Don't Panic - B. Hargrove

SIX

“Please, Doodle, enlighten me. Why are you friends with Dingus again?”
David had grown to like Robin since she was working with Steve at Scoops Ahoy and David was spending more and more evenings in their company.
“You really don’t need to answer that,” Steve huffed, leaning lazily against the counter. At this time of day, business was slow and the two teens behind the counter were bored and more than happy that David was still there to fill their last half an hour with some playful banter.

“I happen to like him,” David shrugged as he looked at his watch again. As much as he enjoyed being here, he had been supposed to be picked up an hour ago. But Billy was nowhere in sight.

“Yeah, but you are a genius. He’s not. What are you even talking about?” Robin continued to investigate, sitting across from David in his favorite booth, legs propped up on the bench beside her.
“We talk about lots of stuff,” Steve huffed, deeply offended.

“Yeah?” Robin smirked, looking at him with challenge in her eyes. “Give me one example.” 

Steve rolled his eyes, yet got to thinking anyway. “We talk about movies. We both like Harrison Ford ones.”

“No shit, Dingus. Who doesn´t?” Robin replied, “you really want to tell  me you and genius boy have elaborate conversations about an actor who always plays himself?”

“We talk about Star Wars, about monsters, our kids. Steve tells me about the girls he tried to flirt with, about the betrayal of his favorite hairspray being discontinued and he help me with understanding people,” David finally helped Steve out, who shot him a more than thankful look, which David didn’t happen to see as he was already looking out onto the food court yet again. He couldn´t quite place why, but he was worried, uneasy even, his guts silently telling him something wasn´t right.

“Help you with understanding people? Dingus? Isn´t he the worst possible source for that? I mean, he scored 10 points on the score today alone.” Robin dramatically gestured towards the little blackboard labeled with “YOU SUCK” and “YOU RULE” on which he kept track of all the girls who rejected Steve during their shift. Steve´s odds were worse than those of surviving a Demigorgon attack, and those tended to be pretty lethal.

“Luckily, I don´t need him to teach me how to flirt,” David hummed absentmindedly. 
Robin looked at him funny; she often did. David was almost sure she knew about him being gay, just as he had a feeling of her not being particularly straight either and neither of them had made an attempt to ask each other or Steve. They just knew they were safe, which was the only reason he even allowed himself to have his gaze that locked onto the entrance in her company at the first place.

“Doodle and I, we just vibe,” Steve pointed out as if to finish the topic once and for all while crossing his arms over his chest. He then looked at the big clock dangling in the middle of the food court, which had just struck closing hour, his soft brown eyes filling with a mixture of disappointment and pity with a dash of the anger reserved for a boy whose best friend had just been stood up.

“Come on, Doodle. Let´s close up, and I’ll give you a ride home.”
As usual, Robin knew by the soft tone in Steve´s voice, she only ever witnessed whenever Steve was talking to David, not to press.

Instead, she jumped off the counter she had been lounging on and declared, “Get to work, Dingus. I can´t wait to get out of this stupid uniform. Whoever decided polyester was a good idea clearly never encountered summer heat.”  She hurried off into the back, bringing the last to tubs of ice cream to spend the night in the big freezer.

Meanwhile, Steve´s gaze had settled on David.
“Maybe his car broke down or something,” he told him quietly. David shook his head.
“I have a very bad feeling about this,” he said, finally peeling his gaze off the entrance.

“Billy never misses out on date night. He had plans.”

Steve cringed intensely, “Well, Doodle, I don´t want to know about his plans, he just better have a real good explanation why he kept you hanging like that.”

David just hummed in reply, finally standing , already picking at the skin of his thumb nervously. Steve’s gaze immediately locked on to that.

“Hey,” he said, very softly now. “Don’t be sad. Maybe he’s coming by later telling you a ludicrous story of what happened and you both laugh about it. Or, if you don’t wanna be alone, I could come over later and bring some sexy Ford for you.” He wiggled his eyebrows with a tiny little smirk on his lips and David couldn’t help but smile fondly.
“Just give me a ring and I’ll be over in five,” Steve finished just as Robin returned from the back.

“What are you two idiots planning now?” she asked suspiciously, looking between them.

“Told you, Doodle and I are just vibing,” Steve shrugged.

“Yeah, whatever Dingus. Time to go,” she waved him off, finally pulling of her ridiculous little sailor hat. Steve nodded, then firmly grabbed Davids shoulder to stir him across the empty food court, past the other employees locking up their stores and the children’s carousels who had finally stilled for the day.

David usually preferred the mall at this time of day as it usually also meant Billy pulling him into empty hallways for a cheeky kiss or holding his hand while picking him up.
Just thinking about it, the uneasy feeling nestled deep inside his belly grew stronger almost to the point of nausea. He knew. anyone else wouldn’t be worried if a boy like Billy Hargrove stood them up, after all it perfectly suited his image.

But David knew Billy better than anyone else and he knew whenever he himself was aching for Billy by his side, Billy was craving him even more and he had never, not a single time, been even late to meet him. People like Steve just failed to understand how David was Billy’s safe space, the only person he could be himself around, David’s room the only place he could really sleep.
They also didn’t know about Billy’s father and what he did to the boy on a regular basis and how just the thought of that man getting his hands on his boyfriend again made David want to puke his soul out.
Maybe it was the paleness spreading to his face but Steve suddenly stopped,  just outside his car to look David over.

“Jesus. Doodle, you look like shit,” he pointed out, car keys dangling from one hand while the other tightened on David’s shoulder as if to get ready in case he needed to catch him.

“I feel like shit,” David responded, actually leaning into the touch to anchor himself in reality while his mind was already picturing how Billy would climb through his window later, black and blue , tasting of blood and tears. If Billy would be able to climb at all.

“Well, maybe he caught a stomach bug or something and it’s already gotten to you,” Steve said, then helped David into the passenger seat. The other boy stared out of the window as Steve rounded the hood, bracing himself against the sudden summer rain pouring down.

“Just tell me when to pull over so you don’t puke into my car again,” Steve finally told him as he got in and started the car. Doodle just nodded, already drifting off again.