Author's Note: As stated in the beginning of this story, I mentioned some things were going to make an appearance in here that weren't invented in the 80's (texting, razr cell phones). I've been getting a lot of messages and I'm just over it tbh. I mention it one last time in this chapter and probably won't bring them up again since it appears to be a problem.
Also I'm wrapping this story up soon. Like.. 3 chapters left soon. I was going to try and extend it, but it seems I'm not the only one whose lost interest.
I Want You To Want Me
I want you to want me
I need you to need me
I'd love you to love me
I'm beggin' you to beg me
. .
The Mindflayer roars, it's face just inches from Dani's own. Her arms are splayed at her sides, pinned, and she can't move. She doesn't have the strength or energy to do so anyway.
"Dani!"
Her head lolls to the side and her bottom lip wobbles as she sees Eleven being held back by Mike. She's struggling against him, eager to get to her. "S-stop. Go!" Dani yells.
But instead of fleeing to safety, Eleven stays. And Mike. And Billy. Fear absolutely grips her. Because instead of fleeing, Eleven, Mike, and Billy linger. The Mindflayer takes notice of their presence and each are captured by a tentacle, it's sharp teeth digging into their flesh.
Dani screams as she jolts up in bed, blackness swimming across her vision. "No, no, no," she mumbles. "I'm not there anymore. I came home. I came home," she continues to mutter, pulling her knees up to her chest, rocking back and forth. "I'm not there, I'm not there, I'm not there."
"Dani, you need to calm down. Breathe. I'm right here with you."
Her head snaps in direction of the voice. "Billy?"
"Yeah, sweetheart. I'm right here. You had a bad dream and the shadows are swarming you. Protecting you. But there's nothing to fear here, so just calm down."
Inhaling and exhaling shakily, Dani works on settling her nerves and getting herself under control. What seems like several long minutes later, the shadows start to drop and bleed back to their nooks and crannies. Then blinking her eyes open, she smiles sheepishly at Billy standing in her doorway. "Dad gone?"
"Yeah. He was gone when I got here."
She huffs. "You're really putting your own copy of our house key to use, huh?"
"If your dad didn't want me here, he'd had never given it to me."
"Yeah, yeah. Just wait until he stops hovering. He's gonna be the protective dad once more and be suspicious of your motives."
"My motives?" Billy feigns innocence. "I don't have any motives."
"So that's why your eyes haven't moved from my legs?" His gaze immediately snaps up, a smirk forming as she rolls her eyes and climbs out of bed." Yeah that's what I thought."
Dani then walks up to Billy, wrapping her arms low around his waist and briefly hugging him. "How long have you been having these dreams?" He wonders, wrapping his arms around her shoulders to return the embrace. "And what's with the shadows? Your nose isn't bleeding and the shadows were out in full force."
"That was the first time. I've never really had a nightmare from that night before." Billy hums and she pulls out of his arms. "As for the shadows, they come easier now. I'd always been afraid of what I could do and afraid of exploring my capabilities because I didn't want to be caught, but ever since Starcourt it's like a door's been opened. I was terrified and angry, and in order to protect everyone I knew I had to let the power flood in. And now.. now the power is just there waiting to be beckoned at a moment's notice."
To prove her point, slowly swings an arm out and watches as the shadows at her feet gather and drag across the floor to follow the motion of her arm. Then raising her arm, she smiles as the shadows lift.
"So there's that." Dani sighs and lets the shadows blend back in to where they came from. "Now go wait downstairs. I need to shower after all that. I feel gross."
"Smell it too."
She gasps as Billy laughs, the genuineness of it rather soothing to her still frayed nerves. She nudges him out of her room and quickly gathers up some clothes and a towel, and takes a cool shower to wash away the sweat from her body.
After drying off and towel drying most of her hair, Dani then dons a pair of loose, black sleep shorts, a gray cotton tee, and a pair of socks. She meets Billy downstairs, tossing herself down onto the sofa and right up next to Billy.
"So what's the plan?"
"Exactly this," Billy says. He starts flipping through the channels, winding his right arm around Dani's shoulders and pulling her flush against him. "Now that the mall's closed down, there's nothing to do."
