my girl, forever and always || steve harrington

trick or treat, freak

part two

laurie's beaten up road runner pulled up to the spot where lydia and the gang stood and she gave him a wave. she hugged dustin and the rest of the boys and gave them a quick talk before running to the car.

"you guys be safe out there, okay? i told mom that i was going to go to the party after trick-or-treating, so just look out for each other. okay?" the boys all nodded in approval and said goodbye to the older girl as she hopped in the car.

"man, she looks hot in her costume." lucas commented. dustin smacked the boy in the arm.

"dude, that's my sister." he retorted.

"i mean, he's not wrong." mike added on, which resulted in another smack in the arm.

~

the couple pulled up to the party, and immediately they heard about the new guy. seemed like he was making quite an impression on everyone. a dude with blond hair she had never seen before- who she presumed was the new kid- caught her eye and she watched as he sauntered his way up to steve and nancy. she headed over in their direction and heard the conversation.

"we got ourselves a new keg king, harrington."

"yeah, eat it, harrington." tommy commented. before laurie knew it, his girlfriend had disappeared from his side and was standing next to her friend with her arms crossed across her chest. he rushed over, knowing that her stance meant she was getting ready to fight someone.

"so, who's the newbie?" she asked with a fake smile. the fire in her was only intensified when said new kid eyed her up and down like she was a cold soda on a hot day. it disgusted her.

"billy hargrove, and who is this hot little thing?" he asked as he blew the smoke in her face. she grabbed his cigarette from his mouth and crushed it on the ground, earning her an intense glare.

"lydia henderson, and i don't appreciate it when someone blows smoke in my face. so i would suggest not doing it again unless you want your jaw wired shut." she said menacingly. she was getting all up in his face and the chances that she would get into a fight were rising with each second. at this point, laurie knew that there was a chance that she might actually sock the son-of-a-bitch so he took it upon himself to remove her from the situation. he dragged his girlfriend over to the punch bowl where nancy stood, hoping that the presence of the familiar girl would put her at ease.

"fancy nancy! hey girl, how are you?" just as laurie thought, lydia's demeanor completely changed when she saw her friend. she gave nance a squeeze before both of the girls downed their red solo cups of "pure fuel".

"hey nance, slow down." steve warned after appearing next to them. however, the older wheeler just slung her arm around lydia and dipped her cup into the bowl again.

"we're just being stupid teenagers for the night. wasn't that the deal?" she said very matter of factly. her tone was laced with anger and it only made steve more worried. however, before he could say anything, nancy and lydia finished off some drinks and head onto the dance floor, leaving two disgruntled and worried boyfriends.

~

in the time that it had taken jonathan to get to the party, both lydia and nancy had gotten absolutely shit-faced. nancy was dancing with steve and lydia was recovering from her keg-stand with laurie near the punch bowl. it is worth noting that she broke billy hargrove's record by a full 4 seconds which she was extremely proud of. throughout the night, she realized she hadn't seen steph or jonathan. but when the latter walked through the front door, she gasped so suddenly that her boyfriend assumed she was going to vomit and almost went into full panic mode. but when she scrambled up to give the older byers a hug, he was able to relax a little.

"johnny! y-you came! finally, you misseded it. i-i was doing the keg-stand and i almost threw up!" she said excitedly, her words slurred together. however, even in the state she was in, lydia could tell he wasn't paying attention to her. following his gaze, her eyes landed on her blurry best friend and girlfriend on the dance floor. "ohhhh, n-nance huh?" jonathan turned to look at her so fast she thought he was going to get whiplash.

"n-no it's not like that, i ju-" she interrupted him.

"l-listen man, that's none of my busyness." patting her friend on the shoulder, she walked back to the punch bowl. well, not so much walking as it was leaning and stumbling. however, when she got there her boyfriend was nowhere to be seen. in a drunken haze, she tried to find a familiar face in the crowd but was interrupted by the sounds of nancy and steve arguing.

"screw you!" her friend exclaimed in a drunken manner. it was obvious that she had had too much to drink, but she didn't intend on slowing down. steve tried his best to stop his girlfriend from drinking more but it only ended with the bright red punch spilling all over nancy's white top. through her blurry vision, lydia felt like she watched the entire scene in slow-motion. the slow-motion continued as she tagged behind the two as they made their way into the bathroom. it continued as she walked past the bathroom to find a bedroom so she could find a place to lie down. and it continued as she opened a door and found her boyfriend and best friend making out on the bed.

"lydia!" stephanie exclaimed. her lipstick was smeared all over her face. laurie's eyes were wide with the realization of who just opened the door. in the few seconds that it took for everything to properly set in, the drunk girl could've sworn that time actually stood still. the loud music that reverberated throughout the entire house was nothing but a dull roar in the background. the sound of teens conversing was almost unheard and the only thing that she could hear was her heartbeat. she didn't know what to say to them. every word that she had ever learned ceased to exist in her mind and what replaced it was pain. they say you can't hear a heart break but lydia swore she heard something in her. her grip on the handle was so tight her knuckles were white. so much was happening that she didn't even notice the tears streaming down her face. then, in a moment of drunken clarity, she only had one thing to say to the pair.

"i hope you're happy." she slammed the door shut, alarming the people around her. her already blurry vision worsened, thanks to the tears that cascaded down her cheeks. her vision was so bad that she couldn't even tell who grabbed her wrist until she heard his voice.

"hey, what's wrong?" it was rough and slightly unfamiliar, but lydia remembered.

"g-get your hands o-off of me, b-billy." she slurred through hiccups.

"wait, what happened? are you ok-" he was cut off when steve burst out of the bathroom and immediately came to her aid.

"hey! what the hell do you think you're doing?" he yelled as he ripped his best friend's wrist from billy's grip.

"hey man, i didn't make her cry she was like that wh-" he didn't get a chance to finish because steve was already walking off with the silently sobbing girl in tow. once they were outside and sitting in steve's car, he took it upon himself to check the girl for any signs of harm.

"did he hurt you? did he touch you? i swear to fucking god if he touched you i'll fucking kill him ly-" he rambled before lydia threw herself onto him and cried into his blazer. she was an incoherent drunk mess but he wrapped his arms around her and held her as the sound of her sobs filled his car. he stroked her hair and patted her back in an attempt to console her but in her state, she was practically inconsolable. seeing her like this broke him. it hurt his heart to hear her in such pain and anguish that it made him forget about what happened in the bathroom with nancy. nancy. shit.

the realization of what went down hit him like a truck and suddenly there was no air. he suppressed his sobs to the best of his abilities but with lydia clutching him for dear life and the rising pressure in his chest, he choked out a few sobs before crying with his friend. so, the two friends sat in the bmw, entangled in each other's arms with broken hearts.