ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʜᴏɴᴇ|ʙɪʟʟʏ ʜᴀʀɢʀᴏᴠᴇ

☥𝟢𝟣𝟧☥

⇰ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝔽𝕚𝕗𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕟.
-𝔾𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕍𝕊. 𝔼𝕧𝕚𝕝.

Bex lingered behind Steve as he worked behind the counter. She hadn't really said much, just stuck to being inside her head the entire time. Steve didn't mind though, he figured there was too much going on for her to pretend to be normal. But that doesn't mean he hadn't noticed everything that had changed about her.
Her clothes were the same, her hair was the same, and she still wore the necklace Billy had given her. But bandaids covered every finger on her hand, she would fidget with her sleeves a lot, too. The last time Steve had seen her like this was when her mom passed, and her dad was hauled off to prison.

"So does this mean you and Eddie don't hate me anymore?" She abruptly asked. Her eyes were focused on Robin and how she worked to get ice cream to a kid on the other side of the counter. "Uh, I never hated you," The girl laughed. "You definitely hated me, you guys kicked me to the curb when Steve and I became friends."
"That was before I realized he's actually... Tolerable." Robin shuttered at the thought of Steve actually being... 'Tolerable.'
"I missed you," the girl smiled. Robin returned the gesture, "I missed you too, Déja."

☥

Bex had eventually left Steve's job and decided to track Billy down. The sun was still shining bright, burning into her skin and making it red and hot. Her boots stomped against the concrete as she walked through the locker room and out to the pool area. Many people crowded it, either being in the water or chilling out around it. Her eyes skimmed the surrounding area before she saw one of Billy's coworkers.
She walked over to them and they offered her a small smile. "Hey, I thought you were off to Duke this year?" They asked. "Yeah... Guess I was missing home." She lied straight through her teeth.

"Well, if you're looking for Billy he just went on break. He's got a good five minutes left so go look for him while you still can." Five minutes was all she needed. Heading into the break room, she found him lounging around on a chair.
His curly hair was wet and stuck to his face. She smiled to herself. "Missed me?"
As he turned to look at her, she had to fight to not be swallowed by that dark hole inside of her. He seemed... Different. His eyes were dull, nothing like the piercing blue ones she once fell in love with.

"When'd you get back?" He rushed to hug her. "I thought it was pre-season?" He asked. "It is, but I got a code red from Dusty and the kids and-"
"Those kids are fine, Bex. The little shits probably just miss you." She could feel the aggression laced within his words. She put some distance between the two of them. "I wanted to come check up on you... Make sure you're doing okay?"
He shook his head, letting out a low laugh. "There it is, there's the Bex I know," He started, "Always taking care of everyone but herself."

"You're doing okay, right?" She asked. And in the blink of an eye, his demeanor changed, turning cold and distant. "You need to leave, Bex. Now's not a good time for all of this." Her brows furrowed, "You were fine like two seconds ago," She countered. "And I said now's not a good time."
His eyes were burning holes into her at this point. Her intuition was warning her, but she was doing everything in her power to ignore it. "Billy-"
It had all happened so fast that she could barely process it all. Her back hit the concrete wall behind her, completely knocking any oxygen out of her lungs. They were begging her for air she wouldn't be able to deliver.

"You're hurting me..." Her words came out strained and worried. His hand seemed to grow tighter before his eyes grew soft and wide, traveling between her eyes and his hand around her throat. He quickly let go.
But she couldn't blame him. He wasn't himself, this was the Mind Flayer doing this. But there was still a tiny bit of her that wanted to resent him for doing it -- for not fighting against it.
And there was a large part of her that hated the fact that she had done nothing. 'You're getting soft,' She thought. Those words had been on repeat since she first left Indiana.

"I'm so... Bex, please-" She got out of there without any hesitation and got in her car, driving off before he could reach her. The forces of good and evil were at play right now; Bex being good, and Billy being evil. There was only a matter of time before the scale would fully tip and evil would take over Hawkins for worse.