He pulled into a small diner still open on a Tuesday in Hawkins right on the outskirts of town. Ma's Great Diner was illuminated in neon orange above the door. Only three others cars were in the parking lot.
Billy had been impatiently tapping the wheel the entire time and Diane figured he'd made a sharp turn into the diner just cut off the thoughts sprinting through his mind. The diner was a distraction, nothing more than a mental pitstop. But the air weighed heavy and she doubted either of them could escape the torrent of their minds for long.
As they were getting out of the car, an overweight man exited the diner. His brows jumped as he took in the state of their car, them smirked. "Rough night?" He winked.
Diane was tempted to grab him and throw him through the windshield just to clear out the rest of the glass.
"Oh, like you wouldn't believe, buddy." Billy said with a sardonic smile tinged with sharp frustration, before walking onwards.
They were greeted to the warmth of the restaurant and enveloped them in the scent of burgers and fries. Some of the latest pop played from the speakers quietly in the corner.
There was only one waitress working the front. A myriad of wrinkles were entrenched in her skin; more formed as she frowned at the newest customers she'd need to put down her Good Housekeeping magazine for entered the restaurant.
They slid into a red booth with the leather seats peeling on the fringes. Above them, the fan moved lazily. Diane stared at the menu with unseeing eyes. The deep-rooted feeling of unease was only lingering now. But every other emotion that was whirling around her like a cyclone was gaining in such intensity it may as well be at the near-cellular level she'd felt before.
The only signs Billy was affected by the interrogation was the way he sat tensely in the booth, hunched forwards. His eyes were too sharp and were flitting through the diner like he was expecting one of those animals to come bursting in; or maybe one of the Energy Department employees.
Her hand slid over the table, but stopped short of touching him. She had a feeling he'd only withdraw.
"Are you alright?" She asked, concern swimming in her eyes.
His eyes flickered in surprise before it was tampered down by indifference. His hand reached up to gently prod the scar partially hidden beneath his messy hair. "It's nothing."
"Inside." She prodded. Billy was sharp, and she had a feeling he already knew what she was inquiring about but tried to evade it anyway. Except Diane was stubborn. But he'd spent an entire night descending into chaos with her; that fact hadn't eluded him.
"Those Suits didn't do shit." He said after a moment. Then snorted at her like her question had been amusing.
"What?" She asked sharply.
"After everything . . . and you ask how I'm feeling." His voice verged on sounding incredulous.
Before she could reply, the waitress interrupted them, bringing with her the smell of stale cigarettes that clung to her pink uniform. "Welcome to Ma's Great Diner. What can I get you?" She droned, showing the lipstick stain on her upper tooth.
The skewed name tag read: Marla.
"Coke." She said, despite the fact she was jittery enough not to need any sugar.
"Anything else?" Marla asked, eyes devoid of joy. Diane shook her head in response. Her stomach was still a tangle of painful knots and food was the last thing on her mind.
"Order anything." She murmured to Billy.
He raised a brow, and then she pulled out a handful of crumbled bills.
"Beer." He said to the waiter, barely glancing at the older woman.
"I'll be right back." She grumbled, not bothering to check ID. It was probably above her pay grade to extend her care beyond anything other than taking orders and delivering food. Plus, they were two people ordering late at night on what she now remembered was still a school night. Hypothetically, they should both be in back in their cosy family homes preparing for the next morning.
The idea of going back to Hawkins High tomorrow seemed like a distant dream. Her entire life had been severed from all of it in two fell swooping signatures on a little piece of paper.
"I can pay for my own shit." Billy said.
"I'd take advantage of my parents money. They probably made a good buck selling me." She said, and reached into his jacket pocket. Her fingers trembled slightly as she fished out a cigarette and lit it.
"Don't do that." He said, deftly plucking the cigarette from her fingers. "When I start shit it looks cool. You just look like a mess."
"I am a fucking mess." She snapped, then lowered her voice. They might be the only customers, but they weren't alone. Perhaps in another moment he would've cracked a joke about her swearing, instead his eyes had sparked with anger that was new to her. He was staring her, but his kindling fury was aimed elsewhere.
