still wide, I swallowed the bit of wine that was in my mouth and choked
out, “Dare.” I didn’t want to be spilling out any secrets in front of all my
friends, especially since who knew what might come out of my mouth when
inebriated.
Her smile was wicked and I almost immediately regretted my decision. “I dare
you,” her finger tapped her lips as if she was contemplating what to make me
do. My eyes narrowed since I knew she had been cooking up something ever since
she even got Mike to agree that hosting a party was a must.
“I dare you to go into the bathroom with Mike and tell him how you really
feel.” Evil. I felt nauseous and wish I could set myself on fire as I heard
everyone in the circle let out an “Oooooo”. Fucking asswipes.
I struggled to stand up without spilling my cup and marched my way to the
basement bathroom while sticking my middle finger up at Max. I could hear Mike
scrambling to get up from the couch and follow me.
Stepping into the bathroom brought back a flood of memories for me. I heard
Mike enter behind me and close the door. We were silent for a moment or so.
“Remember that first night you found me?” I whisper without turning to face
him. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. Christ, I am an emotional drunk.
Fuck. “I was a scared, lost, sopping mess,” I let out a watery laugh, wiping
away a tear that had escaped. “I had that ridiculous buzzcut and I tried to
strip in front of you, Dustin, and Lucas.” My mouth tilted up at the memory.
“You didn’t even question it when I refused to let you close the door. You just
accepted it as fact, making sure I felt safe and didn’t try and push me.” I
turned to face him after wiping away a few more tears.
“You were beautiful,” he told me earnestly, his eyes sincere.
“God, you’re so fucking tall,” was all my drunk mind could fully process in
that moment.
“Ok,” he stepped around me and sat on the edge of the tub. “Here, now you don’t
have to strain yourself,” he gave me one of my favorite smirks. “Seriously, El.
That night, I made the best decision of my life bringing you in. Honest to god,
it even trumps asking Will to become his friend. Don’t tell him I said that!”
his eyes went wide and I laughed.
“How drunk are you, Wheeler?” I ask him with a smile as I try to control the
shaking of my hands.
“Enough to do things I wouldn’t normally do, but not enough to not remember
everything that could happen tonight,” he answered honestly.
My nostrils flared at the possible implication. “What could happen?” I couldn’t
bring myself to look in his eyes.
He held out his hand to me and I grabbed it. “C'mere,” he started pulling me
towards him. The action didn’t fully compute from my brain to my feet and I
felt myself start to trip forward as his hand let go of mine so that he could
use both to steady me.
“Oh!” My free hand gripped his shoulder as some of the wine spilled out of the
cup and into the bathtub behind him. His hands were on my hips, but since they
were so big, I could feel his fingers resting on my ass. The air felt like it
had been sucked out of me.
He was tall enough that even sitting on the edge of the - albeit high lipped -
tub, his face was still even with mine. I was drowning in his eyes.
I felt his hands slide lower and around to grip the backs of my thighs, right
below my butt where there was only skin because of the stockings not reaching
that high, and he pulled me in closer. We were chest to chest now, and there
wasn’t any air left in my lungs.
“El?” I heard myself make a noise in the back of my throat. “How do you feel
about me?” he was reminding me of the whole reason we came in here in the first
place, as if I could forget.
I couldn’t breath. Oxygen was a luxury I couldn’t afford at the moment.
“El? Sweetheart?” the world just stopped and all there was was me and Mike, my
lips just inches from his as I continued to drown in his eyes that were almost
pitch black now.
Now or never. “I-I… I don’t want you like a best friend,” I whispered before
shooting my hand to the back of his head and pressing my lips against heaven,
my eyes fluttering shut as I saw sparks.
Chapter End Notes
     I am so sorry it took me a while to write and post this chapter! The
     first one had taken a few days to write, as did this one. But unlike
     the first one I had so much going on between my boyfriend's sister's
     birthday one day, and then my brother's birthday the next, AND THEN
     Thanksgiving.... yeah, it's been crazy.
     But thank you for following along on my crazy journey! I'm thinking
     the entire work will be about 4 or 5 chapters. It's taking on a life
     of its own that I wasn't expecting when I had set out to write it,
     but I actually enjoy the development of it.
     Please let me know what you think! I've already started working on
     the next chapter. ~Hopefully~ it won't take as long.
     xo.
***** Chapter 3 *****
Chapter Summary
     Antici....PA...tion
Chapter Notes
     Thank you for all the amazing responses to the first two chapter! You
     guys actually had me crying in the middle of Walmart on Black Friday,
     so congratulations. Thank you for your patience!!!!!!!
     Onward.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
I could hear the sizzle and pop of the lights going out, our only source of
light now coming from the tiny basement bathroom window. Mike’s lips moved
against mine as his grip tightened on my thighs before one hand shot up and
tangled into my curls.
I moaned into his mouth as his tongue started brushing against my own as my
lips parted, granting him entrance. My hand that was resting in his hair
tighten to grip it as I let my cup of wine crash into the tub. My now free hand
grabbed onto his shoulder as I tried to bring myself even closer to him, if it
was even possible.
I suddenly his felt his hands roaming all over my body as if he couldn't decide
where to rest them. It was a miracle we weren't engulfed in flames from the
heat between us.
His hands dropped to my thighs once more as he suddenly stood up, lifting me
with him so that I was forced to wrap my legs around his waist so I wouldn't
fall. We both let out small moans at the new sensation, our mouths still very
much connected.
Mike pushed me up against one of the walls to help him keep me up, and his
hands shifted to my ass. This assisted in giving him the proper leverage to
grind his hardness against my dripping core.
I finally tore my lips from his, throwing my head back and letting out a very
breathy moan as Mike decided to continue his assault onto my neck.
In the back of my mind I registered the surprised yells come from the other
room that had followed more popping sounds. I let my subconscious take over my
powers so that I wouldn't black out the entire Wheeler house because of
everything Mike was causing me to feel.
None of this really distracted me from the sensations my best friend was
creating in me in the least. Gripping his hair with both of my hands, I pulled
his delicious mouth back to mine, fusing us together once more.
The two pecks we had shared years before, while sweet, were nothing in
comparison. Years of patience and waiting, building anticipation, and repressed
feeling were crashing over us, drowning us in bliss. There was absolutely no
way I could ever go back to being his best friend. At least if he doesn’t end
up wanting me after this, I would still have gotten a chance to touch the
stars.
That thought caused me to pull back, though Mike didn’t notice my slight shift
into panic. He pushed against me even more, to the point where I was no longer
sure where he ended and I began, and rested his forehead against mine while
panting to draw in much needed air.
His eyes were still closed in bliss, committing all we had just done to memory.
