It is instinct for his knuckles to go white at the sight of her. And it sickens him to keep staring. Yet.
He
Can't
Help
It.
He grimaces. "You're just gonna stand there like an idiot? Or you gonna get in?"
Louise perks up a little in defiance, a frown ready on her face.
"Don't flatter yourself. I wasn't talking to you. Max."
His sister straightens up solemnly. Briefly, Billy sees a version of himself in her. For every time his father ever spoke to him in that snide way.
"Can't I stay a little longer?" Max asks.
"Sure. Then, walk your ass back home."
Louise's frown follows after Max's.
"You…" She starts, and pauses once Billy looks at her.
"What?" He snaps.
Louise places a hand on Max's shoulder, a gesture of good faith when she locks her gaze with his.
"You should be nicer."
The words hang in the air, beckoning Billy's frown and Max is bewildered when Louise nudges her towards the car. He means to call her a bitch in his head, but he never says it aloud— he couldn't.
"Goodbye," Louise says to her and starts in the direction of the motel.
Billy white-knuckles the steering wheel as Max settles into the passenger seat.
As she announces that she's ready to go home begrudgingly, Billy's stare is following Louise all the way to room 020.
And he notices how not once does she look back.
. — . — . — .
It was in the midst of arguing with Max over God fucking knows what when he recognized one of the driver's stopping at the intersection. His pickle green Ford looks dull in the light of an overcast sunset as it proceeds across the street.
Then, it began with one right turn instead of left and three miles out of town, where the forest begins to thicken.
"Where are we going?" Max asks Billy eventually.
The Ford turns off to the road and rolls over the gravel driveway that leads to the quaint one story house with a patchy yellow lawn. The vehicle stops and the driver steps out, cradling his camera in one hand.
"Billy?"
Billy takes his eyes off of the car.
His camaro passes the road. Speeds up.
"Don't you want to see the scenic route Max?" Billy asks. "It's not like we're leaving this shithole anytime soon."
Byers's house scrolls past the passenger window, and Billy is satisfied enough to feel compelled to drive back home.
. — . — . — .
"I saw her at school today."
Billy glances at Max.
For some reason, he knows what's meant by "her".
"Did I ask?"
"No." Max shrugs like she's trying to play off her words. "I think she was looking for her cousin. Kids say he went missing last year, but they ended up finding him. There's still "missing" flyers of Will Byers hanging up around the halls."
His index finger taps the steering wheel.
"Alright," He nods. "And this concerns me fucking how?"
Max does a good job hiding her frown. "You obviously like poking your nose in her business."
Billy laughs.
She flinches.
"I guess everyone's got it going for them," Max murmurs.
"Get the fuck over yourself, Max. You're not that smart regardless of what dad says."
Finally, she can't bear to look at him, as though it becomes a physical pain. He sees it in her shoulders— how they rise to her ears a bit.
The camaro slows to a crawl in front of their house. Billy shuts off the engine and looks at his sister.
"I found her thirty minutes out of town in a third-rate bar. She's not looking for Byers or his runaway brat brother. She's looking for a girl." Billy says, and grabs his sister's chin. "Keep your nose out of her business. Got it?"
Max looks too startled to cry and she wrenches from Billy's bruising grip to launch herself out of the passenger seat.
When Max is marching across the lawn into the house, Billy only vaguely regrets his behavior.
It's not until he enters the kitchen, notices his dad standing there cross-armed, does he fully regret it. Susan sits at the dining table, busying herself with her dinner. The contents of her plate is, for some reason, so incredibly fascinating she hasn't bothered to acknowledge her stepson. And although her innocent disregard mildly annoys him, Billy doesn't hold it against her.
Because his dad throws a question at him.
"What's wrong with Max?"
Billy shrugs. If he feels indifferent to Max, he'll look like it too.
"I don't know. Maybe she didn't make any friends on her first day of school."
"Well, she's not hungry."
"Then, she's not hungry," Billy concluded only to be received with a glare.
Five years ago that look would've made his stomach churn, but Billy learned to not let it bother him, or at least, if it did, not to let it show.
As Billy opens the refrigerator, Neil slams it shut. With all the restraint he knows his father to possess, his mind battles the anxiety that's starting to best him. He steels his face into a mask of nothing as he expects to be felled by the worst. Insults and blows.
"What?" Neil prompts, brow arched. "You think you deserve dinner?"
"Did I do something wrong?" Billy asked.
