Chapter Text
May, 24th. Wednesday. 7:33
“Don’t you have class or something?” Eleven asked.
Next to her, laying on his stomach, arms stretched under the pillow, Mike Wheeler opened one eye and stared at her as if she had just asked him the most inappropriate question ever.
“How dare you throw my responsibilities at me when I’m sleeping?” He complained.
“You’re not sleeping,” Eleven remarked with a half-smirk. She rolled to her side and rested a hand on his naked back, stroking it with the tip of her fingers. Mike let out a happy hum and closed his eye again. “But, seriously, you told me last night you had an early class today.”
“Yeah, I did, El, and yet you decided to stay and fuck up my sleeping schedule,” he replied, his voice muffled against the pillow. She giggled. “You know I can’t go to classes running on only four hours of sleep. I have a reputation to keep.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said in a teasing voice. “I didn’t mean to offend the genius boy who got into college with a full scholarship and has a perfect score of all A’s.”
Mike half-snorted at that, his mind already going back into the depths of slumber.
However, Eleven wasn’t tired. Yes, they had only fallen asleep a few hours ago, but she had woken up with a text from her best friend, asking her where she had spent the night (as if that hadn’t been obvious), and now she couldn’t go back to sleep. So, as any reasonable person would do, instead of letting Mike sleep, she moved closer to his body and dropped a leg over his waist. Her lips found his already bruised neck from last night and she started to kiss her way from there to his face.
Mike hummed.
“El, come on,” he muttered. “I need to sleep. I have classes in the afternoon that I don’t want to miss as well.”
Kissing his nose, she pulled back and laid her head on the pillow again. She stared at him for a few seconds, taking in all his pretty freckles (that had been the first thing she noticed about him when they first met), his messy, dark hair, his sharp noise and fleshy, red lips. Her eyes then moved to his neck and his back. He had hickeys and scratches, red deep lines drawn by Eleven’s fingers, from last night activities. She smirked, proud of herself, and touched one of the lines, caressing it with gentleness.
“El,” Mike called out in his sleepy voice.
She sighed.
“You’re a terrible sex buddy sometimes.”
Mike opened one of his eyes again, this time to show how offended he was with her words. She smiled and took the opportunity to lean closer and kiss him on the lips.
“You’re terrible,” he muttered against her lips and, at last, he decided to move, dropping one arm around her as his body changed positions so he was laying on his side. He pulled Eleven closer, his hand finding a nice spot to rest on her thigh. “You’re insatiable, aren’t you?”
Eleven’s answer was to grab his messy, thick dark hair and pulled him to a passionate kiss.
They had met when they were fifteen, after Eleven’s abrupt moving to Hawkins with her mother, Terry Ives, who had suddenly got transferred to the city’s hospital as a nurse. The first week of school had been hell until she got to be partners in English class with a scrawny, tall boy called Mike Wheeler. When he had asked her name and she had given him her old nickname, Eleven, he had not laughed at her or found it ridiculous. He had actually said, cool, do you mind if I call you El?. From that point on, they became close friends; they and Mike’s best friend from childhood, Dustin.
They spent their teenage years going on adventures, especially in the summer since that was when they had more time to escape the small town of Hawkins, and, during school year, you most likely would find them at some random party in someone’s house almost every Saturday. And, by the age of seventeen, Mike Wheeler and Jane ‘Eleven’ Ives’ drunk make-out sessions were pretty known among students in Hawkins. Well, at least among those who liked to attend parties. They first started kissing each other after Mike’s first girlfriend, Jennifer Hayes, broke up with him in order to be with a guy named Carlton from the football team. At that point, Eleven, who had been on-and-off with a boy from the theatre group, decided to call it off for good since the boy couldn’t make up his mind (he never once asked her out, he just assumed they were together, and Eleven didn’t like to assume things, she liked facts).
People would ask them a lot of times if they were dating. Hell, even their parents did at some point. Their answers were always a big no, partnered up with a can-you-believe-this-dude snort. No, Mike and Eleven were friends, really good friends, who occasionally hooked up with each other. It was easier like that because they had the facts on their side: they were friends, they cared about each other and no romantic feelings meant no pain. It was all good.
