✓ | 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐌 (BYLER)

𝒊𝒙. THE L-WORD

"No," El shook her head, biting her bottom lip to fight back her tears. "You don't."

Will furrowed his eyebrows from where he stood in the dimly-lit hallway. How could El invalidate what Mike had been through like that, especially when she was currently going through the exact same thing?

"Okay . . ." Mike trailed off, his face forming a puzzled expression. "What don't I understand?"

"I am different," El declared. "I do not belong."

"You mean . . . in Lenora?" The ravenette asked.

"Anywhere," The girl responded.

"Come on, you can't actually believe that," He scoffed.

"Everyone looks at me like . . . like I'm a monster," El spoke, her eyes welling with tears.

"Well, they just don't know you," Mike shrugged.

"You think I'm a monster, too," She claimed, finally looking into her boyfriend's eyes.

"What?"

"Yesterday," El started. "The way you looked at me. You were scared of me."

"No, no," Mike lied, shaking his head. "That's not true. I was surprised. Maybe I was a little upset in the moment, but, I mean, I'm sorry. I just didn't know what to do. It was so crazy — it happened so fast. But it doesn't change anything. It doesn't matter. I care for you . . . so much."

"Care," El sniffled, emphasizing the four-letter word. "But you don't love me anymore?"

"What? Who . . . who said that I didn't?"

"You never say it."

"I say it," Mike firmly responded, defending himself despite the fact that his girlfriend was right.

"You can't even write it, Mike," El frowned, standing up and yanking a stack of Mike's letters from a box. "From Mike. From Mike. From Mike. From Mike. From. From. From. From!"

"Okay, okay! Eleven, you're being ridiculous! Like, what is this?" The ravenette scolded her. "You know what I think of you. You're the most incredible person in the world. And you can't let these mouth breathers ruin you. Ruin us! I mean, they're nobodies! And you're a superhero."

El slowly shook her head, taking a shaky breath as a river of tears trickled down her reddened cheeks.

"Not anymore," She whispered.

There was a brief moment of silence as the pair tried to muster up something else to discuss. El was the first to speak again.

"Mike?" She murmured.

"Yeah?"

"I think we should take a break."

Will's eyes widened in utter disbelief.

"What? We don't need a break!" Mike protested.

"What's the point of being in a relationship with you if you can't even tell me you love me?" El questioned, causing the Wheeler boy to feel a pang of guilt. "Look, I'm not mad at you, okay? I just think you need to take some time to figure yourself out."

"Figure myself out? Eleven, what the hell are you talking about?" Mike scoffed as if it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard.

"Mike," She gently spoke, putting a finger to his lips to silence him. "We are taking a break. If our relationship doesn't work out, we can just be friends again. There's going to be a happy ending no matter what happens between us. I promise."

Mike couldn't bring himself to respond. Instead, he stood up and began walking towards the door to exit the room. In a panic, Will fleeted into his bedroom to avoid being caught. He acted as if he hadn't heard a single word from their argument.

Flopping onto his bed, Will stared at the ceiling in complete silence. He couldn't believe what he had heard. Why couldn't Mike tell Eleven he loved her? Why was it so difficult for him to get those three simple words out? It made zero sense to him. He thought Mike was madly in love with her, but he sure wasn't acting like it.

Maybe he loved somebody else. But who?

𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 !
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