Emma || Steve Harrington/Billy Hargrove

006. Aftermath II

*Emma's POV*

I woke up with a slight headache. I couldn't remember how I got home that night, but I knew it wasn't with Billy. That whole scenario was one of the only memories I had from the party. I very reluctantly got myself out of bed and into the shower before changing and went to go check if my parents were back yet. No luck. With a sigh, I made my way to the kitchen and started looking around for stuff I could use to make myself breakfast. Before I could finish my search, there was a knock on my door. I made my way over and opened it, not knowing who to expect.

"Steve?" I asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to come and check in on you, you were pretty messed up last night," he said. I furrowed my brows and kept staring at him.

"How do you know that?" I questioned.

"I brought you home," He said with a light laugh. My eyebrows went up in surprise and he laughed again. "How about I take you out for breakfast and tell you about your night." I looked at him skeptically before nodding.

"Okay, let me just get my shoes," I said. He was about to answer, but I'd already walked away. I grabbed the first pair of shoes I could find before running to the kitchen and leaving a note for my parents just in case they got home before I was back, and then back to the front door. "Alright, where we going?" I asked.

"A little diner on the edge of town," he said, "So you really don't remember last night?"

"I remember a fight with Billy," I said, "He's such a dick."

"I told you," Steve said jokingly. I let a small smile appear on my face as I smacked his shoulder, "Ow," he giggled, "What? I was just saying. But do you remember what it was about?" I nodded, "Are you okay?" I shrugged in response.

"What I really want to know is how you know about all this," I told him.

"You ran into me as you were trying to leave, and I drove you home," he said, "I was there while you yelled at Billy." I slammed my head back onto the headrest and groaned. "And then you asked me to take you home, so I did." I stared at the road ahead for a second, trying to just process things for a moment.

"Thanks, Steve," I finally said, "For last night, and right now."

The rest of the car ride was pretty quiet, and the first part of breakfast was too. I was just trying to figure out how everything the night before had gone down and how I felt about everything. Steve was a good sport about everything and he just let me think and figure things out. He didn't demand any sort of interaction from me. When the food finally came, I was the first one to speak before we started eating.

"Why are you so nice to me?" I asked. He looked a little taken aback, so I thought I'd clarify. "I mean, my best friend is a total dick to you, and most people, but you're still nice to me."

"Well, you're not Billy," he said, "You're really nice to me too, so I guess I could ask you the same thing."

"That's easy," I smiled, "You haven't given me a reason to  hate you in any way."

"There you go," he said, "That's how I feel about you. I mean, it's not your fault you have shitty taste in friends." I let out a light laugh.

"You got me there," I said.

"I've probably asked you this before, but how the hell are you and Billy friends?" he asked in disbelief.

"I know for a fact I've answered that before," I giggled, "I want to know why you guys don't get along. He won't tell me, so I'm hoping you might." He looked at me as he put a bite of food in his mouth and shook his head.

"I think that's something you should hear from him," he said.

"Come on," I groaned, "you guys obviously don't get along, and you keep telling me all these things about Billy being an asshole. Just tell me what happened." He sighed and set down his fork before wiping the corners of his mouth.

"You really want to hear this?" he asked, earning a nod from me. He sighed again before leaning back in his seat for a second and then sitting back up. "So, people around here used to call me 'King Steve' I was a grade A asshole, but I changed. All the stuff that used to be important to me before sort of became unimportant, and that was when Billy came in. This is going to sound a little egotistical, but I think he saw that old image that people had of me as a threat to what he wanted his social life to be like here so he just kind of hated on me from the moment we met," he said, "So there's been a lot of tension between us. Oh, and then there was this fight. He was so close to beating up one of his little sister's friends and I tried to stop it. He beat my ass, but at least I got him off Lucas."

"He tried to hit a child?" I asked in disbelief, "Billy? He tried to hit a kid?"

"Yup," he said, "God, he's such a dick to Max too. He's just not a good guy, Emma." It went quiet after that too. It took me a while to wrap my head around the fact that my best friend was a completely different person in Hawkins. "Are you mad at me for something I said?" Steve asked, breaking the silence and  pulling me from my thoughts.

"No, not at all," I said, "It's just a lot to take in."

"How about we take your mind off of things," he said, "You have a lot going on, so let's just try to relax and have some fun before you have to start school and even more things are added to your plate." I thought about it before nodding.

We went on a hike and then bowling, which was surprisingly fun. Not to mention that I kicked his ass at bowling, which added to the whole fun aspect of the day. Steve was good at distracting. I didn't even realize how late it was until we got out of the bowling alley and it was dark outside. He drove me home and I was scared that my parents would be mad, but they just asked how NYE was and how my day was, which was a relief. I started that day feeling like absolute crap and ended it feeling 100% better and with a new friend.