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The silence in the room was deafening. Mike had arrived at the cabin a few minutes prior, and neither him nor El had made any moves to start the conversation.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity but was probably only 10 minutes, El spoke up.
“Mike, you know that I love you, right?” Her voice was a bit shaky, and this scared Mike. A million thoughts ran through his head.
“Y-yeah..?” Mike replied cautiously. He was treading on scary territory. Did she want him to say it back? Did his speech not make her believe he does? Did she know he was lying?
El took his hands in her own and smiled sadly, “I don’t think we’re working out, Mike. I think we need to break up”
Mike’s world just came crashing down. Break up? No. No that couldn’t be happening. Mike needed El. Mike needed her, he can’t do this by himself.
“What? Why?” Mike’s voice cracked. He was getting anxious, and the sad part was that he wasn’t even heartbroken. He wasn’t in love with El and he knew that.
“We both know why, Mike. You don’t love me- I know that look, don't even try to interrupt me right now. You’re not in love with me, and that’s okay. I knew I needed to break up with you after I left with Owens. I just wish you would’ve told me sooner, that you would’ve been comfortable communicating it instead of pretending to keep me happy. And I really wish you wouldn’t have said that speech, because it was all lies. Friends don’t lie, Mike. Those are YOUR words” El stared into the boy’s eyes, trying to find any sign of anything. She had a feeling as to what, or rather who, was the reason that he couldn’t be in love with her. She just needed to know if she should say it.
“I’m really sorry. I'm so sorry. It’s not your fault, you never did anything. It’s my fault. It’s all my fault, I shouldn’t feel this way. It’s wrong. It’s gross. You are amazing and beautiful and I really, truly love and care about you, El, like the way I love and care about Lucas, Dustin, and Max” Mike chewed on his bottom lip, closing his eyes as he realized the only friend he didn’t mention was Will. How would El react to that?
“But not Will, right?” He looked up, and she had a small smile on her face. It wasn’t a sad smile, it was loving and understanding.
“No, not Will. I love Will the way I should’ve loved you. The way I should love a girl…” Tears built up in Mike’s eyes, so he broke eye contact and looked down at the floor.
“Hey, look at me. I might not know everything about this world yet, and I might not understand exactly how society works, but you shouldn’t listen to people who want to hate you for being happy. They’re mouth breathers, right? Why listen to them? You deserve to be happy, and true to yourself. We were both pretending to be people we weren’t, Mike. And I want you to know I never thought you were childish, I wasn’t interested in your hobbies but I never thought you were wrong for having them. We just didn’t communicate well, and we weren’t supposed to date. We would’ve been good friends. We can be good friends. Best friends, even. You mean so much to me, and I want you to be happy” El rubbed Mike’s arm gently as she spoke.
“He probably doesn’t even like me like that” Mike frowned.
“I think he does, but that’s for you two to talk about” She sighed.
They sat in silence once again, this time Mike was thinking hard. If El was breaking up with him, what was the painting about? What was that whole speech that Will gave him?
“Wait, I'm just a little confused, what was the painting for if we were going to break up?” Mike asked, looking at El.
El’s face scrunched in confusion “What painting?”
Mike’s heart sank. If El didn’t know about the painting, that means Will lied to him about it. Why would Will lie to him about it? Did he know El wanted to break up, and it was all some funny joke?
“The one Will gave me in the Van, It was a painting of the original party. Just me, Dustin, Lucas and Will as our DND characters. He said you commissioned it. That I’m the heart of the party, that you needed me. That you’ve been pushing me away because you were scared of losing me, or something. That’s what he told me” Mike’s breathing was quickening, he was upset.
“Mike, I never asked Will to paint anything. Did you read my letter? He was painting something but he wouldn’t let any of us see it. I told you that” El bit her lip. She knew for a fact that Will must have made that painting for Mike in the first place, but was too scared to admit it was truly from him. This was a mess.
“So he lied? He just lied?” Mike stood up abruptly.
“Calm down, Mike. I’m sure he has a good explanation. I’m really sure of it” El didn’t want to give away Will’s feelings, because that should have been a talk between Will and Mike. Will should be able to tell Mike how he feels.
“No- no, I fucked up the whole plan with Vecna because of that painting, and that stupid speech that I bullshitted! HE was the one who lied about the painting, and HE was the one who pushed me to start lying to you in the pizza place. I can’t do this, I have to talk to him” Mike stormed out of the cabin. El tried to stop him, but she backed off, finding it better to just let this play out.