FOUR.   purge my urges

       Max walked with Max through the neighborhood wearing his Marty McFly costume. It was the complete opposite of her costume, which was Michael Myers, and yet it fit their personalities perfectly. Billy left to go to Tina's Halloween party. Nolan decided to stay with his sister.

"Nolan, you don't have to stay with me." Max implied sympathetically.

He half smiled. "It's fine, Max. It's just a stupid party.  I'd rather be here with you anyway." He partially lied, because a part of him really did want to go to the party. It wasn't that he didn't love his sister but he didn't exactly picture his night taking a thirteen year old trick-or-treating.

Max smiled back but it was small. She knew he was lying to make her feel better. "I'll be fine on my own. I don't want to ruin your night."

"Trust me, Max, you're not the one who ruined my night."

The siblings continued to walk the busy street until Max came to halt. "Wait, Nolan—" she stopped him and pointed ahead of her.

The older sibling followed her finger and saw that she was pointing to the group of boys he had seen earlier on the road. "Are those the boys you said keep stalking you?" He questioned.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes." A devious smirk appeared on her face. "Wanna mess with 'em?"

Nolan looked down at her and smirked back. "You read my mind."

Mike and his friends walked the path when Max jumped out in front of them with the Michael Myers mask on. "AHHH!" They screamed, Lucas' being the loudest.

Nolan cackled and came out from behind the tree. Max took off her mask and laughed in their faces. "Holy shit! You should have seen the look on your faces." She exclaimed with pure delight.

"Oh my god. That was amazing!" Her brother wheezed and held his stomach.

The siblings high fived. The group of boys looked confused. "And you," Max pointed at Lucas. "Who screams like that? You sound like a little girl."

When they took off walking, she looked behind her and saw that they were still standing there. "Hey, you guys coming or not? Oh, I heard we should hit up Loch Nora. That's where the rich people live, right?"

The group of boys widened their eyes. They followed her and Dustin looked Nolan up and down. "Who are you?"

Nolan realized they had no clue who he was. "Oh, right, I forgot to introduce myself." He said with a chuckle. "I'm Nolan, Max's brother."

All of their eyes widened again. "Oh god, there's another one." Lucas exclaimed and his voice went up.

He immediately retaliated. "No, no, no! I'm the good one, I promise."

"He's nothing like Billy. Billy's my step brother." Max emphasized.

The boys visible relaxed. "Oh, thank god. I didn't know if you were try to kill us, too." Said Dustin.

"Of course not. Just don't mess with my sister and I won't think about it."

Max went and stood with thm. "Nolan, are you coming with us?" She asked him.

He considered his options. He could either take all the kids trick-or-treating like a good big brother or head to Tina's party that was only a few blocks away. The thing was, Nolan had no problem playing babysitter. He was practically Max's babysitter already. But he thought about what she said. It was Halloween night and Nolan never turned down a good party, even if it was with people he didn't know. "You'll be okay on your own if I go?" He inquired.

Her eyes lit up and she quickly nodded. "I will. I promise."

He looked between her and the group of boys before pointing a finger at them. "Try or do anything and I'll consider the car thing." He threatened, which caused all of their eyes to widen again and they nodded furiously. "Good. Y'all have fun."

He watched them take off running in excitement. Nolan looked around and put his hands in the pockets of his orange vest. He took off walking down the street to Tina's house.

He was at the end of the road when the smell of weed and beer filled his nose. Tina's house was packed with people and Nolan immediately felt overwhelmed. With his hands still in the pockets, he clutched the ear plug case. He made his way up the crowded lawn and saw everyone outside surrounding Billy by the keg station.

"We got ourselves a new keg king!" One of the guys shouted and everyone erupted with cheers.

Billy spotted his brother and pointed to him. "There he is!" He staggered forward and grabbed him by the arm. "Everyone, this is my brother, Nolan!" He shouted to everyone and threw his arm around his shoulder.

They cheered once again. Nolan awkwardly smiled as they started chanting his name. "Nolan! Nolan! Nolan!" At the same time, they cheered Billy's name. "Billy! Billy! Billy!"

Nolan broke away from the cheering crowd and went inside house. One took one of the ear plugs from its case and shoved it into his left ear. The loud music filled his right and he casually pushed past the dancing teenagers crowded around him.

"Nolan!"

