a look from you (and I would fall from grace)

Steve Harrington hanging around in the shadows of a house party rather than being the life of it is quite a rare sight. But he just doesn't have it in him tonight. Everyone is partying their cares away to welcome summer and, for seniors like him, start to bid goodbye to high school. There's only two weeks of school left before he's thrown into the real world. His concern about what his future in particular looks like kills the excitement of these last few big parties of the year. So he's staked out a place against the wall, observing everyone and drinking some shitty beer.

Ridiculous pop song after ridiculous pop song, people coming and going from the 'dance floor' in various states of intoxication, boys trying to dance with girls who want nothing to do with them. Nothing special.

As the song switches to a more serious and sexy one, Steve rolls his eyes at the chorus of girls laughing. But then there's a shift in the crowd where he can see two particular people on the outskirts.

It's Heather Holloway, drunkenly hanging all over Billy Hargrove as they dance and catch the eyes of a few people around them. He watches as Billy politely tries to keep her from falling and pulling him down with her by his shirt.

Billy Hargrove is an enigma to Steve. The boy was a pain in the ass last year when he was constantly trying to start fights and steal Steve's spot as the fan favorite basketball player. But these days they have some unspoken agreement to avoid one another. Now he best knows him as Max's Mayfield's older brother who occasionally gives him dirty looks in the halls. With all their tumultuous history he wishes he could hate him, but for some reason he just can't. And Steve has tried, oh how he's tried. Thinking about why he doesn't return Billy's malice makes Steve's head hurt. He leaves the room, wandering into the kitchen and wanting to be anywhere but here.
                                                                    ________________________

"Earth to Robin" someone says, snapping their fingers in her face. Robin Buckley startles before turning to the girl beside her and mumbling an apology.

She's sitting in a lawn chair with some band friends, a bunch of whom she barely even knows. But she wasn't about to show up to this party alone. She tears her gaze away from the back porch to stare into her solo cup, swirling the alcohol around.

"What's up with you? Got the hots for Byers over there?" one of the girls in the circle snickers. A chorus of playful jokes follow and Robin rolls her eyes.

"Absolutely not" Robin states firmly. They just laugh it off again. When she refuses to talk further, the conversation is dropped. Even though she doubts they believe her, hopefully they won't remember to tease her about it later.

Her eyes unconsciously drift back to the corner of the porch. At stupid Jonathan Byers and Nancy Wheeler standing there and kissing a little too passionately to be fully sober.

It leaves a bitter taste in her mouth and she doesn't know why seeing the two of them bothers her so much.

As far as she's concerned Jonathan is just an antisocial loser and Nancy is just a prissy popular girl from the nicest part of Hawkins' suburbs.

What worries her is that she's found herself drawn to the girl more than ever as the school year has been winding down. Yet she pushes it away and actively tries to dislike her. It's not that difficult, Nancy is quite friendly with some of the jocks who are complete assholes to Robin. She takes pride in ignoring the fluttering in her stomach that occurs during the rare times they interact.

But, for some reason, being subjected to seeing her kiss Jonathan makes her stomach churn. It's not like she's jealous of Nancy. She hasn't spoken one word to Jonathan. Much less wanted to kiss him. She feels like a creep watching them so she snaps her head away again, but not before seeing Jonathan pull Nancy closer to him, cupping her cheek. It makes Robin wonder what it would be like to kiss Nancy Wheeler.