Two of a kind...... A Billy Hargrove story

Chapter 12: Original

Eddie had popped out for a little while to get some snacks and drinks ready for band practice that night. Kali wandered around his trailer, bored out of her mind, she couldn't stop thinking about Billy and it was starting to annoy her. She walked into Eddie's room and grabbed the old, tattered notebook that sat in front of his guitar and quickly began to scribble down words that reminded her of Billy. Dangerous. Poison. Kiss. Toxic. Slowly her words began to form sentences and the next thing she knew she had the beginnings of a song. She ran to her car and grabbed her guitar from the backseat before running back inside.

When Eddie came back, he opened the front door and placed the bags on the kitchen side "Kali I'm back!" He shouted. No answer. He turned his head towards his bedroom where he could hear music being played. As he got closer to his door he realised that Kali was singing and playing to herself, he pushed the door open slightly and peaked his head round the door at her. She had her back to him, her long hair rested down her back as she focused on the song, scribbling things out and then writing something down in the notebook that was sat next to her. He listened to her play, it sounded really good and he found himself bobbing his head up and down slightly. As she reached the end of the song, she let out a massive sigh, a huge wave of emotion had washed over her as she managed to write down how she felt about Billy, it was as if a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. She was startled when she heard clapping from behind her, she jumped off the bed and turned to see Eddie with a big grin on his face, clapping his hands together. She felt herself blush as he looked at her "that was amazing!" He practically shouted as he walked over to her "did you write it?" He picked the notebook up and analysed the song "um, yeah I did" Kali smiled rubbing the back of her neck "I was pissed at Billy and decided to write down how I felt" Eddie looked over at her, he furrowed his brows "pissed at Billy?" Shit. She hadn't told him what happened between them, she quickly looked to the ground "oh um... it doesn't matter" Eddie looked at her for a moment, taking in how secretive she was being about Billy but he took a breath and shrugged his shoulders "it's okay, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to" he smiled at her "but this" he pointed down at the book "is incredible! You need to show the rest of the guys tonight" Kali shook her head, Eddie wasn't even supposed to hear the song, let alone everyone else. She went to say something but felt a pair of arms pull her into a hug "you're a really good song writer Kali and everyone is going to loose their minds over this" she felt herself grinning from ear to ear as she wrapped her arms around Eddie's neck. Maybe everyone would like it. Maybe she should take the risk.

That night Eddie drove them both over to Gareth's house for band practice. They pulled up outside and hopped out of the van, making their way to the back to get their guitars, snacks and drinks. As Kali wrapped her guitar strap around her shoulder, she reached down to grab one of the bags, but Eddie quickly pulled it from her grasp. She looked over at him confused, "a lady should never have to lift a finger" Eddie grinned as he pulled her guitar off of her shoulder, placing it over his own. Kali stood and stared at him for a little while, he looked like he was struggling to carry everything. He had a guitar on either shoulder, two bags filled with snacks in one hand and a 6 pack of beer in the other, she laughed at him as he scrambled to try and close the back doors to his van and lock up. Somehow he managed it and they began to make their way inside.

"Hey guys!" Kali yelled as she walked into Gareth's garage, everything had been set up ready for practice. Gareth and Jeff ran up to hug her, they let out a laugh when they saw Eddie behind her, his hands full and struggling to carry everything "you guys just gonna stare or are you gonna help me" he snapped.
They had practiced a few songs already, ones that they had already played a bunch of times, before playing Call Me. It was a crowd pleaser, the party at Tina's had proved that and they wanted to work it into their set at the hideout on Tuesday. They stopped to take a break, all of them flopping down onto the floor passing a joint around, "so what's next on the agenda" Kali said as she blew out the smoke, she passed the joint to Gareth who looked lost in thought "hmmm" he pressed the joint to his lips and inhaled, he looked back at Eddie and then to Kali "I dunno man, anyone got any ideas" he chuckled "why don't you show them your song" Eddie piped up. Kali shot him a dirty look and shook her head but her eyes widened when she saw that he had bought the notebook with him, taunting her with it as he waved it in the air "don't you dare Munson" she hissed as he slowly flipped the book to the page he was looking for, he cleared his throat and began singing the words. Fuck. Kali slumped back against the floor and threw her hands to her face, she was so embarrassed, she was so angry when she wrote it. She laid against the floor waiting for the bands reaction as Eddie finished the song, "you wrote that?" She rolled her head and lowered her hand slightly to look at Gareth, she couldn't form any words and just nodded her head at him, he let out a deep laugh "I'd hate to be the guy that pissed you off enough to write a song as amazing as that" Jeff and Eddie joined in laughing as they both nodded their heads in agreement. Kali lifted herself onto her elbows so she could see their faces, "you think it's good?" She tilted her head slightly, "it's better then good Kali" Jeff reassured her "yeah it's really really good" Gareth added, trying to hold back his laughter. She looked over to Eddie who was grinning at her, she rolled her eyes "told you they'd love it" she laid back against the floor and lightly kicked Eddie "shut up Munson", she pulled her hands back over her face, she knew she was blushing, "so you gonna tell us who it's about?" Jeff asked innocently, Kali looked over at him and then to Eddie "it's about Billy" she whispered. Eddie shuffled closer to her and rested an arm against her back "you know you can talk to us" he smiled as he placed a kiss on her forehead, she looked up at him and smiled. Whenever she was around the band, she felt safe and loved. She knew that they cared as deeply about her as she did them. She took a deep breath in before exhaling "okay so one thing you should know is..." she told them the whole story, how Billy beat up Tommy, how they acted when they were around each other, how they kissed at the party and how they were now crowned the king and queen of Hawkins high, how she stayed at his house the night of the party, how she heard his dad attack him and then how Billy threw her out of his house. She finally felt like she could breath. She looked around and all of the boys were stunned, their mouths hanging wide open, "careful boys, you don't wanna catch any flies" she laughed as she stood to grab a beer. She turned back around when she heard laughter, all three of them were rolling around on the floor, clutching their stomachs as they laughed "what's so funny?" She was so confused, why were they laughing so much? "It all makes sense now" Eddie managed to say through his laughter "the guys an asshole" Jeff continued, Kali looked down at Gareth who had stopped laughing and looked at her "he's a toxic asshole" he grinned, referencing her song. She smiled at their words before laughing to herself "if you guys really wanna perform it then we kinda need to put a melody to it" she laughed as she picked up her guitar and began playing the riff that she made up earlier. The boys quickly sprang into place as they followed along with her, taking in everything she said as she described the sound she wanted to create.