You're Just As Troubled• Billy Hargrove

~Chapter Eleven~

"So where are we headed?" I asked watching the trees roll by.

"Do you ever just shut up for one minute?" Billy asked. He then coughed and cracked a smile. "You'll see"

We arrived at the Quarry, Billy turned his car off but kept the headlights on. He got out and walked to the edge.

"I heard that if you jump from this high your body would die from the impact. The water would become like concrete or something" Billy said. I looked down at the water to then look back up at him.

"And you're telling me this because.....Are you planning my death or something?"

My joke caused him to let out a chuckle. "No but if you ever tell a soul about what I'm going to tell you, this is how I'll kill you" Billy seriously said. I gulped before following him back to the car.

He sighed before looking at me. "My um, my mom she left me with my father" Billy uttered, he looked nervous to continue his story. "My father is abusive to me and he was to my mom, so I take my anger out on Max and you just happened to be in the crossfire today" Billy explained.

"Hey" I said grabbing his hand. "You don't have to take the abuse, you can tell someone" I mentioned.

"He loves Susan and I wouldn't want to ruin their marriage" Billy said, he seems like he's thought long and hard about this.

"The other night, when I dropped you off. You mentioned something about your dad no longer sleeping in the bed. Is it about your mom?" Billy asked. I looked down at my feet unsure if I wanted to talk to him about it.

"You don't have to answer it" Billy said.

"No you told me about your story, I'll tell mine. My mom and dad actually met here. They went to Hawkins High together. Once I was born my mom knew this town wasn't the town she wanted to raise me in. So my parents moved to Pittsburgh. It's a wonderful place...well it was.. until my mom died" tears began to build up in my eyes as I told billy. He grabbed my hand giving it a slight squeeze.

"My mom and I were coming home from a day of shopping. We stopped at the convenience store to grab me a drink because I insisted I was too thirsty to wait until we got home. I regret that drink till this day because the store was robbed and my mom was shot and killed. It was a few months ago"

Billy looked at me blankly, tears began to rush down my face but I didn't sob or anything I just let the tears roll. His hand lifted to my face and rubbed the tears from my cheek.

"My dad thought coming back would bring us peace but I'm just miserable here" I said, Billy furrowed his eyebrow.

"You don't like hanging out with me?" Billy asked with sincerity in his voice.

"No, I didn't mean it like that, I just hate the reason I'm back here. Plus, like you said early this place smells like shit" I joked trying to lighten the mood. We sat in awkward silence for a few minutes before I decided to break it.

"If you ever need to talk I'm down to. I really mean it, like anything or we can just sit in silence too" I said to Billy he smiled and began to back out.

"You hungry?" He asked back to his cocky self. I shook my head yes. We drove to the diner and got fries and milkshakes.

"Girls are starting to leave me alone thinking I'm serious with you. I think it's best if we end it" Billy mentioned out of the blue.

"That's fine with me" I said relieved I no longer had to be "Billy's girl". Billy paid the bill and then drove me home. I thanked him for the ride and ran inside the house.

"Where were you?" My dad asked from the kitchen.

"Billy and I finished our science project" I lied. My dad hummed okay and I ran upstairs to my bed. I stared at the ceiling for hours waiting for the engine to fire up and drive down the street but tonight Billy didn't leave his house.