It was April 1, 1985, April Fools' Day. El was at home, like always. She woke up at a little before 5:30, so she could see Hopper before he left. When she was awake, she eyed her Stormy Kromer cap, lying on the floor of her bedroom. She picked it up, recalling all of the fun things that she and Mike had done in the snow, a few days before. She remembered all of the snowflakes that fell that day and how Mike taught her to catch them on her tongue.
*catches on tongue*
"Ooh cool, I wanna try."
*giggles*
"It's cold and it tickles!"
They made it into somewhat of a contest that day, to see how long they could exchange the snowflakes in kisses without them melting. Though not successful, they still enjoyed the closeness.
She then thought about when Mike showed her how to make a snowball.
"Hey, do you wanna learn how to make a snowball?"
"Sure!"
"Okay, great. *picks up clump of snow* So, really you just grab a handful of snow and pat and shape it into a ball. *pats and shapes* Then, you can throw it at your friends."
"*picks up, pats, and shapes* Like this?"
El threw a snowball at his shoulder without lifting a finger, wiping the blood away from her nose.
"Yeah, like-Ow!" he said, rubbing his own shoulder in pain.
"Sorry, tough guy!" she said sarcastically as she walked over and rubbed his shoulder.
Her mind then wandered to when they made snow angels, and even after that when they made a snowman.
"Why are they called snowmen and not snow people?"
"Sexism."
"Sex?"
"No, no, sexism. It means, um...when people say something offensive and untrue about all people of a specific gender. Sex also means gender, just so you know. Um, but sexism is also when people choose one gender over another for no apparent reason, like special treatment. Sexism almost always applies to women though because men have been considered superior in society since the world has existed...It really sucks though because women are just important, if not more."
"Wow. That really does suck!"
"Yeah...Sorry to totally bum you out about making a snowman..."
"Hahaha, no it's fine. I'll just make a snowwoman!"
"Great idea!"
To top off their creation, they used some broken twigs to make extra long eyelashes and wrapped her in El's pink, floral scarf.
All of these thoughts and flashbacks of Mike led her to visit him in his present state. He was currently at home, still sound asleep in bed. She walked over to him and smiled. She stroked her hands through his hair and down his face, as she knelt beside him. Then, she whispered, "I love you, Mike" and kissed his forehead. She then left his bedroom and tapped out of her meditative state, returning to her quiet little bedroom. Then, she got up and waited at the table for Hopper. He walked over to her, kissed her head, and said:
"Good morning, kid. Did you sleep ok?"
"Yes. You?"
"Like a log."
"Nice."
"Yep. *pauses* So, we're out of eggos today...are eggs ok?"
"Sure."
"Good. I'll fix 'em right now."
The boys already taught El about April Fools' Day, of course, but March felt so long that she hadn't even realized that today was the 1st of April. Hopper had grown up with a strict, but goofy dad, so April Fools' Day was something he did every year to honor his father's legacy. This year, he thought it would be fun to prank El and see how she reacted. First, instead of making her actual sunny-side up eggs, he just had the pan heating up on the burner, while really putting half of a canned peach in some yogurt, to appear as one. Once he finished fixing them, he turned off the burner, took off the pan, and set it on the counter. He took the plate, with a knife and fork, and walked it over to El.
"Here. Eat up!"
"Thanks, Dad."
He smirked with a look of mischief and watched as she ate the botched dish.
"*gags* What is this?"
"Sunny-side up eggs, just how you like 'em. Why, do they not taste good?"
"No, they're good, it's just different than it normally tastes. Are you sure you cooked it right?'
"Yeah, just like Martha Stewart said to."
"Oh...okay."
She stared at and messed with the strange eggs with her fork, reluctant to eat them.
"Gotcha!"
"Huh?"
"What do you mean 'huh'?! It's April Fools' Day! They're not really eggs."
"Then what are they?"
"Yogurt with canned peaches in the middle. *smiles*"
"Ohhuhho, you're gonna pay for that! How'd you come up with that anyway?"
"My father. He had quite the sense of humor. He used to play the best April Fools jokes."
"Do you miss him?"
"Terribly, *pauses* but I think he would be disappointed at who I've become if he were still here."
"Why?"
"I don't know. He just always wanted for me to be more, to be the best I could be."
"You are the best, Dad. If he doesn't see that, then screw him. You're good at your job, you've been nothing but great to me...what more could you be?"
"*shyly smiles* Thanks, kid. You just made my day."
*smiles*
El had planted her own little prank for her dad: fake dog poop. She waited in her room until he found it.
