A/N: I'm so excited to finally post this chapter. There's some chapters later on that I'm excited to share but this is probably one of my favorite chapters for this fic. I hope y'all enjoy it as much as I did!
It turned out that everything was closed in Hawkins on Christmas. So Teddi's initial, pathetic plan of hiding out in the coffee shop for the day with Lord of the Rings was a bust. It had been different in New York. If there hadn't been anything in town open, Teddi could always make the short drive into the city and something would be open. She'd spent a lot of Christmases in Chinese food joints with a book over the years. Now she was resigned to going to her spot at the lake. The kids had told her about it. She'd overheard them talking about a place they called Bywater Pool and the Tolkien fan in her had to know all about it.
Usually on Christmas her family would play pretend for just a little while. They'd wake up relatively early and Teddi would get her gift before they went their separate ways for the rest of the day. This Christmas her dad wasn't even home. Her mom had mentioned he'd got some overtime working on the mall and he wouldn't be home until late that night. So Teddi made herself some toast with jam and headed out for her very lonely Christmas day while her mom stayed home and did...whatever it was that she did all day. Teddi didn't really know. Or care.
She didn't go to the lake often. It had been easier when she had first moved to Hawkins and it hadn't been so cold. Teddi would drive out, park next to the water and flip the radio on while she sat on the hood of her van and read a book until she finally managed to drag herself back home. Now the lake would be frozen over and everything would be covered in snow. But it would be peaceful and she'd get out of the house. That's what really mattered.
But of course, as most things lately, things wouldn't go according to plan. As Teddi got closer to the lake, she realized there was another car parked by the water. And not just any car. Billy's Camaro. She gripped her steering wheel tightly. Of all the places in Hawkins, on all of the days, why did he have to be here at her spot? Teddi pulled up next to him, rolling down her window and glaring over at him. Billy was reclined back in his seat, eyes trained out on the frozen water and smoking a cigarette. His radio was playing so loudly she was sure he hadn't heard her pull up.
"Seriously, are you actually stalking me, Hargrove?" she asked with a loud huff. Billy's head snapped over in her direction, suddenly aware that he was no longer alone, and rolled his eyes when he spotted Teddi practically pouting at him. "It's Christmas. Don't you have anything better to do?"
"I could ask you the same thing, Larsson. This is my spot." he blew smoke out in her direction.
Teddi scoffed. "Your spot? It's my spot. I've never seen you here before." she argued. Despite how tired he looked, Billy smirked.
"That's probably 'cause I come here later than you."
Gross, Teddi thought as her nose scrunched up. "Please don't tell me this is where you bring girls."
"Fine, I won't tell you." Teddi rolled her eyes at the smug look on Billy's face and turned away from him. She grabbed her book and settled in for a long day of the never ending quest that was continuing to ignore Billy Hargrove. It didn't last long. She hadn't even read half a page before she found herself looking over at him out of the corner of her eyes. Why wouldn't he be home on Christmas morning? Where was Max? Had he heard about the rumor that Tommy H had started? And if he had, why wasn't he teasing her about it?
"...Have you spoken to Heather?" she found herself suddenly asking.
"No. Why would I?" he had a point. He was social at work, sure, but outside of that he mostly kept to himself unless Teddi was around for him to torment.
She felt a little relieved though. Clearly he hadn't heard. Teddi shook her head. "Nothing. She just called me yesterday about something stupid Tommy told her," Billy didn't say anything, he just rose his eyebrows expectantly as he waited for her to spill the beans. Teddi huffed and set down her book. "He said he found Cheryl and Brian hooking up, and then when he saw you carrying me out to the car…" she didn't finish the rest. She didn't need to. Billy chuckled.
"If Heather actually thinks I got in your pants then she doesn't know you all that well, Larsson." Teddi let out a small laugh herself. Again, he had a point. She was also a little surprised he wasn't taking the opportunity to tease her.
"Are you…," Teddi scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. "Are you okay? I mean, you're here and not home…"
Billy flicked the butt of his cigarette out of the window with a shrug. "I'm fine. Just don't feel like being home. Like you." that gave Teddi an entire list of questions that she wanted to ask him, but she knew better than that. If she pushed then he would just snap at her as per usual.
So she settled for a less complicated question. "You hate Christmas too, huh?" she almost winced at how stupid she sounded. But if it was one thing the two of them bonded over, it was things they both hated.
"You could say that." he said flatly.
Teddi pursed her lips for a moment. She would probably regret this decision, but she would blame that whole Christmas giving spirit. "...It's probably a lot warmer in the van. I was thinking of sitting in the back. You can join me as long as you promise not to be, you know...the worst." she said with a small smile to let him know she was teasing.
Billy looked at her silently for a moment before smirking. "Are you flirting with me, weird girl?"
"Don't flatter yourself. I'm only offering because Max would probably be pretty upset with me if I let you die from hypothermia." she said with an over dramatic eye roll. She was surprised when Billy shut the Camaro off, grabbed his cigarettes and lighter and slid out of the car. She crawled over her seat to the back and threw the doors open to let him in.
