Royal Pain || Stranger Things

twenty-six || tired of hiding

"They'll stop if you keep calling them lard-ass," she mused, waving to a handful of middle schoolers on their way out of the pool.

"You heard that?"

"Everyone in Hawkins heard that, Billy."

Billy tucked his arms over his chest, eyes out toward the pool to assume that the two of them were simply waiting for the deck to clear. "What are we doing tonight?"

"After the two of us manage to sneak out of here without anyone noticing we rode together?" she asked with a quirked brow.

"I'll have to go home at some point to at least make an appearance," he told her. "But I could come back over later tonight. Pizza and a movie?"

Refraining from the desire to kiss him at any given moment, she nodded in agreement, still scanning the slow-moving crowds heading out to their cars. "That sounds perfect." Perfect enough that she would have the time to call Ben and figure out what the hell happened.

"Suzie, this is Dustin. Do you copy?"

Tatum's brows furrowed slightly, Dustin's voice pooling in as she and Billy retreated back into the lifeguard shack with the rest of the guards. Who the hell is Suzie?

Once all of the patrons were gone for the day, Tatum and Billy went with the tactic of him going ahead of her to get in the passenger seat and hope no one peered into the tinted windows. And for the most part, it worked. As Tatum and Adam finished locking up the building for the day, she Adam a half assed salute before heading for the Jeep.

"You sure you're alright, Tatum?"

Pausing just shy of opening her door, Tatum gave a light shrug. "Who knows, mate. I don't even know." Offering a light smile in parting, she was quick to get in the driver's seat and start the engine.

"Do you think he saw me?" Billy asked, running a hand through his hair absently.

"I think we're fine," she replied, kicking up the air conditioning as much as possible before pulling out the parking lot. "Want me to drop you at your car?" she asked, resting an arm on the window ledge as she drove on.

"Might as well," he said with a sigh, stretching his arms over his head the best he could. "I'll turn up at home for a couple of hours so Dad isn't on my ass. Then just the usual staying with friends schtick should do it."

"Does he ever care to meet your friends?"

Billy scoffed, reaching for the cigarette pack stashed in the glove compartment and pressing the car lighter in. "Definitely not. He doesn't care about much of anything." When the lighter popped back out, he lit his cigarette and took a deep inhale. "But that means he pays less attention to me, so I'll take it as it is."

She leaned over as he offered out the cigarette, keeping her eyes on the road as she took a puff. "Go ahead and park on the street tonight." She pulled up behind the camaro that was always parked on the nearest street behind Tatum's house. "My street. Not this one."

Billy's brows furrowed, unclipping his seatbelt as he looked over to her. "What?"

"I'm getting tired of it all," she told him. "The hiding."

If the world was about to end again, she might as well be with someone she loved.

"Are you sure?" Although he meant it sincerely, there was a glimmer of hope in his eyes. "Don't feel like you have to just for me."

"It's not just for you," Tatum assured with a smile. "It's for us."

With his free hand, he cupped her cheek and kissed her. "Only if you're sure."