A/N: Thank you so much for all the comments and favorites! I'm so glad you like the fic! I've made a spotify playlist, just look up hunnywrites!
It was Monday night. Teddi was bouncing back and forth between the video store and arcade. Some kid was having a birthday party and there were about fifteen eight year olds running around with icing smudged all over their faces. Keith definitely wasn't going to be the one to handle them. The older kids harassed him, sure, but the little ones terrorized him. Teddi had lost count of how many times she'd seen the elementary kids throwing their shitty prizes at him from across the prize counter or blatantly ignored his pleas for them to stop running and acting like a bunch of "crackheads". But she'd be lying if she said she didn't find it a little funny.
So now she was busy following around a group of small children and wiping down the machines after their grimy little hands got cake and god only knows what else on the controls. "Teddi!" she turned to see who had called her, smiling at the two boys who were waving wildly at her from across the room. She made her way over, giving Lucas and Dustin each a high five.
"How's it goin' dudes? The crew's not in tonight?" Mike, Will and the girl who she had learned was named El had been in all weekend, but she hadn't seen Max in a few days, which was unusual. "Hey, is everything okay with Max? I haven't seen her tagging along in awhile."
Lucas made a face. "She got grounded. Two more days until she's free. Will's mom just came and picked him, Mike and El up though." he explained, jabbing a thumb at the front door.
"Yeah, two more days until Lucas can see his girlfriend." Dustin teased, poking his best friend in the side. Lucas slapped his hands away and muttered a "Shut up."
Teddi laughed, raising an eyebrow. "Girlfriend? You can't be dating, you guys are babies!" she couldn't really be too surprised though. Anyone could see the puppy dog eyes Lucas and Max
had been flashing each other since she'd moved to Hawkins.
"Hey, hey! We're men." Dustin corrected her.
Lucas rolled his eyes, turning to Teddi. "So...can we?" He asked. Dustin perked up next to him. About a month ago, Dustin had found a way to trick the ticket counter into giving out more tickets. The gang had made a top secret mission out of it to keep the secret from Keith and the other kids at the arcade. But Teddi had been an important part in their scheme as long as she was willing.
"You know, you guys could always just save up your tickets. Try being patient." she offered with an amused smile.
Lucas pulled a face. "Do you have any idea how long that would take? We're halfway there! After tonight that bike is ours, and Christmas is next week. We're on a deadline here, Teddi!" he reasoned. It was sweet really. There was this little white bicycle that had been hanging above the prize counter longer than she had been working there. The gang had all decided to pool their tickets together and give the bike to El for Christmas.
Teddi looked around the arcade and let out a heavy sigh. "Alright. You have twenty minutes until Keith gets back from his break. If anyone gives you shit just tell them you're doing me a favor since I'm busy, okay? I gotta go check on things next door." it was a risky move for the both of them to try and pull this off without the others, but Teddi knew they'd be able to pull it off.
"Yes!" they both cried. "Thank you, Teddi!" Dustin yelled before grabbing Lucas by the arm and pulling him along. Teddi shook her head, turning and heading back to the video store.
Things were quiet over there at least. There was a group of younger girls arguing over what movie to rent for the night and a kid begging with his parents to let him rent Friday the 13th. She decided to start going through the returns when the bell on the door rang and a small redhead ran in with a stack of tapes.
"Maxamillion!" Teddi greeted. While she liked all of Max's friends, Teddi had a soft spot for her. She was sure that it was because she reminded Teddi so much of herself when she was her age. "I was just asking Lucas and Dustin about you, heard you got grounded." She said with a teasing, stern look.
Max rolled her eyes and nodded, setting the tapes on the counter. "My mom totally shit a fit. And Billy's been all pissy because he has to watch me. But these movies were awesome. He even liked them. And he hates everything."
Teddi raised an eyebrow and looked down at the tapes Max was returning. Black Christmas, Alien, Sleepaway Camp and Carrie. "Wait, you're Billy's sister?" how hadn't she put that together? Max had always said her brother was a dick, and Teddi didn't know anyone in Hawkins who was a bigger dick than Billy.
"Step-sister." Max corrected. And speak of the devil, in waltzed Billy himself with a cigarette between his lips and his shirt unbuttoned practically down to his belly button. Teddi scoffed loudly.
"There's no smoking in here, Hargrove." she said, her hands on her hips. Billy sauntered over, leaning against the counter and removing the cigarette from his lips before blowing a cloud of smoke in her face. She wanted to smack the smirk off his face.
"Bite me, Larsson," he grinned. Teddi leaned forward and snatched the cigarette from his fingers, putting it out on the counter with an overly sweet smile. Max watched the exchange with an exhausted look. "...You're a real bitch sometimes, you know that?" he muttered.
"Yeah? Well, in here you're my bitch," he glared at Max when she let out a snort. "You didn't tell me that Max was your step-sister," she said, changing the subject. "You're totally not cool enough to be related to her in any way." she teased.