Then she stared down at the table. She didn't just look like a mess, she probably looked pathetic.
"Fuck." He ran both hands through his hair. "Who the fuck do they think they are, thinking they can say whatever in the hell they want like they aren't running some lab under a layer of cow shit."
"Those people include my parents. The ones who sold me like an animal to that underground lab. The ones who disappear and only call me to tell me when I'm acting like a piece of shit." Her voice rose. "I never got in trouble, I never- . . .
I did everything. I've worked my whole life to be perfect. Turns out that was impossible." She tipped her head back and looked up at the popcorn textured ceiling and laughed; it was a tinny sound.
She realised the most concerning thing this afternoon had been whether the entire school thought her and Billy had slept together. She wished everything was still that simple, because it would mean a return to normalcy. How had she gotten so far away from there? The lab had forced her into a paradigm shift with terminal velocity.
Caring about how losing her virginity to the newly residential bad boy only mattered because of how she'd be perceived by the employees at the lab when she applied there - like they cared who a teenager slept with. It had been a simple fear. Like every one of her fears was, because it was now about a future which no longer existed.
Everything she had ever done. For nothing.
Fading into the background had become an acquired skill for a position which hadn't been attainable in the first place. Every interaction mitigated by the constant desire to minimise her impact in the present.
"I missed out on Tommy's crazy New Years party three years ago. I could've said no to those extra classes to graduate early. God, I could've done anything."
Now she had been thrown into a situation that had turned her world upside down. There was no point in even entertaining going to the police department. What where they going to do, fight their own government? Her mouth was taped and silenced with bureaucracy on everything that had happened in that lab, and long before she could even remember.
She gave a strangled laugh. "Well, aren't you going to make fun of me? You were right. About everything."
"No." He answered softly.
Slowly she turned around to face him.
It was an emotion she hadn't seen him wear before. There was an understanding that shone in his eyes. His finger twitched like he wanted to reach out to her, but the distance was a vast chasm between them he seemed unable to cross yet.
"You're nothing more than a follower, Diane. You're just following what everyone expects of you. You act like a little angel because your parents want you to, and you always get the best grades because your teachers want you to, and you stay out of trouble because the Sheriff said it was bad to break the laws and live a little. So what the hell do you want?"
She gave him a measured look. Then narrowed her eyes. "Dunno, I think I've gotten into enough trouble to last a lifetime."
He blinked in surprise. Then his hand flew to his chest. It was the first time she had heard genuine laughter pulled out of him. It was higher pitched than she imagined, a contrast to his usual gravelly voice.
The colour of his eyes had changed with his flare of amusement. They had shifted from the dark ice of the Arctic to a bright blue the colour of a cloudless summer day in Hawkins. They showed promise of carefree days and careless nights that bled into each other.
She wondered how he looked when he was a boy running through the sand in California. Why was that brightness that glinted in his eye such a novelty? Something had obscured it from view, dark clouds hanging over his life that had dimmed this vivaciousness until it was hidden behind a heavy curtain of experience.
The way he laughed was intoxicating and lightened her mood a fraction.
"Why do you always act so callous when you're not?" She asked.
Instantly he became subdued with the raise of a brow, and she regretted asking immediately. "Don't know why you say that like it's some revelation."
"You just say a lot of some things, and you do a whole bunch of other things."
The limp cigarette danced up and down every time he spoke. "What're you implying', Dobler?"
"I can't figure you out." She confessed. She'd never had much problems analysing someone before, and that was at a superficial amount of time spent together. But with Billy the deeper she was drawn in to him, the more elusive he became.
"Maybe I like it that way. Or maybe you're so desperate to get your hand on another book to stick your nose in that you'll even try makin' up a story about me just to read into it."
Condensation ran down their glasses, pooling around the bases of their still untouched drinks.