He let out a breathy “Holy shit, sweetheart,” causing me to feel like a melted
puddle of goo. “Holy fucking shit,” his large hands were still squeezing my
ass, a feeling that I would gladly live with for the rest of my life. His
hardness continued pressing into my core. If only I had the power to vanish
clothes, the image flitted across my mind. I had nothing else to compare it to,
but Mike felt large and the thought made me squeeze him with my thighs.
His eyes shot open, instantly connecting with mine, leading me to drown in
their depths. “How long?” I looked at him in confusion. “How long, El? How long
have you been keeping your feelings from me?” his eyes were pleading me.
Friends don’t lie. “I-I… It-it’s grown over time.” As much as I desperately
wanted to look away, his eyes held mine in place.
“Baby, please,” he was desperate. “How long, El?”
I continued staring at him, letting a few heartbeats pass as blood rushed in my
ears. “Forever,” I finally concede with a whisper.
His eyebrows scrunched together as his eyelids fell closed and he let out a
strangled noise, his hands gripping my hips as if afraid he was going to lose
me. The feeling was no longer one born out of sexual tension, but rather out of
sorrow of lost time.
“God, I’m a fucking idiot. I was so stupid. I thought-I thought I knew you so
well, that I was your best friend and could read you like an open book. I
thought that this thing between us was all you would ever want,” his voice
broke.
I stroked my thumb over the crease between his brows, “Mouth breather,” I
agreed, letting out a small laugh. He responded with a far more self-
deprecating chuckle. “I thought that you felt that way about me. After what
happened at Will’s after the Snow Ball….” I couldn’t finish, my one hand still
fiddling with his curls.
His eyes bore into mine. “That was the dumbest shit I’d ever done, which is
saying something since I’ve done a lot of stupid shit. I’ve regretted it
everyday since. I knew I upset you, but I was just so fed up with Lucas and
Dustin, and being a fucking dumb preteen who still wasn’t sure how to act
around girls, I didn’t even know how to go about apologizing. And then I had
let a week go by, and by that time you seemed fine and made it apparent that
all we were was friends. W-well, apparent to me, I guess.”
My hand stroked over his freckles. “Well then, we were idiots together.” It was
slightly difficult to see in the darkness, but Mike was my sun and I had him
memorized. I let my fingers drop from his cheeks to trace over his swollen
lips, the memory of what has caused them to be so burning me from the inside
out.
He brushed tiny kisses over the tips. “Together,” he breathed. I could feel the
fire reignite between us, but I knew there was still so much left unsaid that
we needed to get out in the open before getting carried away.
I unwrapped my legs from Mike’s waist as he reluctantly set me on my feet once
more, his hands maintaining their hold on my hips.
“I always thought the only reason you didn't date was because you just wanted
to get through high school and then get out of this town and find a nice girl
at college,” I whispered while stroking one hand back and forth across his
chest.
He let out what almost sounded like a small purr at the sensation, his eyes
closing for a brief second before locking me into their intensity. “Never. No
girl in the world can compare to you, El. I don't care that we're only 17 and
we have our whole lives ahead of us. I know that you are my beginning and end;
I don't want to experience all life has to offer if you aren't by my side.”
My heart stuttered at the passion behind Mike's words. I glanced into his eyes
right as I saw a look of panic and realization take them as he stammered out,
“I-I mean, of course, if you h-have someone else, o-or find someone else, I
would never stand in the way of your happiness.”
Oh, Michael Wheeler, you adorable idiot. His words forced me to recall what Max
had been talking about earlier at the store, as well as the weird line Jake
said: “You can’t always claim her”. I decided to torture Mike about it for a
bit, because I admittedly found it extremely cute when he was disconcerted.
“Outside of class projects guys don’t talk to me. Actually, Max said something
weird about that today,” I tapped my bottom lip with my forefinger as if trying
to remember what it was she had said.
“Y-yeah?”
“Yeah, something about… Oh, what was it now? You threatening them away?” I gave
him a look with my eyebrow raised, a small smirk on my face.
Even in the darkened room I could see him looking properly flustered, a blush
overtaking his freckled cheeks as he raised an arm to scratch the back of his
neck. “A-ah,” was all he could get out.
I stood there, silent and bemused, letting him stew in his embarrassment a
little longer. He might very well be the love of my life, but he was also my
best friend and I couldn’t help enjoy putting him through his paces.
“Any reason that might be?” I prodded him, one hand still resting on his chest.
I had to deliberately keep myself from laughing at the panic in his eyes since
he truly did look like a deer in the headlights.
“Shit. El, I’m so s-sorry. The guys and Max all said I was being really stupid
about it, but I couldn’t, well I couldn’t help myself. And, and if I had to
watch you walk around the halls with someone else… I was just really selfish,
just a really selfish fuck. And I’m such a fucking fool! The whole party would
give me shit about it but you’re just so goddamn beautiful, El. And I tried to
justify it since I knew all the guys in our school would never be good enough
for you, but shit, I’m nowhere near good enough for you! You’re perfect, and
gorgeous, and beautiful, and my favorite person in the entire world, and you’re
so fucking badass! You’ve literally saved me more times than I can count. And
you’d have to hide your powers from any mouth breather that wanted to date you,
and that’s so unfair to you!” Mike’s panicked rambling made me unable to keep
in my laughter. His arms were waving wildly, hands pulling at his hair so it
stood on end.
I figured the best way to shut him up was to kiss him again, so going onto my
tiptoes and wrapping my arms around his neck to pull him down to me, that’s
just what I did. He was surprised at first but quickly responded, kissing me
with years worth of pent up passion, hands stroking down my back. My fingers
quickly found their way back into his soft curls. Before we could get out of
hand, however, I pulled back as Mike let out a noise of protest which I giggled
at.
“Michael Wheeler, you’re my best friend. Yes, you were a complete dumbass, and
yes, threatening off other guys without telling me was definitely uncool,
especially when you know that I can handle myself.” He looked properly abashed
and started down at his feet. “But I can’t picture my future without you, and
honestly after what just happened, there is no way we can be friends.”
I could tell he was blushing hardcore as he glanced up at me, devastation on
his face. “What? Why can’t we be friends?” I raised my eyebrow to him, trying
my best to wait patiently as he grasped what I was trying to say. Max was
right, you really have to spell it out for guys. “Wait, do you mean….?” he
trailed off.
Keeping my eyebrow raised, I crossed my arms over my chest with a huff.
“Really?! Well, I wanted to be asked first.” Apparently drunk El was emotional,
but drunk and horny El who just had the guy she had been crushing on for years
admit his feelings was extremely confident. Max would be so proud, I thought
derisively.
