CHAPTER ELEVEN;
BROKEN HEARTS CULB.

el appreciated saturdays mornings.

she knew the vast majority of her schoolmates probably spent their mornings sleeping in, but it was the one day of the week she didn't mind waking up with the birds. there was something so comforting about having the whole day to do as she pleased, not confined to a classroom for nearly eight hours.

of course, it was now november and the indiana air was far too cold to brace, so she opted to stay inside. she waddled down the stairs, still dressed in her pajamas though she added a pair of furry socks when she noticed that the crisp air from outside had infiltrated her home.

she let the familiar smell of waffles guide her to the kitchen. there, a robe-adorning joyce stood, refilling her mug with coffee. she looked up to find her step-daughter lingering, "good morning, sweetheart! are you hungry?"

el nodded, "hell yes."

joyce scowled. "el, watch your language. you know your father doesn't like when you swear." el rolled her eyes, knowing joyce didn't truly care if she said 'hell.'

"speaking of, where is dad?" she asked, grabbing a plate from the cabinet and making her way to the stack of warm waffles.

her step-mom leaned against the kitchen island. "he had to go to work extra early. apparently, the grocery store on elmer street was robbed late last night, so he went to check it out."

the brunette nods, not surprised by the information. "and will? is he still sleeping?"

she shook her head. "no, actually he left pretty early this morning, too. he said he was meeting some friends for breakfast at the diner. i assume he's with mike and the boys," she said with a shrug. again, el nods and begins pouring a fair amount of syrup over her eggos. "you know, that's something i wanted to talk to you about, actually."

her wrist stops just before she could scoop her fork into her mouth, "huh?"

"mike wheeler," joyce simply replied with a knowing smirk -- a motherly smirk to be exact.

feigning to be clueless, el furrowed her brows. "what about him?"

"don't play dumb with me, eleanor jane. i've known you for ten years, young lady. i know you," the woman said laughing before sipping her warm beverage. "i figured it out a few nights ago when i saw him dropping you off in front of the millers' house."

el sighed. "please tell me you didn't tell dad."

she shook her head. "don't worry. for a cop, he's alarmingly clueless." the teenage girl giggled because she was right. her dad was clueless. "however, if he does find out, he would be pretty upset with you for lying."

"hey, i'm not lying. i'm just not openly disclosing everything to him, there's a difference," she muses, taking another bite.

joyce's dark brown eyes narrow. "a lie by omission is still a lie, you know that."

"mike and i aren't even serious, joyce." it wasn't a lie. they'd only been doing this for two months. and, el had only (secretly) liked mike for about a month. that's not serious.

joyce purses her lips, releasing a soft hum before speaking, "i don't suppose you two were together when he picked you up for that party around two months ago, were you?" the girl's caramel eyes widen before a guilty smile sweeps her lips. "two months is serious when you're in high school. definitely long enough for him to meet your father."

"that's the thing, mike's already met dad. mike's practically his third son," she reminds.

"well, how do you think he would feel if his son was dating his daughter?"

el scrunches her nose in disgust. "joyce, that's incest. mike and i were never even friends before."

"i know, which leads me to my next question: how the hell did you end up dating mike wheeler?" she asked with a hearty chuckle.

el shrugs. "it's sort of a long story." she silently huffs when joyce sets her coffee down and rests her elbows on the counter, a quiet way of telling her to tell this 'long story.' "well, i guess it's not that long of a story. it's just when things happened with shelly and troy, mike was really there for me because he and brooke had just broken up. we were going through the same thing and became friends somehow. things just developed after that, i guess."

joyce nods, taking in the new information. "wait, how does will feel about all of this? does he know?"

el eats her last bite and then pushes her plate forward. "yes, he knows. it's why he's been ignoring me and leaving early in the mornings. he doesn't want to drive me to school because then he'll have to talk to me. he's the same way with mike."

being such a mom, joyce instinctively took the syrup stained plate and placed it in the sink behind her. "i'm sorry, sweetie. i'm sure he's just having a tough time accepting it. i mean, how would you feel if he started dating your best friend?"

el scoffs. "that's where things get kind of twisted." she continues at the sight of her stepmom's confusion. "he's been hanging out with shelly a lot lately. i assume that's who he's with now, actually because he definitely isn't with mike."

joyce's round eyes grow in size, "wait, shelly as in --"

"yes."

the shock was evident across the older woman's face, "wow, i can't believe he would do that."