"Oh Jesus! Shit! Shit! JANE, GET THE HELL IN HERE!"
She ran out of the door, saying:
"What? What? What is it?"
"Would you take a look at this?"
"Is that-?"
"Shit? Yes, yes it is. You wanna explain to me how it got there?...Oh, yes that's right, your dumbass dog did it!"
"She's your dog too, ya know. How's this my fault?'
"Aren't you the one who let her in?"
"Yeah, I guess so..."
"Alright then. Clean this up."
"Gotcha! April Fools!"
"Huh?"
"It's fake. Steve and I got it from the dollar store."
"That little shit...Well, ya got me! *chuckles* Good one!"
"*laughs* Thanks!"
"Alright, well now that that's out of the way, why don't you call Mike and see if he wants to do anything today?"
"Really?!"
"Yeah. See if he's okay with me dropping you over there."
"Okay!"
*dials*
"Hello?"
"Hey, Mike! It's El."
"Hey, El! How are you?"
"I'm good, how are you?"
"I'm great! I'm glad you called."
"Me too. *smiles*"
*awkward pause*
"So...why did you call?"
"Oh, right! Well, my dad said I should call you and see if you wanted to do anything today."
"I'd love to!"
"Cool."
"Let me just ask my mom first...Wait, my place or yours?"
"My dad is kinda tied up today...Is it okay if I come over to your house?"
"Yeah, I don't think we have any plans, but let me double-check."
"Okay."
"Just a sec."
"*yells* HEY MOM? CAN EL COME OVER TODAY?"
"*yells in the distance* SURE, SWEETIE, THAT'S FINE!"
*returns to phone*
"She's fine with it."
"Yay! I'll be there soon."
"Take your time! There's no rush."
"Actually, there is because I need to see you...now."
*blushes and smiles*
"Well, I love you. See you soon!"
"See ya! Love you too."
*smiles and hangs up*
She walked back to Hopper, who then asked:
"What'd he say?"
"He said I could come over."
"Alright. Go get dressed and we'll motor over there."
"Okay!"
El rushed off to her room and spent approximately 15 minutes just trying to find the perfect outfit to wear. She walked out of her room wearing a crop top and short shorts that she had made, but Hopper didn't approve.
"I know I didn't buy you those. Go back in there and change into something appropriate!"
"*huffs* Fine."
She found Mike's old Star Wars t-shirt lying in one of her drawers. El had loved the trilogy after watching it for the first time with him, so he gave her a shirt of it. She decided to wear it and put on some longer jean shorts with a black belt and some Chuck Taylors.
"Much better. Now, let's get going."
They both got in the car and left. When they got there, Hopper pulled El aside and said:
"Hey!-Have fun, ok?"
"Don't worry, I will. Love you, Dad!"
"Love you too, kid."
El rang the doorbell and waited patiently. Once the door opened, Hopper drove off. Expecting to see Mike, she was surprised to find Holly answering the door.
"El!"
"Hi, Holly!"
"I missed you! *hugs legs*"
"*strokes hair* Aww, I missed you too!"
Nancy peeped from around the corner and said:
"Is that El? *raises eyebrows*"
"Hi, Nancy. How are you?"
"I'm great. It's good to see you again. *smiles, hugs*"
"You too! *pauses* Um, where's-?"
"Oh, my brother. I don't know...He's usually waiting by the door for you."
"Really?" *smiles and chuckles*"
"Yeah, all the time! He usually waits a few seconds before he answers the door though, just so you won't think he's a total wastoid."
"*laughs* Aww, that's so cute!"
"Yeah, it's pretty entertaining. He just like paces around for a few minutes and gets all antsy. Anyway, he would probably kill me for telling you all of this, but let me call him real quick."
*laughs*
"*yells* MIKE, YOUR GIRLFRIEND'S HERE!"
"*yells in the distance* OKAY, SORRY. I'M COMING!"
*both laugh*
"Well, El, I gotta go, but it was good seeing you. I'll catch up with you later hopefully."
"Yeah, that'd be great. See ya, Nance!"
El bent down and picked up Holly as Mike rushed down the stairs.
"Hey, you! *kisses* Nice shirt. *winks*"
"Thanks. *winks*"
"Sorry I wasn't down here already, I was in the bathroom."
"It's fine. I didn't know that you normally waited by the door for me...That's so sweet!"
"Who told you that? Nancy? Ugh, I'm gonna kill he-Wait, really? You really think so?"
"Yeah, that's so cute."
*blushes, smiles shyly at the ground*
"*puts hands in pockets* So, do you wanna go upstairs or in the basement?"
