↬ 21 ↫
Since they'd returned from their week spent in El's hometown, things had been as perfect as ever. Despite the fact that they had to get back to working and going to their classes, the couple had truly never been happier.
Even now, as El was walking down the familiar sidewalk in the center of downtown, the same glowing smile was glued to her face, a smile that only Mike Wheeler could evoke.
She was on her way to the bookstore for the sole purpose of studying for an upcoming exam, but a part of her was more focused on the fact that she'd be seeing Mike. After all, it had been five hours.
And if she had learned anything since she's been with that charming boyfriend of hers, it was that five hours is entirely too long to spend away from him.
El had soon reached the bookstore though, so those hours spent without him were no longer an issue.
The familiar aroma of coffee flooded her senses as she walked in, her eyes immediately searching the place. She spotted Mike down one of the aisles talking to a customer, instantly getting lost within his bright smile.
She watched as he politely informed the woman about a certain series of novels, before he so casually ran a hand through his untamed hair, the move having quite the effect on her.
She stood off to the side, simply admiring the boy who had yet to notice her arrival.
Her shameless gawking went on for so long, that she didn't even realize the customer had left, meaning that Mike was finally alone. She took this as her chance to go to him, especially since no other customers were around to bother him.
"Excuse me, I think I need your help finding something." El enticingly spoke as she walked up behind him, only giving him enough time to perk up at the sight of her before she yanked him down to her mouth.
He instantly melted against her, letting the book in his hand fall to the floor as he kissed her back. He was no longer worried about doing his job, not when his beautiful girlfriend was here, wanting to do this.
Mike held her close, his lips chasing after hers like his life depended on it.
Those hours apart had really deprived him of her mesmerizing presence, so he happily indulged in making up for that lost time, until El pulled away, with a rather smug grin on her face.
"Found it, thanks for the help."
"Oh, it was my pleasure." He muttered, before gently pushing her against the shelf behind her, unable to keep himself from going back in for more.
El was usually a softy around him and he adored that about her, but she also had her moments like this, and that only made it harder for him to resist her.
So, he simply chose not to even try.
The two completely lost themselves in one another, the faintest of moans escaping them as the moments passed by. They refused to part, until a loud ringing belonging to the store phone popped that glorious bubble they had slipped into.
"God, I really don't want to stop this, but I gotta get that." Mike spoke against her lips, then detached himself from her hold. "Dustin's running late, so I'm the only one here right now."
"It's okay, I need to start studying anyway." El sighed. She leaned up to leave a quick peck on his lips, before sending him on his way. "Go do your job. I love you."
"I love you, too!" He called out while rushing off to answer the phone.
El wandered off down the aisle, going straight over to the chairs near the front window. She slipped her bag off her shoulder as she sat down and began getting all her things out.
Just as she was about get to work, she heard someone called out her name. She looked toward the entrance, finding one of her favorite people coming her way.
"Hi, Dustin! How are you?"
"Well I'm here, when I'd much rather be in my bed, so that should answer your question." He groaned, while plopping down in the chair across from her, as if he wasn't supposed to be working.
She couldn't resist giggling at his clear lack of energy. "You poor thing."
"I'm assuming you just talked to Mike, since your lipgloss is kinda smeared all over the place." He snorted, looking as amused as ever.
El's hand instantly went to her mouth, trying her best to wipe it away.
"Can't even go the few hours he's at work without getting some time in to suck each other's faces off? You wild animals..." Dustin teased, shaking his head at her. "Think that you two could take a break from making out and come over to my place tonight? I figured we could all hang out. Maybe have a movie night or something?"
"Oh yeah, that sounds fun! We'll be there!"
"Excellent!" He cheered as he stood up from his chair. "Well, I gotta get clocked in before Mike comes out here and spazzes out on me. Have fun pretending to study."
"Pretending?"
"El, we both know you'll be paying more attention to Mike than those incredibly well written out notes of yours."
"Oh, very funny, Dusty." She sighed, playfully rolling her eyes at him.
"Just speakin' the truth!" He chuckled, then rushed off to actually start doing his job.
Now that she was alone, El finally focused on what she had come there to do. She began flipping through her notes, intending on knowing every single bit of information on each page before she left.
No matter how set on studying she had been though, it seemed that Dustin was right. She tried her best to focus, she really did.
Mike was just a very tempting distraction and there was truly no way she could ever resist him.
•
Despite how much time El practically craved to spend with Mike, she was pretty excited to hang out with Dustin. Apart from earlier that day, she hadn't seen him in awhile, which was very unfortunate because she really enjoys being around him. He's one of the nicest people she's met while away at college and he never fails to make her laugh.
Of course, Mike is around him nearly every day, but being his best friend, he's always up to hang out.
Thankfully, the rest of the day had passed pretty quick and the couple soon found themselves at Dustin's doorstep. El knocked heavily and the door was opened in an instant, their curly headed friend looking rather ecstatic to see them.
"Lovebirds! Come on in!"
"Hi, Dustin." El cheerfully greeted him, pulling him in for a hug before walking inside.
