Chapter Text
“How the hell did you get your hands on this?” Dustin asked, holding up the large clear bottle of mezcal. He examined it closely.
“Jeez, Mike, are you trying to kill us?” Will asked. “This stuff is 44%!”
The two friends looked at Mike and he shrugged in response.
“My dad got it on his trip to Mexico like three years ago and it’s just been collecting dust in the cabinet since then. I think he’s forgotten about it.”
“Well, it should make for a fun night at least,” Dustin commented, putting the heavy bottle in his backpack and zipping it up.
“C’mon, we should go meet the others. They’re probably waiting for us,” Will said. With that, the three boys hopped onto their bikes and rode off.
It was a late summer evening in 1987 and the party finally decided, after all they’ve been through, it was time to try alcohol.
Mike put himself in charge of bringing the bottle. The party then decided they would drink at the local playground (at night, when nobody else was around) and go to the Wheelers house after for a sleepover. It was a full proof plan and nothing could ruin their night of fun.
Right?
The bike ride to the park was silent. Apprehension and anticipation filled the air with electricity.
“Hey, guys! Finally!” Max greeted when the three boys arrived. She and El were seated on the swing set- Lucas pushed her and El pushed herself with her powers.
“Hi!” El greeted sweetly.
“Did you bring it?” Lucas asked, temporarily distracted from pushing his girlfriend and instead turning his attention to Dustin, who unzipped his backpack and pulled out the large clear bottle. The trio who hadn’t seen it before ogled at its clear contents. However, he quickly received a look from Max. As if he read her mind, Lucas happily obliged and began pushing her again.
“Yeah, Mike hooked us up with some mezcal that his dad got from Mexico. Sweet, right?” Dustin explained as he examined the bottle neck.
“Do you know how to open it?” Will asked.
“There’s a cork in the top, so that’s something,” Dustin responded, feeling it over with his thumb.
“Did you bring a corkscrew?” Max asked.
“Uhh...” Mike looked to Will, who looked to Dustin, who looked to Mike. All three of them shrugged and shook their heads.
“I got it!” El exclaimed, jumping off the swing from a probably dangerous height and grabbing the bottle. While she focused on the best way to go about opening the mezcal, everyone else found somewhere to sit.
Dustin sat on a spring rider shaped like a zebra, and Will sat next to him on one shaped like a frog. Mike was standing near El to provide moral support. Lucas sat on the stairs of the play set and Max sat on the stair below him, right between his legs. He played with her hair absentmindedly and one of her elbows rested on his thigh. They all watched El intensely as she fiddled with the bottle.
Eventually she gave up and popped the cork out with her powers.
“Good job, babe,” Mike congratulated, turning El around and giving her a kiss on the cheek.
“Thanks, Mike.”
The air was dense as the teens fell silent. Now the alcohol was open. The unspoken question hung heavily: who would be the first to drink?
“I’ll do it.”
The small voice of Will took everyone by surprise. He was usually the most hesitant of all to try something new. But tonight, he was feeling a little bit brave.
El handed him the full bottle before she and Mike sat down on the swing seats. Now, they were all situated in what was a large circle of sorts.
Will took a deep breath and brought the bottle to his lips. He took a large swing and swished it around in his mouth to get the flavor- which he immediately regretted. He coughed and sputtered as he spat the burning mouthful out. The rest of the party laughed along with him as he regained his bearings. Though, the aftertaste was sweet and rather enjoyable, he thought.
“My turn, my turn!” Max exclaimed as she got up, took the bottle from the ungrudging Will (who was glad to rid himself of the thing) and back to her seat in front of Lucas.
“C’mon, Max, you can do it!” El encouraged, watching her best friend with large eyes. The redhead tipped the bottle back and gulped down a mouthful of its contents. Everyone watched in awe as she took it like a pro, except for when Lucas saw the tears form in her eyes.
“Shit, that stuff burns!” Max exclaimed, leaning her head back and swallowing a couple of times to alleviate her throat. “But it’s good though... sweet, and smooth,” she mulled over the taste in her mouth.
“Good job, Max!” Dustin called out, sounding impressed.
“Who’s next?” The redhead asked. She turned and offered the bottle to Lucas, who shook his head.
“I’m good tasting it from your mouth, for now,” he responded cheekily, leaning down and pressing his mouth to his girlfriend’s. She was right- it was sweet, but tingled slightly. Tasting the alcohol from her tongue and lips proved to be satisfying enough for Lucas.
While the couple enjoyed swapping saliva in a heedless makeout session, Mike grew impatient and got up to take the bottle from Max. She didn’t even look as he snatched it from where she put it down next to her on the stairs.
