THE GOLD | b. hargrove

valentine's day

𝗩𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗘'𝗦 𝗗𝗔𝗬
𝟭𝟰𝘁𝗵 𝗙𝗲𝗯𝗿𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟱

"D'you wanna hang out tonight?" Billy was leaning against the row of lockers as Harriet threw her books into her own, not caring about the students lingering waiting for him to move so they could access them.

"You know today is Valentine's day, right?" The girl
glanced up from her overfilled bag, raising an eyebrow at Billy who seemed nonchalant about his question.

"So?" The halls were plastered with paper hearts and handmade decorations, it didn't take a genius to work out what day it was. Billy however, didn't care.

"Are you asking me to be your Valentine?" She teased, poking him in his shoulder as she grinned up at him.

"No, I'm asking if you want to hang out." He rolled his eyes at her question. The day he would ask a girl to be his valentine would surely be the day that he'll freezes over.

"Well what do you wanna do?" She crammed the last of her belongings into the locker, quickly closing the door so nothing could spill out onto the floor.

"Shit Harry I don't know, didn't realise I'd asked such a complex question." He pried himself away from the cold metal of the lockers, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Surprised you don't have a full schedule tonight. Girls love a romantic gesture." She continued her taunting as they walked down the hall towards the large double doors that led to the car park.

"If you keep fuckin' about maybe I will." Since he and Harriet had started seeing more of each other, Billy had calmed down with his previously active dating life. If you could call it dating. His friends has picked up on it and started asking questions but he'd simply dismissed them, something about how most the girls in the school weren't worth his time anyway.

Harriet had picked up on it too, though she was sure Billy would always charm his way through life she'd noticed the lack of attention he payed to the girls who fawned over him. She always changed the subject when Steve would bring their closeness up, given he was less than impressed with the situation. She wasn't sure she had an answer for most of his questions anyway.

"I've got an assignment to do so it'd have to be later, like after 7?" She relented, not wanting to push too far in fear of him actually filling his time with someone else even if she wouldn't admit it.

"I always forget you're a nerd. You're lucky you're
hot." He smirked as she narrowed her eyes at him, a flush of red rushing to her cheeks.

"Shut up." As they got to Billy's car Max was already stood next to it, arms crossed over her chest to conserve heat as she waited for the older teenagers to make their way out of the high school.

"Look at you blushing." He pinched her cheek, only making her blush more with the embarrassment of him noticing. She swatted his hand away from her face, Max gagging dramatically at the sight of them.

"You guys are gross. Are you dating yet or what?" She questioned, rolling her eyes. She tried to ignore how Billy and Harriet acted whenever the older girl was tutoring her, she couldn't understand what Harriet would ever see in her step-brother since she was so soft and he definitely wasn't.

"No." They both answered quickly, probably too quickly. Harriet scurried away from Billy and around to the passenger side, allowing Max in first with her head ducked to try and hide the fact her cheeks were still burning.

•••

Harriet was midway through changing when she heard a knock at the front door. She'd lost track of time trying to finish her assignment which meant she was now trying to pull her tights on as quickly as possible without falling flat on her face. She wriggled herself into her denim skirt and tucked her white shirt into it before shrugging Billy's jacket over her shoulders. She shoved her feet into some white trainers, the easiest option compared to something more practical for the February cold, and quickly hurried to the front door.