as hopper walked out of the large gym, he waved to joyce, who smiled back and started driving off with will. he looked down at his daughter, el, who walked beside him, smiling, her face slightly red. hopper knew exactly why, but he didn't ask a question.
but, as they drove away from hawkins middle school, hopper couldn't help himself, and he looked down at el, or, jane, smiling widely. "who kissed first?"
jane shot right up out of her seat, her face blushing so red that he could see it in the dimly lit car. she just sat there and stared at her father, still blushing like a tomato until hopper laughed, shaking his head.
"it's okay, el," he smiled. "make sure he treats you right."
there was a long silence until they pulled into the driveway of their house, stepping out of the car as they smiled at eachother, hopper opening the door for el to get inside out of the cold air of hawkins.
when she got inside, she turned the lights on, putting her small bag down and walked to her room, hopper ruffling her hair. "night, kid," he said. she smiled back, and walked into her pale room. the walls were white, but the bed had baby blue sheets, blankets and pillows, along with a few shelves filled with old files about her mother and a few 'mixtapes' that jonathan byers had made for her.
she looked in the small mirror on the wall, pulling her dress off and just grabbed an oversized shirt to throw over her, taking the blue headband out of her hair and got into bed, thinking about michael wheelers as her eyes refused to stay open. she laid her head on a soft feather pillow, hugging the blanket to her, tightly.
"mike," jane said, gently, to no one in particular, thinking about a question that the brown haired boy asked after he kissed her. "boyfriend." she wondered at the word, repeating it a few times, even spelling it out. she sat up in her small bed, reaching to grab the dictionary above her bed on the shelves, flicking through a few pages.
"boyfriend," she said, and found the 'b' section, quickly locating 'boyfriend' and she looked at the meaning, her cheeks slightly turning red as she read it aloud.
"boyfriend, noun," she started.
"a person's regular male companion with whom they have a romantic or sexual relationship."
she tilted her head, and looked up the word 'romantic' as she slipped a small strip of paper into the page she looked at before. she couldn't find the world romantic, but found the word 'romance' which triggered her interest more.
"romance, noun," she read aloud again, in a soft whisper so hopper couldn't hear.
"a feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love."
she blushed more, putting another piece of paper into the pages, as she flicked through the pages to find 'love'
"love, noun," she said a tiny bit louder.
"a strong feeling of affection."
the last thing she looked up before she put the dictionary away was 'affection'
"affection," she started.
"a gentle feeling of fondness or liking."
she put another piece of paper into the book, and closed the dictionary, giggling to herself as she put it away.
"i love mike," she said, gently. "and, mike loves me."
she laid back down, and as she slowly fell asleep, she had a small smile on her face, as she released her grip on her blanket and pillow, drifting away into a dream land fill of happiness for once.
