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The morning after their big 4th of July BBQ Will’s mom drops him, El and Max off at the pool to sit on the steel bench and wait for Billy to arrive.
Max has been teaching El rhyming clapping games and they start playing again while they’re waiting. Will’s pretty good at those games but El keeps ‘accidently’ sending people sliding across the ground when she misses a clap.
Max bumps into him for the third time, sliding over the bench and laughing as El giggles.
Finally Will hears the Camaro come roaring up the road, loud music playing as usual, though it sounds a little different today, not his typical hair metal. Billy skids into his usual parking spot, music cutting off. He gets out of the car with a wince and a groan of pain though only Will seems to notice.
“What were you listening to?” Max asks, as if the two of them hadn’t had a shouting match in Will’s back yard the day before.
“Oh, er, it’s the Vision Quest soundtrack, Steve let me borrow it.” Billy says, heading to unlock the door.
Will thinks he might be blushing.
“OK...” Max raises an eyebrow.
“What are all of you doing here anyway?” Billy asks, holding the door open for them to pile in. “William.” He says solemnly as Will steps past.
“William.” Will nods in return.
“Didn’t want to go home.” Max shrugs.
“Fair enough.” Billy says, “but just this once, if my manager turns up and sees all of you I’ll get fired.” He closes and locks the door behind them.
“We’re no trouble.” El says with a very straight face.
Will smiles, Max had kept saying that Billy would turn them away, or make them wait outside until the pool really opened because of their fight yesterday, but Will knew Billy wouldn’t do that. Billy isn’t the person Max seems to think he is. Or at least not anymore.
In the staff changing rooms they each instinctively seem to take separate areas for themselves, turning their backs on each other.
Once they’re changed they put their bags away and follow Billy out to the pool. He’s limping a little and Will helps him roll away the pool cover. El blows up a beach ball and Max picks out sun loungers for them, laying their towels out to keep them reserved.
“Will, would you do the chemical test for me?” Billy holds out the glass and vial to Will. “I, er, hurt myself yesterday. It hurts to bend.”
“Sure.” Will says. “How’d you hurt yourself?” He scoops up some pool water and tips in the little tester vial.
“I... Pulled my back.” Billy says, it’s pretty unconvincing.
“You’re lying.” Will replies.
“Yeah, but I have a good reason.” Billy replies and Will nods. He doesn’t push, Billy’s business is his own.
“How’s it look?” Will holds up the glass, the water inside is a very pale pink.
“Looks good, nothing extra needed. You guys can jump in whenever you want.” Billy smiles.
“Yes!” Max shouts, she takes about ten steps back from the deeper end of the pool and glances up at Billy.
Billy looks at her with one eyebrow raised. “Just this once, seeing as the pool is empty.”
Max grins and runs towards the pool, jumping and lifting her legs into her arms as she bombs into the water. The splash is huge, soaking a squealing El and even wetting Will and Billy where they’re standing.
Billy sighs loudly beside him as Max reappears from under the water, a big grin on her face and her fiery hair plastered all over her eyes and cheeks.
“Awesome!” She yells, pumping a fist.
**
The pool gets very busy, very quickly and the three of them hang around the shallower area of the pool while El is still learning.
El dares Will to swim through her legs under water and Will grins, his mom bought him some goggles and Will scrambles out of the pool to go and get them from his bag.
He skids into the building and heads towards the Staff locker room but ducks back around the corner when he sees Mrs Wheeler and Billy in the doorway.
She’s standing very close to him even though he’s leaning away from her, his back is against the door and though he’s trying to smile it looks pained.
“Do you like my new bathing suit, Billy?” Mrs Wheeler says, taking another half step closer to him.
“Yeah, it’s nice.” Billy says and tries to reach blindly for the door handle.
Will doesn’t like it. He knows all the moms like to lie on their sun loungers and admire Billy but he never thought any of them would ever approach him, most of them are married with kids! Nancy’s probably not even a year younger than Billy.
“You’ve been wearing this tank all week, it’s very upsetting.” She smiles, her deep pink lips drawing up to reveal her bright white teeth.
It’s true but Will hasn’t thought much of it, it is part of his uniform.
“I just –“ Billy starts but she cuts him off.
“Oh come on Billy, you’ve been showing off and flirting for weeks.” Mrs Wheeler grips onto the hem of Billy’s tank with sharp nails and slides her hand underneath.
“It was just for fun, I never meant anything! I’m sorry.” Billy vehemently shakes his head and grabs her hand to stop her reaching any further.
Will frowns, why is Billy apologising? Will knows his mom wouldn’t like this at all.
He steps around the corner. “Billy! El needs you.” Will thinks she’s a better excuse because she’s outside and Billy will have to leave.
“I’m coming.” Billy says, squeezing past Mrs Wheeler.
Will has never seen such relief on anyone’s face before. He grabs Will by the arm and heads back out towards the pool.
“I’ll catch up with you later Billy!” She calls.
“The fuck you will.” Billy mutters.
At the last moment they take a detour and duck into the chemical cupboard, Billy slumps back against the door. It stinks of chlorine.
“Are you OK?” Will asks.
“Yeah, I just wasn’t expecting it.” Billy says, he’s breathing a little hard and keeping a hand over his stomach where Mrs Wheeler had touched him.
“Just breathe, Billy.” Will says, he reaches out to carefully pat Billy’s arm.
“Why do people think that they can just touch me?” Billy says, he takes several deep breaths in a row calming himself down.
He lifts one hand to the side of his chest and presses with a couple of fingers. It makes him wince a little, but his face seems clearer and his breathing slows back to normal afterwards.
“I didn’t like what she was doing.” Will says.
“Yeah, neither did I.” Billy sighs. “C’mon, Katie’s gonna kill me.”
They step out of the cupboard and Will remembers his goggles.
“I just need something from my bag.” Will says.