"Your room."
"Okay!"
El put Holly down and said:
"Aww, don't worry, Holly! I'll play dolls with you later, I promise."
"Okay..."
Holly ran past them on the steps. As they walked up, El looked at Mike and noticed that he had some faded marks on his face.
"*circles face with finger* What's all of that?"
"Oh...Well, Holly drew marker on my face when I was sleeping this morning and woke me up at 5:30 ON THE DOT, as an April Fools joke, so sorry if I'm a little cranky today."
"Oh my god...*laughs*"
"Yep, my little sister's mental!"
"Eh, she's not too bad. She's so cute!"
"Try living with her!"
*opens door, walks in*
Mike and El both lied down on the bed, on their sides, facing each other, with their cheeks leaning on their hands.
"*laughs* You know, Hopper and I played pranks on each other today too."
"Oh really? What'd you do to each other?"
"Well, he said that we were out of eggos and fixed me some *uses airquotes* 'sunny-side up eggs', but really he just took some yogurt and put half of canned peach in it."
"HAHA! Classic! And what'd you do to him?"
"You remember when I asked Steve to take me to the dollar store that one day?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I bought some fake, rubber poop to make him think that Eggo pooped in the house."
"Ooh, that's a good one! How did he react?"
"Oh my god, he was totally buggin'! It was hilarious!"
They stayed there, talking for hours and hours. When they stopped, El looked at Mike and said:
"What? What is it?"
"Nothing. I'm just looking at you."
"No, seriously. What are you thinking?"
"That you look beautiful and I really wanna kiss you right now."
He laid his hand on top of her hand resting on the bed.
"You wanna kiss me...right now?" she asked.
"Right now."
"Okay...*smiles*"
He scooted toward her, both still lying on their sides. They both leaned in, kissing each other's lips in quick, separate pecks. As pecks gradually turned into slow, romantic kisses, they started to wrap their arms around each other. As his hand accidentally slid past and lightly grazed her thigh, she pulled him closer to her. Now on her back, with Mike hovering over her, she wrapped her leg around his waist and put his hand back on her thigh. All of a sudden, the door burst open and Mike quickly peeled himself off of El, both sitting and fixing themselves up. Holly stood there and asked:
"Hey, El, can we play Barbies now?"
"Go away, Holly, we're busy," said Mike.
"I was talking to El, not you."
"Of course we can! Why don't you go back to your room and I'll meet you there?"
"Okay!"
El turned to Mike, placing a hand on his lap, and said:
"Sorry, Mike. I'll be right back. Give me 15 minutes tops."
"It takes 15 minutes to play with dolls?"
"It takes awhile for a prince and princess to get together...I just got lucky with you. *boops nose*
*blushes and smiles*
"And also, what are you complaining about? Doesn't it take about the same amount of time to play with your action figures?...And D&D campaigns last like 10 hours most of the time, so I'm pretty sure that you can handle waiting on us to finish playing with Barbies."
"Yeah, okay, you got me."
"EL! THE PRINCESS IS STILL WAITING IN THE TOWER!"
"Well, that's my queue! Be right back."
"Alright. Let me know if there's anything you need."
"I will."
*kisses*
*runs off*
*sits criss cross applesauce*
"*picks up dolls* Someday, I'm gonna find a prince and we're gonna be just like you and Mike. You guys are perfect for each other."
"Aww thanks, Holly. I think so too. You're brother...he's a really amazing person. I hope you know that."
"Yeah, he's a good brother."
"I know that he can be a bit mean to you sometimes, but don't take it the wrong way. All siblings are like that, but Mike really does love you."
"I love him too."
"Me too," said El.
"*smiles* So, what should the princess' name be, El?"
"Um...how about Leia? *giggles*"
"That's pretty! I like it."
"What about the prince?"
"*giggles* Han Solo."
"Okay. You be the prince and I'll be the princess."
"Okay."
El's childhood wasn't much of a childhood at all. Instead, it was miserable and traumatizing for her. Playtime was a place where El could be whoever she wanted and could connect with her inner child. It compensated for all of the dull moments in her life, where she felt nothing but loneliness. It was times like these when she played with Holly or when she spent time with Mike, that she felt happy at last. She was able to finally accept the way her life was, or at least her new life.
El was good at roleplaying, something she had learned from playing D&D countless times with Mike and the boys. She enjoyed using different voices and accents that she sometimes practiced at home after hearing them from television shows. This time, she settled for speaking in a British accent, in a medieval sort of way (something she learned from watching The Princess Bride), by saying things like, "Are you stuck, milady?" or "Alas, we shall never be parted! 'Tis the day of all days!" To Holly, it made all the difference.