el nods, pulling her hair up into a messy ponytail on the top of her head with the scrunchie on her wrist. "you and me both."

their attention was stolen by the sound of three rapid knocks before the front door opened, "el?!" she recognized the desperate voice to be her ginger best friend. both el and joyce exited the kitchen to find max lingering with damp cheeks.

el gasped. "max? what happened?!" she asked worriedly. joyce could tell this was none of her business and mouthed to el that she was going to go before hastily disappearing from their sight.

max's eyes were coated with a red tint that somehow intensified the blue of her orbs. she shook her head frivolously, "i-i don't know, everything was -- it was fine, and then," she paused to let out a soft cry, "we got into a huge fight."

el's eyes softened, now realizing why max was so uncharacteristically emotional. "it's okay, max. you guys fight all the time, you always get through it," she soothed, rubbing the shaking girl's shoulder and leading her to the couch in the living room.

"n-no, you don't understand. lucas -- he broke up with m-me."

el tried her best not to let her shock show. she'd always known the couple to bicker one minute and then the next, they're practically dry-humping one another under the bleachers. despite the petty fights they would pick, they always made up. "what happened?"

max wiped the back of her wrist across her chin that was wet from her trailing tears, and el moved the hair that clung to her damp cheeks. "he said he was tired of fighting." her cries grew louder and she began to heave, "h-he said i was t-too much for him, and he didn't know if it was worth it anymore."

the brunette couldn't imagine lucas saying such things, knowing how much he adored the ginger. "oh, max. i'm so sorry. of course, you're worth it. he's just being an idiot."

the crying girl shook her head, "no, he's right! i have been too much! he said i'm hot and cold, and he's tired of it. he's tired of me." her last words came out in a hoarse whisper.

"when did this happen?" el wondered, still playing with max's unkept tresses in an effort of comfort her.

"last night when i went over to his house. we had planned to -- you know -- but then he said he wanted to go to some party with mike and dustin and, so i yelled at him -- things kind of just got worse and worse from there," she explained, pausing every few words to release another soft sob.

el had to fight the urge to ask about the party mike went to though he had told el he had a family dinner when she asked about getting fries at the dinner. she shook the thought from her mind, knowing max was the most important thing right now. "you guys were mad, max. i'm sure you two will work things out. you're max and lucas, you're going to be together forever. if you two don't end up together, then there's absolutely no hope for any of the rest of us." max nods, trying to believe el's words. "have you eaten? have you slept?"

"i cried myself to sleep last night, and then i came here as soon as i woke up," she explains, which made sense in el's mind seeing as max was wearing pajama pants and her hair was packing a fair amount of knots.

el nods, "well then, let's get some waffles in your stomach and then you can take a shower upstairs, okay?" the redhead nods, a frown still formed upon her lips.

/ / /

max had eaten, showered, and was now sleeping soundly upstairs in el's room. joyce didn't want to impose on the two so she left to run some errands, leaving el to watch some saturday cartoons in the living room.

she rolled her eyes at the screen, bored out of her mind. she wanted to go upstairs and grab her new book, but she was too scared of waking up max.

as the thought left her mind, she heard a collection of knocks at the door. her brows furrowed as she tossed the quilt joyce's mom had sewn off of her legs and shuffled to the front door.

she certainly wasn't expecting to find mike knocking at her door on an early saturday. "hi?" she greets, more so as if she was asking a question.

he lightly laughed, "hey! i was coming to see if you wanted to go by the diner? on me, of course."

she shook her head. "i kind of can't. max is upstairs sleeping. i assume lucas told you what happened."

by the way his eyebrows contorted, he didn't have any idea what it was she was talking about, "no? what happened?" she sighed and gestured for him to come in, losing warmth from the open door. he complies.

el was unsure if she should be telling anyone. after all, it wasn't her relationship. but then she figured he would find out eventually, "they broke up."

his reaction was similar to el's earlier as his eyes bugged and his mouth gaped, "wait, really?!"

"keep your voice down!" el whisper-yelled, pointing at the stairs in reference to the sleeping max.

he rolled his eyes, "the girl slept through a fire alarm at school. she's practically dead when she's asleep."

"i don't care. she's probably exhausted from all the crying. i don't want you to risk waking he rup," el remarks, crossing her arms. suddenly the thought of mike's family dinner lie fights to the forefront of her mind, and her anger returns. "so ... how was your dinner with your family?"

he looks confused, "huh?"

