EIGHTEEN

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"You'll be mine and I'll be yours, all I know since yesterday is everything has changed" Everything Has Changed, Taylor Swift

    It was bright the next morning, the piercing sunlight creeping through the glass door to the right of the Hoppers' living room. El woke up late because everyone was over for a long time to celebrate her birthday the prior night, and Will and Jonathan were in the kitchen making breakfast while Sara watched Strawberry Shortcake on the couch. "Morning monkey!" El smiled, kissing Sara's forehead and sitting down next to her, "how'd you sleep."

    Sara had a tired and pouty look on her face, "not good! My stomach hurts."
    El sighed, "I'm sorry, it's the new medicine I bet. But it's gonna make you better faster. And you can always come into my room and hangout with me if you can't sleep."

    "Ok," Sara whined. El made a slight hmph noise and grabbed Sara under her armpits to hug her. The little girl wrapped her arms loosely around her sister's neck and laid her head down. She'd been tired, and pouty more often since the doctors began to prescribe a form of chemo for her to take before bed and sometimes in the mornings. But it was all for the good of the future, right?

    "Are you doing anything today sis?" Sara asked, still lying on El's shoulder.
    "Me and Will are going to Holly's house to see Mike and the others soon, I can ask if you can come if you want," El offered. Sara uncharacteristically shook her head, "too tired."

    El reassured her that it was alright and pulled her closer. In a few minutes Sara had moved and went on to eat the waffles and eggs Jonathan and Will made at her little breakfast table near the tv as the older three sat together in the dining room. "We're going at 12 right?" Will asked.

    "Well I'm going at 11:30 but you're going at noon," El explained. Will made a face and shook his head.

    "Are you going to Max's?" Jonathan questioned.
    "No?" El replied.
    "Why are you going a half hour early?"

    Because I can, mind your business. Instead of responding with that she shrugged and glanced up at Will. He rolled his eyes and kept eating. "You know if we're gonna have words about this mine as well do it now," Will comments.

    "Shut up," El cut him off. Will had a playful look on his face and shrugged. Late the night before Will and El were hanging out once everyone left and the girl had spilled everything about what happened that day, which she now was beginning to regret.

    "It's 11:20," Will recalled. El's eyebrows shot up as she checked her phone to find out he wasn't lying. She looked down at herself in a lace rimmed white tank top and flannel pajama shorts and groaned. She got up from her chair and stomped upstairs to get changed.

    In five minutes El had changed into a light pink spaghetti strap tank top and black athletic shorts and brushed through her hair giving her enough time to throw on mascara. She walked down the stairs claiming, "ha it's 11:28 and I'm ready! You really thought you could throw me off."

    "It's not my fault you have a crappy sense of time," Will sneered.
    "Cya later!" she smiled at her siblings and left. As she opened up the car door she realized she maybe should've been late. Maybe I should walk and show up late, in a nice way.

    She was in no way nervous, or at least she wouldn't admit it. But she didn't wanna seem like an idiot, or desperate. In the pit of her stomach and her mind, she had this false belief that to Mike, she was just another girl. She'd thought this before and expected it to go away now that they were technically official, but she didn't feel the insecurity wash away.

    El decided to drive and walked in the door at 11:33, waving to Holly playing with her toys in the living room. "Miiiiike!!!" Holly screamed at the top of her lungs. There was a loud pattern of footsteps making a trail within the upstairs and then down the stairs. "Oh, sorry, hi!" Mike greeted El.

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