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CHAPTER NINE
OLIVER DIDN'T KNOW WHAT to do as he watched Mike almost run toward the girl that was in front of them, both of them mumbling each other's names before finally wrapping their arms around the other, almost like they were afraid to let go again. His eyes flickered around the room as he tried to ease how awkward he felt while watching two teenagers reunite. It might've been different if he actually knew them well, but he did not. "Is that. . ." Max trailed off, looking over at Lucas for confirmation. He gave her a quick nod and she turned back to them, sort of shocked.
But. . . didn't they say that they had watched her die? So how was she right there at that moment alive and well, breathing with zero problems. Oliver furrowed his eyebrows and awkwardly looked down at his shoes, realizing how dirty they had become over the course of a few hours. One of them was also sadly covered in blood, which would be quite frightening to anyone who didn't know what was going on.
"I never gave up on you," Mike's voice was very quiet, but so was the entire room, so he could hear him very clearly. "I called you every night. Every night for—." He was cut off by the shorter girl in front of him. "353 days." She finished, shaking her head as she did.
"I heard." Her voice was painful to listen to. It was like there were tears keeping her from talking with her chest, her throat closing up because of how emotional she had become. Now confused, Mike looked down at her with furrowed eyebrows. "Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay?" He asked, a little disheartened. Hopper perked up from where he stood and began to walk over to the two.
"Because I wouldn't let her." He walked past Mike and stood in front of El, taking in her new look. "The hell is this? Where you been?" She quickly retaliated with a snarky tone. "Where have you been?" He wrapped an arm around the girl and pulled her toward him and she just allowed herself to be encased by the hug. Oliver smiled sadly at the interaction before he attention was brought back to Mike.
"You've been hiding her." Mike said as realization washed over him, a look of betrayal finding itself on his face. "You've been hiding her this whole time!" Mike reached over and shoved him by his shoulder, which ended with Hopper grabbing him by the collar of his jacket. "Hey! Let's talk. Alone." With that, Hopper dragged Mike into Will's room and Oliver could practically hear the anger that was protruding from Mike.
Oliver cleared his throat awkwardly, looking back down at his shoes to try and distract himself from the oh so familiar sound of arguing. Eleven walked forward and enveloped both Lucas and Dustin into a hug, both of them extremely relieved and happy to see the girl. "We missed you." Lucas said while smiling, eyes closed as he embraced the warmth he felt. "I missed you, too." Oliver couldn't help but smile at the interaction, happy to see that they were finally being reunited with the girl. "We talked about you pretty much every day." They all pulled away from the hug and El began to study them, eyebrows furrowing when her eyes landed on Dustin.
