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“Please please please please please!” El begs, using her best puppy dog eyes. It’s not her first time asking. Hopper, with his routine “I’ll think about it,” answer, doesn’t seem to be making up his mind, and El decides she needs to pull out all the stops. She wraps her arms around him, looking at him sweetly. “Please?”
What she doesn’t know is that Hop has decided, he just wanted to figure out the details before getting her hopes up.
“Listen kid, I know you want to go to the snowball…”
Eleven’s eyes widen, waiting to hear his answer.
“I’ll let you go, IF you agree to be careful. There will be some rules to follow. I’ll be waiting there the whole time, so if anything happens, come find me. I will take you home at 9pm, that’s 9pm SHARP. And no funny buis…” El stopped listening once she realized he was giving his permission to let her go.
“Thank you thank you thank you!” she squeals, hugging him as tight as she can.
She starts thinking about what it will be like, to finally go to the cheesy school dance where you dance with someone you like, not your sister or a friend. She’s so excited to see this promise fulfilled.
Then a thought hits her. “But what will I wear?” She had watched many shows in the past 353 days, many featuring school dances, and the girls always wore beautiful dresses. She didn’t want to go wearing Hop’s old flannels.
She hadn’t realized she had voiced her concern out loud until she sees Hop’s face drop.
“Shit.”
And that’s how the Hawkins Chief of Police ends up shopping in the tween section of JC Penneys looking for a suitable dress for his daughter. He grabs something he thinks she will like, even buys a little makeup kit that El insisted on, and gets out of there as soon as he can.
After struggling through getting ready, with both parties novices in the task, El was satisfied with how she looked and was ready to get out the door. She jumps in Hop’s car, and quickly looks in the rearview mirror, checking her reflection for the thousandth time. Hopper follows shortly behind her and, noticing her fretful glances, reassures her. “You look beautiful, kid.” Eleven smiles. Beautiful was even better than pretty.
“Thanks.” She really hopes Mike will agree.
Mike.
Once again her thoughts turn to her favorite person. It’s been a month since she was reunited with him after almost a year of separation. A month since she held him in her arms and promised he wouldn’t lose her again.
Since that day, Mike had biked over any chance he got. At first Hopper was reluctant, claiming El needed to rest. And she did. Closing the gate had taken more energy out of her than anything she had experienced before. She slept for a week before feeling even remotely normal again. But that exhaustion didn’t stop her from wanting to see her friends again. Especially Mike. After several days of begging, Hopper gave in and agreed the party could come over, with certain conditions. They often came all together, even Max joining in occasionally, and would teach El their favorite games and show her their favorite shows, and El felt truly happy for the first time. Some days, only Mike came over, and secretly El liked these days best, where she had uninterrupted time with her…well, she wasn’t sure what to call him. He was more than just her friend, she knew that, but she didn’t know what term could describe the special way she felt about him.
On these days they would sit and talk, and Mike would fill her in on what was going on in Hawkins, and everything she missed while she was still a secret. She too would fill him in, on her time in the woods, how she found Hopper, and more recently, her quest to find her mom. On one particular day, their mindless pratter stilled, and they were sitting in comfortable silence. Well, it started out comfortable, but soon El could sense there was something MIke wanted to say, and was struggling to get it out.
“Mike, what is it?”
“Oh, um nothing,” he deflected.
“Mike,” she whined. “Friends don’t lie.”
He sighed. “You’re right, El, sorry. I was just wondering…do you remember last year when I told you about the Snowball?”
She smiled. “Of course. You said people go who are more than friends and then you touched my mouth with yours. Hop said that is called kissing.”
“Um, yeah,” Mike agreed, his face turning red. “That’s right. Well, I didn’t get to keep my promise to you last year. But, the Snowball, it’s happening again in just a couple of weeks, and I thought, if you still wanted to, we could… well, go together.”
El’s face lit up. She had, of course, remembered his promise of going to the snowball together, and while she had been sad it didn’t work out, she hadn’t blamed Mike for that. But the prospect of it still being a possibility was more wonderful than she had words to describe. “Yes, Mike! I would love that!” She hugged him. But then her face fell.
“What is it?” Mike asked quickly, noticing her expression.
“Hopper. He doesn’t like me breaking his rules. He says taking risks is stupid. And we’re not stupid.” She looked down, not able to meet Mike’s eyes.
“Maybe he will make an exception. Just this once?” Mike asked hopefully.
“Maybe,” she agreed, but without much conviction.
Thankfully for the two preteens, that was one exception Hop was willing to make, after taking the necessary precautions, of course.
It’s the day of the dance and Mike still doesn’t know if El is able to come or not. He knows she’s doing everything she can to convince Hopper, but he also knows Hopper is the stubbornest person alive. Mike’s hopeful, though, which is why he let his mom wrangle him into the tie and sweater vest he’s currently wearing, and agreed to stand there for the billion pictures she wanted to take, but after a while he’s had enough.
“Mom!”
“Oh just one more.”
“Why?”
“Because you look so handsome!”
He rolls his eyes at that, but a faint blush does appear when he wonders if El would agree.
