Chapter Forty-One: The Last Time

August was the peak of heat it seemed. Annie resorted to wearing shirts that were the least obvious with sweat stains, which was very hard. She was just glad by the time school rolled around in a few weeks, it would start cooling off.

Today, she and Max were hanging out at the redhead's. Annie was exhausted being around her parents so much and needed a break and Steve was working on getting a job with Robin, so her girlfriend would have to do.

Not that she was all that upset about this.

The girls had been listening to one of Max's records, turned up rather loud to drown out the argument in the living room, and laying on Max's bed together.

"High school is gonna be so fun. We have to join clubs and stuff, I heard colleges like those," Annie said.

Max smiled. "You think I could get scholarships with clubs?" she asked, somewhat joking but also a bit serious. Her mom was trying her best, but it was going to be hard to save up for college. Anything could help.

Annie hummed. "I think so. Steve only had basketball and they never even won, so that's not the most helpful. I bet if he were really into another club, that could've helped. Plus, aren't there government scholarships for people who need them?" Annie asked, and she let her head flop to the side to look at her girlfriend.

Max copied her motion. "Yeah but I think there are a lot of people like me out there," she said.

"Well then it looks like you'll just have to be the best one!" The girls laughed and cuddled closer together, their foreheads touching.

As Annie took in a breath to say something else, the girls heard yelling from outside the room. They paused, both sitting up and trying to hear it better.

"Should we turn off the music?" Annie asked quietly, looking at Max.

The redhead shook her head. "No, then they'll know we're listening. We'll just sit in the hall and see if we can hear anything," she whispered.

They carefully got off Max's bed and crept to the door. Max went first, opening the door and leading Annie out to the hallway. Since the redhead was taller, she stood at her full height to peak around the corner. The shorter, Annie, crouched a little and peaked around underneath Max.

In the living room, they saw Neil standing and yelling at Billy, who was also standing. Susan was sitting off to the side, not wanting to try and interfere. Technically, Billy wasn't her son so she had no right to give an opinion. That's what Neil had told her in the past.

"No, you are my son, you are coming with me!" Neil shouted. It was so loud, Annie was tempted to cover her ears.

"Yeah that might be true, but I'm eighteen now, so technically I'm my own person and can make my own decisions!" Billy shouted back.

Annie knew they didn't get along, she knew Neil wasn't that great of a person. A couple times Max had come over to avoid something happening. Other times the girls would just listen to the loud music in Max's room and drown out the voices.

They hadn't gotten this loud in a while, though. This wasn't good.

"The hell you are! Can you really go off on your own? You can't even get into a damn college- and don't you dare hit me with that 'community college' bullshit!" That was what the argument was about.

"You don't need me to leave. You can do that just as easily on your own! In fact, that would be the best outcome!" Billy yelled back.

Annie dared to glance up at Max to gauge her reaction. She hadn't known Neil was going to leave, and by the confusion on Max's face, neither did she. What drew him to this, neither would know.

Neil scoffed and shook his head. "You really think you can go against me, boy?" he asked. He was no longer yelling, his voice a dangerously low volume. Annie knew that was never good.

"You don't have power over me anymore. I don't have to listen to your ass for another day," Billy said, his own voice dropping to the same low volume. Behind the wall, Annie gripped Max's hand and squeezed. She was scared.

By the way Max squeezed back, Annie knew she was, too.

They watched as Neil took a step towards Billy, and Annie expected him to take one back. Instead, he stood his ground and barely moved a muscle. Neil was shocked, pausing in his steps to take in his unmoving son.

In his shock, Neil looked over to Susan, who didn't move a muscle, and then back to Billy. Annie watched his face as his thoughts worked.

What she didn't expect was for his eyes to meet hers. Her blood ran cold and felt like everything was over. Neil turned his whole body to the girls and Max stiffened, too.

"What in the hell do you two think you're doing?" he asked. He didn't yell, like Annie might've expected. It was that same low voice that made Annie fear for her and Max.

He started to walk over to them and Annie was ready to drag Max back to her room and jump out the window. Her feet started to get into that position when Billy blocked her view of Neil.

"The fuck do you think you're doing?" Billy asked, his voice scary. Annie shook so much that Max moved a hand onto her shoulder to try and calm her down. She was scared, too. This hadn't happened before. At least not that she had seen.

