Breathless~Stranger Things

chapter seven✔︎

Joey didn't remember much about being thirteen besides the fact it was probably the worse year of his life-or as March liked to say-'the worst year of your life so far'. Either way it was terrible. Nancy had up and left their group taking a reluctant Barb with her after Nancy and his fight, he had one of those weird birthdays and was the first in the grade to turn thirteen-although most of his grade was now too-, his body just plain out turned against him, and not to mention his newfound sexuality was a big issue.

So yeah, being thirteen sucked. It sucked ass.

What he did remember and considered to one of his worse memories was Tommy H.'s party. And Jesus did he wish he could forget it.

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Joey didn't know why he even came here. Sure he had been invited by Tommy himself but that didn't mean he had to go, right? But yet here he was, standing on Tommy's front doorstep like an idiot and reaching to ring the doorbell.

Tommy swung the door open, a bright smile on his freckled face. "Johnny!"

"It's Joey." Joey gave him a tight lipped smile in return. 

Tommy just shrugged and moved over, allowing the Dare boy to enter. 

The house was packed full of prepubescent teenagers yelling and singing along to the god awful music Tommy had decided to play. Girls flirted with boys while boys broke stuff and wrestled each other. Joey had always wondered what it would look like to have one brain cell. Now he knew. 

"O-kay, Dare." Tommy clap a hand on the shorter boy's shoulder. "There's drinks in the kitchen along with snacks. Just don't make a mess, kay? My parents will kill me if I do." Joey nodded, Tommy giving him finger guns before walking off.

Joey folded his sleeves over his hands, making them into little mittens. (One thing that had been good about that year was Joey finding his love of thrift store sweaters.) He walked to the kitchen in search of Barb and/or snacks. 

Tommy H was a nice enough kid. A little intense but nice. Joey wouldn't drop everything to be friends like him like he knew other people would. Tommy was just another face in the sea of people in his life. He just felt 'eh' about him.

Steve Harrington on the other hand was Joey's dream boy. With his stupid poofed up hair and his stupid beautiful smile, perfect from years of braces. He was Joey's gay awakening and Joey's crush on him wasn't going away for a long time.

Joey watched as Steve entertained a group of girls, gesturing wildly with his hands as he told a story. The girls laughed, Steve laughing as well. His eyes wandered away as the hairs on the back of his neck pricked up. He turned his head, meeting Joey's eyes who embarrassedly looked down and kept walking. 

The kitchen luckily wasn't as crowded as the living room, only a few lingering bodies remaining. He spotted a familiar head of red hair over by the punch bowl and smiled. "Hey, Barb."

She turned and gave him a soft smile but Joey noticed the nervousness in her eyes. "H-hey Joey."

He clapped his clothed hands together, "So, how's the party going? Is it totally tubular?" He spoke last bit in a shitty California voice, mocking the surfer on tv the two used to watch. He grimaced as his voice cracked. Barb giggled at the reference and nodded. "I'm stoked."

"Barb!" A shriek voice squealed.

The two friends turned their heads to the door way, a fuming Nancy glaring at Joey. She looked to Barb in disbelief, "What do you think you're doing?"