Chapter 3 (Tatum's POV)

        DRUNK BITCHES..(THE PARTY)

   I arrived at Tinas party and immediately found Nancy and Steve dancing. Steve seemed sober, but Nancy looked a little tipsy, and she had a drink in her hand. I make my way to the kitchen and grab a drink.

 "Hello, beautiful." Billy Hargrove says. Nancy said Billy was new to the school this year as well. 

"Hi?" I say. 

"Wanna dance?" He asks. I look over at Steve and Nancy, and they are still dancing and kissing.

 "Sure." He grabs me by the waist and twirls me around with a big smile on his face and a drink in hand.

 Billy had curly dirty blonde hair that was around at shoulder length. He has blue eyes and a killer smile. He has a slight mustache on his upper lip. He was wearing dark wash jeans with a black belt. He had on a leather jacket with no shirt underneath. All of a sudden, Tommy H came up to me and Billy dancing. (Tommy H (Tommy Hagan) is dating Carol Perkins they are the power couple of Hawkins High, and Steve's old bestfriends.) 

"Holy shittt!!" Tommy yells loudly, trying to get everyone's attention. Since Tommy was popular, everyone looked in his direction. I was confused. 

"The Queen is fucking back!" Tommy yells even louder. All eyes were on me. Steve's eyes, Nancy's eyes, Billy's eyes, everyone. Now I was just embarrassed. I didn't know what to do, so I just lifted my red solo cup high in the air, and everyone seemed to go with it. They all shouted with excitement and went back to dancing.

 Billy grabbed me by my waist and pulled me close.

 "Queen?" He said playfully.

"That's me." I said. He winked at me and twirled me around, keeping a firm hand on my waist. Tommy grabbed my wrist slightly. 

"Where is your king?" Tommy asked with a smug smirk. He led me towards Steve and Nancy.

"We got a new keg-king Harrington." Tommy shouts. My eyes followed Nancy as she went to go get more 'punch'.  Steve ignored Tommy and followed Nance.

"No.." Steve says. He tries to pull Nancy away, knowing that she is drunk. She pushes him off. 

"Screw you!" Nancu says, getting another cup. 

"Nancy, I'm serious. Stop.." He says concerned. 

"Steve, stop." She says firmly. 

"Nance put it down." Steve says once again. He tries to pull the cup away from her, but it splashes back all over her white shirt, leaving a deep red stain. 

All the people look over and gasp. "Ohhh," They all say in union.

 "What the hell." Nancy mumbles.  

"Nance..." Steve says. Nancy brushes him on the shoulder while rushing to the bathroom, Steve then chases after her. They shut the bathroom door. I noticed Jonathan watching sadly in the distance. Billy brings me back to his attention.

 "Steve Harrington is such an ass, right?" Billy says drunkly.

 "Yeah, totally.." I say, turning my head back to see what was gonna happen. I guess Billy could tell I wasn't paying attention to him because he was getting a little angry, so he grabbed my face and started kissing me. I was intoxicated, so I kissed him back. In that moment, sharing that kiss with Billy I had forgotten about Steve and Nancy. The kiss got heated really quickly. He pulled away and tried dragging me upstairs. At that moment, Steve was rushing out of the bathroom, and he looked extremely sad. He saw Billy and I walked up the stairs, and he frowned even harder.

 I paused, "Hey, wait. Harrington, are you ok?" I ask. Steve gave me a sad look.

 Billy wasn't having it, and he tried picking me up and forcing me upstairs. 

"Wait, Billy!" I said, trying to get put of grip. 

"No. C'mon Tatum." He says aggressively. Steve was about to walk out of the door until he realized I didn't wanna go with Billy. 

 "Billy, you heard her. Let her go. She obviously doesn't like you." Steve says.

 Billy puts me down slowly, "Really?" He says, his anger was brewing. 

He looked towards me. I gave him a 'I'm scared' look. He scoffed and shoved me towards Steve. Billy pushed through the crowd and headed towards the backyard where the beer kegs were.

 "I'm sorry. Thank you." I say quietly. He doesn't say anything but just grabs my hand and leads me out the door. 

"Seriously tha-" I got cut off. I puked in the grass outside.

"Sorry.." I say.

"It's fine." He says. I wipe the corners of my mouth. He opens the car door from me. 

"Have a seat, Queen." He says in a dull tone. I was getting into his car when I noticed that Jonathan was carrying Nancy out to his car. He was probably taking her home. Steve starts the car and drives off. 

"What happened with you and Nancy?" I asked curiously. 

"Why do you care?" 

"I was just curious. Sorry.." I say quietly. 

"Whatever." He says. 

Steve still had obvious feelings for Nancy, which hurt a little, but I felt sorry for him. She clearly hurt him. The rest of the drive was extremely silent, so I ended up falling asleep in the car. 

   Steve parked his car in his driveway. He picked me up and carried me inside. He laid me down on the couch and calmly woke me up. He rubbed my shoulders, "Wake up Tatum.." He says gently.

 I woke up slowly, "What is that terrible smell?" I ask. 

Steve chuckles, "That is you. Remember when you vomited?" He says lightly. His mood had changed for sure. 

