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The clock on the dash read 9:07 when the Surfer Boy van swerved into the motel parking lot, the vehicle itself and its occupants running on fumes. It’d been a day since the group had commandeered the pizza restaurant in Nevada and here they were, one day later, pulling into the parking lot of the King’s Inn Motel in Glenrock, Nebraska.
Jonathan-currently the driver, and the only one awake-pulled into a parking spot, and turned off the engine. He looked around him at the sleeping occupants: Argyle, his head against the window, snoring. Will, arms folded, fast asleep in the back seat. Next to him was El, one arm wrapped around Mike’s as she slept on his shoulder. Mike himself had his head back, snoring softly. A small part of Jonathan didn’t want to wake them; the last few days had been draining, and everyone deserved a good rest. Then again, he thought, a hotel bed would probably be more comfortable than the van.
“We’re here,” he spoke, loud enough to pull everyone from their slumber. Argyle awoke with a start, taking a moment to look around them; Will woke with a yawn, rubbing his face as he did. Eleven slowly sat up, looking through the window; Mike awoke with a stretch, his long arms brushing the roof as he did. “Where are we?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Jonathan answered. “Somewhere in Nebraska.”
“Dorothy and Toto,” Argyle stated, nodding his head.
“What?” Jonathan asked.
“Wizard of Oz, man,” Argyle explained. “Yellow Brick Road? Wicked Witch of the West?”
“That’s Kansas,” Mike corrected.
“Oh.”
“We’re going to stay here for the night,” Jonathan continued, pocketing the keys. Looking at his friend, he said, “Come on, let’s go check-in.”
Taking off his visor, Argyle climbed out of the van. “Be right back, brochachos.”
The two older teens walked off while Will, Mike, and El took a moment to gather their senses and rub the sleep out of their eyes.
“I need to stretch my legs,” Will said. Yanking open the door he got out, followed after a moment by Mike; El took a seat on the floor of the van, legs dangling outside. The three teens looked around at their surroundings, taking in the starry night. The motel wasn’t anything fancy; just a one-story building that could use a paint job. The boys spied a pool on the far side of the motel, but besides that, there wasn’t anything special about the place.
“Do you think we’ll get to Hawkins tomorrow?” Mike asked.
“I don’t know,” Will answered. “Probably.” Stretching his arms, he said, “It’s going to be good, seeing everyone again. Just wish it was under better circumstances.”
“Yeah,” Mike agreed. “I’m just glad they’re okay, you know?” Turning to his left, he looked at his girlfriend. “El? You alright?” he asked softly.
“Yes,” she said quietly. “Just…tired.”
Mike nodded. Despite the nap in the car, he knew they were all tired. The past twenty-four hours had been busy; once they’d scrambled out of the Nevada Surfer Boy restaurant when Argyle 2.0 had returned, it’d been a day of driving, snacking, and resting. And Mike knew that they could all use a break out of the van that at this point smelled too much like a bad combination of pizza and body odor.
El, he knew, had to be the most tired. Yes, her battle in Max’s “piggyback” had happened a day ago, and he knew how she could be drained after using her powers. But this had been different. “One” was nearly her equal, and from what he’d observed while she had fought, it’d taken a lot out of her. So he couldn’t blame her for being tired; or quieter, even.
Ever since she’d woken up from helping their friends in Hawkins, she’d been mostly silent and withdrawn, sleeping off and on since they’d left Nevada. Mike had tried to give her space-he knew she’d struggled in her fight-but he was also curious as to what exactly had happened in there. El had told them that “One” had been defeated, and that Max was okay; that was pretty much all she’d said since Nevada. But Mike felt she was keeping something from them.
Of course, he also wanted to know if she’d heard him ( finally ) say he loved her. The pain he’d seen on her face when she’d been in the Void had left soon after he’d given his speech. Had she heard him? Had it made a difference?
He was about to say something to her when he saw Jonathan and Argyle approaching them. “We got rooms,” Argyle said, as Jonathan held up two sets of keys.
“Two rooms?” Will asked.
“Yeah. Argyle and me’ll take one, and you three can take the other,” Jonathan answered, giving one of the keys to his brother. “I didn’t want all of us sleeping on top of each other, you know?”
The younger teens shrugged in agreement, as Mike helped El pull herself out of the van.