Pretty soon he’s in the gymnasium, his friends are pairing off, and he’s feeling miserable. Because she’s not here. Mike’s in his stupid outfit at this stupid dance for nothing, and why can’t the universe be fair for once?
That’s when it hits him, like a magnetic force drawing his gaze to the gymnasium doors, and without realizing it, he’s standing up, staring at the most breathtaking sight of his young 13 years.
She’s here.
El can hardly believe it. The bright lights, the loud music, the hundreds of kids lining the room; it’s a lot to take in, and that’s the only thing she can think about in that moment. Panic starts to rise in her until her eyes land firmly on the wrangly boy standing across the room, staring at her. She feels a slow smile reach her face as all the panic drains from her body. This boy, this beautiful, amazing boy, the one who makes her feel safe, is here. Without another thought she strides towards him.
“You look beautiful,” Mike says, and she feels bashful, hearing it from him. Her heart feels like it might explode at that moment. “Do you want to dance?”
Once again El takes in the scene around her, seeing the multitudes of couples swaying to the music, and a bit of that anxiety is back. “I…don’t know how.”
“I don’t either,” Mike assures her. “Do you want to figure it out?” She nods, because yes, she wants to figure it out. She wants to figure anything out, so long as this boy is next to her.
He takes her hand and leads her to a good spot. “Here, like this,” he says as he guides her hands to his shoulders.
Thankfully El’s seen how dancing works, she’s watched it happen in the movies, and she finds her hands curled around Mike’s neck without a second thought.
“Yeah like that,” Mike confirms, and he gives her the most breathtaking smile. She really thinks she might explode. Pretty soon their feet are moving, their bodies swaying, and the music is vibrating through her body.
Since you've gone,
I've been lost without a trace
I dream at night,
I can only see your face
El smiles again, looking into Mike’s eyes, the boy who found her in the woods and gave her a name and a home and a purpose. She thinks about how her life used to be full of fear and mistrust and anger, and now she has him, and the gate is closed, and everything is going to be okay.
I look around,
But it's you I can't replace
I feel so cold,
And I long for your embrace
She can’t remember ever feeling this much happiness. She almost doesn’t know what to do with it. When Mike looks at her, she feels that magnetic force once again, and when he leans down she’s ready to meet his lips with her own.
I keep crying, baby, baby please
The kiss is perfect. She replayed their first kiss over and over in her mind all of those lonely days without him, and yet, this one is even better than the last. She feels like her grin might stay permanently glued to her face with how happy she feels. She rests her forehead against his, and basks in the moment.
They dance through several more songs, steal several more kisses, before their friends finally find them. Dustin, Lucas, and Will all give her quick hugs, and a quick nod from Max, but she refuses to drop Mike’s hand the whole time. The group is chattering about the night, and she notices Max and Lucas stealing quick glances at each other. El can’t stop giggling at Dustin’s hairdo, wanting to touch it, but he swats her hand away, saying she might ruin the masterpiece.
After a while, Will mentions the time, and the group meanders to the doors, but El and Mike linger behind.
“I had so much fun tonight,” Mike tells her.
“Me too,” she says, grinning.
“I was wondering,” Mike begins shyly, looking at the ground. “Would you, I mean…is it alright if…” he pauses again, seemingly to work up the courage to get out his next words. “Will you be my girlfriend?”
El gasps a little, because she knows the word girlfriend. It was one of the many words she was interested in learning due to her soaps, and she knew it was the “more than a friend” thing Mike was trying to explain the year before.
She doesn’t hesitate at all before saying “Yes, Mike!” And kissing him quickly. “ Will you be my girlfriend?”
“Well, I’d be your boyfriend, but yeah, we’d be dating. I mean, I guess we are dating then. If you want,” he rambles.
El nods adamantly. “Yes I want.”
His grin meets hers and they both lean in for another kiss. By now, their friends have all left the gym, and Mike knows he doesn’t want to get on the Chief’s bad side, so he knows he has to abide by his curfew, and that he’s probably waiting right outside in the parking lot, but kissing El is making his brain turn to mush. He leans in for another kiss. And another. It isn’t until he hears a throat clearing, loudly, that both kids look up, and there’s Jim Hopper himself, not looking too pleased to find the pair mid-kiss.
“Come on kid, it’s time to go,” Hop says to El while glaring at Mike. El doesn’t seem phased though, and just grins at her boyfriend, whose face is beet red.
“Bye Mike,” she says dreamily, and goes to kiss him again.
Mike hastily accepts, but Hop is pulling El’s arm. “No more of that, El, or I’m going to be sick.”
“Bye El!” Mike waves as she walks away. He thinks he could stand there for hours, remembering her hands around his neck, her beautiful smile, the feel of her lips on his own. But pretty soon his sister’s voice breaks him out of his reprieve.
“Mike!” Nancy yells, her car horn blaring. “Let’s go!”
Without another thought he scampers to the car and buckles himself in. “Had fun?” Nancy asks as she begins to drive.
“Yeah,” he says simply, not wanting to go into any details with his sister. “It was fun.” He’s pretty sure his face is a dead give away that “fun” was an understatement.
It had been the best night of Mike Wheeler’s life.