GONE GIRL » Billy Hargrove

0.36 » truth

Just seeing his face made me want to punch him immediately, but of course he just made it worse by opening his mouth.

"Yo, Lockwood," Tommy called out and I let out a sigh, leaning against the side of my car. I had managed to avoid him and his minions for most of the day, so I was a little mad at myself for not just getting into the car and leaving right away. But no, the brain wanted a cigarette first. A bad habit that I shouldn't even have started.

"What now?"

"I hear you're someone's new bedbug," he snickered which caused me to raise an eyebrow.
"Is that what you call your girlfriends? Because that would explain why you don't have one." - "Oooh, foul play. You made a mistake there."

He took another step towards me and I tried really hard not to laugh at how easy it was to get him riled up. I threw the cigarette on the ground and stepped on it.
"It's funny how easily you get offended." - "Won't be funny anymore when I beat your ass," he hissed.

I rolled my eyes, laughing even more. "So you hit girls now? Didn't think you could sink any lower, but you keep surprising me, Tommyboy," I grinned and patted his shoulder. To my amusement he only grew more and more annoyed - in a cartoon he would probably have a giant pulsating vein on his forehead by now. Instead he reached into his jacket and I was starting to actually worry about his mental state.

"Touch me one more fucking time and you're-" - "What's going on here?" Billy asked from behind Tommy and I squinted at the sun that had come out of nowhere earlier that day.
"Lockwood is being a bitch again," Tommy snarled and dug around in his pockets some more until he pulled out a pocket knife.

"You might wanna put that away," I sighed and crossed my arms in front of my chest while Billy walked over to my side, placing a hand on the roof of the car.

"Dial it down a notch, buddy. You're exaggerating."

Tommy shot him a confused look, then looked back at me and furrowed his eyebrows.
"Guess the rumours are true then."
With that he walked off and disappeared in a group of people, as I let out a sigh.

"He's just acting tough, probably doesn't even know how to use that knife," Billy said, turning to me and I nodded.
"Thanks for jumping in." - "Of course."

He looked around the now emptier parking lot for a while and I tilted my head to the side.
"Is Max not showing up again?"
He nodded. "Little shit is always late." - "But…?" - "But you told me to try and be nice. Now I can't exactly just naturally do that but I'm trying to not treat her as shitty, okay?"
I gave him a proud smile. "That's a good start."

After some more time had passed she finally came around from the middle school and Billy stepped away from the car. "Oh hold on a sec," I said and pulled the folder he had given me yesterday out of my bag. I had absentmindedly drawn a few smaller doodles in it during class today but I wanted him to have them, for some reason.

He just took it without taking a look and gave me a nod, squeezing my hand. "I'll come by later today, alright?" - "Sure!"

I got into my own car and looked after him as he walked over to Max. The girl shot me a glance that I couldn't exactly decipher so I just left the parking lot and drove home. The weather was weird. It was really cold and the roads were partially frozen over, but there was no snow.

I spent most of the afternoon procrastinating on doing my homework by working on another larger canvas. Over the past few weeks I had gotten more motivation to draw again, so I did that as much as possible.

To my surprise Billy asked me if he could watch me do my work for a while, and we just talked again. It almost felt as though we'd never done it any differently. Like that was just the way things had always been.

Way too soon he had to leave again, but he promised we would go on another road trip that weekend. And once again, he didn't tell me where.

~

I hummed to myself as I walked up to the school the next morning, but was suddenly grabbed by the arm and pulled away from the stairs.

"Steve?" I asked, bewildered at his serious expression. "What's wrong?" - "I dunno, you tell me maybe! Please tell me that rumour of you and Billy isn't true!"

A knot formed in my stomach and I bit my lip. My best friends eyes grew big.
"Nu-uh! No! Lucy, what are you thinking?! Not just that that guy is a complete asshole and not to mention dangerous - you didn't even think about telling me? Your best friend?"
I kicked some non-existent dirt on the ground and shoved my hands into my jacket.

"Out of all the people you could be in a relationship with, that guy? Sorry, but I'm disappointed. I told you so many times that he is not a good person-"
I took a deep breath and interrupted my best friend's rant. "He isn't a bad person. He may seem like a bad person on the surface, but there is so much more to him than the facade he's putting up."

"Look, Luce, I get that you always try to see the good in everyone and I appreciate that about you, but there's a line. And Hargrove is far beyond that line."

Shaking my head I looked my best friend in the eyes, at which he let out a scoff.
"Come on, don't tell me you actually like that guy!"
Again, I just stared back at him which was enough of an answer. "Oh fuck … look. I'm not telling you who you can and can't be with, but I can assure you that eventually you will get hurt."

"Oh so now the possibility of something going wrong just rules out trying it at all completely? Just because eventually someone could break up with you? Why live when we die anyway?" - "I'm not even talking about breaking up. You've seen how he gets. It's only a matter of time until-"
I held up my hand. "You are not finishing that sentence. I'm sorry, but no."

It was silent for a really long time, with our breaths as white clouds in between us, until Steve turned around and kicked the trashcan.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

I pointed at the trashcan that had fallen over and spread a selection of wrapping material, banana peels and unfinished cafeteria food on the cold ground.

"I'm sorry."

Steve let out yet another sigh that formed another large cloud in the air as he pulled me into a hug.

"I know."

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A/N: Sorry this update is so late!
Everything's been really stressful with uni and I've been rather unmotivated to write, but I got a random spark of inspiration the other day and am working on chapters again💕
Also, we hit 1k votes and 40k reads the other day? What the hell? Seriously thank you so so much for reading and commenting and just motivating me to keep working❤
hope you enjoyed the new chapter💕