.

El's heart skips a beat when she looks out the window and sees Mike waiting for her at the bus stop, clutching a bunch of wilted roses. She wiggles in her seat, hardly able to contain herself. It feels like forever since the last time she saw him even though he had come up for the long weekend in January, 3 weeks earlier and they had talked on the phone every night.

The bus pulls to a complete stop and she grabs her backpack, thankful that she was sitting so close to the door as she bolts off, barely thinking the driver before stumbling into Mike's waiting arms.

"I missed you," he says to her in way of greeting, as he hugs her fiercely.

"I missed you too," she replies, releasing a deep breath and burying her face into his chest.

Mike reluctantly releases her. "Mom and Holly are waiting in the car, we should go and meet up with them," he tells her. "My dad is taking her out for Valentine's Day tonight, we don't want to keep him waiting."

El nods, wishing she could have stayed in his embrace a little bit longer. But he eases her hand into his and the contact makes it a little easier to let him go. They walk to Karen's station wagon together, stealing glances at each other and smiling. She feels absolutely giddy now that they're back together again, she can barely stand it.

When they get back to the Wheeler's house, there's a flurry of activity while Ted and Karen get ready to go out for their date. They leave a long list of instructions for El and Mike about what to do and what not to do before they disappear for the evening.

The first order of business is to get dinner because El's stomach is grumbling, so Mike orders a pizza and El settles in with Holly to watch a Disney movie while they wait for the food to arrive. It's not exactly the kind of romantic night El imagined, but it was kind of silly to think they would sit on a glass table with a cake between them while The Thompson Twins played in the background.

A night with Holly sandwiched between them and Cokes is better than nothing. It's better than lying on the floor, listening to sad records while she pines for Mike and Joyce pines for Hopper.

Besides, it's not like Holly will be awake all night. There might be time to squeeze in an I love you and a slow dance after she goes to bed.

After they watch another movie, Holly announces she's going to sleep. She makes a big deal out of bidding them both goodnight.

"You don't have to go you know," Mike tells her. "It's not even your bedtime!"

"It's Valentine's Day. You should spend some time with El," Holly replies generously.

Mike doesn't think he could love his little sister more than he does at that moment. He smiles at her and gives her a peck on the cheek. "We'll do something with you tomorrow," he promises, even though he's not sure what it'll be yet. "Do you want us to come with you while you get ready for bed? Maybe tuck you in?"

For a second, it looks like Holly's considering it, but then she shakes her head. "Mike, I'm not a baby!" she protests. "Hang out with El."

"Okay. I'm going to come upstairs and check on you in a little bit though," Mike warns her.

"Okay," Holly echoes, smiling sweetly at him. "Good night Mikey. Goodnight El."

"Alone at last," Mike kids as he slides closer to El on the couch and jokingly pretends to yawn and stretch before draping his arm around her shoulder. "Hi," he whispers.

"Hi," El replies, smiling at him.

"I have something for you," Mike says, suddenly.

El thinks about the tape, card, and little gift she purchased for him in her backpack. "I have something for you too."

"I'll be right back," Mike tells her, bounding off to his bedroom.

El goes to the hallway to retrieve her gifts, carefully pulling them out one by one. When she turns around, Mike is back again.

"Are you ready?" she asks, suddenly nervous that she got Valentine's Day horribly wrong because she hadn't had the opportunity to celebrate at all.

The year before, Mike had shyly given her Conversation hearts and a construction paper heart. Hopper had underestimated Mike, so she hadn't had anything for him.

"Ready," Mike answers, leading her back to the living room.

"You have to put this on first," El says, handing over the mixed tape she had instructed Jonathan to make for her with a list of carefully chosen songs.

"Sure," Mike answers, taking ht and going over to his mom's new cassette player, he presses play and To Late To Turn Back Now fills the air. "Do you want to open your gift first?" he asks.

"You go first," El says, thrusting the package at him.

He nods and sits down, unwrapping it. It's a scrapbook of all the pictures she and Mike have taken together over the past year with song lyrics and other things that reminded her of them. He looks up and beams at her. "I love it," he says sincerely.

"Are you sure?"

Mike continues to flip through the pages. "Yes," he replies.

"I left some pages blank for the rest of our adventures."

"And we can always get another one after we fill this one up," Mike tells her.

After he spends a few more minutes looking at and admiring the scrapbook, he hands her a package. It's smaller than her's, about the size of the palm of her hand. She pulls the paper off and reveals a small velvet box. El lifts the lid and discovers a gold, heart-shaped locket. It's a piece of jewelry that only the most popular girls at school have.

"Oh, Mike. . ."

"Don't worry about how much it cost me!" Mike hurries to tell her. "I just wanted you to have a physical reminder that you have my heart when we're not together. I also hoped it would be a symbol that. . . " he pauses and takes a deep breath. "I love you El."

"I know," El says.

"I never said it to you though and I should have. Before I told anyone else, I should have told you in the grocery store, or after you said it to me and I'm sorry it's taken me four months to—"

El cuts off his rambling by kissing him, the necklace clutched in her fist, both hands framing his cheeks. "Mike, it's okay!" she reassures him, he opens his mouth to say something else but she shakes her head. "I'm positive! I love you too."

Mike is utterly glowing. "Can I put your necklace on for you?"

El nods, grateful to let him do it. She's dying to see how it looks on her. As soon as it's clasped around her neck, she darts to the bathroom to steal a glance of herself in the mirror. Mike follows her. She smiles when she sees it draping over her collarbone.

"Pretty," she tells him.

"You look good wearing my future," Mike tells her, it's a quote from a movie but he makes it sound effortless and completely not cheesy.

El turns around and looks at him. "There's something else l want to do with you," she says, pulling him back to the living room.

It's perfect timing, the song that has been most reminding her of Mike has started to play.

"What do you want me to do?" Mike asks. "Just tell me and I'll do it."

"Dance with me," El replies, holding out her hands for him.

Mike smiles and sweeps her up into a slow dance, swaying with her to the music. He holds her as close as possible and she sighs contentedly.

They're broken out of their moment by giggles.

"Holly!" Mike groans. "I knew it was too good to be true."

Holly peeks her head around the corner and smiles at them sheepishly. "I couldn't sleep."

"I told you it was too early," Mike replies, unamused.

"Come on," El interrupts. "We can watch something on TV until you get sleepy." she glances at Mike. "Come on, we'll have plenty of other Valentine's Days together," she reminds him.

Mike sighs, already giving in. "Okay. What would you like to watch, Holl?"

It wasn't the most ideal Valentine's Day but El wouldn't have traded being with Mike for anything else in the world.

The End

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Author's Note:

This was written in the throes of writer's block. So, let me apologize now for the abrupt ending and the slice of life story that probably has no coherency whatsoever. Also, let me just tell you… and I've probably already said this before, it's so weird writing your own name in a story over and over again. The title comes from Over & Over again by Bobby Vinton. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this and that you will tell me what you thought. Hopefully, I will be back with more soon. Wishing you all a very Happy Valentine's Day!

Until Next Time!

Love,

Holly