Author's Note: Very important note at the end.
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
The phone rings in the middle of the night
My father yells, "what you gonna do with your life?"
Oh daddy dear, you know you're still number one
But girls, they wanna have fun
Oh girls just want to have fun.
. .
Dani's cleaning the house, taking advantage of being alone for the first time in weeks. Nathan is at work, Eleven is at Mike's, and Billy is off picking up some much needed supplies for Harrington's New Year's Bash. The music playing is pretty loud, but not loud enough to cover the doorbell ringing.
Yanking off the soapy rubber gloves, Dani quietly sighs as she turns to press the stop button on her small boombox and then fixes her ponytail on the way to answer the front door. She's been cleaning for the past couple of hours, so she's a little haggard, but the second she opens the door she perks up when she recognizes her guest.
"Joyce! What are you doing here?!" Dani's quick to step out and embrace the petite woman, she then beaming when she spots two other familiar faces. "Jay! Will!"
Joyce chuckles as she watches the teenage girl then embrace her two sons, her dark eyes crinkled at the corners. "The boys wanted to surprise you all, so we came down for New Years. Is your dad around, sweetie?"
Stepping aside and turning to meet Joyce's gaze, she shakes her head. "Dad's at work. He knew you were coming?"
"Yes. You were supposed to too, but given your reaction I'm guessing he hasn't talked to you."
"Talked to me about what?"
"We're staying with you," Will says, grinning.
Dani blinks in surprise and then comes to a quick realization. "Oh," she muses, drawing the word out. "So that's why my dad's been working on the basement. He put in a bed and a pull out couch down there, and said it was for his personal space, but I'm starting to think he fixed it up for guests."
Joyce nervously fidgets. "Guilty, but if you're not comfortable with the situation I'm sure we can find someplace else to stay."
"Are you kidding me?" Dani slowly smiles. "I'd love to have you all here. But just so we're clear, I'm not letting you stay in the basement with the boys. You, momma Byers, are taking my room and I'll bunk in the basement with Jay and Will." Joyce goes to argue, but Dani is quick to shut her down. "Nope. I won't hear it. When everyone catches wind you're in town, this place will be swamped. Nancy, Mike, and Steve," she lists off, "they'll all be hanging around and taking forever to leave, and that's only if they leave at all. I'm positive everyone will want to stay over, so I'll ask dad to pick up a few air mattresses for everyone else."
She grimaces, but underneath is a smile threatening to take over. "Are you sure?"
"I'm positive. But that's only if Jonathan and Will are okay with it as well."
Jonathan shrugs and Will nods. "It's a giant sleepover. Sounds fun."
-X-
Dani had been correct when she mentioned that everyone would show up at her house after finding out Jonathan and Will were back for New Years. Billy was the first to find out the Byers were back in town, and Joyce, Dani, and Will took great pleasure in watching Jonathan and Billy struggle to find something to talk about. But when Nathan got off of work, Dani and Billy were quick to drive Jonathan and Will around to surprise the rest of their friends.
Now the basement is full with talk and laughter- the younger teens off to one side of the room while the older teens are on the other, and boxes of pizza and liters of Cola are scattered in between.
Nancy and Jonathan are cuddled up on a spare mattress settled in the corner of the basement, while Billy and Steve sit on opposite ends of the couch and sip on the beers Steve had snuck in. Dani and Robin are on the bed, painting each other's toe nails and filling in Jonathan on all the details Nancy had conveniently left out.
"Your girl's a pistol, Byers," Billy muses after Robin brings up the cafeteria brawl. That fight was still pretty infamous. "I mean, we all knew she could handle a gun, but who knew little Nancy Wheeler could throw it down when her friend was in need."
Nancy blushes as Jonathan chuckles. "It's always the quiet ones."
"Shut up," she laughs. Then pulling free from her boyfriend, Nancy lunges across the small space between her and the bed the other two girls are on and snatches the bottle of nail polish from Robin's hand. "No black!"
"God you're such a buzzkill."
Nancy then plops down onto the bed, rummaging through bottles upon bottles of nail polish. Jonathan sits up on the mattress, dark eyes shining with adoration as he watches his girlfriend be so at ease with the others. The last time he'd seen her so carefree was before Barb went missing and they were dragged into the messy business that was the Upside Down. "So what's up with this party?" She asks. "Who's all invited?"
