68. Chapter 68

Author's Note/Warning: There is mention of drug use in this chapter, which maybe legal now but wasn't then, so . . . just thought I'd mention it. Also the conversation with and actions of Billy towards Jessica are manipulative and almost predatory in this chapter.

P.S. I have not seen the fourth season yet, as I'm waiting to watch it with a friend, so please don't comment with spoilers of any kind.

Chapter Sixty-Eight

The rest of February flew by relatively smoothly. Jessica still had to put up with the almost daily flirting Billy did in first period, but he hadn't pushed her boundaries again by becoming physical. He hadn't touched her at all, much to her relief.

He hadn't showed up at her house looking for shelter either, so she hoped that meant that his dad hadn't kicked him out again. Even though it was March, it could still get down in the thirties at night. No matter what Billy had done, she didn't want him out there at night, possibly freezing to death.

She doubted he'd had any real trouble, though, because Billy had been right about the fact that she noticed things, and she'd noticed that he hadn't had any new injuries lately. Or not any that had kept him out of school, and not any that were noticeable by how he moved.

She'd also noticed that Steve had backed off a bit when it came to Billy. She'd only had to explain to him once that she didn't like feeling like she was being shown off for him to not overly display their relationship in front of Billy – or at least not in a way that showed possession – and he hadn't followed her into her first period since that first time.

It was now about a week into March and Jessica's birthday was coming up soon. As he'd done the year before, Steve was planning to have a little get together at his house. She didn't want a party. She wanted only the people to whom she was closest to be there, so mostly the kids, her mom, Joyce, Hopper, and El. Besides, if kids from school came, El couldn't, and she wanted El to be there.

There was, however, a party coming up that Friday. One of the seniors was having it. Another no-parents-home-for-the-weekend type of thing, and since neither Steve nor Jessica had been to a party since the one that had ended horribly on Halloween night, they decided they would give this one a go.

She still had to work, of course, but her boss usually let her come in early so she could get off early if she asked him. She would be able to get off at seven instead of nine, and she would have enough time to go home and get ready before Steve picked her up so they could go to the party together.

She also had a brother/sister outing coming up with Dustin. The new Friday the 13th movie was coming out soon, and he needed an adult to go with him. He would rather go with her than go with their mom, not that their mom would take him anyway because she didn't like those types of movies. Jessica didn't really like them either, but she'd watched all the other ones with him, so it was kind of a time-honored tradition.

She just hoped there weren't any surprise nude scenes as there had been in the last one.

Steve pulled up to the Henderson house around eight o'clock that Friday night. He'd given Jessica enough time to get home from work and get ready for the party they were going to. And even if she wasn't ready, he didn't mind going in and waiting for a bit.

He knocked and went in without waiting for anyone to open the door. He immediately saw Jessica's mom in the living room. She was on the couch with some arts and crafts stuff around her.

"Hey, Ms. H," he said.

She looked at him and smiled. "Hello, Steve. Jess will be down in a minute."

It took more than a minute, but the end result was worth it. Jessica came down in a leopard-print shirt, sleeves hanging off the shoulders, and a black skirt that ended a few inches above her knees. His stomach filled with a pleasant warmth as he took her in. This was the first time in a while that he'd seen her in a skirt and it only reminded him of how much he liked seeing her in a skirt.

She was wearing black ankle boots, but they didn't have much a heel on them. They wouldn't because there would be music and, if she drank enough, she would want to dance. Heels weren't conducive to dancing.

She had tamed her hair down to soft waves that fell down over her shoulders. She wasn't wearing much make-up, but he could see the glow of lip gloss on her lips and a small bit of sparkle around her eyes.

"You look great, Jess."

"Thanks," she said before smiling softly and dipping her head.

He smiled too when he noticed that her cheeks had now become a healthy shade of pink.

Steve hadn't really done anything special for that night. He was wearing a black sweater – no jacket because he didn't get that cold, so just a sweater would do – and blue jeans with sneakers. His hair, of course, was on point.

"You ready?"

She nodded and called upstairs to say bye to Dustin, who shouted his goodbye back. She said bye to her mom too, and then went to grab her leather jacket from the coat rack by the door.

Steve led her out to the car, but he kissed her before he opened the passenger door to let her get in. He smiled against her lips when she threaded her fingers through his hair, playing along the nape of his neck.

"You really do look great," he said when he pulled away.

