Dating Lucas again wasn't as bad as Max thought it would be but it also wasn't enough. Even though it had only been a week she knew that this wouldn't help get rid of her feelings for Mike.

She was still ignoring him. She didn't care that that brought up questions and suspicions, she had to ignore him. It was the only way she felt that was actually making her forget about her feelings for him. She knew that burying her feelings for someone wasn't simple but she would try her hardest to make sure she succeeded. She wanted to be happy and that wasn't going to happen if she remained stuck on Mike who was with El.

Mike had started distancing himself from pretty much everyone, including El. He was still trying to figure out why Max being with Lucas bothered him so much. The idea of him having caught feelings for her occurred to him several times but he shook it off each time, reminding himself he was dating El and that he didn't even know Max that well. You couldn't have feelings for someone you barely knew, right?

Everyone was concerned about Mike and always tried to invite him to hang outs but he just shoved them away. He was acting the way he had a few years ago when he thought he lost El. And no one appreciated his behaviour.

Mike was sitting in his room, listening to music and just sitting on his bed, staring out the window. He was trying so desperately to think of anything besides Max and Lucas but couldn't. He couldn't even drive himself to think about El. He was mad at himself and just confused. He really wanted to know what was going on in his head.

He jumped when his door opened and he quickly looked back to spot El standing in the doorway. Seeing her used to bring an immediate smile to  his face but this time that didn't happen, he just looked at her with a confused expression.

He stood up and turned off his music so they could talk, figuring that was why she came. Once he did he looked at her and said, "hey."

El gave him an angry look which worried him. He hadn't done anything wrong, had he? She shut the door behind her as she then made her way over to his bed, shoving him lightly to sit down on it too. "What's going on Mike?" She asked seriously as she faced him, sitting criss cross on the bed.

"What do you mean?" He asked. He wasn't really sure what she was talking about. Nothing was going on as far as he knew. But after he thought about it for a moment he realized she was probably talking about him isolating himself.

He didn't want to lie to her but he couldn't tell her the truth. "I've just had a lot on my mind recently," he said back, giving the best answer he could that wasn't really a lie but didn't give away the full truth either.

"Like what?" She asked curiously, anger had seemed to fade from her expression. Now that she knew why she just wanted to know what had happened that he was thinking about so much. Especially since nothing major happened that she knew of.

Mike was stuck. What could he say he had been thinking about that would be believable? He knew it was still kind of easy to lie to El but he felt bad whenever he did and she had gotten better at being able to tell when he lied about something.

When he didn't answer she said his name in a soft voice and tapped him quickly. He blinked as he then bit his lip, muttering quietly, "sorry." She shrugged it off as she then gave him a wide eyed look, letting him know she was still waiting for an answer to her question.

"Just family problems," he said, it was the only thing he could think of. He brought a hand up to rub his neck nervously as he looked at her. He really hoped she would believe that. El studied him for a moment before nodding. She didn't reply for a minute which worried Mike.

Once she did reply he sighed, "what problems?" Why did she have to ask that? He didn't know what family problems he could make up. "I don't want to talk about it," he said back, just hoping she would get the hint it was a sensitive topic to him and wouldn't question him further. That was his last chance of getting out of this.

"Okay, I'll always be here for you if anything bad happens," she said with a nod as she gave him a comforting smile. He let out a breath of relief, glad she believed him.

"Thank you," he said back as he returned a smile. She leaned forward and hugged him. He hugged her back for a moment before pulling away. He looked at her for a moment before cupping her face and kissing her.

He hadn't wanted to but he knew he should just so she wouldn't think anything else was up with him. She was his girlfriend, he should have immediately wanted to kiss her. But he didn't. He pulled away from her after a few seconds and his cheeks weren't flushed like they normally were whenever he and her kissed before. He couldn't notice though.

"I love you Mike," El said. Ever since that day when the Byers moved away they had exchanged a few 'I love yous'. He had meant it all those times and he meant it this time too but at the same time something felt wrong, like he shouldn't be saying it. There was a voice in the back of his head telling him he no longer loved her and he quickly shoved it away. He didn't need thoughts like that.

El smiled after he said it back before grabbing one of his hands and holding it in hers. "Can we hang out tomorrow sometime?" She asked in a sweet voice as she gave him a puppy dog eyed look. "Sure," he said with a nod just so he wouldn't upset her.

