zentropy | mileven.

²¹⁾ thirteen

( a/n：picture above is my own；this chapter is a flashback to when they were both thirteen and in the seventh grade－ the year they became friends . )

⋆⋆⋆

[MIKE POV.]

❝ won't you let me walk you home from school, won't you let me meet you at the pool, maybe friday I can get tickets for the dance ! ❞

━ CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
˚✧₊⁎FLASHBACK⁎⁺˳✧༚
— four years prior —

⋆⋆⋆

IT WAS strange to be biking alone.

my mom had advised me ever since I was younger that I should always bike to new places— or anywhere for that matter, with friends. but I was thirteen now. I could officially brandish myself off as a teenager, so things had to change.

I decided to explore the outskirts of hawkins, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings of the new gas stations, out of place elementary schools and kindergarten centers they had built right next to the barber shops and nail salons, and the grocery store tucked into the corner of it all. I was about an hour bike ride away from home as I was nearing the very edge of the town, as my own house was placed directly on the other side, but somehow, it didn't matter to me how far away I was anymore. I was a teenager. my own person. the rules had dissolved and morphed into a list of my own liking.

I panted along the sidewalk as I forced my legs to continue pumping and pushing on and on, anxious to see a hill sometime soon so the wind and gravity alike could scoop me in its arms and carry me down without any manual labor, but alas, what lay before me was purely a flat road with no possible means of gravity being any help. muttering to myself in annoyance, I took the bike in my own hands, clambering off of the contraption and pushing it myself in a ninety-degree direction, into the path of the nearby gas station store. I decided that I was merely dehydrated, a perfectly reasonable explanation for my tired limbs to have been worn out so fast.

a bell jingled above my head as I entered the store, my bike parked at its corner near an outdoor bench. once the door had been opened, I could feel a gust of cold air rush toward my body, jolting me to feel instantly more awake and alert. with my long legs that were crowded with growing pains carrying me towards the back corner of the store where the cold beverages were kept, I could hear the cheesy pop music lingering in the air from the muffled speakers that rested on the store's ceiling.

I liked gas station stores. perhaps for the very reason that all they played were music nobody even knew, but that sounded average enough to be something you might've heard on the radio once before. but along with that, I found that its close compactness comforted me. it was a convenience store without the white fluorescent lights and large interior. gas station stores were friendly—familiar, almost.

I took a fresh icy arnie palmers out of the freezer shelves, sticking my hand in my pocket to check my cash and coins that I was sure I had enough of. picturing in my head which coins exactly I had brushed my fingers by by the sizes of them, I predicted I had about one dollar in cash, four quarters, four dimes, and two nickels, which meant I came down to exactly $2.50, just the exact amount I needed.

"nice day for a bike ride, isn't it?" the old woman behind the counter questioned as I handed her all the change in my pockets.
"yeah, it's nice out," I answered her awkwardly as she counted the money I had laid out before her.