Heartbreak Story - Byler

XX - Keep You Safe

Feeling the familiar heat tint my cheeks rosy again, I responded: "Hey, Mike." as he pulled up in front of me. For a moment, the two of us gazed into each other's eyes and I felt my heartbeat quicken as I noticed his pupils dilate and lips slightly part as he looked back at me. Mike made a steady but seemingly deliberate move towards me as if he wanted to embrace me but the fear I had of being close to him put my nerves on edge and I felt frightened at the thought of his touch so I subtly drew back, saying: "Should we get going, then?"

Mike looked rattled and slightly embarrassed, a similar blush to my own on his face. "Erm..yeah. Yeah, let's do that." He stammered as the two of us set off.

"Are we meeting Dustin and Lucas somewhere?" I enquired of my friend pedalling beside me.

"Erm, no. I thought it would be...you know...cool if it was just us." Mike began. "But if you don't want to I'm sure we could find the others. I'm sorry, I didn't think it would be a problem - I should have ask-"

"Mike, you're babbling. I'm fine with it being just us." I giggled before lowering my voice ever so slightly. "More than fine."

My gaze left the road for a brief moment and found Mike who was watching me, wide-eyed. "Yeah?" He asked.

"Yeah." I replied, smiling.

Mike chuckled. "Well, I'm very glad you said that because Lucas and Max are going to the skatepark before school and Hopper is picking up Dustin and taking him and El to school so we would have had no one else anyway."

"Dustin and El, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess they've become pretty good friends recently. I've been so caught up in...everything that's gone on I didn't even realise how close they'd gotten."

"Wow, me neither. I've always had a sneaky feeling that he may have a crush on her, though."

"No way! You think that too? I asked Lucas if he thought so and he said I was crazy."

"Great minds think alike, my friend."

"Yes, yes they do...friend."

Mike and I remained in a comfortable silence for a little while, both caught up in our thoughts and I couldn't help but be grateful for his presence by my side - where he belonged. Though I knew I was still damaged within, every second spent with him felt like a time of healing and I smiled at the thought. Over the previous months, I'd told myself what I needed was more and more distance between us but I'd been wrong. I needed him, I realised. I'd always need him.

The two of us pulled up at school and found Dustin and Eleven idly chatting, waiting for us at the bike racks: our usual meeting spot. "Hey, dudes." Dustin smiled a toothy grin (one he'd have been very proud of) and Eleven waved.

"Max and Lucas not here yet?" I asked, looking around for my sister. Today was the day she'd been moving in with us and I was so excited for her to finally join her real family and escape the terror of the Hargroves.

"Oh sure," Dustin rolled his eyes as he answered. "They got here before we did but they've been sucking face behind that big tree and haven't even noticed anyone else is here."

"Gross, what the fuck?" I squirmed on the spot and heard Mike chuckle at my curse, the noise sent shivers of pleasure up my spine and I struggled to regain control of myself as my heart began to pound and I suddenly felt woozy. I grimaced when I remembered what had caused me to curse in the first place. It's not like I hadn't seen Lucas and Max kissing before but they'd always been wary to keep it PG in company and the last thing I wanted was to see my sister with her tongue down someone's throat.