The dots seemed to finally connect through his hysteric haze, his mouth falling
open with an “Oh!” And then he was scrambling, cupping my face gently in his
hands and pulling our bodies flush once more, his fingers lightly stroking into
edge of my hair as my hands untangled and gripped his hips. “Jane Eleanor
Hopper,” I snorted at his use of my legal name and a wide grin broke out on his
face. “Eleven, El, sweetheart, I was beyond stupid for the last almost 5 years.
Stupid about a great many things, but especially about us. And I desperately
wish I hadn’t been, but I woke up just in time. Or, rather you woke me up,” he
let out a small chuckle. “Can you forgive me?” I nod. “Would you-would you
please be my girlfriend? No more rumors, no more bullshit. One hundred
percent.”
My heart was in my throat but I somehow managed to get out a small “Yes,”
before we collided in passion. It felt like my world was on fire and I was all
too happy to get burned. We wrapped around each other so intensely, it felt we
were trying to become one being.
I felt the surge of electricity running through my veins as we suddenly heard
commotion of feet and voices from above us, breaking through our moment. We
pulled apart, looking above our heads as if we could see through the
floorboards before breaking out into laughter. I tapped into my powers once
more, bringing them back under control.
Mike brought his forehead down to mine and nuzzled our noses together. “Maybe
we should wait until later when I don’t have dozens of high school seniors in
my house,” he mused.
I giggled, staring into his sparkling depths, my emotions still soaring from
giddiness. “Maybe you shouldn’t cause my emotions to go haywire,” my fingers
found the spot on his side that I knew well, tickling him and making him twist
away in laughter. We were both smiling so hard, our cheeks were hurting, but I
wouldn’t give it up for anything in the world.
“Babe,” he wheezed out between laughter. “El, please! Mercy!” I let up, still
laughing hard myself.
When our laughter finally subsided, I began tracing a finger over his freckles
as he wrapped his arms back around me. “You seem to have a lot of pet names for
having only asked me out two minutes ago,” he blushed in response.
“Uh, yeah…” seemed like I would have to pry this out of him.
His fingers were stroking my skin through the cutouts, so I could tell that
while he was embarrassed, he was definitely not ashamed. “So what changed
tonight?” I was desperately curious, something that has always stuck with me
since the very first night with him.
I could feel his cheeks heat even more under my fingers. “Well,” he paused as
if to gather all his thoughts. I gave him a look as if to say Friends don’t lie
and he nodded before continuing, “I might have taken a few whiskey shots before
you and Max showed up tonight. And then seeing you in this dress, and other
guys touching you… I don’t know, I guess I just finally got the balls to call
you what I always do in my head. I just wanted you to finally know, but I guess
without you to force it out of me, I was still too shy to actually do
anything.”
I didn’t respond, content with just watching his handsome face, admiring his
features. “Oh, god. If you hate them though, I’ll totally stop. I don’t want
them to be demeaning or, or seeming like I’m trying own you or debase you to
just a pet name or some shit,” he was panicking again, our uncharted territory
something he was so very unsure of and severely afraid of messing up. “It’s
just, well. I just look at you, and I see forever, and I just can’t help
thinking of you as my puzzle piece, and everyone else can call you El or Jane
and I guess I just wanted something different and-”
My finger falls to his lips, silencing him. “Mike, I understand,” my mouth
breaking into a small smile as he let out a small chuckle over the reminder of
the first time I had ever said that to him. I placed a small peck on his lips.
“We should probably get back out there before they start getting crass,” he
motioned in the direction of the door and our friends who were on the other
side being surprisingly quiet. We felt our way along the wall for the door
handle, since the shadows of our bodies blocked the sliver of light coming from
the tiny window. I found the handle and turned it, Mike still having a hold on
my waist, and pulled open the door, fully expecting some reaction from our
friends.
All we were met with was silence. Stepping out into the main basement area, we
didn’t hear a sound aside from the muffled noises coming from upstairs. It was
dark for some reason, and the area felt empty.
“Hello? Guys?” Mike called from behind me. “Guys? We’re done. You can come out
or whatever!” Nothing.
The smell of burnt bulbs finally hit my nose and I grimaced at the acrid
stench. “Mike, I think they’re gone.”
“Why would they have gone?” Mike apparently still didn’t realize that I had
burnt the bulbs out as I heard his hand sliding along the wall in search of the
light switch.
I laughed, “It might have to do with me busting the lights.” I could feel the
bloom of heat over take my cheeks at the admission. This realisation only
caused Mike to heave over in laughter at the thought of our friends suddenly
having the lights go out on them because of us making out.
I stood there with my arms crossed, rolling my eyes and trying not to laugh at
the image as well. After a few minutes, Mike finally straightened up, gasping
for air while wiping tears from his eyes.
He pulled me close and gave me a slow, sweet kiss, huge smile on his lips the
entire time. “You and your powers,” he bobbed me on the nose lightly, making me
scrunch it in response. “I’ll glad I can cause you to lose control a little,
makes me feel like I’m not the only one crazy with feelings.”
I nuzzled my nose into the crook of his neck and hugged him to me while giving
a small shake of my head. “Never,” I placed a small kiss to the base of his
throat as he let out a small groan.
“You, beautiful lady, are going to be the death of me.” I giggled at his
overdramatic tone before dragging him in the direction of the stairs.
“We should make sure they aren’t creating more mayhem than normal.”
I heard another groan from behind me as I started climbing the stairs only to
look back and see Mike staring at my ass hungrily. I bit my lip at the
delicious tension his stare provoked in me, which wasn’t at all helped by him
reaching up to grab half of it with one hand. “God, baby, you’re so fucking
gorgeous.”
He climbed another step so that he could drop a kiss to the small of my back.
My head fell back as my eyes slid closed at the ecstasy this incited. I could
feel him climb a few more steps until he was one below me and I instinctively
turned to face him.
Our lips connected in poorly restrained fervor and I greedily clung to his
curls, him still palming my ass. “You and this dress are trying me give me blue
balls, aren’t you?”
Pushing my slight surprise at his newly expressed straightforwardness aside, I
looked at him with a glint in my eye. “It’s not really trying if I’m already
succeeding, is it?” Yup, drunk and horny El is saucy. He hauled me close, his
tongue finding its way back into my mouth with unbridled hunger.
“If there weren’t dozens of people here right now, I’d rip this thing off of
you,” his voice had dropped a register and my underwear was as good as useless
as I could feel wetness dripping down my thighs, no longer being restrained by
the practically pointless scrap of lace.
I somehow managed to push him back enough to get air in my lungs, before giving
him my own predatory look. “Later,” I answered as my finger traced his lips. He
wrapped them around it, sucking gently on the tip. I felt the surge of
electricity and heard people's panicked tones before checking my powers.