 "No.." I say. 

"You're still a little tipsy." He says. He helps me up from the couch and takes me up to his room. 

"You can use these.." He opens his dresser and tosses a T-shirt, "Do you want some shorts too?" He asks.

 I held the shirt against my body to see if it was long enough, and it was, but just to be safe. "Yeah." I say. He tosses them. These weren't shorts. They were boxers! Oddly comfortable but kinda gross. 

"Uhm, thanks.." I say. 

"The shower is to your right." He says. 

I nod and wobble over to the bathroom. I turned on the water and washed my hair that had alcohol in it. I grabbed the shampoo and started scrubbing the top of my head. 

   After I showered, I put on the clothes he had given me. I walked out of the bathroom and went back to his room.

 "I can sleep on the couch.. or something..." I suggest. 

"I won't bite." Steve says. I shrug and slowly walk over to his bed. 

"Hey, um, I'm sorry about Nancy. And thanks for taking care of me. You had to deal with a lot of stupid drunk girls tonight." I say. He chuckles lightly. I slid in his bed on the opposite side of where he was.

 "She broke up with me. She said that we weren't in love and the whole relationship was bullshit. She said I was bullshit." He says with a sad tone. I sit up in the bed and look towards him. He was facing the wall.

"Steve, you're not bullshit. Nancy is my best friend and she made a mistake. I'm sure she was just drunk, and she was lying." I say, trying to be supportive.

Steve sits up and faces me. "She likes Jonathan, but it's ok." He says. 

"I'm sorry." I say.

 "Honestly, it's ok. It was for the best. I had feelings for someone else, too." He says.

 "What! Who?" I question. We lay back down, but we're now facing each otother.

 "You." He says quietly. 

"Wait, what?" I say shocked.

 "Yeah. I started dating Nancy so I could convince myself she was like you." He says.

 Me and Steve were 'together' for around 3 months before I left with my dad. I guess you could say I kind of took off without saying bye to him. 

"Steve.." I mumble. He grabs my hand from under the covers and interlocks my fingers with his. 

"This could never work. Or not right now at least." I ask. 

"Nancy broke up with me, and she is probably going to be with Jonathan." Steve says. 

"I don't know. I feel really bad." I say.

 "It's ok. You guys are best friends, so even if she is upset, you two will make up."

 It doesn't exactly work that way, Harrington. 

"Are you sure?" I ask for more reassurance.

 "Positive." He says with a smile. He kisses my hand and pulls me closer by my waist. I know I'm breaking 'girl code', but Nancy broke it first.

 Our foreheads and noses touch. Steve plants a kiss on my lips. I moved up closer to him, still a little hesitant. His arms around my waist, and just as I am about to drift off to sleep, I hear footsteps coming up the stairs. Steve must have heard it, too, because he got up out of bed to go check what it was. 

"Steve, why are you awake?" I hear a woman call from the top of the stairs. 

"Mom! Dad! Why are you back so early?" He says with a worried chuckle.

 "Your fathers conference got cut short. So we are here for the night. We will leave again tomorrow morning, though." His mother says.

 "Yeah, sorry we aren't here very often, son." His dad chimes in.

 "It's ok. Anyways, goodnight, guys." Steve says akawardly.

 "Good night, honey." Mrs. Harrington says. Steve comes back into his room and closes the door behind him.

 "My parents are back.." He whispers. 

"I know I heard." I whisper back.

 He crawls back into bed and brings me close.

 "Steve, I need to ask you something.. oh." His mother says. 

"Shit." I say quietly, only letting Steve hear.

 "I did not know we had guests." Mrs. Harrington says as she flicks the light on. We both sit up in the bed. 

Steve lets out a deep sigh. "It's not what it looks like." Steve says. His dad walks into the room, confused.

 I cover my face with my hands. I could feel Steve's hand slither onto my thigh.

 "Tatum is back. And we were at a party until she was in a um a certain situation that I had to take her out of, so I took her here." He says. 

"Tatum Henderson?" His dad questions. I nod.

 "Is Tatum the girl that you wouldn't stop talking about for around 2 years?" His mother asks.

 Steve looks embarrassed. His face is turning red. "Yes." He says. 

"So, are you two back together?" His dad says. I look Steve.

 "I don't... umm..  I dont know."

 "Great. Now we have to hear him rant about her again." His dad says. I knew that was a lie because the poor boy's parents are never home, and god knows what they do to him when they are angry. 

Once in the 5th grade, Steve came to school with bruises, and he said it was from falling from the monkey bars, but I knew somebody had hit him. More specifically, his father. 

"Oh honey." His mom says lightly, slapping Mr. Harrington's arm. 

"Don't get too crazy in here, kids." His dad says. Our faces started to heat up again. His parents shuffle out of the room. Me and Steve lay back down. 

"Shit..." He whispers.

"It's ok." I say. He pulls me back into his grasp. 

"Sorry, i didn't know that they would come home." He says. 

"It's ok." I say again.

 "So what is this going to be like?" He asks. 

"I don't know, lets just figure something out when I'm fully functioning." say. I kiss his lips once again. 

"Goodnight," He says.

 "Goodnight, " I reply contently.