When the time came to apply for colleges, at the age of eighteen, they both agreed to keep being friends no matter what. No distance would ever put an end to their good friendship. But, funny enough, destiny, God or whatever you wanted to call it, was on their side and they got accepted into colleges in the same city, Mike going off to study Creative Writing with a minor in History and Eleven taking up a Speech Therapy course. It was easier and more fun to enter a new phase of your life when not only one, but two (Dustin was there with them as well, studying Biology) of your closest friends were right there by your side.
While Mike and Dustin decided to rent a place between the two of them, Eleven was sent off to live in the dorms, since it was cheaper, and ended up sharing a room with a redheaded girl called Max Winters, who, nowadays, was her best friend and one of the best people she had ever met. For a while there, Max and Dustin had a thing going on too, a bit like Mike and Eleven, but they had recently broken it off as they were actually looking for something more serious and knew that together they wouldn’t get it.
Eleven’s phone suddenly buzzed from its place on Mike’s night table.
“N-no,” Mike begged, trying to keep kissing her, but Eleven moved quickly, rolling over him to grab the phone. He sighed, defeated. “Why do you do this to me?”
“WHY DO YOU GUYS DO THIS TO ME?” Dustin’s annoyed voice asked from the other side of the wall.
“Sorry, Dustin!” They said together.
Mike looked over at Eleven, who was grinning while replying to the text she had got.
“Is it Max?” He asked.
Eleven blinked and looked back at him. She bit her bottom lip, nervous, before saying, “No, it’s actually my date for tomorrow night.”
Mike looked surprised.
“You have a date tomorrow night?”
“Yeah. Remember that guy I made out with in Troy Harrington’s party?”
“Wasn’t that guy me?” Mike asked.
Eleven rolled her eyes. Putting down her phone again, she turned over to Mike, looking for a nice embrace, and he quickly helped her get into a more comfortable position, grabbing her by the hips and pulling her almost on top of him. She laid her chin on his chest.
“The first guy I made out with at the party.”
Mike pretended to be hurt. She rolled her eyes.
“He was nice. I gave him my number, and we’ve been texting for a while now. He finally got the balls to ask me on a date. We’re going to eat pizza tomorrow night.”
Mike snorted.
“Okay, that sounds fun. I hope you don’t get herpes.”
Eleven hit him on his chest and he groaned in pain.
“Dude, I was joking!”
“Anyways,” Eleven emphasized the word, flipping her tousled, curly hair behind her shoulder, “I’m just going to, you know, ‘test the waters’.”
Mike raised an eyebrow.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that I’m just going to see if he is a good, nice guy. I mean, I know he’s a good kisser because I’ve kissed him, but, who knows, maybe… maybe he’s the one for me, Mike,” Eleven said, nodding her head in a very solemn way.
They stared at each other for a few seconds before Mike burst out laughing and, soon enough, Eleven joined him.
“GUYS, SERIOUSLY, EITHER GO OUT OR SLEEP,” Dustin’s more awakened and angry voice echoed from the other room.
“SORRY!” They yelled back.
Dustin still muttered something that they didn’t quite catch. Eleven’s phone buzzed again and this time, when she tried to go and grab it, Mike went after it faster and took it.
“Michael!” She complained and fought to reach for the phone.
But Mike stood up, only his underwear, and moved to the other side of the room. He read the message she had got and then gave her a kind of dramatic sexy look in which he moved his eyebrows up and down.
“He is really excited for tomorrow night, El. Don’t forget to pack condoms with you.”
“Lol, Michael,” Eleven replied. The actual use of the online slang for laughing in her speech made Mike snort. “I’m not going to sleep with him.”
“Why not? You sleep with me.”
Eleven rolled her eyes and pulled the sheets away from her body. she stood up and marched up to Mike, taking her phone from his hands. He smirked down at her.
“Well, you’re my sex buddy. That’s your job.”
“Well, if he is going to be your boyfriend, then it will be his job too.”