"Everyone."
"What?!" Dani looks up at Billy's answer, eyes then narrowing on Steve.
"What?" Her friend feigns innocence. "A party isn't a good party without some drama."
"If I go home with a black eye, Harrington, I'm going to kick your ass afterward."
"Relax," Nancy says. "I'm sure we can find you a lunch tray somewhere."
Robin snorts, Steve and Billy laugh, and Dani rolls her eyes. "Get your girl, Jay, before I smack her with something harder than a pillow."
"Yeah, yeah." Nancy playfully nudges Dani before pushing up off the bed, she then rejoining Jonathan. "Save it for New Years."
New Year's Eve dawns bright and early, but Dani refuses to get out bed no earlier than eleven in the morning. Eleven and Will continue to bug her and Jonathan into letting them attend Steve's party, but the two older teens are dead set on refusing them. Even Joyce voices her disapproval of them attending a high school party, so Nathan relents to letting the younger kids have their own small party at his house under the supervision of himself and Joyce.
So after helping Eleven and Will set up, Dani and Jonathan then drive the kids to go purchase them some fireworks and much needed snacks. Jonathan ends up getting dropped off at Nancy's and Mike jumps into the car to go back with Eleven. And being the good sister Dani is, she helps Eleven get ready and helps Joyce prepare some food for the kids.
Getting prepared herself is a tedious task, but in the end she's ready before Billy drives up. Joyce had even taken great pleasure in helping Dani tease her hair, and to convince Dani to switch into a pair of jeans. Her chosen sparkly dress was quite beautiful, but it was cold out and Joyce knew what kind of trouble teens were capable of getting into.
Dani's picking at the fruit tray when the doorbell rings, but before she can move Eleven's answering it. Joyce smiles at how at home Eleven is and then smiles even brighter when she sees the young girl dragging in the supposed bad boy that Jonathan had told her all about.
"Well don't you look good enough to eat." The comment comes from Dani which sends Joyce into a coughing fit. Eleven wrinkles her nose and Billy winks in response. Skipping towards him, Dani then leans up on the tips of her toes to press a chaste kiss to his lips. "Hello, handsome."
"You're being oddly affectionate," Billy muses. "Should I be worried?"
"Never." Dani then looks back towards Joyce. "Need anything else before I leave, Joyce?"
"No. I'm good. Go have fun."
"Just not too much fun!" Eleven says.
Billy snorts and ruffles Eleven's hair. "Shouldn't I be the one telling you that? You and Mikey are awfully close, kid."
She blushes furiously and with a quick jerk of her head, Billy gets shoved by an unseen force. He chuckles as Eleven then rushes from the room and Dani swats at his arm. "Leave her alone or those kids are going to be the only ones getting close tonight."
Joyce gasps. "I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that."
Dani laughs. "Oh my god. I'm so sorry."
"Don't be. I was that age once," she chuckles. "Just.. be careful."
"Oh. We are," Billy smirks.
"And on that note, we'll be leaving now." Dani drags Billy from the kitchen, her own cheeks flaming as Joyce laughs at their retreat.
-X-
There are cars parked up and down Steve's street, and it's fairly easy to see just where it is the party is taking place. Hand in hand, Dani and Billy then strut into the Harrington residence with all the confidence in the world. A majority of the teen boys greet them with glee and cheer, and a majority of the girls only focus their attention on Billy. Dani scoffs and finds it amusing they have now decided to flat out ignore her instead of instigating fights with her.
They seek out Steve first and find him passing out solo cups in the kitchen, Dani and Billy eagerly taking a cup each and downing it.
"Where's Robin?" Dani asks, shouting to be heard over the music.
Head bobbing along to the beat, Steve points out the back door. "With Nance and Jonathan!"
Turning around, Dani meets her boyfriend's gaze. "Go," Billy says. "I'll be in here."
Beaming, she quickly presses a lingering kiss to Billy's mouth. Then placing her mouth near his ear, she says, "If I have to fight tonight, you're not sleeping with me tonight."
His hand, which had been on Dani's hip to steady her, then slides back into the left pocket of her jeans where he squeezes hard enough to make her squeak. "And if I have to get into a fight, your ass will be red when I'm done with you."
As she falls back onto the balls of her feet, Dani winks at him. "Promises, promises."
