bathroom stalls » mileven

deux

"mike," el whispered, "now?"

"one second," mike distractedly replied. he walked to mr. clarke, handing in his paper.

"thank you, mike."

"it was a hard quiz," mike admitted, nervously tapping his foot.

"i'm sure you did good as always," mr. clarke reassured mike.

"i studied well, so i feel like i did somewhat good."

"that's the spirit."

"um, elizabeth needs to go to the restroom, can i take her? since she's new?" elizabeth was el's code name. eleanor would be confusing especially since they weren't exactly cousins.

"el? the bell is just about to ring, so could you wait another minute?" mr. clarke answered, beginning to correct the quizzes. mike and el nodded. "okay, class, there's no homework, good job preparing for this quiz and have a happy friday and weekend!" mr. clarke announced as the bell rang. students shuffled out of the classroom.

el excitedly tugged on mike's hand as they made their way to the bathroom. it was located in the math-language building on the second floor. they ran out of the science wing and made their way into the language building. they opened the door to the stairs and started walking up. reaching the second floor, el noticed that it was empty. there were no students on that floor.

"empty," she said.

"yeah, i guess everyone is outside." el pushed the door open, and they entered the bathroom. "i'll give you a book of quotes, and you can decide which ones you like," mike said as he took a small notebook out of his backpack.

el flipped through it, slowly reading them. she couldn't read particularly big words, but she could read basic sentences. she decided on a quote and carefully wrote it down.

"we're just strangers with memories," mike whispered, reading it aloud.

"perfect strangers," el continued in a fluttery voice. "untouched memories."

"when did you learn those words?" mike asked as the lights turned off. el worriedly looked around, whispering her concern. he waved his hand, and the lights came on again.

"speech therapy," el simply said, twirling her pen around her fingers.

"you're getting better at this, at talking." el shrugged, happily looking at her quote. "well, everyone is like- are like strangers with memories. i guess, when people like break up or stop being friends, they become strangers with memories."

"it's memories that count," el smiled fondly. mike's cheeks flushed red as he caught onto her hidden message. she meant their kiss.

he vividly remembered it. the room was cold, and they were both slightly shivering. pale moonlight filtered in through a window and cast long shadows on the tiled floor. it was eerily quiet aside from their voices. he remembered how awkward it was to lean in and kiss her, the feeling of her against him, the sensation of lips against lips. it was weird but in a good way.

"mike," el whispered, shyly reaching up to touch her blonde hair. el and himself had decided it would be in her interest to continue wearing a wig until her hair grew out. it would be the best way to disguise and help her look normal. el's hair was still short, but it was slowly growing out.

"yeah?" mike softly asked.

"will you do it again?"

mike blushed and leaned in, pressing his lips against hers. they were getting better at kissing. one time his teeth had hit hers, and it was awkward and painful. another time, she had accidentally missed his lips and planted hers on his chin. it was still funny to this day.

el pulled away first, placing a second kiss beside his mouth. "i'll see you later, mike," she said, running out of the bathroom. she left him standing dazed with a stupidly happy smile that would be plastered to his lips for the rest of the day.

mike tentatively wrote his quote on one of the stall walls and walked out of the bathroom. he didn't know why he wrote it in a different stall. but he loved el. he loved her beyond comprehension. mike didn't know if it was blind love or true love. all he knew was that he was happy at the moment.

"when I saw you, flowers started to grow in the darkest parts of my mind."