"you said nancy came home for the weekend, and that you guys were having a family dinner, remember?" she reminds, curious if he'll just tell her the truth.

his mouth forms an 'o' shape, "oh, yeah! right, yeah, it was fine. pretty boring. she just talked about college the whole time. nothing special."

but of course, not. why would he tell the truth when lying to her was just so simple? "right, so that party that lucas wanted to go to with you and dustin was just lucas lying, huh?"

an 'oh shit' expression wiped over the area of his face, knowing he had been caught in a lie. "el, i'm--"

"no, mike. it's fine," she interrupts, obviously not fine. "just next time you don't want to hang out, don't bullshit me. i thought we were friends, and friends don't lie to each other."

he sighs. "i swear it's not like that. i did want to hang out, i just ..." he trails off, trying to think of some sort of explanation.

"mike, i'm not a child. you wanting to go party with your friends rather than sitting at the diner with me makes sense, and it doesn't even hurt my feelings. but finding out you lied to me about it was pretty shitty."

he nods, "you're right. you're completely right, and honestly, i don't even know why i didn't tell you. i guess i didn't want you to take offense or something. but i didn't go to the party to party with my friends, i actually went to talk to brooke. it was at her best friend's house."

okay, that information she could've done without. she'd been shoving her feelings away for nearly a month, and every time his ex's name was uttered, she tensed. she shook her head, "and what'd she say?"

a toothy smile pulled at his plump lips, and her heart sunk. "i think her and her boyfriend are breaking up soon," he replied, triumphantly.

"she said that?"

his smile faltered slightly before repositioning. "well. no, not in those words. she said things hadn't been working out lately. apparently, he doesn't make time for her, and all he ever does is go to practice and hang out with his friends," he explained with a smirk.

"that's great, mike," she lied, knowing it was the exact opposite than great. it was terrible, and she hated herself for feeling this way. she had absolutely no right. this was fake, they were fake.

he nods, heading to the living room and making himself at home in the house he had slept over at so many times. "want to watch a movie?"

she follows him and teases, "if you don't have any more family dinners, then sure." he chuckles, and she plops beside him on the couch, pulling the blanket on top of her.

he comfortably rests his arm on the back of the couch behind her head. she knew she was going to miss little things like this when he got back together with brooke, her stomach churned, imagining him sitting across the cafeteria with his arm around the blonde.

"do you love brooke?" the words were escaping her lips before the gears in her brain could even process them?

he looked taken back, "uh, what?"

"when i asked you before, you said you guess you do, but do you?" she pried, having no clue what's come over her.

he shrugged, "well then yeah. like i said, i guess. i'm not one for romantic shit."

she kinked a brow. "you don't have to be romantic to be in love, mike."

"well, all that stuff makes me uncomfortable. i don't know, it's just sappy. not my thing," he replies, staring at the tv that was playing muted cartoons.

"did you guys not ever say 'i love you'?" she asked, having a hard time grasping that they dated for like a year and a half and never said the three words.

he swallowed, appearing to be annoyed by this conversation. "yeah, she said it, i would just say things like 'you too' or something. it's not a big deal. it's just words."

el sits up straighter, surprised by his stance on love. "wait, you're serious? you've built a whole fake relationship with me all in an effort to win back a girl you can't even say 'i love you' to?"

okay, he was most definitely annoyed now. "el, drop it."

he was saved by the bell -- well, more like the opening of the front door.

in walked will and shelly, giggling about something one of them must've said before walking in. they peered into the open living room to find the 'couple' on the couch.

el scoffed, muttering a low, "you've got to be kidding me," so quietly that only mike could hear.

mike laughed, tugging her closer into his body and pulling her face into his chest hoping she wouldn't explode -- though she had every right. "down. girl," he teased softly. he looked at the two new friends, "if you two go upstairs, be quiet. max is sleeping."

will asked, "why is she asleep? it's a half past twelve?"

"you'll find out later," mike curtly replied, having no interest of holding a conversation with him. he was pissed at him on el's behalf. will just rolled his eyes before gesturing for shelly to follow him upstairs.

"thank you," she mumbled against the material of his shirt.

to her absolute and total surprise, he placed a gentle kiss to her forehead. "i got you, sweetheart."

...

a/n: thank you sm for reading this shitty book. i'm sorry this chapter was ew, but it's vital to the story. also, sorry this took so long to update. i'm kind of taking a break from wp for personal reasons. idk when the next update will be bc the holidays are busy at my house, but i hope you guys have a happy holiday!! grazie, x

word count: 2865