strangers. mileven au.

four.

CHAPTER FOUR:
THE OFFICIAL ARRANGEMENTS.
*a few weeks later*

eleanor was an anxious wreck. well... anxious really was an understatement. today was will's birthday, the day right before all his friends would be entering her home.

his birthday unfortunately landed on a thursday this year and the only aspect joyce did not allow of their very well thought out plan was having her children skip school on friday, deaming their education was more important than waiting all day for his friends to arrive. so after a few back and forth conversations with not only each and everyone's parents, the official arrangements ended up as follows:

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THURSDAY:

- will and his family would be able to celebrate on their own. their father happened to get at least one day completely off this week and considering his son's actual birthday was more important than the hawkins kids invading his home, he choose to let joyce deal with that aspect and take thursday off instead.

FRIDAY:

-  eleanor and will would go to school just like any normal day. luckily being their senior year, the siblings happened to have their last two periods off. this left them plenty of time to get home and prepare before the group arrived.

- mike's mother, karen, kindly and surprisingly agreed to letting him drive the group to indianapolis for the weekend. it ended up being the safer choice in the long run. max was the only other person with a car stable enough to get them through the long drive and after many arguments between her and dustin about "if she was in fact capable enough to get them to their destination in one piece", mike finally stepped up to the position. not that he believed the redhead couldn't handle driving them, he just didn't want to witness her kicking and leaving dustin stranded on the side of the road if he continued to insult her.

- the group would leave in the morning, each of their parents not minding them missing school. this allowed the group to arrive in the late afternoon, just in enough time for dinner and any late night activities.

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eleanor was actually very happy with this set up. it gave her the opportunity to spend quality time with her brother on his actual birthday before the chaos began. also the fact that her family would have a day all together for once was just another pro to her terribly long list of cons her mind had made up over the past few weeks. she tried not to let her thoughts ruin her brother's growing excitement, but she just couldn't help it. what if she's nothing like what they expected? what if they are nothing like SHE expected?

before her thoughts could consume her for the thousandth time this week, the final bell rang for her to leave for the day. she gathered her belongings, said goodbye to her few friends in the class and walked outside the front doors to the school to meet will.

"you okay?" her brother questioned as he walked down the steps of the building, meeting her in their designated spot.

"yea... just tired." she responded quietly, but quickly changed her attitude to be more enthusiastic, "how's the birthday boy doing? how does it feel to be an adult?"

"oh please never call me an adult again." he joked at his sister. he unlocked the doors to their small grey honda civic. usually, the pair of siblings would agree to switch off driving since they both shared a car,

however will ended up driving most days. eleanor didn't mind though, she quite enjoyed being the co-polite and designated aux holder. they both settled down into the worn out sets, eleanor plugging in her phone before resting her head on the window... watching the high school slowly fade away from her view.

"are you still nervous about everyone coming over tomorrow? you know, if it makes you that uncomfortable... we can just make up an excuse why you aren't there and you can go stay at your friend's house or something." her brother informed her half way through their trip home.

"i'm not... uncomfortable. it's just... i don't know. everyone seems so excited to meet me. i guess i just don't wanna disappoint anyone." she trailed off, her head still resting against the cold glass.

"you do know that they are coming here for MY birthday... not yours. right?" he sarcastically responded. she rolled her eyes, making him laugh before he continued, "besides, the only person who really is soooo excited to meet you is max. apparently no one else in the party knows how to get a girlfriend besides lucas and no one else has a sister the same age as us. you're pretty much her only chance at getting another girl in the mix."

eleanor giggled at her brother's amusing insults about his friends capability to find love, "wow... you guys really must be sooo horrible to her."

it was his turn to roll his eyes at her, "hey it was HER choice to date lucas. we all just happen to come along with that choice. you date one of us... you have to put up with all of us."

the pair bursted into a fit of giggles as the arrived in the driveway of their humble home. both of them grabbed their belongings before racing inside to experience whatever plans their wonderful parents had arranged for the special evening.

the afternoon consisted of many laughs, cake and quality family time in the hopper household. will had the chance to open the few gifts his family members had still gotten him despite only having his one request. he even got a letter and package from his older brother jonathan, who wanted to come visit this weekend but considering he was studying at NYU, it was difficult for him to arrange the trip so late. will didn't mind though, he knew johnathan would always make it up to him.

the family celebrated until the sun decided to set, everyone enjoying the few hours of alone time before their guests were scheduled to arrive the following day.

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a/n: thanks so much for reading!!!