I pushed him away, quickly climbing the rest of the way and opening the door to
the kitchen, the light briefly blinding me. I had enough wits about me glance
back at Mike at the last second, reaching out to wipe away the traces of my
lipstick that had decorated his pale complexion. He chuckled before wiping
smudges away from mine as well. Once deemed good enough, I stepped out into the
noisy, crowded kitchen. Mike followed quickly behind me, grasping my hand as he
shut the door to the basement.
It seemed the two electrical surges hadn’t caused too much pause and worry as I
could still hear music blaring and people dancing and shouting at each other to
be heard.
“Do you see them?” I yell as best I could only to have Mike shake his head and
then guide me through the throng of people, glancing every direction as we
passed.
We finally made our way out of the side door into the car port, where someone
had set up a keg. I could hear excited shouts and people chanting out a count
as we got closer. Seeing who it was that they were holding up for a keg stand
had my jaw dropping to the ground.
“Will?!” He was up to 24 before tapping out, and as they set him back to rights
he looked at us with cloudy eyes, drunk guys pounding him on the back.
“Elle Belle! Mikey!” He stumbled and wrapped us in an embrace just as we caught
him. “Did you guys do it?!” He stared at me as if he had just asked only me and
had not totally stage whispered to the both of us. Both of us flushed as Will
plowed on, “You guys were gone for so long! *Hic* And then the lights went out!
So we were convinced you guys were *hic* boning! Maxie made us come up here to
continue the game, and Dustin *hic* he kissed Betty! God, they would be *hic*
so fucking cute!” His fast talking and drunkenness had caused hiccups, but he
wouldn't be restrained from telling his story. “And then Maxie dared me to do a
keg *hic* stand and now here you guys are!” He squeezed us close once more.
If Max wasn’t trashed by now, or didn't find Will’s drunkenness and hiccuping
adorable, she would definitely kill him for calling her Maxie.
“Ellie!” I turned to see Max waving us over to where the rest of our friends
were congregated further down the driveway by the back of the Mustang.
Mike and I supported Will between the two of us, resting him on the back bumper
once we reached them. We had set him down just as Max reached over and embraced
me with a little too much enthusiasm as all the air was crushed from my lungs.
“There you are!” She pulled back from me enough to see my face before her gaze
dropped down to a spot on my neck, her eyes going wide. “Holy shit! Is that a
hickey?!” At least she was way better at whispering when drunk than Will. My
hands fluttered to my neck, feeling for a tender spot, as my head turned
frantically for Mike.
He was standing by Dustin and Lucas, poorly attempting to fend off their good
natured punches, slaps, and shoves, laughing at his friends’ ridiculousness.
Thank God he's handling it a shit ton better this time. He glanced up at me,
his eyes sparkling in humor, before his eyes dropped to where my hand was
lingering. They flicked back up to my own now filled with mischief as he
realized what he had done. I stuck my tongue out at him before turning back to
Max.
“Geez! And your hair!” My hands twitched up to my tresses, feeling how mused
they were from Mike’s hands. I would bet my life savings that I looked like a
tomato from embarrassment. “How are you guys done already?! Is Wheeler
seriously a two-pump chump?” I slapped her arm to shut her up, rolling my eyes
at her insinuation.
“Max! We didn’t do it!” I hissed at her.
“Are you sure?! The lights even went out!”
“No! We just… we made out,” I finished lamely under my breath.
“Jesus Christ! He’s that good of a kisser?!” she let out a low whistle. “Way to
go Wheeler. Then again, you’ve had, what, more than 5 years of pent up sexual
tension?! Seriously, it’s a miracle you guys didn’t have sex.”
I threw my hands up in exasperation. “Max!” she was laughing at my
embarrassment, so I felt it was as good a time as any to drop the bomb on her.
“Well, I may be biased, but I like to think that my boyfriend is the hottest
kisser,” she was still laughing until her mind processed what I had just told
her. Her eyes got huge as she looked at me smirking back at her before abruptly
standing up.
“HOLY SHIT!” all our friends and some people standing close by all stopped
talking to look at her. I just continued smirking, trying to tamper down my
blushing from the attention as much as I could. She grabbed my hands and
started jumping up and down, “Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!” She
quickly pulled me into a bone crushing hug while still squealing in my ear. I’m
so going to be deaf in this ear. My smile was the biggest it had ever been and
her excitement over my new relationship only increased my own.
She let me go only to rush over to Mike and start punching him lightly while
once again yelling out a series of “Holy shits!” He laughed at her antics while
trying to dodge her throws as I looked on in amusement. Everyone around us was
laughing at her absurd actions, but Max didn’t care.
I decided I should probably save Mike before my newly minted boyfriend, God I
love being able to call him that, actually somehow did get hurt. So after
making my way over to my insane friend, I pulled her off of him before wrapping
my arms around his waist and resting my ear against his chest.
“How about we don’t play Beat Up El’s Boyfriend?” I laughed at her with my best
attempt at a scowl, given the circumstance. I could hear a hum of contentment
echo through Mike’s chest where my ear was resting as his hands stroked down my
leather covered back, his chin resting on top of my head.
“Yeah, Max,” I could hear the grin in his voice. “I vote we don't play Beat Up
El’s Boyfriend.” She flicked him off but continued smiling at us as the rest of
our friends caught on to what we said, several letting out loud whoops as Betty
ran up and pulled me out of Mike's arms into a hug of her own while squealing
into my ear. Yup, definitely going to be deaf!
“Hey Max!” I yell from Betty's embrace, causing my fiery haired best friend to
stop clapping like a maniac and look at me. “My turn! Truth or dare!”
She rolled her eyes and stuck her hands on her hips. “C’mon, El! Obviously
dare!”
Untangling myself, I try and think of a good enough dare. It won’t nearly be
close to what she did to me, but I decided that she couldn’t get off too easy.
After about a minute of contemplating, I finally go with, “I dare you to finish
the handle of Billy’s vodka, and then do a trick on your skateboard while
listing off all the nonsexual reasons you love Lucas. And yes, you have to keep
your shoes on!” The group around us laughed and ooo’d since we all knew that
while Max was not opposed to PDA, she hated talking about her feelings unless
it was to Lucas or me.
She looked at me with a hard glint in her eye before sticking her middle finger
up at me and turning to her car. She had to push Will off the back to open her
trunk, but he was so drunk that he started to fall. If Adam hadn’t been there
to catch him, he would have probably landed face first on the pavement.
I took notice of how Adam continued holding Will by the waist even after he had
him upright, under the guise of supporting him. I kept an eye on them, suspect
that there was definitely something developing there as I watched Will not as
subtly lean into the taller blonde boy. A smirk pulled at my face as I felt
Mike wrap his arms around me from behind, seeing what I was seeing.
