03.

"ᵗʳʸ ᵗᵒ ᵗᵉˡˡ ᵐᵉ ʷʰᵃᵗ ᴵ ˢʰᵒᵘˡᵈⁿ'ᵗ ᵈᵒ,
ʸᵒᵘ ˢʰᵒᵘˡᵈ ᵏⁿᵒʷ ᵇʸ ⁿᵒʷ,
ᴵ ʷᵒⁿ'ᵗ ˡⁱˢᵗᵉⁿ ᵗᵒ ʸᵒᵘ."
—ᶠʳᵉᵃᵏ ᵒᵘᵗ ᵇʸ ᵃᵛʳⁱˡ ˡᵃᵛⁱᵍⁿᵉ

Amber stood in Tina's house dipping her cup into the punch bowl of 'pure fuel' for the fifth time that night and she was buzzing. She had initially come with Jonathan who Will talked into going to the party, but he had asked Amber to go in without him. She assumed he was working up the courage to come inside or had bailed on her. But in the moment that wasn't the main thing on her mind as she downed another cup of the mixed drink.

It might have been a Wednesday night, but it was a night she was planning on trying to forget as she began to let loose. She had gone out onto the designated dance floor in the living room a few times, but she seemed to always circle back to the kitchen, hovering over the punch bowl. Her problem wasn't how much she was drinking. It was why she was drinking. Billy Hargrove had seemed to make it his mission to keep getting the girl's attention. All of his attempts hadn't been as successful as he hoped. He would try to have a few girls hanging around him or do something that drew a lot of attention to him with a crowd cheering him on, but the girl was not having any of it. Especially when he was taking the new title of 'keg king'. While everyone around him was cheering, he was looking at the girl who was dancing with people surrounding her, not evening glancing in his direction. The girl had soon disappeared from his view which caused him to start heading back inside the house.

Amber had a big cheesy smile on her painted red lips as she approached Nancy and Steve. She had instantly engulfed Nancy into a hug. The smell of the alcohol briefly hitting the couple's noses. Nancy had let out a small giggle at the girl who was being much more affectionate than usual. Amber had pulled away and looked at Steve.

"Stevie Wonder-boy. Look at you." Amber let out as she booped his nose. His sunglasses he wore hid his wide eyes that stared at her in shock at the state she was in. Amber Hayes was in a bubbly mood.

"Sandy's Greaser outfit. I like it." Nancy complimented Amber's costume.

"Why thank you." Amber did a slight bow. "I like your costumes. Joel and Lana."

"I'm surprised you could tell." Nancy said.

"Please. Tom Cruise." Amber fanned herself. "What a man." Amber's fun mood had slowly diminished as Tommy H. and Billy made their way over to the trio.

"We got ourselves a new Keg King, Harrington." Tommy announced as Amber rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, that's right. Eat it, Harrington." Another boy shouted as he tried to get slightly in Steve's face but his hot breath just hit Amber's face as she scrunched her nose up in disgust. She slightly shoved the boy away to get him to give the trio some space.

"Get out of here, shit breath." Amber snapped. Annoyance had been her key emotion in that very moment. Billy had his eyes on her as he couldn't help but smirk proudly at her little attitude. Steve patted Amber's shoulder as a way to tell her everything was all good, before he took his sunglasses off. Billy had inched closer as the two seemed to have a bit of a stare down.

"God. Do you two want me to go get a ruler or something so you can compare dick sizes." Amber groaned at the cloud of testosterone suffocating her. The girl looked at Steve's hand that held the sunglasses in as she instantly snatched them and placed them on her face.

"I've had enough of this male testosterone. Nance, let's go get you a drink and me another." Amber announced as she pulled the girl away from the boys having a stare down with each other.

"What's in this?" Nancy questioned as they had stood in front of the punch bowl.

"Pure fuel. Pure fuel!" A boy yelled as he drank the mixed drink.

"It's good." Amber wiggled her eyebrows as she dumped a cup into the bowl, handed it to Nancy and then got one for herself. Amber's head was nodding along to the song playing over the speakers as she hit her cup with Nancy's. "Bottoms up, Wheeler."