"You just like that I'm wearing a skirt again."

"That – that definitely is in your favor."

She shoved his shoulder playfully. "I knew you only liked me for my legs."

"I mean, you do have great legs."

She grinned and shook her head. "We, uh . . . we should go."

He kissed her one more time and then opened the door for her to get in the car.

Some Prince song was playing when Steve and Jessica stepped inside the house where the party was being held. This party was pretty tame at the moment. It was barely nine o'clock, though. The rowdy crowd wouldn't actually get rowdy for at least another hour.

It didn't take long for Jessica and Steve to find Nancy, who was off to the side with a group of girls that was dancing and talking at the same time. She had a red solo cup in her hand, but she didn't seem to be drunk at all.

Jonathan was nowhere to be seen, but Jessica knew he was at work so she hadn't expected him to be.

"You want a drink?" Steve asked.

She nodded, so they made their way into the kitchen, where there was an assortment of alcohol on the counter. Beer, cheap whiskey, and a bowl of punch. Steve grabbed a beer and then got Jessica a cup of the punch.

She tasted it to make sure there was the right mixture of punch and alcohol. It was a little overwhelming, but it wasn't too bad, so she took another swallow.

Another few songs played as they made their rounds, saying hi to the people they knew. They even danced a few times as the music was mostly upbeat pop songs, ones that were popular enough to be played on the radio. It wasn't until "Footloose" came on that Jessica really started having fun, though. She was sure the fact that she'd had two cups of punch by then had a lot to do with it as well.

It wasn't until a little after ten that Steve began acting a little weird. He began squinting his eyes a bit and wasn't dancing as much. He was careful with how he moved. Jessica knew the signs; he was beginning to get a headache – probably from moving around when they danced.

"Hey, you okay?" she asked, moving closer to him so she wouldn't have to shout.

"Yeah. Just a small headache."

"Okay, well, why don't you go sit down for a few minutes. Maybe staying still will make you feel better."

"I don't want to leave you alone here."

"It's fine. I'll go find Nancy. Okay? And I'll keep my drink with me. I won't put it down."

"Okay. I'll come find you in a few."

"Yeah, just let me know if you wanna leave."

Steve decidedly did not want to leave. Jessica was having fun, and he had been too until his head had started hurting. It wasn't the worst headache he'd ever had, but it was still pretty bad. He figured it was from bobbing his head to the music because the pain originated from his neck and went into his shoulders and up into his temples.

The quietest place – and the darkest – was on the stairs, so he planted himself there and leaned back on his elbows. He could still hear the music, but the bass wasn't making his pulse throb here.

He closed his eyes and began to control his breathing, hoping that would help as well. It probably would have, if he hadn't suddenly inhaled a whiff of something repugnant. The earthy yet skunky scent of marijuana. It was faint but definitely there.

He opened his eyes to look around, just to see if he could make out who was the culprit behind the smell. It appeared to be a group of kids across the way. They were huddled around the couch, smoke hovering about their heads. They were bopping along to the music, but in a lethargic way. They were enjoying it, but their movements were stunted and slow.

Steve had smoked weed before, a few times, way back before he'd started dating Jessica. Jessica had even done it once, with him, but it didn't affect her the way it affected him. Steve usually became giggly and relaxed; the one time Jessica had done it, she'd become the opposite, anxious and almost paranoid. He'd had to spend about three hours with her, waiting for her to become more herself, waiting for the weed to leave her system enough for her to calm down.

Needless to say, she had never done it again and he had felt guilty about her doing it in the first place. He hadn't forced her to do it, but he had told her she would have fun doing it and she definitely had not.

Steve pushed himself from the stairs and made his way over to the group who was passing around a joint. He knew a couple of them, as they were guys he'd played basketball with. They only smoked during the break between seasons.

They immediately scooted around to make room for him and he sat down. The joint was passed to him and he inhaled and held it for a few seconds – until he felt the need to cough when the smoke began irritating his lungs – and then exhaled. He wasn't used to the smoke anymore, but he still took a second drag before passing the joint to the next person.

He closed his eyes again, and it only took a few minutes for him to start to the feel the effects of the drug he'd just taken in. His shoulders were already losing the tension they'd been holding because of the headache he had.

Hopefully that would lessen too.

