LIFEBOAT ✧ billy hargrove

FIVE

     School was alright that next day. Steve and Emily couldn't be bothered to leave each other the whole day. Em wore a massive grin on her face as the two walked through the hall together. Steve had given her a ride to school, something he did for Nancy when before the two drifted apart, and neither of them saw her that morning, though they couldn't really be bothered by that.

     When lunch came around, the two sat on the hood of Steve's car, his arm sling over Emily's shoulders, eating in a comfortable silence. Only a few minutes had passed before Steve opened his mouth to speak.

     "Hey, Em?" He turned his head to look at her.

     "Yeah, Stevie?" A smile played on her lips.

     Steve let out a chuckle, and dropped his arm from her shoulders, turning his whole body this time.

     "First, don't call me that. Second, what is this? You know, our relationship, I guess?"

     Emily looked to her hands, a thing she did when she was nervous, or didn't know what to say, which she'd found herself doing a lot recently. Her shoulders came up in a shrug.

     "What do you want it to be?"

     "I don't know, Em. It's just that.." Steve sighed. "We've been best friends for so long, and I wouldn't want to screw that up."

     Emily looked up at him and then moved her body so that she was cross legged on the hood of the car, facing him.

     "Well, I say, we try whatever this is, and if it doesn't work out, we make a pact."

     "What kind of pact?"

     "If this whole thing doesn't work out, we stay best friends, and everything goes back to how it was."

     Steve shot her a dazzling smile, to which she blushed and looked back down at her hands. He lightly tilted her chin up with his hand, her eyes meeting his.

     "I'd like that, a lot."

     And as the two shared a kiss, Billy Hargrove sat in his car on the opposite side of the parking lot, fuming at the display. He felt many things at once. Sadness, hurt, anger, jealousy, and the unknown feeling of heartbreak. He had no damn clue why the two together made him so upset. All he knew was that he hated it, and he wished he was the one to hold her pretty face in his hands and kiss her on the mouth.

☽ ☼

     At the end of the day, basketball practice had rolled around, and Emily sat on the far end of the bleachers, away from the sweaty boys on the closer side. She watched as Steve showed off, giggling softly when he'd shoot her a wink after making a basket. Each time Billy heard her faint, melodic laugh, he wished he was the reason that it came. He was pulled from his thoughts as the coach called him to play.

     Emily watched as he swaggered onto the court, that smirk she'd seen enough of on his face. She looked away and down at the floor, and she guessed that she'd spaced out, because next thing she knew, she looked back and Billy had pushed Steve to the ground, running up and slinging the ball up from under his leg and making it right into the basket. She was dumbfounded, and her cheeks went red when he winked in her direction, acting cockier than before, if that was even possible.

     Just as Steve had gotten up from the floor, Nancy came into the gym, and called him outside. Emily considered following them out, but decided that she'd give them some space.

     Even with all of the yelling in the gym, she swore she could still here them arguing, and when Steve returned a few minutes later, she could tell it hadn't been a good talk.

     Practice went on for another half hour or so, and once Steve had gone off and taken a shower, the two got into his car, and drove off, leaving Billy standing there by his car, once again, wishing he was the one in the car with her.