"Not even the pool?"
"Definitely not the pool. I've been waiting for my day off, I'm not about to spend my free time there."
"Lame." Dani pokes his cheek and grins when he pinches her shoulder. "When's lunch time? I've got cash if you got gas."
"Still a few hours away. Just nap some more and I'll wake you when it's time to eat."
"Come on, Hargrove." She whines. "Do I really have the house to myself and all you wanna do is let me sleep? You've gone soft." He tenses, his gaze never leaving that of the TV. "I can't be the only one who wants to pick up from where we left off at Jim's cabin."
Billy shifts in his seat. "You're hurt."
"You're making excuses." Dani smiles sadly and angles her body towards him. "Look. If you're not into me like you were before without the danger of dying hanging over our heads, then tell me. I'm a big girl."
"Dani-"
"I can handle it. I can be civil," she says, cutting him off.
"Will you just-"
"But I won't tolerate being led on."
"Goddammit, Dani." Billy shifts and pulls Dani into his lap so she's straddling him, grabbing her face in his hands and crashing their lips together. He's doing his best to deepen what would no doubt be a mind blowing kiss, but all she can do is smile against his mouth. "What's," kiss, "so," bite, "funny?"
"Nothing," Dani muses, using the tip of her tongue to flick his top lip and then pecking his cheek. Pulling back, she practically beams down at him as her hands cup either side of his neck before sliding back so her fingers tangle in his hair. "You totally want me." And to prove her point, she grinds down in his lap and smirks when he groans.
"That's not playing fair." Billy's head falls back, eyes closed. "You're still healing. I don't want to hurt you."
"I know, but I just needed to make sure there was something still between us."
"Of course there is." His hands, which had settled on her waist, nudge her backwards. "Scoot down some. There's something in my pocket that I was meaning to give to you before you started to seduce me."
Dani chuckles and watches as Billy reaches down into the front pocket of his jeans, grunting as he attempts to shove his hand down in there. "Need a hand?"
"Shut up."
He eventually pulls free a silver chain with a ring dangling from it. A very familiar, silver band that she remembers faintly playing with during her stay in the hospital. He watches her brow furrow before her gaze darts to his hand and his down ring-less finger. Her eyes widen as she pushes the hand holding the necklace back towards him. "No. Is that- no, Billy. That was your mom's."
"It was. And then it was mine. Now I want you to have it." He gently unclasps the chain, holding it open and smiling softly at her. "I think she'd be happy to see you in possession of it now- the girl that I.. that I like. A lot."
A lump forms in Dani's throat, she blinking rapidly to rid her eyes of the tears stinging her eyes. "A-Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I want you to have something of mine. Always. At least until you decide you don't want me anymore."
Dani slowly nods and gathers up her still damp hair so Billy can clasp the necklace around her neck. When he's done and the ring settles just atop her cleavage, she gently touches the ring before meeting his gaze once more. "I won't take it off."
"Good." Billy leans in to capture her lips once more in a kiss, but before Dani can deepen it he leans back with a smirk. "No funny business. Not until your ribs are a little bit better."
"You suck, Hargrove."
"I lick too, Princess, but you won't experience that until later."
Dani groans as she climbs off Billy's lap, he chuckling and swatting her thigh as she settles in right next to him once more. After a few moments of silence, she asks, "So does this mean what I think it means? Are we-"
"Yes," he laughingly groans. "We are."
Dani grins and curls up against his side, content to just be for the time being. But the smell of his cologne and the feel of him under his chest seriously makes her mind go fuzzy, and she does her best to alleviate the throbbing sensation between her thighs.
It was going to be a long couple of weeks.
Tired of being cooped up in the house with itty bitty teens who constantly complain about El not being around enough, Dani finally gets the bright idea to head to the pool. It was totally because the kids were annoying her and not because her boyfriend was going to be on shift.
So putting on a black one-piece swimsuit, and then covering up in a crop top and jean shorts, Dani packs a bag and tosses it into the passenger seat of her newly fixed up Firebird. She shoots off a quick text to her dad to let him know where she's going to be, and then after receiving word from him to take it easy she pockets her phone and gets in her car herself.
