𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐈𝐓 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆

1-telephone

Hopper was used to it by now. The frequent giggles and sighs coming from El's room most nights, followed by her shy chatter. He sometimes wished he could listen in on their calls, just to see what was so funny. But of course, the Hopper household only had one phone, and the cord of it was stretched all the way from the kitchen into El's room, the door locked and sealed tightly.

He cursed at himself for buying a phone with such a long cord, his original reason for buying it being so that he could sit on the couch while he spoke on the phone.

But here he sat, the TV off and the house dimly lit, as the sounds of his teenage daughter talking to her boyfriend bounced off the inside of the door and vibrated into the living room.

He wanted to go in there and stop her, to take the phone out of her hands and put it back on the wall. But frankly, he didn't have one reason at why he should besides the fact that he was bored of her talking to Mike all the time.

He sighed, getting up from the couch and knocking on her bedroom door, which was met by her voice abruptly stopping mid sentence. There was some shuffling from the other side of the door before it opened, El in front of Hopper and the phone on the bed. He pointed to the phone briefly, not really making eye contact.

"Can we hang this up now?" He said gruffly, getting the saddest look he had seen on her face in a while as a response. She moved the door a little as she stomped her foot lightly on the floor, since her hand was still on the doorknob.

"What!? Why?" she whined, looking back at the phone quickly before giving Hopper her classic puppy eyes that she tended to use a little too often around the house.

"It's been hours kid. Puppy eyes aren't working this time, its 10 pm come on you gotta get to bed." He said, the words coming out of his mouth smoothly as he gestured to the phone once more, before walking away from the door.

"I gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow. bye." She said sadly before walking to the kitchen to hang up the phone with a grunt. She didn't face Hopper, instead she left her eyes glued on the wall in front of her, the phone cord lightly swaying and tapping the wall.

"Don't act so pissed kid, there's still a whole week until school starts up. You'll see Wheeler tomorrow." He said, patting her on the shoulder as he walked over to the couch, sitting down and making the couch creak.

She grunted once more, before walking back into her bedroom and closing the door lightly, turning and sitting on her bed with a thud. She sat quietly for a moment, hearing the crickets through her open window, letting the woods into her room.

She laid on her back, thinking of Mike. What was he doing right now? Probably sleeping, or watching TV. But little did she know he was doing the opposite of sleep...