Games| B. Hargrove

15

Nicole found herself listening to Billy that next morning and went to school. He was right, she would be behind if she chose to chicken out of another day of education. Billy only had one more day of suspension, and she was hoping that by the time he came back he'd be off her back and giving her a break. The way the two had been for the past couple days gave her some hope that things would change. However, she knew how unpredictable Billy could be, and she knew that he could switch up how he wanted to act in the blink of an eye.

There was one thing he was right about, and that was the fact that no body was bothering her anymore. It seemed like they all moved on to the next topic of high school drama, and Nicole felt like she could breathe again. Of course, people were still stuck on the old news, but that was bound to happen. It was just nice that not every pair of eyes were on her that school day. Steve was still no where to be seen, and she was beginning to grow worried at his absence.

Nicole thought about making her way to the Harrington household, but that was a far walk and the air was much cooler that day. Eventually he had to show up, so she shouldn't be too worried.. right? Nothing exciting happened, school was back to being the boring routine it once was. Michael was suspended the same day Billy was, so he wouldn't be back until Billy would be. That sure eased the girls nerves quite a bit.

The walk home was long and dreadful. It was beginning to snow by this point, and the clothing nicole decided to wear was not any where near as warm as she hoped it'd be. She should've been smarter when she pulled out her bell bottoms and sweater, at least grabbing a jacket to use in a just in case situation. Billy was watching as the girl arrived, shivering and teeth chattering. Her hands fumbled with the front door knob trying to get inside, but her shaking was making it near impossible to grip the door handle.

He felt awkward staring through his window at the girl. Stalker-ish even, but it wasn't intended to be that way. He just found himself being curious about her well-being. There was no reason why, he didn't necessarily care for the girl, he just liked being informed on everything. So, he waited until he saw the light turn on from the bedroom he knew all too well, before he turned away.

Nicole began to strip from the cold clothes she walked home in almost immediately. The snow that was falling caused them to become damp, and they were more uncomfortable than anything. So, she changed into her warmest sweater and sweatpants and even put on a pair of thicker socks. She threw her hair up in a bun as she made her way to her window to watch the snow fall. She always loved to do so, there was something so calming about it.

Her arms were crossed and she almost missed the pair of eyes on her. Almost. If she didn't intentionally look toward the Hargrove household, she would've never realized Billy standing in his window, looking her way. It startled her in a way, and she began to wonder how long he'd been looking her way. He didn't move when he was caught either, instead he threw up his hand in an attempt to wave. The gesture caused a smile to grown on Nicole's face, before she returned the hand movement.

Billy then looked behind him, before he moved out of the window. Nicole's smile dropped, but she kept her gaze on the window, honestly hoping that he would appear again. Isn't that odd?

But he did, and he had his leather jacket on.

It didn't take long to put two and two together once he began climbing out of his window, creeping around the side of his house. Before she knew it, she was opening her window because the boy was in a full sprint to get across the street, most likely trying not to be caught because he was obviously sneaking out. He slid his body through and quickly shut the window, taking his shoes off as soon as he was comfortable in the warmth of the room.

"Hey, stranger." Nicole smiled as he finally faced her direction, pulling off his jacket.

She stole a quick glance at his body due to the fact that he was only wearing a cut off tee and some sweats, and his muscular arms were very prominent.