never a dull moment

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El was leaving in a matter of days and the more Mike thought about it, the more sick to his stomach he got. He could barely go a day without her, what would weeks and months be like? God, he didn't even want to think about it.

But he wasn't going to let this take advantage of the little time left that they had together. He had a day planned for them today, they could do one of El's favorite things. Shopping. And he knew she wouldn't dare to decline that offer.

So, Mike made his way over to her house. He didn't spend the night the day before because he figured El and her dad would have a lot to talk about. He really did want to stay over but he knew it was best not to, but tonight there was nothing stopping him. He wasn't going to let go of her just yet.

Mike pulled into her driveway and got out of the car, as he went up to the front door, before he could knock the door opened and El ran right into his arms. "Hello to you too," Mike chuckled as he hugged her back tightly. "I was very lonely last night. You could have come in later, you know." El says with a pout.

"Yeah yeah, I'm sorry. It was hard for me too. But like you said, we're going to have to get used to not being with each other every night." Mike mumbles. "I don't want to get used to it though."

"me either but it's either that or you don't go to Italy."

"You could come with me!" El suggests hopefully, "and what am I going to do all day? Wait for you to come back late at night and all grumpy?"

"I'm sure you could figure something out, a-and I'm sure they have a writing thing there, or a physics class!" El sniffles, she hadn't thought about this yesterday, for she was too excited about getting the letter. "I'm sorry, Picasso but I would probably have to sign up and I'm sure it's too late now."

El frowned and pressed her forehead on his chest, now she didn't want to go, but Mike could read her thoughts better than anyone else. "Don't cancel your whole future because you'll miss me too much. I'll visit as much as I can, you know I have the money saved so I could buy plane tickets so I'll try to come every few weeks."

"Every few weeks?!"

"El, I don't have enough money to come every week. It's like a hundred dollars a ticket, so what do you want me to do?" Mike asked, he knew that wasn't what she wanted to hear but it was the cold hard truth, and they both needed to get used to it. Though they probably never would.

El shook her head and shrugged, "can we just lay down for a little bit? I didn't sleep much.." El asked. "Sure, come on." Mike held onto her hand as she walked sluggishly over to her room, where the bed was still unmade and her pillows were scattered across her sheets. As they entered her room El ran forward and jumped on her bed while Mike just smiled at her, he was going to miss her adorable smile, her laugh, her face, just everything about her he would miss.

Mike kicked off his shoes and jumped on the queen sized bed right next to her. They got under the warm duvet and faced each other, El smiled at him before scooting closer to him and cuddling up next to him like she always did.

"I was thinking we could go to the new thrift stores in town later and mess around there, sound good?" He asked, El nodded but barely heard him before she drifted off into a deep sleep. Mike never did fall asleep, he simply watched over her. He watched how her soft exhales would blow this one piece of hair in her face up and down with every breath, or how she would mumble things and then unconsciously scoot closer to him. Mike could look at her all day and never get tired of it, though he practically did that already.

Only after about a half an hour El woke up with a big yawn. "Finally up, sleepy head?" Mike asked from next to her. "Why yes I am." She replied while stretching her arms above her head and then rolling back next to Mike. "Dream about me?" He teased, "Always, honey pie," El teased back making Mike chuckle.

"See, I knew you loved the names! Always complaining that you don't like them, bald faced liar!"

"Never said I liked them," El shrugged as she got out of her bed and walked over to her mirror to fix her hair. "You don't have to lie anymore El," Mike sighed as he lay on his stomach with his head resting in his hands as he looked at her. El glanced at him through the mirror and rolled her eyes, "You are so dumb."

"Dumb for you, my love!"El cringed, "What? That doesn't even make sense." She giggled, as she ran a brush through her messy curls. "I know, I just wanted to use the nickname."

She walked over to her closet and grabbed a random shirt, that happened to be Mike's middle school AV club shirt (that was far too small for him now, but perfect for El), and a pair of jean shorts. She went into the bathroom and quickly changed and brushed her teeth before coming back out to see Mike still laying down on her bed, now messing around with one of her old stuffed animals.

He held the stuffed brown bear in front of his face, "Oh El, why don't you love me anymore? Mike found me stuffed between the head frame and the mattress, it was so dark and cold down there. Gee, I wonder why you don't like me anymore. Maybe this handsome fellow who found me is the reason why? Guess I'll never know." He said, speaking in a high voice to imitate the animal. El rolled her eyes and snatched the stuffed bear out of his hands and chucked it at his head.

"You are being extra annoying today so let's just go, okay?" El said. Mike groaned as he slowly got out of her bed and walked towards her, "Do we have to go?" He whined, "Well you suggested it sooo..." El said, dragging him out of her room.

"Fine, but only because you said so, gum drop." Mike was having too much fun with these nicknames, spitting out whatever he could think of. But El didn't mind, that was one of the reasons she loved him, he was always so random and fun to be around. Never a dull moment with Mike.

They got out to his car and the best friends drove downtown and eventually they arrived at their first destination. "Good quality clothes for a cheap price!" El said as they entered the thrift store. "You'll probably get like.. a disease from these clothes." Mike muttered, completely forgetting this whole thing was his idea...again. "They wash them before they bring them here!"

"Mhm." Mike said, trying to ignore a dirty looking shirt. El skipped over to a section where she would normally look around for anything good. For El, thrift store shopping was like a treasure hunt. Sometimes there would be something she was looking for in particular and she would go through everything until she found it, and other times she would simply look around until something caught her eye.

