*ೃ༄𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘
𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄
1985
Right on the dot, at seven-thirty in the morning, Billy Hargrove's alarm clock let out a shrill ring notifying the young man to get up from his bed and get dressed for a hectic day of lifeguard duty. At first, he smacked the top of the alarm clock with such ferocity that it almost shattered beneath his hand, and then Billy sat up on the mattress but alas, he was there by himself.
No one to spend time with. No one to converse with. No one to ravish with his skills beneath the covers and there was only one girl with whom he wanted to do all that with. But she wasn't here. And Billy wouldn't be seeing her for a while. Unless he made a quick trip to her house before he had to clock in for work. So the lovestruck newly grad had no choice but to stretch his aching limbs and stand up from the mattress in nothing but a pair of boxers hanging low on his hips.
Billy stared out the window of his room which overlooked part of the road and his neighbor's backyard. No action. Nothing at all was happening so early in the morning. But to be fair, nothing ever happened no matter the time of day. The guy rolled his eyes in discontent and once again cursed the town for being too damn slow for his liking. Now he really needed to go visit his beautiful, doting girlfriend before he lost his mind. Magdalena May was Billy's only savior in the whole of Hawkins. She came into his life unannounced and he couldn't have been more grateful for a girl like her.
And as he continued to mull over his morning, Billy decided to sit back down on his bed and take the pack of Marlboros and his ever-trusty lighter that was resting on his nightstand into his hand. Billy stuck a cancer stick between his lips, lighting the end of it, and when the puff of nicotine tickled his lungs the young man instantly got a stroke of genius for where to take his girl on a date. He had found a great spot in the woods. It had a clearing and carefully arranged trees surrounding it. It would be perfect. They could talk—amongst other things—and Magdalena could look at him with those doe eyes and make him forget about his problems.
By the time Billy showed up at the May residence, he was surprised to see his girlfriend awake and already occupied in the front yard. Stepping out of his treasured Camaro, Billy took a few seconds to selfishly admire Magdalena in all her glory. The brunette was in nothing but a pair of bell-bottom jeans covered in bleach splotches, a black halter top that glittered in the sun—the cut of the top going all the way past the valley of her breasts—and a pair of bedazzled platform shoes as if she had just popped out of a discotheque. But along with the mesmerizing appearance of Magdalena came her unusual actions of hauling boxes from her house into the passenger side of her beat-up Pontiac.
"Afternoon, lover boy. I can't stay and chat for too long. I gotta take these fireworks to my cousin's house for the big annual Fourth of July bash he's throwing this week—shit, I always forget how heavy these are."
Magdalena mentioned with this clear strain in her voice as she carried yet another incredibly heavy, sealed cardboard box, dropping it off on top of another two that were already safe and sound inside her car. The girl straightened out her back, shaking out her sore arms and exhaling an unrefined breath. All this to prepare herself for the final box that was waiting for her inside the house. Sadly, the brunette was forced to worry about the boxes alone since her dad was MIA—a.k.a sleeping after a long night of drinking and finishing his latest sculpture.
The brunette's chest was rising and falling rapidly as if she had just run a marathon while this light sheen of sweat resonated on her partly exposed chest, but there was still enough strength within her to send a sweet smile in Billy's direction, unbothered by the fact that her boyfriend's blue eyes were scanning her from head to toe. Magdalena skittishly rolled her eyes at how much of a man he was. A little skin and they all went wild.
Incredible.
And as if Billy heard Magdalena's thoughts, the guy snapped out of his female body-induced trance. Thankfully he was gracious enough to ask if the brown-haired girl needed any help with carrying the last box to her car. It was very gallant of Billy to ask, but even then, Magdalena couldn't take it seriously.
"Did Billy Hargrove just insinuate that me, a little lady, isn't in good enough shape to carry a couple of boxes to my car? Me and my arms are more than capable of getting this done, babe. I got this."
Magdalena jokingly assured as she went to get the last box, but not before softly patting Billy's shoulder. He could only smirk at the coy action. He caught Magdalena ogling at his lips, but she didn't kiss him. Billy knew for sure what he wanted and that was to feel Magdalena's nude body beneath the tips of his fingers—to make the brunette feel good in every single way possible. To make her remember that Billy Hargrove was the greatest lover out there.