“I hope that turns out ok,” he whispered into my ear as I nodded back, both of
us desperate for Will to be happy. He went through so much as a 12 and the 13
year old, and then figuring out that he liked boys - which people at school had
made fun of him for and called him horrible things for years until Will figured
out how to hold his own - that he deserved every happiness the world had to
offer.
Our attention turned back to Max as she pulled the eighth filled bottle of
vodka and her skateboard from her trunk, setting the latter on the ground. She
unscrewed the cap and tilted the bottle back against her lips. She drained it
before throwing it back into her still open trunk and slamming the lid shut.
I was almost one hundred percent certain that Max had never used her skateboard
in even one inch heels, let alone the four inch boots she was in now. Her
saving grace was that the heels were thick enough. It took her a few tries to
finally get situated on the board, a thing that was not at all helped by her
intoxication, before she was able to balance herself enough.
She pushed herself so that she was out into the open area of the cul-de-sac,
making a few loops to try and get her legs. I called out to remind her of the
list to which she yelled back, “Yeah, yeah. I got it, asshole.”
Mike’s arms were crossed in front of me, essentially caging me in. I was
adoring how easy the intimacies were for us. It was like the way we used to
touch and interact but without the hang ups and resistance. It was just right
and more and perfect. I snuggled deeper into his embrace as Max started
shouting out her list to us so that we could hear.
“I love that he doesn’t take no for an answer when he knows that I really need
to talk about something. I love that he is willing to help me without telling
me I’m wrong. I love that he does everything in his power to apologize and make
up to me when I get mad at him, even if he has to give me what I want against
his friends’ wishes,” all of us thought back to our 13th year when Lucas caved
and told Max our secret and how pissed Dustin and Mike were.
“I love that he lets me escape from my home life and gives me a place to hide,
even if he can’t even be there. I love that he puts up with Erica and I ganging
up on him. I love that he is more than willing to kick people’s asses even
though he knows I can handle myself. I love that he can make me feel like the
most important person in the world the way that nobody else can. And I love
that because of him, I have some of the most amazing people in my life.” She
ended with a kick flip, before skating back to us, all of us cheering at her
for her drunken prowess.
“You suck, Hopper,” she pointed at me before grabbing Lucas into a very overt
display of affection that we all joking gagged to.
And so the night went, full of crazy antics and memories that we would
reminisce on in few hours time. At one point there was a giant game of freeze
tag going on in the backyard while Mike and I sat on the swings of Holly’s play
set that I forced the boys to build two summers ago, claiming that now that
Holly was 6 (at the time), she would want swings to play on. The real reason is
because I wanted swings to play on but knew that Hopper would grumble about
just going to the park or something instead.
With a drink each in hand, we watched our friends and fellow classmates fondly
and we had our hands intertwined talking about the absolute mundane topic of
how the weather might be this summer, to the stressful topic about summer jobs
and summer assigned reading, to the fantastical topic of a new D&D campaign
that Mike was tossing around, to the deep conversation about stars and planets
and galaxies far, far away. It was something that I loved about us, how easily
we could flow from one topic to the next, nothing ever forced or stilted,
following each other’s trains of thoughts like it was second nature.
Around 1:00 am the house party started winding down, the alcohol had run out
and people were stumbling home, calling out to Mike how great of a party it was
to which I nudged his shoulder and whispered “Bitchin’” causing the two of us
burst into a fit of laughter and making passersby give us weird looks.
Eventually it was just the main Party members with an addition of Adam and
Betty, and we had found our way into the Wheeler’s back family room, all of us
crashing onto the couches and floor, laughing as we told Betty and Adam
ridiculous stories about each other.
At one point we ordered three pizzas from the only place in Hawkins that was
open and delivered until 2:00 am as Max brought up one last beer for each of us
that she had kept hidden in the basement.
We were snorting at Will’s terrible attempt at a southern accent when he tried
imitating Adam while the rest of us were shoving the pizza into our mouths,
moaning about how it was the best pizza in the world. For eight very drunk
teenagers, some for the first time ever, there really was no better drunk food
than this pizza. Eventually Will gave up his attempt with a pout and grumbled
something about “cute accents like Adam’s are hard to come by,” causing us all
to laugh at his drunken admission. Looks were tossed around by the other six of
us when we saw Adam wrap his arm around Will to give him a side hug, not moving
his arm away after.
Right around 2:00, Will started crashing and Mike offered his bed to him, which
Will gratefully accepted with some assistance from Adam up the stairs. Dustin
and Betty were curled up together on the large sofa, quickly falling asleep
once they had enough room to stretch out. They’re so cute. I laid a blanket
from Karen’s linen closet over top of them to keep them warm.
Lucas and Max prattled off something about the Sinclairs being down in
Indianapolis for a dance competition of Erica’s before all but sprinting out
the door, not in the least looking tired, and in fact looking very handsy.
Mike pulled me into his arms, his hands finding purchase on my butt, an area I
was certain was quickly becoming a favorite spot for them to be.
“Is it later, yet?” he whispered against my lips, causing a shudder to run
through me. I had started sobering up after several pieces of pizza and was
amazed that I wasn’t feeling tired in the least. Though, being horny probably
has something to do with it.
I stroked my hand across his chest and tilted my head to the side. “Don’t you
happen to have two drunk boys in your bed?” I remind him.
“Doesn’t have to be my bed,” he responded, his gaze locked on my lips, eyes
hooded.
I snorted, “Nancy’s bed and your parents’ bed don’t really sound appealing.”
He leaned down to nuzzle behind my ear, lightly biting my earlobe, and started
sucking on my neck, creating the floodgates to open once more. I gasp out at
the feeling of his lips on my skin, generating an exquisite torture on my
senses.
He retreated enough to whisper, “I hear the Hopper house in empty,” before
resuming his ministrations. His words race through my head, the idea burning
pleasantly through my veins. Before I can lose my nerve, I pull him to the
front door, laughing at his surprise as I begin all but running down the
street. He quickly follows, catching me around my waist with one arm and
spinning me around in a circle as the remnants of our laughter hang in the warm
summer night air.
It’s only a ten minute walk from his house to mine, a walk both of us had made
an uncountable amount of times, so we knew the path like it was ingrained in
our DNA which allowed us the freedom to just enjoy the breeze of warm June air
sticking to our skin. At some point I had taken off my leather jacket, holding
it in one hand as I spun in circles with my arms out to my side and my head
thrown back to look at the stars, giggles bubbling from my lips as I thought
about how giddy I was and how perfect of a night it has been. As I stopped, I
could see Mike staring at me a few yards away, and as I stumbled from the heels
and dizziness, he quickly caught me, making sure I was upright.