He dashes off, Mrs Wheeler has thankfully disappeared and Will grabs his goggles closing the locker door hard. Billy had said that people think that they can just touch him. Do people do this sort of thing to him all the time? Who else has been touching him without permission? Will doesn’t like that thought. It doesn’t matter how someone dresses or how good looking they are no one just gets to touch someone else without permission. That’s what his mom has always said. It seems to Will that it’s even worse when they’re someone so much older with someone so much younger.
“Will!” Billy calls and Will heads back to him.
As they walk back out to the pool Billy lays a large hand on Will’s shoulder. He’s still limping a little.
“Don’t tell anyone, OK?” He says.
“But she –“
“It’s fine Will, it’s over.” Billy says, he seems a little sad and Will doesn’t want to argue with him so he nods.
It’s not a lie but he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to keep that promise.
He and Max take turns with the goggles, swimming through each others legs and doing handstands until El shouts.
“Hop!”
Hopper appears out of the low pool building in a t-shirt and shorts, an old ball cap on his head and flip flops on his feet, looking awkward and severely out of place. He hugs El when she trots over as quickly as the lifeguards will allow.
“Have you come to see me swim?” She asks, excitedly.
“Sure have.” Hopper says and allows El to drag him over to an empty sun lounger near to where the swim lessons take place, it’s the one the girls had picked out that morning and reserved with a few bright beach towels.
Will and Max mess around with the ball while El talks to Hopper and after another 15 minutes or so Billy blows his whistle and announces swim lessons.
He points at Max and Will, “You two – out. Where’s El?”
Will points towards them and Billy swallows hard when he sees Hopper. She skips over a moment later excited to show Hopper her skills.
Will and Max climb out and go to sit by the Chief, wrapping the bright towels around their shoulders.
Billy starts the lesson, doing as he usually does setting off the better swimmers and working his way down to the youngest and newest swimmers. El falls somewhere in the middle now and Billy only has to correct her use of the kickboard a couple of times. A boy called Kyle and a girl called Wendy both manage to swim a full width of the pool without Billy’s help and he lifts them onto his shoulder and carries them around to give high fives to all the other kids and when they’ve slapped everyone’s hands he tosses them into the water and they emerge happy and laughing.
“He’s good with them.” Hopper says, surprised.
“He used to teach in San Diego. He’s been doing it since he was like, 15.” Max says. “I could already swim but he taught me to skate and surf.”
“Really?” Will says. “I always thought you guys never got along?”
“Its always been sort of up and down between us.” Max shrugs. “It’s not really either of our faults, it’s mostly because of Neil.”
“That Billy’s father?” Hopper asks.
“Yeah, he’s an asshole.” Max says and then realises who she’s talking to. “Sorry for cursing.”
Hopper waves a dismissive hand, “What kind of asshole?”
“A big one.” Max replies, but she shuffles around like she’s hiding something. If Will notices then Hopper definitely does.
Hopper hums and then smiles when he sees El getting out of the pool and walking over towards them, dripping water all over and grinning widely.
“Did you see?!”
“We saw, you were so good, El!” Hopper grabs a towel and wraps it around her, pulling her into a hug at the same time.
She laughs when he rubs at her hair and it’s so nice to see her acting like a regular kid without the horrors of her past.
“Billy!” She shouts as he walks by.
“Hey El.” He says, stopping near them. “Sir.” He nods at the Chief. “You did really good today, soon you won’t even need lessons!”
“Did you hear that?” El says excitedly.
Hopper nods, still smiling widely. “I did.” He looks up at Billy. “You’re a good teacher, Hargrove.”
Billy blinks in surprise, “Thank you, Sir.”
Hopper stands up and holds out a hand to Billy, “You can call me Hop.”
Billy shakes his hand, again looking deeply shocked and surprised. “Billy.”
“If you ever need anything you know where I am.” Hopper says seriously.
Hopper, or possibly El, must know something about Billy that Will doesn’t because Hopper doesn’t go around offering his personal help to people lightly.
“Thank you.” Billy replies slowly.
Hopper nods and turns back to Will, Max and El. “I have to stop at the station on the way home, I can drop you guys off?”
Will opens his mouth to speak but Billy cuts him off.
“Actually, Sir – Hop, I finish in half an hour I could drop them home if you’re busy?” He says.
“That’d be great, thanks. And now I have five more minutes to relax.” Hop sits back down on the lounger. “All of you go away.” He flaps a hand at them.
Max and El head back to the pool but Will is thirsty.
“I’m gonna get a drink.” He says.
“See you guys in a bit.” Billy ruffles a hand through Wills hair and heads back to the life guards seat.
Will goes inside to get a coke from the vending machine, he passes the moms as he does and sees them all watching Billy. He and the other guys had thought it was sort of funny before, but now he realises how creepy it is.
Hopper heads out to the station a little later and Will gets back in the pool to splash around until Billy comes to let them know he’s done for the day.
Once they’re all showered and dressed they pile into the Camaro, El and Max in the back playing their clapping game. Billy changes the tape to a Styx album, he’s definitely blushing as he puts the Vision Quest tape into its case and tucks it into the pocket of his door.
Will watches him carefully.
“Anybody feel like ice cream?” Billy asks and Will smiles, he gets the feeling that it’s not just ice cream Billy’s interested in.
“Yeah!” El shouts, she’s really discovered her sweet tooth this summer.
Billy mostly keeps to the speed limit as he drives over to the mall, he taps on the steering wheel and sings quietly along to the music, occasionally adjusting the way he’s sitting.
Will is content to stare out the window and listen to Billy singing. He actually has a pretty good voice.
“Do you play anything? Like guitar or drums?” Will asks, he still doesn’t know an awful lot about Billy.
“A little guitar, a little piano.” Billy shrugs.
“Piano?” Will is surprised, Billy doesn’t really look the type. But then Billy doesn’t really look like a surfer or a lifeguard or a basketball player either.
