pretty boy like you // harringrove

01.

"What the fuck do you want, Hargrove?" Steve spat. He went to slam his locker shut for the dramatic effect, but realized he had already closed it. Shit. This only made him angrier.

"Calm down, King Steve." He almost walked away, but then he heard Billy continue.

"I'm trying to apologize. Help me out here."

"Apologize? You?" Steve nearly laughed, until he saw the look in Billy's eyes. He looked scared. It was very off-putting, and he quickly decided he liked Billy better when he was beating the shit out of him.

"I'm not that bad a guy, you know."

"Max has told me otherwise." The scared look was suddenly gone, replaced with anger. Steve silently thanked God. He had wanted to punch Billy right in his pretty fucking face to get that look off of him.

"I was trying to protect her. I care about the bitch, really." Billy laughed.

"Don't call her that, asshole."

"Look, Harrington. I'm sorry I beat the shit out of you. Max seems to think you hung the moon, and given that, I figure it'll be hard to beat your ass every time we see each other. Hawkins isn't a big town." Billy looked less angry now. Steve was praying the scared look didn't come back.

"That's very mature of you."

"I'm trying." He leaned in closer. Too close. "There's some dark shit going on with Max, and I thought you would know what. She's barely eating, not sleeping. She's terrified of the dark. Her mom is starting to notice. You were with her that night. What happened to my sister?" He was still leaning in, and it was starting to piss him off. He took a quick step back and bashed his head into the locker.

"Maybe seeing her brother try to kill her babysitter fucked her up. Think of that?" Steve didn't like lying, but he had gotten good at it. He had to. "Maybe drugging you fucked her up. Nothing else happened. The kids played D & D and I bought them a pizza. I don't know."

Billy leaned in close again. Closer than before. Steve could feel his breath on his cheek, and it smelled like cigarettes and strawberry. He could almost taste it. "You're a fucking liar, Harrington. Something happened that night. I'm gonna find out eventually. People talk."

Steve just shook his head. "I have a test."

He could feel Billy's eyes on him as he walked away.