Sorry for the delay. I have moved this story over to Archive of Our Own - it seems to be getting more readers over there!
Bad Habits - Chapter 1 - LeighAnne_Balsdon - Stranger Things (TV 2016) [Archive of Our Own]
Link if anyone is still interested in this story.
Chapter 12 – I Wanted to Forget You.
"Sorry for sedating you." Dustin told Hope who nodded and shrugged. "Knowing you, you probably did it for the best of everyone." Hope said, throwing an arm around Dustin's shoulder and walking him back to the Camaro. "What the fuck happened down there?" Hope overheard Billy asking Max. Hope did not hear Max's response so, she asked Dustin instead. "What happened down there?" Dustin looked over at her, "Seems like the demo-dogs were going back to the gate, they acted like we didn't exist but we did manage to burn the vines and hey guess what Dart recognised me and I fed him some musketeers bar to distract him so the others could get back." Dustin informed Hope. He had a proud grin on his face and Hope felt proud of the party.
"Does he know?" Hope asked Dustin, motioning her head over to Billy and Dustin looked at the stepsiblings. Max was trying her best to avoid Billy's questioning with asking questions of her own and they began to bicker.
Dustin scoffed and shook his head, "Max basically bribed him into driving us here by saying that she would tell him what was going on, but I think he mainly did it because she said it would save you." Dustin told Hope with a nod and she sighed. "What exactly happened to me?" Hope questioned as they reached the Camaro. Hope opened the passenger door and pushed the seat to the front. "You blacked out and were sort of like… convulsing?" Hope shook her head and sighed. "Great." She added, sarcastically, with a dramatic eye roll.
Dustin looked back at Steve and whispered to Hope, 'Do you think Steve likes you?" He asked and Hope laughed out loud this time just as the others arrived at the car. "We'll continue this conversation at home." Hope told Dustin who sighed and agreed. "Finish what conversation?" Billy asked, with a smirk on his face and Hope slowly smiled at him. "Sibling stuff." She responded and Billy rolled his eyes.
The others climbed into the car and Billy started the engine. "Where to?" He asked casually, rolling down his window to let a breeze flow through the car. Hope copied him. "Our house." Dustin responded, "Steve's car is there, should we give you directions?" Dustin asked and Billy shook his head and he gazed over at Hope. He slowly rested his hand on Hope's leg. Dustin looked at the exchange and rolled his eyes before looking at Steve who seemed to be staring daggers at Billy. Hope stared at Billy's hand on her leg and looked back at Dustin who was looking at Steve. She quickly moved his hand and put it back on the gear shift. Billy smirked at her and she ginned back, slightly. She shook her head and motioned her head to the back seat and Billy seemed to understand.
Once they had reached the Henderson household. The kids minus Max all got out of the car. Steve nodded his head towards Billy in thanks before making his way to the house. Dustin bounded after Steve, followed by Mike and Lucas. Hope rested her elbows onto the open window frame of the Camaro and leaned into the window to have a better look at Billy. He smirked at her. She smiled at him, genuinely and he seemed to change his smirk into a proper grin. "Ugh, if you guys are going to make out, please let me exit this car." Max moaned from the backseat.
"Seems like our date didn't go as planned." Billy spoke, his voice low and enchanting. He ignored Max completely. "Thanks, for tonight, it means a lot that you wanted to help the kids and uh Steve." Hope gestured her head to where the rest of the party was standing.
"You know, he only helped us to piss Steve off because Steve said no to us going to the fields." Max chimed in. Max hoped it would maybe make Hope angry and put her off Billy, finding out that he actually had not cared that she was in trouble or that the kids were in trouble, he only did it for his selfish need to annoy Steve. She did not want Hope to be hurt by Billy in anyway. She knew how he could be. She knew how Billy only had one thing on his mind most of the time and she could see Hope being drawn to Billy like a moth to a flame. Yes, he had helped them tonight but, Max could see it in Billy's eyes the moment Steve had said no to them back at the Byers, Billy could not help himself and defy Steve's rules. Maybe he had even taken a liking to Hope just to make Steve angry. Billy knew that Steve and Hope were friends. Maybe he had even thought they were more than friends which is why Billy was pushing so hard for the two to go on a date. Max had never seen Billy act like this with a girl before, it was weird for her and she needed to stop whatever was happening before it escalated into something more. Billy was competitive and when he saw decent competition, he just upped his game. This was all a game to him and, Max could see it but could Hope?
