Chapter 12: The Date And Dash

JEAN turned in her bed, a moan escaping her lips, her eyes squeezed shut.

'You have more power than you can imagine, Jean. The question is, will you control that power, or let it control you?' A man's voice echoed in the depths of Jean's subconscious, all the while images flashed before her. The images themselves were indescribable, they were more like a feeling. Like they represented a growing power.Like fire.The scene shifted entirely, it wasn't as jumbled as its predecessor. This time she had a clear view of an entity; a gargantuan one, being at least 50 stories tall. Its body appeared to be entirely composed of minuscule particles, giving it a misty appearance akin to a shadow. The creature had multiple limbs, some of which branched into several smaller appendages; these limbs resembled tendrils.Its presence was accompanied by unnatural red lightning and it boomed with thunderclap.BOOM!

That morning, Jean woke up abruptly. She sat on the bedclothes of the bed, her heart beating at an abnormal speed and a layer of cold sweat covering her pale forehead almost completely.

Jean tried to calm her breathing once more and this time, she succeeded. She took both her hands to her face and rubbed it with some brusqueness, trying so the nightmare would dissipate from her mind.

She jolted when she heard the bedroom door screeching open, revealing Eleven with a toothbrush hanging from her mouth. "..Good morning."

Gulping harshly, Jean ran a hand through her long hair before she stuttered out a reply. "M-morning."

Taking note of the disheveled state of the older girl, El removed the toothbrush from between her lips, looking her over in concern. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." She shook her head, swinging her long legs over the edge of the bed.

"Jean," Eleven started, and Jean turned to see her approaching until she stopped in front of her.

"Yeah?"

"Friends don't lie." Eleven affirmed, her brown eyes meeting Jean's.

Jean allowed a deep breath to escape from her mouth. "I'm not lying. I just... had a nightmare is all."

El pursed her lips. "Sorry." She muttered before wrapping a hand around Jean's shoulders, her smaller hand gently patting her back. The redhead found the act strangely soothing.

"Better?" Eleven asked, her voice gentle, it elicited the smile on Jean's lips.

"Better."

The fun in the water continued for Erica Sinclair and her friends.

Even after the water fight they had between them, splashing and joyful laughter filled the air.

At one point, Tina got on top of Erica's shoulders and two of their other friends did the same. Jean acted as referee amusingly watching the chicken fight play out. The ten year olds laughed as they tried pushing each other off. Eventually it had been Erica who succeeded in winning the game. The dark haired girl popped out of the water next to Jean and gave the green eyed female a victorious smile.

Jean cheered loudly and swam closer to give the Sinclair girl a high five. The latter eagerly reached to give her such gesture but was surprised when Jean grabbed her hand and swiftly pulled her into the water.

Everyone laughed at seeing their sassy friends fall into the water. When Erica finally got back up to the surface she gave her babysitter a fake serious expression. "I'm so gonna get you for that." She told her and then started swimming her way.

Jean's response was a smile. Although she knew Erica was kidding with her threat -she hoped, the red haired girl still swam away from her.

When Jean reached the edge of the pool, she was about to heave herself out of the water when a shadow fell over her.

A person spoke to her, his voice was the same but it had a different effect on Jean ever since his act of rescue. It now spent a rush through her blood, left her with a tugging, weird sensation low in her abdomen.

"Be careful there," Billy bemusedly warned, Jean looked up to find him smirking at her. "Wouldn't want another incident happening on my watch."

"For your information, I can swim just fine." She huffed out, running her hand back through her wet hair.

"Then why were you drowning?" He retorted, raising his blonde eyebrows at her as he waited for an answer.

"I was..." Jean trailed, biting her lip, still unable to make sense of the incident that transpired days ago, what she'd seen. It was still a mystery to her. "-distracted." She finished, the word being the closest she was to describing what happened.

"Thank you." Billy joked. He offered out his hand and Jean reluctantly took it, allowing him to easily pull her out of the water, like she weighed nothing to him and she probably did.