Billy hadn't known what he was expecting from Teddi's van, but it wasn't what he found. There was actually shag carpeting. It matched the light blue velvet that was covering the walls inside. A bright pink bean bag chair sat behind the passenger side seat and across from that was a two person seat that was folded up and fastened down. There were a few empty, slightly crushed Tab cans scattered around, along with a stack of board games (Billy couldn't help but roll his eyes when he spotted Dungeons and Dragons), some magazines and a bright yellow, rolled up sleeping bag that was covered in colorful flowers. There was also a disco ball hanging from the ceiling. It all somehow screamed Teddi.
"Sorry, it's kind of a mess in here. But I don't usually have company…" Teddi said nervously as she tried to kick the empty soda cans aside. Billy didn't say anything. He plopped down onto the bean bag and jabbed his thumb towards the radio.
"I am not listening to this shit."
Teddi gaped at him. "It's Siouxsie and the Banshees!" she argued.
"It's garbage. Don't you listen to anything good?" he asked, leaning over the passenger's seat and opening the glove compartment. Teddi watched on with both confusion and amusement as he thumbed through her cassette tapes. "You listen to Kiss? Jesus, Ted, there's no hope for us ever being friends." his back was turned to her, but she could hear from his tone that he was kidding. Not that it mattered to her or anything.
"And what's wrong with Kiss?" she asked, settling down onto the carpet and crossing her legs.
"They're for chicks."
Teddi laughed. "I am a chick, Billy."
He shrugged. "You know what I mean." he took the cassette out of the deck and replaced it with the Kiss tape he'd found before returning to the bean bag.
"I don't get in your Camaro and rummage through everything, you know." she argued. Teddi pulled a small cooler out from under the driver's seat and flipped it open. She pulled out another can of Tab and held it up to Billy.
He took it and gave Teddi a knowing grin. "Yeah, you just steal my smokes," as if mentioning them had reminded him of their presence, he reached into his pocket and pulled a cigarette out. He placed it between his lips and lit it, taking a drag before offering it to Teddi. She hesitated, and Billy rolled his eyes. "I think we already established I don't have cooties, Larsson."
Teddi let out a soft huff-like laugh and took the cigarette. "So you know my secret then, huh?"
"Secret?" Billy snorted. "You're even chattier when you're wasted. You almost told me your whole life story," the worried look that Teddi had made him drop the subject. He took a drink, watching her fidget around uncomfortably. "...So how come you hate Christmas?"
Teddi took a somewhat shaky drag of the cigarette, blowing out a cloud of smoke slowly before handing it back to Billy. She shrugged. "I've always hated it, I guess...it wasn't so bad when I was little. I got presents then at least. But it was always really obvious that my mom just dumped the first couple of dolls she saw into a cart and bought them. When I got older they would just give me a card with some cash. This year I don't think either of them even realize it's Christmas." she said with a small laugh. Over the years Teddi had saved up the money she'd received for Christmas. At first she had been a little too young to fully understand why she was doing it (she later realized it was simply intuition). There was almost this voice in her head that had just urged her to hoard it. Eventually she started working and added to her savings. She only spent a little here and there on clothes and her van. Now she was sitting on quite the nest egg.
And I thought I had it bad, Billy thought. Susan had at least gotten him some presents. A couple of albums and some shirts she knew he'd like. Christ, Neil had even gotten him gifts when it had just been the two of them. It was always some stupid hobby he wanted Billy to pick up. Baseball bats, a basketball, cleats. When he had turned thirteen Neil had gotten him a bb gun, but when Billy shot out the window of Neil's car "on accident" Neil had thrown it in the fireplace and Billy had gotten one hell of a "talking to".
"What are they, drunks or something?" he asked. He knew that if he'd been talking to anyone else that he would have never asked a question like that. He never would've gotten so personal. Even now with Teddi he knew there was a chance that she would shut him out. But at least he felt comfortable enough with her to ask.
"Dad is," Teddi said with a heavy sigh. "My mom just...doesn't care about anything that doesn't have to do with her. Back in New York she used to be one of those really big yuppie moms that went to cocktail parties and had all this really ugly white furniture…" her voice drifted a little. She'd been a little surprised that she had shared that much. It hadn't seemed like much, sure, but when Teddi tried so hard to keep everything about her home life so close to the chest sharing much of anything about her parents was sort of a big deal to her. But what seemed like an even bigger surprise to her was that Billy actually seemed interested in what she was saying. "...What about you?" she asked carefully.
Billy's head fell back as he breathed out smoke. "Just...not into all that family shit I guess," but that wasn't very fair of him. He had asked Teddi about her family and she had given him answers. Not many, but Billy knew it was enough to be a big deal to Teddi. He could at least return the favor. "...Susan likes to pretend like we're the fucking Cleavers. My dad sits on the couch with a beer and checks out unless things get too loud. Max only comes inside for dinner and to sleep," it was the cleaned up version, but it seemed to appease Teddi. He was grateful she didn't look at him with pity, but that was probably because they were in the same boat. Even though neither of them wanted to say it out loud.
