"I haven't seen you in a few days."

"My dickbag dad had me doing stuff."

"Oh? Like getting these?"

Sarah scowled as Billy flicked the rims of her new glasses. There was a smirk on his face and a twinkle in his eye that hadn't been there before, only showing itself after the two had kissed.

They hadn't talked about it - Sarah wasn't sure if she wanted to talk about it since he was so keen on avoiding the topic. It didn't stop him from wrapping an arm around her and tucking her into him in an obvious display of masculinity that only came from boys that didn't want to share their possessions (Sarah herself wasn't too keen on the idea of becoming a possession). But, it was strange that he wouldn't speak of it because this was Billy. He said whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. And she would think he wanted to talk of it.

She swiped his hand away from her face and furrowed her brows. "I've needed glasses since I was a kid. My shitty mom didn't take me back after my dad left."

"You drove without being able to see?" Billy sounded skeptical as he leaned against the Camaro beside her, a hand lazily holding his head up as his other went forward to grab at her glasses again. His lips started to curl up. "Do you have a death wish?"

Sarah hit his hand away again, cheeks heating up at his attentions. "No," she replied hotly, shouldering her backpack in hopes of looking more dignified than she was. "I had places to be. I'm not blind," she insisted.

"I thought you squinted all the time because you were just angry."

"I didn't squint!"

"You definitely squinted."

She reached forward to shove him away, only for him to grab her wrist and tug her flush against his chest. Her cheeks reddened as he grinned down at her, and Sarah vaguely took into account the eyes on them from their peers as the two stood in the parking lot before school started.

It was tempting for her to ask him what he wanted. What he wanted from her, from this strange back and forth they had going (she wasn't going to lie and say she particularly disliked it). His father had assumed they were dating from the early stages of their friendship and from what Billy said, had welcomed it in a weird way. The hostility wasn't as palpable when she was over, Max seemed a little more livelier, and Billy didn't have as many new marks. It didn't change Neil into a great man, but it seemed he was more bearable.

Her mother was similar, especially now that her father was back in the picture. Mary was focused on keeping Jeremiah happy, and one of those things turned out to be not using their daughter as a punching bag as much. It didn't quell her anger for something Sarah didn't do, but it stopped her from having so many black eyes and split lips, something that both Billy and her annoying student noticed.

Perhaps it was unhealthy for the two of them to inadvertently use each other in hopes of deterring their abusive parents from smacking them around more than they already did, but it happened, and Sarah thought of it as an added bonus. Billy and her were friends - a little closer than most friends were - and she'd like to think that there was more out of the relationship than just a small reprieve of the hurt they endured.

The warning bell rang, and Sarah pulled herself away, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose in an effort to keep her composure. She jerked her head towards the school. "Come on. If I'm late to history again, I'm begging for a lecture to happen."

She turned on her heel, fully expecting Billy to whine and moan about having to go to class like he usually does, only to surprise her by grabbing her hand tightly and pulling her towards class. His legs were much longer than hers, and for some reason, he decided today would be the day he wanted to crack down and get to class on time.

He must've felt her questioning stare because he glanced back at her with a wicked gleam in his eye and that ever present smirk on his face.

"The quicker you get to class, the quicker you get out. Quicker you get out, quicker we have time between to do whatever the hell I want."

Sarah did not miss the implications behind his words.

If Max noticed anything weird going on between the two teens, she didn't let on. It's not that Sarah wanted her approval, per se, but it was still on her mind that her closest friend's stepsister may not like it. Dustin didn't like the idea of her and Billy, going on about some past things that happened a few months before. He spoke so fast, and Sarah was only able to catch the part about Billy beating up Steve Harrington (something that seems to happen a lot to Steve) and that he'd beat her up too if he really wanted.

It took much convincing - begging - for him to leave her alone about it, and if he didn't, then she really would force him to leave her tutoring sessions for good and would only see him whenever his mom needed Sarah to watch him. It shut him up pretty quickly.

Max, however, was different. There was no love lost between the two siblings. Although, Billy did confide in her that he was working on it in his own roundabout way which could've meant anything. While it didn't mean he would care if Max suddenly disliked her, Sarah still had this stupid need for approval since she never got it at home.

The three were in the Camaro, a familiar scene now to their peers, and Sarah could just feel the little redhead's eyes on her. It was a scrutinizing stare that could only come from an angsty teenager, and it was a stare that would eventually catch the attentions of their driver if she kept it up. And if Sarah were honest, she was sure that he wouldn't want his little stepsister to have anything to say.

Billy had never come off as an affectionate person. He was rugged, apathetic, and too good for those type of things. He was vain and knew what type of attention he garnered just from the way he looked and knew how much more attention he got just from the way he acted. She was sure he had never been in a real relationship (neither had she) and that he was in it for the physicality and for the ego boost.

So Sarah couldn't truly blame Max for staring at her when her brother's hand was clasped tightly around hers and keeping it on his jean cladded thigh and the music blaring like it normally did. She couldn't blame her because she was staring at him as well, absolutely bewildered at his actions for the day.

She couldn't lie and say she was upset with the newfound attention, but it was so out of character that it was more shocking than exciting. Well, it was a little exciting.

