downpour / mileven au.

twenty-two.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO;
FOUND.

to put it simply, it was a sad picture.

a pretty girl dressed in an equally-pretty dress, her cheeks flushed by her rosy blush and her lips shining from her strawberry lip-balm as she rode her aged bike with a discouraging frown.

she had looked everywhere she could think of for him within the last two hours.

after her short visit to dean's house this morning, she went home and sat in the shower until the water ran cold. as she let the water pour against her skin, she wracked her mind on what she would say to the raven-haired boy when she saw him. would he even speak to her? his pained expression from the night prior flashed through her mind, eliciting a silent whimper.

she knew he went to the fair in montegray with their friends so, she waited until will returned home before showing up at the wheelers' home, in search of the freckle-faced possessor of her fragile heart.

she put on her favorite babydoll dress, white with a floral design, and her beloved jean jacket because, despite it being spring break, there was still a lingering chill in the northern air.

unfortunately, the only wheeler she found at the blocky, two-story house located at the end of the cul-de-sac was his older sister, nancy, who was back in town from college for her own spring break. apparently, as soon as dustin and their friends dropped him off, he grabbed his own car keys and was gone once again without bothering to mention his destination.

determined to speak to him, she searched the diner, dustin's house, lucas' house, even max's house, but he was nowhere to be found. she supposed that's what he wanted, to not but found, but she had to. she had to tell him how much the thought of being 'just will's sister' to him made her heart clench and how he would never be 'just will's friend' to her.

her mind raised as she pedaled faster. the sun was almost completely nestled behind the horizon by now and her legs were burning from the distance she was ridden just to find his stupid ass, but she prevailed.

she blinked back the welling tears, no longer blaming them on the dryness of riding through the breeze because she knew she was growing more and more hopeless the longer this mike-chase went on.

she considered that this is just might be the way things were supposed to go. if she couldn't locate him in a town as tiny and quaint as hawkins, maybe he wasn't hers to find.

the brunette rode past his home once again, huffing to find this his car was still missing from the spot in his driveway. perhaps he meant what he said in the most literal way. maybe now she was only will's sister and that gave him the go-ahead to move on. of course, she didn't want to think of him moving on, but the idea wasn't far fetched. after all, he was mike wheeler.

and so finally, she stopped. not just to catch her breath, which was long and overdue, but to gather her thoughts. no matter how pessimistic and cynical they were becoming, she needed to consider the gloomy thoughts as reality.

she sniffled and pulled a hand away from her worn handle to wipe the tear that was rolling down her warm cheek. she was out of options and she knew it.

she supposed it was around eight, and she should head home before her parents got worried. with a heavy sigh, her dirty white converses hit the pedals again and she rode down the paved path in a familiar direction.