“What are you staring at?” I giggle, staring at his face as I bring my finger
up to trace the freckles on his face. Mmmm, my favorite stars.
“Those are freckles, not stars,” he laughs at my statement as I realized I must
have said it out loud. He squeezed me close, “I’m staring at the angel that I
must have stolen from heaven, since I’ve never seen true beauty ‘til this
night.” He grinned roguishly at me, and I threw my back in laughter.
“Did you just quote Shakespeare to me?” my giggles were unceasing. “In the
middle of the night, in the middle of the street, in front of old Mrs.
Gillespie’s house?” he chuckled at my statement.
“I thought that’s what boyfriends do? Don’t they recite poetry to their
girlfriends?” he laughed at his own statement. “I was just taking cues from
your favorite Mr. Darcy, sweetheart. I have been used to consider poetry ‘the
food of love.’” I was snorting and smacking his chest at this point to get him
to stop making me laugh. “I could listen to your laugh for ages,” he whispered
honestly into the night, holding me tight in his embrace.
His words triggered a remembered quote of my own, one from his favorite book
that we had read together numerous times. It wasn’t a favorite line of his, but
it was of mine since whenever I read it I would instantly think of Mike and how
much he meant to me. My laughter subsiding, I stared into his dark depths, “I
would rather share one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world
alone.”
His eyebrows shot up into his hairline as his face broke into the dreamiest
smile. “Did my amazing girlfriend just quote Lord of the Rings to me?” I
blushed but didn’t respond, still drowning in his eyes. He slipped his hand
into my curls at the base of my skull, drawing me in for the sweetest, most
passion filled kiss yet.
Breaking apart in a fight for air, he panted out, “That was honestly the
hottest, nerdiest thing ever,” and it was all I could do to not kiss him again.
Instead, I took his hand in mine and all but sprinted the rest of the way to my
house, which was thankfully four down the the Gillespies’.
I unlocked and threw the door open with my mind as we were sprinting up the
steps of the porch, the fact that I had left my purse in the basement at Mike’s
only vaguely registering as I pulled Mike in behind be, using my powers to slam
it shut as we sprinted up the stairs.
Thank goodness Nancy and Jonathan are staying at Steve’s, flitted across my
brain right before Mike all but slammed me against my open bedroom door, his
mouth and hands suddenly everyone at once.
“God, baby,” he nipping and sucking across the exposed area of my chest, his
hands wandering up my thighs and under my dress until he felt my bare ass in
his hands, both of us letting out groans at the delicious sensation. His head
fell forward onto my chest as mine fell back onto the door, his nibbles had
ceased as all his focus was on his hands touching me.
I pushed them away as I turned to face the door, exposing my back and the
zipper to him. His breathing on my neck came in hard pants as I could feel his
hands shake slightly as he pulled my zipper down. He sprinkled kisses all
across my upper back as I felt myself shivering, whether from nerves or
anticipation, I wasn’t sure.
My dress fell to the ground as his hands ran down my back in reverence before
spinning me back around to face him. His eyes greedily took me in as I stood
there just the lace panties and bra, garter belt, stockings and heels. I could
feel the animalistic hunger rolling off him in waves, tangling with my own
desire and hanging thick in the air between us.
“Fuck, El. You’re so goddamn beautiful.” I flushed in pleasure at his words
even as a fissure of self doubt fizzled across my mind, my arms jerking up to
cross over my stomach. No one besides Max had really seen me like this, making
me very self aware that this boy who dominated most of my thoughts was seeing
me with very little boundaries for the very first time.
His hands caught mine at the wrists before I could complete my action, pushing
my arms above my head and holding them against the door with one of his, his
other tracing down my sides.
His eyes were wild with passion and dominance, the power behind everything he
was doing feeling like it was about to snap like a taut string. Knowing that I
held actual power and that normally Mike was beyond gentle with me, it caused
my senses to feel like live wire as I surrendered over to him in something so
instinctual and basic.
My nipples were tight, the lace not hiding anything, and my breasts felt heavy
as Mike drank me in like a man dying of thirst. I could smell my own arousal
that painted my thighs from here, the scent heavy in the air, and I could see
his nostrils flare and his pupils dilated further.
His free hand had wandered down to my hip and then thigh, tracing over the
garter belt as my breath came in even shorter pants and I became only
sensation, my brain not being able to focus on anything but him. He pulled my
thigh up to wrap around his hip and he continued stroking over the straps
holding the stockings up.
“This is hot. You are the sexiest and most beautiful creature I have ever seen,
but this?” he tapped on a thigh. “You’re a fucking vixen, my own damn
temptress. If I go to hell because this, it would have been more than worth it
baby.” My hands struggled to free themselves so I could wrap them in his dark
locks. When he let them go I pulled his face to mine, attacking his lips in a
fervor.
He grabbed my other thigh and lifted me against the door, my lace covered core
meeting his hardness covered by the rough fabric of his jeans. We each moaned
into the other’s mouth at the feeling and it felt like flames were licking all
over my body. My head dropped back as his lips started nibbling and sucking
their way across my collarbone and chest.
He turned us towards my queen bed that had been a birthday present from my
parents last year, throwing me onto it without any warning as I let out a
surprised “Oh!” He ripped off his shirt in quick succession, throwing it
somewhere behind him as my throat constricted at the sight his slightly toned
muscles.
He wasn’t like the football players or anything, but his sinewy strength could
be seen as with each tense breath, I could see the muscles from being a farm
hand last year ripple underneath the surface. The trail of dark hair that went
from his belly button to disappear in his jeans where there was a significant
bulge had my mouth drying up and I was desperate to get my hands on him. Fuck.
“I love it when you swear. It’s just so hot, especially when you’re looking at
me like that,” he chuckled darkly as I once again realized that I had said it
out loud. I squeezed my thighs together at his seductive tone. This boy is pure
sin. My tongue shot across my lips to moisten them and Mike’s gaze followed
it’s path closely.
I was up by the headboard with my legs bent and still squeezing together when
he started to crawl up on all fours from the foot of my bed. When he was close
enough, he reached out and grabbed one of legs, kissing my stocking covered
calf while pulling off my heeled boot that I still had on. I desperately wanted
to throw my head back in ecstasy, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away as he
repeated the motions on my other foot.
Once he was finished getting my shoes off and tossing them off the side of the
bed, his hands followed an identical path up each of my legs, his thumbs
brushing the sensitive skin of my inner thighs as he stopped mere inches from
where I so desperately needed him. I felt my legs quake and my stomach exploded
into a riotous mess of butterflies as I waited to see what he would do next.