Driving again soothes something deep in Dani's bones that she hadn't realized had been bothering her, so she cruises around town for as long as she can before parking at the pool. Then after switching out her sneakers for some flip-flops, Dani shoulders the strap of her bag and exits her car.
There's a lot of staring as she pays the entrance fee and walks alongside the pool, she keeping her head held high and smiling at the familiar faces. Billy's usual cougar club are mostly all accounted for and Dani waves at them all as she continues on down the line until she can find an empty chair. But before she can find an empty one, two young faces catch her attention.
"Steve? Why you tryin' to flex the muscles you don't have?"
From beside him, Robin laughs and shoves her sunglasses up atop her head. "Hey, Dani. Thanks for that. I needed it."
"Anytime, Buckley." Dani takes a seat on the edge of Steve's chair, smirking as he nervously crosses his arms over his bare chest. "What are you guys up to?"
"N-Nothing."
Robin rolls her eyes. "We were scoping out the girls, but Steve doesn't have as much game as he said he did."
"Hey!"
Dani grins, her mind completely glossing over what Robin said. We were scoping out the girls. As in both of them. As in Robin Buckley was totally into girls and she just oh so casually came out to Dani. As she meets Steve's gaze, she can see the subtle panic as his gaze darts between Robin and herself, but she merely grins and puts both of them at ease. "As if you two would score any ass with Billy back. You do know he's on shift today, right?"
Robin slowly eases back into her chair, chuckling softly as Steve groans. If she was going to completely be at ease with Robin's secret, well then they had no problem with that. "So that's why no one is paying us any attention," Steve complains. "What do girls even see in that tool?"
"Boy's got a superb ass," Dani muses. Both her friends make a noise of disgust and she pinches Steve's calf in retaliation. "If you're desperate for some action, Harrington, why don't you try out the mall two towns over?"
"You mean the one in Point Place?"
"Well yeah. Their mall is no Starcourt, but the girls are cute."
"Hmm. She may just be onto something," Robin says. "What do you say, dingus? Want to go hit up the mall?"
"Sure. Why not."
As the duo sit up and start to pack up their things, Robin asks, "Want to come, Dani?"
"Nah. I'm actually waiting on some other friends, but you two go ahead. Have fun! And I want all the juicy and embarrassing details after."
Robin smiles. "Deal. I'll call you tonight."
With their newly vacated seats, Dani spreads out her bag and towel across both of them, and then takes a seat on the third empty chair. She's only alone for a few minutes before Karen and Nancy Wheeler are making their way towards her, Dani quickly greeting them before collecting her things from the two chairs so they can sit.
"How have you been?" Karen asks. "I know Nancy's been keeping in touch, but this is the first time I've seen you."
Dani grins at her. "I'm good. All I've got are the lingering scars and pain in the ribs left from that hell week." Mrs. Wheeler and Nancy grimace.
"How many did you fracture?"
"Three," she tells her. "They hurt a lot when I first woke up, but now I'm fine. They only hurt if I sneeze or cough, or put pressure on them or move funny."
"Well I hope they heal up nice and quick. That doesn't sound too fun."
"No, Karen, it's not."
As Mrs. Wheeler mentions she's going to make a quick trip to the bathroom, Dani and Nancy stay with their belongings. "Seeing that you and my mom are friends is a lot different than hearing about it," Nancy muses as she takes her time stripping out of her outer clothes. "I almost didn't actually believe it until now."
"Your mom's a total hottie, Nance. Of course we'd be friends."
Nancy huffs a quiet laugh, shaking her head in amusement. As they continue moving around and pulling stuff out of their bags, something catches Nancy's attention. "Nice ring," she says. "I've never seen that before." Dani automatically reaches up to grasp the chain, cheeks heating up as she smiles sheepishly. Nancy raises an eyebrow at her. "Spill. Now."
"It's, uh, it's Billy's." Both Nancy's eyebrows raise, this time in surprise. "Well it was his mother's really. I'm just holding onto it for reasons," she slowly admits.
Slowly, her friend smiles. "That's adorable."
"Shut up," she laughs.
