Writing On The Desk | MILEVEN AU

| face to face |

When Jane heard a knock on her door, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion due to their usual lack of visitors. It was the following weekend and she had been staying home from school, convincing her father that she had the flu, when in reality she just couldn't face going in. When she saw who was on the other side of their small cabin-like house, she felt her breath hitch and her face fell automatically. 

"Hi" Mike mumbled. 

Jane let out a shaky breath. "Hi...I'm guessing we need to talk?"

"I would say so" he sent her a pointed look, his eyes scanning her small house as they stepped inside. He smiled lightly at the cozy interior and baby photos on the wall, forgetting for a moment that the chief that never smiled had a daughter, pictures of them both pulling silly faces filling the living room. Jane sat down on the sofa nervously, watching Mike look around with curious eyes as if he was trying to find out more about her. "I almost forgot your father is the chief..." he mumbled lightly, biting his lip as he glanced at her. 

Jane smiled lightly. "He's like a teddy bear with me."

They sat in silence for a while, both finding it so hard to talk in real life, like they no longer knew who they were talking to. As they sat face to face, it almost seemed like they were strangers despite how much they knew about each other. Jane glanced at Mike's face and sighed in relief at how he was watching her too, his gaze not filled with the anger that she expected. There was a hint of understanding and a lot of curiosity, as if he just wanted to understand instead of yelling at her for being a coward. His gaze moved over to a picture on the table beside them, a woman laughing with a small girl in her arms, Jane's curls still noticeable at such a young age. 

"I-Is that your mom?" he asked gently. 

She glanced at the picture. "Yeah."

"Is that why you were so scared to tell me who you were?" Mike questioned in a small voice, watching her chin start to wobble. 

Jane shrugged. "Nobody would like the girl who cried in class..."

Mike thought back to the rumors that he heard last year, about the girl who burst into tears. He knew that it was Jane Hopper, the chief's daughter and although nobody knew why she was crying all of a sudden in their science class, Mike felt angry at the words he overheard. He nudged his friends and told them to be respectful when they gave her weird looks in the hallway, knowing that she may have had her reasons for being so upset. Thinking back to how everyone treated her, he squeezed his eyes shut in understanding. 

He nudged his hand against hers on the cushion.

 "I never thought that...okay? I remember when it happened..." he let out a small breath. "I hated how people talked about you like you were some kind of freak. I just want you to know that I never spoke about you like that, and I would never think badly of you. I-I can't imagine what it must have been like."

Jane looked down at their hands, how their skin brushed, hers so much paler and coated in small freckles like his cheeks and nose. Neither of them had the courage to interlock their fingers, their hands side by side as if waiting for some sort of signal that it would be okay. Jane let out a shaky breath and let her fingers graze his more firmly, seeing his gaze lock onto hers nervously as she let her fingers fall into the gaps of his. Holding his hand made everything seem so real, his skin so warm and pale that it made her bite her lip, butterflies swarming into her stomach as if they were trapped in a never-ending circle. 

"I'm sorry I ran away" she whispered. 

Mike sighed. "Did you know it was me all along?"

Jane's voice was small. "I saw you waiting for me on Halloween. I-I knew that it was you and I just got freaked out. You...you're so good, Mike. I have always watched you and known what a good person you are and I didn't think-"

"El" Mike interrupted firmly. "Don't say that, please."

They sat in silence for a while, their eyes not moving from each others faces. Dark brown met caramel, like warm milk being poured into black coffee as it turns to amber, and it was the start of something so beautiful. Jane started to count every freckle, every mark on his face and down the slope of his nose as he did the same, as if they were trying to make up for the lost time of never meeting face to face. 

There was an undeniable pull between them, their faces melting closer and closer together as if they had never been apart. It was innocent at first, as if they wanted to look closer into each other's eyes, before their gazes flickered down. It was like gravity did the work, electricity forcing their lips to meet like magnets, until it felt like everything burst into flames. Jane let out the softest noise which made Mike smile, tightening his hold on her hands as if trying to anchor himself. It felt like he was floating in mid air, no gravity or bullshit keeping down on earth, as if they were so lost in the moment that they had flew out of her house to the middle of the galaxy. She tilted her head, letting her other hand rest on his sweater-covered chest, pulling away with a small gasp to breathe. Mike did not let her go for long, allowing a small gasp before he pulled her into another firm kiss, wrapping his hand around her waist to keep her near to him, as if he never wanted to be apart from her again.

When they finally pulled away, they noticed how little talking they had done since meeting, too distracted by the joy of finally seeing each other's faces somewhere other than in her their imaginations. Mike closed his eyes, resting his forehead against hers as she let out a small giggle, him grinning in return. 

"We aren't very good at talking in person...are we?" he laughed. 

Jane smiled sheepishly. "No."

Mike pulled away and looked at her with such adoration that her heart skipped a beat. He tucked a curl behind her ear, poking her nose fondly. "Maybe we need more practice? I really want to talk to you more...face to face" he admitted in a breathy tone. 

She grinned back at him. "Face to face it is."

They spent the rest of the day talking about anything and everything, their bond growing even stronger now that they were physically together. The entire weekend was filled with smiles, laughs and kisses as they looked deep into each other's eyes, feeling like they had so much time to catch up on. The chief was confused when he saw his daughters face when he got home, filled with such wonder and such a love-struck expression that he thanked whoever it was for bringing more happiness into her dark days. That Monday morning, they went hand in hand to the desk and wiped it clean together, smiling whenever they sat down in class, remembering all of the conversations that they used to have. They had fallen in love through simple and short conversations, not even needing to meet  before their bond had solidified, nothing strong enough to tear them apart. 

And to think, it all started with the writing on the desk. 

THE END

xxx

Well, it is finished! Hope you guys liked how it ended and enjoyed the story as a whole as I am love with it! It was so fun to write and such a sweet idea, that I could not stop writing it :) Please leave a comment, let me know if you want a bonus chapter?? And what you would want in it perhaps, we all know I love bonus chapters<3

~Jodie