Elijah remembered why she always wasted money on arcade machines. They played for almost an hour, Elijah beating him at almost every game they tried.
It was only when Elijah saw a girl with red hair that she was reminded of her duties. She informed Eddie (somewhat, leaving a whole branch of details out) that she had to pick up Hargrove and Max that caused the session to come to an end.
“When can I see you again?” Eddie asks her, his voice once again dented with a cheerless tone. “I mean, if that's okay with you. I don't want to intrude or—”
“We can continue hanging out? If you don't mind coming with to pick them up?”
“No, of course not. Let me just fetch my stuff.” He says, walking to one of the arcade machines and picked up his jacket, waltzing back over to Elijah.
“Let's get going then.”
—————————————————— Later ——
Max makes conversation with Elijah and Eddie the whole way home. Since she and Eddie have a common friend in Dustin, the pair found quite a lot of topics to converse about.
Billy however, said nothing, but that wasn't something new by now. All he did was stare out the window (which, again, wasn't something new) and sulked. However, he had a different emanation to him today. His jaw was clenched tightly to his skin and his normal blue eyes were dark—dark with disdain and fury. And Elijah has no idea what brought it over him.
If it wasn't for Eddie, the atmosphere would have been a lot darker, and angrier.
Elijah doesn't understand what's going on with him these days. But then again, she doesn't know what's going on in his life these days, so she has no right to understand.
When they stopped at the Hargrove house, Billy opened his mouth for the first time in two weeks.
“Can I speak with you alone, Harrington?” Besides for the way the words rolled from his tongue, it was clear that it wasn't a question. He was demanding it.
“Are you fucking serio—”
“Now.” He intervenes, rudely and curt. Elijah is getting quite annoyed with his behavior. For innocent bystanders, this looks like two people who are constantly in feud with one another. Two people hung up on each other, like a newlywed couple who just divorced.
When in fact, they were nothing. Not friends, not acquaintances, nothing. After what happened in the car ride back home from the auto shop, Elijah made it clear it him that she doesn't want to converse with him unless it regards his car. This isn't about his car, surely, so she has no reason to comply with his request.
But of course, she's going to anyway.
“I'll be right back Eddie.” She states, Max and Billy getting out of the car. She follows suit, walking behind Billy into a distance for some privacy as Max retreats into the house. Her heart is racing and the palpitations feel like they're going to burst through her lungs. They're going to talk, for the first time in so long.
Billy comes to a halt, swiftly turning on his heels and facing the girl who has been such a grief to him. Who's been such a nagging pain in his ass. Who he's going to talk to, for the first time since their fight.
“Since when are you two close? Is he your boyfriend?” But of course, as Elijah could have predicted, the interaction wasn't going to be friendly.
“What's it to you? So what if he is—”
“Answer my goddamn fucking question. Is he your boyfriend?” He spits again, his voice dripping with a venom that's almost unrecognizable.
“And I want to know, what the hell is it to you.” She strikes once again, Billy's jaw tightening as he clenches his teeth.
“Elijah I swear to God. Either you answer my question or I'll—”
“You'll what? Yank him out of the car and beat him? Yell at me again? Yell at him? What are you gonna do Billy?” She sneered, now matching his angry energy.
“Answer me. Is he your boyfriend?”
“He's not.” She answers curtly. “I don't understand what it's to you Hargrove. You made it very clear that you don't want me in your life—”
“I never said that!” He yells at her, his eyes growing darker as the seconds pass. He's getting frustrated with her.
“You didn't have to! You pushed me away! Your regret—”
“Regret? Regret! What the fuck am I supposed to regret?” She simmers down for a minute, recollecting her thoughts as she tries to process this. Because if it wasn't regret that pushed him away, what was it? “Tell me!”
“Tell you what?” She screams at him, almost at the brink of tears from frustration. She can't do this up and down cycle with him, it's driving her nuts.
“Tell me what I'm supposed to regret! You were the one who told me that you never wanted to talk to me again. So tell me how I pushed you away!”
“Did you not see how you treated me? How you talked to me? You treat me like I'm a goddamn option to you. You decide when we're on good terms. You decide when we can be civil, when we can joke, when we can partake in friendly bickering. You decide when we get to have good day. You decide whether I get to like you, or fucking slap you in front of your friends. I adapt to your behavior, every goddamn time. And then, after everything, you push me away. You don't talk to me the whole day, and the only time you open your mouth is when you're yelling at me. Tell me how that's fair Billy. Explain to me why you want to know what's happening in my life, when you don't want to be apart of it.”
“I didn't say that!” He argues again, Elijah scoffing at his audacity, baffled by his cheek.
“You didn't fucking need to. Your actions made it very clear.” It's the last thing she says before turning around and walking away, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
When she gets in the car, she's a sobbing mess. Eddie doesn't say a single word, he just leans over the gears and pulls her into him, letting her cry and pour her heart out.
Elijah wasn't sure, but she damn well is now. After her long and heartfelt speech, Billy disregarded it as if it meant nothing. It did mean nothing to him.
He made it clear that she was nothing to him.
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