He pressed soft kisses and tiny bites across my exposed skin while unclipping
the stockings, my eyes slid closed as I could no longer focus on anything, my
entire body was just nerve endings and I wasn’t even sure if I was breathing. I
felt Mike slip one stocking off and then repeat once more on the other. Moans
filled the air and in the back of my mind I knew they were coming from me, but
the only thing grounding me were Mike’s slightly callused hands.
His mouth and hands ghosted along my skin as he raised himself farther up my
body, surreptitiously avoiding any contact where I needed even a brush of his
fingers. When he got to my breasts, he hovered above them, breath tickling me
before lightly brushing a finger over one of my hardened peaks. My body spasmed
as my back arched, trying to create more contact with this tormentor.
“Please!” I could hear myself whimpering, begging him for more, for a release
from all of the heightened pleasure.
Either due to my pleading or his own break of resistance, Mike’s mouth was
suddenly sucking one of my nipples through the delicate lace as his fingers
found purchase on the other. If I wasn't careful, I’m sure we would start
levitating soon. He switched sides, giving my other nipple attention from his
sinful mouth while his fingers moved to pinch the just released one through the
now soaking wet material.
My fingers tangled in his hair, attempting to pull his face closer as I let out
a scream of pleasure, my body bowing off the bed. His mouth released me from my
torture only for find my swollen lips, sucking my bottom lip into his mouth and
driving me insane.
His hands rounded my body, stroking down to the small of my back to unfasten
the clasps of my garter belt. It took him a few tries, but when he was finally
successful he threw it off and I could hear the metal clasps make contact with
what sounded like my mirror.
His lips released mine too move their attention to my neck as his hands ran up
my back to my bra clasp, making quick work of the eye hooks. My hands managed
to still his before he pulled the cups of me and the heat in his stare was
scorching.
“How do you know how to do that?” I couldn't keep the worry out of my tone. I
might not have ever seen him pay special attention to another girl, but the
masochistic part of me needed to know.
“Oh, u-uh, um,” he was stammering which increased my panic. He could see it in
my eyes and he rushed on to admit, “Steve taught Dustin, Lucas and I two years
ago. Uh, said it kills the vibe if you’re fumbling with it.” His hand scratched
the back of his neck at the admission. The sense of dread that had been filling
my stomach suddenly eased as I pictured how awkward it must have been for 15-
year-olds being taught how to take off a bra. I couldn't help the laughter the
scene created.
This was quickly followed by another rush of pleasure at the thought of Mike
wanting me for years, enough to even go to Steve for advice, something he
typically avoided. Giving into temptation, I sat up to connect our lips I'm
reassurance and to show him all the passion I held for him.
My shaking hands grasped his and raised them to the straps of the bra,
indicating my wish for him to take it off. He did so, full of nervous energy,
our lips still locked firmly together. I felt the straps come off the edge of
my fingers and we slowly pulled apart, his eyes staying locked on mine as he
sat back on his heels between my spread thighs.
A drawn out “Fuck,” fell from his lips, making me flush under his hooded gaze
as he took in my curves and pink tipped mounds. I rested back on my elbows to
give him a better look, his staring giving me all the confidence I needed. “How
did I get so lucky? How did the most beautiful being in the whole world consent
to be mine?” His hands drifted up my sides and stopped when his thumbs brushed
the underside of my boobs.
“Please, Mike. I need you,” I whispered as I guided him mouth back to my
nipples, a string of curses leaving my mouth as his latched on gently. My
fingernails were digging into his upper back as my body writhed at the wet heat
of his mouth. It was all too good, yet not nearly enough.
I could hear my voice rasp out pleads for more as he ignored me, flicking one
nipple with his tongue as he pinched the other between his fingers, plucking it
as my back arched from the pleasure. I could feel it building in me, like a
never ending stairway where I didn’t know how to reach the top.
He continued sucking and nibbling at my breast as his hand trailed down my
stomach, lightly brushing against the wet material covering my center. He let
out a groan and a swear, his mouth finally unlatching from me as my hips bucked
against his hand.
“You’re dripping, baby,” he forehead resting on my chest as he stared down at
where his hand was tracing me, his other forearm resting across my hips to keep
me from throwing him off. His eyes snapped up to mine. “Baby, El. Can I see
you? Please?” I nod my head, my breath still high and tight in my lungs.
Mike resumed sitting back on his heels as his hands gripped my underwear at my
hips. Inch by delicious inch he slowly pulled it off, my feet lifting so he
could remove them the entire way. And then he did something I had only read
about in the books I had snuck from Joyce’s secret collection, he brought it up
to his nose and inhaled, his eyes drifting shut, committing my scent to memory.
His eyes snapped open to mine when a moan of pleasure escapes my throat, the
corded muscles in his neck tensing and a muscle twitching in his jaw, his self
control balancing on the edge of a knife. He flicks his eyes down to the apex
of my thighs and lets out a strangled sound.
In a second his body is over me, aligned perfectly with mine, his hand tight on
my hip, making sure I can’t move it to buck into him. I let out my own whimper
to let him know of my discontent at this, and he just gave me the wickedest
grin in return. His hand traces my hip before slowly sliding over, hovering
above my heat.
My nails dig into his shoulder, my voice coming out choked. “Please. Baby,
please, touch me!” It was the first time I had ever called him a pet name, and
of course it is while I’m begging for release. As if having been waiting for my
consent and request, his fingers ran through my slick folds and a gurgled gasp
bubbled out of my throat.
As his index finger found my clit and started circling it, I all but screamed
from the intensity. My hand shot down to his wrist, fingers wrapping tightly
around him, not to stop him but rather to attempt to ground myself with
something. The door to my room slammed shut as any subconscious grasp on my
powers broke.
His fingers were stroking me and his lips were on my neck as I felt him whisper
against my skin, “El, let me taste you. Please, baby, you smell amazing, I need
to taste you.” His words weren’t registering but at this point he could ask
anything of me and I would say yes, as long as he never stopped touching me.
I managed to get out a broken “Yes,” before his body shifted down so his cheek
rested on my inner thigh, his fingers slowing a bit to release a little bit of
the tension. My fingers unwrapped from his wrist only to tangle in his hair,
his breath playing over my wetness.
His self control to attempt to just admire me didn’t last long as the scent of
my heat and swollen lower lips broke him. His tongue traced my outer lips
before quickly giving in and delving deeper, his fore and middle finger
spreading me open. I felt my body wracking with broken sobs at the sensation,
the wire in me taut and ready to snap with just a little more.
He kept at this as my fingers twisted in his locks in a way that I was sure
would leave his scalp sore later. He finally stuck one finger and then two into
my dripping channel to stretch me as his tongue continued its torturous
ministrations on my clit.