His words were meant as a joke, something to tease Eleven about, since that was their thing, they joked and teased each other with no second intentions or harm feelings. Yet, the reality of the situation actually hit them deeply, both realizing for a second that, yeah, if Eleven got a boyfriend, this little thing they had going on for three years now would be over.
There was an awkward moment between the two of them, in which both processed what had just been said. Then, Eleven hit Mike’s arm and retorted, “As if I would ever get a boyfriend, Mike Wheeler,” before leaving the room in only his t-shirt.
May, 25th. Thursday. 19h41.
“Are you going to Mike and Dustin’s tonight?” Max asked, sounding confused.
Eleven, who was dressed up in a flowered dress, black tights and a pair of Converses, looked at her best friend through the mirror she had been using as she did her make-up. Max was laying on her single bed, a book in her hands and her red hair in a messy ponytail.
“No. Should I?”
“You’re dressed like you’re going to have sex.”
“No, I’m not.”
Max pulled herself up with her elbow, letting her Chemistry book fall to the bed, and gave Eleven a stern gaze.
“You dress like that whenever you got meet Mike. Well, when you feel like dressing up. I’ve actually seen you leave the dorms looking like a homeless person to go bang him.”
“The clothes are going off when I get there, so what’s the point?” Eleven replied, applying with a steady hand red lipstick on her lips. “And no, I’m not going to meet Mike. I’m meeting Sean. I told you this. The guy from Troy’s party?”
“Oh, that dude? I thought he didn’t mean anything to you.”
“I gave him my number. I told you that.”
Max sat up on her bed. “Yeah, but you also went home and fucked Mike, so I thought he was just a random boy who got lucky to have you for five minutes before Wheeler showed up.”
Mike had indeed showed up late for Troy Harrington’s party, having had an essay to deliver until midnight that day. When Max had found Eleven sitting on Sean’s lap, she had sent the boy a sorry look that her friend had missed and had announced “Mike’s here.” Eleven flew from Sean’s lap and went to look for her friend. One hour later, they were hooking up in one of the bedrooms.
“But it’s always like that,” Eleven finally said. “I’m always going to hook up with Mike. At least, as long as we’re both single.”
Max’s mouth moved almost as if the girl was going to reply to her friend, yet she decided to remain quiet, muttering a whatever before laying back down on the bed and picking up her Chemistry book.
Eleven was putting on her leather jacket, one that once belonged to a thirteen-year-old Mike, when she got a text from Sean saying he was waiting for her outside.
“Bye, Max.”
“Bye, El. See you tomorrow.”
Eleven opened the room’s door before turning to Max and saying, “I’m coming back tonight, Max.”
“No, you’re not.”
Eleven rolled her eyes before shutting the dorms’ door behind her.
Midway through dinner, which was going fine, really fine, since Sean was actually a funny and sweet guy, Eleven got a text from Mike. Her phone, which had been resting next to her plate, lightened up as his message came in. She picked it up, interrupting Sean’s story about a drunk incident he had had a few months ago, and read it.
Wheeler my boy
Dude, I’m going on a date with Tina Muller. Dude, Tina Muller. El, I’m going to hook up with Tina. Oh my God. El.
Eleven stared at the message without knowing how to react. Tina Muller was Mike’s crush since freshman year. She was this older girl in his Creative Writing course with whom he had partnered up in outside-class projects. She was tall, almost tall as he was, and had these big, fleshy lips that Dustin liked to describe as “blow-job lips”, and she was just… the perfect girl for Mike. Eleven liked to tease him a lot about her, whenever they saw her on campus or met her randomly in a public place. The girl always greeted Mike with a nice smile and, after she left, Mike would touch his chest and sigh, “One day”.
How did that happen?
Only after she sent a reply, Eleven noticed that it might sound a bit harsh, so she added a quick ‘congrats bud’ afterwards.
“Jane?”
“Eleven,” Eleven corrected, putting down her phone. She had told Sean a few times now that she would rather be called Eleven than Jane.
“Oh, sorry. It’s just… You said your name was Jane when we first met.”
