CHAPTER EIGHT;
WHEN THE PARTY'S OVER.

"remind me next time i ride in a car with you to drink more," mike said as el pulled to a jolting stop, and their unsettling drive to the location of his choosing was finally over.

she rolled her eyes. "you're alive, aren't you?" she defensively replies before looking out the windshield to see where they were. her brows furrowed, "why are we at the quarry?"

the same quarry where ryan cooper had jumped from.

he returned to her a with a smirk before exiting the car. reluctantly, she unbuckled and followed in suit. he popped the back of his car and retrieved a plaid patterned blanket, and proceeded to walk past the parked car to the edge.

she thought for a moment before mirroring his steps as he laid the blanket on the pebbles that coated the ground. "sit," he insisted, taking a seat on the blanket, leading her to believe he came here often — often enough to have a blanket stowed away in his car.

she complied and took a seat, leaving about three feet between them. "you come here a lot, yeah?"

she knew the answer, so she didn't really mind as much when he bypassed her question. "we don't know much about one another, do we?" his eyes were glued on the dark water that resided just 400 feet below them.

she pursed her lips, humming as she considered her answer. "i suppose not, but i know you more than i did two weeks ago."

he chuckles, "well, yeah, obviously. but i was just thinking that if we're going to be doing this for a while, we should at least be friends."

"i thought we already were friends," she voiced, unsure if she was offended.

the freckled boy laughed at the meekness of her words. he assures, "no — wait, i mean, yeah, we are! we just don't know each other very well, so like, tell me something!"

her lips gaped slightly as she lifted her brows. "about me?"

his eyelids weighed, resisting the desire to roll, "no, about quantum physics. yes, genius, about you."

she inhaled deeply, nothing too terribly interesting about herself coming to mind. "well, what do you want to know?"

he shrugged, "anything i don't, i guess."

this would've been a really good time to have some secret talent; however, she had none. curse her father for not forcing her to take piano when she was young, she could be a musical genius by now.

"uh, my mom's dead," she says before thinking, her voice raising higher towards the end as if it was a question. his eyes widened at her bluntness and she immediately scolded herself. "okay, maybe i should've phrased that differently."

he smiled with amusement. "yeah, you should probably ease into something like that."

she giggled, flickering her gaze from the water to the stars. she couldn't help but notice how disgustingly cliché this picture was. if only they were some lovesick couple, then this scene could make john hughes a richer man. but that certainly isn't the case, they're anything but lovesick.

only two teenager in two very different situations, hoping to benefit from a fake relationship with each other.

"i didn't mean for that to sound so — harsh. i mean, she died when i was a baby, so it's fine — well, not fine, obviously. no one wants their mom to die, but i'm not, like, upset or something. i mean," her stuttered words only grew more twisted as she continued. el huffed in frustration. she didn't talk about her mom much — well, actually she never talked about her mother. she only now realized how foreign the subject was to her lips.

mike intervenes, "hey, slow down! i'm still slightly intoxicated, so i can't keep up when you're talking so — confusingly."

she nods, "sorry. i don't really talk about it much, so i guess i don't really know what to say."

"well, do you wanna' talk about it?"

sort of. "no, i'm good."

he laughs, "right. well, then tell me something else. something less — deathy." his alcohol consumption seemed to be stunting his vocabulary.

"mike, i really don't know what to say. there isn't all that much to tell," she heaves.

he redirects his stare from the lake to her. "pancakes or waffles?"

"what?" he only continued to look at her, gesturing for her to answer. "uh, waffles, yeah, definitely. why do you ask?"

"see, now i know you like waffles more than pancakes. i didn't know that before. it's easy," he explains, making it sound simple.

she purses her lips before flipping the roles. "okay, well then, why don't you tell me something i don't know about you."

his eyes lower to the ground as he thinks about her request for a brief moment. "i egged your house two years ago."

her eyes nearly bugged out of her head, "you did what?! that was you?! oh my god, mike!" he was couldn't help but chuckle at her reaction.

"okay, in my defense, i didn't know we were egging your house when i agreed. it was when i was friends with those older kids. apparently your dad busted them for something and they wanted revenge, i was just going along with it," he says, hoping to justify the situation in some way.

she was still shocked. "does will know?" he shook his head. "why did you still do it when you realized it was our house?"

he looked at her guiltily, "i didn't want them to think i was a pussy. i was trying to impress them, i guess. i don't know."

a small frown tugged on her lips. "well, you suck. it was really hot that summer, and every time i'd open my window i was overwhelmed with the smell of rotten eggs."

