"Come on, Craig. We're gonna be late!" Jenna shouted at him from the passenger's seat.

Craig chuckled at her as he kept driving. "We'll get there in time, Jenna. There's still fifteen minutes until your birthday."

"All the more reason we can't be late," she pointed out.

He smirked. "The party won't start until you get there."

"You know, that's pretty much said for any party I go to."

"Yeah, but this one's all about you, so it's extra special."

She smiled in response. "I can't wait."

The anticipation of Jenna's seventeenth birthday party was only rising the closer they got to the Hawkins Community Pool. This was a party she had been looking forward to ever since school got out for the summer. It was Craig's idea to have her party at the pool with their friends, to which he managed to plan the majority of the party by himself, along with some help from his other friends. She figured after what happened last fall, along with the stress being piled onto them for the second half of their junior year, this summer was one they were looking forward to, and her birthday party was a good way to kick things off.

"See? Like I said, just in time," he stated as he pulled into the parking lot with the other cars.

Jenna rolled her eyes playfully. "Well, thank you for not killing us on the way here." She climbed out of the car with her bag. "I'd rather not die only minutes away from being seventeen."

Craig got out of the car and came her way. "I wouldn't have let that happen, babe," he assured her, grabbing a hold of her hand. "Now, let's go have a good time."

As they headed inside the pool, Jenna could hear people already inside as they were screaming and laughing, along with the sound of splashing in the pool. When the two walked through the entrance and to the main area, all eyes were on them.

"The birthday girl has arrived!" Craig announced.

Everyone cheered for Jenna as she grinned in embarrassment. She looked around at the tables filled with food, drinks, and a cake in the middle, along with the coolers and keg at the end of the tables on the ground. She also spotted multi-colored streamers that hung from the slide and lifeguard chairs. While the pool itself was big, everyone here didn't even cover half of it.

"This is awesome," she commented, looking up at Craig.

Craig grinned. "I'm glad." He leaned down and gave her a short peck on the lips. "I love you, Jenna."

"I love you, too, Craig," she replied.

"Okay, enough of that lovey-dovey shit," Tommy H intervened, raising his beer bottle. "It's time to get this party started!"

Despite Jenna not caring for Tommy H anymore after the fallout he and Steve had, she was willing to not worry about him being here, especially when he was good friends with Craig. After all, she was gonna have a good time as well, just not with him or Carol.

While Craig went with some of his basketball friends to get the keg started, Jenna was about to head for the tables to get some food when she felt someone link their arm with hers.

"Happy Birthday, dudette," Janet said with a grin.

Smiling, Jenna strolled with her towards the tables, placing her bag down in the nearest chair. "Thank you. I'm assuming you're the reason we were able to use the pool for a venue."

"Yeah, your boyfriend asked me if we could use the place after closing. And since it was for your birthday, I couldn't say no to that."

"I knew you were my favorite lifeguard here."

"Not to mention we're practically best friends now that we don't hang out with Tommy or Carol anymore and Steve has pretty much ditched us to spend more time with Nancy." She motioned her head towards the slide, where Steve and Nancy were sitting at the edge of the pool, talking and laughing at one another.

Grabbing a handful of chips, Jenna turned back towards Janet. "You still don't like her after she and Jonathan saved our asses with that monster?"

"I never said that," she clarified. "But you have to admit that Steve's a whole different person because of her."

"That's not really a bad thing, is it?"

Janet shrugged her shoulders. "I guess not, but he better not forget about us." Taking some chips for herself, she then eyed. "And that also goes for you with Carter Page and Dana Sellers."

"I hardly see them anymore, too," Jenna told her.

Ever since Will Byers was rescued, Jenna had been hanging out with Carter and Dana more often after school, all of them trying to be normal teenagers. However, it was short-lived after a couple of months, and she wasn't sure why. But the hangouts got less frequent as the rest of the school year went on. She didn't ask questions about it, so she went back to spending more time with Janet and Craig, along with Steve and Nancy whenever they were around.