“Yeah, I was so drunk. I can’t believe I said Jane. I’ve been Eleven since I was a little kid, really,” she confessed, grabbing a piece of her pizza and taking a bite.
“Why Eleven?” Sean asked with curiosity.
She shrugged.
“I don’t even remember. It had something to do with a game that I really liked and, one day, I just started asking people to call me Eleven. My mom just went along because why not? It could be worse, right?”
Sean chuckled.
“Yeah, I mean… you could have asked to be called Sixty-Nine.”
Eleven stared at him, a hesitant laugh in her throat trying to decide if it should come up or not. In the end, she chuckled.
“That would have gone terribly wrong.”
Sean paid the bill despite Eleven wanting to pay for her half. After getting out of the restaurant, Eleven was halfway through complaining about it when Sean interrupted her with a kiss.
“You can pay for the next, yes?” He said after pulling back.
Eleven stared at him. Sean was nice. He was cute too, and not too tall (like Mike who was a giraffe next to her), and he actually seemed to be a reasonable guy.
“Sure. Next time,” she promised.
When they got to the car, Eleven finally took a look at her phone to read Mike’s reply. She found three unread messages.
Wheeler my boy
So, I met her outside my Linguistics class. We talked for a bit and I ended up asking her if she wanted to meet at Benny’s bar tomorrow. She said yes??? Like, how cool?!
Wheeler my boy
Dude, please answer. I need to freak out with someone and Dustin is already tired of me.
Wheeler my boy
Oh shit, sorry. I forgot you were on your date. How is it going? Packed condoms for the trip?
“So, do you want to go somewhere else, or home?” Sean asked after starting the engine and pulling the car from its parking slot.
Eleven re-read the messages.
“Can you take me back to the dorms? It’s just… Tomorrow I still have classes.”
“Oh, sure.” Sean chuckled. “I forget that some people have classes on Friday. I never did.”
“Lucky you,” Eleven muttered, her eyes flickering to the car’s window, taking in the quiet streets.
Why did she feel like shit?
She wasn't supposed to feel like shit after having a really great date with a really nice guy.
After Sean dropped her off, she watched him drive away. Then, she looked back at the dorms’ huge white building. Many lights were still on; it was only ten pm, after all. Eleven looked down at the unanswered messages from Mike. She bit her bottom lip, uncertain of what to do.
If she hadn’t got those news, there was no doubt in where she would be going right now. Mike’s place was like a haven to her. She was always there. Why was she hesitating now?
It was ridiculous, really, this sudden feeling of uncertainty that haunted her mind. She had just got back from a date with a nice guy, to whom she had lied about her classes tomorrow, and was now hesitant in either going actually home or going to meet her fuck buddy. No, Eleven didn’t have any classes on Friday morning. She was wiser than that and had picked the afternoon schedule. But, when she had said that to Sean, her intention was to go to Mike’s place. Why wasn’t she going, then? It was just a ten-minute walk.
“What are you doing here?” Max asked from her bed. She had her laptop next to her and had clearly paused something as soon as she saw Eleven walk into their room.
“I’m back from my date. I told you I would be back.”
“Yeah, but…” Max frowned. “I thought you would go to Mike’s afterwards.”
“He’s got a date.”
“Tonight?”
“No, tomorrow.”
Max raised a confused eyebrow, unable to follow her best friend’s logic.
“Okay… I’m watching Rick and Morty. Do you want to watch it with me?”
“Nah. I’m going to take a shower and go to bed.”
Mike’s messages were never answered.
May, 27th. Saturday. 15h13.
“I don’t get it. You didn’t kiss her?” Eleven asked, confused, as she cleaned with the back of her hand a bit of chocolate ice-cream from her chin. She was dressed in comfy, old clothes, a sweatshirt that belonged to Mike, and a pair of sweatpants. Her hair was up in a messy braid that she had done last night and had not had the strength to take it off.
“Well, no,” Mike replied, digging his spoon into the chocolate ice-cream box that was set between the two of them on the sofa, and then taking it to his mouth. He ate it slowly before adding, “Everything went great, yeah? So, I thought… Let’s take it slow. I don’t know.”