Really Billy just wanted out of the house. He had played his part in Susan's perfect family fantasy. The four of them had all sat around the Christmas tree and opened presents. Neil had been in his usual spot on the couch, glaring down at Billy and Max with a silent threat to make sure they let Susan know how much they loved and appreciated everything she had done to make their Christmas so wonderful which made it all feel less genuine somehow. Once the presents had been opened, Max had grabbed her new skateboard and was outside before anyone could stop her. So Billy went to his room, changed, grabbed his keys and was out of the house before Neil could get off the couch. He had heard Susan calling after him. He could hear the disappointment in her voice, and he did feel a little bad for leaving. He didn't feel much towards Susan in general but pity. She did him a solid every once and awhile when it came to Neil, but that was about it. He definitely resented her for letting Neil speak to Max the way he did. And of course he'd have to hear from Neil once he got home. That didn't matter to him right now. Anything was better than having to sit around pretending they were one big, happy family.
Billy dropped the cigarette into the now empty can of Tab and nodded at Teddi. "So, what's the tattoo of?" he asked. He definitely wasn't about to spend his Christmas having a pity party with her. And Teddi seemed to welcome the change of subject.
Teddi let out a loud snort, smiling and shaking her head. "I am totally not telling you."
"Come on, Larsson. It's Christmas," Teddi clicked her tongue against her teeth but couldn't quite hide the fact that she was still smiling. She rose to her knees, turning her back to Billy. She flipped the band of her jeans down to reveal the tattoo. Billy leaned forward to get a better look and let out a soft laugh. "A butterfly?"
"I know," Teddi groaned, turning back around. "I thought it was like...cool and symbolic or whatever." the weirdest thing about this exchange was that it didn't feel weird to Teddi. Things never felt weird between her and Billy when he could just relax around her. She wished things could be like this more often. She liked hanging out with Billy when he was like this.
"And completely cliche." Billy teased.
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, like a skull smoking a cigarette?" Billy made a mocking face at her. Teddi laughed softly and pulled her knees to her chest. She rested her chin on her knee, tilting her head as she looked at Billy. "You know...if someone told me like...a week ago that I'd be spending Christmas in the back of my van with you I think I would've laughed them out of the building."
Billy flashed a nearly devilish grin. "You know, the last time I was in the back of a van with a girl-"
"Oh my god. You ruin everything, Hargrove." Teddi laughed. Billy laughed, one of his genuine laughs again, and Teddi decided she really liked it when Billy smiled. Sure, the grin he flashed all the girls was definitely nice to look at. But this smile was almost like a secret. Like she was getting a look at the real Billy that not many others got. The one that he tried so hard to hide from everyone. It looked good on him.
He pointed at the stack of games next to her. "Alright, if we're gonna be here all day and you're not gonna do what I want then break out Dungeons and Dragons," the look on Teddi's face was priceless. Her jaw dropped and she let out the tiniest gasp at his suggestion.
"You're gonna play Dungeons and Dragons?"
Billy laughed again. "Fuck no. That's for making fun of my tattoo. And I'm not playing Dream Phone either," Teddi scoffed loudly and gave him a dramatic eye roll, but Billy caught her smile as she turned to the stack of games. She pulled out Clue and held it up to him with raised eyebrows. "Deal. Pass me another Tab."
It took three rounds of Clue and a game of Operation for Teddi to find out that Billy was extremely competitive and that he was amazing at pretty much every board game in existence. Teddi was sure that there wasn't a single thing that Billy was bad at. Maybe except basic manners. Eventually she talked him into a round of Dream Phone (he of course won that too) and Billy fished out a stack of tapes out of the Camaro and brought them over to the van to show Teddi what real music was.
Teddi liked Billy's music. Billy would've fallen on his ass if he hadn't already been sitting on it when he found out that Teddi was as big of a Metallica fan as he was. "If you like Metallica then how can you listen to all this new wave shit?" he asked incredulously.
"I'm a very open minded girl ...stop smirking at me, pervert."
Eventually the sun started to set, and the pair decided to go their separate ways. Billy hopped out of the back of the van, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket before turning back to Teddi. "You gonna be at the pool tomorrow?" he asked.
"Yep. Bright and early. You?"
"Bright and early," he repeated with a nod. "Later, Larsson. Merry Christmas." he said in a teasing tone before heading over to the Camaro. Teddi crawled back into the driver's seat, unaware that she was still smiling until she noticed her discarded copy of the Fellowship of the Rings in the seat beside her. She had spent an entire day with Billy Hargrove, and she had enjoyed herself. Maybe hell was freezing over. Or maybe Billy just wasn't quite as bad as he liked for people to think.