"No hug from you Mike?" Dustin teased as Mike walked in behind her.
Before he could come back with a witty response, Mike got a little distracted by the two dogs now barking at his feet.
"Uh, since when do you have dogs?"
"Since I realized I've been having a little bit of trouble in the girlfriend department. The man at the shelter said that pugs are very common with the ladies, so I figured these babies would work like they did for you with El."
"Dustin... you do know that the dogs didn't make me like him, right?" El asked, sharing an amused look with Mike.
"Well yeah, but they're what got you two talking in the first place." He stated matter-of-factly, as if they weren't aware of that. "It's already working for me though! These things are like chick magnets!"
El laughed as she bent down to pet the dogs, gushing over how cute they were. Seeing them only made her realize just how much she missed having Nancy's pups around.
"Anyways, the pizza literally just got here, so you're right on time. We're about to watch the new Pet Sematary."
"Is it just us three?" Mike asked, to which Dustin planted a hand on his back, patting it a couple of times.
"Oh no my friend. There's four of us."
"Let me guess, one of the 'chicks' your little chick magnets found?"
"Yeah, Pugsley and Wrinkles really hit the jackpot for me." Dustin beamed, quickly squatting down to give his 'chick magnets' a good rub on the head. "Come on, you guys can meet her."
They followed him into the living room, where they were introduced to the girl, Lily. She was a soft spoken girl, around El's height, with the shiniest shoulder length black hair they'd ever seen.
She was super nice, so it was no surprise that El bonded with the girl right away. They chatted with one another, talking about school and their other interests, while the boys got their pizza and drinks.
Lily seemed to really have eyes for Dustin and El could only hope that she stuck around for awhile. Even though she had just met her, El really enjoyed her company and wouldn't mind being friends with the girl.
"Alright, let's get this movie night started!" Dustin announced once they'd returned, each handing the girls their food.
Mike claimed his place on the other side of El, while Lily scooted over, allowing Dustin to sit down in between. The couch was more than big enough for all four of them, but judging by the look that had crossed Dustin's face, he had some concerns.
"Okay listen, you can two sit on the couch with us, but I better not look over & find you two making out anytime soon."
"I can't promise anything... I mean, you said it yourself, Mike and I are like wild animals."
"Yeah, well if you get all wild and gross right next to me, I'm kicking you both out."
El feigned offense, throwing a hand on her chest. "You'd really kick your two best buds out just because we're in love?"
"I am crushed." Mike chimed in, playing right along with the act. "Especially since our relationship is what gave you the idea to use those do-"
"Okay okay, both of you just shh! The movie's starting!" Dustin snapped back, not wanting them to spill his whole wing-man plot to Lily.
He hastily shook his head at them, before taking a large bite out of his slice of pizza. "Behave yourselves."
"You heard the boy, behave yourself." El whispered into Mike's ear, giggling softly as she let her head fall to rest on his shoulder.
Mike slipped his arm around her waist, drawing her closer. "I'll try my best."
Even if they had wanted to sneak in a kiss or two, they wouldn't have had much of a chance, since the entire movie consisted of Dustin talking their heads off, spoiling nearly every intense scene.
Turns out, he had already seen this movie and didn't care to keep what he knew was coming to himself.
El didn't mind though, she just enjoyed being there with them, watching the movie and laughing along with Lily each time Mike would get on to Dustin for ruining the good parts.
Once the movie had come to an end, Dustin convinced them all to play a game of scrabble, which led to another hour or two of playing other board games he had managed to find buried away in his closet.
It actually turned out to be pretty fun, until Dustin and Lily started downing cans of beer, only turning them into the worst game players. It was like trying to play with two toddlers, the both of them unable to follow simple directions or even read the cards.
At that point, they figured it was time to call it a night. It was also getting late and Mike knew that Dustin would crash pretty soon, drunk or not, he wasn't much of a night owl.
"You know, we should totally do this more often!" Dustin exclaimed much louder than necessary, while following Mike and El to his front door. "Lily & I totally kicked your butt at like every single game we played!"
"Maybe next time you won't drink so much that you can't read the cards." El teased, though his level of intoxication made him take the comment seriously.
"Hey, don't start shitting on me! I can't help that I'm nearly blind while under the influence." He claimed, his defensiveness lasting for a moment or two, before he went back to his perky self. "Why don't you two just go on and get out of here? I'm sure you just can't wait to rip each other's clothes off and get busy!"
"Very funny." Mike deadpanned, having had enough of this drunken rambling hours ago.
"What? We're all adults here, it's fine if we talk about a little hanky panky." Dustin went on, until the grin fell from his face. "Unless you two haven't- Oh shit!"
He suddenly busted out into a fit of laughter, so hysterical that they didn't think he would ever be able to stop.
"Dude, stop laughing."
"Sorry, this is just too good! I can't believe it. The way you can't keep your hands off of each other, I figured you would've already sealed the deal! What's taking you guys so long??"
"Uh, I don't really think that's your business, buddy." Mike told him, wishing he would drop it already.
