HEART FLAYER | b. hargrove

CHAPTER 018.

February 9th, 1985
(Instead of a Billy edit, I'm putting a Sleep Token song that I was listening to while writing this. I think it's so fucking good for Arwen x Billy & I'm slapping it in the playlist)

It was Saturday and Arwen had spent the whole day with Robin. Not only did she enjoy being around her best friend, but it was a very welcome distraction from the confusing feelings that had been running rampant in her head the last twenty-four hours. They'd went to the park then the local diner and now had arrived back at the cabin to hangout and maybe watch some movies. They walked into Arwen's room and she'd turned on the radio that sat on her dresser, but after hearing 'Rock You Like a Hurricane' playing, she rolled her eyes and turned it right back off.

She plopped to sit down on her bed and Robin stood for a moment, giving her a quizzical look. She sat down beside Arwen and leaned back on her palms while gazing at her.

"Okay, what's your problem, dingus?"

Arwen quirked a brow at her best friend. "Huh?"

"Don't play dumb," Robin pointed an accusing finger at her. "You've been acting weird all day. What's the deal?"

Ah shit.

Of course, she was right. Arwen had been a little more quiet than normal and stuck in her own head. Even when she tried so hard not to, her mind had just kept on wandering back to yesterday. To Billy. And why the fuck he'd decided to go full on dickbag again. Why he'd ruined everything and hurt her emotionally and Steve physically.

As if she could read her mind, Robin narrowed her eyes at her and asked, "Is it Billy?"

Arwen looked at her in shock with her mouth hung a little agape.

"What?! W-Why would it be because of him?" She tried very hard to play it off as if that was a ridiculous question, but her darting eyes and slight stutter had given her away.

"Uhh..." Robin rubbed the back of her neck apprehensively before answering. "Eddie might have told me that you went out on a date with Billy a couple days ago..."

"What the fuck!" Arwen groaned loudly in frustration and throws herself backward to lay on her back on the bed. She put the palms of her hands over her eyes as she grumbled angrily, "I am going to kill him for running his mouth."

"So what did Billy do?"

Arwen took a deep breath, letting it out slowly through her nose before she responded. She removed her hands from her face to stare blankly up at the ceiling.

"He was Billy. That's what he did." She said plainly. "He was doing so well. He was changing and I could see it. He was sweet and fun and I actually enjoyed being around him. And then he hit Steve and reverted back to being an asshole."

"He hit Steve?" Robin asked incredulously. "Why?"

"I guess he asked Steve if he ever had feelings for me and started talking about how me and Eddie looked like we were into each other or some shit. So, Steve accused him of being jealous and got punched in the nose for it."

"Well... sounds like Steve was right. For once."

Arwen sat straight upwards in bed and shot her friend a perplexed look. Robin just stared at her as if she was an absolute idiot.

"Arwen, come on," Robin said in almost exasperated way. "You are not that dumb. Obviously he saw you and Eddie together the day after your date and got jealous. He got self-conscious and decided to push you away before he could get hurt."

"No. No, no, no." Arwen said and stood up to begin pacing back and forth in her small bedroom. Her hands moved around dramatically as she explained. "It wasn't a date, first of all. He was probably just trying to be decent and make up for being a dick in the past. And second, I am not his type at all."

The faces of the pretty girls he'd taken home from school flashed in her mind. They'd been practically dripping with money and popularity. They'd been conventionally beautiful and exactly the kind of girls that guys like Billy wanted. Sure, Arwen didn't think she was ugly, but she wasn't them. And that was perfectly okay with her, honestly.

"Well, is he your type?" Robin asked and it caused Arwen's pacing to come to a stop as she gave her a blank look. She thought about it for a second before replying.

"You mean a cold, heartless, calculating asshole? Yeah, I've definitely dated one of those before." Arwen scoffed and rolled her eyes while crossing her arms. She caught Robin's expression that seemed very skeptical and she pointed a finger at her. "No! No. I don't like him that way. I mean, I care about him as a person and was glad to see him doing well and being less pissed all the time. But as a friend."

Arwen glared at her friend as the disbelieving look on her face grew and grew the more she spoke. She huffed in irritation before sitting back down on the bed and throwing a pillow at the girl. Robin yelped in surprise but snatched the pillow, shooting her a glare.

"So... the other guy you dated," Robin asked slowly. "Is that the one you were in love with? You know, when we played 'Never Have I Ever' and you said you've been in love before."

Arwen sighed and shrugged, her eyes cast downwards to the floor.

"I mean... yes? I think? It's kind of complicated. I was really young and he was... not a good person."

"You really do have a type."

Arwen laughed humorlessly at the joke. "Oh, you have no idea. He was worse than Billy, though. By a fucking long shot. He was just plain cruel and the older I get, the more I start to realize that he probably never really loved me. Just was... using me."

She paused and glanced at her friend, hoping that she wouldn't ask what he'd been using her for. But thankfully Robin wasn't the kind of person to push sensitive topics like that. Arwen genuinely did wish that she could tell her best friend everything; about her powers and the lab. But it would endanger her potentially and wouldn't be worth the risk.

"I'm sorry," Robin said softly with a kind-hearted small smile. "For the record, I think you're fucking great and boys are idiots for messing it up with you."

Arwen mirrored her expression and sighed, staring down at her own fingers as she played with them. Her immediate instinct had been to argue to her that Billy didn't 'mess anything up' because there was nothing there in the first place, but... she knew damn well that if the boy had kept up the way he had been... there could've been something. Hell, maybe it had already started. She remembered that nauseating fluttering feeling in her stomach and the way that he might've kissed her if Hopper hadn't intervened.

"What do you think I should do about Billy?"

"I think you should just let him figure his own shit out, honestly," Robin answered bluntly. "Give him his space and if he really gives a shit about you, then he'll make the effort to fix it."

Arwen nodded slowly. It made sense. Of course she had been very used to just confronting Billy whenever he'd pissed her off, but that usually ended in some sort of explosive argument. So this time she'd just leave him alone. If he really wanted to become a better person and be her friend, then she'd wait for him to take that step for himself.