YOU'RE LOSING ME ; MILEVEN AU

011.

when mike had woken up in his bed, he heard distant footsteps from outside his bedroom.

el and novah had slept in the guest room, el's reasoning being the bed was big enough for her small frame and novah.

he stood from the bed, rubbing his eyes before peeking out to the hall, furrowing his brows at the footsteps before he saw el descending the stairs. 

it was so early, what was she doing up?

he followed her down, trailing behind her before seeing her walk to the kitchen, fetching a glass of water.

staying put and out of sight by the entrance, he watched her take out something from her pocket, hiding it in her palm before bringing it to her mouth.

were those... were those pills?

what was the matter? why didn't she tell me?

he paused, seeing her lean back against the kitchen counter before closing her eyes for a second.

starting to walk, he entered, seeing her unmoving as he walked, making sure his footsteps were heard.

"what are you doing up?" she asked, still with her eyes closed.

his brows furrowed as to how she knew. "i couldn't sleep that well," he lied and she turned to the side and placed a hand to her forehead.

"are you feeling unwell?"

her head shook in denial. "no, i'm okay." she took a deep breath before bringing her head up to look at him. "i was thinking we could take novah out around hawkins. she hasn't been in a while,"

he smiled gently and nodded. "that sounds great, do you want me to wake her?"

"no, it's early, isn't it? it's..." she went to check the time. "oh, it's 7. i'll wake her in a bit.." she turned away from him and dumped the glass in the sink.

"where are we taking her first?"

she paused, shrugging. "we could take her to the cafe... the book store. i'm sure she would love that."

"would you take her to see your—"

"no," she stopped. "not unless novah wants to. they don't even want to see us. there is no point on dwelling on it,"

"but maybe they—"

"they haven't even called or texted in years. i reach out, they reply in one or two sentences. i don't reach out in days and they don't even care. they never once reached out to me instead. why try at all, mike? novah has your parents... they at least care for her. novah can talk to them if she likes but i don't feel comfortable sucking up to people who doesn't care about me, mike. it's horrible. it feels sickening that i have to force a relationship with my own parents."

he looked down before whispering. "you know... they just hate me, right?"

"don't be ridiculous, mike."

"no, el. i'm serious. they never liked me, you think me knocking you up straight after graduation made them like me more?"

"don't say it like that," she whispered. "as if it all was an accident. as if you—"

"don't start on that, el. i would have never left you,"

she covered her face as she started to cry. "then don't say it like that. you knocked me up,"

"no, no." he reached forward to hug her as she cried into his shoulder, body growing weak.

why was she so goddamn sensitive? she hated herself so much.