"You told me I take control by keeping to myself, rejecting everyone before they can reject me." She said slowly, talking as her thoughts formulated. Diane looked over at him. "Why do you try to fight everyone around you? You're already strong, and we both know I'd be lying if I said you weren't handsome," he glanced at her, "and-"
"So I'm perfect and like some fun. What's the big deal."
Diane treaded carefully, "You don't seem to be having fun."
"What the hell do you know, your head's already buried in shitty books." He spoke through gritted teeth.
"Quit fighting me like I'm attacking you. I'm just . . . trying to be your friend." The word felt more like a mask to hide something that was deepening between them in a way that was so effortless it was unfamiliar. At least, Diane was treading in foreign territory.
Books told her everything she needed to know and everything to sate her curiosity, from the chemical make-up of carbonate, to the psychology behind the bystander affect. But there was no manual for this, hell with what had happened in the past few hours she wouldn't even know what chapter they were on.
He blew out a gust of air. "I don't do friends."
She licked her lips and then took a long sip of coke to avoid looking at him. His words stung her, though they didn't have a right to. She shouldn't care. But there was the keyword: shouldn't.
Diane still didn't know what Billy wanted with her then, not really. At times he seemed playfully interested in her, and he'd stuck around for an entire day when he didn't need to, despite what he said.
But then there was a comment like this. He didn't do friends. He didn't want to be friends with her. Yet she was drawn to him. Not because he was attractive, or that effortless way he could draw her in with that silver tongue of his.
But-
She was pulled away from her thoughts, distracting by the way he kept glancing down at his watch. "Got a curfew?" She asked, her voice light despite the way her heart hung heavy.
"Still have a date." He said.
Diane laughed in disbelief. "You can still think of any of that with what's happened?"
"Yeah," he answered smoothly, "I could use a little fun."
She stared at him, then ground out, "This didn't count as a thrilling experience for you? Because it sure has for me. In fact, I think I'll do it all again tomorrow."
"Cut the bullshit, Dee. Tomorrow you'll be back to your precious academic little life far away from me." He jeered. "And hey, the King of Hawkins High just got dumped, so looks like a place opened up. And Harrington's not picky."
Diane tensed and her eyes instantly burned with frustration. She'd just been signed over as nothing more than property to the government and this is what he wanted to talk about now. It was like he was purposely throwing away everything that's happened just to start a fight. But he did love running his mouth more than he loved the sound of the Camaro's engine.
How was he still going on about Steve? It was absurd his focus on him. There was always a comparison he had to throw in between the two of them, even in times like these. Times, she was fairly sure, neither of them had ever been through before. But sometimes grounding your feet in familiar kept one from being swept up in all the pandemonium.
"That's why you hate Steve so much, isn't it? You can't bear to watch someone who's successful without having to fight their way to the top without having to be an ass. Steve is everything you aren't and oh, you hate that. You hate that you have to think that maybe there's an alternate road to the one you're on." She crossed her arms. "You know, the one where being nice doesn't actually kill you."
He was ready for a fight, and he leaned closer towards her.
Before he could reply the waitress was back again and his jaw snapped shut.
"Last round before the kitchen closes." Marla said. "Anything else I can get you kids?"
"No." Billy heaved himself up from the seat. "We were just leaving."
There were enough crumbled bills to cover both drinks and an excessive tip for the waitress. As she began flicking through the wad of cash her previously sullen face lit up. Then she looked at Billy and profusely thanked him.
For a moment he gave her a hard stare, and then said, "Thank her, not me."
The waitress turned to Diane in surprise, but before she could comment Diane spoke first through clenched jaw, "It's nothing. Have a nice evening."
As Billy strode to the car with crossed arms she desperately wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt in the way he'd picked a fight with her. The lab had something on him too, and it was alarming how easily it managed to curtail his haughty, arrogant attitude.
It was serious enough to quash the fight in him.
"What do they have on you?" She asked softly.
Billy whipped around in the parking lot to stare at her. Then he gave a sharp shake of his head, warning her to drop the subject.
"I can't tell you. It'll harm someone else." He said tersely.
