Stranger Things

Sighing, Billy Hargrove absentmindedly runs his fingers through his hair and bites his lip. He's not even sure why he's so nervous. It's just a fucking phone call. And yet here he is, acting like he is being led to his execution. But in a way...that's exactly what is about to happen. Because Billy has fucked up. Big time.

It all started a month or two, when a new girl, Y/N moved to Hawkins Indiana, and soon started attending Billy's classes. Almost immediately, Billy had his eyes...and his dick set on her. And sure enough, Billy worked his magic, and they spent the night together. But unlike all the girls before her, he actually caught feelings for her. And it seemed like she had done the same. Soon, they both began seeing each other more and more. She seemed happy. Actually, she was really happy. And he was too. Which is why he's still confused about why things turned out the way they did.

A few weeks after they started seeing each other, Billy's eyes started wandering. They wandered so far that Billy got his head turned by another girl. Despite how much he tried to fight it, he couldn't help himself. After all, he was still young, and his motto had always been to enjoy life until it kills you. So he snuck around with her behind Y/N's back. When Y/N found out, she was devastated. And the girl he cheated on her with ditched him for a new guy almost immediately after Y/N dumped Billy. After that, the word soon spread throughout school that Billy Hargrove was the kind of guy who would cheat on you with someone only a few weeks after you started dating. After that, Billy's reputation plummeted. Even most of his friends still judge him for it.

Billy feels terrible about it. Not about losing his reputation, or for most of the female population of the school hating his guts. What hurts the most is seeing Y/N at school everyday (or at least, when he can be bothered to show up). In the aftermath of him cheating, she looked devastated and close to tears everytime he saw her glancing his way. But now, she glares his way everyday, and he's still worried that the second he gets too close to her she'll punch him in the face or kick him in the balls. He can't blame her for feeling that way though. After all, he treated her like garbage. And in a way...he deserves it. Okay, he does deserve it. Even though Billy hates admitting that he has messed up, he knows he definitely has this time.

Because he knows that he's lost one of the best things that ever happened to him. Y/N did so much for him, even if that was just loving him when no one else did. Love. Actual love, not just that fake love he shares with all the girls he takes to bed. Proper love. When you wake up thinking of someone and go to bed thinking of them too. That cheesy shit in the rom-coms his mom used to watch when he was a kid. All that stuff about happily ever after and finding your person. And even though Billy told his mom those films were gross...deep down, he wants someone to love him like that. Maybe that's why he sleeps around so much. He's desperately chasing after a love that he's not even sure exists, trying to find his person. And with Y/N...he found it. He knows that now. But of course, Billy Hargrove ruins everything he touches, and for some reason, still unknown to him, he destroyed his one chance at happiness and love. Yet, despite all he's done to her...Billy still loves Y/N. But he knows she won't want him back, so the first, and really the only thing he can do, is make amends.

That realisation led him to where he is now: crammed into a tiny ass phone booth, about to phone Y/N and apologise. But he's too scared to, and close to changing his mind. Maybe he can just speak to her when he saw her at school? ...Actually no. If he does that, then she might actually punch him in the face, and even thought he deserves it, Billy is not prepared to have that happen. So, phoning her was his only option.

"Come on. Just a quick, five minute call. Not even that! Just a 'hi, how are you, I know I fucked up but I'm really sorry. I might also still love you? I don't know. Please don't punch me. Bye.'" He tells himself, gripping the receiver so hard he can feel his hands starting to sweat. But even though he knows that will be the easier way out, he knows that Y/N deserves a much better apology than that. Which means that he has to talk to her for longer than he wants to. Sighing, he almost throws the receiver across the phone booth in anger. Not angry at Y/N, but at himself. If he had only kept it in his pants, this wouldn't have happened. But he didn't. And now, he has to make amends. So instead of launching the phone like a projectile, he dials Y/N's home number.

The phone starts ringing, and Billy braces himself for the inevitable shit storm facing him. The phone continues to ring, and it goes on for so long that Billy considers just hanging up and driving over to her house...until someone answers the phone.

"Hello, Y/L/N household. Can I help you?" The person who answers sounds nothing like Y/N, but the voice sounds welcoming, so he knows who it is almost immediately. Y/N's mom. He's met her once before, but she was nice enough to him, and offered him some cookies. Maybe this won't be so bad. "Hello? Is someone there?" Her voice asks over the phone.