“Maybe you’re just a pussy,” Eleven teased.
“Fuck you, El.”
They chuckled together.
“What about your date? With…. Whatever his name was?”
“Sean,” Eleven reminded him. “And it was good. He was nice. We’re probably going out again. I don’t know. We didn’t decide anything, but he didn’t let me pay the bill –“At this information, Mike gasped dramatically –“I know! He convinced me that I’d pay next time, so…”
“So, there’s gotta be a next time because Eleven Ives has to pay for the bill.”
Eleven pointed her spoon at Mike. “You gotta it, bud.”
As background-sound, Mike’s phone, which was being used as a stereo connected to a small, roundish speaker, switched songs to a soft, kind of melody. Eleven recognized it straightaway and her eyes opened wide in excitement. Mike chuckled.
She started singing along the singer, “I’m not in love, so don’t forget it, it’s just a silly phase I’m going through…”
Mike laughed at her before joining in.
It was special song for them (not that they would ever admit it out loud, though) because, two years ago, when Eleven and Mike had decided to start sleeping together, to have their first time with each other, Mike had tried to make it a bit romantic, which, at first, made Eleven laugh a lot, but, in the end, she understood. It was a special occasion. So, Mike had put on one of his mixed CDs playing, one that, until this day, Eleven was sure he had composed for that night in particular. This song had been on it. She had kept the CD after that night, stealing it from Mike without him knowing. Of course, he had found out soon enough, but let her keep it anyway.
“Ooh, you’ll wait a long time for meeee,” Eleven sang, leaning close to Mike’s face for the dramatics of the scene.
He sang the verse back to her, his body following her movement, and soon they were kissing each other. Their mouths tasted like chocolate, and their hands, which were now on each other’s faces, were sticky with dried ice-cream.
They pulled back when the song changed to Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. Mike smirked, licked his thumb and then cleaned Eleven’s chin with it.
“You’re a mess, El.”
“Shut up, Wheeler. Where’s Dustin?”
“Out with his new girlfriend.” Eleven raised an eyebrow, curious. “Well, I say it’s his girlfriend, he says it’s not, but whatever.”
“That sounds fun.”
“Yeah. How’s Max doing?” He asked back.
“She’s seeing a guy too. His name is Lucas. He’s cool. You’ve probably seen him at some parties. That’s where they met, actually.”
“That’s where most people meet, El,” Mike replied teasingly. “I mean, didn’t you meet the love of your life in one of those?”
Eleven sent him a deadly look which had him laughing really loud, head thrown back. In his moment of distraction, Eleven threw herself at him, accidently tossing the ice-cream box on the floor. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him passionately, her lips moving against his almost in an angry way. Mike dropped his spoon on the floor and grabbed her by her waist, moving her so she was sitting more comfortably on his lap, one leg on each side of his body.
Mike’s right hand sneaked inside Eleven’s sweatshirt and moved up in a gentle caress before making its way to her ribs, his fingers lingering on her bra’s shape. Eleven pulled back for a second, taking a deep breath, before kissing him again, her hands messing with his thick hair.
It was hunger that always drove them to be with each other. Hunger and trust. Whatever happened between them, whatever they said, or felt, in moments of heat, it was always going to remain between them.
Eleven felt Mike’s other hand moved from her back to her sweatpants’ front. He played with its strings for a bit, untangling them before moving his hand under them. Eleven gasped, her legs opening wider.
Mike’s fingers were almost inside her underwear when suddenly the flat’s door opened and Dustin entered. He took one look at them before shouting, “For fuck’s sakes! Keep that shit in the bedroom!”
Eleven jumped away from Mike’s lap, going back to her seat. Mike took a quick look at his friend before leaning down to pick up the ice-cream box, which had stained the floor a bit, and his dirty spoon.
“How are you doing, Dustin?” Eleven asked, trying to tame her hair for the first time in the day.
Dustin glared at her. She pretended to shiver in fear.
“Fuck off, I’m not in the mood for this shit,” he muttered and started walking out of the living-room.
“What, you had a fight with your girlfriend?” Mike joked.
Dustin turned around and pointed his finger at Mike.