"Nolan, what's up man?"

"Hey, Nolan!"

He smiled at those who yelled his name. His confidence slowly built back up. The attention made him feel like he was back in Claremont. He liked knowing that even if he didn't know anybody, he was still known. He didn't feel invisible. 

"Nolan!" He turned around and saw Steve waving at him. Nancy stood by his side.

Smiling, Nolan carefully pushed through the crowd. He smiled at their costumes. "Risky Business?" He asked over the music.

"Yeah, you know that movie?"

"Hell yeah I do. Tom Cruise is my favorite actor."

"Respect. Marty McFly?"

Nolan smirked. "Back To The Future's only the best movie ever made."

Billy and the guy from earlier appeared through the crowd. "We got ourselves a new keg king,  Harrington."

"Yeah, eat it, Harrington."

Nolan rolled his eyes. "Do you have to act like a pretentious asshole all the time?" He asked, getting angry at his pathetic attitude.

Billy threw his arm around his step brother. "Do you have to act like such a little bitch? What happened to Mr. Golden Boy?"

He casted him a glare. "Just go."

Steve looked between them and took off his sunglasses. The step brothers separated and Billy walked away with the other guys. "Is everything okay?"

Nolan looked at him and nodded. "Yeah, he's just a jackass."

"How the hell are you two related?"

"We're not. The universe just wants to make me miserable."

Steve quickly followed Nancy into the kitchen. Nolan trailed behind them and he watched her pour the spiked punch into a red cup. She took a large gulp. "Hey, whoa, whoa! Take it easy. Take it easy. Nance,  Nance. . ."

She ignored her boyfriend. "We're just being stupid teenagers for the night. Wasn't that the deal?" She argued out of anger. She scooped a cup full of punch into the cup and downed the whole thing in one go.  The red liquid trickled down her cheek and she wiped it away before walked away from the two boys. Steve's jaw slacked open in shock. 

Nolan stood there and rocked awkwardly on the heels of his shoes. "I'm sure she just wants to have some fun." He voiced.

"She's not a partier,  Nolan. She's not a drinker either.  I don't want her to get carried away."

"Then don't let her. Just don't push her too much cause then she'll get pissed off. You know how girls are."

Steve cracked a grin. "Yeah, yeah, you're right."

Nolan took two cups and filled them with punch. He handed one to Steve. "Shall we?"

Smiling, Steve took the cup and they clinked them together. "We shall."

As the time passed, Nolan was becoming more and more intoxicated. He could feel his old self, the person from California, coming back. The party animal. The golden boy. He was finally having fun.

"Nolan!" Billy pushed through the crowd and a girl followed behind him. He stood in front of his step brother. "Nolan, this is Hannah. Hannah, this is my brother, Nolan."

She was a short girl with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She smiled sweetly at him. "Hi, nice to meet you."

Nolan gave a curt nod and a polite smile. "Hi, you too."

"Just figured you were a little lonely, tonight." Billy smirked and looked between them. "You kids have fun."

He glared at the back of his head. He gave her another awkward smile. "Um,  is he trying to set us up?"

"I think so." She answered and chuckled. "He mentioned he had a brother so I figured, why not?"

"Step brother, actually."

Hannah nodded. "Oh. Did you both move from California?"

"Yeah. Claremont."

"No way. I have some friends that live there?" She gasped.

Nolan's eyes widened. "You do? Who?"

"Walker Reynolds, Sophie Morgan, Chloe Spencer,  Asher Myers. . ."

"They were all my friends! That's so cool."

Hannah smiled and looked around her. "Wanna dance?" Her tone was very flirtatious as she was growing comfortable with him.

Nolan smiled widely.

Soon after, he found himself making out with Hannah in the corner. Alcohol coursed in his veins. His hands got lost in her long blonde hair and her hands ran up and down his clothed chest and arms. Their teeth clashed together uncomfortably but he hardly noticed by how intoxicated he was.

Hearing a series of loud gasps, Nolan broke away from her and the two of them moved slightly to see Steve and Nancy in the kitchen, her white top covered on red punch. "Oh shit." He muttered.

"What the hell?" Nancy uttered in her drunken state.  She stumbled past Steve and everybody else around them to go to the bathroom.

"It's not a party without a party foul." Said Hannah.

"You're sure right." Nolan agreed. His eyes followed Steve as he pushed past everyone to follow Nancy.