Jessica had had another drink since leaving Steve to try and get rid of his headache, and she had talked to Nancy for a bit but she was now in a group of girls who were dancing to some Van Halen song. Nancy was a part of that group as well, even though rock wasn't really her style of music.

Nancy had only had one drink since she had to drive home herself, but she still seemed to have been having fun. It was definitely a better party than the last one Jessica had been to when it came to Nancy being able to handle her alcohol.

As it was, she was planning on leaving soon anyway, since Jonathan hadn't been able to come due to work, so after the song went off Jessica went to get another drink while Nancy went to find her jacket.

When Jessica made it to the kitchen, she was just about to make herself a new drink when she felt a hand touch her side and a solid chest touch her back. She hated to admit it, but she automatically knew it was Billy. She didn't like that she was so physically aware of him, but she was also glad it wasn't someone else sneaking up on her.

She turned to him and immediately brought a hand up to push at his chest, not to really push him away, but to let him know that he was too close for her to be comfortable with. He immediately stepped back, hand falling from her side.

He was wearing his usual jeans and boots, a red button-down shirt with long sleeves. He didn't have his jacket on at the moment, but neither did she, so it was probably around the house somewhere.

"Hi, Billy," she said.

"Hey," he said, looking her up and down. "You look nice."

"Thank you."

Jessica didn't know what it was, but something was different about him. Maybe it was just because he'd been drinking, but his blue eyes seemed a bit softer. The fact that he didn't have a group of followers around him probably helped. He didn't have to act all high and mighty when he wasn't being watched.

His hair was also fluffier than it normally was, like he'd just gotten it permed or something. Or maybe he knew how to do is hair on his own to make it that way. Either way, it looked better than it normally did.

"Where's Harrington?"

"He got a headache. I told him to relax for a bit and find me when he felt better. Or if he wanted to leave."

"Oh." Billy smiled, just short of smirking, but it was more genuine than his normal expression. "You know, if I had a girl like you, I wouldn't leave you alone at a party. Someone might try and snatch you up."

She shook her head, allowing herself to smile as well. "Oh, but I'm not snatch-able."

She turned to fill her glass, as she had first intended to do, and then swallowed down half of it in one go. She was thirsty from dancing, and she hadn't hit the dizzy stage of being tipsy yet, so she was fine.

"You wanna dance?" Billy asked. "Since Pretty Boy isn't feeling well?"

She hesitated. If any other guy had asked her that – or at least the ones she knew – she probably would have said yes, but this was Billy and she didn't know if she should. Even though he'd been behaving, she didn't want to encourage that to stop.

"I – I don't know, Billy."

"Oh, come on. It's just a dance."

"It's not, though," she said. "Because you like me, and . . . it'll mean more to you than just a dance."

"How about you let me worry about that, huh?"

She sighed and relented. "Fine, but no slow dancing."

The music was still bumping, songs like "Owner of A Lonely Heart" and others like it, where dancing didn't involve touching of any kind.

She followed Billy, who led her into a group of other teens. It was actually better that way because it would have felt more intimate if it had just been her and Billy. She had looked for Steve along the way, but she hadn't seen him, so she would have to find him soon. It had been about twenty minutes since he'd admitted to having a headache. She at least wanted to check on him.

"What are you planning on doing after graduation?" Billy asked, leaning his head a little closer so she could hear over the music.

"College, I guess. Probably still have to work."

"Where do you wanna go?"

"I don't know. Not too far. My family is here."

"You mean Harrington is here."

She shrugged. "That too. But he plans on going to college at some point too. He just doesn't know what he wants to do."

"What if he wasn't in the picture? What would you do then?"

"Still go to college. Why?"

"I mean, would you still stick around here? You don't want to get out of here? See the world?"

"I wouldn't mind traveling one day." She moved a little closer to him this time, let her right hand rest against his chest. "But Billy, Steve is in the picture. I . . . I would want to do that stuff with him. You know?"

"Yeah." He inhaled sharply, and she felt bad for saying words that she had known would ultimately hurt his feelings. "What about me?"

"What?"

Billy grabbed the hand that she had placed on his chest and squeezed a little.

"If he weren't around. If you had met me first –"

"Billy –"

She tried jerking her hand away, but he just gripped her more tightly.

"Come on, I wanna know."

"Billy, it doesn't matter because Steve is around. I – I've never even liked anyone else. You know, I met him when I moved here in the sixth grade and we've been friends ever since. I started liking him – really liking him – when we got in high school. There's never been anyone else for me."