As I felt his fingers curl, he hit a spot that caused me to see stars and for
the wire in me to snap. I felt myself gushing and my core tightening around him
as my scream of “Mike!” pierced the air. The back of my brain noticing the
faint sound of glass cracking before any and all sound was drowned out by the
rushing of blood and my heartbeats in my ears.
He eased his fingers out of me as I lay there twitching and floating back down
from my high. I saw him stick his fingers in his mouth, his eyes sliding closed
as my head lolled to the side, holding it up being too much of an effort.
When his eyes opened again, he grinned at me, all devil and dominance, as he
slid off the side of my bed to stand next to me.
“Too many clothes,” I gurgled out, my hand making a sad attempt at motioning to
his jeans which were strained against his hard on. “That was amazing,” my
eyelids drooped as my limbs sluggishly moved against my bed sheets.
“You tasted delectable, sweetheart,” his voice was a husky purr to my ears.
“Mmmm. I still want you,” it was true. As content as I was, I could feel how
much his fingers weren’t even close to what I really wanted. The whole night
had been leading to this and I sure as fuck wasn't going to settle with oral
satisfaction, no matter how amazing that pouty mouth of his had been.
“I’ll never stop wanting you, El,” he was smiling from his position and I could
feel the flames of arousal licking me again as I admired his form. My body was
still recovering from all he had done to it, but I reached out with my mind and
flicked the button on his jeans open and forced the zipper down.
He had his hands on his hips as he started to laugh at my actions and I just
gave him a lazy grin in response. He pressed a deep kiss to my lips, where I
could still taste myself on him, before righting himself and pushing his jeans
and boxers down his legs and stepping out of them and his socks.
I managed to turn to my side as I greedily drank him in, my bottom lip between
my teeth. He was all lean muscle, having started to grow out of his lanky phase
from his part time job. He was still far more pale than me, due to usually
electing to spend his free time indoors, but his milky complexion only brought
out his dark hair and eyes. He was delicious and he was mine. All mine, a smirk
graced my lips.
I continued admiring him as my hand reached out to pull him closer to me. Once
he was close enough I pushed myself up onto one of my hands as our other hands
untwined and I traced my fingers across his body. His eyes fell shut in
pleasure and I could feel the hum of his contentment.
My fingers brushed lower and lower until I traced across his hip and his hand
shot out to still it, his eyes boring into me. “That’s enough of that,” the
dominance in his tone coming through. My legs involuntarily squeezed together,
more than ready for more.
He placed a hand at my neck before closing the distance for a bruising kiss,
his restraint nonexistent. He climbed back onto my bed, lining his body up with
mine, my back arching to brush my nipples against his chest. We both swore at
the tingling that raced through each of us, as his hand grabbed the back of my
thigh and wrapped it around his slim hip, opening me further to him.
He looked into my eyes, making sure I was with him. “I need to know now, El, if
you want me to stop. This is it for me, you’re it for me. You’re all I’ve
dreamed about and hoped for. I need to know that you are beyond sure that you
want this.”
I cupped his face in my palm, my eyes locked onto his. It didn’t matter that we
were naked and that we were about to lose our virginity to each other. It
didn’t matter what everyone had always said about the likelihood of childhood
sweethearts not working out and that there would be others in the world, or
whatever bullshit people spewed. I knew in this moment, that this was the
moment.
“Michael Wheeler, you are it for me. And I’m not just say this because I really
want you to fuck me already,” his nostrils flared and I took a deep breath to
steady myself. “I love you.” His eyes widen at my admission before his lips
were crushing against mine, his tongue begging for entrance into my mouth,
which I gladly grant him.
“I love you, El. God, fuck, I love you so much. Fuck, you’re amazing and
unbelievable and I’m the fucking luckiest asshole alive,” his forehead rested
against mine as my face broke into a smile at his own admission.
“Now please put your dick in me,” his eyes widened and nostrils flared at my
choice of words before his gave me one last kiss before focusing back on lining
himself up.
My head fell back as his tip pushes against my entrance and I tensed. “Baby,
you have to relax otherwise it will hurt,” his thumb was brushing across my
cheek so gently. I nodded and took a deep breath as I slowly forced my muscles
to loosen. I had to repeat the process with every inch he gave me, but after
several minutes of patience on his end, I felt him bottom out in me.
I gasped at the feeling of being so full in a way I had never imagined. Even
breathing made my nerves stand on end, every tiny movement heighten. He
collapsed onto his elbows over me, the tension of trying not to push too far
too fast finally draining out of him as he held himself still inside me.
“Holy fuck,” he breathes into my ear. As I finally feel myself fully adjust to
him, I squirm and squeeze him between my thighs to let him know I’m ok. “Why
didn’t I feel anything pop?” he asked, looking down at me.
I laugh and roll my eyes at his slight panic. “That’s just a myth. That only
happens if the girl isn’t really ready when the guy enters, and if they don’t
take it slow like we did. Joyce told me.” He seemed surprised at me knowing
something about biology and human anatomy that he didn’t. I laughed again but
the sensation of him filling me caused both of us to moan in pleasure.
One of his hands reach down to hitch my leg higher on his waist, the change in
angle causing me to gasp. “Mike, please. I need you to move,” I begged and I
watched as the need for dominance overtook him once more.
He began rolling his hips, slowly pumping in and out of me, emotions racking my
body with things I had never felt before. My nails found purchase on his back
as I tried to bring him closer to me.
“Faster, baby. Please! Mike please!” I was whimpering, the wire being to coil
tighter than before as his hand that had been holding my leg shot down to where
we were connected, flicking his thumb over my clit as my hips rose to try and
meet his thrusts.
He picked up his speed a little as beads of sweat started to form on his body,
his breath coming out in harsh pants. “Fuck, sweetheart. You’re so fucking
gorgeous. So fucking tight for me. Your pussy is fucking amazing,” his thrusts
had found a punishing rhythm and his words left me breathless.
We were both so close, right on the edge of the cliff about to jump. He grabbed
one of my legs from his waist and pulled it over his shoulder just as he
increased the speed his pounding, his thumb brushing over my clit as his other
hand was white knuckled gripping onto my iron headboard. And just like that, I
crested the wave, flying into freefall as the wire finally snap, Mike following
closely behind me, my scream of his name loud enough to wake the neighbors.
I heard Mike shouting my own name, and the sound of something shattering just
as blackness pulled me under.
Chapter End Notes
     So this chapter definitely took on a life of it's own. Sorry :)
     Thank you for all the kind words and encouragements!
     I tried not to rush too much, but I was trying to get to the end
     scene for this chapter but as I was going I realized that there was
     so much to include between point A and B, so you guys got 21 pages of
     the night.
     I hope you liked it! Please feel free to leave any comments,
     concerns, suggestions, etc. in the comment area below :)

     xo.
Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed
their work!