15.

  "ⁱᶠ ʸᵒᵘ ᶠᵃˡˡ,
ᴵ ʷⁱˡˡ ᶜᵃᵗᶜʰ ʸᵒᵘ,
ᴵ'ˡˡ  ᵇᵉ ʷᵃⁱᵗⁱⁿᵍ."
—ᵗⁱᵐᵉ ᵃᶠᵗᵉʳ ᵗⁱᵐᵉ ᵇʸ ᶜʸⁿᵈⁱ ˡᵃᵘᵖᵉʳ

December had rolled around slowly. It had taken some time for Amber to settle with what had happened to her mother. But she had so many of her friends there for her to make it easier. From time to time it would feel as if her mom was just away working a shift, so everything would feel almost normal, but then it would all fall onto her. It started out really rocky until she got used to it. She was coping. Jim Hopper had taken her under his wing completely, just as he did for Eleven. He had taken guardianship of Amber even though she would be turning eighteen by the time the summer rolled around. He knew he wanted to do that for her and for Violet. And he was able to pull some strings to get the house signed over to him temporarily so Amber could stay there until she could sign for the house herself.

While the kids had been coming over more to spend time with Amber, making her place the designated sleepover spot. It allowed Eleven to come over with them on occasion, Joyce had also been a constant in Amber's life more than ever. She made sure Amber knew she was there for her whenever she needed it. And what the rest of November into December had also graced Amber with was Steve Harrington. The two weren't really sure of what they were doing at all. They just constantly were spending time with each other, holding hands in school, and sleeping in the same bed at night, without Hopper knowing of course. But the two hadn't spoken to each other in regards to labeling it. More-or-so because while Amber was waiting for Steve to make a move, the boy was constantly chickening out on asking her out. He had freaked out one of the nights when he almost kissed her for the first time but then he played it off by checking to see if the popcorn was done. When Dustin Henderson heard about Steve's epic fail, he made fun of him for a while but soon tried to become his wingman.

When Dustin first hung out with Steve because of the dart problem, he was so against him and Amber being a thing until he got to know Steve. Dustin thought the boy was cool and he looked up to the Harrington boy a lot. And he couldn't help but see how the two looked at each other and cared for one another to know that Amber was in good hands. Dustin also was sure that Steve knew if he hurt Amber in any way, even though the girl would do a lot of damage on her own, she also had the party to back her up and roughen Steve up for her.

Amber was all dressed up in her bedroom as she was working on helping Max get ready for the Snowball dance. The older teenager had been incharge of helping the middle school throw the Snowball dance, so she knew she had to show up for a little bit just to acknowledge the event she helped make happen. Max kept moving around in Amber's chair which was frustrating the older girl causing her to tug at Max's hair from time to time which earned her a groan.
"Max, if you just sit still, I'm almost done." Amber told her.

"This is so stupid." Max said.

"Please. You're not going to be thinking that when you're on the dance floor with Lucas." Amber brought up as Max turned a little red in the face.

"Whatever."

*

Amber was at the punch table with Nancy as they filled cups for the middle schoolers. Amber had commented on there being too many middle schoolers in that gymnasium, it made her want to leave more. Dustin had come in from outside, waving to the two girls as he passed which caused them to share a look.

"Did you see his hair?" Amber asked in shock.

"Yeah. It was huge." Nancy commented.

"I guess he was taking points from Harrington after all." Amber chuckled as she shook her head. A boy walked up to the table with a smirk on his face.

"What's in the punch?" He wondered.

"Pure fuel." Nancy told him which caused him to frown before he walked away with his cup.
"Just not our kind of pure fuel." Amber sighed causing Nancy to giggle. She then set her eyes onto Jonathan, Amber catching the two sharing a look which caused her to smile. They were cute together.

'Time After Time' by Cyndi Lauper began to play as many of the kids either partnered up or stayed with their friends talking. Nancy and Amber were still handing out punch as one of the teachers had begun to talk to Nancy. Amber began to scan her eyes around the room when they fell onto Dustin Henderson across the room, looking sadly at the couples slow dancing. She frowned, seeing the boy alone.

"Nance. I'll be right back." She excused herself from the table before she made her way over to the other side of the gym. She slowly approached Dustin who was crying on the bleachers which broke her heart a bit.

"Hey, Dust." Amber spoke up. Her voice caused him to try and quickly wipe his tears away.

"Hey." He said back as she held her hand out to him.

"Wanna dance?" She asked him.

"What?"

"Come on, Dust." Amber said, pulling him with her onto the dance floor. A small smile made its way to his face and it seemed to get bigger as he looked around to see people watching them.

"Alright. Your hands go on my waist, and come a little closer." Amber instructed the boy who was nervous but still smiling at her. Her arms rested on his shoulders as she looked down at him while they swayed.

"Am I doing good?" Dustin asked.

"Yeah, you're doing great." Amber encouraged the boy.

"You know, Dust. Out of the entire party, you're my favorite. You've always been my favorite." Amber told him.

"Really?" He asked with a wide smile. His first ever crush had just told him that he was her favorite. He felt like he was on top of the world knowing that.

"Yeah." Amber looked around at the middle school girls watching the two.

"Mike always tried to say he was the favorite. I never thought I was in the running for favorite." Dustin admitted.

"Michael is delusional. And with that brand new attitude he has adopted in the past few months, he definitely wouldn't be my favorite," Dustin couldn't help but giggle. "Did you ever wonder why I always babysat you? It's because I liked your company, Dust. I prefer it over those other buttheads any day." Amber told him.

"Even Steve?" Dustin asked which caused Amber to laugh.

"Yes, even Steve." Dustin smiled widely at the information.

"Girls this age are dumb. But give them a few years and they'll wise up. And trust me, you'll drive them nuts." Amber said to him.

"You think so?" Dustin asked giddy.

"Oh, I know so." Amber assured him. Once the song had ended and turned to the next one of "Every Breath You Take". Amber and Dustin had continued to dance until Nancy had come over to ask to take over. Amber smiled and agreed. Watching as the two started to talk while dancing, she turned around to see Steve Harrington a few feet away. The girl went to take a few steps closer to him but he was quick to close the entire distance. He had cupped her face and instantly leaned into her lips. Their first kiss had just seemed right in the moment, pulling away with a smile, Amber couldn't help but laugh.

"Out of all of the places you choose a middle school dance." Amber laughed at him.

"I couldn't help it. You just looked extremely breathtaking." Steve said, which caused the girl to pull him in by his shirt for a shorter kiss. She then wrapped her arms around his neck as his arms made their way to her waist as they began to sway along to the music.

"I think this song is my favorite." Amber told Steve who smiled down at her.

"I think it's my favorite too."

"Maybe they'll play it at prom for us." Amber said which caused Steve to grin like a madman.

"Maybe they will. If they don't we can always play it through the stereos ourselves." He assured her as they continued to sway to the music. Letting the good memory of the night wash over them.