TECHNICOLOR - stranger things.

i. FAMILY GAME NIGHT

i. the game of life!

wendy loved swimming—there was something about being able to go underwater and drown out the noises and problems of her reality that provided comfort to her. wendy reached up and kicked her legs, rising above the water. she pushed her wet hair back and took a deep breath, inhaling the chlorine scented summer air. she climbed out of the pool and stood to her feet, the hot concrete making her slightly uncomfortable.

"wendy?" she heard an all too familiar voice from behind her. she turned around, only to be greeted by none other than billy hargrove.
all of the color from her face drained as she felt her heart rate increase.

"b-billy?" she stammered. he extended his hand out, offering a towel to her.

billy hargrove was a bad person, there was no doubt about it. yet he liked wendy carmichael a lot, and when he found out what he did to her, he was ashamed of himself. he didn't know that he could hurt the one person that he genuinely cared about.

"it's nice to see you." billy spoke from the little heart that he did have. across the pool, the group of middle aged women watched the exchange between billy and wendy.

"that's lori's daughter, isn't it? what is she doing talking to billy?"
"she's not even that cute. i swear i've seen her around town with that harrington boy."
"do you think she's cheating?"
"ugh, i'd hope not."

wendy accepted the towel and gently wiped the water from her face. she glanced up at billy, not sure of how to respond.
"i wish i could say the same for you. i didn't know that you worked here." she frowned slightly.

"yeah, i'm a lifeguard. wen-wendy, listen i'm sorry...about everything. can we talk? maybe go to dinner? i miss you." billy stepped closer to her.

wendy could smell his cologne once he stepped closer—her hazel eyes stared into his blue ones. he had hurt her once, she wouldn't allow him to do it again.

"no, i'm sorry billy. besides, i have a boyfriend now a-and you're just....you hurt me." she shook her head and pushed past him. billy watched her as she walked away, his ego was bruised. he sighed and glanced down at his sunglasses. placing them back on, he tried to get over it. he glanced over towards the women that had been watching his conversation. billy's eyes settled onto one of the women—mrs. wheeler. that's how he'd get over wendy.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

the seventeen year old teenager turned off her shower, pulling back the shower curtain. wendy stepped out and was greeted by the cool air that circulated through her bathroom. she wrapped her beige towel around her body and glanced up, staring at her blurry reflection in the foggy mirror. wendy grabbed her brush and raked it through her newly dyed blonde hair. as soon as her hair was free of tangles, wendy opened the bathroom door and walked down the hallway to her bedroom.

she pushed open the door and walked over towards her closet. wendy pulled down one of steve's old t-shirts and a pair of her old gym shorts from her junior year. her damp hair clung to her face, causing wendy to let out a sigh of frustration. she tucked the wet hair behind her ear.
"dude is that my shirt?" caused wendy to jump. she gasped and turned around, seeing steve sitting on her bed.

"what are you doing here?!" she scoffed, walking over to her dresser to pull out a bra and underwear. steve sat up, closing the magazine that he had been reading.