"That bastard clearly ain't that much of a gentleman to just let you handle all these damn boxes alone. What kind of a man would abandon a girl—his own cousin—when she needs help?"
Billy searched for an answer with his emphasized words that clearly ridiculed Magdalena's incompetent cousin. Billy could clearly catch the unladylike snort of laughter Magdalena let out while bringing out the last box and haphazardly throwing it into her car unlike how she dealt with the others. This particular box was relatively smaller than the rest, but it still had valuable cargo inside that Magdalena clearly didn't care for. Or maybe she was just sick of spending too much time with the boxes. The latter seemed more possible than anything.
The brunette closed the car door and went to stand next to Billy who by this point was coolly leaning against the hood of the white Pontiac. Magdalena had to come to terms with Billy seeming especially handsome this time around. The partially unkempt bed hair was most certainly doing the guy justice. As was the tight shirt on his upper body. Magdalena could almost see the outline of his sculpted body. She wanted to shout it from the rooftops that she was blessed enough to have the hottest boyfriend in all of Hawkins.
"Oh, don't make me laugh. My cousin is the farthest thing from a gentleman. Each year he always insists on buying the booze and letting me deal with the dirty business. The idiot even stashes the boxes away in my house a couple of months earlier 'cause he thinks the cops are too stupid to suspect a family member of his hiding illegal fireworks. But y'know what? I do get paid a hundo after this so I'm all fine with it. What I'm not fine with is how he's not gonna let me light any of them on the Fourth. It's gonna be like Independence Day without independence. Total bullshit if you ask me. I also took a day off for this. My coworker is gonna be so pissed when she finds out she has to fill in for me today."
Magdalena was glad to hear Billy chuckle about the gossip that she shared with him regarding her brainiac of a cousin. Note the sarcasm. Magdalena's cousin, Kenny was as stupid as they came. He was a cousin from her mother's side so the idiocy made total sense. The guy was nearing his mid-twenties and even then, he was still childish as ever. But somehow Kenny was still intelligent enough to never get caught when he was smuggling various items over various borders in the country. Truly, it was a talent.
But that didn't mean Magdalena approved of all this illegal stuff. The only reason she always agreed to assist Kenny was because she'd get paid and money was fucking tight. Especially now that her mother left. The brunette was now caring for her dad as well as herself. It was a lot and the dysfunctional nature of it all was something Magdalena was rapidly getting used to. Then again she had to. That was the only way to continue on. Giving up was for pussies.
The girl inconspicuously stepped closer to Billy until their bodies were almost touching. Magdalena herself didn't exactly know how to approach such a situation. Sure she'd been with many guys and done her fair share of flirting, and was now dating Billy but she always managed to get all...awkward around him. He was mighty attractive. Especially from up close. From the looks of it, Billy wasn't opposed to this new arrangement of Magdalena being so close in proximity to him. In fact, he wanted to be even closer than this.
"Now you're playin' with the law, doll. Am I hearing all this correctly? D'you have any backup plans if the cops do catch onto what's happening? I don't think one of those pretty smiles that you always give me will help you out in a situation like that."
Billy advised nonchalantly, shocking Magdalena to her core when he reached out to tuck multiple strands of her light brown hair—that reminded the guy of those little caramel candies Magdalena stashed into her bedside table—behind her pierced ear. Magdalena didn't understand why her heart massively thumped at this action of Billy's. He might've been crazy delicate when doing it, but it stirred something within Magdalena. The attentiveness of her boyfriend filled a void in her soul. This was something that the now eighteen-year-old had never once experienced. Never from her mother. And certainly not from men. Besides her dad, but this was obviously different.
All this couldn't have happened at a weirder time; during a hypothetical of the brunette being arrested by the cops for having illegal fireworks in her possession. The outcomes of the world were hilarious indeed. In the end, though, Magdalena was continuously hung up on Billy being so gentle with her even though he only adjusted her hair. Her belly contained a herd of butterflies dancing around as she stared up at the significantly taller guy with a subconscious flutter of her eyelashes caked in mascara. The girl knew she was lucky to have someone like Billy. Her school year might've been Hell after all the girls in her grade and the seniors constantly gave her nasty looks for being the only successful person to tame the Californian wild child, but Magdalena didn't mind. She was the one laughing in the end.
