Hey guys!! So, second last chapter and Im honestly so depressed help me. But this chapter is real cute so enjoy ;)

Like always, please comment ur I love reading them.

Ok bye! xxx

-

--{Mike's POV}--

El's lays on my shoulder for the duration of the drive home. We stop at Valerie's to drop her off, then at Andrews and finally we are on our way to our final destination, the Byers house.

For the rest of the drive, all you could hear was the light humming of the car engine and the pushing of the gas pedal.

Everyone, including me, was exhausted from this crazy night. I still can't fully believe I did what I did. However, I had no choice. Brady was hurting her, the person I care most for, and I couldn't bear watch that go down. Even though Brady could have probably snapped me in half with his own two hands, I had no choice but to try and protect her, even if that means me getting a black eye.
I'll do anything.
Anything to protect her.

-

As the car comes to a slow stop, I lightly pat Els head with my free hand. She slowly lifts her head, opening her eyes gently; she must've fallen asleep. She smiles at the sight of me, and I smile back in response.

I help her out of the car as we begin to walk towards the house. Jonathan quietly turns the keys in the door, knowing that Joyce is asleep and in attempts of not waking her.

"Hey, I heard what happened are you okay," I hear a voice murmur from behind.

I turn around to see the voice belongs to Nancy.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I reply as we all start to tiptoe into the house. We wave each other goodnight before dispersing into our separate rooms.

Holy shit.

It just hit me.

Tonight is my last night with El.

For at least a little while.

I grab my toothbrush and PJs and start walking towards the bathroom. "I'm gonna go change okay?"

El nods grinning at me.

-

After changing into my blue and white striped boxers and white v-neck shirt, I walk back into Els room. I smile to myself at the thought of seeing her in her cute little PJs.

However, as I walk in, she is nowhere to be seen.

"El," I whisper into the hallway, hoping for an answer. I slowly begin to make my way down the low lit hallways.

As I walk into the living room, I see her. Standing by the phone, holding it to one ear.

"El, what's wrong,"

She shakes at the sound of my voice, quickly turning around to face me.

"Oh, n-nothing," she answers hastily as she puts the phone back on the wall.

I glance at her, furrowing my eyebrows. She sighs, knowing that I can tell when she's lying.

"I-I was trying to call her," she starts shamefully, looking down at the ground.

"Who?" I ask bewilderedly.

"Kali"

"El, are you crazy!" I say trying to stay as quiet as possible.

"I just feel responsible for what happened to her," she chokes on her words as a small tear makes its way down her face.

"El," I say softly walking towards her. She looks up at me, and I cup her face in my hands.

"It's not your fault," I mumble, leaning my forehead against hers. "Okay, and there is nothing you can do about it."

I watch her bite down on her lip, holding back her sobs.

"Hey," I say calmly as I pull her into a tight embrace.

She pants heavily against my shoulder.

A few seconds later, she has calmed down as she pulls her head away from my shoulder and leaving a small damp spot.

She looks up at me, grinning. "Thank you."

"God, you're beautiful," I say, in awe of her natural perfection, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"Did you even hear what I said?" she laughs.

"Not really I was... distracted," I claim boldly. El rolls her eyes at me as she continues to giggle.

How I love listening to her cute little laugh.

My eyes suddenly travel down to her lips, but, I quickly redirect my stare at her eyes. However, she grins, having noticed my stare. She grabs onto my hands for stability as she pulls herself up to my lips, connecting them.

Our lips part and we both smirk at one another.

"Come on, let's go to bed," I say, grabbing her hand.

We walk back into her room, releasing her from my grasp as we both climb our beds on the opposite sides of the room.

I sit up against the bed frame, peering over at her. She sits crisscrossed on her bed, noticing my stare.

"What?", she asks laughingly.

"Oh nothing," I reply, shaking myself out of my trance.

"Mike," she says, giving me that look.

The same look when I was indirectly trying to tell her that I liked her three years; the 'friends dont lie' look.

I sigh, looking down into my lap. "I dont know, I was just thinking about the fact that I leave tomorrow."

I look back up at her, her giddy glance replaced with a gloomy one. "Oh yeah."

Im such an idiot. I had just gotten her in a happier mood, and now, I've made her sad again. I know that we are both dreading tomorrow. I know that I will fall apart, however for right now, I need to stay strong for her, so that we can at least get a good nights sleep.

"But hey," I start reassuringly. "That's tomorrow afternoon; we still have time, so let's enjoy it."

I yawn, not noticing the playful grin appearing on her face due to my statement. "What do you wanna do?"

"Hmm," I start.

"Maybe you can sleep over here," she states, patting next to her on her bed.

My eyes go wide. "Oh, El Im not sure if thats a good idea."

She furrows her eyebrows at my response.

"I just dont want to fall asleep and have Joyce, find us in.... a bed together."

"Oh yeah of course," she replies hastily, residue of disappointment visible on her face.

"Which reminds me," she continues, getting up from her bed and pushing the door open a little.

"Three inches."

She walks back towards her bed. I feel bad, for saying no to her. However, I don't want to risk never being able to share a room with her again.

"Im sorry, El," I start slowly.

"I get it, Mike," she answers, forcing a smile. "You're right. Besides, I'm exhausted."

I nod, not wanting to pry any further. Plus, Im also drained from our eventful night.

I turn over, encasing myself in my sheets. "Night, El"

"Night, Mike"

I roll over to face El, whose eyes are closed shut. I keep my stare on her, and as if she sensed me staring, her eyes dart open.

She furrows her eyebrows at me. "What are you looking at?!"