"Yes, yes, uh- hello Mrs. Y/L/N, I-"

"Can I ask who's calling please?" Her voice interrupts him before he can even finish his sentence. Billy doesn't blame her for being wary about whoever was calling, but if she could let him finish his sentence, she wouldn't have to ask.

"It's Billy."

"Billy? Billy who? ...Oh. Billy Hargrove." The second she recognises who he is, her welcoming voice immediately changes to an angry one. Billy feels terrible again as soon as he hears her voice change. He knows that he has fucked up, but that doesn't mean he feels any less worse about it. "I assume you want to speak to my daughter?" She asks.

"Uh, yes ma'am, if that's-"

"Well sorry, but no. Actually I don't even know why I'm apologising to you of all people. It's you who should be apologising to us, after what you've done!"

"Actually, that's what I was phoning for...I wanted to apologise to her. And maybe uh...speak to her privately?" There is silence on the other end of the line, and for a moment Billy thinks the call got disconnected. But then she speaks up again.

"Well no, you can't. She doesn't want to speak to you. And I don't blame you after what you did. You know, you're lucky I didn't send my husband or her brother around to your house, because let me tell you, they would not be as civil with you as I am being now!" Jeez, if this was her being civil, he'd hate to see her fully angry.

"I know, I know, but I really just-" Billy begins, but is cut off again. Not by her mother this time, but by the operator's voice.

"We're sorry, but your funds have expired. If you would like to continue this call, please insert forty cents for an extra three minutes. If you do not do this within the next minute, your call will be disconnected...We're sorry, but-"

"Shit!" Billy hisses, dropping the receiver as he quickly rummages through his pockets. Thankfully, he finds the coins in time, and puts them into the machine. "Sorry, I got cut off there. Anyway." He takes a deep breath. "I understand your frustration, believe me, I do, I know I screwed up. But please, can I talk to her?" Almost immediately, she starts screaming at him.

"Messed up?! Is that what you're calling it? Cheating on MY daughter is you messing up?! You've broken her heart!" She huffs. "And no. She's not home right now."

"Well, can you tell her I phoned? Please? And to call me back? I would really like to talk to her."

"No. I won't. I wouldn't let you near her even if she was here. Why should I? For the past week, my daughter has been crying her eyes out because of you, and you don't even have the decency to apologise to her face to face?" Billy knows she's right, of course she is. And hearing how he had hurt Y/N hurts him too.

"Listen, I'm sorry, and you're right, but-" Billy can't even finish his sentence before the words of the operator telling him his funds are up interrupts him again. He swears it's not been that long. Maybe the universe is trying to stop him from making this call. Even if that is the case...he's not giving up yet. So, he puts the money in again, and continues his sentence. "I just want to apologise. If she doesn't want to see me again, that's fine. Would..." He sighs, unable to believe he's actually about to say this. "Would it be possible for me to come by later, when she's home? Would that be okay?"

"...No. I don't think it would." Anger almost overtakes Billy as he hears those words, and he almost asks her who the fuck she thinks she is, and how he knows he's fucked up, but if she'd just listen then....and then he stops himself, realising that he had no right to say those things. And he couldn't anyway. He didn't need Y/N and her family to hate him more than they did already. "Thank god she's found someone else." Billy's ears prick up the second she says that.

"She...she what?"

"Yes." Billy can almost picture the smug grin on her face as she continues. "She's actually out on a date right now, with someone who actually knows how to take care of her. So I'm sorry, but she unfortunately can't come to the phone, even if she wants to." Her words cut through him like a knife, and Billy almost asks her who she's with, and where she went, but he knows he can't. He got himself into this mess, and he has to deal with the consequences. After all, he said it himself. There's no way she'll want to see him again...and he was right. And if that means accepting that she's with someone else, despite how much he hates even thinking about that...then so be it.

"Oh...okay then."

"She's happy now, so I suggest you leave her alone and get out of her life. Goodbye Billy. Thanks for your call." Even though Billy isn't sure he's done arguing his case, he doesn't fight her.

"Just...tell her I-"

"We're sorry, but your funds have expired. If you would like to continue this call, please insert forty cents for an extra three minutes. If you do not do this within the next minute, your call will be disconnected."