If I Stare Too Long

Chapter 9: With Just One Look (I Was A Bad Mess)

The air is thick and heavy with a coming storm the next day. It's still hot– stifling and humid enough to make your clothes stick– but the sky is blotted out with dark gray, clouds pressing them down and quieting the town. The wind is already beginning to pick up, but the only sign of rain is the threat of the sky breaking open above.

Billy, most definitely not hiding in his bedroom, thinks he's lucked out finding an excuse to not take up his usual spot outside in the sun. He has a tape playing on his radio on the vanity, volume low enough that he can hear Max's stupid daytime drama that she got hooked on when they were still stuck in hospital beds. He's got his window cracked open, and has his hand draped over the sill, tapping the ashes from his cigarette out onto the lawn below.

Thinks that he'll spend a quiet day inside. Thinks that he won't have to think about dealing with Steve Harrington or Eddie Munson until, at the earliest, tomorrow after the storm has rolled on.

And then there's a rapid knocking at the front door.

He hears Max sigh, heavy and loud, before the groan of the couch. Hears her drag her feet to the door, grumbling under her breath. Winces at the sound of the hinges on the front door screech when she rips it open.

"You are, like, really annoying right now," Max is saying.

And then– then he hears Eddie Munson's voice.

"Sorry about that, Mad Max," Eddie says. "Your big bad brother home?"

Billy can practically see the face that Max makes. It's something a little mean, and maybe a little sour.

"Do you have an appointment?" Max asks. "He's really busy."

Sometimes, Billy thinks that she's the best sister in the world, actually.

Eddie hisses. "Yikes, I don't. How long is the wait?"

"I dunno," Max says, and he can picture it, the way she crosses her arms all stubborn. "You'd have to ask him."

"I thought we were pals, Mad Max," Eddie replies.

Max scoffs. "That doesn't mean I'm gonna let you go bother Billy."

She's great, Billy thinks. He wonders when that happened.

Eddie makes a sound and Billy thinks that he doesn't want to push his luck. So he pushes off his bed and saunters into the main room, leaning against the wall when he gets there like he hadn't been planning on avoiding Eddie.

"Munson. What's up?"

"I'm not your secretary," Max says.

"No, but you're incredibly helpful," Eddie says, with all sincerity, hand to his chest, before looking at Billy. "I've got a little something special reserved for rainy days like this. You interested? It's awfully boring to smoke alone."

Max makes an interesting sound. "Ooh, can I—"

"No," Billy snaps. "No, you cannot." He pushes himself off the wall and decides to take the lesser of two evils. "Fine, Munson. I guess you've got me. If only because you're a bad influence on Maxine here."

Eddie tsks over at Max. "Sorry, kid. Don't do drugs. Stay in school."

Max makes a disgusted face. "You are, like, the worst person to tell me that, Mr. Perpetual Senior."

"Well," Eddie shrugs. "I followed part of the advice, at least."

But then he's stepping back to invite Billy out, grin wicked, hands tucked into the pockets of the denim vest he's wearing. Billy wonders if it's the same one he bragged about getting Steve into.