"Exactly. You've never been with anyone else, so how do you know he's the one?"

She really didn't know how to describe it to Billy because she knew he wouldn't understand. It was true that a lot of people didn't find the one the first time around, but she knew Steve was it for her. He was her person, he was her home. She would never feel as at ease with any other guy.

"Isn't the fact that I've never wanted to be with anyone else enough?"

"Hm."

He used his hold on her hand to pull her a little closer, so their chests were touching, and her whole body tensed at the closeness. When he began speaking again, his mouth was close enough to her ear that she could feel his breath against her. She shivered and pushed against his chest.

"Maybe you just won't let yourself want someone else. Pretty boy is your safety net. You won't let yourself feel something for me." He pulled away so he could look at her. "If you let yourself, you might enjoy it."

Her throat and eyes began to burn, much like they had the night he'd kissed her. She had known she shouldn't have danced with him, no matter how he had been acting the past couple of weeks. Here he was messing it up again, like he normally did.

"Let me go."

He seemed to realize he'd pushed too far if the sudden slump of his shoulders was anything to go by, but Jessica didn't care. She began to pull away and was glad when Billy didn't try to keep her from moving.

"You know, I wouldn't let myself feel something for you even if Steve wasn't around because I can't trust you."

Just like that, Billy's eyes were no longer soft. They had become an electric-looking blue and his features had hardened. She'd obviously made him angry.

"Then why're you dancing with me, Jess?"

She scoffed. "I don't know. I really don't."

She turned around, leaving Billy there to stew in his frustration, and went back to the kitchen to grab herself and Steve a drink – this time it wasn't alcoholic – and then began her search for him.

Steve was still with the group that was passing around the joint – though he was sure they had lit a new one at some point – when Jessica found him. She had stopped just outside of the circle, a red cup in each of her hands.

"Jess!" he said, a grin breaking out over his lips.

She scrunched up her nose as she sat beside him – the others had automatically moved so she would have room – and handed him one of the cups. He realized it was water, and almost immediately guzzled it down.

"I can't believe you're high," she said. "You smell disgusting."

"I know," he agreed. "But my head isn't hurting anymore."

She smiled softly. "I'm glad. But don't make this a habit, okay? You have headache medicine at home."

"Mm, but this works so much better."

"Not if you wanna get into college and get a job later."

Steve noticed that Jessica's cheeks were rosy from the alcohol she had flowing in her system, but she wasn't loose and relaxed as she normally would have been.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Just a run-in with Billy. It was fine until he decided to be a jerk again. We, uh, had words."

Steve felt he should have been more concerned, but he also felt that he couldn't be more concerned because of the weed he had smoked. It would require more energy than he had at the moment.

"Anyway, can we move to a different part of the house before I get a second-hand high or something?" she asked.

"Sure. We can dance again, if you want. Now that I'm feeling better."

She grabbed his free hand and smiled.

"I would love to dance with you."

Steve and Jessica left the party around midnight, Jessica still tipsy and Steve still slightly high, and decided they would go to his house. She didn't want to chance her mom finding out that Steve had used drugs at the party they had gone to. Jessica wasn't sure how long it would take for the smell of weed to get out of Steve's clothes.

Not to mention, she kind of smelled like weed too because she had sat with the ones who were smoking for a bit.

Since Jessica had been drinking more than Steve had been smoking, Steve was the one behind the wheel. There was music coming from the speakers, but it wasn't loud, more background noise than anything.

Jessica was resting her head back against the seat, eyes closed because she was suddenly exhausted, when Steve placed his hand right above her knee and squeezed a little.

"Thanks for not freaking out about the weed," he said quietly.

She turned her head to look at him and smiled softly before replying. "I mean, I'm not happy about it, and I don't want it to become a habit, like I said. But it did seem to help you."

"It did."

"Okay. But you can't do it at my house, and I don't want Dustin to know. Okay? He looks up to you, so I don't want him to think it's okay to just . . . do it."

"He looks up to me?" he asked, glancing her way.

"Well, yeah. He goes to you about stuff he won't even come to me about because he cares what you think. Big brother type of thing, you know?"

"Oh." His lips tilted up in a soft smile. "That's cool."

"Yeah. Cool." She inhaled and exhaled deeply. "I'm so tired."

"We're almost there. Then we can sleep."

"Great."