“My mom taught me. I’m out of practice now though. We used to have one of those big old stand-up pianos and I used to play all the time.” Billy says, his smile is both sad and fond.
“What happened to it?” Will asks.
“I don’t remember a piano.” Max pipes up from the backseat.
“Neil got rid of it when you and your mom moved in. It used to be in your room.” Billy shrugs.
“Oh.” Max says.
Billy looks at her in the rear view mirror. “It’s not your fault, Max.”
She makes a soft noise and slumps down in her seat.
Billy turns into the mall parking lot and manages to find a space pretty close to the entrance.
Will isn’t a huge fan of the mall, it’s too bright, too loud, too full of people. He stays close to Billy as he strides through the mall, he’s still walking a little funny but he radiates ‘don’t fuck with me’ energy and people part like the red sea for him. The four of them head straight for Scoops Ahoy.
“Hey guys!” Steve grins widely when he sees them, his sailor hat sitting at a jaunty angle on his poofy hair. “Hey Billy.” His smiles softens and he looks Billy up and down.
“Hey pretty boy.” Billy replies with a smirk.
Wow, they are not subtle. Will elbows Billy in his side.
He looks down at Will who nods towards the ice cream. “Oh right. What do you guys want? My treat.”
“You must have these flavours memorised by now.” Steve laughs.
“I do.” El says, without irony. “Can I get a cookies and cream cone?”
“A scoop of strawberry and a scoop of fudge in a cup, please.” Max says, quieter than usual.
“Sure thing.” Steve says, twirling his ice cream scoop around his finger like a gun.
“What about you, big guy?” Steve points his scooper at Will after serving the girls.
“Raspberry Ripple?” Will says. “In a cup.”
Steve spins his scooper again and a moment later hands Will his ice cream and a yellow plastic spoon.
“Rocky Road?” He asks Billy.
“You know it.” Billy says. “You gonna give me a cherry?” He smirks and Will takes that as his cue to go.
El and Max have found an empty booth and are sitting down eating their ice cream, though Max is mostly stirring hers around.
“Are you OK, Max?” Will asks.
“Yeah, I just need to talk to Billy.” She says.
The older boy joins them a moment later, he has a couple of scoops of Rocky Road in a cup with a single red cherry on top. He sits beside Will and opposite Max where he has a good view of the counter and Steve.
Will thinks that something must have changed between them. They’re certainly looking at each other as though they’re more than just friends.
“I’m sorry, Billy.” Max suddenly blurts out, looking up at him through her lashes.
Billy blinks a couple of times looking utterly surprised. “What for?” He says.
Max drops her eyes to her rapidly melting ice cream and tries for a casual shrug. “I don’t know.” She replies. “Everything?”
Billy pauses for a long moment, looking at his step sister. Will watches him, wondering what he’ll do.
“Me too. I’m sorry, Max.” Billy says. “For everything.”
Max looks up at him with a small smile and she sniffs like she’s trying not to cry. Billy smiles back at her, gives her a wink and carefully picks up his red cherry and places it on her ice cream.
“Friends?” Billy asks.
Max shakes her head, “I was kinda looking for a brother.”
Billy huffs a laugh, “I guess I could do that.”
They take a moment just looking at each other and it’s like an understanding passes between them and the air feels lighter, like they’re getting a new start and it’s because they’ve decided they deserve one.
They all turn back to their ice creams. Billy is about halfway through his scoops of Rocky Road when he suddenly stands up.
“I’ll be back in a minute.” He says.
Will watches him walk up to the counter and say something to Steve before they both head through the staff door. Robin, Steve’s co-worker, rolls her eyes so hard it must hurt.
Yep, not subtle at all.
Will spends the next 10 minutes trying to convince Max and El to have another full D&D day tomorrow but they’re not having any of it. El’s not a big fan because she’s still a beginner and Max complains that it’s too easy with a smirking grin and Will can’t believe that she and Billy aren’t actually related.
“Billy’s been gone a while.” Max says, reaching over to dip her finger in Billy’s melted ice cream.
“Me and Max are going to the record store over there.” El says, in a tone that brokers no argument and pointing across the way.
Will nods, “I’ll go find Billy.”
Robin is busily serving customers when Will gets to the counter.
“They’re in the back, tell Steve to get his ass out here.” She hisses.
Will pushes open the door slowly, not sure what he’s going to walk in on. As it turns out it’s Billy sitting on a little table with Steve standing between his legs. Billy’s arms are wrapped around Steve’s neck and Steve has one hand on Billy’s hip and the other on his stomach and they’re kissing. Soft quick kisses, followed by gentle nose nuzzles, Eskimo kisses his mom always calls them.
“Stevie.” Billy says, his voice is low and careful, maybe a little unsure.
But Will doesn’t know what he has to be unsure about, they look kind of beautiful together. The way they’re positioned shows the affection they clearly have for each other.
Steve presses a kiss to Billy’s cheek.
“Feel better?” He asks, stroking Billy’s stomach under his t-shirt.
“Yeah, I could still feel her touching me.” Billy says, his fingers brushing through Steve’s hair.
He leans in to kiss Steve again and Will clears his throat.
“Will!” Billy’s eyes widen and the expression on his face is pure panic and terror and that image is going to haunt Will.
“I won’t tell anyone.” Will says immediately, wanting to reassure Billy. They keep each others secrets, don’t they?
He drops his arms from around Steve’s shoulders and Steve steps away from him. “No, I know you won’t.” Billy says, the terror slowly slipping away from his face.
“I feel like I’m missing something.” Steve says, looking between them.
Will isn’t sure that he wants Steve to know about him. At least not yet, he wants to pluck up the courage to tell his mom first.
“That’s just between us Williams.” Billy says, he slides off the table with a wince.
Steve just nods. “OK. Are you still hurting?” He touches the small of Billy’s back.
