Mileven in Heaven

Some Have Food & Love

It was Sunday, May 12, 1985. In less than a month, Mike, Lucas, Max, Dustin, Will, and the rest of their 8th grade class would graduate. Mike really wanted El to be there not only for their friends but especially for his own sake. So, he got some invitations made for El, Hopper, and some of his other family. Then, he biked over to her house, slipped it under the door, and walked away. The mail had already come and El happened to be in the living room when he put it there, so she picked it up, forcefully opened the door, and walked out to see who it was.

"Hey!" she said.

"Oh, hey," he said, turning around.

"What's this?" she asked, holding it up.

"Open it!" he said eagerly.

She looked down at the envelope and smiled with curiosity, wondering what could possibly be inside.

"You are core-dee-uhlee-"

"Cordially," he corrected.

"...Cordially invited to attend the Hawkins Middle School 8th Grade Graduation," she continued, the excitement in her voice becoming more apparent as she read the last few words.

"I get to see you graduate?" she asked.

"Yep, you and Hopper. We're having dinner afterward too, which you're also invited to. You'll get to meet my grandparents, my aunts and uncles, my cousins- Basically, my whole family will be there!"

"I'm sorry, did you say your whole family?" she asked.

"My whole family."

El was excited to get to know his relatives, but having dinner with his whole family was a lot of pressure...What if they won't like me? she thought.

"Wow..." she said.

"You seem a lot less excited than I thought you'd be..."

"Mike, I'd love to meet your family, it's just...I've never even really had dinner with your parents and sisters, if you don't count the time we had brunch at the Olive Garden."

"Well, maybe we can change that...How about you hop on this bike with me and join me and my family for dinner tonight?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, really!"

"Okay, I should probably change first though..."

"And I should probably call my mom before she murders me!"

"That too!" she said, giggling.

El raided her closet for a nice dress to wear to Mike's house as he used her phone to call his mom.

"Mom?"

"Hi, sweetie. Do you need something?"

"No, actually I was just calling to give you a heads up that El's coming over tonight for dinner."

"What in god's name are you talking about?"

"Well, you see, I dropped off the invitation like you asked, but she felt a little overwhelmed when I mentioned having dinner with our whole family, so I figured she should have dinner with us once before she meets the rest of our family."

"Well, that's very sweet of you, Michael, but the house isn't guest-ready and I haven't even started making dinner yet!"

"That's okay, I'll buy you some time."

"But Michael-"

"C'mon, Mom! Just this once, please, please do this for me."

"Fine, but I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing this for El."