Chapter Text
Mike paced nervously, glancing once more at his watch; 9:30 on the dot.
On most days at this time he would be just arriving at the cabin, making his way up the steps. More often than not, El would be outside before his feet touched the first step, Hopper watching from the window with a scowl on his face.
The same scowl had been plastered on his face all the way to Mike’s house last night as the chief had barked at him, ordering him to stay away from Eleven:
“I don’t care what you have to say to her,” Hopper’d said. “Tell her you’re sick, tell her you’re going out of town, tell her your dog died, but I don’t want to see your face at the cabin tomorrow.”
The chief had looked at him then, looking for a response. But Mike, still scared from Hopper’s earlier threats, wasn’t a hundred percent sure if he was supposed to speak or not-let alone tell Hopper that he didn’t have a dog.
“Do you understand?” Hopper had asked in his booming voice.
Mike had furiously nodded, before hesitantly asking “Y...you want me to lie to her?” Mike was surprised at this. Hopper knew as well as anyone how serious El took the “friends don’t lie” rule; yet this is what he wanted?
The scowl had returned to Hopper’s face, then, as he looked over at Mike. “Is that going to be a problem?”
From the look in the chief’s eyes, Mike knew that if he said *anything* other than no, his parents may never find his body. “N...no,” he finally said.
“Good,” Hopper replied.
There’d been more demands and orders before they’d arrived on Maple Street, but the gist of it was this: if he wanted to continue to see Eleven, Mike had to stay away for a few days.
So instead of his usual trip to the cabin he was here, wearing a hole in the basement’s carpet as
he walked back and forth, back and forth.
9:31. Any minute now , he thought to himself. He could picture his girlfriend’s face, looking longingly into the woods for him to show up. A wave of guilt flooded his body at having to lie, but what other choice did he have?
You could tell her the truth , he told himself.
Yeah; and get pummeled by Hopper.
Shit , he thought. Maybe I should just go . I mean...Hopper wouldn’t *really* kill me, would he?
Would he?
The phone rang-as Mike knew it would-and he stopped for a second, debating whether to answer or not. He went through his reason (the lie, he reminded himself) for not coming to see her today; his Nana was still sick. He hoped and crossed his fingers it’d work.
The phone rang again, and a moment later his mom called “Mike! Phone!”
“Okay,” he called back. He slowly made his way to the phone and, taking a deep breath, took it off it’s cradle.“Hello?”
“It’s nine thirty-two,” El spoke, sounding worried. “Where are you?”
“Sorry, I wa..I was just about to call. I, um...can’t see you today.”
“Why not?”
“It’s my Nana,” he answered, his thoughts going back to last night. “She’s very sick.”
“But...Hop said that your Nana was okay, that it was a false alarm.”
Shit , he mouthed to himself. It’s bad enough Hopper’s making me lie to her, but he’s taking away my excuse? His mind quickly scrambled to fix this. “Yeah!” He said after a brief pause. “That’s...what...we thought it was at first. But then she took a real turn for the worst.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. We think she might...die.”
“ What? ” came his mother’s surprised voice.
No!! He thought. Covering the receiver, he yelled “Mom, get off the phone! How many times!”
“Did Nana call?” his mother yelled back.
“No, mom! Just GET...OFF...THE... PHONE! ”
There was a pause before ultimately, his mother hung up. How am I going to get through this? he wondered. Composing himself, he said,“Sorry about that” into the phone.
“Was that your mom?” El asked.
“Yeah! She’s so upset she’s making no sense; ‘cuz we have to go to the nursing home...to see Nana.”
“You can come over after?”
“No! I mean...I just think...I need to be alone today...with my...feelings?”
“Do you lie?” she asked in an accusatory tone.
“What? No! Friends don’t lie!” Scrambling for a reason to get off the phone, he continued with, “What, mom?” To El, he quickly said “My mom’s calling me. Better go. Talk to you tomorrow. Miss you already. Love you! Bye!”
Slamming the phone down, he rested his head against it. He couldn’t believe he’d just lied to El. And that he had lied about lying.
It was all Hopper’s fault, he told himself. If the chief wasn’t so crazy and overprotective, this whole thing wouldn’t be happening in the first place. Now he’d just lied to the person he cared about the most, the girl he loved...
Wait...
Had he just told El he loved her??!!
Nonononono, he thought to himself. Rewinding the end of the phone call in his mind, his eyes widened at the small slip-of-the-tongue.
Yes , he loved El-he had, he figured, for some time now-but he wasn’t supposed to tell her like this. It was supposed to happen in person, alone in a romantic setting-not when he was lying to her about Nana and his mom could’ve been listening in. Not when he was just rambling to get off the phone. Yes, he’d been thinking about it for some time now, but it wasn’t supposed to go like this!
Maybe she didn’t hear it, he rationalized. He did say it fast and there was a chance he’d hung up before she even heard it, so...
Less than a foot away from where he paced, the phone started ringing again.
Mike freaked, looking at the phone as if it were a demogorgon, ready to attack. What should I do? He knew it had to be El.
Not knowing how else to react, he quickly picked up the receiver, then slammed it back into its cradle, effectively hanging up.
Oh shit...oh shit… he thought to himself. Half of Mike felt guilty and the other half was panicking because he’d just accidentally told his girlfriend “love you.”
A knock on the basement door snapped him out of it, and it slowly dawned on him that he’d agreed to play Dungeons & Dragons with his friends today. Making his way to the door, he pulled it open to see Will and Lucas there. Both of their faces went from smiles to confusion when they saw Mike’s face.
“What’s going on?” Lucas asked.
“Code red,” Mike answered, going back into the basement.
Lucas and Will exchanged glances before following their friend inside.