Knee Socks | Billy Hargrove AU

2

I shuffle back into the crowded house in search for the reason I'm here: Nikki. The house was huge thanks to Penny Brooke's wealthy family, so it was nearly impossible to spot Nikki right away. 

Instead of finding Nikki, I found the drinks table. A sudden need to feel more confident ran through me, and I decided to pour myself a drink. Talking to the new guy made me feel woozy already, so a touch of alcohol wouldn't hurt.

I took a seat at the island countertop and poured myself a rum and coke. I only knew how to make it because of Nikki, who conveniently knew how to make every kind of drink out there.

I fiddled with a loose string that hung off of my black knee socks, a new fashion statement I'm trying out. I wondered if Billy thought my socks were cool, or super out of style.

The images of Billy in my head fade away once I see his actual figure walking towards me. The way he walked made him seem so confident, but I could tell there was something he was hiding behind that hard exterior.

"Lacey Myers, that does not look like water in your cup." He observed, taking a seat next to me and swinging around so his legs were right across from mine.

His presence alone made me take a big gulp of my drink. I would surely make a fool of myself if I continued being sober for this conversation, given that he was completely wasted.

"Billy Hargrove, it's none of your business what's in my cup." I retort, causing his eyebrows to raise in surprise at my response.

He chuckles, as if something I said was funny, before saying, "Hmm, what do we have going on here?" He points to my knee socks, where my hand still fiddled with the material.

"What about it?" I wonder aloud, eager to know why he phrased his question that way. I take another big sip of my drink.

"They're different, I like them." He answers simply, and it makes my heart race. A part of me was glad he liked them.

"T-Thanks." Great, back to stuttering. I want this alcohol to settle in so I can stop fumbling with words and start being confident with what I'm saying.

I take another sip, and before I know it my drink is all gone.

I notice Billy smirking as he watches me collect more alcohol into my cup. "That's a lot of rum, sweetheart. Are you sure you can handle that?" He says in a condescending tone that made me scoff.

"Of course I can handle it! Why wouldn't I be able to?" I can start to feel it kicking it once my eyesight becomes a little wonky and my words start to slur. 

"You're a tiny little thing, darling. But if you say you can handle it, I won't stop you." He puts his hands up in surrender, making me blush.

"How do you get your hair to look like that?" I boldly place a hand on his curly hair, running my fingers through its length.

He flinches at the unexpected touch, but shortly settles into the feeling. He doesn't respond, but instead grabs my hand from his hair and places it back on my lap.

He gets up from his spot across from me and leans in close to my ear. "Touching strangers is dangerous, Lacey Myers. Especially when the stranger himself is equally as dangerous." His words are curt and clear, and despite their harsh undertones, they send goosebumps down my spine.

He disappears before I can get another word out and I am left weak from his simple words. Was he mad at me for touching his hair? Did I just mess up the slim chance I had to hook up with the hot new guy?

"Lace!" I hear a familiar voice shout, shaking me out of my thoughts. It was Nikki. 

"Nikki! I've been looking everywhere for you, where have you been?" I shout over the music, even though it wasn't that loud. 

"You don't wanna know!" She winks my way, and I knew instantly that she was doing something dirty with a boy. She never admits to it, but she doesn't have to because I just know. "What have you been up to, hun?" She asks me.

I felt my cheeks turn pink and hoped she didn't realize in the dim lighting. "I drank a little. And I talked to the new boy, he's nice." I sugarcoat, she didn't need to know any details right now.

"You should be careful with him, Lace. He's hot but guys like him will easily hurt girls like you. Just... be careful, okay?" She preaches and I roll my eyes.

"Earlier you were encouraging me to talk to him and now you're telling me to be careful? Which one is it?" I ask with a slight attitude, only because the alcohol in my body was telling me that I didn't want to be careful around Billy. 

"I've just heard some things and it's not promising for an innocent girl like you. You can talk to him if you want, just be careful," Nikki clarifies, and my annoyance subsides partially. 

"Got it, mom," I say sarcastically, deciding it was better to let it go rather than be annoyed for the rest of the night. I scanned the room to see what everyone was up to, looking past Nikki. My eyes land on Billy, who was throwing his fist up in the air and down onto Steve Harrington.

"Oh my god, Billy is beating the shit out of Steve!" I announce loudly to Nikki, causing her attention to follow my eyes.

"I told you he was bad news-" Before she can finish her speech, I am running towards the fight. The alcohol in my veins made it feel like I was running in slow motion, but I kept going because I needed to stop Billy.

"Billy!" I shout. "Billy stop! He's bleeding like crazy!" I scream, but he doesn't stop. He keeps going, relentlessly, crazily, until Steve is limp beneath him. There was a crowd surrounding them, and not one other person other than me was attempting to stop them. 

My jaw widens at the sight, and I couldn't believe I was crushing on the guy who just ruthlessly beat someone up for seemingly zero reason.

Billy's head raises, his hand dropping Steve from his collared shirt, looking dead at me. There's a devilish smile on his lips, and all I can hear is him say, "I told you I was dangerous, sweetheart."

~~~~

Poor Steve!! Anyways, vote + comment if you like it, thank you!!