“I’m fine.” Billy says. “You guys ready to go?”
“Yeah, Max and El have gone to the music store.” Will says. “I’ll wait out here for you, Robin says you need to get back to work, Steve.”
Steve smiles, “We’ll be right out.”
Will looks over his shoulder as he leaves and sees Steve kiss Billy on the cheek. It’s so sweet and soft and Billy’s smile is bright and happy. It makes Will’s chest ache for something like that for himself.
He knows he’s only young and he has plenty of time for relationships and love but it’s hard seeing his friends with girlfriends and even though he knows it’s mostly innocent, kisses and hand holding, it’s something he wants. It does make him feel better to know that Billy’s just like him but it’s hard knowing that he’ll need to wait so much longer than all his friends for a first boyfriend, for a first relationship, for a first love. Or at least a first love that loves him back.
He’s happy for Billy, he seems sort of sad so often but just then with Steve he was smiling and happy. And the way they were touching each other was careful and caring and so lovely and they suit each other.
Steve always seems kind of lonely, in that big house all by himself. The way he watches over Will and his friends, especially Dustin, just makes it seem like he wants someone to care for. And really, Billy seems like someone who needs to be cared for. Like no one has in a really long time. Like he’s almost never cared about himself, not in the ways that matter.
A moment later and Billy and Steve emerge from the staff room, Billy winks at Steve before he claps a hand on Will’s shoulder.
“Bye guys!” Will calls as they leave.
They catch up with El and Max looking at Blondie tapes and Billy treats them to a copy of Atomic.
As they’re walking out of the Mall a woman Will vaguely recognises steps in front of them.
“Billy!” She says with a big smile.
“Mrs Cooper, hi.” Billy glances at her and then looks away, like he’s trying not to catch her eye.
“How nice to see you away from the pool.” She smiles widely and reaches out to touch his arm.
Will frowns and grabs hold of Billy’s wrist tugging him away from her.
“C’mon Billy, we gotta go!” Will says, in his best whining kid voice.
Billy shrugs, allowing Will to drag him away as fast as possible.
“Jeez! How often does that happen?!” Will says, continuing to pull Billy after him just in case.
“Couple times a week.” Billy answers.
Max rolls her eyes, “Creepy old ladies.”
Billy just shrugs and allows Will to drag him back to the Camaro.
“OK, where am I dropping you guys?” Billy asks, starting the car.
“El’s house.” Max says.
“Home please.” Will answers, he’s hungry and he has a painting to finish.
Billy drops Max and El at Hopper's cabin, the Chief giving Will and Billy a brief wave as they leave.
Will waits until they’re on the main road to ask.
“Are you and Steve boyfriends?”
Billy sighs, like he’d been expecting the question. “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”
How can that be true, they looked so close, so affectionate. “Why?”
“I don’t think Steve wants that with me.” Billy says with shrug that is clearly not casual at all. “And I think I messed things up today anyway. I shouldn’t have told him about Karen Wheeler.”
“But wasn’t he making you feel better?” At least that’s what Will saw.
“Yeah, but she was right. I asked for it. I was showing off, I wanted their attention and I guess I was flirting. And I flirted with her before, when I wanted to know where Max was. Why would Steve want someone who flirts with other people?” Billy sighs, deflating in his seat.
He’d been so happy just a few minutes ago at the mall and now he looks like he’s already lost everything. Clearly he didn’t see the way Steve had looked at him, like he’d hung the moon or something, and Will remembers that Steve had just laughed when he’d seen all those moms staring after Billy that day when he’d taken them all to the pool. He doesn’t think that Steve would blame Billy at all.
Billy glances over at Will. “Anyway forget about all that. You’re too young for this stuff.”
Billy pulls in front of his house. He takes a deep breath and it’s as though all the sadness that had been there just a moment ago was gone and Billy’s face was suddenly blank, his blue eyes hooded. It made Will feel strange how easily he could do it. Anyone looking at him would never think that he was upset at all.
“See you on Monday?”
“Sure thing. Get your mom to make your hair appointment for in the morning if she can. I mean, if you still want me to take you?” Billy says.
“Of course,” Will replies. “I’ll tell her.”
“OK. Goodbye William.” He winks.
“Goodbye William.” Will hops out of the car with his bag and waves to Billy as he leaves.
He makes himself a grilled cheese and heads to his room. He’s got a big painting to finish, one of himself and all his friends as knights fighting a dragon, but that’s not what he wants to work on right now. He pulls out a smaller sketchbook and a pack of pencils and begins to draw.
It’s an image he can’t get out of his head, the way Steve was standing between Billy’s legs, the way they were holding each other. It was so careful and Will had seen the way Steve had been with Nancy and this wasn’t the same. Nancy never wanted to be taken care of, she didn’t need it. But Billy does, even Will can see that.
Will starts with the line of Steve’s back and the dip at his waist. He loses track of time completely and doesn’t realise how many hours have passed until his mom is knocking on his bedroom door.
“Hi honey, how’s your day been?” She asks, she looks tired.
“Good.” Will says, he closes the sketchbook not wanting his mother to see.
“Have you eaten yet?” She asks.
“Not since lunch.” He follows her into the kitchen. “Can we have spaghetti and meatballs?”
“Sure.” She takes some pre-made meatballs from the freezer.
Will is stirring tomato sauce and his mom is browning the meatballs.
He’s not sure whether to say, to ask his mom about Billy or not. It’s not really his business. But it just doesn’t sit right in his stomach.
“Mom? Can I ask you something?”
“Of course, honey.” She checks on the spaghetti.
“Say I was maybe... Showing off for somebody, like I wanted their attention. And maybe, even if I didn’t really mean to, they thought I was flirting with them.” Will says slowly.
“OK...” She looks at him funny.
“Would it be OK for that person to, say... Touch my arm or somewhere else even though I don’t really want them to?” Will asks, he doesn’t want Billy to be upset with him but he doesn’t think he can pretend that he didn’t see it happen either. “Would it be my fault?”