Mike trailed behind her as she looked at the selection of clothing and then she suddenly turned around. "We should play a game!" She suggested, "In the store..?" Mike questioned. "Yeah! Like we go separate ways and make stupid outfits for each other and then we meet each other by the changing rooms and we have to wear what we picked out for each other!"

Mike shot her a questionable look before shrugging, "Okay, I'll see you in ten minutes." Mike said before taking off and going to the other side of the store. El walked over to the men's section and found some of the most ridiculous pieces of clothing and never hesitated to add it to the pile in her arms.

Mike was across the store and finding some of the ugliest clothing he had ever seen, no wonder people gave it away. Just like El, Mike added some of it to his pile and when he felt it was enough he headed back to the changing room and sat down to wait for El. It wasn't long before she came back with a pile of her own, her head peeking around it.

"Ready?" She asked with a mischievous grin. "Yup, I'll put this in a changing room and you can put your pile into my changing room. You will look wonderful in this," Mike teased as he walked to a changing room and set it down on the small chair. He walked to the room El set his clothes in and they both changed, laughing at themselves in the mirror before stepping out to face each other.

Mike, had red striped t-shirt on with leopard print pants, some big, clunky winter boots and topping it all off with a dark green winter coat. He looked like he had just gotten out of bed, but had a coat on big enough to face a severe winter storm.

El had on a giant red puffy coat along with a bright neon purple shirt, and big yellow camo print pants, topping it all off with a fluffy white bucket hat. They both laughed when they saw each other, "You look like a clown," Mike snorted.

El huffed, "Well thanks." Mike quickly spoke up, "But your my little clown! And I love clowns, especially you!" Mike said enthusiastically as he tapped her nose, making her giggle. "Well you look like a homeless person, so you're my little homeless person." El replied shyly. Mike smiled at her, "Do you want to take this shit off now and you can go find clothes you actually like?"

"But I love this outfit! It makes me look like a clown." El said, repeating his words as she shot him a look before going into the dressing room and changing back into her original outfit, Mike doing the same. When they finished changing they returned the clothes and El found some things she actually liked. Mike insisted he pay for it, El argued against it but eventually she gave up knowing it was pointless to argue with Mike Wheeler.

After they left the store El suggested going to a diner she saw while coming into the downtown area. "I think it was called... Cliffhouse Diner?" She said, her answer being more of a question than anything.

"I've heard good things about it, everyone says the milkshakes are phenomenal."

"You know I love a good shake so let's go!" El cheered, Mike rolled his eyes and the two walked over to the diner since it was only a few minutes away and they walked through the parking lot, which was swarming with cars.

The friends walked into the diner and saw the huge line that started from the back of the diner and ending right where the entrance was. People of all ages surrounded them as they enjoyed their food. El looked around, it looked like there were only two people working, an older man and a curly-haired boy.

They waited patiently in the line, spending time laughing and making stupid jokes like they always did. Eventually they made it to the front and El glanced at the menu, she wasn't really hungry and she mainly wanted to try the milkshakes. They ordered two chocolate shakes from the older man who's name appeared to be 'Bob' according to his nametag.

He told them it would be out shortly and he gave them a table number so he could find them easily, and they ventured around the diner to find an open seat. Eventually they found two open seats at the counter near a jukebox in the corner. "This place is so cute! How have we never been here before?" El asked, taking a look around the diner.

Posters on the wall, colorful lights and red seats, the smell of frying oil and burgers wafting through the air. The diner was quite popular, so it was a wonder how they had never heard of it before.

After about 5 minutes Mike saw a curly haired boy walking towards them with two chocolate shakes, sweat drenched his forehead and golden curls peaked out of the corner of his baseball hat. He looked exhausted.

"Table- or seat 11?" He asked them, Mike nodded and he set the shakes down and put two straws on the counter. "You guys look exactly like my two friends that work here." He said examining their faces carefully. "is that a good thing?" Mike chuckled.

"Well the thing is you look exactly like them, I actually thought you were them- sorry for being annoying. Anyway, sorry if the shakes aren't the best you've ever tasted, my friend Jane is a pro at making them and of course, instead of helping out on one of the busiest days of the summer, she's getting ready for a date with her boyfriend." The boy shook his head with a sigh, "Oh well, enjoy guys." He said before turning and walking into the back.

El unwrapped her straw and stuck it in the shake and took a sip. "Holy- wow this is amazing," She said, drinking more of it. Mike took a sip of his and wow, she was right. They were amazing.

"They put unicorn magic in here, this is so good." El gushed, "The boy said the girl who is really good isn't here, I wonder what those would taste like." Mike said as he sipped more of it. "If it got better than this, we'd be dreaming." El said before drinking more and more of it.

"Hey slow down there, Picasso, you're going to get a brian freeze." Mike said, "No I'm not! Unicorns wouldn't do that to me!" El argued as she took another sip.

Mike waited, he knew it was coming. Suddenly her face scrunched up and she groaned, "Nevermind." She mumbled.

Mike shrugged and sipped on his, "What did I say?"

"Shut up." Soon enough the two finished their milkshakes and left the diner. They spent the rest of the day together, as they always did. But Mike kept reminding himself that he would only have 2 more days with El until she left, and he couldn't stand the thought of it.

Author's Note:

2 more until we get to the actual plot! Hope y'all got my puppy love refrence in there, it was pretty hard to miss- unless you haven't read it but most of you probably do lol.

anyway, hope you enjoyed! see you next chap <3