"Maybe Chief Hopper gave them a curfew, seeing as that girl you told me about is still nowhere to be found," Janet said. "I swear, this town is cursed or something."

"Yeah, probably." Jenna huffed a sigh, going to grab a beer from one of the coolers. "But since we can't do anything about it, how about we just get drunk and have a good time?"

Smirking, Janet took a beer for herself. "I can dig that."

As the girls raised their beers and took swigs out of them, the two of them went by the pool, taking off their clothes that revealed one-piece swimsuits underneath, Jenna's blue and Janet's purple. They continued drinking their beers for a few minutes, laughing at all of the boys that would jump in the pool, splashing the girls that got wet, despite wanting to be near them.

"Everyone!" a shirtless Craig shouted behind Jenna, holding my cake. "It's officially midnight!"

Through the cheering, she stood up to see candles on the cake already lit. As everyone gathered around to sing, Jenna blew out the candles, a wide smile on her face. Craig took his finger and slid it in the icing, wiping it on her face.

"Oh, you wanna play that game, huh?" she spoke up, getting some icing herself and slapping it on his cheek.

With a smirk, Craig handed the cake to his friend next to him, then turned back towards her. "I think it's time for a swim, actually." Before Jenna knew it, he grabbed a hold of her waist and pushed her into the water, going down with her.

Quickly swimming up to the surface, she looked at Craig swimming next to her. "You asshole!"

"Hey, we're at a pool, you know," he reminded her.

Shaking her head playfully, Jenna splashed some water his way before swimming to the nearest ladder and climbing up, shivering a little. Craig was fast to follow her up, his hand moving towards her own like before.

"Wanna go somewhere alone for a bit?" he asked.

"Where exactly did you have in mind?"

"I'll show you." With that, he led her towards the building, where they ended up in the supply closet, the noise coming from outside fading.

"Wow. The supply closet. How romantic."

"I like to switch it up every now and then," he stated, pulling her closer. "I've never done it in a supply closet before."

"Neither have I," she replied. "Are you implying something, Craig?"

"Maybe. As long as you're up for it."

Leaning in, Jenna pressed her lips onto his, soon letting him take over. He pushed her against the shelf, though it was a little uncomfortable against her back, she really didn't care. While she placed her hands behind his head, she felt his hands get tighter around her waist. She wasn't sure how long they stayed that way, but all of a sudden, they heard someone clearing their throat loudly, and the couple turned to see Steve standing there awkwardly.

"Don't mind me, just trying to get a pool noodle," he said, squeezing past them and reaching above Jenna's head to grab a green pool noodle. "Carry on," he added before exiting the closet and heading back to the pool with the others.

"Well, he certainly killed the mood," she commented, fixing the strap of her bathing suit when she realized it was falling off her shoulder. She almost felt embarrassed that we were caught, especially by Steve, who was her friend.

"He really did," Craig agreed, running his fingers through his wet hair. "Should we just--"

"Yeah, we should," she quickly said, nodding her head as she left the closet.

Heading back to the pool, Jenna locked eyes with Steve as he was resting his arms on the noodle across from Nancy. She turned away as fast as she could, walking towards Janet, who was sitting in one of the chairs by the tables.

"Well, that was fast," she said jokingly.

Jenna scoffed. "Tell me something I don't know," she responded. "Come on. Let's get another beer."

Janet raised her eyebrows. "You're ready to get wasted, aren't you?"

"Hey, it's my party, and I'll get drunk if I want to."

"Well, lucky for you, I have something you'll enjoy." She reached down under the chair to grab her bag, sticking her hand inside and pulling out a bottle of tequila. "I was waiting for the rest of it to come later, but I figured it was as good a time as any. After all, it wouldn't be a party if Jenna Howard didn't have any tequila."

Jenna smiled and took the bottle from her. "You know me so well. I'll really have a fun night with this."