"You're right. It won't. I'll just snitch on my cousin and explain that he was the jackass who thought buying and importing illegal fireworks from some shady guy in Texas was a good idea. I'm sure they'll understand that I was nothing but a bystander in this circumstance. A bystander who got herself a hundred bucks for all her hard work. So, you wanna come to the party? The look on their faces when I roll up with my super hot boyfriend will be the best. Okay, shit, that was a bad joke. I swear there's more to you than good looks. You're worth so much more in my eyes. But seriously, do you wanna join me? There's gonna be beer, a shitty inflatable pool, fireworks, and a bunch of rowdy family members who are more than willing to show you how we Midwestern folk party."
Magdalena rambled and rambled even more after that about so many random things that Billy got hit with mental whiplash. She tried to find hilarity in the fact that after all was said and done, she'd get paid and all dealing with illegal items would be forgiven and forgotten. This appropriately entertained Billy which he showed in the form of a smirk, looking down at the brown-haired girl with unabating interest.
The girl then, in the heat of the moment, was all too caught up with the number of her enchanted feelings towards Billy to hold back the spontaneous verbal invitation to Kenny's party. After that, Magdalena wanted to literally smack herself for being such an ignorant, impatient girl. It wasn't like her to lose her cool in the face of a man. Any man. But Billy...well, he was at the top of the food chain completely. That boyfriend/girlfriend exclusivity they had going, never eased Magdalena's nerves. She had just always felt like Billy could do better than her and he would do better after he got tired of her antics. Typical self-consciousness.
From Billy's point of view it was safe to say he remained flabbergasted about being given the chance to go to a party that Magdalena May's family would also attend and while it was tempting, he couldn't. There had to have been an invisible force making him reject Magdalena's offer and he was sure of it. It was almost like the invisible devil and angel on the guy's shoulders were playing tug-o-war in a cartoony fashion.
Sadly though, Billy refused to go and meet the rest of her family. Which he would surely grow to regret later. But, in reality, the reason why Billy had to turn down his girlfriend's offer seemed quite rational. He was going to work overtime in hopes of getting a raise to save up money faster. His overall plan: collect enough cash to head back to California and take Magdalena with him. She didn't know of this, obviously. But Billy could already imagine Magdalena looking at him with those shining green eyes and delightfully smiling about the fact that it would be them against the world. Forever.
"I wish I could, princess. I really do. But I have to work this entire week. Go have fun for me, alright? We still got a whole summer. We'll find something to do together eventually. Shit, you know what? You free tonight? You can come over. No one's gonna be home. How's that sound?"
Billy realized he shouldn't have rejected the invitation so hastily since there was no doubt he came off as a complete and utter asshole. And while it was easy to tell Magdalena that he couldn't attend, it wasn't so easy to see the brunette's face show the slightest hint of dissatisfaction, though she did a great job with hiding it quickly. Almost as skilled as an actress with how she controlled her emotions. It was impressive. But it was also hard to see what she was really feeling. Billy's gaze attached to the sight of Magdalena grabbing a hold of his hand and then those baby blue eyes of his flickered back to his girlfriend accordingly. Her green irises no longer held the same disappointment, but rather compliance and acceptance.
"Yeah, yeah, totally. No worries. I'm sure you'll make it to a different family get-together. I'll do a keg stand in your honor or win a round of beer pong...or something. And for the record, I'd love to come over tonight. Want me to show up with underwear or nothing underneath? Y'know what? It'll be a surprise. You can guess."
Magdalena teased her boyfriend, somehow gaining a bit of confidence as she rested her hands on the guy's toned chest. Billy wanted to say something but Magdalena didn't give him enough time to come up with something. The girl was gone within a flash and yet she still managed to stand on her toes to plant a kiss on Billy's cheek—specifically, a spot close to the corner of his lips. She was great at leaving him wanting more. The young man's best guess, Magdalena's previous actions were a preview of things to come later in the day. Then she hopped into her Pontiac and began driving away, leaving Billy standing there and watching Magdalena's car disappear in the distance with an accomplished grin.
This was good.
Billy felt good.
✧･ﾟ:
"From the way you're looking at me, my guess is you got no underwear on. So, you tell me. Did I get it right?"