"Max?"
"Diane." He growled.
"We're both under the same NDA, Billy. You can trust me."
His smile was sharp and humourless. "Trust is the reason I moved to this shit town."
Moving here to town, where Max had joined and immediately began hanging out with Dustin who'd told her all about the redhead and how cool she was.
Then her head whipped towards the dark street. Oh damn. Double damn. She was supposed to be babysitting Dustin tonight again this week. And she'd completely forgot. Diane was insanely late. Again.
He was a good kid, and she wasn't concerned he was going to do anything crazy. What she was worried about was if he was still on the dark streets, if Ms. Henderson wasn't home yet. She paled. What if he was attacked by one of those animals? What if any of the others - Will, Lucas, Mike, even Max - was attacked by them? They didn't stand a chance.
"Oh my god the kids could be out there. Can those things get into houses?" Her eyes were wide with worry, and the exhaustion creeping into her bones at once was ignored in favour of worry over the safety of Dustin and Co.
"What's the big deal, they'll figure it out." He drawled.
She stared at him, processing his apathy. "They're just kids."
"Yeah, not mine."
Diane thought of Max and the way she'd walk close to Lucas. Dustin was always welcoming, and she was sure that someone new like Max would've already been brought into the fold. "Your sister might be with them." She said sharply.
"Half-sister, and no, she's home. Or, she should be if she knows what's good for her. She knows the rules about staying out after dark." He answered. "And she sure as hell better be home, instead of out with Sinclair. But she's home." He lamented, almost more for himself.
Diane prickled at the way he singled out Lucas with a sneer. "He's just a boy, they're not going to do anything."
"Oh I don't care what she does. She's just not doing anything with him." He said. "And if she can't learn that, then he'll have to."
"What the hell is wrong with you?" She hissed.
Billy gave a laugh devoid of humour. "You don't know my old man. Trust me, she'll learn at some point. I'm just tryin' teach her a little faster. There's certain people we don't invite home."
"Wow." She scrunched her nose, too stunned to give any other answer.
He leaned against the car in frustration, playing with the keys in his hands. "Drop the subject before I drop you in the middle of a cornfield on the way back. You have no idea what the hell you're talking about."
"What is wrong with you?" Diane snarled at him and the ferocity made him look up at her. "You'll seriously threaten a kid because you have a problem against what - being born?"
It was an explosion that was fiery and bright and all-encompassing. But it wasn't a fiery fury demanding to consume all around it and bring anyone in her vicinity down with it.
It burned bright as the sun, and he was drawn in instantly. Maybe because his was a supernova released within him, uncontrollable and unmeasured and Diane's was borne of fierce protectiveness for those around her.
She was still fighting to accept her new reality, but the safety of the kids was a constant that would never change.
"Does it make you feel good, to attack someone who's weaker than you? Who you know can't fight back?" She hissed. With every word he said she felt like the coil of despair inside of her wind tighter.
"Max needs to grow the hell up before the real world comes knocking at her door and I can't protect her forever." He snarled. He couldn't tell her what his life was like inside his home, not without bringing her into his life. There was a feeling long buried beneath him clawing his way to the surface that he couldn't even place a name on yet. So instead, he was going to take her up on her offer for a fight. That was where he excelled, after all. Maybe if she was real smart, she'd stay away from him after tonight.
There was that feeling again, like he was trying to tell her something. It felt like she was stumbling around in the darkness and he was trying to throw a flashlight her way to shine a light on something being shrouded, except she was still grappling with something she didn't understand yet.
"Everything that happens to us, shapes us. But someone acting like a jerk to you isn't justification for you doing that to someone else." Diane snapped back at him.
"I can see you're all upset because you found out your parents are pieces of shit, but guess what, my life ain't changing. It was always this way and it's always going to stay that way. Those animals are gonna get shot, and the lab's still going to do what they've been doing for years. But my life, that isn't changing because of it." He snapped. "So why in the hell are you getting so pissed all of a sudden?"
