AT LAST, I COULD BREATHE | billy hargrove

sorry to interrupt.

chapter song: Talking Body - Tove Lo

sorry to interrupt.

Since the doctor suggested that I rehab my leg before returning to basketball, I'd been going on runs every day for the past week. Normally, I wouldn't do this since I actually hated distance running (sprints were much more my style particularly because I was short and fast, a natural sprinter). But I figured I should help my leg out by running because I was looking forward to getting back on that court more than anything else.

"Shawn!!" I yelled from the doorway, putting my sneakers on.

"What?!" My brother yelled back presumably from his room upstairs.

"I'm going for a run!!"

"Ok? Why do I care?!"

I paused tying my shoes and rolled my eyes. "Just thought I'd let you know!!"

"Bye!"

"Bitch," I muttered, grabbing my Walkman from where it lay next to me. I put the orange headphones over my ears and clicked 'Play', and a second later, AC/DC started blasting from the speakers.

It was a gloomy Saturday today, with a blanket of clouds blocking the sun from making the November air just a little bit warmer. The chill in the air actually made the run a bit more enjoyable since I would be able to work up a sweat without dying of heatstroke. My feet pounded the pavement and I tried my best to keep my breathing steady—in through the nose and out through the mouth.

I was jogging my normal route, "Shoot to Thrill" infecting my ears, when I looked up at one of the sidestreet signs coming up and saw that one of them was Old Cherry Road. I glanced down the road and figured "Hey, why the hell not?", altering my course to pay a visit to a dear friend.

The Hargrove-Mayfield household was almost all the way down the street but I reached it quicker than I thought I would. The blue Camaro with white racing stripes was stationary in the driveway and I smirked, slowing down to a walking pace. I didn't see Neil's car, but there was a smaller one parked out in front of their mailbox—grey and a bit rusty. It was actually ugly in comparison to the muscle car that was just a few feet away.

I jogged up the steps and went to go knock, but knew if Neil wasn't home then there was really no need, so I turned the doorknob and let myself in. It wasn't like Billy hadn't ever done that to me before—for Christ's sake, he comes in through my window unannounced.

No one was in the front part of the house from what I could see, so I figured Billy was in his bedroom. I passed the bench press that stood obnoxiously in the living room with an eye-roll. Curious, however, I went back to it for a moment and tried to lift the bar that had two weights on either end. It didn't budge at all.

"Holy shit," I whispered, releasing my grip from the bar, visibly impressed with how much Billy could lift.

My breathing was still uneven and I was a bit dehydrated, so I went into the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water, which I downed in like three seconds. My music was still blasting over my Walkman when I decided to go see my friend. I noticed Max's door was open and since I didn't see her, I concluded that she wasn't home. Another few feet and I opened Billy's door while pausing my music—not at all prepared for what I saw ahead of me.

My eyes met his gorgeous blue ones immediately and I was so glad I didn't bring the glass with me because I know it would've dropped. Heavy metal blared from the stereo in the corner of the room, like always, but that wasn't the only sin in the room.

There Billy Hargrove was, in all his glory, screwing a bleach-blonde girl underneath him.

I couldn't move at all. Nothing could have prepared me for this. I don't even know what I expected him to be doing when I walked in but it sure wasn't this. Our eyes were glued to each other and I wanted to look away so bad but I couldn't. Every cell in my body was screaming at me to leave the room but I was frozen. Even my breathing slowed down as I inaudibly gasped, sending me into a bit of a panic.