"So what I'm getting right now is that no one is going to pregame with me?"
Nancy lifted her head from the concentration of her compact mirror. "Steve, it's not even six."
Blinking dully as he hovered a bottle opener over a fresh beer, Steve shrugged. "I've done worse." He cracked open the bottle with a satisfying sizzle, tossing the cap aside as he took a long drink. "You guys don't understand. I finally have something to celebrate. My interview went amazing, so I actually have a shot at getting out of Hawkins."
"You put me in a dress," Billy echoed from his bedroom. "So no, I will not be celebrating."
"Let's see it, then," Nancy chided as she adjusted the gold leaves encircling her elegantly curled hair.
"If you keep your boxers on, you're technically wearing shorts, thus no longer a dress," Steve offered, draining his beer before leaning forward on the kitchen counter.
Appearing in the hall with a flat expression, Billy propped his hands on his waist, accentuating the shape of the white cloth draped around him. "I'm wearing a dress, Steve."
Steve stepped out from behind the counter, waving a hand down his own white sheet twisted to perfection. "These togas are rockin', okay? And it's Halloween. No one cares."
Billy's brows lifted, unimpressed. "Keg stands?"
"Just keep your boxers on, dude." Steve rustled another beer from the fridge and cracked it open. "What would you rather do what you did last year and just dress up like a tool?"
Squinting, Billy said, "Yes."
"Then drink a beer to forget you're wearing a dress." Steve grabbed another beer from the fridge, holding it out with a grin.
"I hate you."
Steve held up his hands innocently as the bottle was snatched away. "Less than last year, so I'll take it."
"You guys are ridiculous," Nancy groaned, brushing down her much sturdier lilac dress styled in Greek fashion. "And the fact is, you are wearing dresses. But here's the thing. We're going to a magical place where everyone's going to be so drunk that they won't even notice."
Billy took a long pause, narrowing his eyes before clinking bottles with Steve. "Fine."
They would find that 'magical place' wasn't exactly synonymous with a frat house.
"How much more time do I have to get tipsy?" Steve asked as he wandered to the apartment bathroom, toying his hair to an astronomical height as he ignored the soft waver in his footing.
"Like ten," Nancy offered.
"Hey Billy, where's that stuff I had last time I was here?"
Billy's brows rose softly. "I don't think you want that."
A scoffed flowed from the bathroom followed by a mist of hairspray. "Uh, yeah, I think I do."
Nancy caught Billy's gaze across the kitchen, brows furrowing in. "Last time?"
Billy sighed as he retrieved the bottle of Johnny Walker from the top cabinet, filling the same mint colored mug with just enough to warm the soul. "He showed up very sad," he whispered to her as he rounded the kitchen counter, holding his breath to avoid hairspray as he poked the mug inside the bathroom. "And got very drunk," he finished quietly on his return.
And surprisingly, Nancy outstretched a hand and clenched it like a toddler as she eyes the Johnny Walker.
"You want this?" he asked, blatantly uncomfortable in his toga as he shifted every five seconds. He cracked a grin, shaking his head as he poured a short glass. "You look like you're five seconds away from saying 'gimme gimme', Nance."
"I am an open book," Nancy replied, taking the mug from him without pause as the telephone began to ring. "Oo, is that Kate?"
Billy rolled his eyes as he crossed to the telephone. "I never gave her my number," he replied before picking up the landline. "Hello?"
"Hey, B."
"Hey, Max," he greeted happily, warmed by her voice. "How's it going?"
The dramatic groan that followed was more than telling.
"You sound like a joy tonight. Do you not like your costume or something?"
"I don't even know if I should put it on," Max whined, letting out a sharp huff. "We're not sure if we should go trick or treating tonight. We're over at the Wheelers place, but we don't really know what to do. It doesn't feel right without Will since we were all together on Halloween last year. And we're in high school, so is it lame to?"
