love? \\ mileven

four~the cabin

snowball night//part four

hopper pulled the car over onto the side of the road, at the edge of a forest. only, he didn't park on the road. his car kind of fell into a pile of leaves right off of the road, causing the car to wobble to a halt. mike was confused, with one hand intertwined with elevens and the other now pushing against the seat to keep his balance. hopper took the keys out of the car and opened his door, just as eleven let go of mikes hand to do the same. mike just watched the two get out of the car, even more confused then he was before. they didn't bother to explain anything to him. instead, both el and hopper walked around the car and began walking into the forest. mike quickly got out of the car, shutting the door and jogging after them, not asking any questions.

"where were you two when i came?" hopper asked el quietly, so that a slower mike trailing behind them wouldn't hear. el opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, hopper interrupted. "and don't lie to me." el looked up at the man and just sighed. she looked back down at her flat shoes that were crushing families of leaves as she walked deeper into the dark forest. "he took me to the roof..." she began, now lifting her head to look up. "he took me to see the sky. the stars." she said biting her bottom lip. she was still looking up above her, at the canopy of the tall trees above her, shielding the sky from her sight. still biting her lip, she looked down to her shoes once more. "thank you for letting me leave tonight, hop." el said, as the older man turned his glance to her. she allowed her eyes to meet his as she gave him a small smile. "thank you for keeping your promise." hopper smiled at the girl, as his large arm made its way around her small frame, pulling her in for a side hug. he dug his face into her hair. "no problem, kiddo." he mumbled into her hair, as she gave a small smile that he couldn't see.

they looked up to see that they were now in front of their cabin. hopper walked towards the door to unlock it. he had installed some new locks that allowed keys to open them. as he fished for the keys from his pocket, eleven turned around to see where mike was. she saw that he was almost at the cabin, but his eyes were darting from tree to leaf to branch. he looked petrified. he was looking all over to the point where he almost tripped on the trip wire that eleven and hopper had set up for their cabin. "mike!" el shouted running towards him, causing mike to stop dead in his tracks, and just look at her with fear flowing through his veins. el's body crashed into his, as she clutched onto his thin biceps and he held the bottoms of her elbows. "what is it, el?" mike asked, concern filling his voice as he looked into her eyes. el simply looked down to see that mikes knees were just brushing the wire, and she stopped him just in time. el moved her hand from mikes shoulder to his thigh. mike stiffened up, not understanding what she was currently doing. she began to lift his thigh up, and due to mike being the height he was, she slightly tilted his leg to go over the wire. mike finally understood what was happening when his foot touch the ground, and he lifted his other leg up and over the wire himself, without the help of the smaller girl. mike looked down at the wire, letting go of eleven. he bent over as he studied the wire. el looked back at hopper, to see him finally opening the door and waving them over to come inside. "mike?" she told him, as she looked back at the boy. "hm?" he turned around and straightened up, looking at her. she tilted her head towards the cabin and began to walk towards it. mike got the memo, starting to walk closer to the cabin, whilst trailing closely behind the girl. el placed her hands inside of the pockets of mike's jacket that she was still wearing, only to feel a crumpled piece of paper. as she walked into the cabin with mike behind her, she shoved the paper into her dress sleeve, for her to read later. she took off mikes jacket and handed it to him. "thank you." she told him with a smile. "of course." he told her sweetly, returning the smile.

el turned back to hopper as mike hung his coat on the coat hanger. "im going to get dressed." she said, pointing to her room. she walked to her doorway before hearing hopper say, "come back out here when you're done." she didn't respond, but nonetheless, she would obey. she was raised that way, and was taught like this all her life. she closed the door of her room and made her way to her night desk, that sat directly next to her bed. she carefully pulled the drawer open by its handle, and gently removed the paper from her sleeve inside the drawer, underneath the file titled "ives" that she had kept. she closed the drawer and walked into her bathroom, stripping off her dress and hanging it on the hook placed at the back of her bathroom door. she hopped into the tub and turned the knob almost 180 degrees for a quick shower. the water came out cold as eleven stood beneath it, feeling the freezing particles trickle down her face, cleansing it of the makeup that previously covered it. the water slowly transitioned to a warmer, and now hot and steamy temperature. the cold water had numbed her face and legs as she stood under the shower head, and as the hot liquid made contact with her skin, she regained feeling, jumping backwards at the aggressive sting it had given her. she turned the knob back to be between, a little hot and a little cold, a warm and calming temperature for her now red body.