Don't Call Me Baby (Billy Hargrove)

-Chapter thirty six-

Emilia

I waited patiently at the kitchen table, tapping my fingers against the surface while I pushed around my soft cereal pieces, sighing heavily as I waited for the doorbell to ring. It was currently 8.10 and he promised me he would be here at 7.30 so we could do something before school started, like go to this park or stop at the diner like we usually did. But weirdly he was running late today, but I wasn't going to complain about something this minor.

The door bell rang and I darted out of my seat and rushed to the door to answer it, and once I pulled it open I was glad to see Billy was standing on the porch, looking handsome as always.

'Hey Billy, so I think if we left now, we could still stop at the park or-' I ramble as I reach over to the table beside the front door and grab my bag, but Billy cuts me off before I could continue talking.

'Actually, I was going to tell you- I can't give you a ride today because I'm picking up Anna, and she wanted to-' Billy says and I cut him off by finishing his sentence.

'Go check out her uncle's Camaro' I sigh out and he nods before he explains that the car needed some requirements, and apparently Billy was the only one who could help him. Then he moved on to say that he needed to hurry if he wanted to get there on time. I just sighed heavily before barely showing him a smile and nodding.

'I'll just catch a ride with Jonothan' I mumble and Billy brushes a hand through his hair.

'I'll catch you later?' He questions and I nod silently before watching him run off to his car, I didn't bother watching him leave, I just shut the door and locked it. He seemed to have forgotten that it's my birthday today, but I didn't feel the need to remind him.

This whole week Billy had been skipping out on me, claiming that Anna needed help with her Uncle's Camaro at the workshop, and who better to ask than the only other guy in Hawkins who owns one. He'd been making excuses for hanging out with her, the girl from California that lived with an uncle who had a cool car, and looked like a model. He's just been absent this whole week, I guess he had forgotten about my birthday.

But I wasn't going to pity myself, I just lifted my spirits and dragged my bag toward the telephone and dialed Jonothan's home number.

'You didn't need to get me anything' I exclaim as Jonothan hands me over the wrapped present from his back seat when we park up at school. He just smiles at me and insists that I open it, so I do with a wide smile on my face. I gasp as the sight on my lap.

My fingers skim over the brown book that sat on my legs, beautifully drawn flowers and designs were scattered over the surface and in the centre of the photo book was a picture of me. It looked like we were Nancy's backyard working on some school project, and I was caught off gaurd as the sun rays draped over me.

'This is so beautiful' I say as I turn to face Jonothan as he points at the detailed drawings on the cover.

'Courtesy of Will Byers' He says with a smile and I let out a laugh as I open the book, revealing pages upon pages of pictures of Me, Nancy and Jonothan.

Some were from the parking lot at school, caught on rainy days or when I would be leaning on Jonothan's car with a smile on my face, some of them were at Jonothan's house, and most of them were of pictures of past birthdays and outings we had. I couldn't hide the wide smile on my face as I gazed at the images.

On the last few pages I could see the most recent pictures of Nancy and I, the ones that we had taken when we were caught off gaurd, and although I looked terrible in these, I was grateful Jonothan added them in the book. As the book of memories came to an end, I cuddled the item in my arms and reached over to side hug Jonothan.

'I'll savour these images for as long as I live' I say to Jonothan as we get out of the car and make our way to the building. The warm air gushed around me as we entered the hallway, and in the distance by my locker, I could see Nancy standing by our lockers with something in her arms.

'Happy Birthday!' She exclaims as I go up to her and let her hug me, I laugh into her hair as she hands over the item in her arms to Jonothan and signals him to do something. When I pull away the two of them stand infront of me with smiles on their faces.

'So, since you've opened your first gift from us, you're going to have to wait to open the next one in I'd say a few weeks' Nancy announces and I protest at the amount of time I had to wait, but I decided to stop being childish and kept my promise to wait to open it.

'And... since it's a Friday night, we're going to take you out tonight to celebrate your existence' Nancy says and Jonothan agrees, they move on to tell me the details of what they had planned, and I couldn't hide the excitement on my face.

'Nothing illegal right?' I question and they shake their head.

'Nothing too illegal' Jonothan jokes as we plan what when we're going to meet up tonight, I was a bit hesitant when I remembered Billy, but like he said, he was busy helping Anna with her Uncle's Camaro, so I doubt he'd be free.

'Hey Birthday girl' Steve says as he slams my locker door shut to purposely scare me, and I jump at the sound. I twist around to face Steve, who wears a wide smirk at the sight of me getting a mini heart attack. I slap his arm playfully and scold him for giving me a fright.

'Thanks for that Steve' I say sarcastically, he rolls his eyes before he looks at Jonothan and Nancy who make small talk between each other while Steve talks to me. I feel bad for putting them in a position like this, but I'm sure they'd understand.

'Can I borrow her for a few moments?' Steve says and they let Steve haul me behind him while we make our way to the front doors.

'My gift is in the car' Steve explains as we make a beeline to his car that waits in the parking lot, and I just laugh as I let him drag me back out into the cold. My eyes caught onto Billy's Camaro that was parked right across from Steve's car, he and Anna were busy talking while the leaned on it, sharing cigarettes as they conversed, but I payed no mind to either of them.

When I make it to Steve's car, it's empty and doesn't seem to have anything sort of gift inside it whatsoever, so I turn to Steve who gets into his car and give him a confused look.

'You said there was a gift in here' I say and Steve laughs as he directs me to get into his car.

'The gift is somewhere else, but it requires skipping school for a day, now c'mon get in' Steve says as he shuts his car door, and I turn around to face Billy who had a scowl on his face as he watched us. It was like he was trying to warn me about something, and I could sense he was probably trying to tell me to get away from the car. So I hesitated, my hand on Steve's passenger door while I stood out in the cold.

Then my eyes flashed over to Anna, who stood beside him so close they were touching, and I had recapped on how he'd been leaving me hanging this week. So I made my decision, who cares about what Billy thinks, I can make my own decisions.

So I got into Steve's car and buckled up, and we drive away, leaving Billy in the parking lot with a pissed off look on his face.

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Stevilia, I'll ship it. *I already do ship it, hence why I wrote the next chapter sidjismxosj -D ♡