Billy sighed softly, nodding. "I know the feeling. Look, you guys have been through a lot. We all have. You've had to grow up faster than most kids your age, with no help from me, so do what you think you need to. Do what a younger Max needs tonight."
A soft pause crossed the line, the distance humming between them. "That was incredibly inciteful, B. College really is doing you well."
He grinned wide, wishing for nothing but to wrap Max in a tight hug in that moment. "I'm trying my best."
"I am NOT putting leaves in my hair!"
Billy turned over his shoulder, Nancy no longer in the kitchen as Steve shouted from the bathroom. "Jesus," he mumbled, lowering the phone and covering the mouth piece. "Guys, we're not even at the party! Stop it with the pregaming!"
"Don't tell me they're both drunk before you've even gone out," Max mused, clearly having caught more of the commotion than Billy had intended.
Billy grumbled mildly, straining to hear Nancy fighting to stick gold leaves into Steve's mass of hair. "They seem pretty close at this point. Maybe they'll pass out now so we don't have to go."
"Yeah right!" Steve barked.
"Sounds like you've got to babysit." Max sighed. "Well, try to keep them from getting alcohol poisoning tonight."
"No promises on that one," he scoffed.
"Billy, it's your turn for leaves!" Nancy chimed, waving a crown of gold leaves as she emerged from the bathroom.
"I better go, zoomer. Be safe whatever you do tonight, okay? I love you."
"I love you, too."
Not even given a moment to reminisce on just how important his relationship with Max had become, he was assaulted by fumbling hands jamming a laurel over his head.
"Perfect!" Nancy exclaimed, a buzz already in her eyes as she snapped a few of Billy's curls around the gold leaf halo. She drew back, hands clasped together. "You guys both look great."
Emerging from the bathroom after yet another coat of Farrah Fawcett spray to secure his own laurel, Steve drained the rest of his mug. "Is this how you felt about the togas?"
Billy sighed. "This is exactly how I felt about the togas. Now we both suffer in dresses and glitter."
"You guys are so dramatic," whined Nancy as she rested her hip against the kitchen counter. "And it's Halloween. No one gives a shit."
"Oh my god, she said a bad word," Billy mused as he tucked the bottle of scotch back into the cupboard.
"Oh, bullshit. I use swear words just as much as you guys."
Steve hummed softly. "Her favorite one."
Nancy swatted his shoulder, groaning internally. "Can we just go to the party?"
Snagging his keys off of the counter with a sigh, Billy nodded over his shoulder as he swung the front door open. "What the hell, why not?"
Cheering in sync, Nancy and Steve followed Billy out the door like little children, using the guard rails to make it down to the first floor in one piece. They climbed into the camaro, hating on the evening chill as they made sure no fabric from their costumes were hanging out the doors.
Despite there only being one location in mind, they could have stopped anywhere along campus and found something worth their time.
Electro music was bustling through the quad and pouring from dorm buildings. Bright orange lights marked pathways and party games. Even fog machines were rolling smoke out onto the streets.
"God, I can't wait to live here," Steve said with his nose nearly smushed against the glass. He could hear Monster Mash playing from a distant speaker, followed by a bold werewolf howl produced by too many Jager bombs. "I really can't wait. And your apartment is the perfect distance from everything. Walk to class, quick drive downtown, far enough away from my parents. I just hope I don't get put in some rando building out in the middle of nowhere."
Nancy squinted from the backseat. "That sounds like you might be fishing for something, Steve-o."
A light frown of panic crossed his face. "What? No, I just meant that being in the same building would be optimal."
"Even sober you wouldn't use that word," Billy mused. "What is it?"
Steve shrugged one too many times. "Just...when I was here a couple weeks ago, it felt...not strange waking up in the apartment."
A high-pitched laugh slipped out of Nancy's mouth just before she could cover it. "No way."
Billy's brows furrowed. "No way what?"
"I think he's asking if he can move in with you next semester."
Billy thought of the dirty looks across the street as he left the Rivers house, of basketball matches where he dropped the king on his ass, of stealing his friends, of the wailing of his fist against Steve's face until he couldn't feel anything.
