Will kissed his best friend a few times. At first, he felt bad about it, but after a while, he didn't care anymore. He was going to suffer the same outcome whether he kissed him one time or one hundred so why not make the most of the situation?
He was kind of mad at Mike for not having a problem with the whole ordeal. He was enjoying it actually, telling Will it was okay. It wasn't okay and they both knew that very well. Even if Brad was terrible, he was still Will's boyfriend.
Not for long. Mike had convinced him to finally break up with Brad. He'd do it tomorrow. Just casually. No hard feelings, hopefully. Half of him knew it wouldn't work out that easily, but he was optimistic.
For now, Will didn't have to think about Brad. He didn't want to. He just wanted to stay with Mike forever and ever and ever. Simple as that.
Mike and Will were laying on the bed, Will on his back, and Mike on his side, just looking at him. You'd think Mike was looking at a beautiful night sky, the amazement on his face. It made Will feel good, for sure.
"Hey," he said. "Remember when you finally got your driver's license?" The memory had come to him abruptly.
"Senior year," Mike laughed. "All the Upside Down stuff held me back a little bit, but I was pretty proud of it. Mom and dad said I could use Nancy's old car." He paused. "Why do you ask?"
Will turned to face him. "Well, do you remember how you called me? You were so excited. Like, ' Will! Will! I did it!' And then you asked if I wanted to go for a drive. Remember that?"
"Of course I remember that. It's one of the most recent memories I have of you. You think I'd just forget it?"
Will frowned. "No, but I'm just saying... And you drove me around for hours and we listened to that cassette tape we made until it got dark. We just talked and sang songs... I must've got home at eight."
"Eight? We were out that late?"
"Apparently. But it was fun, wasn't it?" It was one of Will's favorite memories. He thought about it all the time.
Mike was quiet for a second. "Yeah, it was really fun."
"Don't you wish we could do that over sometimes? Just go back and be seventeen again?" Will always had something he wanted to do over.
"Yeah, I guess," Mike said. "Maybe I would've been brave and told you I wanted to go to college together no matter what my parents wanted." He laughed. "Wouldn't that have saved us a lot of trouble?"
Will stared at the ceiling. Longing for the past wasn't going to help anything. They always had the present, though. "How about we do it again?"
"Huh?" Mike sat up a bit, not understanding Will's statement.
Will sat up too. "Let's just get in your car and drive around. It'll be fun. A break from all this serious stuff. We both need it, don't we?"
Mike smiled. "I like that idea."
"Great! I'll tell my mom we're heading out."
Mike walked towards the door, Will headed to the kitchen. Back in the hallway, he asked himself a question.
What are you doing? It was hard to tell. Maybe he was just greedy, ignoring his problems and spending time with Mike just because he wanted to spend time with Mike. It was more like he needed it right now. Not the kind of need he felt with Brad for any trace of affection. It was personal.
But he felt so guilty. Secretly going out for the night with Mike Wheeler. They were supposed to be best friends. They were never supposed to be more than that. Will had a boyfriend. He should just stay with him. Brad had accused him a couple of times now of liking Mike. Calling him names, playing the victim. Now, Will was probably just proving him right.
"Hey, me and Mike are gonna take a drive, mom. Not really sure when we'll be back. Tell Brad I'll just come back to the room so he can head home on his own."
"Okay, thanks for checking in, baby!"
Will was definitely proving him right, but he didn't care. He needed this.
Will walked out to Mike's car with purpose. It was already on, Mike waiting inside and drumming his fingers on the closed window. He smiled when he saw Will. It made Will feel guilty somewhere deep in his stomach.
Do something, Mike. Just tell me you hate me.
Will climbed inside, pushing negative thoughts aside. "Where do you wanna go?"
Mike rested his hands on the wheel. "Anywhere. Wherever we end up, you know? We could hit a couple of places that we went as kids a lot, how about that?'"
"Nostalgia trip, I like it."
"Awesome. Arcade first." Mike hit the gas and started backing out of the driveway. The time was already five in the evening. Much later than Will had anticipated.
"Jeez, Hawkins didn't change all that much, did it?" Will asked as he looked out the window at the passing buildings. Mostly ones he'd seen before. "You'd think they would've remodeled after everything."
"Guess everyone here loves it for what it was." Mike laughed. "I hated this place so much. I couldn't wait to get out when I was old enough. Back when I was twelve I was sure you and I were gonna run away together and live in New York or something. Go to Broadway and shit."