Janet chuckled. "Good. Let's kick off your birthday the right way, then."

*******

"Oh my God!" Jenna shouted as she stumbled out of the showers after washing herself off, still in her bathing suit. "That was the best birthday party ever!"

"I'm glad you had fun," Craig replied, handing Jenna her towel. "I don't think I've ever seen you drink so much before."

"That's because nothing can come between me and tequilaaaaa!" she replied happily, using the towel to dry her face off, along with the rest of her body, then putting her clothes back on. "I didn't see you drinking any of it."

"Someone has to get you home safely," he pointed out. "Especially at four in the morning."

"It's four in the morning?!" She let out a groan, tipping her head back. "My mom is gonna kill me."

"But if anyone knows how to quickly cure a hangover, then it's you," he said, taking her hand. "Come on. Let's get you home."

"Wait, let me sit down for a second," she protested, slowly making her way out of the building and towards the quiet pool. Feeling lightheaded, Jenna sat down at the edge, crossing her legs and looking out at the now empty place. Everything was spotless by the time everyone managed to clean up all of the food and drinks and decorations. Now, it was just her and Craig, with her being totally drunk after the crazy four hours they just had.

"It's nice now that it's just the two of us again," Craig commented as he sat down next to her.

"Yeah, it's veeeeery nice," she slurred, giggling. "Although, I wish we had more alone time in that supply closet earlier."

Craig chuckled. "Maybe another time."

Thinking back to a few hours ago in the supply closet with Craig, she remembered Steve walking in on us. It was awkward and embarrassing for all three of them, especially since Jenna considered Steve a close friend of hers. She could only imagine it'd be the same reaction if she had walked in on him and Nancy.

"Do you think Steve was weirded out when he walked in on us like that?" she asked all of a sudden.

"What, in the supply closet?" Craig responded, adding a scoff at the end. "I don't know why it matters. Him and Nancy probably try to sneak in a quickie whenever they can, too."

"Okay, forget I asked," she stated, feeling her stomach get queasy. "But I think you'd actually like Steve and Nancy if you got to know them better."

Craig looked at Jenna with raised eyebrows. "You're definitely drunk, Jenna."

"Noooo, I'm serious!" she replied, sloppily hitting his arm. "Both of them are so cool. Like...like really cool." Pausing to think about it more, she was sure her head was going to explode when an idea hit her, in which she gasped and widened her eyes. "I have an idea!"

"Oh, God," he mumbled.

"Just hear me out," she said, holding up two fingers. "Two words: double date."

"Absolutely not," he quickly replied.

Putting her fingers down, Jenna's face fell. "Why not? I think it'd be fun!"

"No, it'd be a disaster," he told me.

She rolled her eyes in response. "Puh-lease. You don't know that."

"Uh, yeah, I do, because we never go on double dates."

"There's always a first time for everything."

"How about we just forget the idea altogether?"

Huffing a sigh, Jenna gave Craig her best puppy-dog eyes. "Pleaaaase, Craig? It would make me very, very happy if you agreed to it. You don't want to see me sad, do you?"

After a minute of her staring at him, with a small smirk, Craig pursed his lips as he kept his eyes on me. "I'll think about it, but don't get your hopes up."

Smiling wide, Jenna leaned her head to get closer to his face. "Have I told you how much I loooove you?"

"A few times. But I enjoy hearing you say it." He gave her a slow and soft kiss on the lips.

"Thank you for my party," she told him.

"You're welcome. Happy Birthday, Jenna."

Jenna giggled in response, pulling away and looking out at the water. Even though she was only four hours in, this really was the best birthday ever, in her opinion.

~~~~~~~

A/N: Well, here we are with PART TWO!

There's gonna be some filler chapters before we get into season 2. This is just to get more of Steve and Jenna's friendship developed over the summer before the time jump to the fall. Y'all excited? I know I am. ;)

Comment, vote, Happy early Birthday to Miss Jenna Howard. <3

-A