"i'm sorry. i mean, i'm sort of late saying it but i was just really stupid back then," he apologizes.

"i accept your apology," she returns, feeling a sense of completion. she'd always wondered who egged her house that night in june, and now she knew.

"alright, your turn. something about you," he reminds, leaning back onto his palms.

she squints, thinking. "i definitely haven't egged anyone's house. i think my dad would ground me until they put me in the actual ground. but this one time, i kind of stole a reese cup."

"what do you mean you 'kind of' stole it? how do you 'kind of' steal something?" he queries.

she releases a deep breath. "okay, well, i bought a coke and reese cup but the store clerk forgot to charge the reese cup, so —"

"are you kidding?! nu-uh, that doesn't count," he vehemently protests.

the hazel-eyed girl scowls, but she knew he was sort of right. she had every intention of paying for her treat, it just slipped the clerk's mind and she didn't notice until after she'd left the store.

"i'm sorry we aren't all criminals that egg the sheriff's house!" she jokes, earning an arrogant smirk from him.

"you're right. there has to be lame kids for there to be cool kids. so, i, on behalf of cool kids everywhere, thank you for your sacrifice to sustain the balance," mike remarks. she shoved him lightly, shaking her head at his stupidity.

"i don't know how you've convinced people you aren't a loser. what would they say if they knew you and will went and saw the empire strikes back four times when it came out?"

he corrects, "we only went three times, and that movie is a cinematic masterpiece." she giggles. "what's your favorite movie?"

she subconsciously begins stacking her thumbs before wedging her bottom lip between her teeth. "wizard of oz."

he scrunches his nose. "i hate that movie. the little munchkin people creeped me out."

she ignores his comment and continues, "it was my mom's favorite, so my dad used to play it for me a lot. he'd brush my hair when i was little and watch it with me just about every night."

the curly-headed boy's usual coy expression fades and he nods, "that's a good memory."

she couldn't tell if she detected a hint of envy in his tone, but she dismissed it nonetheless. "yeah, it is. it's probably one of my favorites, along with my parents' wedding. what's your favorite memory?"

he looks away from her and shrugs. "i don't really have sappy memories like that. my family isn't really big on hugging and brushing each other's hair," he laughs but el knows there was no humor to his words. she hides her frown but he notices and decides to steer away from the topic. "so, why were you friends with shelly?"

her orbs seem to grow in size, not expecting him to ask about her former best friend. "oh, um, that's sort of a loaded question."

mike shrugs. "you don't have to answer. i've just always been curious. when i would hang at your house with will and she was over, you two just seemed so different. it didn't make sense."

el exhales through her nose before plucking a small pebble off the ground beside the blanket. "i don't know. she kind of just decided we were friends on the first day of middle school. i didn't really have any and she was new. plus, i was pretty desperate for friends, so i wasn't going to argue with her."

"you deserve better friends than her, el," he muses, turning his eyes to the dark sky.

she nods. "yeah." upon the mention of better friends, her mind wandered to max. "do you think max and lucas got home okay?"

"yeah. they're probably at my house by now. it's pretty late," he looked at his watch.

confusion coating her features, she questioned, "your house? why would they be at your house?"

he shrugged nonchalantly, "that's where they always go after parties. max can't go home drunk, or her parents would lose their shit and there's a door to my basement in the back with a key in the light."

"but max and i were supposed to stay at her house, that's where i told my parents i'd be," el explains, growing worried.

he chuckles at her. "well, you could stay at max's, but that might be a little strange tomorrow morning when her parents find you there without her." she groans. "hey, i'm kidding. just stay at my house. my parents never go in the basement, so they won't know you were ever there."

"i don't know if that's such a good idea, mike. if will found out—"

he cuts in, "will won't find out. i'm your friend, el. it's just crashing in my basement, it's not like you're naked in my bed." she ignored the frankness of his words, finding herself caving into agreement. "c'mon, let's go," he stands to his feet.

"okay," she submits, taking the hand he offered her and pulling herself up.

...

a/n: oof, i didn't really love this chapter. my writing is just bad in this, sksks i'm sorry !! that's why it's so short. however, i finally planned this book out to the end and oooh, shit, IM EXCITED!! please vote and comment guys!! thank u for reading !! x

word count: 1880