↬ 15 ↫
Not even twenty four hours had passed since El had officially become his girlfriend and Mike felt happier than ever.
He didn't think it was possible for him to be any happier than he'd been since El came into his life, but he was clearly wrong about that.
Now that he gets to call this amazing girl his, it was like he was living in whole new world— a world where the sun never ceases to shine, a world where there's a permanent smile etched on his face due to the incredible feeling inside of him that never seems to goes away.
Mike had awoken that morning from his rather pleasant dreams, with the brightest smile on his face, for once not minding the irritating sound of his alarm or the dog walking all over his legs.
He simply reached a hand out and turned the alarm off, eager to get his day going. He showered, got dressed and ate his breakfast, before taking Coco out for a few minutes. He made sure to leave plenty of food and water out in her bowl before he left, then set off on the short drive to campus.
As most days, he had spent a ridiculous amount of time searching for a parking spot, nearly making him late for class.
He made it though, slipping in through the side door and finding his unassigned seat near the middle just as his professor was getting ready to begin.
His first class, along with his other one following right after, had gone by painfully slow, which was to be expected, since all he could think about was the fact that El would be back at his apartment waiting for him.
It seemed like his professors were speaking in slow motion, going through their lectures as if they had all day to get through the material. Every time he checked the clock on his laptop, only a few minutes had passed, when it felt like the class should be over already.
Eventually though, he'd gotten through both classes and that's how Mike ended up exactly where he wanted to be, with El.
The two were on his couch, his arm wrapped around El's shoulder as she cuddled up to him, her presence alone filling him with that happiness he was so consumed by lately.
The two were watching a movie that El had chosen, their frequent comments on certain scenes distracting them a bit during the first half. They could talk about the most random thing and somehow never run out of stuff to say about it.
Now that he had truly gotten to know her, Mike found it hard to believe that El had never said much to him all those times he spoke to her. She seems to love talking, almost as much as he does, so the thought of her ever being so quiet around him just didn't seem real.
They finally managed to bring their chit chat to an end when a more intense scene came on, neither wanting to miss anything else.
A bit more of the movie played on before Mike noticed that El wasn't paying much attention to it anymore, her being a little preoccupied with the dog sitting on her lap.
El was talking to Coco in that usual high pitched voice and of course, he found it to be adorable.
Mike still didn't see himself treating the dog in the ways that she does, but he had to admit, Coco was kinda growing on him. Either that or it was just El's love for Coco making him more tolerant of the four legged animal.
He wasn't too sure how much longer it would be before Nancy came to retrieve the favorite of her many puppies, but based on the way El was now uncontrollably giggling over something Coco was doing, he hoped it wasn't anytime soon.
"You're just the cutest thing in existence!" El cooed, nuzzling her cheek against the furry little dog, who was clearly loving the attention. "Aren't you, girl?"
"Oh, I beg to differ." Mike scoffed, causing El to look up at him, a little surprised at his disagreement.
"Okay then, try and name something cuter than this little baby!" She held Coco up close to his face, the dog putting on its best puppy dog eyes, as if she knew exactly what El was trying to do.
"Easy, this little baby." He instantly replied, before softly tapping at El's nose with his finger.
El's cheeks flushed, a shy grin crossing her face. "That's definitely not true."
"It definitely is. You're seriously the cutest girl I've ever laid eyes on." Mike insisted, causing that grin of hers to grow even more. "Or should I say beautiful? Stunning? Gorgeous?"
El lightly nudged at him with her elbow, his compliments rendering her speechless for a moment.
"You're too sweet to me, you know that?"
"Well, I'm your boyfriend now, so you'll just have to get used to it."
"I think I can do that." She giggled softly, before her eyes caught a glimpse of the time displayed on his cable box. "Oh, shoot! I have to go or I'm gonna be late for work."
"Or you could call in sick and stay here with me?" He attempted to persuade her, watching with hopeful eyes as she placed Coco on the floor, then got up to grab her shoes.
"Unfortunately I have to go. The students of Purdue need their coffee."
"Gross."
"Oh hey, you never did tell me how that latte was you got that one day?" El asked, slowly walking back over to him as she tugged her jacket on.
"It was okay." He shrugged, grimacing at the thought of how the overpriced drink had tasted. "I wouldn't get another one though."
"No?"
"Nah, don't worry though. I was really only there to see you anyways, so I was still a very happy customer." He grinned, bringing that reddish tint from before back onto her cheeks.
She leaned down to where he still sat on the couch, giving him a proper goodbye kiss.
"Oh Coco, don't worry, I'll be back!" El called out to the dog now jumping at her feet. She followed El the entire way over to the door, clearly not wanting her to leave. "Hey, no peeing on the floor, okay?"
Mike laughed as Coco barked back what he was certain had to be her response to El's command.
"Bye, El."
"Bye, Mike." El looked his way, shooting him a quick wink before opening the door. "I'll see ya tonight."
