Flower Girl (Billy Hargrove)

Chapter Eight

When I got home Steve still wasn't home but he's old enough to do his own thing. I took a shower and got ready for bed since I'm worn out from today. The events at dinner made me exhausted. His dad was so aggressive for no reason, Susan seemed so nice and sweet so why did she settle down for Neil. Why would you put yourself and your daughter through something like that. It was around ten when I heard the front door open and close and then footsteps came down the hallway but stopped at my bedroom door, I was already laying down in bed so I told them to go ahead and come in. It was Steve, he looked tired and drained mentally. "I just wanted to let you know that I'm home, goodnight y/n." he then closed the door and went to his room before I could even respond back.

I closed my eyes and fell asleep. Just like last night three knocks took me out of my sleep. I looked over at the time and it was midnight just like Billy said. "Come in." I said it loud enough so he could hear it but quiet enough that I won't wake Steve up. My window was already unlocked just like he said to do so he just came right in and closed it behind him. I continued to lay down under my covers and I closed my eyes so if I wanted to, I could go back to sleep. I felt the bed indent at the bottom near my feet which meant Billy was sitting down. I heard him take off his shoes to not get my bed dirty. "You know, your dads a dick. I was there because Max wanted me there and the whole time he was insulting me." I let out a sigh but still kept my eyes closed, I didn't even want to look at Billy right now. I just want to sleep.

I moved over closer to the wall to get more comfortable and Billy took that as a green light to lay down next to me. He got under the blankets and wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer to him. "I know but you just have to ignore it. It made Max really happy that you were there." He's right, to support Max and be there for her I have to ignore his dad and his comments. I felt Billy move in closer to me and slowly I started drifting off to sleep. I woke up the next morning and I expected Billy to be gone yet when I woke up he still had his arm around my waist and he was still asleep. I turned around so my chest was facing his and he wrapped his arm back around my waist and pulled me closer into his chest. Even while half asleep he knew what to do which is shocking. I closed my eyes and fell back asleep.

I was woken up again to the sound of someone putting on their shoes and I opened my eyes and like I assumed it was Billy putting on his shoes so he could leave. I'm assuming he could feel that I was looking at him because he spoke up "I'll see you sometime, alright flower girl?" I nodded my head and closed my eyes and he stood up and walked over to me and kissed my forehead. I heard my window open and close and then he was gone. I needed to start my day anyways, I have to go to the store and buy food and then also I still have to sit and talk to Steve and see what is his problem recently. I got out of bed and made my way to the bathroom. I did what I needed to do and took a shower and once I was done I brushed my teeth and walked out to pick my clothes out.

I walked past my desk chair to go to my closet and in the chair was a folded jean jacket, which I'm assuming is Billy's. It's mine now, it's not like he's going to notice that it's gone nor is anyone going to notice that it's his. I grabbed out my bra and underwear and a white shirt and denim pants that matched the color of the jacket. I put on my socks and my Chuck Taylor's and I grabbed my purse so I could go to the store. I put on chapstick and deodorant and purfume and then walked out the door and to the kitchen. Once again there wasn't any sign of Steve except for another note. "Hanging out with friends be back later- Steve" something is definitely up with him. He's being weird and secretive again.

I grabbed my house key and went out the door. As I was making my way down the drive way I saw Billy working on his car while Max was skating back and forth at the end of their drive way "Hey y/n!" Max said as she was waving at me which caused Billy's head to pop out from behind the hood of his car. "Hey Max" I waved back as me and her both made our way to the middle of the street to meet up. "Where are you going? Do you need a partner." She had a grin on her face that I just couldn't say no to "I'm going to the store to buy some things, a partner would be lovely." She nodded her head and turned around and ran over to Billy who was staring me down the whole time. While they were talking Max suddenly waved me over so I made my way over to them "Billy said he could take us so we don't have to walk while carrying everything." His expression didn't even look like he wanted to be near me, he looked pissed off and if someone says one little thing wrong it's going to set him off. "Sure, that's nice."

