you're my hope ~MILEVEN AU~

vi - the heart-broken boy

Mike felt numb after a few weeks of Jane ignoring him. The anger was still present, like a burning pit inside his stomach that made him snap at the smallest question, and his heart still ached when he thought of her which he had tried to stop doing. It seemed to be no use as he could not stop her from entering his mind every few minutes, her smile or laugh flashing through his mind and causing him to wince.

He noticed how her smile had faded since she had been ignoring him and her shoulders were hunched as if she wanted to hide herself away from the world. He tried to stop staring at her in class but he always noticed the small frown on her face as she stared down at her textbook, her foot tapping the floor impatiently as if she couldn't wait to leave.

If he was anybody else he would have hated himself for still caring about her and noticing those types of things, but Mike knew that there have been some reason why Jane would not stop pushing him away.

One Tuesday evening Mike had been helping Becky close the cafe after the other baristas had left. They settled into a comfortable silence with only the sounds of the mop hitting the floor filling the air, Becky watching Mike closely.

"You okay, sweetheart?" she asked hesitantly as he struggled to clear up a mess on the floor, always nearly slipping on the wet floor and grumbling under his breath.

"Yeah" Mike sighed, wiping his hair back from his forehead. "I just suck at this. I'm hopeless, I don't get why you haven't stopped me volunteering yet."

Becky looked at him with warm eyes. "You're sweet and willing to help, that is enough. But after a few shifts I was contemplating just telling you to go home instead of making a mess."

She was chuckling softly and Mike looked at her with confusion written across his features.

"But then..why?"

She smiled softly at him and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Jane convinced me to let you stay, she promised me she would help you to get better. Practically begged me, she did."

Mike's chest filled with hope and he smiled slightly. "She did?"

"Look, I know that you two got friendly after volunteering together and I don't know why that has changed. But just don't give up because it seemed for a while as if something good could come out of this" Becky ruffled his hair.

"Yeah I thought that too" Mike grumbled under his breath before heaving out a long sigh, resting his chin on the palm of his hand, "but then she told me to leave her alone."

"I'm sure she had her reasons, sweetheart. But don't stay away from her it makes you unhappy" Becky rubbed his shoulder in comfort and then continued to count the cash in the register.

But little did she know that staying away from Jane Hopper was something that was beginning to seem impossible for Mike.

After Jane had told him to stop following her around, Mike had reluctantly given her space in the hopes that it would help her to come back to him. He started to sit with the party again, trying his best to be good company but most of the time he would just sit and stare out of the cafeteria window watching the clouds with a sour face. He wanted to go back in time to a couple of weeks ago where he was sat on the floor in the AV room with Jane softly reading to him, blushing anytime the topic of love came up which caused Mike to grin softly at her.

"Mike, is everything okay?" Will asked one day and all of the party had exchanged looks, even Lucas quiet and ready to listen to what it was that was bothering him.

"Huh?" he turned to them before shaking his head in dismissal, "yeah..uh-everything's fine."

"Come on, Mike" Dustin pleaded gently, scooping up the last of his chocolate pudding. "You've had this face on all week. What's bothering you?"