"So are you two..?"
"Official? Yeah."
Nancy's smile softens just a tad. "As long as you're happy and he treats you right-"
"He treats me just fine," Dani assures her. "I've heard the horror stories about him and told him if I ever see that behavior or if it's directed at me, he's going to be in for a major ass kicking."
"Good."
Karen Wheeler eventually rejoins them, she in her own one piece swimsuit along with Nancy who wore a bikini. Dani hesitates stripping off her own clothes because of the scarring across the top of her breasts, but gets to stall just a little bit longer when the nearby group of women start giggling and primping in a hurry.
"Umm, what's going on?" Nancy asks, taking notice of their behavior.
Karen wiggles in her seat, bending one knee and sitting in a rather seductive manner. Nancy frowns at her and Dani smothers her laughter with a hand, she then gesturing towards the employee changing room. "The show's about to start."
"What show?"
Almost as if on cue, the door bangs open and out saunters Billy.
"Hot damn."
"Oh gross," Nancy snorts.
Clad in his uniformed red shorts, whistle around his neck, and sunglasses perched on the bridge of his nose, Billy smirks at all the lingering stares and simpering older women. Karen even pushes her breasts out and sighs longingly, and Nancy groans in embarrassment.
Unable to help herself, Dani wolf whistles. Billy's smirk widens into a genuine smile and he redirects his path towards them. He greets Mrs. Wheeler, nods at Nancy, and then Dani stands just in time to receive the briefest and chastest kiss from her boyfriend.
"Mmm. Hey, handsome."
"Princess. How long have you been here?" The sunglasses come off and he hangs them alongside his whistle.
"Not long. I made plans with the Wheelers a few days ago and here we are."
"Yes you are." His head tilts to the side as he lets his gaze travel down and then back up. He sees a sliver of her black swimsuit between the waistband of her shorts and hem of her crop top. "Is this my favorite swimsuit of yours?"
Dani grins. "No. I wasn't feeling all that up to teasing. My scars are-"
"Beautiful," he cuts her off, stepping a little closer to her and angling his face down towards her.
"Easy for you to say. I bet every girl thinks your scars are sexy," she says, gaze then lingering on his forearms and the left side of his ribs. She reaches up and trails her fingertips along his ribs. "I get nervous just thinking about taking off my shirt."
Billy slowly tuts and Dani glances up at him through her lashes. "Strip. You have absolutely nothing to worry about." She laughs his words off, shaking her head, but Billy's grin falls. "Strip, Lewis. Now."
"Oh my god. That shouldn't be so hot."
"Mom! Gross."
Both Billy and Dani grin at Mrs. Wheeler and Nancy, but soon Billy's attention is solely on Dani once more. "I will strip you myself if you don't start stripping, Dani. Shirt off. Now."
"Seriously?" She quietly whines.
"Yes." Dani's not entirely sure whether or not Billy will actually strip her, so after briefly hesitating Dani huffs and pops open the button on her jean shorts. She pushes them down her hips and lets them fall, kicking them blindly onto her chair. Then after another brief hesitant moment, Dani pulls her arms through the sleeves of her crop top before pulling that off as well. Billy's gaze drops to her cleavage and his hand raises to trace a few of her scars just visible above the top of her suit. Dani shivers. "Still so pretty."
"Shut up and get to work, Hargrove. Stop ogling the goods and keep a look out for drowning children."
"Will do." The sunglasses get placed back on, his amusement immediately vanishes, and his lifeguard persona is back for all to see.
-X-
Treading water with Nancy and Mrs. Wheeler, Dani cringes when the whistle shrilly pierces the air. "That's the fourth time within twenty minutes."
Nancy smirks, briefly dipping below the water and then resurfacing. "Well he is your boyfriend."
"Yeah he is."
"HEY! NO RUNNING. IF I HAVE TO WARN YOU AGAIN, YOU'RE OUT FOR TWO WEEKS!"
"God he's such a dick."
Mrs. Wheeler snorts. "Young love is so adorable, yet very confusing."
"It's Billy Hargrove," Nancy muses. "Would you expect anything else?"