“Who’s been touching you, baby?” His mom asks, suddenly alarmed. “No one is allowed to touch you without your permission, no matter what. Even if you initially wanted their attention, even if they thought you were flirting with them. If you haven’t said it’s OK, then it’s not OK.”
“It’s not me, don’t worry.”
“Then who is it? It’s not Jane or Max is it?!” She’s panicking a little now.
“No, no! It’s Billy.” Will says, not wanting to let his mom get anymore upset.
“Billy?”
“Yeah, some of the moms who bring their kids to the pool, they watch him. And then today at the pool Mrs Wheeler was... Touching him even though he didn’t want it and then at the mall Mrs Cooper tried to grab his arm too!” Will says, indignant. “He says it was his own fault but I don’t think it was.”
“And he definitely didn’t want these women –“
“No! He told me it happens all the time but he doesn’t like it.” Will says.
“Then that’s not OK, and it’s not his fault, he’s barely 18 years old. You’re sure it was Karen Wheeler?” His mom frowns.
Will nods, “I saw her. She put her hand under his tank top.”
His mother hums, “Why would he say it’s his fault?”
“Because he says he flirted with her before. When he was looking for Max, I think he means the night he came here and fought with Steve.” Will says, he helps his mom plate the spaghetti, meatballs and sauce. She puts a plate in the oven for Jonathan and the two of them sit down at the table to eat.
“She should have gone home with him. Her mother must have been worried sick.” She says, swirling spaghetti around her fork.
Will nods. “You won’t say anything to Billy, will you?”
“No, not to Billy.” She says, a strange determined look on her face. “Did you have a fun day at the pool at least?”
“Yeah, El’s getting really good at swimming now!”
**
Wills weekend is pretty quiet, on Saturday he works on his art, his big painting and his sketch, and in the evening he watches a couple of movies with his mom.
Sunday morning he’s able to spend some time with Jonathan. They listen to music in the back yard on Jonathan’s boombox and it feels so good to talk to his brother.
Jonathan looks tired but happy. Will knows he’s doing something that he loves and that he’s with someone he loves and who loves him, at least judging by the number of times he’s seen Nancy running past his window in the last week.
Will spends most of Sunday afternoon on Weathertop with Dustin trying to contact Suzie through Cerebro.
“Tell me again why you can’t just call her?” Will asks, picking at the grass.
“I told you, her parents are really religious and they don’t want her talking to boys.” Dustin says, adjusting the dials again.
“But didn’t they send her to camp with boys?” Will says, confused.
“Yeah. Don’t think about it too hard.” Dustin replies, giving up on the dials and flopping onto his back.
“And she’s definitely real?” Will says, he’s pretty sure she is real by now but he likes making fun of Dustin, he’s so easily riled.
“Oh my god! Yes!” Dustin yells and Will laughs.
**
At 9.30 Monday morning Billy beeps his horn and Will folds the picture of James Dean into his pocket. He locks the front door and hops into the Camaro.
“Ready?” Billy asks, reaching over and tousling Wills hair.
Will slaps at his hand. “I’m nervous.” He says.
“You’re going to look great. Trust me.” Billy speeds off from the house.
Will can feel the anxiety bubbles in his stomach, he’s never even been to a barber before never mind a beauty parlour. What if they laugh at him?
“It’s gonna be fine.” Billy says, like he can read Will’s mind. Billy wouldn’t let them laugh at him, he’s sure of that.
They pull up at the strip mall.
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want.” Billy says, he reaches over and drops a hand on Will’s shoulder.
It’s comforting and Will does want to do this. He wants to look different, better, more himself.
“Let’s go.” Will gets out of the car and hears Billy chuckle behind him as he leads the way into the parlour.
“Billy!” A tall red haired young woman abandons the head of hair she’s cutting and steps over to them, kissing Billy on the cheek.
“Hi Michelle.” Billy smiles.
“I didn’t see your name on our appointments today?” She says, reaching up to touch Billy’s curls.
Billy drops his hands onto Will’s shoulders. “This is my friend Will. He wants a haircut.”
Michelle looks down at him and immediately switches her fingers from Billy’s hair to his. “You definitely need a cut.” She smiles, her perfume is strong and flowery.
“Hi.” Will manages to get out, he wants this but his stomach still flutters.
Michelle smiles, “Little nervous, huh? Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of you. Why don’t you take a seat next to Mrs Quinn?”
Will trips over his own feet as he makes his way over to the seat Michelle pointed out. Mrs Quinn briefly looks over at him and then goes back to her magazine.
“Chrissy!” Michelle calls, stepping behind Mrs Quinn again. “I’m going to finish off Mrs Quinn and then I’ll get to you. Chrissy’ll wash your hair first.”
Will nods, he can see Billy move to sit on a little pink sofa by the window to wait for him, but he smiles widely when a bouncy blonde teenage girl appears from the back.
“Hey, Chrissy.” Billy says.
Chrissy grins and skips over to him, sits down on the pink sofa, “Hi Billy. How are you?”
“I’m good. I haven’t seen you at the pool with the other girls?”
“Oh, I’m not a good swimmer.” Chrissy says, sort of folding in on herself. “Besides I’ve been working.”
“I thought you’d be at your old man’s place.” Billy says, he talks to her soft and careful like how he talks to El.
“Around those creepy old guys all day? No thanks.” Chrissy cringes, “Besides Michelle pays better.”
“Michelle won’t be paying you at all unless you get back to washing hair.” Michelle says, picking up and plugging in a curler.
Chrissy laughs and grabs a towel, leading Will over to the funny shaped sinks.
Chrissy chats to him as she washes his hair with peach scented shampoo, she talks about him starting high school and what lessons he might look forward to. She’s sweet and her smile is kind but she seems delicate somehow, maybe it’s just the thinness of her wrists or sadness in her eyes that somehow reminds him of Billy, but she seems like she needs extra care.
