17. Steve's Heartbreak

Meanwhile, Steve had managed to get punch all over Nancy, and was currently helping her to wash out the stains in the bathroom.

"I can do it…I can do it!" She insisted, pushing him away from her.

"C'mon Nance, I just want to help" He sighed.

"You always want to help" She mumbled.

"You're drunk, okay? You need to go home" Steve told her.

"I'm fine" She groaned, rolling her eyes.

"No, you're not fine. Let me take you home" Steve suggested.

"Why do you even care?" Nancy scoffed, turning to Steve.

"Why do you think?" Steve said, as he placed his hand on her cheek.

"What…" She trailed off, putting the cloth down that she was wiping her top with.

"I still care about you, Nance. Of course, I do" Steve pointed out.

"It's not enough. It was never enough" She told him.

"What?" He frowned.

"It was bullshit. It was all bullshit" She cried.

"No, no. Don't say that, what we had-" Steve started, but she cut him off.

"Was bullshit. I never…" She trailed off, her eyes becoming unfocused.

"You what?" He questioned, his hand falling from her cheek.

"I don't love you…I never loved you" She confessed, dismissively as she went back to whipping her top.

"No…you said you did…you told me you loved me!" He exclaimed.

"It was bullshit…where's Jonathan?" She sighed, almost dropping the cloth on the floor.

"I…I'll go get him" Steve mumbled, as he rushed out of the room.

He quickly spotted Jonathan in the crowd, surprised that Karmen wasn't with him and told him that Nancy needed him. Jonathan stared back at him for a few seconds, confused, but rushed off to the bathroom to find his ex-girlfriend. Steve was almost out of the door when he finally spotted Karmen…and Billy. He felt his blood turn cold as he saw Billy lean in to kiss her, which she seemed to happily respond to. However, he then saw how when she leaned into the kiss she overestimated how she was standing and almost fell over. She let out a drunken laugh, as Billy held her up by her waist, and then offered the drink in his hand to her. Blinking away any tears left in his eyes, he approached the pair, an angry expression on his face.

"She's had enough" Steve announced, as he grabbed the drink from Billy's hand.

"What's it to you, Harrington?" Billy questioned.

"She's my friend and she's drunk. So, fuck off" Steve told him.

"What did you just say to me?" Billy retorted, as he let go of Karmen and turned to fully face Steve.

"Just go away, Steve" Karmen rolled her eyes, as he was the last person she wanted to see.

"I thought you said she was your friend" Billy mocked.

"She is" Steve insisted.

"Do you even have any friends left?" Billy questioned, getting into Steve's personal space.

With a roll of her eyes, Karmen went to leave, not wanting to get involved in a fight, but Billy grabbed her arm. She turned to look at him, a scowl on her face.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Billy queried, his hold on her tight.

"Anywhere I want" Karmen spat back, pulling her arm from his grip.

"Fucking tease" Billy mumbled, as Karmen gave him a disbelieving look.

"What did you just say?" Karmen growled, as the light above them crackled and burst.

Steve quickly realised it was Karmen that had done this and pulled her away as everyone was distracted by the sudden darkness around them. He figured that due to her drunken state she didn't have a hold on her powers.

"Ugh, let go of me" Karmen exclaimed, as soon as they got outside, being able to see again.

"What were you thinking?! Going for someone like that?" Steve couldn't help but blurt out.

"What do you care?" Karmen scoffed, as she began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Steve sighed.

"Home" She replied.

"It's a half hour walk, it's midnight and it's cold" Steve pointed out.

"Yeah…you should probably just go back inside" Karmen shrugged.

"What is with you today? Why are you so pissed?" Steve questioned.

"God, you're oblivious" Karmen mumbled.

"Great, so somehow I've screwed things up with you now" Steve grumbled.

"We were supposed to go together tonight. Does that ring any bells?" Karmen pointed out, crossing her arms.

"That's what this is about?" Steve frowned.

"We said…actually, we promised that we weren't going to go back to those two, but the minute they break up you're running back into Nancy's arms!" Karmen shouted, unsure why she was getting so angry.

"Well you seemed pretty cosy with Jonathan earlier" Steve retorted.

"You started it" Karmen told him.

"…Look, I don't want to fight with you. Especially not over Nancy" Steve exclaimed.

"Why not? Aren't you two back together now?" Karmen inquired.

"No…that's never going to happen" Steve sighed.

"I thought you two were destined to be together" She mocked.

"I doubt that would work seeing as she doesn't love me…and never did" Steve mumbled, kicking a rock with his feet.

"…She sucks" Karmen suggested, making Steve laugh.

"Your drunk brain is very insightful" Steve joked.

"Flattery will get you nowhere" Karmen laughed.

She soon realised that they were going in the wrong direction to her flat and realised he must have been directing her to his large house.

"Are your parents not home?" She questioned, when she saw there were no lights on.

"They haven't been back for a while…" Steve trailed off, kicking a stone.

"Oh, I get it…bringing a girl over when they're not home…I am not that kind of girl, Stevie" She informed him, pointing her finger in his face.

"Well you have kissed Jonathan and Billy tonight" Steve teased, brushing her hand away from his face.

"I didn't think you'd seen that" Karmen frowned.

"I did…I thought it would be a dream come true for you" He pointed out.

"Nope. I am officially over Jonathan Byers!" She shouted, making Steve happy that he didn't have any close neighbours.

"I'm sorry, you know…that I went with Nancy tonight and not you. I was wrong" Steve admitted, as he opened his front door.

"Well duh" Karmen mumbled, making Steve laugh.

"You need some water" He suggested, as he walked into his kitchen and poured her some from the tap.

When he came back into the front room, he sighed when he saw she had already fallen asleep on the couch.

"You are one sleepy drunk" He huffed, as she mumbled something incoherently.

He pondered leaving her to sleep on the couch for a few moments, but decided against it, thinking that she could fall off in her drunken state. He crouched down and placed one hand against her back and the other behind her knees and carefully lifted her up. Her head lolled against his shoulder, as he began to move her across the room. He kicked his bedroom door open with his foot, and then laid her down on the bed. When he tried to move away, Karmen suddenly sprang up and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"You're a good friend…my best friend…the best…" She mumbled, sleepily, before she seemed to get too tired to hold on a flopped back onto the bed.

Steve laughed at this, happy that even in her current state Karmen was able to help heal the heartbreak of the night. He pulled the covers over her, which she snuggled against quickly. Cautiously, he brushed some hair away from her face, as his hand lingered there for a few seconds. Shaking his head, he pulled away, and put a pillow against her back to make sure she wouldn't turn over in the night.

"Night Karmen" He said fondly, as he walked away and turned the light off in the room.

Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Well Karmen's announced she's officially over Jonathan...maybe leaving her open to explore new relationships? Haha. Please leave a review:)

tazsgirl6969: Here's the new chapter, enjoy!

Micky-Moo: Hopefully they can all work out their relationships, and realise what they really want. Thanks for the review:)