Water slipped down her frame, leaving a puddle around her, her skin slick and glossy. Wet crimson hair draped over shoulders.

Jean huffed at his conceited assumption that it was his gorgeous self that distracted her. "Not by you." She could see the blonde lowering his irises a fraction to run his gaze over Jean's figure, taking in her blue and white striped swimsuit.

"Right..." There was a playful quality to his words that prompted a laughter to rumble in Jean's chest.

Th lifeguard had to admit. There was something entrancing about her laugh. And immediately, almost out of reflex, his eyes went to her rosy petal lips. He wasn't sure if she remembered the fact that he gave her mouth-to-mouth in a desperate attempt to resuscitate her. All he knew was that his lips wanted the pressure of hers again and his golden skin almost screamed to be graced with her soft fair skin that the sun didn't seem to affect. He wanted her more than he ever wanted any girl before.

Billy licked his lips, his blue eyes scanning the perimeters for any incident that warranted any lifeguard business before guiding them back on Jean Grey. "You know, I can give you swimming lessons if you like." He offered with a smug smirk.

"Uh-huh." Jean muttered, she looked unimpressed at his flirtatious method.

Seeing her reaction, Billy's lips lifted further upwards. "Strictly for safety measures, of course." He lightheartedly added.

"Of course." The redhead played along, nodding in amusement. Her voice dripped with sweet sarcasm, eyebrows notching upwards as Billy's odd charm shined through.

"I know all the styles; backstroke, freestyle, butterfly.." He trailed off. Water droplets glided down the skin of Jean's neck over her exposed chest, and Billy's eyes lazily followed its path as it graced her fair skin and disappeared between the valley of her breasts. "Breaststroke."

"I think I'll pass." Jean announced, twirling around to leave but was quickly stopped by his voice before she could take a step away.

"You know you still haven't paid me back for saving your life." Jean turned to find Billy sending her an innocent pout, and lightly batted his long lashes at the peeved teenager.

The green eyed teen perked her eyebrows at him. "What?"

"Come to think of it, you barely even thanked me."

She scoffed. She did thank him, and all he said was to not worry about it. So why was he milking it now?

"Isn't that part of your job description?" Jean retorted. But seeing as Billy stood his ground, smirking expectantly at her, she gave in.

"Fine, what do you want?"

Billy's smirk quickly fell, his blue eyes were glazed over with pure want and... something akin to adoration. "You." He asked in a low voice that shimmered with hope.

Jean coiled back at his suggestive answer. "Come again?" She muttered, offended.

Billy inhaled sharply. "A date.. with you tonight." His eagerness got the better of him had gotten the better of him. And the blonde hoped to god that she didn't notice the desperation in his tone. It was a first for him being this flustered when asking a girl out.

"I-uh, I don't know.." Jean stammered, flabbergasted at his request. She gulped, feeling nervous under his gaze. He looked at her in a way that differed from the lust-filled glances she was used to receiving from him. So she averted her glance down for a second and her eyes caught the golden necklace wrapped around Billy's neck. It shone with the sunlight and Jean realized that the pendant portrayed the Virgin Mary, a very common type of talisman among catholics. Which only surprised Jean when she'd noticed it because Billy didn't seem like the type to be wearing religious medals. But he always wore that pendant for reasons unknown to her.

The red haired teenager grasped the fact that she hadn't given Billy a reply just yet as he looked at her expectantly.

"Wouldn't you rather go with one of these moms who are so obsessed with you?" Jean blurted out of nowhere to gain some time in thinking of what to say to his request. She referred to the blonde's flirty and downright inappropriate demeanor towards the older women that came to the pool especially for him.

Billy didn't miss the sharpness in Jean's words and laughed in satisfaction. "Jealousy is so hot on you." He remarked.

Jean gasped at his presumptuous statement. "I'm not jealous." She wasn't jealous, she was stating the obvious, she thought.

Billy chuckled. While Jean still looked conflicted about his earlier proposition.