Annie could no longer see Neil's face or body, so she didn't know what to prepare for. "You better get the hell out of my way!" She could see some movement, including Susan's eyes widening and hand moving to her mouth.

When Billy stumbled back towards them, she figured out what happened.

Max figured it out faster, though, and used the hand already on her girlfriend's shoulder to pull her back from the wall. The girls stumbled away as Billy made contact with the wall- he most likely would've accidentally hit them if they hadn't moved.

Billy spared the quickest glance at the girls to make sure they were okay, then set his focus on Neil.

"Annie, come on!" Max pulled Annie back and the oncoming fight was out of their sight. They could still hear the punches landing and the grunts of someone getting hit even as they went back into Max's room.

Max shut the door and locked it, just in case. Annie had made her way to Max's bed, but instead of sitting on it she sat on the floor leaned up against it. Her knees moved up to her chest and she set her hands on them, putting her head on the very top.

She watched as Max walked over the record player and turned it up a notch or two, effectively drowning out the sounds of the fight. Max then moved to sit next to Annie on the floor.

"You okay?" Annie asked, turning her head to look at Max's facial expression.

She nodded and then let out a breath. "Yeah, I guess... I'm not really used to Billy fighting back. I'm worried about how this is going to go," Max admitted. Then she turned to look at Annie. "Are you okay? I usually never try to have you over if they're like this..."

Annie shook her head. "I'm fine, Max, don't worry. I just hope it doesn't end terribly," she said.

The girlfriends sat in silence, unsure of how to make conversation when there was so much happening out there. Fleetwood Mac kept them occupied enough. At some point, Max had grabbed Annie's hand from her knee and started tracing patterns on the back of it with her thumb.

At another point, Annie's head found it's way to Max's shoulder and she closed her eyes. She liked to think she was going to fall asleep, but no way was she relaxed enough for a nap.

They sat like this for a while, sometimes Annie tracing patterns on Max's hand instead. When the record ended, the girls paused to listen to what was happening. They didn't hear anything, so they didn't move from their spots.

A couple minutes later, the front door closed and some footsteps came toward Max's room. Neither girl moved until the person knocked on the door. The girls looked at each and Annie moved so Max could get up.

She carefully unlocked the door and opened it up. "Hey, mom," she greeted, and let the door open fully. Annie went ahead and stood up, ready for the kind way Susan would say she should go.

"You girls okay?" she asked, putting a hand on Max's shoulder and looking over at Annie. They nodded. Susan did, too, as if to tell herself everyone was okay. "Well, he's gone."

Annie drew her brows together in confusion, Max looking at her and then back to her mom. "What do you mean?"

She took in a deep breath. "Neil's leaving. All his stuff is gone and so is he. Don't think he'll be back for a while," she said, and a smile appeared on her face. It held some sadness, but was overall a happy smile.

Max balked for a second. "You mean, gone gone?" she asked. Susan nodded. "Holy shit..."

Annie couldn't help smiling when Max swore in front of her mom. She was about to apologize but Susan held up a hand. "Don't. It's okay, it's accurate," she said with a laugh.

"Is Billy okay? We didn't... we didn't hear a lot of what went down after we left," Max said.

Susan nodded. "He's in the kitchen," she said, and stepped out of the way. Max waved Annie over and the girls walked out and down the hall to see Billy. He was sat at the table by the kitchen, a washcloth-wrapped bag of something frozen sitting on his hand on the table. The other hand had another frozen thing pressed on his face.

Max and Annie paused, unsure of how to approach. Billy looked over at them and had the ghost of a smile on his face. "You should see him," he joked, and both girls managed a smile at that.

The redhead walked over to Billy and hugged him. "Thanks." Annie stood back and watched, but when the two separated she sent a nod to Billy.

Max walked back over to Annie and took her hand to bring her back into her room. They closed the door and Annie went over to lay on top of Max's bed and Max took the vinyl off the player.

"I can't believe he's actually gone. It's like... insane to think about," she said once the vinyl was back in the sleeve.

Annie nodded. "But it's a good thing, right?"

Max smiled. "It's definitely a good thing."

A/n: I love the little in between chapters, and getting everything all nice and set up for season four coming up soon :)