"You look like a movie, you sound like a song, my god this reminds me of when we were young" When We Were Young, Adele
El held her crying sister in her arms as the yelling continued. New marriages were supposed to be cleansing, happy, fulfilling. Joyce and Hopper were not that. Joyce wanted to move the family to California, but Hopper desperately wanted to stay in Hawkins. Besides the fact the two always bickered, this was different. They couldn't come to a good conclusion no matter how many times they said the same things.
"Shh it's ok, it's just yelling," El cooed in her sister's ear. Sara was choking on sobs and whining, like all little kids do. El felt bad for her little sister, who never knew her own mother, who had to grow up so differently and now deal with this. She would have cried too, El could cry whenever. She was sensitive and emotional ever since her mother's death, the smallest things making her cry and cry. But El had to be strong for Sara. This wasn't going to be forever.
Will barged into El's room where his little sister's were cuddling in El's bed. "I found a place for us to crash, for Sara to calm down," Will said. El nodded and grabbed Sara's hand, whispering to her they were gonna go somewhere else and Sara crawled onto El's waist not wanting to walk. She carried her little sister out where things were now quiet. Sara wailed more as she saw her father with a beer in hand reading through papers at the kitchen table.
"Hey Sara shh," El rocked her sister.
"We're gonna go stay at the Wheelers'," Will says.
"We're what?" El's eyebrows raise.
"Nancy answered his phone, he's at a party but they said we could come," Will explains. El nodded and whispered to Sara they were staying at a friends'.
"Apparently it's just Nancy and her little sister though, if that's ok Hop," Will says. No parents' home was weird, Ted almost never went anywhere.
"Isn't Nancy at college?" Hopper asks. Will explained that she was home for the week, and then the three siblings were off. It was almost eight at night, and Sara should have gone to bed pretty soon. It was dark out and the siblings had no bags or anything, the only was phones and Sara's favorite doll she called Belle, after her favorite princess.
They got to the Wheelers' in a few minutes because they lived pretty close. The family was pretty wealthy so they had three cars, Ted and Karen's, Nancy's and Mike's. Only Nancy's silver tiny car was pulled into the driveway.
Sara was still attached to El at the hip, and Will opened the door for the two girls, to where Nancy was sitting on the couch. El hadn't seen Nancy since she was 14, at some family barbeque at the Wheeler's El was forced by her friends to go to. Nancy used to babysit El for some money when El was a kid, and now Nancy wasn't some 17 year old girl. She was like a full blown adult, it was weird.
"Hey guys," Nancy smiled warmly.
"Ellie, who's she?" Sara laid her head back on her older sister's shoulder, softly asking. El said her name and that she invited them for the night and Sara nodded and drifted off to sleep calmly.
"Thank you for letting us stay. It's ok at our house but Sara just gets scared," El thanked Nancy. Nancy said of course and Holly came running out to see what the commotion was.
"Hey Holls," Nancy called as she walked out into the living room. Holly smiled and her older sister filled her in. El walked over to the couch to lay her sister down. There was a pillow at the arm of the couch El laid her sisters head at, covering her with a blanket that was folded on an ottomon. She admired her tiny sister as she slept peacefully, kissing her forehead and pushing her hair back softly.
Nancy said she had studying to do and so she went to her room and Holly followed her. It was awkward but there was no reason for them to stay and entertain Will and El when they were offering their home for the night. The two sat on their phones or had small conversations for the next little while, till a call came through on Will's phone a bit before midnight.
"Hi-....yeah Nancy invited us cause Sara was scared....dude there's an 8 year old and a 5 year old here sleeping don't be stupid....you straights are so weird....get her snap and hookup with her next weekend....cya in a few weirdo," Will responded to who El figured was Mike on the other line.
"He tried to bring a girl home," El scoffed, and it came out as a statement more than a question. Will rolled his eyes and nodded. Will came out to everyone about a year ago when he started dating this guy named James, but things didn't work out in the long run.
In a few minutes Mike came home and nodded to them as a hello like he was important and had places to be. Truly, he was mortified at the thought that El Hopper was sleeping at his house. Will slept over all the time, or he used to, but El only ever did once, for Mike's tenth birthday.
"Some of us get the fort and some of us sleep on the couch and the rest on the floor," Mike proclaimed to his friends.
"We want the fort!" Max and El called almost immediately. The party had been friends since they were six and yet this was their first sleepover, all of them almost ten. All six of the little kids wanted the fort but the girls called it first, so they got it. Max had plain light blue blankets and pillows that she brought, but El's had pink suns and moons on a white background.
It was about ten, which was late for them, so they all decided to sleep. "Night dingus' " Max called to her four friends on the floor.
"Night boys!" El giggled as she spread out her blanket across her skinny legs. Max passed out almost immediately, and Dustin started snoring in ten minutes. El was sure everyone was asleep as the heavy rain, thunder and bright lightning kept her up. She convinced herself and all her friends she was no scaredy cat, but thunderstorms were different for her. How could loud noises come from the sky?
She heard rustling from over near the couch, and one of the boys stood up. El was huddled in a corner with her blanket cuddled against her chest and legs. Her pillow was wrapped around her ears, blocking out the scary noise. "Are you ok?" a voice asks. Kneeling in front of her was Mike. "Thunder freaks me out," she sighs.