Thankfully, the two rooms were next to each other, and after making sure they had everything they needed, the groups separated to their rooms.
As Will opened the door to their room, two thoughts came to Mike’s mind. The first was that he’d seen better motel rooms than this. He hadn’t expected much-and to be honest, it wasn’t terrible -but housekeeping could’ve probably spent another five minutes running a vacuum through the place.
The second thought was that he didn’t know if he’d ever been so happy to see a bed. After so many days of getting what sleep he could in the back of Argyle’s van, the sight of a real-life bed had never looked so inviting.
As El made a beeline to the bathroom, Will sat on one bed while Mike made his way to the other, flopping onto his back. “I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been happier to see a motel room bed,” Mike told his friend, getting a chuckle.
“I know, right? I’m just glad we didn’t keep driving all night, my neck was starting to cramp up.”
As Mike exhaled, enjoying the feel of the mattress beneath him, the bathroom door opened and El came out. Sighing, she lay next to Mike, using his stomach as a pillow.
Will stood up. “Are you two going to sleep on that bed?”
Mike’s eyes opened; he hadn’t thought about the sleeping arrangements. Two beds and three of them.
“I…” Will began.
“I’ll sleep on the floor,” Mike said reluctantly; he’d been looking forward to the bed, but figured he’d bite the bullet.
“Are you sure?” Will asked. “I mean, I can…”
“No, it’s okay,” Mike answered.
Will nodded. “I’m gonna go take a shower.”
“Yeah, man, you smell ,” Mike joked. Will kicked him as he walked past him to the bathroom.
Mike and El lay there for a moment, both taking a minute to just be with one another again. Mike finally decided to break the silence after a few minutes.
“El?”
“Yes?” she asked, sounding tired.
“Is everything okay?”
She let out a breath before answering, nodding her head. “Yes.”
“You know, um…” He sat up a little in order to look at her. “We haven’t really like… talked since the pizza freezer.” Her eyes had been closed but they opened, and he could see a look cloud over her face for a moment. Continuing, he asked, “Did everything go okay in there?”
She hesitated, apparently taking time to think of how to answer. Finally, she said, “Not exactly.”
Frowning, he asked, “What do you mean?”
“I…” She began, but there was a sudden knock at the door.
Groaning, Mike got up-as El sat up, too-and went to open the door. When he did, Argyle and Jonathan were standing there.
“You guys alright?” Jonathan asked.
“Yeah,” Mike answered, confused.
“There’s a burger place right next door, we figured we’d get something to eat,” the older Byers boy said. “You guys hungry?”
“My treat,” Argyle said.
“Uh, Will just got in the shower but, uh…” Mike glanced at El, who nodded her head. “Sure, we could eat.”
Once Will was ready, the group trekked next door for a late-night dinner. Once they were full, they returned to their rooms, more than prepared for a full night of sleep. After hearing about the trio’s sleeping arrangements, Argyle gave Mike his comforter, and El gave him one of her pillows to sleep on. By eleven-thirty, everyone was drifting off to sleep.
Well, not everyone.
As she listened to the soft snoring of Will and Mike, El stared at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Her thoughts kept returning to what could be waiting for her in Hawkins. She hadn’t wanted to burden the others with how much she’d struggled against One, let alone how close she came to dying.
And then, of course, there was Max.
She hadn’t told the others what’d happened with Max, that the Party’s Zoomer had actually died before El had brought her back. El had no idea what state her friend would be in when they returned to Hawkins. Was she okay? Was she hurt?
El tried to take solace in knowing that (for now at least) One had been defeated. Though with Max having to suffer as she did, El wondered-had it been worth it?
She wanted to confide in Mike; El knew he would listen sympathetically and make her feel better about everything that’d happened without judgment. A small part of her was tempted to wake him up and just talk . But her guilt of not being able to protect her friends, and protect Max was giving her second thoughts.
After tossing and turning for the better half of a half hour, she decided that she needed some air. Careful not to wake the boys, she slipped on her shoes before tiptoeing her way outside.
Mike doesn’t know what woke him, but he suddenly found himself awake, staring at the ceiling. Glancing at his watch, he read the time of 12:25 and wondered what’d startled him. Peeking up, he saw Will was still sleeping, his back away as he slept. When Mike looked at El’s bed, he really woke up, noticing that she wasn’t there.
