Take On Me
…~*~...
The creak of the battered front door caused Max to cringe as she opened it; stepping over the threshold into the pile carpet in the living room . She looked around for a moment, the still semi-silence of her house had her releasing the breath she held. Resting the griptape side of her skateboard against the white painted wall near the hallway, she made a note to put it under her bed before Neil returned home from work. Despite Hopper having taken him in on domestic violence charges only weeks after Billy's arrival home from the hospital, her step father was a top notch asshole, more than ever, to everyone.
A few paces into the kitchen, gummy vans soles squeaking on the linoleum as she went, and Max heard the faint sounds of a pop tune wafting down the hallway. It wasn't concerning, just out place if Billy was home, and he was. For a half of a second Max thought she might have left her boombox on when she'd left to meet everyone for hotdog on a stick at Starcourt. It had been their first time back since the mind flayer nearly decimated their entire lives. Again. But she remembered jabbing the power button before closing her door. If Neil came home early, she didn't want to risk the hair pulling and belting that had recently come to fruition. She'd suspected her time was coming, and she wasn't surprised when it did. Her Mom simply looked away, halfheartedly asking Neil to stop, then padded lightly down the hall for a glass of brandy and a cigarette. Also not surprising.
There was a thought now, maybe Billy had a girl over? Couldn't be, that meant Ted Nugent or Styx, but never Top 40 pop radio hits, like Ah-Ha. Perplexed, Max called down the darkened hallway.
"Billy? Are you here?" Moron! She thought, of course he was here. His fully restored Camaro was out front, there were spent cigarette butts in Susan's ashtray on the counter, and an empty Coke can sat next to it. Billy was home, and Billy was listening to pop music.
"Billy?" She asked again. Still no answer. So she took a deep breath, then launched herself down the hallway to Billy's bedroom door. Shaking hand over the brass knob, Max steeled herself for the blowback, then turned the knob and pushed the door open.
In all of his metal head glory, Billy stood at his full length mirror, scissors in hand, feet astride the trash bin he kept by his bed. Steely blue eyes looked back at Max in the mirrors reflection.
"Billy?" Max asked in shock this time.
"What?" Came a nonchalant reply in his deep resonating timber. The hulking kitchen shears in Billy's hand were ajar, the fingers of his other hand holding a strand of his coveted dirty blonde locks between the two blades. Ready for action.
"Oh. I just didn't think you were home." Max looked anywhere but at her brother, taking in the abnormal lack of dirty laundry strewn about and empty beer cans on his bedside table. Mixed with the sounds of hip poppy melody, Max was perplexed. Then the sharo sound of the scissors slicing through strands of hair brought her attention back to the boy in front of the mirror.
"Why would you think that?" Another strand was tugged from somewhere at the base of his skull. If he was going for random, he had it covered. *SNIP*
"I uh, I thought I left my radio on. I mean, I heard music." She stood there awkwardly in his doorway, fumbling over her words, not wanting to trigger any anger in her brother. He wasn't quick to anger so much anymore, but it was a knee jerk reaction. Especially now that Neil found her to be a suitable substitute for Billy.
"Oh, yeah. El lent me a tape. Thought I'd give it a try." Another few snips. Then he turned around. The mullet Billy had carefully grown out and taken so much time with, was gone. It was still Billy, just a different version of him.
"What's with the new 'do?" Max pointed at his head.
"Hopper said if I clean my act up, hed help me a job. Can't work at the pool when summer ends, and I need something long term." Shaking out what was left of his hair, he turned back toward the mirror.
"Long term?" Max was confused. All her older brother had ever talked about was going to back to California after got enough money.
"Yeah. I'm staying in Hawkins."