Thalassophile (Billy Hargrove)

Yellow Sandals

Chapter 27
Unedited

I dropped Robin home after school since band practice was canceled before driving over to Billy's place; he slid me a note telling me to meet him there after school; as I pulled into his driveway, Billy came out of the house. My heart skipped a beat just at the sight of him; he was perfect.

"Hargrove, wanna tell me what this is?" I held the note out the window between my middle and index finger. He grabbed the letter and put it in his jacket pocket before opening my door. "It's a note, smarty pant." I got out, and we were inches away, his broad chest pushed against me. I almost broke my neck up to look at him. "Hmm, but why so?" he flashed me a smile,  "Billy!" I squealed. He grabbed me by the waist, using one hand to lift me and set me aside so he could close my car door.

"That wasn't necessary; you could've told me to move." I walked away towards the house "where are you going?" Billy questioned. I turned around and noticed he had walked over to his car. "Ugh." I walked back, and Billy opened the door for me; I got in, and so did he. "So wanna tell where are we going?" Billy put his seatbelt on and turned on the radio. "It's a surprise, baby." I scrunched my nose and put my feet up on the dashboard. "Wherever it is, can we get food? I'm starving!"

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A couple of minutes later, we arrived at Hawkins children's Park, which was pretty deserted at this time of the day. "Um, I don't know about you, Billy, but I stopped playing at the playground around, um, age 11." Billy playfully rolled his eyes as he opened the door for me, "go in, I'm coming." I walked over hesitantly and squeezed in through the gate, which was too narrow; I walked over and climbed the rock wall to sit inside. Billy came in a few minutes later with a picnic basket in his hand "here." He passed me the basket first before climbing the wall.

"Where did this come from?" I asked as he sat across from me, his back to the slide. "I made it ." I raised my brow in utter shock, and Billy smiled "it's deli food; I just put everything in the basket." "Now that's more convincing." I reached for the basket, but he swiftly pulled it away. "Hey!"

"Let me." Billy pulled out two sandwiches and dr Peppers, along with some apple slices and Carmel sauce. "Desserts for later." he put the basket next to him and motioned for me to eat. I took off the plastic wrap and took a big bite, "oh, that reminds me, major selection forms are due at the end of next week; I'm mailing mine tomorrow. Did you do yours?" I asked, whipping the mustard from the corner of my lips.

He shook his head and unwrapped his sandwich. "No, I don't know what to put; what did you pick?" I shrugged. "I put criminal justice." Billy raised his brows "whoa, Kai, I never knew you were interested in that stuff." I smirked, "what can I say? I have a soft spot for bad boys." Billy laughed, throwing an apple slice that missed my head by inches.

"I don't know. I feel inspired by Jim, especially in recent events, plus I think the future needs more women in law enforcement."

"I know you will be super badass." I took another bite out of my sandwich "of course I will."

"What do you think I should put." Billy leaned back on the pole "business management." I said.

"You can do almost anything with that major, and if you ever want to start your own business, then you can." Billy stayed quiet for a few seconds before nodding, "sounds good to me."

"Or you can always go in undecided, you know." He shrugged. "No, I've been that way my entire life; things are different now; I want the things in my life to be permanent." He held my gaze, making me look away, a slight blush creeping onto my face. We ate our food and talked about random things; Billy told me about his mom. I don't know how we ended up talking about her, but we did; he doesn't speak much of her, but when he does, at the end of every conversation, he seems lighter.

"She had her flaws, a lot of them; for a while, I blamed her for how I turned out, but as I got older, after I met you, I realized she did what anyone would do. She did what I'm planning to do." Billy took a deep breath "she escaped." I scooted closer to him until I sat next to him rather than across.

"But you still want her back after she left you?" I asked, pushing his blonde lock out of his face to see his features. "Yes, no, I don't know? She is my mom, and I know she had it worst with Neil, but she shouldn't have left me behind with him. Knowing how he is, I resent her for that." He clenched his jaw, and his hand balled into a fist.

I placed my hand on him, and he allowed me to intertwine our fingers. "It doesn't matter now; I'm past all of that; all that matters now is you, you Kai, are the most important person in my life."

"And you mine." I placed a kiss on his knuckles, "what's your favorite memory of her?" he smiled "um, I don't know hold on, let me think." I played with his fingers and leaned in to snuggle up against his chest "oh um, this one time, she took me to the beach, Neil had gone away on a job trip, and I think that was the weakened before she left; she would take me often I love surfing I love the ocean in general."

"You're a Thalassophile" I smiled up at him; he frowned curiously "a what?"

"A Thalassophile, someone who loves the ocean." I explained, and he let out an airy laugh kissing my temple "yes, I am." "Okay, continue."

"There isn't much to it, really; I think that was the day I spent the most time in the ocean. I did so many tricks mom was certain I would make it pro; I remember we ate ice cream and then we walked on the beach; I remember mom was wearing these bright yellow sandals and a white dress." Billy pulled me closer to him "that's it really." I smiled looking up  at him "that's beautiful, thank you for telling me." He nodded "thank you for listening."

I sat up and looked behind us and noticed the sun was setting now, an orange hue covering everything around us. "Hawkins is beautiful in certain aspects." I said, taking a deep breath "you make it beautiful." I playfully hit Billy's chest, which made him laugh. He leaned over and pulled the picnic basket to him; he popped open the lid. "Close your eyes," Billy instructed.

"Why?" I frowned, nibbling at my bottom lip "because I said so, do it, Nadir." I groaned before closing my eyes. "No peeking." I heard Billy shuffling things around before putting something on my lap.

"Okay, open." I did as I was told and noticed a cake on my lap, but what surprised me even more was the four words written in pink frosting, "P R O M?" I looked over at Billy in utter shock. "Are you serious?" My mouth gaped open as I reread the words.

"No, I wanted it to say Happy Birthday, ah snap." Billy joked, a smile playing on his lip. "So Nadir? Will you go to prom with me?"

"Never did I imagine Billy Hargrove would promposal me." "Kai!" He groaned eagerly, awaiting my answer. "Yes, dummy, a hundred times yes." I set the cake aside and pulled him into a hug. He pulled me into his lap when we broke away "can I eat it?" Billy pulled out two spoons and put the cake on my lap, and we both dug in, eating, caking, and watching the sunset.

A/N: Hey everyone, thank you for waiting; I'm on vacation, and the time difference is weird here; I had this chapter written entirely differently, but a week ago, when I read over it, I wanted to puke, so now we have this. Also, I don't think I ever explained the title, so here it is! I hope you enjoyed it!!