Mrs. Wheeler frowns, Nancy looks to Dani, and Dani grins. "Long story short, Billy is the ultimate asshole."
"What? No he's not. He's such a sweet, handsome boy."
"Really, mom?"
"Well.."
Dani laughs. "It's true. He's an asshole with a capital A, but he's my asshole. I'm doing my best to keep him in line."
"Keep who in line?" Arms wrap around Dani's waist and she squeals as she's turned around in the water. "Talkin' about me, Lewis?"
"Always. What are you doing in the water, Hargrove? You're only supposed to jump in if someone's drowning."
"Exactly."
"Wha-" Billy shoves Dani under the water and she quickly resurfaces, spluttering. "You're a dick!" Mrs. Wheeler and Nancy laugh, and Dani pouts at them. "You two too."
"Oh honey, we're sorry."
"No you're not, Karen."
"No. I'm not."
"If I had known that all it took was introducing my mom to my friends to get her to loosen up this much, I'd have done it a lot sooner."
Dani scoffs. "As if you're friends with anyone as cool as me." Nancy's smile falters, but she's quick to mask it and Dani files this moment away to ask about later. "Anyway, we should go shopping soon, Nance."
"Mhm. For sure. There's bound to be a back-to-school party being thrown. I can look for an outfit."
"Perfect." Dani turns in Billy's arms, wrapping her arms around his neck. "On a scale of one to ten, how much are your ex-flings going to hate me?"
"Hmm.. a solid seven and a half."
"Awesome."
"Well you are dating the Keg King," Nancy mutters.
Billy suddenly smirks, glancing at the other brunette. "Still bitter, Wheeler?"
"Hardly."
The sound of a whistle piercing the air causes all four to swivel their heads in it's direction. Billy sighs when he sees his co-worker rushing towards a group of grappling boys. "Duty calls."
But as he's letting go of Dani, his hand drags across her butt under water. And then squeezes.
Dani yelps and Billy chuckles, winking over his shoulder as he climbs out. "I hope someone punches you in the throat."
"No you don't."
As Billy slips back into lifeguard mode, he blows his own whistle while marching off towards the fight.
"Smitten. Absolutely smitten," Nancy grins.
"As if you didn't look that way whenever Steve came around," Mrs. Wheeler chuckles. "Or Jonathan."
"Mom!"
"Only stating the facts, sweetie."
"Well while you're in the mood of teasing, please tease Mike some and tell him to cool it with the PDA. My dad's getting into protective mode over El and I'm afraid he's going to shoot flames with his eyes at Mike now that they're being touchy-feely in front of my dad."
Nancy laughs. "Are you serious?"
"It's cute. And hilarious. He won't say anything, not until Mike's older, but you can see it in his eyes every time Mike and El get giggly with each other."
"Did he threaten Billy? Please tell me he threatened Hargrove?" Nancy pleads.
"He did. It totally didn't faze him though."
"Of course it didn't."
"Are they really that touchy-feely?" Mrs. Wheeler frowns. "I didn't know. If it's a problem-"
"It's not a problem," Dani's quick to assure her, chuckling softly. "It's just, well El's under my dad's guardianship now and she's a pretty young lady. Father instincts are weird."
"I'll talk to him," Nancy then says.
"And I'll talk to El," Dani agrees. "They're both at fault, not just one or the other." There's a moment of quiet between the three females and then Dani grimaces. "Ugh. Look at us being adults and mature and stuff. I don't like it."
"It does feel weird." Nancy giggles and then splashes Dani.
"Most definitely." She splashes her back, getting Karen as well. "Now if you two will excuse me, I'm going to go grope my boyfriend."
"And to think I was worried for you," Nancy huffs. "I should be worried for Billy. Poor kid isn't going to know what to do with you."
"Well I gotta keep that boy on his toes. Keeps things interesting."
As Dani pulls herself out of the pool and saunters towards a yelling Billy, Nancy watches her friend go with a fond shake of her head. "They really are perfect for each other, aren't they?"
"It's a bit ridiculous, to be honest," Mrs. Wheeler giggles. "But adorable."
"Adorable's not the word I'd use, but yeah. They really are something else."