Despite her skinniness her fingers are strong and she massages his scalp as she washes and it feels really nice. She wraps a towel around his head and a black cape around his neck that she ties at the back and he sits back down in the seat beside Mrs Quinn.
After Mrs Quinn has paid Michelle steps up behind him and rubs his hair with the towel.
“So, what are we doing for you today?” She asks with a smile.
“This please?” Will reaches into his pocket for the picture of James Dean.
“Good choice.” She says, picking up her scissors.
Will closes his eyes as she combs out his hair and starts to cut.
The scissors make terrifying snicking noises and Will slowly opens his eyes. Michelle is concentrating on his hair and Chrissy is sitting next to Billy again. They’re talking quietly and looking through a copy of US magazine. Chrissy covers her mouth as she laughs at something Billy says.
Billy seems to get along with most people he meets, so what was the problem between him and Steve? And he always seems sort of lonely despite the fact that a lot of people seem to like him. Will wonders if it’s self imposed?
Chrissy suddenly giggles and slaps Billy on the arm, he smiles and from here Will can really see the difference in his smiles at Chrissy or himself or El and the smiles he gives to Steve. It’s surprising how different it is. They must still be together because Billy looks pretty happy today, he thinks that he was probably right and Steve doesn’t blame Billy at all for what Mrs Wheeler was doing.
Billy points at something in the magazine and Chrissy turns bright pink.
“Billy!”
“Stop corrupting her!” Michelle pipes up, she turns to point her scissors at Billy.
“I don’t think she’s as innocent as she seems.” Billy says with a smirk, nudging Chrissy.
Chrissy just blushes a bit deeper.
Michelle shakes her head and turns back to Will’s hair. Once she’s finished cutting she pauses and rests her hands on his shoulders.
“Now, I’m going to show you how to do this at home.”
Will nods, there’s some snippets of hair itching on his cheek and he’s desperate to brush them away but his hands are trapped beneath the cape.
Michelle shows him some serum that she uses, one pump before running it through his shorter hair, she takes the blow dryer and a round brush and shows him the way to dry it. She even says he can let his hair dry naturally and just use the blow dryer to finish it into a style. She finishes off with a couple of puffs of hairspray and let’s him look in the mirror at his new haircut.
Will grins at himself. He looks so different. He looks good! Or, at least, he thinks he does.
“What do you think?” He asks Billy through the mirror.
“You look great, it suits you.” Billy grins. “Very handsome.” He winks.
“Thank you Michelle.” Will turns his head this way and that, looking at his new hair.
Michelle walks away and Chrissy bops over to help him off with his cape and she grabs a soft brush and brushes the hair off his neck and face.
“You look really good.” She whispers with a smile.
“Thank you.” Will replies, she’s so sweet and pretty.
“C'mon Will.” Billy gestures towards the door. “Thanks ladies! Until next time!”
Michelle rolls her eyes and smiles and Chrissy waves as he follows Billy out.
“Wait. Did we pay?” Will suddenly realises, getting into the car.
Billy laughs, “I paid.”
“But my mom gave me money.” Will says, clicking his seatbelt into place.
“Keep it for the arcade.” Billy shrugs, “You want a milkshake?”
“Sure.”
Billy drives them over to Molly's Diner and they sit down at a booth away from the counter and the other customers, though there aren’t many of them, a couple of girls at the counter drinking soda floats, a couple of older men eating breakfast together and Officer Callahan reading a newspaper and eating pancakes.
“What can I get you guys?” Their waitress has a name badge that reads Jess and Will vaguely recognises her, he thinks she might have worked at the furniture store before it closed down because of the mall.
“Fries and a strawberry milkshake.” Will says.
“Same but a chocolate milkshake.” Billy smiles and winks at her.
Jess smiles back at him, “Be right back.”
Will waits until the coast is clear before asking, “So... are you and Steve still together?”
Billy glances around. “Yeah, we are.” His smile is soft and he blushes a little under his freckles.
“I knew he wouldn’t blame you.” Will says, Steve is a better person than that.
“Yeah, well. I get blamed for a lot of things that aren’t technically my fault.” Billy says.
“That doesn’t make it right. My mom says so.”
“Well then it must be true.” Billy chuckles.
“Are you boyfriends?” Will asks, he wants them to be together and make each other happy.
“I’m not sure.” Billy shrugs.
“Do you wanna be?” Will says.
Billy shrugs again, like he’s trying very hard to be casual. “I guess so.”
“Why don’t you ask him?”
Billy seems to close in on himself a little, he looks as delicate as Chrissy. “What if... What if he says no?”
“I don’t think he would Billy.” Will wants to reach over and hug him, “I can see he really likes you.”
“If he asked me I’d say yes.” Billy says, but quickly shuts down when the waitress returns with their shakes.
Will’s milkshake is bright pink, with whipped cream and cherries on top. Billy’s has the same toppings and he pops a cherry into his mouth.
“I’m glad you’re happy Billy.” Will says, Billy often seems sad and Will remembers how Billy had said that he hated himself. Having a boyfriend doesn’t fix everything, of course Will knows that, but Billy does seem lighter despite his insecurities.
Will would never have imagined that this is what Billy was really like from what Max and the others had told him.
“Thank you.” Billy says sincerely. “I don’t have many people rooting for my happiness, so it means a lot.” He winks at Will.
Will shrugs, “You’re my friend Billy.”
Billy nods, he bites his bottom lip and his eyes fill up, Will tries to casually look away out the window to give Billy a moment.
Max often talked like Billy was blank, just a being of anger and rage and nothing else, but Will thinks that Billy is the opposite. He feels everything, and so deeply that he needs to hide it behind that anger so other people won’t see it. Will isn’t exactly sure why Billy needs to hide his feelings, or who he needs to hide them from, but he doesn’t think he’s wrong.