She gave him a quick peck before she left his room, saying bye to him. Once she shut the door after her he let out a sigh. He groaned as he then made his way downstairs to the basement. He needed to talk to someone about all his thoughts. He couldn't handle them anymore and needed opinions on what they meant. He picked up the phone and quickly dialed Dustin's number. When he answered he went into panic mode, "help me! I don't like Max and Lucas being together again and I don't know why and I'm not sure if I love El anymore!!"

"Woah, slow down Mike," Dustin said back, having only partially understood what his friend said. Mike took in and let out a breath before talking again, repeating himself but more slowly and calmly so Dustin would be able to understand him.

There was a pause for a moment and Mike knew that Dustin was trying to figure out what to say so he didn't rush him. He just wanted answers, he didn't care how quickly he got them. As long as he got them that was all that mattered. "Mike... don't get mad but I think that maybe you're catching feelings for Max? Is that possible? You two seemed like you were gonna start a friendship but it just stopped suddenly," Dustin said slowly.

Dustin hadn't found out about Mike comforting Max until he called him one day and accidentally talked about it. He thought Mike had still hated her until that day. Since then he has mostly just been confused on the twos relationship, especially when Max started ignoring him. And espeically since he didn't know all the details.

Mike let out a sharp breath. That wasn't possible, he had been over this several times with himself. But he then told himself that being with El was no reason to prevent him from gaining feelings for someone else. Sure it meant that he shouldn't like anyone else but that couldn't stop that from happening. And so what if he didn't know Max that well? He could still like what he did know about her.

When Mike didn't reply Dustin questioned him, "Mike? Are you mad?" He was worried that Mike would tell him his idea was wrong and stupid. It was a pretty far fetched idea so he was worried.

"No I'm not mad," Mike was able to reply. He was mad at himself, but not Dustin. In fact, he was thankful because he felt he was going to help him finally figure out all his thoughts and feelings. He heard an audible sigh of relief from his friend before he spoke again, "do you think that's possible?"

"I don't know. I don't know the full story of what happened between you and her or anything so I couldn't say. To me it seems far fetched but you would know better than I would," Dustin said back matter of factly as he shrugged even though Mike couldn't see him.

Mike bit his lip as he let out a curse and Dustin became worried again, "Mike? Are you sure you're not mad?"

"I have feelings for Max fucking Mayfield," Mike said, more to himself as he let out a loud sigh.

Dustin was about to reply when Mike continued, "do you realize how bad this is?! I'm with El, I'm supposed to like her but now I'm starting to like someone else! Someone who is with someone else and has no interest in me!! Fuck fuck fuck!" Mike ran his free hand through his hair.

"Mike calm down would you? Yes this is bad but don't beat yourself up over it," Dustin said back, trying to help Mike feel at least a little bit better since he was clearly distraught over this new found realization.

"Dustin, I have a girlfriend!!! I don't want to mess up our relationship," Mike said back frantically.

"Maybe you won't. Not if you end it," Dustin suggested. "What? Why would I do that? I have no chance with Max so there would be no point for me to break up with El," he said back in disbelief.

"I never said you would have to get with her in order to break up with El. I'm saying you should so you don't end up hurting her. If you don't love her anymore there's no point in staying with her. You and I both know you won't be able to just magically fall back in love with her and make things right," Dustin explained simply.

Mike let out a sigh, "yeah you have a point. But I just don't want to. It'll break her heart." He didn't want to break El's heart, she didn't deserve that at all. Especially after all she had been through and how much she really thought he and her would be together forever.

"You'll break it more if you don't break up with her and she finds out you like someone else," Dustin said matter of factly.

"Right, right you have a point," Mike said back hurriedly. He didn't want to do this but like Dustin said, it would be for the best.

"Thank you for giving me advice," he said after a moment. He really was thankful that Dustin had tried to help him instead of getting annoyed with his bullshit.

"No problem bud. But one more thing before I hang up. Once you do break up with El do not let your feelings for Max take ahold of you. She's with Lucas, don't try to interfere with them," Dustin said in a warning tone.

Mike understood and didn't think that would be too hard, especially if Max kept ignoring him and he remained isolated from everyone. "Okay," he said simply. Dustin said bye to him before then hanging up.

Mike didn't see why he would end up interfering with their relationship anyways. She was happy and he didn't want to ruin that.

But she wasn't happy. And he would end up interfering. So fucking badly.

***

This chapter sucks. I'm sorry all my late chapters have sucked, they've all been pretty rushed and I had little to none inspiration for them. I promise some of the next chapters will be better!! Also I suck at slow burn because I feel like things are happening too fast but idkkk