“El?” he whispered in the dark. From where he sat, he saw the bathroom wasn’t in use; where was she?
Crawling out from under the comforter, he pulled his shoes on before making his way outside the motel room.
A quick glance into the pizza van didn’t turn anything up. He stood, confused before noticing the motel’s pool a few feet away. He slowly made his way over.
And there she was, sitting in a deck chair, looking at the water. “El?” he asked softly.
She looked over her shoulder at him; slightly startled but not surprised. “Hi,” she responded.
“What’re you doing?” he asked, making his way over.
“I couldn’t sleep,” she explained, pulling her knees to her chest.
“Me either,” he said, taking a seat in the chair next to her. “I think I got used to sleeping in Argyle’s van. There’s something about the smell of pizza, gas fumes, and BO that kind of lulls me to sleep, you know?”
El giggled, giving Mike one of the first smiles he’d seen from her in a while.
“Everything okay?” he asked after a moment.
She hesitated, before finally turning to him. “Mike?”
“Yeah?”
She sighed. “Something…happened. In the piggyback.”
“What do you mean?”
“Henry…One…almost killed me.”
He nodded. “Well you’re here now, right? That’s all that matters, El.” Taking her hand, he said, “I’m just glad you’re still here.”
She returned the nod, squeezing his hand before looking at her feet. “And…there’s something else.”
He frowned. “Something like what?”
“Max…she got really hurt.”
“She did?” When El nodded, he asked, “How bad?”
Her eyes welling with tears, she answered, saying, “She died, Mike.”
“ What? ” Mike asked incredulously. “Max is dead?”
“No,” El said, crying as she shook her head. “She’s not.”
“But I thought you said…”
“She did die,” El continued, looking back at him. “But…she isn’t anymore.”
“I don’t get it,” he said in confusion.
El took a few minutes explaining exactly what’d happened during her battle with One: finding him and Max at the Snowball and the fight that resulted, ending with them dueling at what appeared to be One’s “home.” She continued by telling him how One overpowered her as well as how close she came to dying and the unfortunate result for Max.
Before Mike could ask, El told him how she’d used memories to restart her friend’s heart.
Mike listened, stunned at what he’d heard. Never mind the fact that El had brought Max back to life(!) but at how close El herself had come to death’s door. Her story finished, he moved over to sit with her in her chair, holding her as she cried.
“It’s okay,” he reassured her, rubbing her back. “Everything going to be okay, El.”
“But Max…”
“She’s still here, right?” Mike asked. “And it’s because of you. We’re all here because of you, El. Whatever’s happened with Max…no matter what state she’s in, we’ll be there for her. We’ll all be there.”
She sniffled, nodding into his chest as she did. It was quiet for a few moments, and Mike thought El had fallen asleep until she spoke again. “Mike?”
“Yeah?”
“There’s…something else.”
Looking worried, Mike asked, “What is it?”
“One, he almost…I thought I was going to die. He wanted me to watch as he hurt Max, and then he was going to hurt everyone else. But…then I heard you.”
Not connecting the dots yet, Mike asked, “What do you mean?”
Reaching up, El stroked his cheek as a small smile came to her lips. “I heard you,” she repeated.
Mike’s eyes widened as he realized what she meant, and he felt himself grin. “You did?”
She nodded, her smile growing.
He let out a breath before looking back at her. “I meant it, El. Every single word. I…I’m sorry it took me so long to say it, but…I love you, El. I love you so much. And…I can’t lose you.”
“I love you too,” she whispered before bringing her lips to his. When they pulled away after a moment, their foreheads resting on one another’s, she added “And I can’t lose you, either.”
He sniffled, his head nodding against hers. “We’ll just have to make sure we take care of each other.”
“Promise,” she told him.
“Promise,” he repeated before kissing her once more.
Eventually, she rested her head on his chest, finally feeling herself drifting off to sleep. Mike, beginning to feel himself dozing, slowly started to pull them both up, resulting in a whine from El.
“Come on,” he told her. “Let’s get back to the room.”
She reluctantly agreed, taking his hand in hers as they walked back to their room. Neither of them knew what awaited them in Hawkins. For the moment, though, both decided that their love-as well as a warm hotel bed-was all they needed right now.