[ 𝙶𝚘𝚕𝚍 & 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚎 ] ~ 𝙱𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚡 𝙾𝙲

IX - What's wrong?

Rylie was sitting in the lifeguard chair, watching as kids threw balls and jumped into the blue water. Heather blew her guard whistle holding up a mega phone to project her voice across the pool. "Hey! No dunking, Curtis! No. Dunking." 

Rylie rolled her eyes at Heather, she was more engrossed on waiting for her boyfriend to show up. She was still worried since he didn't even call the night before. She saw the mothers who always eyed Billy complaining about the black haired girl who was on the other side of the pool from her. The blonde pulled her own hair up, the sticky sweat from the sun making it uncomfortable to have down. Plus, Billy always told her how much he loved her hair in a ponytail. He said it was easier to pull that way, which she didn't mind. 

Rylie watched Billy go into the employee backroom to go get ready for his shift, immediately perking up at the sight of him. He was okay. But. . .that only proved to make her angry. He was okay so why the fuck didn't he show up? Why didn't he call? How come she was so angry yet so relieved at the same time? Rylie snarled when she watched Karen Wheeler go into the staff room behind her boyfriend. Was she the reason he hadn't shown up? Did he actually have a thing for Mrs. Wheeler? He had been flirting with her all summer so it would make sense. But. . .Rylie thought he was different. He was supposed to be different, he was supposed to love her. He promised he wasn't going to be like that. He promised he cared. He promised to stay.

She huffed, leaning herself onto the arms of her chair and watching the kids in the pool. Who needed Billy Hargrove? He just made her weak, made her feel things she wasn't meant to. He made her feel loved. Made her feel at peace. He made her scared. Those weren't things she was meant to feel, meant to know. Not from him, not from any boy. She was strong, she was broken, and she knew that. She didn't need some boy to contradict her thoughts, it was pointless to even try with him. To even think about how happy he could have made her. How happy he did make her. He didn't show up. He was with Karen Wheeler, Nancy and Mike's mom. He would rather be with her than his own girlfriend. He would rather be with Karen fucking Wheeler than Rylie Watson. And it wasn't like Rylie needed him, she could pull anyone in town. 

Rylie rolled her eyes when she saw Heather walk past Billy, he looked out of it. But she didn't care. She couldn't. He was just playing with her, he clearly didn't care so why should she? Billy walked straight past his girlfriend, not even taking full notice of her, and went straight for the other lifeguard chair to take his post. 

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"Billy." Rylie hissed out, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around to face her. They were in the locker rooms now, getting ready to head home from their shifts for the day. Rylie was sick of Billy ignoring her. She was sick of feeling like she needed to know the truth. She was sick of thinking that Billy ditched her for Karen fucking Wheeler. She wanted to know if she really wasn't good enough for him. She needed to know. 

The blond turned around, his eyes wide and sweat sticking to his skin. He looked exhausted, scared even.

"Billy?" Her face was stone cold as she racked her eyes over his expression. "What happened, huh?"

Billy's manner stayed the same, no waiver or move to break in the clearly uncomfortable stance.

"What the fuck happened last night? You think it's cool to ditch your girlfriend for some middle aged bitch?" Rylie scoffed, taking a step forward so that she had to look up to meet his gaze.

"Back up, Rylie." He breathed out, the first words she had seen him speak all day.

"No, Billy. I want answers." She growled.

"Go away." Rylie could see the way he fought to keep his teeth wound together. He spoke through them like it was a barricade of sorts.

"Why should I? You want me to walk away? If I walk away now, I'm not coming back." Rylie shook her head, staring her boyfriend dead in his blue eyes. 

"I don't-" He started, breaking himself off with a flinch of his neck. "I can't hurt you." His eyes fell into a somehow further saddened state, as if begging her to just leave already. "No, you can't have her!" He yelled out, shaking his head harshly.

Rylie looked at him weird before letting out a harsh scoff. "Fine, Billy, I'll go. Don't bother calling." The words rolled off her tongue like venom as she felt tears prick at the back of her eyes. Just as she turned to leave, she felt a firm hand against the back of her neck. It shoved her forward until her cheek was pushed against the cool metal of the lockers. "Billy, what the fuck!" She yelled, fear breaking through with her words. "I was leaving!" A sob racked through her body, echoing out her throat as her tears started to stream her cheeks. She could feel the blond behind her, seeming to struggle with himself. As if trying to fight off his own pressure that was applied to her and failing. 

Billy could tell he wasn't hurting her too bad, but he could also tell how scared she was. Scared of him. He hated the feeling. He couldn't help but feel like his father when he would pin Russell to the wall and beat her senseless. He knew how helpless Russ always felt in those moments. Was he making Rylie feel that way too? 

As Rylie's vision started to go black and her shouts continued to land on clearly deaf ears, Billy seemed to break back through. He snapped around and pulled himself off of the girl, grabbing the hair by his ears and tugging on it. "Go!" His tone was definite and husk as he shouted the command out. Rylie didn't hesitate to listen, scrambling to a steady stance on her feet and running as fast as she could from the locker room. When she made it out to her car, she had to fumble with the keys before she could actually slide it into the lock. As she sat in her car, her forehead fell against her steering wheel and she continued to let her feelings out in broken cries that reverberated throughout her car. 

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Word Count - 1,121

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Published - August 24, 2023

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