7. 7: Party

Please stop talking, please stop talking, please stop talking-

When El reopened her eyes, the girl was, in fact, still talking. She hadn't a clue what she was going on and on about, but what she did know was that it wouldn't be polite to just walk away in the middle of this girl's story...or whatever she was frantically trying to tell her.

Tonight marked El's first party and she really wasn't enjoying it. The boys had been invited to this place by one of their friends whose name she couldn't remember and she had happily agreed to tag along with them...only to immediately regret her decision when she saw how many people were crowded into this one house. Speaking of the boys...where were they? El subtly tried to glance around the room to see where they had run off to, but seconds after she had diverted her eyes from the girl in front of her, whose name she also couldn't remember, the girl waved her hand in front of El's eyes. "El, are you listening?" It wasn't in a mean way, but it was enough for El to feel bad that she had been zoning out.

"Yes, sorry," she replied. "Are you okay?" the girl asked after a moment. No, no she wasn't, but she didn't want to hurt this girl's feelings, so she nodded. Satisfied, the girl launched back into her monologue. El tried hard to keep up this time, but all the unfamiliar words kept bouncing out at her and before she could ask what all of them meant, the girl had already moved onto another topic.

She was starting to feel extremely overwhelmed. Without realizing it, she took a step backwards, almost as if to physically separate herself from the jumble of unrecognizable words that were clogging her brain. When she took another step, the girl stepped forward, never ceasing her endless flow of sentences. El took a third step backwards and gasped when her back hit the wall behind her, which the girl didn't seem to notice.

She was trapped. She knew she should just walk away and find one of the boys, but her body wouldn't listen to her. Instead, she stood, paralyzed against that wall, attempting to block the words that wouldn't stop coming.

She tried focusing her hearing someplace else and the first thing her ears grasped onto was the conversation happening on the other side of the wall. Well, not all the way on the other side, just ninety degrees to the right of her. She was leaning near the edge of the wall, and, going off the little math Hopper had taught her, the corner was ninety degrees. Not that it mattered. She was just trying to distract herself from this one-way conversation.

She strained her ears farther to see if their sentences were a bit less...complicated. When she heard the person on the other wall speak, her heart leapt and she had to fight to keep herself from smiling. They were saying something about their test in science, but she would recognize that voice anywhere. It was the same on that had patiently read her a story that afternoon, less than five hours ago. It was the same one that was always ready to explain anything about the world to her.

Mike was leaning against that wall.

As fast as she could, El glanced behind her to confirm her suspicions and saw that his hands were shoved in his pockets and he was talking to a guy she'd seen around town a couple times. She turned her attention back to the girl, but, as casually and as subtly as she could, she slid her hand along the wall to her right until her fingertips hit Mike's wrist.

She felt him pull his hand out of his pocket and, before he could do anything else, she blindly found her way to the back of his hand. She traced out "0 1 1" along his skin with her finger, hoping he would understand who was touching him and why she was trying to get his attention. She never heard their conversation falter, but she smiled when she felt him flip over her hand and trace an "M" on the back of her hand for his identity.

His fingers then laced themselves through hers and he squeezed her hand. For the first time that night, El felt her mind calm down and the anxiety disappeared from her body. She relaxed against the wall and waited patiently for the girl in front of her to finish.

"Bye, nice talking to you!" she heard Mike say and out of the corner of her eye, she saw the boy he'd been having a conversation with walk away. A couple minutes later, El heard a female voice call, "Chelsea, come check this out!" "Coming!" the girl yelled back. "Thanks for listening, El!" she said and skipped away to her friends. El sighed in relief, but before she could do anything else, Mike swung her around the corner and, just like that, she was in his arms.

"I'm sorry I left you" she heard him say. "I know you don't really like this type of thing." El nuzzled her head into his chest in response, just grateful to have the weight of the night off her shoulders. "Do you want to get going soon?" he asked. "Yes" she replied and pulled back to look at him.

"Kay, let's go find our friends," he said, pushing himself away from the wall. His arm immediately wrapped protectively around her shoulders and they made their way through the crowd, glancing all around for the guys.

They found Dustin and Lucas downstairs going head-to-head in ping-pong as a crowd cheered them on and Will sitting on a couch nearby talking to some girl.

"Hey Dustin! Lucas! Will!" Mike called. "You guys ready to get going?"

"What? Why?" Lucas called back, standing ready to receive Dustin's serve. "Dustin and I tied!" "Lucas," Mike said to get his friend's attention. He motioned to El and it only took Lucas one look at her exhausted face to drop his paddle and call it a game.

"Not quite the best night?" Dustin said as they trudged back up the stairs. El shot him a weak smile and shook her head. "I'm sorry we have to leave," she said, glancing at her friends. "Oh no, it's totally fine!" they reassured her. "Yeah, I was starting to fall asleep on that couch, so thank goodness you got me out of there," Will said with a laugh. She looked up at Mike, who squeezed her shoulders. "Don't worry about it, okay?" he said. She nodded as they weaved their way to the front door.

They said their goodbyes on the porch and Will headed off towards his own home. Dustin and Lucas went their separate ways shortly after, leaving Mike and El walking in a content silence. His fingers slid through hers as soon as the guys left and the only things El became aware of were the pale moonlight, the rhythmic chirping of the crickets and the warmth of Mike's hand.

When they reached the Wheeler house, he led her to the hammock swinging silently in the breeze in their backyard. He climbed onto it, smiling and inviting her to do the same. She gladly got in and he lay down on his back so that she could curl up beside him and rest her head on his chest, his arm encircling her shoulders. The chaos of the party has long been forgotten and now it seems as if they are the only two people in the world. As they stared up at the stars together, he absentmindedly skimmed his fingertips up and down the side of her arm in a lazy pattern, something he knows she likes. El sighed contently and closed her eyes as the cool of the night washed over the couple.