Hope stood back from the window now and saw how Billy shot an annoyed look at Max. "No one was speaking to you, Maxine!" He warned her through gritted teeth. Hope laughed nervously, and suddenly had a sick feeling in her stomach after hearing Max's comment. Dustin had said earlier that he thought Billy had helped them to save Hope, but maybe what Max had said was true, Max did know Billy best and Steve had kept going on and on about Billy tormenting him since he got here. Hope had seen it for herself during the basketball practice the day after Halloween, but she just registered it as some sort of competitiveness between the two of them. The way Dustin had told her that he had tried to run them over on Halloween also flooded back into her memories. She frowned now.
"Maybe we should just cut our losses you know it doesn't seem like the world wants us to be together anyway." Hope told him quietly, with a small shrug. He looked at her now, a look she had not seen on him. She did not like it. His blue eyes, once kind from the grin on his face were now a swirling storm. It was making her uncomfortable and she shifted on her feet.
Half of what she had said was true. Every time they had kissed, every time things had seemed to go further, they had been interrupted. Every time. Did she want to see where it could lead too sure, but she was also feeling that whatever was happening between them, no matter how strong the pull was between them, was it worth all the stress?
Was she really blaming it on stress or was Hope just backing out because she did not want to cause problems for the people around her? She really did not understand what was going through her head right then, but Max's words had stuck with her. "He was only doing it to piss off Steve."
"Thanks for the ride Billy and thanks Max." She turned on her heel and walked towards the house, feeling his eyes burning on her back but she was not going to look back at him. She needed to forget about Billy Hargrove, for everyone else's well-being.
"I can't believe you offered for us to assist with decorating the middle school hall for the snowball dance." Hope complained to Nancy a few days later at school.
They had taken a few days off to recuperate after the weekend's events thanks to Chief Hopper who had come up with an elaborate lie as to why all the kids needed a break. They were now back at school catching up with what they had missed.
"I thought it would be a nice distraction." Nancy told Hope and Hope frowned, "Nice." Hope gagged at the word and Nancy laughed.
"Come on, it won't be that bad." Nancy reassured her and Hope continued to frown. "You know, the wind will change one day, and your pretty face will be stuck in that horrible frown." Nancy joked and Hope chuckled and shook her head.
Jonathan joined them at the lockers a few minutes later and Hope looked up at him. "Hey, how's Will doing?" She asked him and he nodded. "Better, considering." He responded and he laced his fingers with Nancy's. They were dating now. "My mom won't let him leave her sight though." He added as Hope eyed out their hands joining. Nancy blushed and kissed Jonathan on the cheek.
"I can only imagine." Nancy told him and Jonathan shrugged, "Will's getting a bit annoyed with her." He admitted and Hope nodded.
There was a commotion down the hall and Hope's gaze directed to it. Billy and Tommy were antagonizing a freshman. Tommy had him pinned to one of the lockers and was saying something to the kid. Billy smirked at the situation in front of him like he was enjoying the show. Hope rolled her eyes.
There were rumours going around that Billy's temper had flared even more since the weekend's events. He had been kicked out of classes for back chatting teachers, he had been sent to the principal's office numerous times and according to Tina and Carol he was bullying the younger kids or getting Tommy to bully them for his satisfaction.
Nancy had told Hope this the minute Hope had arrived at school that morning.
Hope finally got her car back so she was able to drive herself.
Hope had wondered if it had anything to do with her ending whatever they had but she doubted it because apparently, he had been like this before, but she had not really seen the horrible side to Billy, well maybe that one day in the arcade when he told her to keep Max away from the boys or the way he had spoken to Max but… ah who was she kidding she had obviously just tried to block out the way he acted because of how much she thought she liked him.
Tommy had released the freshman who scuttled away from them and Billy made his way over to Tina and Carol and smirked at Tina and flirted with her right in front of them. Nancy frowned and rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Hope whose eyes were glued to the situation happening in front of them. He had not once looked in their direction, so Hope was not sure if he had even seen them but the normal butterflies in her stomach bubbled and turned into an angry, swarm of bees.
