#his jacket

the tapping on the window of his passenger determined that his wish had been granted, and he’s quick to unlock the door and allow her in. she looked fucking stunning, hair curled and tousled to perfection, outfit hanging snugly over her frame.

“hey, billy.” he almost misses her greeting as he’s too busy ogling her.

“hey, baby. y’look good.” he can see her blush, and she smiles sweetly, before checking the watch on her wrist.

“thanks! oh, the party’s starting pretty soon, we should get going.” he nods, complying, and driving off.

it had been a long process of convincing billy to dress up for halloween. as much as she loved him, he hated doing things he thought were unnecessary, or sappy. thus, when given the proposal of a couple’s costume, he was reluctant to give in to her hopes.

she’s prodded at him the entire month, suggesting several different pairs for them to go as, and he had - though kindly, and patiently - rejected all of them. finally, after sifting through several options, she presented him with the prospect of playing danny zuko - from one of the many rom-coms that she had put on for the two of them to watch, though that had ended up fading into the background while the indulged in other activities.

thus, they were now on their way to attend a harrington party, their outfits in perfect accentuation of each other. they step out of his shoddily parked car - not his fault, the driveway and adjacent roads were crawling with cars, and he’s quick to wrap an arm around her shoulder, pressing a chaste kiss to her forehead. his leather jacket hugs his torso - and he looks fucking good - but, seeing the smattering of goosebumps on her exposed shoulders, he’s quick to drape it over her

it does complete her look, and she smiles at the fact as they enter. she liked to greet the host first and foremost whenever she went to a party, but she couldn’t find steve ‘the hair’ harrington anywhere. besides, knowing her boyfriend’s tumultuous relationship with the guy, she figured it be best to just drop it.

as billy grabs them both a beer, she scours the room, and, seeing no other dannys and sandys, she breathes a sigh of relief. she’d been fretting that their costume was absolutely unoriginal, and that they’d be surrounded by doubles the entire night, but she was pleasantly surprised that that wasn’t the case.

she jumped a bit when billy snaked his arm around her middle, turning around and sighing in relief when she realized who it was. he handed her a can and, though she didn’t particularly favor drinking beer, she took a long, wincing sip. he smiles at her, looking at her fondly as she swallows the acidic flavor. it was something so small and, to most, not noteworthy, but he found himself loving every move of her very expressive face.

she was so open with how she felt, never shying away from smiling, or making her sadness heard in a way that it could be resolved, or her worry and fear. and, though it sometimes upset him, seeing her upset, he found it was infinitely better than having her hide how she felt from him.

he’d done that for far too long, and he was well aware of how damaging it had been for all of his relationships.

and, he still did it. he found himself seeing himself - in car windows, in glass door, in rearview mirrors - with a vacant gaze in his eyes, his lips pressed in a thin, unemotive line. she could still figure him out, though. she could tell when his vacant eyes had the fire of anger or upset in them, or the way his lips twitched up slightly when he would reminisce of his fonder memories. she could tell when he loved the movie she’d put on - the one he’d bemoaned as she placed it into the player - and she could also tell when all he wanted to do was pass out after a long day. she was quick to let him, tracing her fingers lightly over his clavicle, scalp and shoulders - under the guise of simply feeling touchy - and knocking him out within minutes. she could also tell that he still had no idea that she knew how well that system work.

billy didn’t think he believed in love. but, when confronted with someone who oozed love as she did, it was a little difficult. besides, of his pick of people to fall for, that gleam in her eyes definitely put her in first place - by a long margin.

he’s broken out of his thoughts by a pat on his shoulder from one of the guys on the basketball team, greeting him and inviting him to join a game a beer pong. he turns to pull her along with him, but finds her in conversation with a friend. so, instead, he simply waves at her to let her know she’s leaving, and tries to hold onto the image of her sweet smile goodbye as he’s lead away.

her friend’s had her entangled in conversation - complimenting her outfit, gushing about the movie, and fawning over how good she and billy looked together. she smiled at the praise, while equally ecstatic over their own fantastic outfits. they’d talked and talked - for a while now - as one of them had been supplying everyone cans of beer or strawberry-flavored punch. she’d been careful not to get too wasted, but she could feel the slight comfort brought by the onset of relaxing alcohol in her muscles, even building up the courage to begin dancing with one of her friends.

it’s a haze of bodies, loud music, and dumb giggles from the pair of them, and she suddenly sees the blond hair and black t-shirt of her boyfriend. it hadn’t been very long since they’d parted, but it felt like an eternity, and she’s quick to pull away from her friend and quickly make her way towards him.

she hugs him from behind, spinning him around and pressing a deep kiss on his lips, closing her eyes as she sank into his touch. just as quickly as she allowed herself to be comfortable, though, she tensed again. his lips were more chapped than usual, his aftershave smelt different than when she’d been in his car, and his hair had less volume that usual.

before she can climb off of him, he’s being pushed away from her, and she stumbles forward, into another blond with a black shirt - who smelt and felt much more like her boyfriend.

for the past few moments, billy had heard the shocked voices behind him, and directed his gaze to the center of everyone’s attention. he figured it was something stupid, before his mouth hung open at the image of his girlfriend clinging onto some fucking guy - in the way that she was supposed to hold him. it took him less than a second to get there, gripping at the guy’s shirt and wrenching away from her, the ordeal making his stomach churn in an unforgiving mix of anger, pain and disgust.