"It's ok, one of the angels just dropped a bunch of big marbles," Mike reaches for his friend's hand, which she thankfully takes and squeezes quickly but continues to hold onto.
"Bowling balls?" she asks.
"Maybe." the fluffy haired boy shrugs. The next time a loud bang of thunder struck, El giggled at the thought of angels dropping bowling balls. "Thanks," El grinned bashfully. That was when Mike realized how pretty she was. Her entire face lighting up from just a smile, her loose braid falling over her shoulder. And her hand in his, felt so natural, yet nerve wracking.
"Um yeah," Mike blushed at the girl, luckily it was too dark for her to see the range of colors his face had become, "night El."
"Night Mike."
El stared at the boy for a second too long after remembering that night. She never grew out of her hate for storms, but the thunder wasn't as scary as she grew older. Maybe it was because of Mike, but she wouldn't admit that.
"I'm gonna go take a shower, you guys can stay in the guest room if you want or put Sara in there," Mike says. They both nodded and as he walked off Will turned to his sister with a bunch of questions. "Why did you stare at him like that!" Will smiled.
El rolled her eyes, "like what?"
"Like you were completely in love with him," Will taunted
"Did not."
"Did too."
Mike heard their conversation from down the hallway, and he didn't think much of it. All the shit he'd been teased from by his four friends about her, even though what they said about him was actually true. El's wasn't, she hated Mike, and they both knew it. Mike'll get over his crush anyways, it's just stupid.
In a few minutes El registered that Mike offered to let them sleep in the guest room so she tells Will she's gonna bring Sara in and lay her down. She grabbed her little sister holding her like a newborn, and carrying her down the hallway. Sara didn't budge as it was late and she was exhausted. El was mindlessly walking, not distracted but not focused either, when she bumps right into Mike. His hair was all wet and it sprinkled onto her sister's face, but he had on a tee-shirt and shorts, gladly. "Sorry," El rolled her eyes.
"Dang El, you missed me?" Mike smirks.
"No I didn't. I'm putting my sister to bed." she said. The lanky boy's height was almost a full foot taller than El and it made it annoying for El to speak to him. That would mean looking up at him which could be taken as, ew, staring. El walked past Mike and into the guest bedroom that was plain with just a queen sized bed and a single dresser.
El sat at the edge of the bed as Sara stirred a little bit after being tucked in, then drifting back to sleep. She stood up to kiss her sister's forehead and softly muttered, "Love you, monkey."
As she tried to sleep next to her peaceful sister, El couldn't stop thinking about where this night had brought her. She was sleeping in Mike Wheeler's house, she hadn't done that in almost eight years. It was so, so different then. Why did it feel so weird? She barely conversed or saw Mike at all tonight, it was all for Sara. It wasn't about her. Did Will mean for it to come off the way El was beginning to see it?
The next morning El woke up on top of the covers with her arm slid under Sara's back. She woke up to the noise of the door opening, and little Holly came in. "The boys are making waffles!" she giggled.
"Ok, we'll come out in a minute," El smiled back. Sara turned around and woke up, looking up at Holly. "Who's she?" Sara mumbled.
"I'm Holly!" Holly walked over to Sara. The girls began to talk, sharing how old they were, leading Holly to ask if she could pick Sara up, since she was the youngest. Holly carried Sara out the room on her back to where their brothers were making breakfast, El following closely behind.
El greets the boys, mostly Will, and sits on the open barstool next to the two petite girls next to her. El was in yesterday's clothes, and her hair was lightly brushed over from a few minutes ago but it probably still looked a mess. To Mike, she didn't look like a mess. Her tired eyes were still barely opened and her frizz was covering her face softly and in a seemingly perfect way. He stared at her for a few seconds before the little girl's loud whispering brought him back into reality.
"Nooo she tells me everything! I would know, and I'll tell you I promise," Sara giggles.
"You better!" Holly answers. El grins at the conversation between them and looks over to see what Sara was talking about. "Nothing Ellie!" Sara side-eyes Holly and begins laughing along with her.
"We could be sisters!" Sara yelps.
"SHH!" Holly covers the other blonde's mouth. Sara chuckles loudly even though at first they are muffled by Holly's hand. "What are you talking about?" Will asks.
The girls look at each other and speak rapidly. "Can we ask you a question? A serious one," Holly questions. Will nods and walks over to the girl, their little hands going up to his ear and whispering words to him.
"Oh definitely, but it's a secret. To them anyways." Will responds.
"Ellie!" Sara jumps off her stool, wrapping her arms around her older sister's waist. "What silly?" El laughs at her sister's actions this morning.
"Will told us a big secret!" Sara professes. El's eyes go to Will and he shrugs, drinking some orange juice.
"I'm so lost right now," Mike chimes in. Holly and Sara erupt in giggles again, Sara walking over to sit next to her new close friend. "Maybe because you were staring at my si-" Sara gets cut off by Holly again.
"Sara!" Holly groans.
"Will, don't lie to the poor children," El rolls her eyes. Mike goes back to checking on the waffles.
"There's only two people lying in this room right now, and I think it'll be pretty simple for you to figure out who those people are," Will retorts.