The next day, Mike has still refused to leave the apartment. Any of Owens' lab rats could be searching the city for him and there no way in hell that he will get sent back there again. Not when El is entered back into his life, even if it's just gradually.
Mike has enjoyed staying with Lucas, he's quite possibly the best roommate and friend ever. His side is slowly recovering from the pain he endured as well as the other cuts and bruises along his body. He can feel his ribs slightly healing up, despite just relying on pain killers and ice packs. Even though he is still having trouble remembering things, it doesn't stop Lucas from being anything but kind to the raven head. He's so patient it's unbelievable.
He's probably one of the only good things that have happened to Mike since he's come out of the Simulation. The other being El, of course.
Speaking of which, Dustin is supposed to be coming over again today. Mike isn't sure if El will be coming with him, but he sure hopes she is. It's like she and Dustin are glued to each other, so that's why he wouldn't be surprised if she came with him.
He finds it a little odd how close they are. Yeah, sure, they're best friends but it's like El revolves around him. Orbiting around him like she's the moon to his Earth. Which leads him to think that there is something that they are hiding. He's confirmed it the more he thought about them. From their small talk yesterday and her and Dustin's behavior around each other.
Life has been nothing but a mystery since Mike has returned, and a lot has changed since he's been gone. A lot more than he could possibly think of.
The day passes by slowly, from the minute Mike wakes up to the time there's a knock at the door. He's still terrified of who is behind the door, even though it's just Dustin. His paranoia-clouded mind is playing tricks and making unnecessary scenarios for him to imagine the men from the lab hunting him down and dragging him back to the lab.
Lucas noticed the fear that's behind Mike's eyes and quickly goes to answer the door. The boy is slightly disappointed when he sees that El is not trailing after the curly-haired boy like she was the day before. He's only upset for Mike's sake, it was clear how much Mike enjoyed having her over. Just seeing her and talking to her again visibly eased his nerves, which made Lucas happy.
When Dustin enters the main area of the apartment Mike frowns when El does not walk out after him. He sighs and just considers going back to his room to sleep, after all, he's still exhausted from his many restless nights.
"Hey, Mike! How's it goin?" Dustin asks with a welcoming grin.
"Fine." He mutters lowly. Dustin notices that he doesn't seem too thrilled to see anyone today, so he decided to leave it be.
"Where's El?" Lucas asks for Mike, glancing at him out of the corner of his eye only to see that Mike is now sitting up straighter, paging more attention.
"Oh, she had therapy today. She is really sorry she couldn't come today, I know she wanted to. She's just been overwhelmed lately and I figured it would be good for her to go today." Dustin explains nonchalantly, although Mike quickly furrows his eyebrows at the mention of therapy. What the hell did she need that for?
"Why is she in therapy?" Mike blurted out, he knows it's rude to ask such a question but he couldn't bring himself to ask her himself.
"Oh. She just had a rough patch in her life a while back so she goes to therapy a few times a week." He said, his description was vague.
"Is she alright?" Mike questions, wanting to know as much as possible without seeming suspicious.
"Yeah, yeah. She's okay. She just needs to deal with everything going on in her head and talk about it with someone. Especially after seeing you, Mike, she almost lost it." As soon as the last sentence escapes Dustin's mouth carelessly, he slaps his hand across his mouth when he realized what he said. He swears that tongue is going to be the death of him.
