This Means War // Billy Hargrove x Reader

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘-𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄

You got out of bed and wrapped the blanket around yourself, frowning as you look for any indication as to where he was. Your horror over remembering your little declaration last night rises as you ponder over that being the cause of his absence.

It was so stupid of you to say it and you wished you had more control over your words. Good going, (Y/N). Way to scare off the only good thing going for you. 

When you finally notice the folded note with your name on it, perched on the bedside table, your heart stops briefly in your chest, preparing you for the worst.

A large part of you doesn't even want to look at the note, wanting to instead stay in the ignorant bliss you'd woken up in. But that wasn't an option. So you head to the table and pick it up with trembling digits, a breath expelled through your lips as you turn it over and open it.

"Morning, beautiful. 

Couldn't sleep so went for a drive and didn't want to wake you. Will grab some breakfast on the way back, see you soon.

-B."

Christ. The relief that courses through you almost wipes you out entirely, your knees crumbling and forcing you to sit down on the edge of the bed as your head swims with released anxieties. Perhaps your words last night had the opposite effect to what you were dreading, but you wouldn't know until he came back.

So to pass the time, you busy yourself getting showered and cleaned, your sore body aching with the need for muscular release. The hot shower helps, but the knots were still in your back when you get out and Billy was still nowhere to be seen.

Your clothes from last night would have to do until you got home so you slip back into them, noting the fact Billy's jacket was gone but you didn't mind since it was looking to be a hot day.

The clock edges closer to the time you had to vacate the room and you frown at the clock on the wall, then at the door which wouldn't open to reveal Billy no matter how much you glared at it. The trepidation within was rising once more, a simmering bile that nagged at the back of your mind and the depths of your gut, telling you something was horribly wrong.

Regardless of that, you had work today and couldn't hang around for him all day. You head to reception and ask to use their phone as you check out, which the guy behind the counter grumbles at but lets you anyway.

"Wheeler residence, Karen speaking," Your mom answers on the third ring, sounding happy as ever. "Mom, it's me. I need a favor--"

"Oh, what have you gotten yourself into now?" She whines, a frustrated sound finishing her sentence for her. "I just need you to come pick me up and bring something for me to wear to work? Billy and I stayed at a motel last night but I can't find him and he drove so I have no way back home."

"Oh, that doesn't sound like Billy..." She was practically begging for more information, her tone dropping an octave and you figure it was so your dad didn't hear. "But sure, honey. I was just about to take Holly to the pool, I'll take a detour and pick you up on the way."

A grateful sigh escapes you and you give her the address before hanging up the phone and sliding it back across to the clerk, who rolls his eyes in annoyance at you. "Jeez, who pissed in your cornflakes this morning?" You ask, rhetorically, and scoff as you head away from him and out into the filthy parking lot to wait for your mom.

When she pulls up, you get into the back to have more room to change, your little sister more than happy to be promoted to the front seat. "So what happened?" Your mom asks as she drives, peering in her mirror every so often in her eagerness to find out. 

"I don't know, mom." You grumble as you try to pull the dungarees up your legs in the backseat - not an easy feat at all. She couldn't have picked something easier for you to wear today? Ugh. The straps are pulled up onto your shoulders over the black crew-neck and you finish up by slipping your feet into the black doc martens she packed for you.

A huff of exhaustion slips free once you're finally finished with the struggle, your body slumping in the seat as you clip your seatbelt into place.

"Well, do you think he'll be at work today?"

"I don't know, mom." You repeat, a little sharper than before. She was hurtling questions at you like you had any fucking clue what was going on.

"Oh. Well, we can see if he's there before we take you to work."

"Okay. Thanks, mom."

-----------------------------------------------

The parking lot of Hawkins Pool was absent Billy's car when you arrive, your frown returning at the lack of evidence he was on site. Still, he'd end up here eventually and his shift was due to start soon so you decide to hang around a little, following your mom and sister until they're settled on their sunbeds with the other moms that yours was friends with. You gained a few stares for your lack of proper swimwear, but Heather assured you that she didn't mind you being in normal clothes since you weren't staying long.

The moms quizzed you while you were there but you were barely listening, mind off wondering over the millions of possibilities for what was happening to Billy right now.

Your eyes drift to the clock on the wall, the hand indicating it was ten minutes from when he was due to start. Come on..You think to yourself, sighing though it's cut short as the man himself finally comes into view. He was in his red shorts but his upper half was covered by a deep grey vest, his necklace dangling over it as he sped past the families spilling from the changing rooms. 

Lifting to your feet, you round the pool as best you can through the sea of people, catching sight of Billy entering the cleaning supply closet. You follow him in and as the door closes behind you, you see him stood with his back to you, setting down a bottle of bleach as he hears you enter.

"Billy..?" You were hesitant to speak. The tenseness to his shoulders, the layer of sweat dripping from his skin and the coldness to which he didn't even bother to acknowledge you made you  hyper-aware that something was definitely wrong. "You didn't come back to the motel..." 

It was supposed to be intended as a question, but the weakness to your voice didn't indicate as such so who could blame him for not responding? You. You could. 

He was breathing heavily, shoulders shaking rhythmically with their rise and fall as he did so. "Did I do something wrong?" You ask, beating the dead horse apparently. The desperation in the way your heart was hammering in your chest had it almost tearing free; you needed to know what was wrong. Needed to know if you'd fucked it all up. If you were over.

"I'm sorry if what I said scared you Billy, I didn't intend for that..." More pleading words, begging him to forget it ever happened and take you back. He was still turned away from you and you take a few steps closer, eyes stinging with the sudden urge to cry as your hand tentatively reaches out to lay on his bare shoulder.

He flinches and it makes you step back, his sweat clinging to your hand as he finally turns to face you but when he does so, the trembling had stopped and the impassive expression he offers you hurts you far more than you had expected.

Any warmth was gone, an ice cold glare drilling into your very core as he regards you with... Well, nothing. There was nothing at all to the way he looked at you, a stark and heart-shattering contrast to the way he was with you just a few hours ago. The tender and loving Billy was, apparently, gone and replaced with someone you didn't even recognise.

"Billy, I--" You choke on the sob, a tear falling freely but he just seemed annoyed. He huffs through flared nostrils and looks past you, not even bothering to give you any further shred of his attention anymore as he shoulders past you. 

His only, and final, words to you are spoken gruffly as though you were nothing but stranger in his path that he couldn't bare to spend another moment with.

"Stay away from me, (Y/N)."