in·dulge

verb

allow oneself to enjoy the pleasure of.

Emilia pulled over down the road, adding her vehicle to the line up of cars that littered the side of the street. She got out with minor confidence, but it was enough to get her feet moving. As she walked towards the house, which had music pumping, she looked for Jonathan's car, but didn't find even as she arrived at the front door. The door was open a crack, music played and the scent of perfume and sweat wafted through that crack. She pushed it open and entered, feeling odd walking into some stranger's house without knocking. She only did that at Jonathan's and Hopper's.

The same goth girl that she had seen earlier that day in the hallway approached her, "Hey, you're Emilia, right?"

"Yeah, that's me," Emilia replied nervously, having to raise her voice to an uncomfortable level in order to speak over the music.

"We were in the same elementary school classes," she told her.

"I'm sorry... I don't remember your name," Emilia admitted right off the bat.

"Oh, no worries, I'm a bit of a shrew," she waved her hand like it didn't matter. "I'm Jenny."

"Jenny Hall?"

"Yeah!"

"You look... different!"

"Oh, yeah, the black make up? Not just for Halloween for me," she laughed. "But I'm not as evil as a look. I've never seen you at a party before, what got you to come out from hiding?"

Emilia shrugged, and then felt arms wrap around her. She shrieked as she was lifted up, and then put back on the ground. She smelled Jonathan's scent and relaxed. She looked at Jenny, "This is my boyfriend, Jonathan."

"I'll leave you to it, then! Have fun you two!" Jenny spun on her heels, grabbing a red Solo cup from some boy's hand and drinking it. He grinned and chased after her playfully, giving Emilia and Jonathan the impression that maybe they too could have a little fun.

"Are you drinking?" Emilia asked him, turning to face Jonathan and enjoying the warmth that radiated off of him. She felt warmth from everyone else, but it was his that she was drawn to. People bumped into them, though it was early in the night a lot of people were already drunk.

Jonathan shook his head, "No, definitely not."

She smiled, glad that they would both be sober, although she wouldn't have minded if Jonathan wanted to let loose a little and relax. This was not his scene, and having a beer might help him enjoy it. But Emilia certainly wasn't going to say that, either. They mingling for a while, running into friendly people they went to school with, though didn't talk to much. Catching up with some people that they forgot existed, or had never really spoken to outside the parameters of the classroom, it was refreshing, and opened up parts of Jonathan and Emilia that they had closed off a long time ago.

"I'm going to go find a washroom," Emilia said, then eyed the busy living room that looked more like a war zone than someone's nice home. "Wish me luck."

Jonathan laughed, and did wish her luck. Then he stood there alone for a while, resorting back to being a wallflower. Even though Emilia herself was a shy, quiet person especially in big social events, she brought out something in him when they were together at the party. Enough courage to chat to the people he sat next to in classes, or ran into in the halls. Without her there, he felt just as shy as he had been before he met Emilia. He knew she wouldn't be long, though, and so he found himself content just leaning against the off-white wall covered in pictures of Tina through the years.

Emilia found a bathroom, but it had a line up and she realized that she really had to go. So she went upstairs, finding one in a master bedroom. She looked around at the bedroom and realized it was not so different from the one she and Tommy had been in. Ashamed, she looked at the ground and began to shake slightly. It crawled under her skin like a parasite, eating away at her, and then she locked herself in the giant bathroom. Taking deep breaths, she splashed a little bit of water on her cheeks, which were red and hot.

Downstairs, Jonathan saw a tear-streaked Nancy, her drunken way of walking a telltale sign that she had too much to drink. He approached her and placed his hand on her shoulder, "Nancy, are you alright?"

"No," she shoved him away, anger in her actions but not intentionally directed at him. "I hate all of this, all of this bullshit."

"Hey, maybe you should go home, you look like maybe you've had too much... too much to drink," Jonathan said carefully.

Nancy leaned on him in her drunken stupor. "Yeah, sure! I'll just go home like everything's fine or something."

Her sarcasm was not missed.

Jonathan was conflicted, for Emilia was nowhere to be seen and it had been a few minutes. Maybe she was still waiting for the washroom, but he didn't see her anywhere. Nancy was loosing her footing and was clutching onto Jonathan to keep herself upright. Thinking on his toes, knowing that Nancy had to get out of this environment, he called over to Jenny whom he spotted easily through the masses.

"Hey, if you see Emilia can you let her know I'm just driving Nancy home?" he asked Jenny with desperation in his voice.

"Sure thing," Jenny replied, eyeing up Nancy. "I think it's a good idea, taking her home."

"Yeah," Jonathan agreed, although he wondered what people might say.

Jonathan struggled through the crowd, holding onto Nancy with an arm wrapped around her waist, which was soaked with some reddish coloured alcohol. He cringed as he made it to the front yard, where people were drinking straight from the kegs, and some people were lying on the ground looking closer to dead than alive. They didn't matter to him, though, because they had chosen to indulge in something that they couldn't keep under control. Nancy had been like that, he realized, and he felt guilty for thinking that.

He finally got her to the car, and looked back at the bright lights of the house, wishing he had been able to tell Emilia that he was taking off for half an hour. Nancy threw up just outside the car door, and Jonathan recoiled, although he managed not to let her go. Her hair fell in front of her face as she heaved, and Jonathan felt inclined to hold it back. She looked up at him, a hint of soberness underneath it all when she said, "Thank you."

"At least someone cares," she grumbled, the sober flash gone, then she crawled into the car.

Jonathan looked up at the house one more time, hoping to see Emilia coming out the front door, waving him down to help him out. But he saw no one of importance, and so he got into the driver's seat and took Nancy home.

Meanwhile, Emilia had recovered from her hysteria in the master bathroom, and told herself that she was going to have fun at this party. She was going to relax and talk to people she never thought she would talk to. She was going to embrace the teenage years while she still was one, she was going to indulge.

Wattpad is driving me mental. It's posting things as drafts, then posts ten of the draft, then won't let me edit or delete things. I'm about to put my fist through my new laptop (which is also a big disappointment).

Question of the Day: Do you think Nancy was too harsh in this scene in the show?