spin the bottle// byler

iii.i. (reunity)

"do any of you guys remember what steve's car looks like?" jonathan asks, scanning the parking lot for something familiar.

we left the hotel this morning at 7 AM after i literally dragged everyone out of bed (it's not my fault they decided against the hotel-provided wake-up call, and besides if we wanted to get to will before late tonight, we had to leave that early). now, it's 5 PM and we're in truth or consequences, new mexico trying to find them. they're here somewhere.

"um, not really. i think it could've been blue? or was it silver? it was definitely-"

"there! there it is!" i interrupt nancy and point at steve's red BMW, which i see steve leaning against smoking a cigarette. there's someone standing next to him and it's not dustin nor is it will. it kind of, almost, looks like billy? oh, it is billy.

max is too preoccupied with her conversation with lucas and el about god knows what to even notice her brother, who was presumably dead by the way, standing just over there, very much alive. his arms look a little bigger, his hair a little longer, overall he just looks more grown up. but, he's still billy. he's got that half-buttoned shirt, those same blue jeans, and like steve, a cigarette between his lips.

jonathan pulls into a spot next to steve's car. steve looks a little pissed at first that someone would have the audacity to park so close to him but then he sees nancy's little wave and he immediately runs to the car to greet us.

"oh my god! guys!" he pulls the door to the backseat open and peeks in. lucas, having not been paying attention to anything other than his conversation with the girls for the past hour jumps a bit since it was his door steve threw open. he blinks a few times before it processes.

"hey!" lucas greets briefly before beginning to unbuckle his seatbelt, the girls and I doing the same.

then, billy puts a hand on steve's shoulder and peeks down to greet us as well.

"long time no see, kiddos. maxine." he offers a warm smile to max, whose eyes grow just about 4 times their size, and she all but knocks el over to get out of the car.

she's stumbling like she drunk over to him and when she gets to him, she punches him in the stomach so he doubles over then she wraps her arms around his neck. she's crying silently, but we all can tell how much she missed him, how relieved she is that he's not dead.

"billy, i-" she clutches onto him like he might disappear, "you were dead. we saw you and you were, you were dead."

he pulls away from the embrace just enough to look at her and if i didn't know any better, i would say billy is crying, too.

i get so caught up in their reunion that i forget i have someone waiting for me, too.

"will!" i exclaim and climb over el to get out of the car. she's gotta learn how to get out faster.

i run to steve's car and throw open the door to the backseat and there he is.

he looks at me, eyes wide, it's like he's seeing me for the first time, it's like i'm seeing him for the first time. it feels like falling into bed on a cold new years' eve, like that moment before you blow the petals off of a dandelion, the days that follow the nights you spend in your lover's bed, it feels like i'm coming home.

he grabs my hand and pulls me into the car, onto his lap, and he buries his head in my shoulder. my hand rests on the back of his neck, i have to hold him just to make sure this is real. he's really here this time. no more almost meetings in that in-between place, no more nights losing sleep because what if he's not okay, no more police investigations that pull me out of class, no more missing him, only kissing him, which reminds me-