Billy rolled his eyes. "Please. What do either of you know about being cool?"
Max gave him an unimpressed look. "She's way cooler than you."
"Jesus, will you shut up and get some new tapes already? I don't wanna hear Susan bitch about how long we took." Max let out an over dramatic sigh and ran off to find something new to watch for the night. Billy's fingers were tapping rapidly on the counter, clearly desperate for another smoke.
"...Rough night?" Teddi asked. He seemed a bit more on edge than usual. Paranoid. Like at any second shit was going to hit the fan.
"Fuck off, Teddi." he spat. She rolled her eyes, but held her hands up in defense before turning back to sort through the returned tapes. Billy rubbed the back of his neck, eyeing her nervously but didn't say anything.
Soon Max returned with two new tapes, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Poltergeist. Teddi nodded approvingly. "Tobe Hooper, awesome choice. You know, he uses real dead bodies in both of these. They said the Poltergeist set was totally haunted. Makes it like...a million times scarier." Teddi explained as she rang the movies up.
"Awesome." Max grinned.
"How the fuck do you know all of this? You're like a bottomless pit of useless information." Billy grunted out, pulling his wallet out.
"I read, Billy. You should try it sometime. Five bucks," she held out her hand. Billy glared at her and slapped the bills into her palm. "Hope you like 'em, Max! They're due back Thursday. See you at the pool tomorrow, Hargrove." Max smiled at Teddi and happily ran out of the store while Billy stuck another cigarette between his lips.
He turned to leave, calling "See ya, weird girl." over his shoulder before flipping Teddi off and stomping out once again.
Eventually Keith came back and reluctantly handed the bike over to Lucas and Dustin after they turned in their tickets. When he told Teddi she could leave early for the night, she practically jumped the counter. She grabbed her coat and bag and rushed outside, hissing as the cold air hit her bare legs. Summer can't come fast enough, she thought as she rushed over to her car and got in, cranking up the heat. It was late, and Teddi was hoping that would mean her parents would be asleep by the time she got home.
Things had never been great between her and her parents. It had been the worst when she was little. Once her dad started making good money things eased up because he was never home, and she didn't care very much if her mother ignored her or not. But now that money was thin Teddi could sense the storm coming. So to avoid it she tried her best to stay out of the house as often as possible.
Unfortunately for her, she noticed the lights were still on in the living room once she pulled into the driveway. She let out a heavy sigh, trudging in and hanging her coat up by the door. Her dad was asleep in the recliner with a beer bottle sitting between his legs. Her mother was nowhere to be seen.
Teddi grabbed the bottle and shut the TV off before gently shaking his shoulder. "Dad, wake up. It's almost midnight."
He groaned, blinking up at her and pulling away harshly. "Get the fuck off me," he muttered before looking around and frowning. "Where have you been all day?"
"Work, dad."
He scoffed. "Right, work. Laying out by the pool and playing video games all day."
Teddi rolled her eyes. She didn't want to argue. She wanted to shower and get in bed. If anything she was surprised he remembered where she worked. That was more than she ever expected from him.
"Don't you fucking roll your eyes at me. Should you even be awake this late on a school night?"
Teddi headed down the hall. "It's Christmas break," She said simply before shutting her bedroom door. Teddi pulled off her boots, tossing them into her closet before plopping down on her bed. "Five more months," she reminded herself quietly. "Five more months." Once May rolled around she would graduate high school and finally be free of her parents. She didn't know in what capacity yet, but she didn't really care. Even if it meant sticking in Hawkins but living on her own. She just wanted out.
Once the living room light shut off and she heard her parent's bedroom door shut, she grabbed clean pajamas and headed for the shower. The water was near scalding, but it did wonders to relieve her tense muscles. Unfortunately she found herself thinking about Billy.
Tomorrow she would be helping him teach one of the swim classes. Or watching and learning as he had put it. She couldn't really picture him teaching little kids much of anything. Maybe how to smoke and swear at their parents, but definitely not swimming. He was too gruff. When he was up in that lifeguard seat he reigned with near terror. Just the day before he had made a six year old cry after he had called him a shitbird for splashing too much. At least she would be there to hopefully provide a more gentle touch to the lesson.
Things between her and Billy were...weird. One minute they were bickering, the next they pretended the other didn't exist, then they would both be huddled together laughing at this one dad who liked to strut around in a speedo and hit on moms while his kid was in the pool. And this was just over the span of three days.
Teddi sighed loudly and willed herself to think of anything else. Soon Christmas break would be over and school would start back up at least. She could go back to being a friendly acquaintance to the kids in her classes and she'd get invited to parties on the weekend. Not that she'd go, but being invited was nice. And hopefully soon the months would fly by, she'd get accepted into a college and she could get far, far away from Hawkins. But until then she'd have to deal with Billy. Without killing him.