Nolan continued to have a great time with everybody at the party. His face was flushed bright read and a hazy smile permanently sat on his lips. His red hair was sweaty and disheveled. He stood in the kitchen with a group of people, Hannah under his arm, and a cup of beer in his other hand. He was laughing at something one of them said when suddenly, something hard hit him on the back of the head, making him crumble forward. He realized it was a football.

"Oh shit, dude, I'm sorry!" The person that hit him apologized.

He crouched down and held his now throbbing head. A slight ringing went off in his ear. He groaned. "Really?" He muttered in disbelief.

"Nolan, are you okay?" Hannah asked but her words were muffled.

When Nolan stood up, he felt like the room was spinning. The faces around him started to blur together and he heard people call out his name but he couldn't make out who it was. He was disoriented. He pushed through the crowd of people and searched for Billy. "Billy? Billy?" He called out but his words were drowned out by the loud music. 

The ringing in his ear gradually got louder and even with the hearing aid in, he could still hear it. Nausea consumed him and he flung himself toward the front door of the house. Everyone's stares lingered on him as he ran out the home. When he got to the edge of the road, Nolan emptied out everything in his stomach.

"Nolan?"

When he finished puking, he collapsed on the road and exhaled deeply, the ringing in his ears becoming more painful. Hearing his name again, he turned his head and saw Steve making his way toward him. He groaned. "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine. Are you drunk?"

"Hell yeah I am." Nolan answered with a giggle.

Steve frowned at his state. "Do you need a ride home?  Where's Billy?"

"Probably fucking a girl right now. Who knows."  He responded and groaned when his head started to pound again. "He's the new Hawkins king, you know?"

Steve Harrington looked around for any sight of a person he knew. When he saw that nobody, not even Billy, was around, he sighed. "C'mon." He declared and started helping him from the ground. "I'll take you home."

"Are you drunk?" Nolan slurred and felt his muscles go limp.

"Trust me, I've sobered up." He admitted. He threw Nolan's arm around his shoulder and started helping him walk but he was so drunk that he was stumbling.

Nolan's head rolled side to side. "God, I've missed this feeling. I've missed partying." He slurred again.

"You were a partier?"

"Back in Claremont. I was quite popular."

"No?" Steve gasped sarcastically and grunted when he felt him lean further into him.

"Yes!" Nolan gasped also but his was more dramatic.  "Everybody loved me. I was on the brink of greatness!" He declared loudly.

When Steve reached his car, he helped Nolan to the passenger side. "What changed?"

Nolan closed his eyes when he felt dizzy again. "I got sick, that's what." He admitted in his drunken state.

Steve stared at him. He gently closed the door and quickly went to get inside the car. "What do you mean sick?" He asked once he was in the driver's seat.

"I got a disease that took away part of my hearing." Nolan said with his eyes still closed. "Now I'm sensitive to any loud noises and I can't fucking run without feeling I'm going to explode. My life got fucked."

Steve frowned. He started the car and drove off. He kept the radio on low. "A-Are you okay?" He stammered, not knowing what to ask.

"Not really. I can't play baseball,  or any sport. I have to wear ear plugs in loud places and I can't get hurt or I'll throw up. It fucking sucks. I mean, I'm Nolan fucking Mayfield. I was gonna do great things."

That's when Steve realized he'd never noticed that he wore ear plugs until he saw it now. "I'm sorry that happened to you." He said quietly.

Nolan lazily waved his hand. "It's all good. But . . . you're the only one who knows, so, can you please not say anything?"

"I won't. Don't worry." He glanced at him and Nolan's eyes were closed again. His face was sweaty and bright red, almost as red as his hair. "I saw you making out with Hannah Lester." He brought up.

"Yeahhh, I wasn't that in to it." Nolan admitted.

Steve couldn't control his amused snort.

"She kisses like a fish!"

He began to laugh. "That's terrible."

"Hey, give me a break. I'm drunk." He hit the driver's arm. He opened his eyes into slits. "What about you? I saw what happened with you and Nancy. Everything good in that department?"

Steve didn't answer right away. His lips curled downward into a frown. "I'll tell you when you're sober." He replied but it was clear that he didn't want to talk about it at all.

"That's fair." Nolan slurred and his eyes closed again. Soft snores escaped his parted lips.