the yellow box

graduation

In May, she stops falling asleep to Mike's quiet sobs and starts falling asleep to his hushed voice talking into the telephone, occasionally giggling. Once a week, during their regular afternoon outings, Mike takes her to the post office to send off a letter. He starts spending time sitting on their porch, waiting for the mail to arrive before snatching the letter he was waiting for and locking himself in his room for an hour.

He starts to smile more.

In June, Mike and his friends graduate ninth grade. Nancy comes home, only planning to stay for a week before she goes back to New York for her summer job. Mike's loud friends and their families come over to the Wheeler house for a summer barbecue to celebrate. When Dad asks Dustin and Lucas how they want their steak, they both agree on medium well.

Erica comes with her family this time. Even though she's way older than Holly, she sits next to her and chugs soda until she burps. Like brother like sister, Holly supposes.

Mike, Max, Dustin and Lucas sit in a circle on the grass, eating their steak and potatoes from paper plates and drinking soda out of disposable cups. The parents sit around the gingham table, talking and laughing loudly.

Through the chatter and chaos, Holly hears the doorbell ring.

"Holly, will you get that, please?" Mom asks.

"Okay!" she replies, excited to answer the front door like a big kid. She makes her way through the quiet house and reaches up to turn the doorknob.

The door opens to reveal Mrs. Byers, Jonathan, El, and-

"Will!" Mike yells, running up to him from behind Holly. Holly startles and moves out of the way just before Mike comes crashing into Will, tackling him in a bone-crushing hug. Will lets out a surprised laugh and immediately hugs him back.

"Hey, Mike."

Mike pulls away to look at him. "What are you doing here? You're a week early."

"We wanted to surprise you."

"God, it's so fucking good to see you."

"We're all right here, Mike," El says with a chuckle. Mike lets out a breathy laugh and gives her a quick side hug.

"Hey, El. Do you guys wanna come in?"

The Byers follow Mike and Holly to the backyard, where Will and El are tackled in more hugs from their friends. Mrs. Byers and Mom are delighted to see each other, and Jonathan greets Nancy with a hug and a kiss. Holly sits with Nancy at the gingham table and watches the teenagers talk. She sees Mike whisper something in Will's ear before the two of them get up and sneak back into the house.

Erica tells Holly about her most recent squabble with Lucas, which involves Lucas interrupting her D&D campaign to inform her that she had clogged the toilet, completely embarrassing her in front of the boy she liked. Erica downs the rest of the Sprite and asks if there's any more. Holly explains that there's another bottle in the kitchen. Upon Erica's request, Holly gets up to grab it for her.

With Erica's cup in her hand, she goes back into the house and heads for the kitchen. When she crosses the living room and reaches the archway that leads into the kitchen, she sees that Mike and Will are already there.

Kissing against the counter.

She stops in her tracks. She sees the yellow box on the counter next to them, its contents scattered across the surface, Mike's note clutched in Will's hand.

Too bashful to interrupt, she slowly turns and goes back to the backyard, planning to tell Erica that they had actually run out of Sprite. As she walks away, she starts to smile to herself.