His father's glower darkens and Billy understands why his mother wanted to leave. He still hates her for having the freedom to do so.
"Get to your room," Neil says evenly. "You don't haul ass around this house, so the least you can do is watch out for Max. But, I'm not too surprised you can't manage that."
Billy's face might be set in stone, but the pitying look Susan sends him over the rim of her cup threatens to carve away his facade.
. — . — . — .
He doesn't set up the speaker, figuring his feet are already in boiling water with how on edge Neil has been lately. Billy might be used to his father's intimidation, but that doesn't mean he wants to incite him. Not tonight.
He pulls out a crumpled piece of paper in his bag. A few scrawled digits stare back enticingly on stark white paper. No. Tonight, Billy doesn't want to sleep in this fucking house.
A light knock on his door and his hand has already re-crumpled Tina's number— it hides in his fist. It's only impulse that he doesn't want Neil to find out— doesn't want to give him an excuse to berate him.
But, the door creaks and Susan stands there, a plate in her hand. She smiles demurely at him but he finds it none inviting. He wonders if his stepmom thinks he's more handsome than her husband. He hopes it's true.
"I brought you food," she announces.
Obviously Susan. Billy silently thinks.
"Is that it?" Billy prompts as Susan places it and a fork atop his clothing drawer.
Susan's smile disappears but she doesn't seem very put off by his tone. He hoped it would scare her off, but now he sees why Max is such a little shit. Her mother is a varying degree of hard-headed too. Good for her. She might as well last longer than five years married to Neil.
"Max didn't want to tell me, but I know you two had a fight," she says softly.
Billy turns to his mirror, sees her in the reflection and moves in front of it so that he can only see himself. He fixes his hair since he's there.
"There's a lot of arguing happening isn't there?" Susan said. "I get that Max is difficult at times, but you're more mature and you know more. I bet she has plenty to learn from you. Maybe not being so prone to a temper is one lesson she could benefit from?" She means to be lighthearted but Billy never understood that word— never knew it. If anything, Neil is hardhearted and Billy has only ever known that.
"Sure." Billy turns away from the mirror, grabs the plate, and shovels the food into his mouth with a fork.
Susan lingers awkwardly near the door. He can almost feel her thoughts as though she means for words to enter his brain without Neil overhearing. Either encouraging or condescending, Billy can't know for sure. He is for sure that Susan thinks he's an absolute fuck up but she only calls him mature to flatter him. But, the words don't work on him. And when she realizes the words don't work on him, then will he see the real Susan. The insensible broad that hides beneath that meek facade.
Eventually, Susan shuts his door and he breathes and eats in peace.
. — . — . — .
The next day Billy doesn't go to school, but he made sure that Max saw him leave his car.
The windows from the inside of his car are fogged, but Tina makes sure that he doesn't roll down his side. She's desperate to keep him busy on her. Nails claw at his shirt, drag across his neck. She's not shy by any means. It's enough for him to understand that she's feeling a little heady by the way she forces his hand up her skirt.
"Oh Billy."
He really doesn't like her voice, but his mouth is under arrest and her tongue is greedy. She wore lipstick and he'd told her he wanted it off so it wouldn't stain his face. Tina had grimaced, but she acquiesced. Thankfully.
His hand is pinned between hers and the front of her panties. He isn't inexperienced, so he responds, flexing his fingers against damp cloth. His body responds too and Tina's hand makes a teasing path from his neck down his shirt.
Billy can't explain why he'd open his eyes. They were parked in the forest, well off the highway. No one would notice. But, the hair on the back of his neck rose as though to static and his eyes instinctively shoot to the front window to a purple quilted jacket floating through the forest and the sight acts as a cleaning agent for him. He breaks from the kiss. He briefly hears Tina pout as he peers through the front window at Louise who wanders through the trees, kicking up the fallen leaves in her path.
It could be that he hated Louise so much that the mere mention of her could ruin his boner and not that he is scared to have been caught by her playing hooky with Tina and not that he is even more scared to let Louise see him like this with another girl.
What the fuck did he owe her anyway?
"Billy?"
His hands were still for a while now, and Tina is growing impatient.
Once Louise disappears, whether she'd recognized his car or had pretended not to see him, Billy didn't want to know and starts the engine.
"I got better fucking things to do," he mutters.
Tina doesn't say a word, but she's disappointed.
He doesn't care, though. His dad will kill him if he discovers Billy played hooky.