Hope slammed her locker so loudly it echoed around the hallway. Students turned to stare and so did Billy, Tina, Carol, and Tommy. Nancy jumped at the loud sound and watched as Hope's eyes glared into Billy's. It was like a staring competition and whoever looked away first would lose. Billy's blue eyes poured into her green ones. Hope could no longer hear the buzz of kids in the hallway. The bees swarmed in her stomach, but she was bought back to reality suddenly as another loud bang could be heard. Tina's open locker slammed shut by itself. "Tina!" Carol yelled as she jumped in fright and Tommy laughed. Billy's gaze broke Hope's and he looked at the locker, surprised. He lost. "I didn't touch it!" Tina cried out to Carol. Tina's eyes were wide.
"Hope, you're bleeding." Nancy pointed to Hope's nose. "Billy turned back to Hope with a frown on his face, but Hope had turned her head away and was wiping at her nose.
Hope stared at the back of her hand and saw the crimson colour glistening back at her. "I'm going to the bathroom, will see you in English." Hope informed Nancy who nodded, and she walked off towards the girl's room.
Once inside the bathroom Hope grabbed some of the hand towel from the dispenser, ran the cold water over it and dabbed at her nose while staring at herself in the mirror. Memories from Saturday night came rushing back. She recalled grabbing Will's hand and being sucked into what Eleven calls "the void" she recalled Dustin shaking her out of there and then he pointed out that she was bleeding from her nose. Hope shuddered and lifted her cardigan up her sleeve so she can see her scar. It was normal. Could she have slammed Tina's locker shut with her mind? There was a click of the door behind her and her focus landed on Billy who had entered the bathroom after her and was now watching her control the nosebleed which seemed to have stopped.
Billy was slowly piecing the weekend events together. There was definitely something weird going on in this town. Max had barely said anything to him since then, it was like she was avoiding him. He hadn't seen Hope in a few days either and it was driving him insane. He had heard her say they should cut their losses with whatever was happening between them but he did not want to believe it was true so he had seen her at the lockers with Wheeler and Byers and wanted to see if he could still get a reaction out of her, so he chose to flirt with Tina. He did get a reaction out of her just not the one he expected.
Hope did not say anything to Billy at first. She threw the hand towel in the dustbin and washed her hands. She turned around eventually and faced him. He was still watching her silently.
"Are you lost?" She spoke finally and he frowned. "I just wanted to see if…" He stopped speaking, unsure of what to say. Hope tried to walk around him towards the door but he jutted out his arm so she could not pass him. She sighed, exasperated. "Why don't you go back to flirting with Tina, you looked like you were enjoying it." She spat at him. "You were the one that said we wouldn't work out remember?" He told her and she closed her eyes and sighed again. "You're running from something that hasn't even happened yet." He continued, his voice so low and enticing Hope opened her eyes and looked up at him. "Maybe you're running because you're scared." He said to her, he let his arm down and watched as she froze on the spot. She did not move to leave, she just stared at him.
Hope realized she was scared. She was scared that everyone around her would look at her differently if she and Billy ended up together. He was not liked by most people, lusted after maybe, envied probably but nobody really liked him for him. Hope had to wonder why she was attracted to someone like him and it scared her. She was also annoyed with the fact that she had to care about what everyone else thought. Why couldn't she just choose to be happy?
"We don't even know each other." Hope said softly. She was still looking at him and he was looking at her. His eyes were soft. "I want to know you. There's something in me that needs to know you. I can't explain it." His voice was so low she had to lean into him to hear better. She breathed in his scent of cologne and cigarettes. He breathed deeply and closed his eyes. The bell rang. "I… I have to go. I'm going to be late." Hope stammered. She walked towards the door and looked back at him he was staring after her "Maybe wait a few minutes after I leave." She told him and he nodded and watched her leave.
Hope didn't have time to think about Billy right now, she thought to herself as she made her way down the hallway to the exit of the building. She needed to figure out what was going on with herself and if she was really the reason Tina's locker slammed shut. The nosebleed was a good sign that it had been her but how was it even possible?
There was one person she needed to speak to, and she needed to leave school now so she could speak to her knowing that Chief Hopper would be at work and she would be alone at the cabin.
Eleven would hopefully have the answers Hope needed.