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Eighteen

After wandering around aimlessly through the large house, Allison found Nancy and Jonathan seated side by side on a couch, trying to avoid everyone else at the party. As Nancy locked eyes with Allison, she could tell that something had happened and jumped up, taking Allison's hands in hers.

"What's wrong? Did someone recognize you? Is it the...bad men?", Nancy asked, keeping her voice below a whisper.

"No, but we do need to get out of here!", Allison insisted, breathlessly. 

"Why? What's going on?", Jonathan inquired, placing his drink down on the coffee table before climbing to his feet alongside the girls. Allison's eyes darted around anxiously, expecting a rage-fueled Billy to come barreling into the room at any moment.

"No time to explain. We need to go.", she grabbed Nancy's hand and began to drag her through the crowd as Jonathan trailed close behind them. 

Suddenly, there was a loud crashing sound on the far side of the room and Allison glance back to see Billy knocking over the furniture with a crazed look in his eyes. Everyone around him moved aside, giving him a clear path straight towards her. 

"I assume he's the one that we're running from?", Nancy cried out, as Billy closed in on them. Allison nodded, confirming her suspicion, prompting her friends to pick up their pace.

They bolted out the front door and Allison slammed it shut in Billy's face, using her mind to hold it shut. Nancy and Jonathan continued to run down the driveway as Allison stopped and stared at Billy through the large window in the center of the door. She flinched as he pounded his fist against the glass, his impulsive behavior, scaring her.

Open the goddamn door, Allison. I know you can hear me. Open the door!

Her heart pounded as he used his thoughts to yell at her, his voice echoing around inside her head. She shook her head at him, refusing to follow through with his demands, then turned and ran down the driveaway after her friends, where they all jumped inside Jonathan's car. 

Without a moment's hesitation, Jonathan put the car in drive and began to speed down the street. Allison looked back towards the house and released her hold on the door, allowing Billy to run out into the driveway, where he watched their taillights disappear into the night.

When they got back to the safety of Nancy's house, the girls waved goodbye to Jonathan, snuck across the lawn and up the side of the house. Nancy climbed inside her bedroom first, followed by Allison who snaked her way through the window after her, sliding in headfirst and landing on the carpet with a thud. 

Despite the pain that the fall had caused, she broke into hysterics, rolling over until she was looking up at the ceiling. After staring at her drunk friend for a few minutes, Nancy slowly crouched down and flopped onto her back beside her.

"I had my first kiss tonight.", Allison blurted out suddenly, trailing her fingers over lips, cringing at how wet and messy it had been.

"Oh my god! Who was it? Wait, let me guess!", Nancy squealed excitedly, appearing deep in thought. "Was it Steve? Oh no! Is that why Billy was pissed?", she gasped, slapping her hand over her mouth at the thought.

"No! Definitely not Steve, and before you ask, it wasn't Billy either!"

"Then who was it?"

"Um. I don't know. We didn't get the chance to exchange names before Billy came along and forced him to leave.", she admitted, feeling her cheeks grow flush.

"Billy is totally into you.", Nancy stated matter of factly.

"Trust me. He's not into me-", Allison snorted, rolling onto her side to face her giddy friend.

"No! Trust me. Billy Hargrove wants you!", she insisted, grinning ear to ear.

"He can't want me that badly, or I wouldn't have caught him having sex with another girl.", Allison shrugged nonchalantly, earning a look from Nancy that demanded an explanation. "Okay...Hopper told me that all Billy wanted was sex, so I went to find him in the void to prove that Hopper wrong, but it turned out he was right."

"Allison-", Nancy's tone was stern as she began to speak, but found herself getting cut off by Allison who was desperate to defend herself.

"I just got so angry...angrier than I've ever been before and I could stop myself. I punched the window of his car and it shattered. Tonight, he found out that I was responsible and that's why he was so mad."

"Are you sure that's what he's mad about?"

"Well, yeah. What else would it be about?", she asked, shooting Nancy a look of confusion.

"You know what, don't worry about it.", Nancy sighed, not having the energy to list all of the potential reasons that he may be upset. "It's been a long night, we should get some rest.", she added, struggling to climb to her feet. Once she had found her balance, she held her hand out towards Allison, helping her stand up.

Leaning on each other for support, they stumbled towards the small bathroom that was connected to Nancy's bedroom. They took turns in front of the sink, washing the makeup off of their faces and brushing their teeth.

While Allison stared at herself in the mirror, her mind began to wander, thinking of Billy and how he had acted at the party. He had always had a temper, but it was the first time that it had been directed towards her. The confrontation had left her both intrigued and frightened, causing the curiosity that she had always had about Billy to intensify.

As they finished in the bathroom, went back to the bedroom, and climbed into the small bed beside one another, it was clear to Nancy that Allison's mind was elsewhere. Instead of questioning her about it, she rolled over and turned off the lamp on her bedside table, leaving Allison to her thoughts.