ᴘᴇʀꜰᴇᴄᴛ ᴍᴇꜱꜱ • ʙɪʟʟʏ ʜᴀʀɢʀᴏᴠᴇ

Eleven

Billy felt as if time had slowed down drastically from the second Daisy rang the bell to when he heard footsteps approaching the door. He instinctively placed his hand on the small of her back and felt her jolt a little beneath his touch, making him smile a little.

As he heard the footsteps approaching, he prayed it'd be one of the girls or Jonathan himself to open the door. He didn't want the first person to see to be--

"Daisy, you're here!" Billy gritted his teeth as Steve glared at him. "... Hargrove..."

"Harrington." he simply replied, removing his hand from Daisy's back, which move went unnoticed by both parties thankfully. The staredown the boys seemed to have lasted for one second too many.

"Can we get in already?" Daisy whined. "It's pretty chilly out here."

"Of course!" Steve grinned at her, stepping aside to let them in. He closed the door behind him and joined Robin, Nancy and Jonathan, who were sat on the living floor ground. The first person to look up was Nancy.

"Hey Daisy, Billy!" she exclaimed happily. "Pizza just arrived so it's still warm."

"Hope we're not too late, guys." Daisy smiled, sitting down next to Robin and followed closely by Billy, who was already feeling uncomfortable and he'd barely been there a solid minute.

"Bad traffic?" Steve asked, his look and question aimed mostly at Billy. His fingers curled into fists. He was sure Steve didn't mean the traffic made them late.

"No." Billy replied, giving him the same look he was. "Daisy over here took long."

"Old habits never die." Robin chuckled, reaching for a slice of pizza and sliding it onto her paper plate. She stopped to look at her and Billy, grinning. "Well? Don't just stand there! Dig in!"

"Don't mind if I do!" Daisy said, reaching for two plates, one for her and the other for Billy. He gave her a small, shy smile and placed a slice of pizza in his plate.

For a while, as they ate, things didn't seem too tense. Nancy, Jonathan and Robin did their best to include Billy in the conversation - no matter the topic. Steve, on the other hand, still made silly remarks aimed specifically at him, but Billy either shrugged them off or was close to punching the guy in the face until Daisy came to the rescue and chimed into the conversation.

Billy thought it felt weird to be (for the most part) included by Daisy's friends. He never had a group of friends... not like this anyway. His favourite part of it all was when Daisy would look at him, giving him an Are you okay? look - sometimes even mouthing it - and all would be well.

"So, Billy..." Steve paused, finishing his last bite. Billy sighed and looked at him with a bored look on his face. What more could this punk possibly say now? "You're from California, right?"

Billy softened a little. No harm in that... good... "Yes, born and raised." He was about to add What's it to you? but decided against it for Daisy's sake.

"It's quite a beautiful place, right? All those beaches and whatnot." Steve commented, swinging his beer can side to side.

"Yeah, I suppose it is..." Billy replied, not sure where he was going with this. "I don't remember as much as I want to, unfortunately."

"If it's so beautiful, why move then?" Steve wanted to know. "And to Hawkins, Indiana, of all places in America?"

Billy tensed immediately, looking down at the top of his beer can.

"Steve, dude, that's not cool." Jonathan snapped.

"It's an innocent question!" Steve retorted, shrugging his shoulders. "If a place is so beautiful, why leave?!"