"I just - God, I thought you were better." The words came out in one angry gust of air. They were more truthful than she'd realised, until they were out in the crisp night air, hanging between them.
"Well fuck this, I'm gonna go find Andie. She's a hell of a lot simpler to be around." He finally said, reflecting on the night.
The coil sprang free and she whacked his shoulder with a smack; he didn't move an inch. "Yeah, she is. I'm sorry Billy. I'm really fucking sorry because if it wasn't for me, then I'd have been alone either of those times that thing attacked and then I'd be dead and out of your hair. And you wouldn't be held up on your great date, and you wouldn't have to worry about the police because we'd never have been together at all. And I'm sorry, that you ended up in the lab with me.
I'm sorry you had to see someone who's as valuable as cattle be owned by someone I don't even fucking know - and I'm sorry - okay? I'm sorry you had to see me get tested now, but hey, at least you won't see any more tests they run because we're going our separate ways now, right?" The words came out in sharp angry sentences as her hands gestures were in small, terse motions.
"Diane, listen-" He gripped her waving arm to placate her and dragged her closer.
"Get off of me, let go." She hissed, smacking his chest with her free arm. But her strength was weak and nothing compared to the beatings he got at home.
Her heart was thudding painfully hard against her ribcage. "Let me go before I say something I can't take back."
"Diane." His voice had grown louder as he stared down at her, eyes unreadable.
"Fuck, Billy, just let me go." She whispered, shoulders sagging in defeat.
His jaw tightened and he released her like he had been scalded. Then he held out the key, dangling it between his fingers.
She snatched it from his grasp.
"I'll get a ride." He muttered, glancing towards the diner.
"Fine." She said roughly, not bothering to look at him as she got into the destroyed car and slammed the door shut. With shakey fingers she inserted the key.
Her world had turned upside down and she was stumbling through life now, but a protectiveness previously unknown to her unfurled within her, expanding with determination to defend those who needed it. She didn't know much about anything right now, but defending them as the one thing that was certain.
As she started up the car she glanced in the rearview mirror to see Billy striding back inside the diner. A strange emptiness was beginning to make itself known as she lost sight of the diner. Somehow they had been thrown together into a situation neither could've imagined, and just as suddenly they'd been ejected out of each others lives.
It was for the best, she tried reasoning. It had only been circumstance that had forced them together. They weren't meant to be in each others lives. So why did the thought of pretending like they didn't know each other in the hallways of Hawkins High feel leave a dull ache in her chest?
Diane didn't believe in fate. If she had, maybe she would've begun to see the invisible strands at work, intertwining through multiple instances to bind them together once again.
A/n: This chapter really was supposed to be posted a few days ago, but the word count kept creeping upwards.
Runaway Fantasy Princess: You may just be on to something. I definitely had fun developing that part of the story because I didn't want to make it a conventional development (even if the person who didn't think they were special turns out to be special is a bit of a cliche).
CaaRehme: It is a little timeline skewed from the show series as there's hours in-between scenes. For instance El hears Mike saying it's a trap in that dark dimension when she's still in Chicago. By the time she found a bus and arrived at Hawkins that would already be about four-five hours in between scenes/episodes. So for Part I the timeline does seem stretched, but I'm writing a little more liberally time-line wise as I'm trying to fill in for the extra hours in-between episodes/scenes.
ST3 onwards will feel like more natural since there's the entire summer leading up to the 4th of July and beyond. Also it helps that the entirety of those events are set in a twenty-four hour timespan.
Guest: The original intent was for the word to be used in lieu of calling someone an idiot, but it turns out different cultures carry stronger negative connotations, so to avoid any confusion it's been changed.
Katastrophex3: I would say she had a few outbursts this chapter, not helped by Billy. There'll be more depth to his character in the coming chapters, but he's telling Diane multiple truths throughout this chapter in his own way. Once she understands his home life it'll be easier for the both of them to communicate with each other.
IsabellaAnne-Rogers, SuzyQBeats, toobssessed Guests and thanks for your comments!