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𓆩♡𓆪
MARCH 1986
PARTIES. DRUGS. ALCOHOL. IT is Martel family tradition that when something goes wrong, you party and drink and do drugs until you forget why you came to the shitty party in someone's random house and then you're just—partying.
Brooke was brought up to hide things. Hide emotions. Hide the glares. There's a breaking point. Everything had stacked up that night and Brooke's body had finally given up on her. Thankfully, that was the only thing that had given up on her.
After the Byers family and El had left for Cali, Brooke's armor had started to chip away. The arguments at the Martel house got worse than Danny or Brooke could ever remember.
Both kids started to jump homes. Brooke was tired of Danny staying in that house when she wasn't so Danny would sleep wherever Brooke was that night. Steve's house. Paisley's house. The occasional Wheeler house, thankfully Karen loves Brooke and Danny so Ted could never argue it.
Unless she knew she was gonna be blacked out by the time she got to a friends house, then Danny would just stay home or call up Lucas so he could stay there.
And it is one of those nights. Danny is currently at Lucas' being forced to play basketball while Brooke begins her blackout adventure of the night.
Beer slides down the girl's throat as her body moves along to the beat. Rock Me Amadeus blasts through the house party.
Paisley and Brooke dance to the beat as Steve and Robin watch against the wall.
"When are we cutting off Brooke tonight?" Robin shouts. Honestly, she'd rather be anywhere else but that's what you get for liking a party girl. They have tried to tell Brooke to just stay in tonight or that they just don't wanna go but Brooke goes either way and there's no way any of them will let her go alone to a party.
"That's her fourth beer," Steve points at his girlfriend with his own solo cup, "If she goes for a fifth—"
"If? You mean when," Robin laughs. Steve clenches his jaw. It was never fun to watch Brooke cope in such a way. The drugs and drinks drown it out for 4 hours at most and then when she wakes up next to Steve or Paisley and it's all back.
The hole in Casey's chest. The look on Joyce's face when she had put it all together. The letter from Hopper that remains unopened. None of it ever leaves Brooke's mind. She's laughed, she's been happy since then yes but as soon as she feels okay, her brain reminds her that it should've been her. It shouldn't have been Casey or Hopper.
Stella reminds her of that all the time.
It's not like everyone has been ignoring Stella and her grief. Paisley and Nancy are the ones who mostly check on her in school or if they just decide to give her a call but Stella Machado officially wants Brooke Martel dead.
