You're the best person I know to ask about El. And I've been reading fellow bylers talking about this, so I want to know your opinion because I'm not sure what to think but there's a couple of things I know for certain: El isn't stupid, she saw the painting at the airport (and probably the van, too) and she (possibly) listened their fight at Rink O Mania and Will's "You're The Heart" before the monologue. So, does El know about the identity of Will's mistery "girl"?

oh great question. she definitely isn't stupid, but it could go either "El wouldn't guess about Will because she doesn't know being gay is a thing" or "El might guess because she has no reason to think being gay isn't a thing so her mind is open to what she's seeing". I lean a lot towards the former, because she doesn't know a thing about romance that she hasn't been told by her friends or seen in old movies, and at the time Mike first kissed her I would venture to say she had no idea of the existence of romance/attraction/relationships at all.

I'm inclined to say El didn't hear the rink fight (it's a loud place and they weren't standing right outside where she was) or the van scene (Max's trailer was her first stop and the van thing had already happened right?) but she definitely clocked the airport hug as weird. and for Will to bring the painting to the airport - I mean to actually bring it IN to the airport instead of leaving it in the car makes it pretty evident that it was for Mike (actually, why did he bring it in? was he planning on being like HIMIKEIPAINTEDTHISFORYOU in front of everyone if the reunion went better?) El did say maybe the painting is for a girl, but I don't get why she would be convinced it can only be a romantic gesture when Will gifts art all the time (she and all the rest of the party have his drawings on their walls).

El said she thinks Will likes someone, and I think she sees that something weird is going on between Will and Mike, but I honestly don't think she's put those two puzzle pieces together yet. She's observant, she just doesn't have the photo on the cover of the box to refer to. I think there's a lot that will quickly make sense in retrospect once it dawns on her though.