"You want to live with me?" he asked, glancing over to Steve as he pulled the car onto jam-packed fraternity row.
The confidence that the scotch had pushed through Steve now dissipated, the former keg king shrugging innocently in an attempt to play it off. "I mean, it could be cool. We wouldn't have to live with strangers."
Although his brows remained startled, he shrugged with an affirming nod. "I don't see why not."
Giddy in the backseat with an irrefutable smile, Nancy cooed, "Aww, you guys!"
"Nance, you're making it weird," Steve murmured.
"You two have come so far. We all have. I never would have imagined us going to a party together, let alone you guys sharing an apartment." She sighed warmly, only carrying a light buzz in her head as they found a parking spot. "Tate would be proud of us."
The camaro hummed even as Billy clicked off the engine, the scent of menthol burning just a little more as they soaked it in.
"Well," Billy said as he cracked both the silence and the door, "nothing we're about to do in there is going to make her proud."
"Oh, come on," Steve chided. "Tate loved a good party."
That she did.
Music flowed just as smoothly as the liquor, rapid dance and conversation happening in every corner of the frat house. Coolers were sprawled all throughout the house and lawn, a plethora of drinks at the ready. Kegs lined the backyard, multiple already in the process of draining as drunk friends attempted to hold one another up.
It was everything they hoped for out of a college party.
Several compliments were thrown in the trio's direction as they entered the frat house, blending in seamlessly despite remaining in a safety cluster as they wandered.
Steve was first to find his footing in the swarm of people, downing a cup of jungle juice for courage before splitting from the pack when an angel winked his way.
"Were you serious about living with Steve?" Nancy asked over the rock music ripping from the speakers, bouncing in tune as she nursed a drink. "Or did you just say that to be nice? Because he probably won't remember in the morning if you're looking for a free pass."
"No, I meant it," he assured, finding himself scanning the crowd for a face he knew wouldn't be there. "It could be nice. I wouldn't have to explain myself."
"He snores," she offered.
Billy couldn't help but laugh, cradling a rogue beer he'd found in a sink filled with ice. "It's not like we'll be in the same room."
Nancy had a phrase on the tip of her tongue, sitting uncomfortably and not tasting quite right. She washed her mouth of with an unknown liquor concoction to keep her from saying it.
Tate would be rolling in her grave.
"Oo, there's Kate!" Nancy expressed, swatting Billy's bare shoulder.
The tight, bright red devil costume was hard to miss, nearly everything of the blonde's on display as she appeared in the crowd.
"Hey gorgeous." A towering Dracula swept up to the pair in the kitchen, charcoal rimmed eyes glued to Nancy. "Care to dance?"
Nancy took the vampire's hand without pause, earnestly swept away into the crowd of drunk and disorderlies waiting to happen.
And worse than being the only one left behind? It had completely given Billy's location away to a certain red devil.
"You came!" Kate squealed as soon as she spotted him, shuffling up in stilettoes and holding a cup of jungle juice ready to spill at any given moment. "I dig the costume. Very Animal House of you. Love it." An outstretched hand plucked one of his curls, gold dust from the laurel clinging to his hair.
The sensation was almost worse than the feeling that drove him to cut most of it off. Almost.
"Nice costume," he offered between sips, the look in her eyes nearly forcing a compliment out of him.
He imagined plenty of people gushed over her at all hours of the day, from her hair to the color of her toenail polish, of her handwriting and the type of coffee she always ordered.
But not him. Not on Halloween.
His bones chilled at a familiar lightning bolt design painted dutifully on a brunette's face.
Not when someone was dressed just as Tate had been a year before.
"Do you want to dance?" Kate asked, leaning in over the music.
The Ziggy Stardust lookalike was headed their way, and if he didn't move now, he would be face to face with an unimportant girl that could break his heart in an instant.