Teasing them was one thing, but now he just wouldn't stop. This wasn't necessarily a topic he wanted to discuss with his drunk best friend either, especially not when El was right next to him, starting to look a little uncomfortable.
"Well, you need to hurry it up before one of you gets bored and runs away. You know there's tons of people out there who would be will-"
"Okay, we're leaving now." Mike said, cutting him right off. "Bye Dustin."
"Goodnight, Dustin." El brought the boy in for a hug, resting her hands on his shoulders as she pulled away. "Please go to bed and don't drink any more beer. I'd rather you not get alcohol poisoning."
Dustin leaned in close, planting an incredibly sloppy kiss on her cheek.
"I give you my word, dearest El." He said, as he stumbled back a couple of steps, frantically grabbing onto the doorframe to steady himself. "Goodnight, Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler, have a nice honeymoon!"
Without another word, he slammed the door right in their faces. They looked straight at each another, neither able to hold in their laughter.
"Oh my God... Okay, come on. Let's make a run for it while we have the chance." Mike insisted, eagerly slipping his hand into hers, before they rushed off to the car.
It was a mostly silent ride home, comfortable silence though. The song on the radio played quietly, Mike tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as he hummed along with the music.
Meanwhile, El was too busy thinking about what Dustin had said. Sure, it was drunk rambling at its finest, but there was still some truth to it.
No, she wasn't worried that Mike would get bored of her, not at all. There was so much more to their relationship than just the physical stuff, clearly or they wouldn't be so insanely happy.
Still, she couldn't help but wonder why they hadn't 'sealed the deal' as Dustin so vaguely put it?
Truth be told, she'd thought about it so many times since they'd gotten back from spring break.
Okay, so maybe she'd thought about it even before then, but she figured that she was just getting ahead of herself. She knew Mike probably wouldn't ever mention it out of the blue though, not wanting her to think that he was trying to pressure her in any way. She really appreciated that, just like she appreciated him trying to steer Dustin away from talking about it.
Of course, Dustin didn't mean any harm by it. He was also drunk, but that didn't make it any less awkward.
As awkward as it was though, it really got her thinking. She wanted to take that next step with Mike, she really did and she hoped that Mike would want to take it too.
In order to find that out though, she knew it would be up to her to make the first move and she was more than okay with that. She even had a plan in her head by the time they got back home and fully intended on going through with it.
"Hey, can we sleep in my bed tonight?" El asked just as they reached their front doors.
They sleep at his place just about every night, since she made it pretty clear that his bed was far more comfortable than hers, so she was really trying to come off as casual as possible.
"Yeah, of course." Mike agreed in an instant.
El happily pressed a kiss to his cheek, then rushed over to unlock her door. "I'm gonna take a shower real quick, so I'll leave the door unlocked for you."
"Okay, I'll be over in a few minutes." He told her, then went off into his own apartment to get changed.
Just as she'd hoped, Mike seemed pretty clueless as to what was about to happen.
And he was, in fact, still clueless once he headed back over to her place. He figured she was just tired of his bed and missed her own, which was completely understandable.
He didn't care where they slept though, just as long as they had a nice, warm place to cuddle.
El was still in the bathroom when Mike got there, so he plopped right down on her bed and turned the television on, figuring it would help pass the time.
After flipping through the channels, he settled on some random crime show. He managed to really get into it, too. That is, until he heard the bathroom door finally open.
Mike looked over to the side, his jaw slightly dropping at what he found— El, standing there with a hand on her hip, the only thing covering her up being the light pink towel wrapped tightly around her body. The look on her face was telling him that she knew exactly what she was doing.
His hand found the remote where it sat beside him, immediately turning off the television, seeing as he was no longer interested in it. The slightest grin crossed his face as he moved to sit on the edge of the bed.
"El Hopper, are you trying to kill me right now?"
"Kill you? Never." She laughed softly, while tilting her head to the side. "But I may or may not be trying to seduce you..."
Mike's breathing hitched hearing her speak so seductively, while his eyes raked up and down her nearly exposed body. He found himself absolutely despising how much distance was between them, especially once he noticed the subtle way she was biting down on her lip.
"Get over here."
El didn't need to be told twice. She crossed the room to get to him, standing right between his legs. Mike moved his hands up to rest at her waist, bringing her closer to him.
"You know you don't have to try and seduce me, right? I always want you."
El's gaze softened over his words, much like the way he was now looking at her.
"This isn't about what Dustin said though, is it? Because I could never get bored of you. I couldn't leave you either, especially not for a reason like that."
"It's not because of what he said. I promise. It's just... I love you, Mike and I want to be with you, in every way possible."
"I love you, too." He spoke softly, sealing the words with a bruising kiss. "Now, let's get rid of this stupid towel already, yeah?"
El nodded eagerly, and the towel wrapped around her was carelessly thrown to the side. She watched as his gaze lingered, taking in each and every curve that made up her body.
But then his blazing eyes met hers again and the two couldn't hold themselves back any longer.
Mike lips met hers in a frenzy, everything following that one single moment— the heated kisses, the desperate touches, the feelings of pure bliss— not stopping until the two had crossed yet another defining line in their relationship.