Mileven in Heaven

Crazy Little Thing Called Love

[February 9th, 1985]

After dinner, Mike and his family decided to watch a movie. It was Nancy's night to pick, so she picked a movie called Splash. In this movie, a man runs into a mermaid who saved him from drowning as a child and falls in love with her, without knowing her secret. Ted, of course, fell asleep halfway through the movie, but Mike, on the other hand, found it intriguing. Normally, he would prefer watching a sci-fi movie over a romantic one, but with El on his mind and Valentine's Day just around the corner, he didn't mind it so much.

After saying goodnight to his parents, he went to his room and fell asleep. He then woke up from a dream at 7:30 in the morning. The dream made him look at El in a whole new way and caused him to wrestle with the idea of love. He tossed and turned, with a thought that just wouldn't go away. The more he thought about it, the more it was true. He woke up and he just knew, he just knew that he was in love.

Before El came along, Mike couldn't ever shake the feeling that something was missing from his life. He had an amazing group of friends, loving parents, two sisters, good grades-What more could he ask for? He came to find that she was what he had been missing all along. She was his reason for getting up in the morning. She was always his first thought of the day and his last thought at night. He thought about her twinkling brown eyes, her sprouting curly hair, the way she said his name, her bitchin' powers, the way it felt when her warm hands held his, the way it felt to kiss her soft, sweet lips-He was completely in love with her.

His parents weren't the perfect example of true love by any means and because of that, he always had a hard time understanding how you knew for sure. Love made sense now though, he thought. He had never felt such intensely warm feelings about anyone. He felt this for her all along, but he just didn't know what to do or make of it. He thought about her all the time, but never like this. No, today was different. Today, she was more than just a thought, feeling, or image. She was love.

He felt weird about the whole thing, as most middle schoolers would, and began to obsess over the details. How should I tell her? When should I tell her? Where should I tell her? he asked himself. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head, making sure that he was fully awake. Then, he tossed the sheets off his body, hopped out of bed, and headed toward the basement, passing by his mom.

"You're sure up early!" she said.

"What? Oh yeah, I uh woke up from a dream early..."

"Aww, I'm sorry, sweetie! Well, why don't you sit down and I'll make you some breakfast. How does that sound?"

"Um...sure, I just gotta do something real quick."

"Are you alright?"

*runs past*

"Michael?"

"MICHAEL!" she shouted once again.

He sighed and ran back around the corner.

"Sorry, Mom. Can't talk right now."

"*grasps shoulder* But sweetie, breakfast is almost ready."

"I'll be up in a minute, I swear. I've just gotta do this one-"

"Don't swear. Alright, but I'm timing you," she said, letting go of his shirt.

He shrugged, making his way down the stairs. He didn't really know why he felt the need to go down to the basement in the first place. All he knew was that it was where El had lived, where he came to know her. It was also the place he often came to think and gather his thoughts. He sat down, his eyes traveling to the fort. Then, it came to him! He knew exactly how he would break the news to her. So, he got up out of the chair he was sitting in and climbed inside. This will do, he said to himself, patting the wrinkles out of the sheets.