“I’ve told you a million times: Ceci is NOT my girlfriend.” And then he left.
“Someone is in a bad moooood,” El whispered in a singing tone.
As Mike snickered at her remark, he stood and took the ice-cream box and his spoon to the kitchen. Eleven, founding her spoon under a cushion, followed him.
“What do you think is wrong with Dustin?” She asked after putting down the spoon in the sink, where Mike had dropped his.
“I don’t know. I’ll talk to him later.”
After putting the ice-cream inside the refrigerator, Mike slipped one hand inside his sweatpants’ pocket and took out his phone. He checked something in it and smirked.
“What is it?” Eleven asked and tried to peek.
“Tina just sent me a message. She asked if I want to go to the movies with her tomorrow,” Mike told her with a happy smile. “I’m going to say yes. I don’t think I have any plans.”
Eleven wanted to open her mouth and say but tomorrow is Sunday. Sunday is our lazy day. She remained quiet, of course, trying to be happy for her best friend, who was finally going on dates with his crush of two years.
“Maybe I’ll kiss her tomorrow,” Mike remarked cheekily.
Eleven tried to smile at him, tried to be supportive.
No matter what anyone could possibly insinuate, Eleven texting Sean when she got back to her dorms, asking him out for dinner on Monday, did not - really, did not - have anything to do with the fact that Mike had made new plans with Tina.
Really. It didn’t.
June, 1st. Thursday. 22:45.
“Honestly, I would marry Cersei,” Mike said. On the TV, there was an episode of season six of Game of Thrones on.
“What? She fucks her brother,” Eleven replied disgusted.
“And you fuck your best friend,” Mike replied slyly.
Eleven stared at him. “You can’t even compare the two scenarios.”
Mike shrugged and buried his body deeper into the couch, grabbing a cushion and putting it over his lap, holding it there tightly.
“Fine. Can I continue with the game?”
“Yes.”
There was a moment of quiet in which both stared at the scene going on, something to do with Arya and the Faceless Men.
“I think I would kill Arya.”
“Arya is awesome, Mike,” Eleven replied.
“Yeah, but she’s fucking scary. She could kill you in a heartbeat, so yeah, I’d rather kill her than end up being killed,” Mike argued. “And I’d kiss Daenerys.”
“You know you can choose from anyone in all the cast of Game of Thrones, right?” Eleven reminded him.
“Really?” Mike sounded really surprised. “Then, I’d kiss Robb Stark. I’m pretty sure I’m gay for him.”
Eleven laughed.
Feeling tired of her sitting position, she decided to lay down on the sofa and put her head on the cushion that was on Mike’s lap. Automatically, his hands found somewhere to touch her, his right one playing with her hair and his left resting over her chest, his fingers almost tickling her neck.
“And you?” He asked. “Which one would you marry, kill or kiss?”
Eleven took her time to think.
“I’d marry Daenerys. She has three fuckin’ dragons,” she answered and Mike snorted. He already knew she would pick that character to marry. “I’d kiss Robb because he was really, really cute. And I’d kill…the Night King.”
Mike groaned.
“Oh man. Why didn’t I think of that one?”
Eleven smirked, tilting her head up to look at Mike.
“I’m a genius, you’re not.”
Mike rolled his eyes and then moved up to sit straight, making Eleven’s head fall lower on his lap.
“I’m a genius, you’re not,” he mimicked in a teasing tone as he leaned down and kissed her.
Eleven raised a hand to his hair, taking it into a tight grip. She loved grabbing Mike’s hair. He had one of the softest hairs she had ever touched (it was softer than hers), and, if she were completely honest, to be the only one in the world knowing how much it triggered him to have his hair pulled during heated moments like this made her feel really fucking good.
Mike pulled back, his lips still dangerously close to hers. He licked them, the tip of his tongue touching her lips in the process.
“Dustin will be home anytime soon,” he said.
Eleven nodded.
“Bedroom?”
Mike agreed.
“Bedroom.”