“Your fries.” Jess says, dropping the two baskets of fries in front of them. “Can I get you guys anything else?”
“I think we’re good.” Billy says, back to his usual self.
Billy drizzles ketchup all over his fries while Will dips his. Will likes their differences and the way Billy doesn’t really notice or point it out and make fun the way Dustin often does.
“Those girls keep looking at you.” Billy says, unsubtly pointing a fry.
When Will looks over the girls quickly turn away.
“They’re probably looking at you.” Will says.
Billy shakes his head, “Trust me, I know when people are looking at me.”
Will blushes as he glances over and the two girls are looking at him again. He recognises them from school but isn’t sure of their names.
It’s strange to be looked at. He’s not interested in girls, obviously, but to have anyone show an interest in him is kind of exciting.
“That haircut makes a difference, huh?” Billy grins.
Will blushes deeper and brushes a hand over his little quiff. The girls at the counter smile and giggle.
Will jumps in surprise when Officer Callahan’s radio suddenly crackles to life.
“What?” Callahan says, jumping to his feet. “Oh my god! I’ll be right there.” He pulls on his jacket and spills his coffee as he shoves his chair out. “The mall’s on fire!” He shouts as he dashes out of the diner.
“Steve’s at work.” Billy says, going pale.
“I think Max and Lucas went to the movies.” Will bites his lip.
“What?! We gotta go.” Billy stands up, tosses some money on the table and rushes out, Will hot on his heels.
Billy speeds the whole way to the mall, they can see the smoke cloud getting larger and larger and Filling up more of the sky as they get closer.
There are already a number of fire engines, ambulances and police cars in front of the mall and there are tons of people standing around the parking lot.
Billy parks haphazardly and they jump out of the car. Billy drops a hand on Will’s shoulder and keeps a tight hold of him as they push through the crowd.
“Steve! Max!” Billy shouts.
Will tries to see past the groups of people. The firefighters are shouting to each other and spraying huge jets of water. Will can see the flames engulfing the front of the mall and thick black smoke pouring into the sky.
“Steve! Max Mayfield!” Billy yells again.
“Billy!”
Will hears Steve yell, Billy keeps a hold of him and turns him towards the sound of Steve’s voice.
Steve and Robin are standing together and Steve walks quickly towards them as soon as he spots them. He wraps his arms around Billy immediately and though Billy freezes for a moment he quickly returns Steve’s embrace and slumps a little against him in relief.
“Are you OK Robin?” Will asks, the older girl is looking a little shell shocked.
“Yeah, someone stepped on my foot as we were evacuating.” She says, wiggling her right foot around. “The fire started sort of behind us, near the movie theatre.”
“Max and Lucas were at the movies.” Billy says, pulling back from Steve, though Steve keeps a hand on the small of Billy’s back.
“We’ll look for them.” Steve says, “Are you OK to walk?” He asks Robin.
Robin nods, “I’ll be fine.”
“Max!”
“Lucas!”
“Max Mayfield!”
Their little group pushes through the crowd, keeping an eye out for Max's bright hair. More fire engines and ambulances arrive as the fire continues to rage. Will coughs as a sudden wind blows the smoke across the parking lot.
“Steve!” Lucas shouts, he’s standing beside an ambulance and as they get closer Max comes into view, sitting in the back.
She’s holding herself still while an EMT tightly wraps her wrist in bandages.
“What happened?” Billy demands, jumping up into the ambulance to sit beside her.
Max slumps into him, tucking herself into his shoulder.
“We were in the theatre.” Max starts, wincing a bit in pain. “And the fire alarm went off and as we were leaving this crazy lady pushed me over and I fell on my hand.”
“Just a sprain, she’s very lucky,” The EMT says, he finishes wrapping her wrist and then gives her a couple of pills and a cup of water.
“What is that?” Billy asks, putting his hand out to stop her swallowing the pills.
“Tylenol.” The EMT smiles. “That’s all she needs and some rest for a few days. You might have some swelling and bruising.”
She nods and quickly knocks back the pills.
“Anyone else hurt?” The EMT asks.
“Robin hurt her foot.” Steve says, he’s propping her up slightly.
“I’m fine, I’m sure there are others that are worse off.” Robin brushes off.
“It doesn’t matter. Come on up here.” He says.
Max and Billy swap places with Robin. Max sticks close to Billy and Billy sticks close to Steve.
“Hey! I like your hair!” Max grins, holding her bandaged wrist close to her body.
“Thanks.” Will ducks his head.
“Oh my god! Look!” Lucas shouts, pointing towards the mall.
The front doorway suddenly collapses, pulling the glass roof down with it in a huge noise of shattering glass and concrete, a massive plume of smoke follows.
“My god.” Steve says, he has a hand gripping the back of Billy’s shirt. “How did this happen?”
“They threw this place up in like 10 minutes.” Billy says, “It’s probably not up to code.”
Will has to agree. Eight months isn’t enough time to build a house, let alone a mall.
“Hey guys!” Hopper is striding towards them looking harassed. “Everyone OK?” He looks pointedly at Max’s arm.
“I’m OK.” She says, leaning heavily against Billy and he has a hand on the nape of her neck.
“That’s good. Think you could maybe get out of here?” He says, then gets distracted by some stupid kids trying to get closer. “Hey, go home you idiots!”
“We’ll go now Hop.” Steve says.
Lucas steps forward to help Robin out of the ambulance. “You OK?”
“Just bruised.” She smiles.
“Is that Nancy and Jonathan?” Steve points.
About 20 feet away Wills brother is snapping pictures of the fire while Nancy has her little notebook out, questioning people in the crowd.
Will walks over, everyone else following, Billy keeping hold of Max and Lucas and Steve helping Robin hobble over.
“Jonathan!” Will shouts.
“Hey Will! Your hair looks great!” Jonathan says snapping a picture of him.