"C'mon, just one date." He drawled out. The voice sent hot shivers down Jean's spine. "You said you were here if I needed you.." Billy dipped in closer, dragging his eyes down her body before flashing them up to capture her eyes.

"To talk." Jean asserted, making sure he didn't misunderstand her words from weeks prior. After going into his head and feeling his pain, Jean had wanted to help him through it all in a strictly friendly manner, but he never took her up on her offer.

"Yes, to talk, Jean." He maintained, holding back the urge to roll his eyes. He looked her straight in the eyes, his ocean blue irises meeting her bright green ones.

The red haired girl was positively surprised to hear him calling her by name, and so softly at that. He practically never used her name, usually just using her last name or pet names like 'dollface' or 'babe'. It made her doubt if he's been using them to dodge the fact that he'd forgotten her name or something.

"Yeah?"

Sighing, Jean tore her gaze from him to look over at the snickering Erica who was still at the pool as an excuse to stop looking at his beautiful face. "Fine." She relented, closing her eyes. She shook her head, unbelieving that she was agreeing.

Once her eyes landed back on him, Jean almost gapped. That was the first time she'd seen him smile, like a genuine smile. "Good. I'll call you."

Unable to resist the urge, Jean smiled back at him. "You don't have my number."

Billy's lips pulled into a smirk as he reached for the whistle around his neck. "Yeah, I do." He said before turning around and walking back to his lifeguard post.

Jean stood there for a good minute, wondering what the hell she just agreed to.

Jean had taken Erica and her friends to Tina's after the pool visit, because (thankfully) all the playing they did at the pool had tired them out.

The redhead then took the bus to Starcourt because she needed to buy some a dress for the date she still didn't believe she consented to.

Afterwards, she got what she found to be the right outfit for her, and then Jean went to see her best friend, Steve Harrington.

"I'm scared I'm gonna get diabetes because of you." Jean jokingly sighed as she ate the ice cream he so nicely prepared for her. She saw him dedicating her one of his bright smiles that had always prompted her to reciprocate the expression. The two sat across from each other at one of the customer tables at the Scoops Ahoy.

"You'll be fine, I promise." He assured with a chuckle, raising his arm to support his elbow on the table, his gaze directed downwards.

Jean's eyes narrowed slightly when she realized that he'd been avoiding eye contact with her ever since she walked in the place. She would've read his mind to know what was up if it wasn't such a huge invasion of privacy.

Gulping harshly, Steve tried to cleanse his mind of any thoughts that regarded the love letter he slipped into her bag. He was nervous and fidgety at the prospect of her reading it and suspecting it was him. If she didn't feel the same way (and he would bet that she didn't), their friendship wouldn't be the same. And that terrified him.

"Where your kids at?" He asked out of nowhere, referring to Erica and her group of annoying friends. Jean just shrugged with a teasing smile. "I could ask you the same thing."

Steve gasped. "How could you ask that when you know it's such a tough subject for me?"

Jean released a short laughter knowing how much he'd missed the little Henderson. "Dustin?"

"Yeah, he should be here any day now." He replied, crossing his fingers. He was grateful that the conversation was taking his mind off of that card of love confession.

"Well, it's been a fun month without him since I got you all to myself." She said with a jokingly flirtatious smile, her eyelashes batting at him.

"Yeah, well, lucky you."

Steve knew she didn't mean it in the way that he wanted her to, but despite the joking manner, she said it truthfully and he just looked at her. It was times like these that Steve really thought she might feel something for him other than friendship. He just didn't want to risk anything by confronting her about that. He sighed sharply.

"By the way, are you free tonight?" Steve queried and he saw Jean stiffen.

"Um, no, actually." She mumbled, playing the spoon in her hand. She hoped to god he wouldn't ask her about her plans for the night. Which only raised the question; why didn't she want him to find out about her date with Billy. Her heart raced as she tried to think about it.

"Why, what are you doing?"

She swallowed nervously, looking down as she lied to her friend. "Playing board games with Hopp."

The brown haired boy's face morphed with an incredulous look. "Seriously?"

