losing him | billy hargrove [#2]

five

"You're every word,
I want to speak
but you left me
breathless"

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I dropped the kids off one by one. Lucas and Will both stopped at Mike's house and took their bikes home. Next was Eleven, and I reassured her everything was going to be fine and she didn't need to worry about it. She felt guilty for what she had done, but she had to do it. It would've gotten way worse if she wasn't there. She smiled before leaving the vehicle and entering the little cottage she lived in with Hopper.

Now it was just me and Max. She was sitting in the passenger seat while I drove towards her house. I had saved her for last because I didn't know what we would run into once we got there. I didn't know if Billy would be there and I didn't want any of these kids to get hurt.

I stopped in front of a red light and sighed. Max and I hadn't said a word to each other for the whole ride. She had just been looking out in front of her, avoiding my eyes as much as she could. We both were shaken up with how the night took a dark turn. The light went green, but I couldn't take the turn. My feet somehow did not want to press the accelerator.

"Grace?" Max softly asked. I shook my head and cursed, putting on my blinker to take a right and switching lanes quickly. "This isn't the way to my house."

"I know, it's the way to mine. I don't want you alone in that house and if he comes back," I stopped talking, not wanting to say the words or even his name out loud right now. "We can't trust him right now."

She didn't say anything else as I kept driving. When we entered the neighborhood, I could see there weren't many houses lit up. Most of the people that lived on this side of town had already packed their bags and were enjoying their vacation somewhere else. I parked the car in the driveway when we arrived and we both stepped out.

"Mom? Dad? I'm home!" I yelled when I stepped inside the house with Max following me. I quickly took a peak in my father's study, seeing he was not there.

Suddenly, there could be laughter heard from the kitchen. Max and I walked towards the sound and when we rounded the corner, we almost couldn't believe our eyes. My mother was cooking while my father and Billy were seated at the kitchen island. Billy was wearing a clean button up and he looked so different from when I saw him less than forty-five minutes ago.

"There she is!" my dad greeted me when he saw me. I smiled a little and looked at my mom. What was going on here? "Who did you bring, Grace?" my dad asked.

"That's my sister, Maxine," Billy answered before I could. He stood up from one of the barstools and walked towards us. He smiled as he gave me a kiss and patted Max on his shoulder. What exactly was he doing? He didn't even look at me when I tried to get his attention, so I decided to just go with it so it would be over as soon as possible.

"We thought it would be a nice to have dinner with everyone on your last night. Max would've been home alone, so I brought her here," I explained quickly. The lie came out with such ease, more ease than I wanted. Here I was, lying for the boy that had told me he was going to fucking gut me less than an hour ago.

My mother interrupted the conversation and told us dinner was ready, asking my father if he wanted to set another place at the table for Max – who went ahead and quickly used the bathroom before taking a place at the table. This gave me the perfect opportunity to grab Billy and have a word with him.

"What the hell is your problem?" I hissed. He raised his eyebrows and for a moment I thought he was going to come clean, but then he changed back into his previous form.