Freaks | E. Munson 02

A party raged on outside the room, bass pounding on the walls surrounding Benny as he sat on the bathroom floor.

He was well past his limit of alcohol and while he understood that three beers prior he continued onwards. Sitting feeling sorry for himself against the bathtub, Benny could only let his head hang between his legs and pray he wouldn’t throw up any more bile.

It was just another cliche high school party and Benny was cooped up in a bathroom once again with stomach pains that could make anyone fall to their knees. He should have known where partying like a normal teenager would get him.

And yet it was just his luck someone would burst in and find him like that.

The door banged against the wall and the music became almost deafening as the person just stood there probably staring. There wasn’t much to gawk at, everyone knew he was killing his body and it didn’t matter in what way anymore. No amount of pity was going to stop Benny from doing what he wanted but pity only came in the form of those that supposedly cared about him.

“Occupied.” Benny croaked out, not caring if they could hear him or not.

That seemed to knock the person out of their trance.

“Holy shit. Benny?”

Someone crouched down next to him and Benny forced his head up only to make eye contact with none other than Steve Harrington.

Great, he internally grumbled.

“Are you okay?” Steve placed a hand on the boy’s forearm as concern nearly flowed off of him, “Do want me to take you home? I can go get your brother but he’d probably think the worst and it would take longer to get you out of here. Is there anything you need? Maybe Nancy would be better at this or even Jonathan, hell, maybe I should just call your sister. Um… sorry, I ramble when I’m nervous.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

Benny just stared at him blankly, not quite understanding what he was saying. It wasn’t his fault the older teen talked so fast and so much.

“Are you, maybe, hungry?” Steve questioned with a grimace.

Benny scoffed, “I’m drunk, not stupid, Harrington.”

“Right. Sorry.” He visibly deflated.

They sat there in awkward silence for a moment, just stewing in their thoughts.

If Benny was to be told he would be hanging around Steve Harrington, who was fretting over him, a year ago he would have scrunched his face up in disgust and walked away without a word. They were probably the farthest from potential friends two people could get.

Steve tapped on his jeans, seen chewing the inside of his cheek from Benny’s peripheral before he suddenly stood up.

“How ’bout I take you home? I wasn’t feeling this party anyway.”

Benny pursed his lips, “You and I both know that’s not a good idea.”

“Oh, come on, your brother can’t be that protective. What if you wanted to leave with a girl?”

“Leave with a girl?” He grimaced, “My name isn’t Steve Harrington so no, there’s no leaving with a girl. And, trust me, you have no idea.”

Steve groaned, “You can be so mean sometimes.”

“Look at who I’m related to.”

“Well, whatever the case we both should get out of here, you can tell Billy you got sick.” He helped Benny up from the ground effortlessly, “Just leave my name out of it for… obvious reasons.”

“I have no idea why you’re trying to help me.”

Steve frowned over his shoulder, “We’re friendly, aren’t we?”

With a hand loosely wrapped around Benny’s forearm, Steve pulled him from the bathroom and out into the headache-inducing teenage drinking fest. The pair would have moved through the crowd more easily if the title ‘King Steve’ was still prevalent but that wasn’t the case; they were elbowed and pushed as if they were invisible.

Even with Benny being the brother of the new ‘King’ they weren’t exactly seen as a packaged deal.

However, before they could even make it to the front door, Benny was quite literally plucked from the sea of teens only to slam into someone’s chest.

Benny cringed and looked up from where his head was pressed into a shoulder to see his angry brother. He scoffed, standing to his full height, “Jeez, Bill.”

Billy ignored him to glare at what some would call his enemy. It was childish if you asked Benny, especially because Steve had gotten over himself and his popularity while Billy still felt it was his duty to one-up the older boy. 

“What the hell are you doing with my brother?!” Billy yelled over the music which caused people to stop and stare with interest.

“With your- oh, hah.” Steve gave an awkward chuckle, “I was just looking for you, man.”

“Yeah, right.” Billy and Benny simultaneously rolled their eyes, “You think you can just drag him around like he’s one of your little groupies?”

“Groupies? No, no way, man. I was only lending a helping hand. Right, Benny?”

Benny huffed, “This idiot’s telling the truth, Billy, it’s fine.”

A loud laugh came from behind the twins, one that irritated Benny enough to cause his eye to twitch, and soon a douchebag appeared.

Tommy Hagan was dubbed as Billy’s second-hand simp in Benny’s mind. First, he was the best friend of Steve and he encouraged the stupidity that the popularity seemed to need to rise to the top. He was all smirks, freckles and fake friendship, but something odd about him made Benny wonder if he was all that into his girlfriend, Carol, and not just pining for someone of the same gender.

“Probably trying to get Benny boy into his band of freaks and nerds,” Tommy exclaimed, leaning an arm against Benny’s shoulder.

“Nope, no,” Steve quickly rebutted, “I mean, there’s always room but I wouldn’t do that to Benny, no way.”

Billy moved to hit the poor guy so Benny grabbed hold of his rabid twin and used all his strength to keep him in place, “Leave it, Bill, I mean it.”

The two shared a look, one silently telling the other to ‘calm the fuck down’ while the other simmered in anger.

Billy finally huffed and turned back to Steve to give one final threat, “I’ve told you to stay away from him, he doesn’t want you around and neither do I so beat it.”

Steve gave a thumbs-up and rushed away from the scene before anyone else could say anything. 

Benny knew Steve wasn’t a coward but he was, at least, cautious and he didn’t want to ruffle anyone’s feathers seeing as he had no one to back him up against a riot of jocks. It was better to be safe than sorry and considering how beat he got by Billy last time he made the best choice by getting out of there.

Still standing a little too close to Benny, Tommy smiled at the twins, “Guy’s got a real problem with confrontation, huh?” 

“Been reduced to who he really is, more like it. What a freak.” Billy muttered and his ‘friends’ hooted and hollered in agreeance.

Benny was, once again, pushed back into the shadows where he usually liked to be, although, as he looked at his twin playing into his superiority complex, he didn’t feel so good. He knew Billy like the back of his hand, he even shared a face with the boy, but why did he have to be so privy to the pain behind his grin? There was no denying the hatred they both felt for the small town of Hawkins and especially those residing there, facades were inevitable to make it through without a scratch, Benny’s, however, was far too cracked.

Taking a seat on the empty couch, Benny sighed and looked around the room, at the cups thrown around the floor and smoke dancing above teenagers’ heads. He never could get himself to fake the type of smile that people would believe, it was only when he was intoxicated that he ever felt alive, that was probably one of the reasons everyone chose to gravitate to his twin who was a little more sober and plenty more charming. They certainly shared their anger with their father, however, and that was much harder to hide.

His blue eyes narrowed, staring back at a set of wide doe brown eyes from across the room as the partygoers flowed by. From where he sat, he could see some guy talking to the side of the boy’s face as he was barely paying attention, and hands passing items back and forth below them. 

Of course, just another happy buyer getting their fix from a less-than-reputable source.

Benny didn’t watch much more as Billy was there to pull him up from the couch and throw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence between them so Benny just lay there while others laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world. 

It was mostly a blur after that, waking up in the passenger seat of Billy’s car, being carried into their house, being dropped on his bed and feeling someone taking off his shoes. 

Benny rolled over and drifted off into another restless sleep, terrified of what the next day would bring.