Heartbreak Story - Byler

XXX - Everyday Pt. 2

"Damn, before you were dating? Sounds like it was probably a heat-of-the-moment type, right? I bet it was hot." Lucas commented, looking half-impressed, half-envious as Dustin began to guffaw with laughter.

Though Will just rolled his eyes at our two longest friends whilst still seemingly remaining calm, I couldn't control myself the way he could. "Will you stop fucking talking about it? You don't even know the half of the story and I don't want to discuss it with you guys. This stuff is private and it's none of your fucking business!" I blurted out and dozens of heads in the cafeteria swivelled to see who had caused the outburst and I'm pretty sure that none of them were surprised to find that it was the crazy Mike Wheeler. Again. The guilt of that night still pressed down on my chest and made me feel like I was suffocating, despite my boyfriend himself telling me he didn't blame me for it, so the last thing I wanted was to be reminded about my bad decisions.

"Baby," Will crooned inching slightly closer to me and laying his hand on my thigh once more however this time it was higher, causing my lower area to twinge in the way you never wanted it to in a crowded school. "It's okay. They didn't mean any harm by it."

"He called him "baby" oh my god!" The girl with the sparkling blue eyes squawked, earning a slight glare of annoyance from her brother.

"What have I told you about being subtle? There are people around, Maxie." Will moaned, throwing one of his own uneaten raspberries at her before they both erupted into fits of giggles and I couldn't help but laugh along. The two joyous siblings had put me at ease and I suddenly felt comfortable and relaxed once again in their presence.

"Mom wouldn't be happy if she knew you were wasting food, William." Max teased once she had finally caught her breath and it was time for us to head to our final classes of the day. Her simple comment left me dumbfounded did she just call Joyce "Mom"?

"Oh shut up." Will muttered as we said goodbye to her and the rest of the party before he turned to me, "Speaking of my mom, she said you can stay over tonight if you want to."

"Really?" I gasped, excitement fluttering in my stomach.

"Sure, I'll meet you after Bio. and we can head straight to your place to get some stuff together and then to mine. Sound good?"

"That sounds great." I responded as I walked my boyfriend to his Art classroom. When we reached the door and it was time to part, I longed to place my lips on his own in farewell but I knew better than to do such things. Instead, I just lay my hand on his shoulder for a brief moment before he entered the room and I had to leave my whole world behind to head to my own class.

~

"Mike." Will mumbled against my lips. "Mike, please." The boy giggled as I peppered his lips, outstretched neck and whole face with kisses as he leaned against the wall next to his front-door, my hands on his hips. "Baby, we need to go inside."

"So soon?" I groaned, "I'm quite liking where we are now."

"Yes, dork." He responded, placing his hands on my chest and lightly pushing my body off his own and I dropped back instantly, wanting to respect his space. Will didn't take his palms off my body as he straightened my shirt and smoothed out the crumples his small frame had made against my own. "I think we should tell my family. I'm not sure how you'd feel about telling yours just yet because you'd have to tell them more than the fact we're together, you'd have to come out so you might want to take more time but my mom and Jonathan already know about me and I know they'd be happy for us. What do you want to do?"

"I think," I began, running my fingers through my boyfriend's hair as I attempted to calm him. This was the first time since we had finally begun our relationship that I had witnessed true nervousness from the boy as he was visibly shaking and his eyes weaved unspoken tales of anxiety as they gazed into my own. "That though it's still very early days of us being together, I want your family to know because I'm completely sure I'm not going anywhere. I know this is forever so why wait when we can tell them proudly right now?"

The corner's of Will's mouth shot upwards into an enormous, gleeful smile that set fireworks off, booming and exploding with infinite sparkles within my heart. "I love you so much, Mikey." He told me as he placed his lips on mine in a short but glorious kiss.

"I love you too! Now, come on, we have a job to do." I called as I headed towards the door, grabbing Will's hand and giving it a delicate tug so he would walk along with me.

Will and I stumbled through the door with our hands still entwined and made our way to his kitchen where we could hear voices trailing from. "I think your sister is here." The boy whispered and I realised he was right as I heard the feminine, familiar tone of Nancy Wheeler.

"I guess that makes one less trip we have to make to tell her at a later date." I said hopefully and Will nodded in agreement.

Entering the kitchen, I took in the sights of what was around me, noticing that Max and Nancy were sitting with their heads close together as they worked over the fiery-haired girl's Chemistry homework and Joyce and Jonathan busied themselves at the smouldering stove, cooking whatever it was they had planned for dinner. Everyone called a swift greeting to us but they were all overly preoccupied and took a moment to notice my hand laced tightly together with Will's, as if I was terrified to break our contact.

"Wha-what's this?" Joyce quizzed, confusion etched into her facial features as she didn't automatically understand the meaning of what she was witnessing.

Jonathan, on the other hand, was quick to recognise the significance of the hold I had on the boy next to me and he dropped the wooden spoon he was clutching, his whole face breaking out into a beaming smile as he paced over to us, "You finally did it, didn't you? You finally asked?" He queried of his brother.

"Yup." Will grinned delightedly at the older boy who pulled him into a suffocating bear hug - regretfully removing my boyfriend's hand from my clasp as he did so - and Max ran up to join them, completing the trio of the Byers siblings.

Immediately, I came face-to-face with my own sister whose eyes were wide and round with shock but also with a hint of radiant satisfaction as she gazed at me. "Are you...is Will your...?" The girl opened with however her voice trailed off unsurely and I could see she was trying to not get her hopes up too high if I was only going to shatter them.

"Boyfriend?" I finished for Nancy as she silently stared at me, desperately begging and pleading for the answer I knew she was wishing for. With a grin wider than one I'd ever made before, I steadily nodded my head in response and she covered her mouth with shock as her eyes glimmered with joy.

"I'm so happy for you, Mike. I'm so happy for the both of you!" My sister squealed, turning to my boyfriend to congratulate him along with his own siblings.

I watched the little group engulf the boy I loved as he laughed and I continued to smile before realising I hadn't witnessed the response of one other person in the room, the woman who had been more like a mother to me than my own ever had, the woman with whom I shared dark and dangerous memories, the woman who'd helped save my life on many occasions years ago, the woman who had created the masterpiece I had the incredible fortune to call my own boyfriend.

Beginning to shiver ever so slightly in dreadful anticipation of what Joyce Byers would say about me dating her son, I turned my head to look towards her and, to my great relief, my heart started beating once more as I saw the tears of joy falling down her face. We walked towards each other and simultaneously wound ourselves up in each other's arms as I began to cry on her shoulder, as she sobbed into mine and whispered in my ear, "Welcome to the family, Mike."

*

On a scale of '1 - the first time I watched Mike Wheeler saying making friends with Will was "the best thing I've ever done"', how much are you crying? I'm at around a 'the first time I watched Noah's acceptance speech, burst into tears and stopped breathing' level.
We're getting close to the end, guys. This journey has been amazing and I love you all. Never fear, we're not quite at the finale. We still have a few more to go.
Late edition: Sorry, I said I would update yesterday but I was in mourning because England lost their semi-final match against Croatia and are now out of the World Cup but I'm happy now because I've just ordered a Chinese oh yeah!
Even later edition: Noah Schnapp has been robbed and I'm not okay.
- Niamh.