THE PARTY WAS DECENT. That wasn't to say she had been to many parties, but she'd been dragged to enough with her friends that she knew a good one when she saw it. This was not that. For one, there were way too many people crammed into Tina's tiny house. She'd turn around and she'd bump into Ally Law, or Billy Hargrove, or Tommy H, the latter who tried to spill his drink on her but failed. The music was awesome, though. She'd danced with Steve and Nancy to Hungry Like The Wolf, a couple of Scorpions' songs which she knew, and even a Queen song. But she wasn't such a fan of the teens drunk off their asses, sculling from keg-stands and smoking everywhere she turned. Especially as the night progressed and people were vomiting on the lawn outside. The girl dreaded when she would have to walk past all the passed out bodies later on her way home.

Nancy, on the other hand, had gotten increasingly smashed throughout the duration of the party. She'd ignored Sar's considerate suggestions to stop drinking, and has most certainly ignored Steve's gentle ones.

Sara had been dancing with one of the Jasons when she heard their commotion. Nancy was by the spiked punch again, trying to fill up her glass for what must have been the eighth time. Sar had no idea how strong the alcohol in the punch was, but what she did know was that by this point, Nancy was totally out of it. Sar felt bad for forcing Steve to handle the girl on his own. She watched as Steve struggled with Nancy to pull the alcohol away from her, finally throwing in the towel. Nancy, undoubtedly a stubborn drunk which Sara had discovered from being her babysitter at many parties, fought over it with him, arguing loudly. She seemed to grow three times stronger when drunk (Sar found this out after trying to pull Nancy away from pursuing a stay cat at one of Vicky's parties). "Nance," Steve was saying in that calm voice he always managed to have. He tried to pull it away from her again as the girl gave another final stubborn tug. The red alcohol splashed over Nancy's front, ruining the hard-worked costume. Silence went up through the crowd.

"The Hell?" Nance muttered angrily, storming off towards the bathroom. Steve ran a hand down his face and made after her. Sara watched them for a second before shifting away from the guy she'd been dancing with and heading after them.

"Excuse me," she said as she pushed through the crowd. "Sorry, coming through. Hey, I'm trying to get past." Getting through a crowd of drunk teenagers was not an easy task, no matter what people say.

A hand darted out and caught her wrist. She found herself pulled to a stop in front of Billy Hargrove. Her elbow was crammed against his bare chest. "Hey, princess," he said to her, and she raised her eyebrows at him. "Care for a dance?"

She just gave him a searing look. "No thanks," Sara said, pulling herself away from him. "Asshole," she muttered to herself, wedging her way through the crowd. She figured Steve probably needed assistance in getting a very drunk Nancy home. It took her a while to get to the bathroom, shoving her way through crowds of drunken teens who didn't even know the way to move to get out of her way. It took all of her effort not to tell off two girls feeding their passed out friend more alcohol (there was a reason why she was the designated babysitter at parties) and just walk past.

When she finally made it to the bathroom, the girl contemplated just what to do. The two of them probably wanted privacy, but Sar was prepared to help in whatever way possible. She stood in front of the closed bathroom door. Her mouth was opened, ready to ask if they needed anything.

Steve seemed to be talking in a hushed tone while Nancy raised her voice angrily at him. Sara just stopped when she heard Nancy's pained cry of, "Like we didn't... kill Barb?" in a slurred tone, and turned to make sure no one was listening. Sure enough, the only person to hear was a passed out boy behind her in the corridor.

Sara didn't catch the next words, and she wasn't quite prepared to eavesdrop. She was about to knock on the door to ask if Steve needed help, when she heard Steve's soft words. "Like we're in love?"

"It's bullshit." Sar just froze at the words, no longer having the courage to walk inside. Steve had sounded so heartbroken, and Nancy... shit. The door slammed open with her standing in front of it. Her mouth was hanging open, eyebrows lowered. Steve looked up to meet her gaze briefly as he walked out of the bathroom. Sar reached out a hand.

"Steve—" The boy pushed straight past her, a single hand coming up to run through his hair. She could see in his eyes how dishevelled he was. She exhaled softly, watching Steve disappear in the crowd as he made his way back out onto the street. Sar brought her lips back together and turned back to the bathroom where Nancy still was, door slightly ajar.

When Sar entered the room, a drunken Nancy was still leaning up against the sink, a washcloth limp in her hands. She gave Sara a bitter look as she entered, arm supporting her on the counter. Sar just raised her eyebrows at her drunk friend. The girl pressed the cloth to her clothes, in an attempt to get out the bright pink stain spread across it. "That's not going to come out with that," Sara pointed out, closing the door behind her. Nancy pursed her lips and slurred something inaudible to Sar. "Right." She pulled the washcloth out of Nancy's hands. She stared at the girl for a moment, who was struggling to keep her eyes opened. The front of her dress was completely cold now. If she wasn't careful, she might get a chill. "Hey, Nance, let's get you out of this." She pulled Nancy's dress up and over her head as the girl wobbled on her feet. A hand came out to steady her as the drunk girl stumbled. "Here." Sar slipped her own costume off first, helping to pull it onto a very drunk Nancy. When the other girl was dressed in her clothes, she slid into Nancy's stained dress. "You good?"

Nancy hummed something and almost fell over.

"Okay," Sara just said. She inspected Nancy again, whose eyes were unfocused. "Well, I'll take this home and get these stains out for you, okay?" Nancy nodded in her drunken stupor. "Here." She slung Nancy's arm around her shoulder. "Baby steps, baby steps," Sar said, eyes wide. She was practically holding Nancy up, the girl stumbling on her feet. "Please don't fall."

