Don't Break Me (Billy Hargrove)

Chapter Eight

Betty Hopper

December 7th, 1984

It had been a month since Billy and I had confirmed our relationship, and it was the best month of my life. Billy and I spent every weekend and most days after school together. Dad was still gone most of the time, but when he was home he vocalized how much he disapproved of me being with Billy. Dad refused to tell me where he went, or who he spent his time with. All I knew was that it was ok for him to be gone all the time but it wasn't ok for me to be out with Billy. Despite his resistance, Billy and I kept seeing each other. A couple of times our dates consisted of hiding from Callaghan or whoever dad sent to catch us making out in Billy's Camero. It finally got to the point where I didn't try to hide the extent of our relationship from my dad, in fact, I often tried to rub it in. Tonight was one of those times. I sat in front of my vanity, pinning my hair up when I heard a knock on my bedroom door.

"It's open," I yelled as I turned around to see dad opening the door.

"You look nice Kiddo," he said when he saw me. Tonight was the Snow Ball at the middle school, I had signed up to volunteer so I needed to look nice.

"Thanks," I nodded as I turned back towards the mirror.

"Do you want a ride to the school? I have to be up there later anyway, part of my job I guess." He said with a chuckle.

"Actually I was going to meet some friends at the Diner before the dance," I said. I looked at dad in the mirror and I could see that he was disappointed.

"If you wanted you could drive me to the Diner but you would have to take me early," I said and he perked up.

"I'll grab my hat!" He said before walking out of my room. I smiled to myself as I finished my hair and grabbed my purse. Dad and I walked to the car and he started to drive me into town.

"We haven't gotten to do something together in a while, this is nice." He said, breaking the silence.

"We're just driving to the Diner." I laughed.

"Still, you haven't let me drive you anywhere in a while." He said.

"I like riding my bike," I said, chosing not to point out the fact that Billy drove me everywhere.

"You never told me who you were meeting," he pointed out as we pulled up to the Diner.

"Lucas," I said and he gave me a confused look.

"Lucas? Why are you meeting him?" He asked as I got out of the car.

"He is taking Max to the Snow Ball and I'm the chaperone," I said as I closed the car door, dad rolled down the car window.

"Max.... isn't that Billy's sister?" He asked, then suddenly realized what he had said.

"Betty, you got back in this car right now. You are not using Lucas or me to get away with dating Billy." He said and I smiled at him.

"But dad, you drove me here," I said and his face hardened. He was about to say something but he looked down at his watch.

"You're lucky I have somewhere to be. We will talk about this later." He said sharply.

"If you're home," I replied, and with that, he pulled out of the parking lot. I felt kind of bad doing that to dad, but part of me wished he hadn't driven off. I walked into the Diner and saw Lucas sitting in one of the booths.

"Where's Max and Billy?" Lucas asked me as I sat down across from him.

"Not sure, my dad gave me a ride," I said and he raised his eyebrow.