Empathy (Billy Hargrove)

1.6 - TINA'S PARTY (PART 1)

A/N: Ended up splitting this chapter into two because just Part 1 is over 3000 words!  ENJOY!  And please like and let me know what you think!

Jackie had just finished putting on some dark red lipstick when she heard the horn from Jonathan's car.  She looked herself over in her bathroom mirror once more before grabbing her black leather jacket off her bed and making her way out of the house.

"Damn, Jackie?!" Jonathan cursed, "You uh, you look great."  His jaw was hanging open as he took in the high-waisted black leather pants and the fitted, low-cut, black shirt that hung off her shoulders – exposing her collarbones and just a slight bit of cleavage.  Her black hair that was naturally straight and fell to her waist, had been curled, teased, and sprayed with copious amounts of hairspray to make it big and poofy.

"Thanks, Jonathan," she smiled at the boy, "I decided to borrow some of my mom's old clothes still lying around.  You look good too."  The Byers boy was just wearing his usual, jean pants, a plain t-shirt – this one was a nice tan color – and his dark jacket, but he genuinely always did look nice.  "Nancy is going to be happy to see you," Jackie said in a sing-song voice as Jonathan drove them to the party.

"No," he shook his head and acted bashful, "she's probably not going to even notice."  He winced lightly as Jackie smacked his arm.

"Jonathan Byers! She will so notice you!  As the girl who has been a wallflower at Hawkins for the past year, I've seen a lot of stuff – believe me – and the way she acts around you, the looks she gives you, it's... it's obvious!" Jackie huffed and slouched back in her seat when Jonathan started protesting again.  "Look, I'm here to support you on this and god damnit – you are at least going to have some fun, talk to Nancy, and at share a dance with her!"

Jonathan looked over to the raven-haired girl with shock. For the past year they had been hanging out more together, she had always been very subdued.  This Jackie Johnson he was seeing reminded him of her old self before her mother died – feisty, fiery, and full of life.  He grinned at his friend as he put the car in park, "Okay," he nodded, "Okay! We're going to have us some fun." 

Jackie shot a wide grin to the boy, excited to see him fired up too now, "And don't forget, you owe–"

"Yeah, yeah, I owe you big time," he interrupted and nudged her shoulder.

The two teens smiled at each other for a moment before glancing through the windshield at the party in full throttle ahead of them.  Both of them were nervous for their own personal reasons.  For Jonathan, it was going to his first ever high school party and what he'd do when he saw Nancy.  Jackie, well, she was nervous about returning to the party scene after her long hiatus.  She knew that most of the teens at the party would shoot her leers and jeers, but she also hoped most of them would be too drunk at this point to pay mind.  She also knew that somewhere in the throng of drunk teenagers, was Billy Hargrove.  Jackie didn't know what or how she should feel about that though, so she pushed that to the back of her mind.

She took a deep breath in to calm herself and donned some fake confidence to get her through the night, "Well, Byers, here goes nothing."

Jackie and Jonathan made their way through the front yard of Tina's house, avoiding the empty cans of beer and a teenage boy who was retching into the grass.  Music could already be heard blasting inside the house as well as many teenage voices.  Jonathan shot the raven-haired girl a look at she simply shrugged.