Nancy somehow managed to not fall over as they exited the bathroom and made a direct break towards the door. Her feet were dragging along the ground. Sara slowed as she saw a familiar face pushing towards them through the crowd. "Jonathan," Sar sighed out a breath of relief.

He furrowed his eyebrows, looking at her costume. "What happened to you?"

Sar looked down. "Oh. This is Nancy's." She glanced back up. "We swapped so she wouldn't have to feel further embarrassment—" Nancy groaned against her shoulder and tried to stumble forward. Sar kept a firm arm around her. Then she glanced back up at Jonathan. "Actually, could you take her?"

Jonathan removed his hands from his pockets. "O-oh, yeah, sure." He reached out to take Nancy as the drunk girl stumbled into his arms. Nancy instantly hooked her arms around him and Sar held in a wince at the thoughts of Steve's rejection.

Sar tucked a strand of her now-messy hair behind her ear. "I'm going to go check up on Steve." She looked down. "And get the punch out of this dress." She touched the stain with a hand.

Jonathan shrugged Nancy up further against his shoulder. "They had a fight?" he asked.

"Something like that." She looked back at Nancy. "Make sure you get her home safe, alright? Be careful with her she's... really drunk." She seemed to deflate. The girl was practically passed out now, and Sar furrowed her eyebrows, nodding. "I haven't had much to drink. I'll just take the car."

He lowered his eyebrows again. "Are you sure?"

Sara nodded. "Yeah. I had like, one cup of whatever the punch was and then decided I didn't like it. Not a big fan of drinking anyway." She reached into her pocket for her keys. "Thanks so much, Jonathan. I'll see you tomorrow." She touched him on the shoulder briefly before she squeezed past the last of the crowd and made her way to her car.

When she pulled up at Steve's house, all the lights were off. His parents weren't around, then. That was good. She grabbed the spare key he'd told her about underneath a pot and let herself in. The house was quiet. She chucked down her bag and walked down the hall. She knew her way around his house like the back of her hand. Sar walked into the laundry, filled a bucket with water and oxygen bleach, and put Nancy's dress into it to soak. If she was lucky the stains would come out. From the cupboard she retrieved some of her spare clothes kept here, from when she had been living here. She slipped into some pyjamas. Then she padded up to Steve's bedroom.

"Steve?" She pressed her hand on his door, pushing it open. There was a lump in his bed, curled up in the sheets. He was facing away from her. His hair was messed, as if he'd been running his hands through it too much. She saw the shuddering of his shoulders. Sara had never seen him cry before. "Steve..." she whispered again, softer this time. Her eyes were sloped in sympathy. He kept his face away from her. After a moment of standing in his room, the girl moved closer on soft footsteps. She slipped onto the bed and lay opposite from him, facing the ceiling. Steve was still in his clothes, sunglasses hanging off his bedside table. His shoes were thrown somewhere across the room. They lay there in silence for a few moments. "Steve— do you want to talk about it?"

He rolled over then, body turning to face her. She half expected anger. He seemed to lash out when he was hurt. The shadows from the moon outside made it difficult to see the features of his face, but his eyes were red. So he had been crying. She turned towards him half-heartedly. "She said she didn't love me," he said after a moment.

"I know." She adjusted her head on the pillow. "She probably didn't mean it. She was drunk." Her voice wasn't very convincing.

He sniffled but didn't bother moving. "But maybe she did." Sara didn't know how to reply to that, she just lay there as he searched her face. "What if she did?"

Sara sighed out. "Then... we deal with it," Sar said. Her hand framed her cheek. "Like we always do." The girl said it with gentle confidence. They always did make it.

He frowned at that, looking thoroughly hurt. "Why do we deal with so much shit?" he asked her.

Sar didn't have an answer to that. She just shrugged her shoulders, looking away from him. "I don't know." They lay there in silence for a few moments further, a sliver of moonlight peeking through the drawn windows and pooling across Sar's face. "Do you want me to stay?" she asked him after a moment, voice soft and low.

He seemed to think about it for a moment, eyes avoiding her's. "I don't... want to be alone." He sounded shameful. Sar just cracked a smile. It reminded her of when they first met.

The girl offered him gentle eyes, pulling the sheet around her body. He looked so upset. "Just go to sleep, Steve. I'll be here. I'll protect your dreams for you," Sar promised, touching his cheeks gently, as if she wanted to see all the beauty in his mind. She turned back towards the ceiling as he shoved his face into the pillow. It reminded her so painfully of the night they first met, it sent nostalgia spiking through her heart. Things were so different now.

•°•☆•°•

I will never forget the time I spelt "pants" as "pance" honestly it haunts my nightmares. 

Anyway, Sar and Steve being cute! I LOVE them so muchhhh. Still listening to the Westworld theme song while writing this. Also The Village by Wrabel is so beautiful and powerful whatttt I love it. 

Ugh I hate my writing right nowwwwww. What is going on ??? And yes I've changed the part 2 chapter numbers from a new beginning (eg 01; 02) to a continuation (37; 38)

Fact of the day: One of the only scenes in a book which just absolutely made me a mess was the scene in Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor, when Liraz was giving Karou Ziri's soul and hoping it was in there - saying she sung to it to get it to come to her (even though Karou knew it wouldn't do anything). THAT SCENE MADE ME SO MESSED UP I WAS READING IT ON A PLANE WITH TEARS LIKE OMG THAT IS WHY LIRAZ IS MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER. GET LAINI TAYLOR'S DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE SERIES AND STRANGE THE DREAMER THEY'RE MY FAVOURITE TWO SERIES AT THE MOMENT.