Drowning • Billy Hargrove

Chapter 27

"I think I'm going to go." I say, scared of the response.
I stare at Billy, worried what his reaction would be. He already said to me that he wanted me to stay, and I was doing the opposite of what he wanted.
The corners of his mouth begin to tug up and he starts to grin.
I turn my head to El and she wasn't smiling. My heart drops and I feel like I was making the wrong decision.
"You're making the right decision." Billy says, holding my hand from across the table.
"I agree." El responds, finally starting to smile.
I let a sigh of relief out and smile to myself. I was glad I made the right choice and that the people I loved were behind me.

After lunch, Billy drove us to his house. El and Max left straight from the diner to go to the arcade, so Billy and I were alone.
"When do you leave?" Billy asked me, unlocking the front door.
I thought about it for a moment. "In a week."
"I guess we got to get to work right away." He smirked.
Next thing I know I felt his hands wrap around my waist and my whole body was being tugged up into the air. I wrapped my legs around his waist and stared into his blue eyes.
"I'm going to miss you." I whisper.
He nods. "I'm going to miss you more." He says, kissing me. I obviously kiss back and he carries me to his room.
He lets go of me and I fall onto his bed. He was standing over me, smirking at me. I bite my lip as he tugs off his shirt, revealing his toned abs.
He walks over to the door and slams it shut, making sure to lock it.

I stand up and pull my shirt over my head.
"Where are you going?" Billy says, still in bed.
"I've got to get dressed! El and Max are probably going to get here at any minute."
"So! Come and lay down with me."
I shake my head and put my hair into a high ponytail.
"Nobody turns down a round two with me." He says, removing the covers, completely exposing himself.
"Billy!" I say giggling as he walks over to me.
"Come on!" He starts. "One more go?"
His bedroom door suddenly swings open and we both let out a little scream. I jump in front of him, trying to cover him up.
"Oh my God!" Max yells, covering her eyes. "I am now scarred for life!" She says, closing the door.
"What did I tell you about barging into my room, shithead!" He yells through the closed door.
I turn around to look at him. His whole face has turned red and he seemed embarrassed. I started to laugh hysterically, causing him to glare at me.
"What?" He spat out.
But I couldn't respond because I was laughing too hard. "You just got caught by your sister!" I say, with tears forming in my eyes.
He started chuckling. "Shit. I guess I did. I'm never going to live that down now."
I carried on laughing as he got dressed.

Billy dropped El and I off at our house about two hours later.
It was extremely awkward between Billy and Max because they played it off that nothing had happened, but you could feel the tension in the room.
"Okay bye. Love you." I say, kissing Billy as we hopped out of the car.
"Bye. Love yah!"

I unlocked the front door and I could tell something was off. I don't know what it was, but the house had a different vibe about it.
I looked down at El and she seemed completely normal, so I figured I was just being an idiot.
I turn the lights on and they begin to flicker, making El jump.
"What the heck." I say under my breath as they continue to flicker.
"What's going on?" El asked, grabbing onto my arm.
"I don't know. Maybe the lightbulb is loose." I look up at the kitchen light and it stops flickering.
A book on the bookshelf falls off and slams onto the floor behind us.
I scream and spin around looking in the direction of the fallen book. I kneeled down and picked up the book. It was a old photo album. I immediately noticed a photo had falled out of the book.
El picked up the loose photo and showed it too me. It was a photo of dad in his police uniform.
I sigh and slide it into the book and put it back on the shelf.
"What if you're right?" She questions.
"Right about what?" I ask.
"What if he's not gone? What if he's still alive?"
I exhale a deep breath. "El, it couldn't be possible. I was just talking nonsense earlier. I shouldn't have said anything."
She nods her head and walks to her room.

I do the same, and head to my room.
Immediately, I was greeted by my phone ringing.
I crawl over my bed and answer it.
"Hello?"
"Hey Kate!" It was Nancy.
"Hey! What's up?"
"Not much. Jonathan and I were just wondering what you were going to do." She asked.
"I've decided I'm going to go."
"Oh wow! Good for you, Kate!" She exclaimed.
"Yeah, thanks!" I say. Nancy was also leaving Hawkins to study journalism.
We chatted for the next while about when we were leaving and where we were planning to stay.
I found out that Nancy was going to be renting an apartment and Jonathan was going to stay in a dorm at the college. I told them how I was sharing an apartment with another student I've yet to meet.
"Okay well I better go." I say.
"Yeah, it's getting pretty late." Nance said.
"Yeah. Good night."
"Good night!" She says, hanging up the phone.

A couple of days have gone by and now it was the eve of my departure.
Billy and I planned to spend the whole day together without any interruptions.
He picked me up at noon in his blue Camaro.
"Hey." I say, climbing into his car.
"Hey babe! You ready to have the best day of your life?" He says, smirking at me.
"You bet."