Gasoline

Who's Zoomin' Who?

Steve Harrington arrived at Nancy Wheeler's house bright and early the next day. After striking out with Diana, he realised he had better go and apologize to Nancy about the other night at the Halloween party. He walked up to the house, a bouquet of flowers in hand. "Im sorry, I love you. Don't know what Im sorry about" he mumbled to himself.

"Hey! Steve!" Dustin Henderson came running up to him. Dustin gave him a whole spiel about how he was having a major crisis and couldn't get in touch with any of his friends so he desperately needed Steve's help. Steve huffed and agreed to help, realizing his apology to Nancy would have to be set on the backburner for now.

Across town Diana Lister walked out of her house and took a deep breath of the fresh fall air. She had decided she would walk over to Suzanna's house a few blocks over, to meet up with the girls. They had made plans to go into the city and go to the mall to get some early Christmas shopping done. She started walking down the street, her lambskin jacket sealing her off from the chilly fall air. She got about a block down when she heard a familiar engine drowning out the sound of her sneakers on the pavement.

The blue Camaro stopped abruptly right beside her and she heard the window roll down. "Hey" Billy yelled over the noise of the engine. Diana shot him a dirty look and then continued walking. The Camaro crawled beside her as she began to pick up speed.

"Diana! Hey! Red!" Billy shouted until she finally stopped and turned toward him. "What do you want, Billy?" she asked him, aggravated. "I came by to see you but you weren't at your house, Lynn said you were hoofin' it to the geeks house" he said as he shut off the engine and stepped out of the car. "The geek? Oh that's nice Billy" she rolled her eyes at his nickname for Suzanna and began walking away.

"Hey!" he shouted and ran to catch up, grabbing her arm and turning her toward him. She jerked her arm out of his grasp and looked up at him. "What do you want from me?" she demanded, crossing her arms and staring up into his ocean blue eyes. "I just came by to see if you were ok. You didn't look so good the other night, then you left with Harrington" Billy shrugged "I just wanted to make sure he didn't get smart with you". He furrowed his brows at the idea of Harrington laying a hand on her.

She rolled her eyes again "Oh my hero! Go away, Billy" she started to walk away and he grabbed the sleeve of her jacket. "Look, Red. Im sorry for whatever I did to make you so pissed, Ok? Can we start over? Look I'll even drive you to the gee..er, Susan's house" he offered her a smile. "Suzanna" she corrected him. She stood there for a moment, contemplating her options. "Alright. Fine. Drive me, but if you so much as lay a hand on me" she pointed a finger almost into his nose. He pushed her arm down gently. "Yeah, yeah. Get in" he told her as he sauntered back to the car. She tried, unsuccessfully, to not admire how tight his jeans hugged his bottom.

She jammed her hands in her pockets and got into the Camaro. She barely had her seatbelt on when he floored it all the way to Suzanna's house. When they got there, Corinne and Suzanna were walking out the front door, saw the Camaro with Diana in it, and began talking amongst themselves.

Corinne skipped over to the drivers side window and leaned in. "Hey, babies. Who's ready for a fun filled adventure to the big city!" she stuck up some devil horns with her hand and stuck her tongue out, causing Billy to laugh. 

"Uh Thanks for the ride, Hargrove" Diana said as she went to open the door. "Wait! Why doesn't Billy come with us? After all we are venturing into the city, we may need some protection" Corinne winked at him and Diana felt herself blush as he laughed. "I don't have really anywhere else to be. Alright, get in" he told them as he got out and pulled the seat down for the other two girls to get into the back. Diana sat in the front, eyes wide and mouth gaping at her traitor friends.

She had been looking forward to this trip for weeks and now Billy Hargrove was crashing the party. He sped out of Hawkins, the way he sped everywhere, and they made it to the mall in forty five minutes.