Dustin didn’t really care that two of his closest friends were idiots who liked to have sex with each other instead of going out and meeting actual people who they could properly date. But it really pissed him off coming home after a long day and having to find the two of them in compromising positions. Of course, he only became pissed off by that after coming home and finding Mike and Eleven hooking up more than once on top of the kitchen’s table, on the sofa and against the hallways corridor. It was too much for his poor heart. The bedroom is right there, guys, use it.
Eleven took of her sweatshirt as soon as Mike closed the bedroom’s door. Then, she helped him take of his t-shirt and pulled him into a heated kiss, her tongue meeting his in a fierce battle for dominance, her hands grabbing his hair so hard that it had to hurt, but Mike just groaned in pleasure. They moved to his bed, the sheets already untangled from their first round during the afternoon.
Mike pulled back for a moment to reach into his night table’s drawer and grab a condom. Eleven managed to pull her sweatpants and underwear out.
“Jeez, someone’s eager,” Mike teased right before he was pulled back into a kiss.
It wasn’t always rushed. It wasn’t always just a feeling of… we’re fucking, that’s all we’re doing. No, they had their moments. Whenever they felt like going slow, they did. Whenever they felt like going fast, they did. As long as both we’re in the same mood, everything was okay. It was easy. Eleven honestly believed that sex with Mike was the easiest and most relaxing thing in the world. They just knew each other; where to touch, how to touch, the softest spots, the spots you could never, in your dreams, dare to touch…
Mike kissed down her neck, made his way between her breasts and down her stomach. Eleven tried to grab him, tried to pull him up again.
“Not now,” she asked, finding his lips again. “Later,” she added in a whisper.
So, Mike grabbed the condom and tore it apart with the help of his teeth.
By the time, they finally heard the flat’s door open and close, announcing Dustin’s arrival, there were two used condoms on Mike’s bedroom floor and a joint was being passed between the two of them.
“Don’t you think it’s weird how we despise cigarettes, but this –“Eleven raised the joint – “this is fine?”
Mike chuckled and rolled over to his side, wrapping an arm around her naked waist.
“Weed is cool, tobacco isn’t.”
“Wow, what a great slogan,” Eleven said sarcastically. “You should make a living out of slogans.”
Mike’s lips curled into a smile, his face burying deep into the pillow.
“Thanks, babe.”
Eleven took another drag before passing it to Mike.
On the other side of the wall, they heard Dustin moving around, preparing himself to go to bed.
“What has he been up to?” Eleven whispered, taking in consideration Dustin’s probable tiredness as it was almost two am in the morning.
“I’ve told you,” Mike said, exhaling a big, greyish cloud of smoke, “He has a girlfriend. He just won’t admit it.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s recent. And he wants to be sure it will work out before introducing her to us. Remember how it first was like when he and Max decided to call it off?” Mike asked as he passed the joint back to her.
“Oh yes. It was a bit awkward.”
Those had been difficult weeks, at the end of last school year, when Max and Dustin weren’t sure on how to behave around each other after having decided they were going to stop the all friends-with-benefits thing they had had going on for a couple of months. They hadn’t been quite good at being on the same page. Was a brush of the arms too much? Was a smile a code for let’s-bang-again? Was remain in clear awkward silence better for all? Eleven and Mike were the ones that filled in the moments of quietness with random topics. Thankfully, after a while, things got better. Now, Dustin and Max could laugh and talk to each other as two good friends. The past was in the past.
“Mike?” Eleven called.
“Yeah?” He said, the joint stuck between his lips.
“Can you promise me that, if we ever stop doing this sex-buddies thing, we’ll never be awkward around each other?” She asked in a weak voice.
That was one of the things that Eleven dreaded the most in some days, when she got to think about what she and Mike were doing. One day, one of them would eventually want to date someday for real. They would call it off, taking the ‘with benefits’ from the friends. But could they still be friends? Because they were great together, really. They had a friendship that a lot of people envied, and they knew some who had actually told them face to face that yeah, they were a bit jealous of how the two of they were such amazing friends.
Not having Mike as a friend… That was something she could never live with.
A pair of lips touched Eleven’s forehead, making her look up. Mike smiled at her.
“I promise.”