"Sure, yeah," he replied, leading the way out of the busy kitchen and into the mosh pit of dancers, almost desperate to lose sight of the lightning bolt.
"Where are you friends?" Kate took her chance to get close as they settled for a tight spot, her voice barely heard over the clash of Metallica.
Although there was lackluster, Billy moved to the beat as he pointed out Nancy much too close to Dracula and Steve spinning two girls under his arms at once. "Look for the leaf crown things."
Kate peered through the crowd, blessed by insanely tall shoes to spot both Greek characters spread out around the room. "You guys matched costumes? That's so cute!"
Unsurprisingly, Nancy gave an encouraging wave, followed only by a dirty look from Steve.
The dancing was safe, much to Kate's dismay. A younger Billy would have hated himself for not taking advantage of an opportunity to dance so close to a girl that actively sought his attention, to not have his hands all over her.
Two things have the ability change boys like Billy.
Trauma and love.
Billy happened to suffer from both.
"Where are you from?" Kate asked, draining her drink as she twirled under Billy's arm. "You never talk in class."
He paused as the music shifted, flowing into the opening chainsaws of Girls, Girls, Girls, a song that had graced Tina's Halloween party the year before. "Uh, Hawkins. It's like an hour from here."
Kate's expression faltered slightly. "Like Hawkins, Hawkins? The place where that mall collapsed?" The words were easy for her to say – they meant nothing but reiterations from a news segment. "Oh my god, did you know that writer? Rivers? His kid died there."
"I, uh, I'm sorry." Billy's head swirled as he took a step back. "I need some air."
Kate's voice became indistinct as Mötley Crüe raged above, Billy weeded his way through the crowd as his lungs constricted. Faces blurred past him, distant calls from Steve going unnoticed as he bustled to the edge of the overpowered house.
Billy pressed his back against the only open space of wall he could find in the foyer, pinching his eyes closed as his heart hammered in his chest.
There was a reason he didn't share. There was a reason he lived alone.
"Toga! Toga!"
Billy's head lifted as the chanting neared him, hoping for only a brief moment that he could be freed from his panicked headspace.
But he was not that lucky.
A girl no older than twenty swept past him with a bright smile, the Ziggy lightning bolt drawn on her face crinkling as she blew him a kiss before downing a shot.
"Jesus Christ," Billy grumbled, running his hands down his face as he took a deep breath. "You're losing your mind."
And then his heart plummeted deep in his chest.
The opening rift to You Shook Me All Night Long boomed throughout the house, earning drunken cheers.
Billy's face went green, sending him flying out the door before the lyrics even began. He paid no notice to the cold bite of the air as his knees wobbled underneath him, nearly sending him to the well-kept yard of the frat house.
"Get tired of the hot girl?"
Squeezing his eyes shut as he rested his palms on his thighs, Billy shook his head. "Not now, Steve."
Over the course of four jungle juice cups and six shots, Steve had reverted back to his junior year self. He laughed uncertainly, stumbling down the porch steps. "I don't even know why I'm out here. Nancy told me to come find you. Jonathan would have punched that vampire dude by now, and he hits hard." He paused. "Both of you do."
"Just go back inside," Billy assured, voice breathy and overwhelmed.
"Good, because it's not fair for Nance to ruin two of my Halloweens in a row," Steve said with a sigh. Although his steps got far away, a groan drew him back.
Billy tilted his head, spotting Nancy coming out of the house. "You guys don't have to-"
"It was the song," she said before he could finish, flushed from dancing but stunned out of her drunkenness.
Steve's brows furrowed. "What song?"
Billy stood up straight, pressing his hands behind his head as he searched for air. "I just need a minute," he said quietly, wandering out into the street until he found his trusty blue steed.
"What song?" Steve pressed as he and Nancy followed.
Nancy sent a hesitant glance in Billy's direction, unwilling to say out loud he wasn't there. She was given a miserable assuring nod. "It was playing when they first said I love you," she told Steve softly.
