Lily could hear the music blasting through the walls of what was formerly Benny's Burgers before she stepped through the clearing at the edge of the woods, accompanied by the hoots and hollers of partygoers celebrating the basketball team's championship victory. Instantly, she could see Andy hanging upside down at the keg stand as those surrounding him chanted his name, Chance and Ryan spray painting something she couldn't yet make out against the white wall of the establishment.

As she crossed through the doorway into the party, she instantly made a beeline for the drink table, where she plucked a red plastic cup from a pile. Ducking lower behind the table so as not to be spotted, she pulled the bottle of apple juice from her purse, filling the cup before screwing the cap back on the bottle and putting it away before anybody could notice.

Once she rose back to her feet, she spotted Patrick locked in a game of beer pong against Lucas, down to the wire as Patrick was on his final two cups, but Lucas had only managed to sink four on Patrick's side. Lily wove her way through the crowd until she was near Patrick's side, the boy instantly smiling as he saw her.

"You made it!" he exclaimed, and she could instantly tell that he'd already partaken in a few drinks the table near the entryway had to offer. "Just in time to watch me kick Sinclair's ass."

One look at Lucas told Lily he was also no longer sober, the team no doubt having taken celebratory shots the instant they arrived, before the party began. However, the freshman remained on his feet, tossing a ping pong ball as it landed in the center cup in front of Patrick, bystanders cheering as Lucas's cups were now down to five.

"Oh, you're kicking his ass, is that right?" Lily asked sarcastically as Patrick removed the cup, the boy rolling his eyes with a grin.

Cheers grew louder as Patrick sunk another cup, only down to one, though Lucas had slowly but surely grown comfortable with the game, and by the time Patrick managed to finally sink the last cup, only three remained in front of him.

"Yes," Patrick said, slinging an arm around Lily's shoulders as he led her away from the table, and she tried her hardest to keep any apple juice from sloshing out of her cup. "I was kicking his ass." she chuckled softly in response. "Drive here alright? I'm sure parking was a nightmare." He asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, it was alright." she lied swiftly through her teeth. "I parked down the street, it wasn't too bad."

Lily looked up as Jason approached them, the confident, victorious smile he usually wore exaggerated by the team's win that night, though he seemed to be looking around for something, the expression not quite meeting his eyes.

"Hey, Jason," Lily said, her eyes narrowing in the boy's direction. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's just," the boy swayed slightly on his feet, his eyes still darting around the room and never settling fully on Lily and Patrick. "You haven't seen Chris anywhere, have you? She said she was just going home to change and then she'd be here, but I can't find her."

Lily's eyebrows furrowed together at Jason's words, attempting to piece it together. She'd seen Chrissy go into Eddie's trailer, sure, but if she was just buying drugs, it wouldn't have taken her more than a few minutes before Eddie would have driven her back home to change, get her car, and then drive to Benny's. All things she would have reasonably had time to do in the time it'd taken Lily to walk there from Forest Hills.

Not that she could tell Jason that she'd seen Chrissy at Eddie's, anyways, without getting her, Chrissy, and Eddie all into trouble, and she wasn't ready for that just yet.

"I'm sure she's just running a little behind." Lily assured him. "Probably just got caught up talking to Jenna and Janet after the game and left the school late. She'll be here."

Jason nodded, taking a couple steps away from them as he turned back to the party, continuing the search for his girlfriend, and Patrick turned to her, the cup in his hand now empty.

"Hey," he said, head jerking back in the direction of the doorway. "You wanna get out of here? We're not far from Skull Rock, you know."

Lily smiled hesitantly, shaking her head as she took a seat in one of the diner's old booths and pulling him down to sit with her, where his arm instantly wrapped around her shoulders again. "You know I don't like the woods at night." she reminded him as he lay his drunk head on her shoulder.

"There's nothing to be scared of." he assured her. "I'll protect you, I promise."

"Not tonight," she insisted, gesturing to the party going on around them. "You really want to miss out on all this? Your team needs you."

Patrick nodded hesitantly then. "Yeah," he agreed. "Yeah, you're right."

"Let's go, boys!" Andy shouted across the establishment, holding up a bottle of vodka. "Another shot for the best team in Indiana!"

The crowd cheered as Lily pushed Patrick back up onto his feet to join the team. "Can I get you another drink after?" he asked, and she shook her head, gesturing to the half-full cup of apple juice, the drunk boy not questioning what was inside at the sight of the amber liquid sloshing around.

"I'm alright," she chuckled, "just go."

As soon as Patrick's back was turned, she opened up her purse, pulling the bottle out and topping up her cup. By the time the team had done their shot and the music had turned back up full force, the bottle was hidden safely away, and Patrick extended an arm to Lily, pulling her back up off the couch and towards the makeshift dance floor that occupied the center of the room.

Lily smiled as she danced along with Patrick and their friends, trying to ignore everything except the music and laughter echoing around the room. She'd never been one much for parties, not even when Billy used to drag her along to them in California and shortly after they'd moved to Hawkins, but she'd steadily grown used to them in the past year, having forced herself along to every after-party, claiming it was her 'duty' as a member of the Tiger Cheer Squad.

"Okay," she finally told Patrick as the music began to wind down, those who weren't too drunk to leave beginning to make their way out of the diner, and she slung an arm around his shoulders, helping him to the back room where he and the boys kept a couple mattresses, for nights such as this one. "Let's get you to bed, buddy."

She helped him across the room and into the back, where Chance already lay snoring on a mattress against the side of the room. Patrick turned back to her, a drunken smile on his lips as he looked at her.

"You could stay, y'know," he offered. "If you wanted."

"I should really get going." she said. "If I'm not there in the morning when my mom wakes up, she's going to freak."

"Okay," he said, nodding. "I'll see you on Monday then?"

She nodded back with a smile. "Monday. Goodnight, Patrick."

"Goodnight, Lily."