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*
that evening when mike got home he instantly knew something was up. his mom was being way to nice to him and she wasn't drunk. his dad wasn't home and neither was holly. it was just too weird.
he went up to his room and debated on calling el, then he remembered she was probably hanging out with dustin. he couldn't blame her though, he had practically ditched her so wouldn't it be fair if she ditched him?
he sighed thinking about it, how could he just abandon his best friend for a girl. someone that he would probably break up with anyway, it's not like el was going to leave his side anytime soon. he didn't know why he had gone out with meagan in the first place, she was just so complicated she made him want to scream. she never left him alone either! they had to do everything together, it was aggravating.
And to make matters worse, he hadn't spoken to his best friend in what seemed like days. And he missed her, he missed how they would just talk about nothing for hours, or laugh about the dumbest things. He missed how caring she was, he just missed her.
"Mike! Dinner!" His mother called down from the kitchen. Dinner? When did she ever do that? Mike always ate at el's or went out and got food by himself. He ignored his thoughts and went to figure out what all of this was about. He went down the stairs and furrowed his eyebrows when his mom and dad were sitting at the kitchen table. "Dad? When did you get home?" He asked, "just about 10 minutes ago, sit down son. We have to talk about something."
Mike sat down and looked at the table, a full meal was spread out across the wooden table. "What all this for?" He asked, "well," Karen cleared her throat, "we need to tell you something. With you being at el's and practically living at her house, you might not have noticed your father and i- um... fighting, a lot." She started, mike wanted to say oh i've noticed but he stayed quiet and simply nodded. "well we decided to file a divorce."
His eyes widened, divorce? Of course he knew his parents fought a lot but he just thought it was because they were constantly drunk. He never knew it would get to the point of divorce. "Mike did you hear me?" He heard someone say, he didn't know who it was, his mind was blank. He slowly got up and headed for the door, he didn't care about his parents calling after him he just needed space.
*
"Wait let me get this straight, you like mike?" Dustin asked, el nodded keeping her head down. "But your-"
"His best friend, i know. I know I shouldn't but just seeing him with Meagan makes me want to seriously cry. he just seems so miserable with her and i always get this feeling that i could give him better. you know?"
"i mean i don't know.. would you ever tell him?" dustin asked, "i can't keep it a secret forever. but i just can't tell him now, not when he's dating her."
she sighed and fell back on her bed, "i hate feeling like this."
dustin stayed quiet, not knowing what to say. dustin looked at his watch seeing it was time for him to go, "well ellie, i better go. it's supposed to storm out tonight, rather not get caught in that."
"okay dusty, thanks for listening to me complain." she sat up and gave him a hug, "anytime. see you tomorrow?" she nodded and dustin left her room.
almost ten minutes after he left it started pouring, thunder cracking loudly. el shuddered, she had always hated storms. she closed her shades and grabbed one of mike's comics that she had stolen and began reading.
it was just el home since hopper had to do something at the station, it was weird when she heard the front door open. she quickly turned off her light and hid under her covers. her door opened slowly, making a creek. a tall figure stood in her doorway, she turned her light on.
"mike? what are you doing here?" she asked, getting out of her bed. he was soaking wet from the storm, he was sniffling and his eyes were red. el frowned and took him into the bathroom where she handed him a towel. because mike had spent multiple nights at her house she always had a pair of his clothes just in case. she went to retrieve the clothes and came back to the bathroom. "what happened?" she asked, he shook his head not able to find the words. there were so many things wrong in that moment he just didn't want to talk about it.
"well um how about you get changed, i can make some hot chocolate?" he nodded slowly and she left the bathroom. he changed his clothes quickly and dried his hair, then he made his way to the kitchen where el was making the hot chocolate. she went to grab some blankets from her room while the water was boiling and put them on the couch for him.
when the cocoa was ready she poured it in two mugs and sat down on the couch with him. "do you want to talk about it?" she asked softly, "no." his voice was just above a whisper, they drank their hot chocolate quietly and el took their mugs when they finished. "do you want to lay down?" she asked, he shrugged but got up and walked to her room. el picked up the blankets and carried them back to her room. mike sat on the edge of her bed, his face blank. el sat next to him awkwardly. "i'm sorry." he said quietly, el turned to face him and furrowed her eyebrows. "why?"
"i-i'm sorry for ignoring you, and just everything."
"mike it's okay-"
"no it's not! because i ignored you and you started hanging out with dustin, and i understand if you don't want me to be your best friend anymore, he can take my spot." el started laughing, "mike he isn't replacing you, i just wanted someone to hang out with. but surely that's not the reason you came here, right?" she asked raising an eyebrow, mike chuckled, "you know me too well."
"well, what is it?"
"my parents.. their getting a divorce." he said looking at el, "oh... mike i'm so sorry.."
"it's just, i never thought it would get to that point.. i thought they were just being drunk and stupid. and what about holly? what are they gonna do with her?!" mike pulled at the hair on his head, "how are they going to tell her? she won't know what that means, so explaining it to her is just going to make it worse!"
el frowned at her best friend, she was never the best with her words so instead she scooted closer to him and wrapped her arms around him. he sighed into the hug and hugged her back. "you can stay here as long as you need to, you know that right?"
"thanks." he mumbled, "that's what best friends are for. let's try and get some sleep, okay?"
"your such a mom." he smiled, "shut up." she giggled as she climbed back into her bed and scooted over for him to lay next to her. mike got under the covers next to her, el snuggled up next to him. even if that wasn't a normal thing for friends to do mike and el always cuddled, it's what they always did so it wasn't weird for them to do it now. and el could care less about meagan, or anyone. she was just happy he was here right now.
authors note:
that chapter was so awkward 😳
also thank you everyone for the support on this book! it means so much to me 🥰