Billy inquired quite outrightly, biding his time by closing the door as Magdalena stepped further into his room, nosily scouting out the layout of it plus all the various empty cans of beer lining the dresser in the far corner of the room. The brunette just hoped that those cans accumulated gradually over time rather than all in one night after their infamous meltdown which took place just last week. It was a nasty argument that Magdalena wanted to bring up and metaphorically bury their previous cruel words. Other than the telltale sign of Billy being a major alcoholic, Magdalena could certainly also smell some recently burnt-out cigarettes coming from the ashtray on his bedside table.
The room was mildly clean at least with the exception of some of Billy's dirty laundry randomly scattered around the room as if he was trying to create some crazy art project. One thing Magdalena could easily distinguish was that the room still looked the same no matter how many times she came over. Her green eyes peered over at the bed which was surprisingly neat. Well, neat for a guy anyway. The bed in itself contained plenty of scandalous truths about their relationship and Magdalena slyly smiled about how many times she had been left completely satisfied right on that mattress.
Feeling a surge of courage rush through her, Magdalena granted herself permission to sit on Billy's halfway-made bed. It was evident that he must've recently thrown the comforter onto the mattress in a haste just to appear more prepared than he was. It was a sign that he wasn't perfect either. Just another person trying to figure out how to exactly maneuver through these types of emotional issues. Magdalena watched Billy walk over to where she was situated and only then did she answer his previous question. But not before witnessing the most unpretentious side of Billy Hargrove.
The young man did the same, sitting down on the mattress next to Magdalena, but then he leaned back into the mattress and stared up at the light fixture resting on the ceiling as if it were a star in the darkness of the night sky. The corner of Magdalena's mouth started to steadily perk up at the sight of Billy stretching his arms whilst reclining comfortably. It gave off the essence of a cat living the greatest little life.
"You guessed wrong. I felt like you deserved a challenge tonight so the underwear stayed on. And not to ruin the mood or anything but I am still feeling very bummed out about everything that happened last week. What you said seriously hurt me. But after I cried my eyes out and looked through old pictures of us, it made me realize just how much of a love-sick idiot I truly am. 'Cause I seriously can't let go of you."
Magdalena lamented all about what she had been wanting to convey ever since she felt ready to apologize for acting like a complete bitchy nightmare. The brunette pulled her legs up on the bed as well, turning her body towards Billy's laid-out figure, and continued to sit criss-cross, pretending to check the black polish on her nails as if she were concerned about it. They looked awful and chipped, but fixing her relationship with Billy was more of an issue than fixing her nail polish by painting over it with another coat.
Billy's eyes left the ceiling and observed Magdalena's actions as best as he could from the angle he saw them from. Through his severely distorted and partially blurry vision, the guy attempted to make out what mood the brunette girl's face gave off. It was all for naught though. All Billy could expertly analyze was that regretful tone attached to whatever came from Magdalena's mouth.
"You're not a 'love-sick idiot.' I mean you are—I'm talking about the 'love-sick' part, not the 'idiot' part—but that's not a bad thing. There are plenty of people in this world who are way worse than you, Magdalena. Way shittier. You got one of them in front of you right now. Listen to me. You got so much to offer and sometimes—like last week—sometimes I say shit that I don't mean. And other times I just want you to find someone who actually deserves you and doesn't act like an asshole most of the time."
It was all too early for Magdalena to have to hear the same sentences again, but her boyfriend just so happened to be the most honest during these moments. That surely had to be saying something. It was strange that he always brought the same things up after an argument. Billy always pressured the girl to break up with him because she needed a better man in her life. Magdalena, on the other hand, didn't care to find out why Billy was all of a sudden giving it his best effort to let her down easy. Perhaps he'd realized just how much of a prick he acted like a few days back. Magdalena wished for that to be the reason because she wouldn't be able to have her boyfriend play with her feelings for the hundredth time. Magdalena managed to look on the bright side and take words for what they appeared as: hypothetical advice mixed with a sincere apology.
The suggested advice from Billy wasn't anything new. He played the "Find Someone Better" card each time. It was common sense for the average person who didn't have to struggle constantly with a broken heart. Magdalena May wasn't one of those people though. She always put her feelings out there for guys to shatter because all she could ask for was a heaping pile of love. She required some person to give all of her admiration to. However, Billy was pointing her in the wrong direction of how to properly manage such intense feelings of affection.
