tangled (mileven au)

boyfriend

๑ 18 ๑

Weeks passed since they had rid the world of Martin Brenner and El couldn't believe how different her life had become since.

She had been spending her days at Mike's house, while he suffered through his final weeks of high school. He didn't want to, clearly hating to leave her there alone, but El insisted he go. She would've hated for him to get in trouble all because of her. 

Besides, she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself while he was gone. And even though she was alone, it wasn't like being alone at the cabin, not in the slightest bit.

She wasn't trapped, stuck with doing chores and what little the cabin had to offer her. Sure, she loved her books and painting, but after so many years of doing the same things, she grew bored. At Mike's, she had so much more to occupy her time with.

And on days when it was nice out, she would grab a blanket, lay it out in his backyard and watch the clouds in the sky. It was something so simple, yet it brought her so much joy.

Weekends were definitely her favorite though, because she had all that time to spend with Mike and he insisted on using that time to show her more new things and take her to more new places.

Sometimes though, they did visit the places she had been before. They often went back to the arcade, the game she had accidentally broken her first time there having since been fixed, but the memory never failing to make them both laugh every time. They ate a lot at the diner Mike took her to their first day together, Dustin usually always tagging along. They also made several trips to the mall, Mike knowing that it was her favorite place.

No matter what it was they were doing though, El enjoyed every single minute of it.

Before she knew it, one of those treasured weekends had arrived and the two had found themselves back the mall. This time though, they were in search of a prom dress.

At first, El had been against the whole idea of Mike buying her a dress and whatever else she'd need to look her best for such a special night. She couldn't possibly ask him to do yet another thing for her, feeling like he'd already done enough at this point. It was too much and she would never be able to repay him.

Her stance on the matter quickly changed though, once she saw the way she looked in those dresses, a very fluffy pink one to be exact. She took one look at herself in the mirror and suddenly, she wasn't so concerned with anything other than how she was going to do her makeup or what shoes she would wear.

"Mike! This is the one!" El happily hollered out from inside the fitting room, knowing he was waiting right on the other side of the door.

"Come on out then, let's see it!"

She would do no such thing. Unlike the other dresses, Mike would have to wait until prom night to see this one. She only wanted him to see her in this perfect dress when the whole look was complete.

El opened the door, just enough to poke her head through and shook her head at him. "I want it to be a surprise, so you can't see it now. Just go wait outside for me!"

"Alright." Mike snorted, clearly amused by the sudden secrecy. "I guess I'll go ahead and get us a table at Scoops while you pay. You still have my credit card with you, right?"

"Yes."

"And you can find your way there, right?"

She could tell he was skeptical to leave her in the store alone and it made her heart swell, but she knew she'd be just fine.