The whole ride there Corinne was explaining how she had hooked up with Johnny Boyd from Diana's science class on Halloween night, after leaving Tina's party. "It was ridiculous! Who would have known what that kid was hiding" she gushed as Billy laughed with her. "What about you, Suzanna?" he asked. He eyes grew wide in the rear view mirror behind her black framed glasses. "Uhh, oh the other night? Well Johnny's friend Randy came with us, so him and I just kind of sat on Johnny's couch and talked. Well he did most of the talking I guess. Did you know he has a gecko? It was so strange looking but its name is Marvin, I thought that was kind of interesting. But.." Corinne cut her off "My Goddd Suzanna! Don't bore the man with your creepy geek love" she bellowed. Diana shot Corinne a dirty look as Suzanna looked back out the window and sat quietly for the remainder of the ride. "Hey Diana, I heard Steve Harrington drove your drunk ass home the other night, how was that?" Corinne asked deviously. Diana saw Billy's jaw clench out of the corner of her eye. "Fine. He just drove me home" she replied then turned to look out the window.

It was around 1:00pm when the group headed into the mall. It was packed with people hustling to find good gifts early before everything sold out. Corinne rambled on and on about all the 'Zombies that need to walk on the proper side of the road' until they lost her in the lingerie store. Suzanna found a store with puzzles and other random 'Nerd Crap' as Billy observed, and split off from them as well.

Diana and Billy walked side by side through the mall, quietly. "Sooo, bet you wish you sat this one out, huh?" Diana broke the silence. "Nope" he said as he looked down at her, offering her a small smile. They walked on in silence until Diana saw a booth selling tickets to Cyndi Lauper's 'Fun Tour'. "Shut the fuck up right now!" Diana gasped as she stopped dead and grabbed Billy's arm. He laughed, shocked at her language, he could feel her hands shaking as he saw what she was looking at. Diana dropped his arm and ran towards the booth, he quickly followed.

"Oh my fucking God! I loveeee Cyndi Lauper, like dude. You have no idea how much id die to see her in concert" her eyes almost looked teary as she gushed to Billy. He looked at the concert dates. There was one a few towns over coming up in December.

Diana's face fell when she saw the prices. "I just wish I could afford to go. Or that I even had someone to go with me" Billy couldn't ignore the ache he felt in his chest when he saw how sad she had become. "Ah well, maybe one day" was all he said as he walked away, a sad Diana in tow.

They walked around some more, Diana had picked up a nice pair of dangly earrings for Lynnette, and a new skateboard for Max. "You know you don't have to buy her crap" Billy made a face as she carried the skateboard along. "I want too. She's a good friend ya know? Kind of like a little sister" Diana explained. "She's thirteen and annoying" Billy snapped. Diana looked at him and shook her head. "She's a good kid Billy. It wouldn't kill you to be nice to her once in awhile" she snapped.

The two found the girls in the food court, stuffing their faces. Diana plopped down beside Corinne, looking to see what she had gotten. Billy sat quietly at the table for a moment while the girls chatted about what they still needed to get. "Hey, I'll be right back. Im going out for a smoke and a piss" he told them. Diana scrunched her nose at his bluntness and Corinne laughed.

"Sooo. How's the day going with the dreamboat?" Corinne pried. "Oh god not this again" Diana crossed her arms. "I like him" Suzanna chimed in. "Oh please. You only like him because he asked you a question on the ride here" Corinne snapped at her. "Corinne! Can you stop being so mean to her? Shes just giving her opinion. God, it wouldn't kill us to hear someone elses opinion other than yours for once" Diana snapped at her. Corinne stared at her, looking shocked and a little hurt. "Whatever Diana. I wont tell you what Billy told me the other day then" she tucked her short black hair behind her ears and looked away. "What? Why what did he say?" Diana demanded. Corinne looked at her out of the corner of her eye and smiled, turning to her. "Well.."

Across the mall Billy was buying two tickets to the Cyndi Lauper concert Diana so desperately wanted to attend. He knew if he gave her these she would have to make up with him. He wasn't even buying these to get anything out of her, he truly just wanted her to accept him. He had a lot to make up for, and he knew this would be his last chance.