•
Tonight had thankfully come much sooner than Mike expected, which was a blessing considering he had plans with El.
Well, if you'd consider doing laundry together as 'having plans' with someone. Mike certainly did and he couldn't wait.
It was Thursday and just like with every other week, that was laundry day for the both of them, so they figured why not do it together.
It was nearing seven thirty once Mike had gotten down there, where he sat patiently waiting until El joined him. She said she would meet him down there as soon as she got home from work, which should be any time now.
As expected, he heard the door open a minute or two later, to find El huffing out a breath as she walked in. Clearly, it was a struggle for her to get down there.
Mike smiled to himself as he took in her appearance, as if he hadn't just seen her earlier that day.
She had her pink basket in hand, clothes nearly spilling out of it, while she attempted to get her hair out of her face.
It was obvious that she had changed out of her uniform and pulled her hair out of the ponytail it's usually in for work, just as she always does before seeing him
He wasn't arrogant enough to think that she did that just for him, but if that happened to be the case, he would be incredibly flattered. Mike truly didn't care how she looked though, she was just as perfect in her pajamas, having just woken up as she was all dressed up.
As soon as El made it over to Mike, he immediately got up and helped her with her basket, setting it up on the table.
"Thanks." She smiled, finally able to tuck those infuriating strands of hair back out of the way. "Have you been down here long?"
"Maybe twenty minutes?" He shrugged, before sliding out of her way. "My clothes are already in the dryer, but I made sure to save you a washer."
"How sweet of you, especially since nobody else is in here." El laughed, giving him a rather amused look before she got started on her laundry.
She opened up the lid and began to put her clothes in, Mike watching from beside her like it was the most interesting sight.
After getting everything in and ready to go, El started the machine and placed her now empty basket off to the side. She then hopped up on top of the dryer, Mike instantly moving over to occupy the space between her legs, so he could be closer to her.
"So what did you do while I was gone?" She asked him, instinctively grabbing his hands and slipping her fingers through his.
"Stared at the wall, thinking about how much I missed my cute girlfriend."
El shook her head at the cheesy response, though Mike had no shame in his words.
"When I wasn't doing that, I took Coco out for a bit, then worked on some assignments." He told her, not sounding too enthused over how he'd spent his time away from her. "I finally finished that literary theory paper too, so I guess it was a productive afternoon."
"Oh good! Did you change that one thing I told you about?"
"Of course I did. You're quite the little genius El, I would be an idiot to ignore your suggestions."
"Stop it." She playfully shoved him away, while trying her very best to withhold from blushing yet again today because of him.
"I kind of had an interesting evening at work." El told him, attempting to change the subject, so she could get a grip on herself.
"Yeah? What happened?"
"This one customer cussed me out because I didn't put extra caramel in his latte."
"Seriously?"
"Yes! And then some girl got all snappy with me for spelling her name wrong! I swear, coffee makes people insane!"
"Well, I've been going a little insane myself." He casually spoke, though the look on his face was anything but casual.
"Have you?" El played along, slightly cocking her head to the side.
"Oh yes. All I've been wanting to do since the moment you left my apartment today is kiss you again. That's kind of hard to do when you're not there."
"Then I better give you what you want before you truly go mad." She teased, before slowly inching toward him.
Mike didn't waste any more time, capturing her perfect lips with his. El leaned up in an instant, throwing her arms around his neck, bringing him even closer to her as she deepened the kiss further.
She grew more needy by the second, her frantic actions surprising Mike in the best way possible.
His mouth never parted from hers, savoring the feeling rushing though him, as he moved his hands to rest at her waist. He pulled her as close to him as she could possibly get, not failing to miss the faint sound that had managed to get out of her.
Just when things were really starting to heat up between the two, the sound of the heavy door slamming shut interrupted the moment. They broke apart, both looking over to find an older man walking by, giving them an obvious look of disapproval.
"Sorry." El apologized, giving him a friendly smile. The man didn't seem to find it as funny as Mike did, seeing as he was unable to control his laughter, which only caused El to start laughing too. "Oops."
She carelessly shrugged her shoulders, tilting her head up to meet lips to his once more.
"You know, I can't help but think, if only I had talked to you sooner, we could've been doing this the entire time."
"Considering I actually was trying to talk to you the entire time, I have to agree with you on that." Mike teased, causing her mouth to widen slightly.
"It's okay though, you're shy." He added, smiling down at her. That innocent smile quickly morphed into one much similar to what she'd seen a few minutes ago, no sign of innocence whatsoever behind it. "At least, you were shy. Right now, not so much."
Before El could open her mouth to speak, he had already managed to take claim over her lips again. She melted right into him, getting lost in the kiss until the washer beneath her buzzed, the sudden noise getting a high pitched squeal out of her.
El quickly made the move to get down off the machine, Mike clearly disappointed that their fun had come to an end.
"Laundry first." She strictly told him, before quickly leaning up and delivering the softest of kisses to his lips. "More of that later."