"Nothing," I reply laughingly redirecting my glance up at the ceiling.

She laughs, shifting in her bed.

I slowly begin to let my eyes travel back down to her; however, she catches me.

"Stop," she mumbles, reaching for the pillow beside her and aiming it at me threateningly.

I quickly pull the covers over my face, only letting my eyes peer over.

She laughs playfully, as she places the pillow back down beside her.

I stay with most of my face under the covers, however I keep my glance on her, and her eyes meet mine.

But this time, she doesnt say or do anything, we just stay there, looking into each other's eyes.

I feel as if Im losing myself in her warm chestnut-colored eyes, luring me into her, making me...

Crave her.

-

---{El's POV}---

Mike and I continue to stare at one another as if our eyes were speaking their own language. Im tempted to give him another snappy answer, however, at this moment, I just want to stare at him, embracing his presence for as long as possible.

I had been so lost in my own guilt earlier; I felt the need to apologize to Kali, tell her that I'm sorry for everything. But then Mike helped me notice what I would be apologizing for.

For being myself. For going back to save my friends and family. For being, my own person. I understand now that I should not and will not apologize for being myself, or choosing my family over anything else. Because no matter what, I know that im a good person. And even if Kali doesnt think that, my real family does, and most importantly, I do.

After what felt like an eternity, Mike sits up, making my body jolt from the sudden movement, breaking our stare.

I frown at him, slightly upset for him ending our moment.

I watch him as he walks over to the door, slowly pushing it closed.

Déjà-vu.

I frown, raising my head off my pillow to glance at him. "What are you doing?"

He smiles at me cheekily as he nears my bed. "It's our last night together for a while..."

"Why not break the rules?"

He watches me contort my face as he stands infront of my bed, signaling for me to move over to allow him space to lay down.

I giggle to myself, as I shift to the side of the bed, allowing him to slip under the sheets, laying down to the left of me.
I turn, facing him.

"But what about the rules," I ask sarcastically.

"Fuck the rules," he asserts.

My eyes bulge. I know that he swears around his friends all the time. However, he usually avoids doing it when I'm around. I assume that he doesn't want to come across as aggressive, but honestly, I don't mind.

He cups his mouth with his hands, noticing the words that had just slipped out of his mouth infront of me.

"Oh, I'm sorry El, I didn't mean to say that.", he blurts out apologetically.

I laugh at his nervousness. "It's alright; I dont mind."

"It's just that no punishment can be worse than not spending my last night here, with you.", he murmurs.

I smile, playfully at him. "Is that so,"

He lays his head back, noticing the corniness in his own voice.

"How come," I continue mockingly.

He sets his hand over his face, shaking his head into it.

"How come!" I say a little louder this time as I pull at his arm playfully.

Then suddenly, he pulls me into him, holding me close to him, allowing me to feel his heartbeat against my chest.

I look up at him as we both break out into a light giggle.

"Mike," I start slowly as our snickers begin to die down.

"Yeah?" he croaks, his breath brushing against my hair.

"I want you to kiss me.", I say, sensing the butterflies awaken in my stomach. Not knowing where that sudden boost of confidence came from, however not fighting it.

"Umm, ok," he begins at my sudden request. "Does this have to do with what we started earlier."

I quickly place my finger over his lips, cutting him off abruptly.

"And I dont want you to stop, ever."

I can feel his heartbeat start to quicken against my chest. Making me grin to myself due to his reaction.

He shrugs his shoulders as if debating whether or not he wanted to kiss me.

I giggle, pulling his neck down towards me, connecting our lips. He kisses me back passionately, reaching his hand under the sheets to hold onto my waist. He lifts me up, shifting to lean his back against the bed frame, our lips still connected. Im pulled atop of him, planting my knees on either side of him.

Our lips part, as we lean our foreheads against oneanother.

He grins toothly at me, making me smirk in return. I sling my arms around his neck, grazing his jawbone with my free hand.

I giggle as I pull his face towards me, kissing his lips with more force than before. As I start to thread my hands through his thick black hair.

Our lips continue to move in sync, parting every now and then, allowing us to catch our breath.

He parts from my lips again, I wait for his lips to crash against mine. However, instead, I feel his hot lips brush against my neck.

I gasp, at the sudden sensation, sending heat waves of shock through my body.

Mike jumps back, looking up at me with concern. "Oh my god, El im so sorry are you okay."

I nod.

He looks down. "I guess I just got.... carried away."

I smirk. "I like it when you get carried away."

He looks back up at me, grinning widely. "Oh yeah."

I show him a childish grin before reconnecting our lips once again.

-

A few minutes later, Mike and I fall back against the bed, breathing heavily in unison.

He looks over at me, reaching for my hand, interlinking our fingers. "Thank you."

"No, thank you" I look over at him closing my eyes, with a smile growing on my face. "For breaking the rules for me."

He chuckles playfully. "Anything for you."

I grin nuzzling my face against his chest as I sling my arm over his shoulder, drawing my eyes shut. "I love you, so much."

He lays his arm over me, taking me into his embrace. "I love you more."

And usually, I would answer, with our playful, flirtatious line of "not possible." However, I can already feel myself drifting off to sleep.

And just like that, my last full day with Mike has come to an end. I lay safe in his arms, exactly where I want to be. If only this could last forever.

However, it's true what they say; nothing lasts forever.

-

Hiii

Hope you guys enjoyed it!

The next chapter will be the last :( ! However, I will continue writing, and maybe a sequel for this book is in the making.. (maybe) hahha

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Ily guys, hope you have a great rest of your week!

See yall in the next one, stay tuned! xxxxx