trouble | steve harrington / billy hargrove

nine

sam woke up later than usual. she was never late, but this time as she checked the clock above her small bookshelf, she noticed she was fifty minutes behind.

"shit!" sam scrambled out of her bed and sat up quickly. before she could move, thoughts of the previous night clouded her mind. billy kissing her neck, her cheek, her lips. sam acting like she never had before. she felt herself flush.

she shook her head to snap her out of her trance and ran to her bathroom. right as she entered the door, she backtracked and stared into her living room. sitting on one of her couches was steve. he was already looking at her with a small smile on his face.

"sorry!" she exclaimed and rushed into the restroom to get ready.

she didn't bother to check her mirror to see if she looked alright. she washed her face, brushed her teeth, then ran into her room for clothes. she ran into the living room as she buttoned up her pants.

"took you long en—" steve's voice faltered and quieted down. he was staring at something on her neck.

"is everything alright?" sam muttered suddenly feeling self conscious. she instinctively touched her neck, but she felt nothing.

"who . . . was it billy?" steve's voice was quiet but menacing.

she knew he was trying to hide the fact that he was angry, but it was not working. she could see the vein on his neck pulsing and his jaw tightening.

sam slowly walked backwards into the bathroom. she gasped as she looked at herself in the mirror. there, right above her collarbone, was a dark red and purple mark.

she felt incredibly embarrassed then. she walked out to face steve.

"i didn't—i hadn't . . ." she wasn't sure what she should say. i'm sorry? she didn't owe an apology to steve, but she felt like one was necessary for some reason.

"forget it. let's just go," he turned and walked to the front door. his hand was on the doorknob, but she asked him to wait.

"i have to cover it," she muttered. again, she felt the heat of her cheeks.

steve sighed and sat back down on the couch. he seemed not to pay attention to her as she watched him. she wondered whether he was disappointed in her or angry. his quietness made her uneasy. it was unusual for steve to not say anything in a five minute span.

ten minutes later sam exited her room with a turtleneck. steve didn't acknowledge her as he stood up and exited through the front door. he opened his own door, not hers, and started the car.

she sat in the car and endured the silence for five minutes until she had enough. "are you not going to talk to me?"

steve drummed his fingers against the steering wheel and kept quiet. his eyes did not move from the road this time whereas he usually turned to look at her every so often.

"steve," she pleaded. she turned her body to look at him. he was still clenching his jaw. "please."

"what? what do you want me to say samantha? congratulations that you got a hickey on your neck by that shithead? is that it?" he still did not turn to look at her.

she knew she had begged him to say something, but she wish she hadn't. she had disliked the judgmental tone in everyone's comments towards her and she especially hated the way steve was talking to her now.

"why him? out of all the people you could choose, why him?" he sounded disgusted. he couldn't even look at her and he sounded disgusted.

she could feel the tears building up, "steve, i don't know." she pulled the sleeves of her shirt over her palms. she watched as the trees became less and less and the school became much more visible. "i don't want to go to school with us mad at each other. you're the only person i have."

"there's billy," he scoffed. he parked his car furthest from the entrance.

"steve, please," she knew how desperate she sounded, but she truly did not want steve mad at her. they had grown so close that she didn't know what she would do if steve stopped talking to her.

steve looked at her, truly looked at her. it's as if all the anger in his body washed away. his eyes stared directly into sam's and he let out a heavy sigh. "come here," he stretched out his arms.

she knew he was still somewhat upset, but she would take this for now. she let herself fall into steve's arms where she felt most protected.