Tell Me Something Good

012

Eleven walks one foot in front of the other. She stands tip toed on a line of Mikes socks he's laid out on the floor. She holds her arms out, trying to balance. Mike narrates her every move, nearly down to her shaking.

"She's not even half way there yet, folks...OHHHH LOOK AT THAT SHES GONNA FALL AAAAAAAND she catches herself." They pretend as if Eleven is at a circus, walking across a tight rope. She wiggles, and suddenly jerks to the side as she looses her balance. She isn't going to fall anywhere, she just likes the challenge of staying on the line of socks. Right before she makes the end of the line, Mike is interrupted.

"The beautiful, magnificent, and talented Eleven has finished crossing the—" Nancy barges in.

"Shows over you two, mom is home!" Eleven and Mike glance at each other. Eleven dashes out of the room and Mike closes the door behind her. She scurries down the stairs and her socks create friction on her feet. She barrels onto the couch and pretends to be asleep. Karen walks through the door, making quite a scene. She holds many paper bags filled to the brim with groceries and such. She throws all of them on the counter and begins to unload the bags. This sparks an idea in Eleven. The rises from the couch and carefully makes her was to Karen. Karen stops and gives Eleven a small smile when she sees her.

"Do you need help?" Eleven asked quietly. Karen cocks her head to the side and nods.

"Sure, start with these bags" she points to the three bags in front of Eleven. She takes several items out of the bags and just stares at them in her hands. She has no idea where these go. She shoves them all into one cabinet...including the ice cream. She puts several bags of chips in the fridge, and cans of soup in the oven. But, she knew where the Eggos went, in the freezer. Karen thanked her for helping, not noticing the extreme mistakes Eleven had made. She sat back in the living room and bit her fingers.

Karen called Mike down for dinner, and she still sounded mad at him. She made Mike and Eleven sit across from each other instead of next to each other. As an alternative, Karen sat next to Eleven, watching her every move. Eleven was scared to even look at Mike. She felt his mothers eyes burning into the side of her head. Even though they sat across from Each other, their legs tangled together under the table, where no one could see. Eleven was getting frustrated with Karen a little bit, and so was everyone else. Even Nancy understood that things were going too far. Eleven decided she was going to have a little fun. She leaned over her plate of food and right as she put a spoonful of peas in her mouth, she moved her head ever ale slightly and the gallon of ice cream fell out of the cabinet. The now melted mess landed all over the stove and floor. Karen rushed up and gawked at the complete mess.

"I'm sorry," Eleven said sincerely, "I put it in the wrong place didn't I?" She looked like she was going to cry, but Mike knew it was all phony.

"No, sweetie. It's alright." Karen went over to the sing to wet some paper towels. At this point, Mike and Nancy were aware of Elevens intentions. Elevens fists clenched as Karen turned on the faucet. The water rushed out of the tap, intense enough to break something. Karen screamed at water shot at her. It stopped and she looked at the table of now laughing children. Mike gave Eleven a wink and she blushed back.

"We must be having some water pressure issues."

_________

Eleven lays on her side, wide awake. Her eyes are foggy and sore from the day she had. Her blanket covers her chilly toes, that she wiggles to try to get warm. She needs Mike right now, he would warm her up. Just as she thinks about him, the basement door is being opened. She pulls her arms to her chest to seem smaller. Mike yawns and smiles are her poorly lit face. Only the moonlight shines through the door in the basement. Without question, he makes his way over to Eleven and gets under the covers. She basically straddles his side, in attempt to be as close as possible.

"I thought you were in trouble?" She asks, barely above a whisper. Mike groans.

"Screw that." He leans forward and kisses her softly on the lips. She nuzzles her head forward to get leverage on him. Mikes hand goes a little too far down passed her lower back, and Eleven stops. She felt a bit uncomfortable with this kind of contact. Mike immediately removed his hand as soon as he realizes she's distressed.

"El, I'm so sorry..." Mike becomes embarrassed and there's a painful silence before either of them say anything. He can hear Eleven breathing and its shaky; like she had just ran.

"That...reminded me of something." Mike feels his heart drop to his stomach. He realized she never even told him what happened to her at Hawkins. Mike turns to face her. Her face is wet and so are her eyes.

"Eleven, you can talk to me. Whenever you want, I'll listen." Eleven smiled shyly.

"Ill tell you tomorrow, I'm tired now." She says this in a raspy, weak voice.

"Okay, well , goodnight El."

"Goodnight Mike." Mike turns and his back is away from her on the couch. He knows she wants space, but she also doesn't want him to leave. It's quiet for a while, the only sound is the wind slapping the house and the faint chirps of crickets outside the door.

"...Mike?"

"Yea?"

"I feel like I can tell you anything. And you won't make fun of me or be mad. Is that love?"

" kinda."

"Then what is it?" Mike turns himself to cuddle Eleven once more. She doesn't put up a fight or push him away. In Fact, she cuddles right up to him again.

"Trust."