LIKE A HURRICANE ⭑ - Billy Hargrove ⭑

12 | 7 O'clock News

Billy somehow managed to arrive at Tina's Christmas party on time. And by on time, he was no more than twenty minutes late. Max wanted to hang out at the arcade as an excuse to help Billy get out of the house for at least a couple of hours. They both knew that if they were late home, Neil won't let Billy live it down for the rest of the week or even the month. However, those worries all seemed to disappear when he arrived. The party was well underway at this point with several teens already drunk and hooking up in places where they thought no one could see them. The music is blasting and every surface in the kitchen has food and drink laid out for everyone.

Billy paid them no mind to any of this, however, and managed to find his way around the crowd over to Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan who were already hanging out by a wall farthest from the party. From what he could see, Steve already has a drink in hand and has probably smoked something other than a regular cigarette based on how dilated his eyes are. Steve looked far more relaxed and loose than he usually does but he still carried this weight on his shoulders and tenseness in his posture, as did the other two. Despite this, Nancy and Jonathan looked much more comfortable with everything else going on around them as they easily leaned against each other.

"There's the man of the hour!" Jonathan grins as he squeezes Nancy closer to his side, more out of affection than staking a claim, "We thought you'd never show."

"I'm only twenty minutes late," Billy replies, smiling. He pulls out a cigarette and lights it. Taking a drag, he joins them in their little nook away from the crowd, "Anything exciting happen yet?"

"Not unless you count Steve getting high," Nancy replies, taking a sip from the cup in her hand. Now that Billy's closer, she doesn't seem to be as sober as he initially thought. Perhaps they are all trying to relax in their own ways.

"I'm not high," Steve counters.

"Right. And I'm bigfoot," Jonathan jokes good-naturedly before sighing. He tries to force his shoulders to relax, but only succeeds in looking more like a tortured soul, "Anyway, how are you doin', Billy?"

The blond shrugs. He's not sure how he's doing. He's still a little sore, but as he's moved throughout the day his stiffness has gone, "The same as I was earlier today, I guess." A half lie but he isn't sure what else to say. He's just lucky to not be at home right now thanks to Max convincing Neil to let Billy take her to the arcade.

Jonathan only nods, slowly and shifts his weight to better support Nancy as she leans against him a little more in her inebriated state. Billy has never been able to hide anything from Jonathan in the time that he's known him. The quiet teenager watches more than anyone else and therefore notices or figures out everything everyone thinks they are hiding. He's never said anything about it, but Billy low-key believes that he already knows about his home life. They've basically lived parallel lives. Except, only one of them got the short end of the stick. It's entirely plausible that Jonathan's father is just as bad as Neil.

A woop from the other side of the house causes Billy to glance toward the crowd of sweaty teenagers. In the center of the dance floor, two blonde girls dressed in similarly colored Christmas sweaters are passionately dancing along to "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" with bright, white smiles. If it weren't for the difference in taste in clothing, they would be carbon copies of each other. Billy has come to know them as the Anderson twins and he knows that if they had been boys, they'd be pranking the entire school everyday they had the chance.

Billy turns back to his friends only to find that Nancy and Jonathan have disappeared, probably outside away from the noise, but Steve is still leaning against the wall. He is watching the crowd and actually looks interested in what is going on. Billy watches him down the rest of his drink then sighs. Then, it clicks. Billy takes a drag from his cigarette and blows the smoke out through his nose before glancing back at the two blondes. Steve likes one of them. Maybe both? Or maybe he likes someone else in the vicinity. Billy isn't certain. Besides the two girls, no one else seemed to be really eye-catching. So instead of trying to figure out who Steve was eyeing up, Billy takes the space against the wall on the other side of Steve and continues to smoke.