“Thanks, Hopper says we have go.” Will replies, there’s another horrific crunching noise as more of the mall collapses in on itself.
“El’s at our house with Mike.” Nancy pipes up, her pen still at the ready. “I hope no one got trapped inside.”
Will tries not to think about that, he’d rather believe that everyone got out when the alarms went off. Even though he already knows that life is never that kind.
“Yeah.” Steve says, “C'mon guys. Let’s get out of the way.”
“Shall we all go to Mike’s place?” Lucas suggests.
Will sees Steve and Billy look at each other and Billy subtly shakes his head.
“Nah, the Wheelers don’t want all of us piling into their house, we’ll go to my place. I have a radio there too.” Steve says in a voice that brokers no argument.
Everyone nods and Billy says, “Meet you there.”
Will goes with Billy and Max, who doesn’t seem to want to be separated from her brother. Lucas dithers for a moment before eventually following Max. Billy says nothing just gets them back to the Camaro.
More fire engines pile into the parking lot and the wind blows more smoke across. Just a couple of days ago Will was eating ice cream and looking at records and now it’s all gone.
“Everyone OK?” Billy asks, Will and Lucas nods from the back seat, Max taking up the passenger space. “Max?” Billy asks.
“My wrist hurts.” She says, cradling it in her lap.
“You can lie down when we get to Steve’s.” Billy says, patting her knee before carefully picking his way out of the parking lot.
They have to wait a few minutes in Steve’s driveway before he turns up with Robin.
Max immediately lies down on the couch in the den while Robin takes the reclining chair propping her foot up. Will and Lucas find Steve’s radio and contact the others and Billy and Steve dig out some snacks for them all. Steve pulls out a frozen bag of peas for Max and a bag of green beans for Robin.
Within an hour the whole party is at Steve’s watching the mall continue to burn on the news. So far they think at least three people have died and it makes Will feel queasy. A lot of people are blaming the Mayor.
“Look it’s Hop!” Dustin shouts as the news reporter interviews the Chief.
El shuffles closer to the TV and Steve turns up the volume.
Hop gives short, clipped answers, grumpy and stern and sounds like he blames the Mayor too.
Will doesn’t really understand the politics and El is just excited to see Hop on TV. Will gets up to get another drink and sees Billy and Steve in the kitchen.
“We can’t tell my Dad she was at the mall.” Billy says, running a stressed hand through his hair. “He’ll kill me.”
“We can say she was at the arcade, or she fell off her skateboard. It’ll be fine.” Steve replies, one of his hands is gripping Billy’s shirt, keeping him close.
Billy nods and sighs heavily.
Will bites his lip, maybe he and Billy have even more in common than he thought. Except Billy still has to live with his father. Will realises he’s never asked about Billy’s mom. Is she even still alive?
At around 6.30pm Billy rouses Max from her half sleeping state.
“Can’t avoid it anymore, we gotta go home.” He says.
Max nods, wincing as she sits up. Billy and Steve divide the drop offs, Billy takes Robin as she lives closer to them, the older boys helping her into the front of the Camaro, Max sliding into the back. Billy touches Steve on the shoulder and gives Will a wink as they drive away.
Everyone else piles into Steve’s Beemer, El is going to stay at the Wheelers until Hopper is let off duty, so he drops Mike, El and Lucas off first. El compliments Will’s hair again as she gets out of the car and Will smiles. It still feels strange to have his hair off his forehead.
Dustin starts jabbering about Cerebro again, how he’s found a way to make it more powerful.
“So now everyone has to come and talk to her, she’s so awesome guys. You can come too Steve, now that you don’t have a job.”
“Yeah, thanks buddy.” Steve says.
Will laughs.
When they pull in front of Dustin’s house Mrs Henderson comes bustling out carrying a tupperware of cookies and brownies and insistently pushes it into Steve’s hands.
“Nice hair, honey.” She smiles at Will as Dustin pulls her back into the house.
Will climbs into the passenger seat.
“Hey! Watch the shoes!” Steve grumbles, passing him the tupperware box.
Will bites into a cookie and waits for Steve to talk, he keeps looking over at Will, glancing out of the corner of his eye.
Steve finally clears his throat, “So you know about Billy and me?”
“I won’t tell anyone.” Will says, he knows how important secrecy can be.
Steve shakes his head, “I don’t care about that.”
“You don’t?” Will says, surprised.
“No. I don’t care what people think anymore, there are worse things out there.” Steve says, looking over at Will pointedly and Will supposes that he’s right. “But Billy doesn’t want his dad to find out... He’s not a good guy.”
Will nods, he’s starting to get that.
“You must have known before you saw us together, I know you and Billy are friends now, and I don’t want you to tell me his secrets or anything. But...” Steve sighs.
“He really likes you.” Will says, he feels like one of them has to be more forward, take the bull by the horns. And it has to be Steve because Billy’s too scared.
“Yeah?” Steve smiles. “I... Me too.”
“He’s a little scared, I think.” Will says, not wanting to betray Billy’s confidence. “And I think you need to do things first. You know?”
“Yeah, yeah. I think you’re right.” Steve reaches to pat him on the shoulder and he pulls in front of Will’s house, his moms car is already parked.
Will passes the tupperware to Steve but he shakes his head.
“You guys keep it, I still have some of Mrs Hendersons cookies at home.” He smiles.
Will opens the door, but doesn’t get out of the car. “Steve.”
“Yeah?”
“Be good to Billy. He’s... Not as tough as he seems.” Will says.
“I know. I will.” Steve says and Will believes him.
When Will enters the house he can smell his mom’s cooking and despite all the snacking at Steve’s house his stomach rumbles.
“Mom?”
“Hey sweetie, did you hear about the mall?” She calls, stepping out of the kitchen. “Oh my gosh, you look so handsome!”
Will grins and gives in to her fussing, after all he’s pretty lucky to have her.