“If she can do it, I can do it,” Mike announced, finding his seat on the swing set again. After a brave deep breath and a reassuring hand squeeze from El (who had interlocked their fingers almost immediately after he sat down), he swallowed a very small mouthful. He coughed violently but the drink stayed down.
“Max is right, that burns like hell. It’s good though,” the lanky boy commended, coughing again.
“Hand it over!” Dustin called out from across the park. Mike got up and brought the bottle over to him.
“This shouldn’t be too hard, right?” Dustin said casually as he downed a decent gulp. After, he squeezed his eyes tight and let out a loud whoop, like guys did in movies.
“Who wants to try it next?”
All eyes darted between El and Lucas.
“I’ve already kinda tried it,” the dark-skinned boy commented with a sly glance at Max, “so you can have a turn before me.”
“A-Alright,” El stammered. Dustin climbed off his zebra and handed the bottle to the girl. She examined the contents- the bottle was still mostly full, and it burned her eyes when she sniffed the rim.
“Here goes nothing,” she whispered to herself.
At first, she took the smallest sip she possible could. The others watched intently as she mulled over the taste on her tongue. Then, she took another large mouthful, and swallowed it with no problem.
“That’s delicious!” She exclaimed unexpectedly. Her large brown doe-eyes glittering in excitement as she looked at Mike. All of the party watched her in shock as she took another sip before getting up and handing the bottle to Lucas.
“Shit, how am I supposed to follow that up?” He asked, swirling around the contents of the bottle.
“C’mon Stalker, stop stalling and just do it!” Max teased, turning to face her boyfriend. She grabbed his hand and flashed him a somehow equally reassuring and shit-eating grin, and he felt his heart swell with confidence.
“Let’s do this,” Lucas said as he raised the bottle to his lips. It was like his tongue and throat were on fire, and he could feel tears forming in his eyes. He was not about to let his girlfriend beat him, so he quickly blinked them away and swallowed his third gulp before settling the bottle down.
“Jesus Lucas, that was impressive!” Max mused, her blue eyes wide. He gave her a pained smile.
“I do what I can,” he winked. The redhead reached up and planted a kiss on his lips. Although Lucas couldn’t fully enjoy her affectionate display past the numb-feeling that spanned his mouth, he appreciated the gesture nonetheless.
“And I did it for you,” he whispered, inaudible to the rest of the party. Lucas’ arms wrapped around her waist and she giggled, kissing him again.
“Gross, get a room you two,” Dustin said loudly, watching them cycle through whispering, giggling, and kissing.
“You’re being worse than Mike and El!” Will commented playfully, glaring at Lucas and Max.
“Hey!” Mike and El chimed in unison. The entire party broke out in laughter.
“Pass the bottle back over, I wanna try again,” Will said to Lucas, who handed the bottle to Max to give to the shortest member of the party. He took a small swig and swallowed hard- he had gone through worse things before. It wasn’t too terrible. Especially with the rest of the party cheering him on.
They continued passing the bottle around, taking in mouthfuls that varied in sizes. It didn’t take long for them to start feeling the effects of the strong alcohol.
“There’s not... much left,” El slurred, once again examining the contents. It was now mostly empty. Only 3 or 4 sips remained. She took one. Her eyes were narrowed and her shoulders were slumped.
“Iwantmore Iwantmore!” Max called from across the playground. She waved her arms vigorously from atop the monkey bars to get her best friends attention, giggling all the while. Somehow she had managed to scale the ladder and climb on top of the metal structure, while Lucas, who had chosen to stay sober for the night (minus a few shots from before), watched in worry.
“Come get it.” El said slowly. She held out the bottle lazily in Max’s direction.
“Stay there,” Lucas instructed Max, who looked ready to jump off the 9 foot tall structure. The worst thing that could possibly happen right now was her falling and breaking something, he thought. “I’ll get it for you.”
“Well aren’t you juss the sweetest,” Max gushed. Her dangling legs swung as she waited patiently for her boyfriend to climb the ladder and hand her the nearly-empty bottle of mezcal. She took a swig that almost polished it off, but decided to leave some for one last person to have a sip. Leaning over, she gave Lucas a juicy and very sloppy kiss before he returned to his dutiful position below her (to break her fall in case she did).
“I’ll have it!” Dustin said.
“But whaaaaaaat if I want it?” Will pouted.
“You’ll have to fight me for it then!”
“Or... we could just shaaaare it?”
“Ugh, I guess that works too.” Dustin sounded reasonably put-together for being shitfaced drunk.
The two boys each took one last sip, first Dustin, then Will.
It was just the start of a very long night.