Billy stares as his girlfriend practically flounces out the back door, he then meeting Steve's amused gaze. "Here." He hands Billy another drink. "You're going to need this." Billy takes it and gulps it down as Dani finally disappears.
He likes Dani, a lot, but as Steve continues to chuckle at him, he can't help but think about what a damn trouble magnet she was. Tonight should prove interesting.
-X-
The next time Billy sees his girlfriend- she, Nancy, and Robin are tipsy as fuck. Nancy's got a sparkly headband with bobbing antennas on her head and a sparkly horn dangling from her mouth, Robin's got sparkly sunglasses on and a sparkly top hat atop her head, and Dani's got Christmas garland wrapped around her arms and shoulders, as well as a sparkly New Year's hat atop her head. They're laughing, drinks in hand, and dancing along to some Cyndi Lauper song that has Billy cringing.
"What the fuck happened?" He wonders.
From his pool lounger, Jonathan shrugs. "I went to the bathroom for like a minute and returned to this."
"Jesus."
Fireworks have been popping off and on all night, the explosions in the air causing the three girls to momentarily stop and coo at all the wonderful colors. Then some bright individual brings out a box and starts handing out sparklers, and the girls are in absolute heaven.
"How much do you want to bet one of those idiots walks away with a burn wound tonight?" Billy sighs.
Jonathan huffs. "My money's on Robin."
"I'll bet on Dani then. She's easily amused and a little reckless when it comes to fire."
Not even ten minutes later, as the boys are sharing a drink, Dani plops down next to Billy on his own lounger and pouts. "I burned myself," she grumbles, showing him the back of her hand. Jonathan groans and Billy grins as the other teen pulls out money from his pockets.
-X-
With only minutes left before midnight, and the girls having mostly sobered up, Dani and Billy have been wrapped- chest to chest- with the Christmas garland Dani had. Steve and Robin seem quite proud of their accomplishment, and Jonathan happily snaps picture after picture of his friends.
"How did we end up like this again?" Billy wonders.
Dani grins. "Robin's a persuasive little shit and Steve's quick on his feet?"
"You know I can easily break out of this. Right?"
"Yes, but you won't because you want your New Year's kiss and whether you'll admit it or not, you quite like making your friends laugh."
Billy's eyes roll. "Whatever."
"You're such a secret teddy bear," she then teases, pinching the small of his back since that's where her hands were trapped. He flinches and she chuckles.
"FIVE! FOUR!"
"Holy shit, it's midnight already?" Dani glances around in surprise, snorting at everyone quickly pairing off.
"Huh. Guess so."
"ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Dani beams up at Billy and he readily leans down to capture her lips in a kiss. She doesn't bother deepening it, instead she laughs through it all as she pecks his lips not once, not twice, but three times. Then when the brief intimate moment ends, she glances around to see Jonathan and Nancy wrapped around one another, and Steve laughingly pecking Robin on the cheek.
"So what's your new year's resolution?" Dani wonders.
"To stop smoking. You?"
"To stop getting into fights over dumb boys." Billy snorts and Dani lays her cheek against his chest.
"Sweetheart, you won't last a month. You'll be in another fight within the first month back at school."
"Yeah? And you'll be lighting up a cigarette before the party's over."
Billy and Dani chuckle before he says, "Well you're not wrong."
Author's Note: I apologize for the long wait. I had to force myself to write this chapter and I was really reluctant in posting it. And since I struggled with this chapter, you wouldn't believe how stressful the last chapter of this fic is making me feel because I haven't even starting writing it.
That said, I will not be writing the last chapter. I'm done making myself sick over it. However, I will put the gist of what the original final chapter was going to contain. If I ever find myself in a good place with enough inspiration, I'll come back and finish it.
The final chapter details: Graduation takes place; Billy finally tells Dani he loves her. He's also nervous because he always knew he was going back to California, but now that Dani is in his life he doesn't know what to do. Dani surprises him by telling him she got accepted into a college in California, the same college Billy had been looking into.
Big family dinner with the Lewis' and Hargroves, and a bit of family drama between the fathers when Nathan presents plane tickets to Billy and Dani for a brief mini vacation before they buckle down for college. Dani works on creating long distance portals so she can visit her dad, Eleven, and Max every day.
They both attend Long Beach State University- Dani looking into becoming a nurse practitioner and Billy looking into social work because he wants to help kids who are in situations like he and Max were in.