She grabbed my hand and pulled me to the passenger side while Billy slammed the hood shut. I let Max in and then I joined her in the back. I didn't feel like sitting next to a ticking time bomb. Billy got in the car and noticed that I sat in the back with Max and that seemed like it pissed him off "Max it's not nice to beg people to sit next when they don't like you." My jaw dropped, he sounded just like his father last night. His mood swings were bad and he could be a dick but treating your little sister like that is a no go. I could see Max's smile disappear as she looked down at her skateboard. "She didn't beg me to sit back here, I wanted to sit next to her so I could invite her over tonight." That smile that was gone from Max's face came back with a blink of an eye. All Billy could do was scoff and roll his eyes and he turned his music up.

After a bit we finally made it to the store, when we parked Billy moved his seat up so me and max could get out and then he closed his door and we all walked in. Max went one way while Billy went another while I stopped and said hi to Joyce. We talked about our days so far and she asked about Billy and Max. She pointed out how Billy made sure to stay close to me but gave enough distance so I wouldn't catch up on it. I'm not surprised how she caught it, she always knows everything I swear. "Look he's even pretending to be looking at something and every five seconds he looks at you." I turned around to look at him and when I did he looked over at me too. Maybe she is right, he instantly looked away and I turned back to Joyce. "He is probably just waiting on me to go grab my stuff already so we can leave, he was my driver anyways." She rolled her eyes because supposedly I was "in denial" I told her I'll be right back so I can get my stuff and check out and she nodded her head.

I made sure to grab everything I needed and when I got down one of the aisles I saw max deciding between a few things and counting the money that she had. I walked closer and I saw that she was picking between a pair of cute sunglasses and a couple things of nailpolish. I grabbed everything out of her hands and put it in my basket and walked away to Joyce so I could check out. Max was following me the whole times asking what I was doing yet I ignored her which didn't make her that happy and she continued to ask me what I was doing, when Joyce got to Max's stuff I asked her to put it in a separate bag which she did and I handed the bag to Max and right as I handed the bag to Max I looked behind me and saw Billy flirting with some girl I rolled my eyes and turned back to Joyce "Your jealousy is obvious y/n, also the total is 20.10."

I got my money out and handed it to her as I scoffed. "I'm not even jealous so I don't know why you would think that." Joyce was about to say something but Max interrupted her "It's also obvious that you two feel something towards each other." Are they seriously both ganging up on me right now. "He feels nothing towards me and we all know that. If he did then he wouldn't act how he does when other girls even look at him." Joyce and Max both shook their heads in dissatisfaction but I wasn't wrong.  "Just wait, you'll see." Max agreed with Joyce as I grabbed the bags. I only had two bags so it wasn't much to carry. Me and Max said goodbye and walked out the store.

We got in Billy's car and after a couple minutes Billy comes walking out the store with the same girl he was flirting with. She kisses him on the cheek and then she walks to her car and He walks over to his. I looked over at Max and she looked over at me "I have a plan, you just need to play along." If I'm being honest, I'm kinda scared to see what she is going to do but I agreed to play along anyways. When Billy got in the car he had a smirk on his face and he started of the car and we started driving back to the house. "So as I was saying y/n, are you excited for your date tonight? What are you two going to do?" She is seriously trying to pretend like I have a date to see how Billy reacts and so far just by her saying what she said, she's already getting a reaction out of him. His grip on the steering wheel tightened and he even is looking at me and max through the rear view mirror.

"Well I mean like yeah I'm kinda excited, the plan is for him to come over tonight for awhile to do whatever he wants and then he's going to leave a bit early so you can come over before you have to go to bed for school." When I mentioned doing whatever the pretend guy wants to do Billy started driving faster and even started clenching his jaw. Max noticed this too and she started laughing but instantly stopped when Billy spoke up. "No you're not." Maybe her plan did work. He continued on "Max wanted to go over when we got home so you two can make brownies and she asked me to go over too, isn't that right Max?" She went to disagree but he just repeated himself even louder "Isn't that right max?" She just nodded her head and looked over to me and mouthed I'm sorry. "Oh well that's alright." After that Billy turned up his music and we continued the drive home.