“who the fuck are you?” billy’s voice is gruff, the timbre of it deep and the rage shaking his body to the point where she could even recognize the vibrations. she blinked, looking up, and realized that whoever she’d kissed had absolutely not been billy. he was danny zuko, but not the one to her sandy.

“i - i don’t -” he begins stammering, as billy advances on him, the area of the room having gone eerily silent as everyone predicted a - bloody and short - fight.

“you think you can just touch my girl?” it’s a rhetorical question, but the guy tries his best to respond. seeing billy swing at him, she yanks his arm hard, in an attempt to stop him.

“bill - billy, stop it! it’s not like that, oh my god!” her voice tightens in desperation, and she throws her whole body weight into stopping that punch, practically hanging off his arm. it works in pulling him back a few steps, enough to diffuse the situation. he turns to look at her face and, seeing the glisten of tears in her eyes, he clenches his jaw, grabbing her arm and pulling away from the scene. in a series of choked exclamations, she attempts to apologize to the poor guy she had accidentally violated and nearly gotten injured.

he sits in silence in his ford, not having - as he usually did - opened the door for his girlfriend. not knowing what to say, and also knowing that he needed a moment to calm down, she attempted to suppress her light sobs, the alcohol in her system absolutely not helping in keeping her emotions in check.

when billy turned to look at her, he felt his soul depress at the sight of her screwed shut eyes - an attempt to hinder any more liquid from escaping them. though, remembering his previous thought, he had to accept the width of her expressive emotions - including the times that she cried. he turned to face her better, taking her face in his large hand and thumbing away her tear tracks.

“i’m sorry, god, i’m sorry, billy, i-” she chokes it out, whispering so as to not disturb the sobs caught in her throat and introduce a new wave of tears.

“it’s alright, babe, it’s alright.” for every apology, he reassures her, knowing that this was all some misunderstanding that she would explain in good time to him. she grips at the hand on her cheek, allowing it to ground her as she steadied her breathing. she was careful to wipe off her remaining tears with her palms, as opposed to her usual method of using her sleeves, as she didn’t want to ruin billy’s cherished jacket. realizing this, he felt his heart swell and, suddenly, his shock and anger became to secondary - secondary to her.

“i -” she hiccuped, and blew a deep breath out of her mouth to calm herself, “i saw him from behind and he looked like you, and i thought it was you, and i had missed you since you went off with your friends, and janice and i had had a couple glasses of punch, and i just wanted to feel you again, and-” she was rambling - a tendency she had when she was upset, and one he thought was sweet. he’s lightly shushing her, letting her know that she doesn’t have to continue explaining herself, and he pulls his face towards him, placing a soft - too soft for billy hargrove, but nonetheless - kiss on her lips.

now, she really did sink into it, with no reservations: his lips were soft and smooth against her own, he smelt like him, and she was able to really dig into his hair and pull at his locks. she cherished the feeling, trying to wash away the memory of the previous, not-exactly-right kiss at the party.

when he broke away, she wanted to chase his face, not quite done with him yet. he laughs, realizing the attempt, and she likes the sound of it, a smile gracing her own lips. his smile dies down, though, his lips pressing into a graver purse.

“i’m sorry for acting like that, babe.” he thought his days of getting into petty, drunken fights were in the past - in face, it was a vow to be better that he had attempted in her honor - and he couldn’t help but feel ashamed at the crass reaction.

“no! no, i - you -” she was stuttering, not sure how to collect her thoughts, “i get it. i’m sorry for scaring you.” the retract slowly, and he places his hands on the wheel.

“wanna go home?” she’s quick to nod.

“please. let’s go watch a movie.” he laughs, remembering the stack of halloween rentals she still had, and knowing that they’d have a long night ahead of them. she looks quite excited at the prospect of a movie marathon with him, and, as he look at her big doe eyes and the way that his jacket sits pretty on her shoulders, he smiles.

“i love you, babe.” it’s a soft statement, and it shocks her a little - as much as she knows his feelings to her, he was never very brazen in verbally representing it. nevertheless, she smiles warmly at him.