Jean bit her lip, feeling worse as she continued on with the lie. Maybe it was a betrayal to go on a date with the guy her friend hated with a passion. But it was a one time thing. She sent him a short nod. "Yeah, it distracts him from El and Mike's constant saliva swapping."

"Ew." Steve cringed at the description. His face relaxed a few moments later and he slicked his luscious hair back. "Come on." He urged and Jean sent him a quizzical glance. "Can't we just catch a movie or something tonight? I miss you."

Jean's eyes went wide at his soft and almost pleading voice, and she could feel the breath hitching in her throat as his eyes bored into hers.

Realizing how he sounded, Steve shook his head before bringing the palm of his hand to rub his chin. "I-I mean that I miss when it's just the two of us."

After he muttered those words, Robin appeared, peaking her head up from one of the adjacent chairs. She was lounging not too far away from them since the store was empty. "Hey, I thought we were having a magical time." She sarcastically said, eliciting a chuckle from Jean.

"Sorry." She apologized to Steve who had still looked hopeful. "Next time, I promise."

It was a calm and balmy night and the roads in Hawkins, Indiana were decently quiet.

Jean was surprised when Billy called and declared that he would be be picking her up without telling her where they'd be going. When she asked him, she could practically hear him smirking over the phone and telling her it was a surprise.

Hopper and Jean sat together for a while -watching TV- until Jean excused herself to begin getting ready. Of course, she didn't declare her real plans for the evening, seeing as she could remember the dislike Hopper bared for Billy Hargrove ever since their first meeting. She knew for a fact that Jim had nothing to worry about, even if it was a 'date' with Billy. She didn't know if she should call it that. The two of them rarely talked to one another, then he asked her out of nowhere.

It was confusing.

"Relax, it's just a one time thing." Jean blew out lowly under her breath as she pulled her hair back into a bun. She shook her head and took a glance at her reflection in the mirror before applying some makeup on her face. Jean released a heavy breath, she could feel her hands growing clammy as she tried to reason with herself.

What she thought at first was that Billy Hargrove wasn't one to do dates and romance, so naturally, she was stunned when he asked her out. She didn't know what to expect from the attractive boy. But as flirty and seductive as Billy was, she knew he wouldn't try and force her into anything she was uncomfortable with.

It was just a date, and although she couldn't remember herself dating before, she figured it wouldn't be such a big deal. She hoped.

But why the hell was she so nervous.

On her way out, Jean nervously walked into the living room, hoping that she wouldn't get caught, but her wish didn't come true.

"Where you going all dressed up?" Hopper asked, looking up from a piece of paper in his hand as he walked out of his room.

She paused for a moment. "I'm going out with Steve." Jean replied, and she immediately felt incredibly bad for using him as an excuse, especially because he did ask to hang out with him and she lied to him, too.

Hopp looked at the time to find it was eight o'clock, and he inspected the floral dress she wore. "Is it a date?"

Raising her eyebrows in surprise, Jean shook her head. "What? "No, it's just a friendly thing."

Hopper didn't look like he believed her, but he shrugged in the end. She was an adult, and she was way more mature for her age than all the teenagers he knew. He trusted her. "Okay. Well have fun." He mumbled, looking back at the speech he and Joyce practiced all morning. Jean was taken aback slightly at his reluctance, but just shrugged, relieved that he wasn't as pissed as she expected him to be.

Thirty minutes went by and Jean moved from the front door outside in the warm air. She anxiously played with the hem of her dress, eyes on the lookout for any indication that a car was nearing by.

After another ten minutes, Jean had lost any excitement for the night she thought was about to unfold. Having enough of the disappointment and the mosquitoes feeding on her, she finally pulled herself up and walked inside, slamming the door shut.

She felt utterly foolish and vexed by Billy Hargrove.

Poor poor Billy.

A/N:-I just wanted to thank anyone following and reviewing (all four of you XD) this story! Feedback is what motivates me to write faster, so please, tell me what you think of the story so far!Thanks again XD-Tebocchi