"Well, I should go, but I'll see you later, Holly."
"Wait, El, don't leave! Tell me a story first!"
"Okay, fine, but it's gonna be a quick one."
"*takes a breath, speaks slowly* Once upon a time, there was a mage princess who had been held captive and poked and prodded all her life. Then, one day, she ran away from all of her problems. She was constantly on the run, being chased by bad people who wanted her dead. Along the way, she got lost. That was when a prince, her paladin in shining armor, and his men came along. It was love at first sight! He later took her in, fed her, clothed her, and gave her a place to stay...his castle. It was her first true home. He was a good friend to her. He protected her, and in return, she saved him countless times. He later told her how he felt, that he had feelings for her, and kissed her with true love's kiss. He promised her that they would go to the ball no matter what. She saved the prince from the evil beast by slaying it, but all of their encounters quickly came to an end when she got trapped in a whole 'nother world...or so they thought. They both cried out for each other in agony and loneliness. She eventually found a way back to the world she had grown so accustomed to and found her way back to him, but she could not be seen with him because she was the most wanted person in all of the land. So, she wandered in the woods, until the head guard of the castle found her and took her in like the prince once did. He became somewhat of her own guardian and raised her for almost an entire year. During that time, the prince called out to her every day for 353 days and she heard him, though she could not approach him. Sadly, they never got to go to the ball together, but along the way, she traveled afar to visit her long-lost family, whom she had never met. She learned many things about herself but returned home when she learned that her friends, and her only love, were in serious danger. She arrived at the castle and reunited with her true love at last. She reconnected with her friends and family that same night. Afterward, she had no other choice but to stay hidden because she was still being hunted down. That all changed one night when the guard let her go to the Snow Ball, an annual winter formal held at the castle. She got ready and met the prince there, where they danced their first dance and shared their second kiss. To this day, you can still find them together, happy as ever. The End!"
"That was the best fairytale ever!"
"*giggles* I'm glad you liked it! It's my favorite too. *sighs* Well, this has been fun, but I should probably go back to your brother now. He's expecting me."
"Okay. Thanks for the story, El!"
"Anytime."
Once they were done, El went back to Mike. She peeped her head through his open door and knocked on the molding around it.
"Knock, knock," she said playfully.
"Come on in."
She walked over toward him with a smile on her face, and sat in his lap, with her arms around his neck and his holding her back.
"15 minutes, huh? More like 30!"
"Sorry! She wanted a story too."
"Of course she did...So, how was it?"
"It was fun. I love playing with kids."
"Yeah, when they're not annoying."
"They're not that annoying!"
"Well, maybe kids just hate me then. I mean, it makes sense, my dad's a total dud."
"C'mon, Mike. Don't be so hard on yourself...You're nothing like your dad, and plus, I've seen the way that Holly looks at you. She totally looks up to you because you're her big brother."
"Thanks, El! *chuckles* My theory is that I'm just so negative because I had the burden of being the middle child."
"Haha, maybe you're onto something!"
*pauses*
"When I was playing with her, I named the prince and the princess Han Solo and Leia!"
"*laughs* Really? You actually named my sister's dolls after Star Wars characters?"
"Yep."
"Aw, man. Now, my mom's gonna think that I sabotaged my sister's little game. Oh, well."
*laughs*
"Before I left, you know, she asked me for a story, and I had to make something up quick, so I just told her our story, but disguised it as a fairytale."
"*laughs* Oh my god! *raises eyebrows* What'd she think?"
"She said it was the best one she's ever heard!"
He threw his head back and laughed. His face then turned serious, with a streak of eagerness in his eyes. He then said:
"El, tell me our story."
"*laughs* What? Mike, are you serious?"
"I mean it. Tell me our story."
"Okay, fine."
She tried the best she could to tell it the same way she had told it before. As she went on, he smiled with glee as she described the moments in their time together. When she was finished, he said:
"Wow...She's right...*pauses* Our story is better than any fairytale because it's real and it's heartbreaking, but it's also heartwarming at the same time. Just hearing it is bringing all of these feelings back up and I don't know what to do with them! *laughs, shrugs*"
She looked him straight in the eyes and said:
"How 'bout this?"
*kisses*
"Y-Yeah, that'll work!"
They made out for a while, once again, until El stopped and said:
"This shirt is so comfy. Thanks for giving it to me."
"No problem. *tugs at hem of shirt* I love it when you wear my clothes."
*smiles and blushes*