Drowning • Billy Hargrove

Chapter 8

"Me?!" I ask flabbergasted and flattered.
"You?!" Max yells, looking shocked.
'Ouch' I think.
"I know what I heard," El says. "and he said Kate."
I smile to myself. I really liked Billy but I didn't know he liked me back that much.
"I'm impressed." Max says, looking at me. "Billy's never had a real girlfriend."
"Really?" I ask.
"Really."

It was finally 6:00pm. I put the whistle to my lips and blew it, alarming all of the swimmers.
"Everybody out!" Billy yelled.
As everybody exited the pool, we stayed behind to clean up and wipe down tables. Since nobody else was here, I decided to have a little fun with Billy.
"Hey Billy can you come here?" I ask him.
"Sure." He says, walking over to me.
"Stand right here." I say, placing him right behind the deep end of the pool.
"Why?" He says.
Before I could respond, I push him into the pool. Unfortunately, he grabs my arm and flings me in with him.
"Oh my God!" I say, as I come up for air.
Billy starts to laugh at me. "That totally backfired!"
I nod my head, pushing the wet hair out of my face.
For a while, we just float in the water.
"We should do this more." Billy says, breaking the silence.
"I agree, this is nice."
"I like spending time with you, Kate." He says.
I start to smile. "I like spending time with you too, Hargrove." I say, swimming closer to him.
He smiles and pulls me into his chest. I wrap my arms around his neck and he holds my waist.
"I know this is kind of soon, but I was wondering-" Billy was cut off.
"The pool is closed. That goes for you two! I'm giving you ten minutes before I call the police on you guys for trespassing!" Charlie yelled.
Billy and I start to giggle as we jump out of the pool and run to the change rooms.

I quickly dry myself and throw on my clothes, Billy doing the same. When I opened the curtain, Billy was waiting for me. He grabbed my hand and we ran out of the building.

I start to laugh as we reach his car.
"What's so funny?" He asks.
"That's the closest I've gotten into trouble with the law." I say, giggling.
"Seriously?" Billy asks. "Not even a speeding ticket?"
"Never. I'm the chiefs daughter, he'd kill me if I got into trouble."
"Well I guess you need to loosen up." Billy says, mischievously.
"What's that suppose to mean?"
"We're going to a party tonight."
"But-" I start to say, but Billy cuts me off.
"No buts. I know it'll be about your dad, but screw him." Billy says.
Deep down I knew Billy was right. My dad's raised me to be super careful and cautious, but tonight I was ditching that.
"Okay." I say, with a smirk on my face.

"Billy!" Somebody yelled out as we exited the car. We finally arrived to the party, which was packed with teenagers.
"Hey Bruce!" Billy yelled back.
"It's good to see you. Who's this?" Bruce says, looking at me.
Bruce was the same age as me. We went to school together, starting from kindergarten and all the way up to high school.
"Kate." I say, smiling and a little annoyed he didn't remember me.
"Kate. Kate. Kate." He says repeatedly.
I nod my head, confused.
"Kate Hopper!" He yells out, jumping around spilling his drink all over himself. He clearly was intoxicated.
Billy and I start to laugh.
"Oh my God Kate! I haven't seen you in forever!" He says, pulling me into a hug. "I really missed you!" He says, wiping his eyes.
I laugh even harder. I haven't said a word to Bruce in over two years. He was really, really drunk.

"That was weird." I say as Billy and I slip away from Bruce and enter the house.
"Yeah. I didn't like seeing another man touching my girl, though."
I smile. "Your girl?" I ask.
"Yup. You're my girl." He responds.
'I'm not complaining' I think.
"Want a drink?" Billy asks.
"Why not." I say, letting go.
About a minute later, Billy returns with our drinks.
"Thanks." I say as he hands me my cup. I absolutely hate alcohol but tonight I was going to have some fun.
I down the first drink and then the second, and then the third. It was like I was drowning myself in alcohol. As I get up to get my fourth, I see Steve Harrington.
"Steve!" I yell, waving my hands in the air like a maniac. I was a total lightweight.
"Kate! You're clearly having fun tonight." He says.
"Yes. No rules tonight! I'm going ruleless!" I slur out.
He starts to laugh. "Ruleless? Is that even a word?"
"No. Yes. No. I don't know." I say, bumping into someone. "Oops. Anyways... Wheres the drinks?"
"I don't know if you need anymore." Steve says, strictly.
"What are you? My dad!" I say walking forward.
"Kate, I'm serious!" He says.
"That's such a dad thing to say!" I say, giggling. After searching for a drink, I'm unable to find one.
"Aw man!" I say through slurs.
"What?" Steve says.
"They're out of my favourite drink!"
"Yeah they ran out a long time ago." Steve says, lieing so I wouldn't drink anymore.
"No!" I cry out. "They can't be!"
Steve nods his head. "They are. But you know what's even better?"
"What?"
"Water." He says, handing me a water bottle.
"Oh, okay." I say as I drink it. When the water enters my system, I immediately start to feel a headache coming on.
"How's it hitting?" Steve asks.
I put a hand to my head. "Not great." I slur out.
Steve chuckles. "I should get you home."
I nod, knowing that'd be the best option, but I couldn't leave Billy. "I came with Billy though."
Steve rolls his eyes. "Okay." He says and walks away.
I stumble across the living room to find Billy. When I do, I see he's with a girl. She's seems to be all over him, but I can tell he's not into her. A wave of jealousy strikes me so I decide to walk over and sit on his lap.
"Hey baby!" I say, slurring my words.
Billy starts to smile. "Hey!" He says, holding me.
The girl he's talking to rolls her eyes and walks away.
"Who was that?" I say.
"A nobody." He responds. "Why? Are you jealous?" He says, through a smile.
"N-No."
"Are you sure about that?" He says, blowing the smoke from his cigarette.
I don't say anything. It was probably best that I didn't say anything because my drunken self would've said something so outrageous.
"You're taking a long time to answer that, Kate." He says, whispering in my ear.
I turn my face to look at him. He stares back at me, smirking.
Before I know it, he leans in and kisses me. I obviously give in and kiss back. After a few moments of kissing, he breaks free and lifts me up into his arms. He carries me into the car and gently sits me down in the passengers seat. He runs to the other side and hops in, putting the keys into the ignition.
We drive for around five minutes untill he stops at an isolated street. No cars, houses or lights were around so it was the perfect place.
I hop into the backseat, followed by Billy and there we start to once again, makeout.

I open my eyes to see something I'm not used to. I sit up straight to realize I'm in the back of a car. "Shit." I say, thinking of all the consequences my dad's going to give me for staying out all night and not telling him.
I look to my left to see Billy peacefully sleeping shirtless. I look down at myself to see I didn't have much on either. So, I quickly throw on my clothes and try to remember what happened last night. A splitting headache wasn't helping very much but I did recall some moments from last night.
"Hey." Billy says, rolling around to get into a comfortable position.
"Hey." I say.
"Last night was pretty great." He says, smiling.
"Wish I could say the same." I respond. "I hardly remember anything."
Billy sighs. "Well I could demonstrate something we did last night."
"And what's that?" I say, smiling.
"You up for a round two?"
"Billy!" I yell out, laughing.