Billy was a whirlwind on a normal day. He surprised her with the ease of switching from his public persona to the one she was privy to know so intimately. Somedays he brooded and couldn't even force himself to give her mother one of his charming smiles, and somedays he made it a point to flirt with her mother not only to see Sarah squirm, but to have Jeremiah send him a scathing glare from the same room.

He disliked Max - Sarah hoped he didn't truly hate her - yet there were days where he expressed his own concerns for her in his own weird way that never failed to confuse her. He asked her for advice ("My brother liked pinching me when I was annoying so I'm not sure how much I help I could be.") and subtly tried to convince her to talk to his stepsister who he might be starting to see as his sister instead of the kid that happened to live with him. Despite this, he never failed to say something nasty to the younger teen, and Sarah always wondered how much scolding she was allowed to give him before she overstepped.

Billy wasn't a great guy - he might not even be considered a good one to the general public and his family. To Sarah, though, he was her closest friend that had trouble expressing how he really felt due to his upbringing and own masculinity and had a newfound hobby of embarrassing her at any given moment.

Like now.

As if he knew where her thoughts had strayed, Billy glanced at her from the corner of his eye, smirked, and held her hand higher up on his thigh, tapping his other hand on the steering wheel to the music. Sarah gave Max a helpless look, and the redhead looked torn between disgust and amusement. If Sarah wasn't as confused as she was, she'd probably return it.

Today must've been a day where they decided to stay at Billy's because he didn't just drop Max off like he would if they were going to Sarah's. He turned the car off and got out of the vehicle, grabbing Sarah's backpack from her lap and waited for the two girls to get out. Sarah shared another look with Max before joining Billy.

"I didn't know I was going to be over here today," she told him as she pushed Max to go ahead of them. "I thought you'd just drop me off at my place."

Billy shrugged, put his hand on the small of her back and led her to his room like every other day she was over. Except, this was the first time she was intently aware of the heat from his hand through her clothing and the feel of his body behind her in a way that made her tense in anticipation.

"Like I said, I hadn't seen you in a few days," he replied simply, throwing her bag on the chair and shutting his door. "It's not like I'm just going to call you and ask your mom about you."

"Sorry, I know I didn't really tell you what was going on. It's been stupid crazy since my dad came back."

Billy's face soured at the reminder of Jeremiah Aston, and Sarah watched him carefully, cataloging the way his brows furrowed and the way his lips pursed. He had a naturally intense look that she enjoyed looking at, and despite what he liked to think, he was expressive in a way that surprised Sarah at first. Eventually, she thought it was a nice contrast to the cool and collected facade he gave everyone else.

He was an angry person, and as close as Sarah was to him, she would never be able to understand it. She could guess where it stemmed from, but it wouldn't be the same as him confiding in her about it. Instead of getting upset, Sarah thought it was a fair trade - she never told him about her own pent up feelings from her own family.

It was nice, she thought, that he would get angry for her though.

Sarah took a seat on his bed with a sigh. Taking off her glasses, she rubbed the space between her brows. "It's weird having the both of them there so much. Summer's coming up too so it's going to be even weirder since I'll be home more often."

"Just come over here. I'll hide you away. Or I can just hit your dad again."

Her heart swelled at his words even if they were a little crude. She spared him a smile and fell backwards onto his bed with a groan.

"It's just stupid," she explained with a frown. "I still don't know why he came back after so long and so close to the end of the school year. I don't think he knows I'm graduating. Actually, I'm pretty sure he still thinks I'm that fourteen year old he left behind."

She heard rather than saw Billy take his jacket off and slip off his shoes. He nudged her legs in order for her to do the same ("If you get your nasty ass shoes on my bed I'll kill you.") and collapsed next to her, the scent of his cologne and sweat engulfing her. It wasn't unusual for them to lay next to each other, but it was new after the recent events of their first kiss and the little escapade they had between classes that day. And it just confused her even more.

Abruptly, Sarah turned on her side to face him, heart beating quickly at the sight of his blue eyes staring at her so intensely. Trying to ignore the heat on her cheeks, she frowned down at him.

"You're squinting again." He blurted out before she could get a word out, and Sarah threw a fist into his shoulder.

"I am not! I'm just thinking!" she argued with him, too aware of the fact that she was indeed squinting since she took her glasses off. "And you knew I was going to say something!"

A flash of his teeth told her that she was right before he sobered up.

"I'm no good with words, Sarah," he cut her off again before she could say anything. His eyes were staring up at the ceiling and one hand was behind his head while his other was playing with her hair. There was a seriousness to his face that could've been mistaken as irritation by anyone else, and Sarah wisely stayed silent.

"I'm not going to sit here and give you some pansy ass speech about why I wanna be with you, and I'm more of an 'actions speak louder than words' type of guy." He glanced at her with a certain softness in his eyes that she had only seen on a few occasions. "I don't do this with anyone else."

He sat up and pulled her with him. "I don't want to do this with anyone else." He leaned forward and kissed her softly, a hand coming to rest on the side of her neck and his thumb rubbing her jaw. When he pulled away, Sarah blinked a few times before laughing at him, eliciting a frown on his handsome face.

"Idiot," she chuckled, putting her own hands on his cheeks. "You said some pansy ass shit anyway. Now that we have that out of the way, what are you doing this summer? Still planning on working at the pool?"