POISON - Billy Hargrove

- Ten -

Melanie's knuckle tapped on Billy's door lightly. Her heart pounded heavily in her chest, so much so that it bubbled up into her throat. Apologies sucked.

"What?" Billy yelled behind the door.

"Uh, it's me," Melanie replied quietly.

"The fuck do you want?" he yelled again, still not opening the door.

"Jesus Christ, you don't have to yell," she muttered, growing agitated with him. "Would you open the fucking door?"

A moment of silence passed. Melanie let out a loud groan before turning away from the door and walking down the hallway. As she reached the opening to the living room, Billy's bedroom door creaked open.

"Did you need something?" he called down the hallway, annoyed. His voice was tense and stern, his expression twisted. Only his head peaked out of the doorframe.

She turned around, shocked that he actually opened it. "I just wanted to apologize for that picture I drew," she said awkwardly. Melanie's lips pushed together and eyebrows raised, her fingers fumbling around each other.

"You're ridiculous, shithead," he shook his head, but couldn't help the smirk that spread across his lips.

With that, he closed the door. Loud, rock music soon burst from his room, and Melanie walked home.

The rejected apology left Melanie in a sour mood. She sat at the kitchen table, a plate of under seasoned chicken and mashed potatoes in front of her. She pushed her fork back and forth through the white mush. Her aunt was on the phone, which left her with Dustin.

"Jesus, how awful was it?" Dustin asked, scooping more potatoes onto his plate.

Melanie perked up, attempting to quickly change her attitude. "Oh, it was great! It's Max that I'm helping. You know her, right? I've seen her around you and the guys before and –"

"Chill," Dustin interrupted. "And stop being weird. You're being weird."

"I am not being weird," Melanie retorted. Her fork clinked against the table, falling out of her hand.

"Right," his voice filled with sarcasm. "Totally not weird, this is normal. This is how you act, my bad."

She pushed her lips together tightly, staring at the table in front of her. The two sat in silence as they ate. Dustin stared across at her, eyebrows raised, waiting for her to spit it out. He knew his cousin couldn't keep a secret. Especially if it was bothering her.

"Okay, so –" she started finally, "I drew a picture of Max's step-brother with a dick in his mouth."

Dustin swallowed hard and coughed. "Oh, shit," he sighed, laughing. "Real mature, Mel."

"Yeah, well now he's all pissed at me, and I don't care, but it makes things weird when I'm there to tutor Max."

"Uh, bullshit," Dustin called her out. "You absolutely care, and I would be pissed too if the whole school saw a drawing of me with a dick in my mouth."

"Whole school? I didn't show the whole school, I'm not an ass. He wrote me a dumb note and that's how I responded."

"Oh?" Dustin sat back in his chair. "That's dumb then."

"Right? And when I tried to apologize, he called me ridiculous and shut the door."

"That's it?"

"That's it," Melanie shrugged. "I mean, he was all smirky, but that's how Billy always is."

"Max says he's a dick," Dustin admitted.

"He is," she agreed, "but he's hot."

"Do you like him?"

"I said he was hot; I did not say that I like him," she defended her statement. "He's rude as hell, just fun to flirt with."

"Girls are weird," Dustin scoffed. He stood up from the table and took his plate with him, leaving Melanie by herself.

Melanie was honest when she told Dustin she didn't like Billy. He was rude. He was extremely rude. He flew through girls like no other guy in Hawkins, and everyone knew it. He either wanted to fuck you or fight you. If you asked her why she flirted with him, she wouldn't give you a solid answer, but she knew. If he was going to play that game, so was she. Instead, she thought, Billy decided to be a pussy and let his ego ruin it all.