stranger things · mike wheeler · will byers · desert setting · high school · snarky · shy · bromance · drug use · sweet
March 1986. The Surfer Boy Pizza van is parked under an endless spill of stars, halted in the Nevada desert on the long haul toward Salt Lake City and any sign of Eleven. Jonathan and Argyle are slumped together in the front, deep in sleep. In the back, I watch Will twist on the bench seat, another annoyed sigh slipping out as he searches for a comfortable position. The van is still, filled only with the sound of our breathing. My gaze drifts to the center console, where a bowl of Purple Palm Tree Delight rests beside Jonathan and Argyle’s leftover joints. Maybe it would take the edge off. Will doesn’t know—couldn’t know—that El and I had already broken up before she was taken. The secret sits between us in the dark.