𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 ~ 𝐛𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐫

63

Mike woke up with his head pounding. He searched his nightstand with his hand before shutting off his alarm clock with a sigh. He then sat up a bit and put his head in his hands before looking around the room that was now his. These past four months were excruciatingly lonely. Mike missed a lot. His friends, certain members of his family, and Will. He missed Will the most, but even though he longed for Will, he couldn't work up the courage to call him. He had made it to the phone on a few separate occasions but put the phone down quicker than when he had picked it up. There were also letters, countless ones, that he couldn't send or even finish because even though he longed for Will, he just couldn't face up to the truth that he couldn't see himself coming back anytime soon.

Even though he missed the feeling of Will, the feeling of being with him, the feeling of his lips, and the once-visited feelings of that night when things went farther than either of them had ever gone, Mike was managing to carry on. He homeschooled himself along with the help of a tutor Stephen had hired, and Stephen had given him a job at one of his record shops. Stephen even gave him a record player for a discount price, and every so often, he'd buy a record with his pay. The one he played the most was the album "Rumours" by Fleetwood Mac, and he played track 2 on side A the most. He would usually sit there, listening to the lyrics and thinking of Will. He thought of Will a lot. Constantly. He wondered how he was doing and wished he could work up the courage to actually talk to him, to call him. Though the only person he had called from Hawkins in the past four months was his sister, and even then that hurt more than he'd care to admit. Still, the only time his thoughts of Will ever left his mind was when they were transferred onto notebook paper, and they never got farther than that.

Mike sighed before getting out of bed and making his way to his closet. He grabbed his work uniform and went to the bathroom, which was very much starting to become his own as well. He brushed his teeth before taking a shower. He then dried his hair, put on his uniform, and pulled his hair back into a ponytail. His hair had grown a bit past his shoulders in the past four months, and that was mainly because his mom usually cut his hair. He looked in the mirror, annoyed at the hair that refused to go back into his ponytail, and was now framing his face. He didn't feel like trying to fix it though, so he left the bathroom, grabbed his work bag, and headed downstairs.

"Hi, kid." Wanda said as he made his way into the kitchen, grabbing an apple and sitting down.

"Morning." Mike responded as Wanda turned to him.

"Did you sleep well?" She asked. Mike nodded as he took a bite of his apple. Wanda was one of the main people he talked to other than Stephen. He had gotten to know a few more people who lived there, but some of them had left to pursue careers and such. Wanda stayed being that she was the closest to Stephen since the passing of Mike's uncle.

"Yeah, did you?" Mike asked. Wanda nodded.

"Oh yeah, Stephen needs you to do another delivery today. He wanted me to tell you." Wanda replied. Mike nodded.

"Boxes in the same place?" Mike asked. Wanda nodded.

"Yeah, and Natalia should be here soon to join you. The company van is up front." Wanda replied. Mike nodded a bit as he continued eating his apple. Natalia was Mike's coworker and was one of the people Mike was gonna miss when he eventually left this place. She reminded him a lot of his sister, snarky but also caring in the way that she was. She was the only person around his age that he had made friends with since he got here, and she was the only person he could talk to about certain personal things because she could understand more. But because Natalia still didn't know of his sexuality, that was something he usually went to Wanda and Stephen about.

"Wanda.. I have a question." Mike said. Wanda nodded.

"Yes?" She responded, taking a bite of the pop-tart she had just gotten from the toaster.