Billy slid up onto the trunk of his car, resting his face in his hands as air slowly began to enter his lungs at a normal pace.
The sinking feeling greeted Steve's stomach, mixing poorly with the copious amount of alcohol he was still holding onto. "You left before the song started playing, though. You leave a hot girl behind just because?"
"Steve, easy," Nancy groaned, tucking her arms in to fend off the cold.
"Look, I don't really talk to people here. I go to class, I study, and I make mild conversation, but I don't have friends." Billy swung a hand to reference the raging frat house down the street. "Because when people ask something as simple as 'where are you from', you say Hawkins and people start talking about things that they don't understand. Kate just casually said, oh, that writer's kid died in the mall collapse." His eyes were burning, threatening to water before he pinched them shut. "Is that all she is?"
"Of course not, Billy."
"She saves the whole god damn planet and she's just some kid that died in an accident?" he asked, voice cracking sharp in the middle.
Nancy rested a hand on his shoulder, squeezing lightly. "We're thankful enough to make up for the rest of the world. We know what she did for us."
Billy shook his head. "She just had to ask tonight. Kate could have asked any other day where I was from, but she asked tonight."
"What's so important about Halloween?" asked Steve, associating the holiday almost entirely with unfair circumstances.
"It, uh..." Billy winced, shaking his head. "I can't..."
"You can tell us," Nance coolly said. "You can trust us."
Unable to look at either of them properly, Billy glanced up to the sky as his nose scrunched. Tate would kill him if she could. "Last Halloween was, well, it was the first time...it was the first time that we hooked up." He groaned. "I can't believe I just told you that."
Nancy's brows raised softly. "I didn't realize it happened that soon." She bit her lip, considering just how much she didn't know about Tatum even before Billy was banished by the party.
Steve laughed – genuinely laughed. "Wow, Tate was getting laid while I was getting dumped. Figures."
Nancy and Billy grimaced, anger muddled down to just annoyance by the slur in his words.
"What a nice way to honor her, huh?" Steve said bitterly. "Dancing with pretty girls at the school she was supposed to go to."
"Steve!" Nancy barked. "What the hell?"
"No, I'm serious! How could you be moving on already? Are you forgetting about her?" he snapped.
Nancy held a hand out, keeping Steve at bay of stumbling closer. "No one's forgetting about her. How could we?"
"Do you understand what it's like to have to look at her house every single day?" Steve asked, misery and booze in his eyes. "To expect to see her Jeep pull in the driveway? I can't even look at my own pool because all I see is her doing those stupid flips she was so good at. Menthol cigarettes set me on edge because I expect to find her sitting on the hood of her car smoking, but it's never her. It's never her. And...and it's not fair that you..."
Even though they were outside, there was no air to breathe as Steve locked eyes with Billy, words bubbling up in his chest as the others sat in unsettled anticipation.
Do you think you'll be able to love anyone else?
No, I don't think so.
Me, either.
"Steve," Billy offered, voice raw with held off tears, "don't say something you can't take back."
Steve's chest rose and fell at a rate no party could have caused, his eyes unsure as his jaw remained stiff. "It's just not fair." A tear trailed down his face too fast for him to catch, drawing in a deep breath before he looked back up. "I just can't imagine forgetting her."
Billy shook his head. "She might be gone, but nobody's forgetting her. Ever."
"Is she gone?"
Skin bristled on both Nancy and Billy's arms, having nothing to do with the bitter temperature of the night.
"Why would you say that?" Nancy asked quietly.
"We saw...we saw her go, Steve."
Steve breathed in, his chest rattling. "Then why does she keep playing me her songs? In the car, at the store, at the house, even when it's not possible. Especially when it's not possible."
Both Nancy and Billy's expressions plummeted at the same time, a haunting realization crossing them.
Steve's face lit up, not out of joy but of the sudden feeling of not being alone. "It's happened to you, too?"
"The tv," Nancy offered.
"The radio," added Billy.
"So, is she dead and gone...or is she just dead?"