"Hey, whoa, whoa! Take it easy." Steve spoke up from beside them as the two girls downed their drinks fast.

"We're just being stupid teenagers for the night. Wasn't that the deal?" Nancy questione Steve as Amber looked between the two in slight shock but her eyes were shaded by Steve's glasses. Nancy dumped her cup into the punch again and downed a second cup before wiping away what was on her face and walking to the dance floor. Amber went to fill her cup more but Steve had quickly snatched the cup from her hands.

"You don't need any more, Hayes," Amber blew a raspberry in Steve's direction before he rested his hand on his hip. "And give me those." He snatched the sunglasses off her face as she pouted. She huffed in annoyance before storming off away from him.

"Seriously. I got two girl's mad with me now." He muttered as she shook his head.

Amber was on the dance floor with Nancy for a while. There were a couple of moments Billy would make his way to Amber but she would swerve him completely as another girl would begin to dance off of him. Amber was too into the music and the bubbly feeling inside of her to deal with Billy trying to claim her or whatever it was he was so hellbent on doing. Billy Hargrove in Hawkins was not Billy Hargrove from California. And Amber would rather keep her distance than be near the one who had taken residence in her small town. Steve had eventually joined her and Nancy dancing. Amber kept trying to be a thief and steal the sunglasses back but Steve always was one step ahead of her as he would pull them out of her reach multiple times. The girl had soon given up as she walked off the dance floor wanting to take a break. She went outside in the backyard. As she looked around her eyes fell onto the boy she was looking for. She got giddy as she quickly made her way to the boy.

"Munson. You did show up." She said in a cheery tone that made him raise an eyebrow.

"Are you drunk?" He questioned.

"No. I'm Amber." The girl giggled as the boy looked at her slightly amused. "Oh. I got your money." She exclaimed as he instantly began to hush her since she had practically yelled.

"Sorry. I got your money." She whispered as she winked at him. Eddie Munson couldn't help but laugh at the girl and shake his head. Seeing Amber Hayes drunk was something else, that was forsure. Amber pulled some money out from her shirt as Eddie's eyeballs had slightly widened. The girl handed him the money that he hesitantly took before he pulled a baggy out from his pocket. The girl giggled as she took the bag and tucked it into her shirt.

"Great doing business with you. Now what are you supposed to be?" Amber questioned as she looked over Eddie's outfit.

"Myself." Eddie told her.

"How original." She rolled her eyes.

"I can see someone is a fan of 'Grease'." Eddie commented.

"Hell yeah. It's my comfort musical movie." She nodded as she looked at him and then without warning ran her hands along his slightly short hair. It was close to his ears but wasn't extremely long. Her actions had shocked the boy but instead of pulling away from her he was frozen in shock at her sudden touch.

"You know, you should grow this out. You could pull off Van Halen's hairstyle pretty well. Aren't you in a band or something?" She asked as the boy nodded. "See, it will work out. Don't knock it till you try it. You'll thank me later." Amber said as she then patted his shoulder.

"You know Van Halen?" Eddie questioned.

"Obviously. One Foot Out the Door is what gets me into the cleaning mood when I'm stuck doing chores. But have you ever heard 'Fade to Black' by Metallica? That shit keeps me on my toes. One of the kids I babysit will have little imaginary concerts with me on the kitchen table. He's such a little butthead, but he would be one hell of a guitarist. Who am I kidding? He would probably suck." Amber sighed as she stumbled slightly as she tried to stand straight. "I need a drink." She mumbled as she walked away in a daze as Eddie watched her walk away carefully, making sure she made it inside before he kept thinking about the things she had said in her little ramble of words. She was one hell of a girl who had a sweet music taste.

Amber had gotten lost on the way to find a drink as she had soon found Jonathan Byers standing on the outskirts of the living room. She smiled as she instantly wrapped her arms around him.

"Jonathan. I've missed you man." She let out as he looked down at her.

"Jesus, Amber. How much did you drink?" He wondered as he pulled her at arms length to scan over her. But as she looked at him, she began to get dizzy.