"You thought we were gonna go to Broadway?" Will laughed. He wasn't surprised Mike liked acting. He always had the best character impressions when being Dungeonmaster.
"Sure! How else were we gonna make money in New York? Maybe we could be in The Phantom of the Opera. I'd make a good Christine I think."
"Can you really hit those high notes?"
"I've been training my falsetto for the day. You have no idea." Mike attempted to sing a high pitch, which resulted in a giant voice crack.
Will snorted. "Impressive. I'm surprised you haven't been cast yet."
"Shut up, we're here." Mike stopped the car, gesturing to the arcade. It made Will smile, thinking of all the fun times they'd had here, playing all the newest machines, searching for loose change on the ground.
Mike grabbed his hand, making Will shiver in surprise. "Come on! Let's go inside!"
There were a couple of new machines but other than that everything was exactly how Will remembered it, down to the carpets.
"This place was my favorite," he said.
Mike nodded. "Yeah, still holds up too. The same feeling going inside. You wanna play a few games?"
Will widened his eyes. "Games? I thought we were just gonna check it out! We've got other places to see!"
"You can't go to the arcade and not play any games!"
So with that, Mike bought the boys a few tokens and they headed over to the selection of machines, trying to find their old favorites. It was fun, of course, but it was slightly confusing because Will didn't know what Mike was to him at this point. On one hand, they were best friends. On the other, Will had kissed him. And Mike wasn't making it any easier. He just acted like it was normal, grabbing Will's hand, putting his hands on Will's hips while he tried to beat another level of Pacman, a kiss on the cheek when he won something. Will had to keep reminding himself it was okay.
It's not okay. You're taken, might I remind you? It was selfish.
When they got back in the car, Mike had a look of realization. "Oh my god, I have a surprise!" It made Will think of Brad saying he had a surprise. The beer.
"What is it?" he asked cautiously.
Mike dug around in the glove box for a second through trash from what must have been years ago. He pulled out a cassette.
"The one you were talking about. From senior year," he explained. It was a cassette that Mike and Will had made with all their favorite songs. Will could see Mike's scribbled handwriting on the label.
The best songs EVER!!! By Mike + Will
Will laughed in disbelief. "You still have that?"
Mike popped it into the player. "Sure I do. I mean, what would I have done with it? It's not like I'm gonna throw it away."
The first song started to play. Will sighed. "I forgot what we even put on this thing." An Innocent Man by Billy Joel, apparently.
"This song?" Mike scrunched his face. "I don't remember liking this song."
"Aw, I like it!" Will argued. "It's poetic, right? I like the lyrics."
The ride was fun with music, both boys blaming each other for wanting to add Olivia Newton-John. Mike and Will hit many locations. The middle school was much different. The town had decided to rebuild it slightly, so it wasn't that much like it was when Mike and Will had gone there.
The high school was still the same. Mike swore he saw their tenth-grade English teacher walking out of the building. Will called bullshit.
The drive was long since Will and Mike found something new to look at around every corner. Will was surprised Mike still knew all the lyrics to Jessie's Girl. He sang it with a certain emotion that made Will wonder if there was any pent-up emotion underneath it.
Eventually, they drove past Will's old house. It looked old and haunted. Nobody looked like they'd lived there in a long time. It was overall abandoned.
"Makes sense," Will said. "That place was such a wreck to begin with. Can we go see it?"
Mike nodded. "Whatever you want."
Will slowly got out of the car and approached the old house. It was seven by now, dark outside. The scene looked like something in a horror movie. Will opened the front door easily. Some animal scurried away from inside but Will wasn't frightened by it. He wanted to see the house.
It was just as small as he remembered. So many memories too. Really good ones.
Really bad ones.
He stood at the entrance to his old room. None of his stuff was there, of course. He'd taken it with him when they moved to California. Something else crossed his mind.
Will walked out the back door. He could hear Mike silently following him. He walked into the woods a ways back until he came upon the pile of wood. Castle Byers.
"Shit, this place has seen better days," Mike said, casually nudging the broken welcome sign with his foot. "It was broken before, right? That storm knocked it over that one summer?"
Will nodded. He had forgotten about that. In reality, he destroyed Castle Byers, mad at Mike for some stupid thing he'd said. Or maybe something he'd done. Will couldn't place it at the moment.
"Wanna move on?" Mike asked. "Quarry's up the road if you wanna check it out."
"Yeah, sure. Let's go."