"Man, it gets worse each time I hear those words come from your mouth. You really know how to make a girl cry, Billy. You been practicing?"
Magdalena playfully interrogated her boyfriend, putting her hands down into her lap as she had finally given up on pretending to examine the state of her nail polish. Now it was all about taking her mind off the bluntness of Billy's advice. The information remained in her head, but she just didn't want to cry overhearing the truthful words again. She kept telling herself that there was no need to weep. There was no problem. It was just her and Billy neutrally sitting on his bed with no arguments or harsh words insight. Magdalena's heart unsurprisingly swelled with joy when Billy chuckled at her rhetorical-ish question.
The girl had an inkling that Billy would like the boldness in her tone after being hidden for so long. One thing Magdalena still would've been fond of doing was to reach out and take Billy's hand in hers as if she had to. She really needed to comfort him, but she decided against it. The brunette decided to ignore her inner monologue whispering encouragements and merely sat there observing the way Billy's shirt had lifted up from all that stretching, showing off the smallest sliver of skin. It was enough to make Magdalena feel both pitiful and utterly turned on. She wished to witness the guy without a shirt covering his upper body. The brunette was anticipating—daydreaming about what would happen after their deep conversation.
"Seems like it. And I see you've been practicing how to make a guy feel like a total dick. It's nice to know we're both good at something, doll."
Billy shot back with an equal amount of dauntlessness which certainly caused Magdalena to hold back a boisterous laugh, her lips twisting with amusement. The room seemed to have this new aura of competition and both participants agreed silently to not be the first one to burst out laughing no matter how difficult that seemed. Also, as the brunette chewed on the words, she was already preparing her sharp mind to give her boyfriend some words of retaliation.
She'd be damned if Billy Hargrove outsmarted her verbally. She was the one to keep rereading popular pieces of literature to keep her mind off her mess of a life and she was the one to retain the majority of what she read which she almost always used to her advantage when someone tried to outplay her with words. Magdalena might have appeared as some introverted brunette with no care for books, but she could maintain serious poise during such events.
"Aw, c'mon now, pretty boy. Y'know I don't need to practice that. You seem to manage that all on your own."
Magdalena expressed cheerfully, swatting Billy's covered thigh gently. Her actions were a blur, something that her brain couldn't even comprehend during that time. Only after her hand remained on the guy's leg, did Magdalena come to terms with what she'd done. She had initiated something. Billy couldn't seem to bring himself to do anything about the pretty brunette's delicate hand splayed out on his thigh. If anything, the sass which covered damn near every syllable springing from her mouth was only combining with the innocent touch of her hand to further fuel Billy's attraction. It still was more of a sexual one rather than emotional, but even so, the young man couldn't for the life of him figure out what Magdalena was trying to accomplish. He didn't know if she did it on purpose in order to make a move or just to express her high spirits.
Whatever the reason, Billy didn't associate such a touch with randomness. Maybe it was all the other passionate occasions that began this way, but whenever Magdalena May put her hand on his thigh, it meant that the outcome would consist of a heated and rough night in the bedroom but overall meaningful talks after the couple laid on the mattress, taking in each other's nude bodies and blissful smiles—sometimes even sharing a cigarette.
"There's the girl I've been missing. It's been really fucking boring without being able to talk to you normally. Our fight was in the back of my mind ever since it happened. And last night I was up all night thinking—"
"Well, that's never a good idea."
Magdalena successfully interrupted Billy with her quick-witted remark, absentmindedly squeezing down on Billy's thigh exactly like how he did whenever she was in the passenger side of his car. The tables were turned now though. She seemed to have the upper hand finally. The guy lifted his upper body, now resting on his arms bent beneath him. For the first time since laying down, Billy could now fully recognize this burning look within Magdalena's green irises. Then his eyes flickered down to her hand holding onto his upper leg obstructed by a pair of tight jeans. His head was rightfully spinning, but he gave up on trying to figure out what his girlfriend was up to.
"I started thinking about how you always give me advice and actually bother to listen to me. This all sounds like something out of those fucking romance movies that Lulu likes, I know, but it's the truth. And you've told me before that you value the truth."