"Oh, no. I'm not feeling too good." She muttered as she pushed past him. She headed right outside the front door to empty the contents of her stomach. She groaned out as her head began to pound nonstop. Amber began to walk down the path of the house to the street where she sat herself down on the curb. Hoping Jonathan would be ready to leave soon. Amber sat with her head resting on her knees as she was beginning to slowly sober up but the looming hangover was on the horizon for her. While the girl sat there she heard heavy footsteps and then a few sniffles that made her peek her head up curiously. Her brows furrowed in confusion as her eyes landed on Steve Harrington trying to quickly wipe away the silent tears falling down his face.

"Harrington?" Amber let out in a bit of a questioning way as the boy looked around before seeing the girl sitting down on the curb. He coughed to try and cover up some of his sniffles and wiped his face again before looking at her.

"What do you want, Hayes? I'm not really in the mood right now for you to try and make fun of me or yell at me for cutting you off from your drinks." Steve said. Amber sighed as she stood up and made her way over towards the boy who leaned against the hood of his car.

"I wasn't going to do any of that. How come you're not inside?" Amber asked.

"I'm no longer in the party mood." He responded.

"How come you were crying?" She wondered.

"It's none of your concern, Hayes. It's all stupid anyway." He brushed it off.

"Clearly it's not stupid if it has you this upset. I don't think I ever saw 'the' Steve Harrington cry since I broke my leg in the 7th grade." Amber tried to make light of the situation as a small ghost of a smile appeared on Steve's lips for a moment.

"God, you remember that?" He chuckled.

"Uh. Yeah. I was the one who broke my leg and you were crying more than I was." Amber laughed. Silence had fallen upon the two before Steve blurted out what was on his mind.

"Nancy said I was bullshit. And I guess that she doesn't actually love me. Basically, everything is bullshit, bullshit, bullshit." Steve let it all out as Amber frowned. But the boy just shook his head and let his arms flail down to his side.

"Do you need a ride home?" Steve asked her. She looked back at the house and wondered where Jonathan could have been but then sighed.
"Yeah. That would be great, thanks." She took him up on his offer and made her way to his passenger side door.

"Don't hit your head." He warned her, still not knowing how much she was starting to sober up yet.

"I won't. Don't need to give you something else to cry about if I hurt myself." Amber teased. The car ride back to her house was pretty quiet except for the radio playing faintly throughout the car. The boy seemed to still remember where the girl lived which surprised her, but she didn't feel like making a comment on that. As he had parked in her driveway the girl stared up at her house that would be empty since her mom was working a shift at the hospital. She peered over at the boy before internally sighing, seeing him still visibly upset about Nancy.

"Steve." She let out, which had caught his attention as he looked over to her.

"You aren't bullshit. I don't know if it was the alcohol or something nagging at Nancy. But you aren't bullshit. I would try and talk it out with her when she's sober before I completely jump the gun. But if she meant it, you should know you deserve someone who won't make you feel shitty and make you cry." Amber told him.

"But I love her." That hurt he was feeling, Amber knew all too well. She sadly smiled at him.

"Sometimes some things just aren't meant to be. If they are meant to be, they'll find their way back to you given the right time and place. The universe works in mysterious ways. And you're Steve Harrington afterall. There's many girls lined up, waiting for you to give them a chance. Just listen to your heart and you'll figure out what you want and need." Amber said to him as he couldn't help but smile. He stared at the girl as he scanned her face. They seemed to hold each other's stares with something slightly unsaid behind their eyes. But then Amber had awkwardly cleared her throat and opened the car door.

"Thanks for the ride home, Harrington." She said as she began to get out.

"Hey, Amber." The boy called out as she turned around to look back at him.

"Thanks for this talk. I appreciate it." Steve said as she saluted him. He watched the Hayes girl walk up to her front door to unlock the house with the spare key before she disappeared inside. He sat there for a good couple of minutes until the porchlight shut off and then he reversed out of the driveway and made his way home with all the things she said left in his head.