Magdalena sat there staring at Billy with a blank expression which made the guy's heart plummet into the depths of his stomach. The brunette made it seem like he did something bad. Then he got self-conscious and began overthinking. Maybe he did say the wrong thing and offended Magdalena. Billy was ready to open his mouth and apologize for a second time when the brunette girl took his hand off his thigh and laid down next to him. She rested on her side, propping her head up with the palm of her hand whilst her elbow was planted into the mattress.
Magdalena stared up at Billy and presented him with a pleasant smile while her other hand absentmindedly reached up to Billy's messy curls, adjusting them carefully. Her fingertips barely even touched him and that familiar spark of greed inside him began to ignite. The guy wanted more than this because frankly, his needs were much greater than just barely-there touches. Though Billy couldn't ignore the fact that Magdalena was so caring, clearly making an effort to not mess around with his hair too much. That caring nature is what Billy constantly attached himself to.
"'The truth will set you free.' Did I say that right? I gave up on reading the Bible at, like, seven years old. The damn thing never made sense to me. My mom spent all this fucking time preaching about the word of God, but if that bastard really wanted to talk, he could've called me on the phone. He can put me on the fast track to Hell for all I care. Religion ain't meant for me. My abstract ideas would've gotten washed away if I continued going to church."
Magdalena illustrated her relationship with her mother's Christian faith pretty coarsely. So coarsely that an airy wheeze-like laugh came from her boyfriend's mouth. The brunette girl was glad she got to hear Billy laugh all while denouncing the religion that was forced onto her since the earliest memories of her childhood. Magdalena was sure that she came from her mother's womb kicking and screaming whilst a minister sat in the far corner of the delivery room reciting Bible verses and blessing the newborn baby girl.
Her bitch of a mother always adhered to the word of God, following the Bible verses down to a T even when there was no reason for it. There was this unspoken rule of "God is always watching" in Magdalena's childhood home which was used as a deterrent for her to not act out and continue behaving like a proper lady. But it never worked. Magdalena, on her fifteenth birthday, went down to the nearest pawn store and sold her cross necklaces for two hundred bucks each which she almost instantly spent on alcohol given to her by some senior acquaintances whom she met during a basketball game between their high school and a rivaling one.
That was the first night that Magdalena felt the most rebellious. Without her mother to enforce her, the brunette felt immortal and unstoppable. Magdalena didn't need any type of religion to make her feel any type of purpose. She had nothing against people who practiced them, but she despised when people shoved it down her throat and implored her to follow what they were doing. When Magdalena's individuality was threatened, that's when she chose to stand up for herself.
"What kind of abstract ideas, doll?"
"Very abstract ideas. So abstract that you couldn't even begin to comprehend them. But I need my thinking stick first. It'll help out in the long run. Care to share some abstract ideas with me, babe?"
Before Billy even had a chance to question what Magdalena meant by this, the brunette reached under her faded green blouse—more specifically placing her hands under the material where her breasts were contained as Billy spectated with eagle eyes. His hungry blue orbs never even left Magdalena as she continued to fish around in her bra for something. After some minutes, the brunette proudly pulled out a baggie of perfectly rolled joints and a black lighter, nonchalantly throwing both at Billy with a random giggle.
The guy sat up on the bed, still buzzing about what he just witnessed, and took both items into his hands. They were still warm. Magdalena raised her eyebrows, silently questioning Billy if he wanted to smoke weed with her right now. There was this knowing smirk that graced Billy's lips that prompted Magdalena to fall fully onto the mattress and start cackling in the most unladylike way possible and she wasn't even stoned yet. She laughed even more when she heard Billy eagerly ripping open the bag, the sound of joints going everywhere on the bed seeming to be apparent. Magdalena had missed this. She missed her pretty boy.
And as time flew by, Magdalena was subjected to the cold, hard truth:
Young adulthood was doomed to inevitably end.
No matter how many times they fought or how many times Billy hinted at both being good enough for her, Magdalena couldn't ignore the feelings of absolute adoration she still felt for Billy. They came back to haunt her. Honestly, they never really left in the first place, just mildly dissipated whenever her boyfriend was acting like a real piece of work. But now those feelings of love multiplied for the worse.