"I am on a curiosity voyage and I need my paddles to travel. These books—these books are my paddles. I need my paddles!" - Dustin Henderson

I snatch Billy's jacket from his bedroom floor and wrap it around my shoulders as I hurry after his retreating form. He strides right past the wide eyed woman standing in the kitchen without so much as a glance, but I manage to give her an awkward smile as I follow Billy outside. 

With a start I realise that the sky is already beginning to darken as dusk rapidly approaches. We must have slept nearly all day. 

What time did we get home anyway?

I push away the unwanted, however blurry memories of last night and pull open the passenger side door of Billy's car.

"Was that your mother?" I ask once we're both seated and the car heater is on full blast.

"No," he snaps.

I realise at this point that that was possibly the worst thing I could've said. But I mockingly raise my hands in surrender, "Shit, sorry. I didn't know."

He glances at me for a moment and his eyes soften the slightest bit. 

"Susan is my stepmother," he says, slightly less aggressively than before.

Hmm, interesting. Where is his real mother then?

My subconcious is endlessly curious and I crush her latest inquiries quickly, knowing by now that asking Billy such a personal question would only end badly.

So I do my best to keep the conversation light.

"That makes sense, you two look nothing alike," I point out with a smirk. 

I think back to the colour of the girls hair who he arrived with on the first day of school, it was the same colour as Billy's stepmother.

"Does that mean the younger girl that you were with at school is her daughter?" I ask suddenly.

I know I might be pushing my luck asking so many questions, but I can't help but be so curious about this boy. He's a complete mystery, not only to me, but to everyone else in this small town.

However Billy seems pleased that I've put two and two together.

"Yeah, Max is my stepsister," he says as he starts his car and gets ready to pull out of his driveway. 

But before he can move the car, there's a sudden bang on my window and I jump. I hold back a frightened screech as I turn to see a rather angry looking middle aged man glaring across me at Billy. 

Billy rolls his eyes but gestures for me to roll the window down and I do so without a word. 

The very angry looking man who I assume is Billy's father, leans down until his elbows are resting on the window and it's as if I'm not even sitting there, his eyes are focused only on Billy.

"Remember to pick your sister up after you two are finished doing... whatever it is you troublemakers are up to," his words are clipped and harsh. 

I have to suppress a shiver as the man speaks, his very presence is so painfully similar to Jim's that I'm having trouble breathing easily.

I turn my head to look at Billy so that I don't have to watch the horrible man beside me but Billy is looking straight ahead and refusing to make eye contact with his father. My heart clenches as I recognise the same fear in his eyes that I feel whenever Jim is around.

Clearly the relationship between Billy and his father is rocky but I can only hope that it's nothing like mine with Jim. I would never wish that kind of pain on anyone.

Billy's jaw is clenched tightly as he finally says under his breath, "She's not my sister."

Billy's father was leaning back slightly as if he was about to leave but his face completely transforms at Billy's words and he leans in even further this time with an absolutely furious expression. 

"You really want to do this now? In front of your lady friend?" he taunts, finally acknowledging my presence.

Billy still doesn't make eye contact but I watch in sympathy as he clenches his hand into a fist at his side, "No, sir."

"What was that?"

"No, sir." He repeats, louder this time.

"That's what I thought, now get out of here," he spits, so close that I can smell his vile breath from where I sit completely unmoving.

When the man finally backs away from the car, I waste no time closing the window and breathing in a deep breath, glad to be rid of him. When I look back at Billy and see his stiff shoulders and guarded expression I decide to steer clear of the topic of his father, at least for now. So I reach over and turn up the car stereo. 

I smile when I realise that The Four Horsemen by Metallica is playing, Billy must have a pretty good taste in music.

The tension is thick with the many unspoken words during the rest of the car ride and it's almost getting to the point that I can no longer bare the silence when Billy finally speaks up. 

"You hungry?"

I open my mouth, about to deny that I am when my traitor stomach rumbles loudly and Billy glances over at me with widened eyes. He snorts out a laugh at my horrified expression and his gaze flicks back to the road. 

"I'll take that as a yes."

I pull Billy's jacket tighter around me and hunch down in my seat to attempt to hide my blush as Billy pulls into the driveway of Hawkins local diner. I find myself automatically scanning the parking lot for my mothers car, even though I know for certain that she never works Sunday shifts.

I follow after Billy into the diner and keep my head down, feeling suddenly self conscious about my strange apparel. But thankfully there are no familiar faces within the establishment, it seems to be pretty quiet inside.

This is one of the only decent places to eat in our small town of Hawkins and although most of the time I spend here is working with my mother I can't help but feel safe in it's familiar space. I don't have a massive amount of constants in my life but I know I can always count on this diner to stay the same. 

The comforting smell of fried food and extreme amounts of grease float throughout the establishment and as I plop down across from Billy in one of the booths and rest my head on my hands, I note the old and overused, however still comfortable cushions.

I sit quietly, watching as the mysterious boy in front of me scans the menu, his brow creasing slightly in concentration. In this moment he seems calm, relaxed even and I can't help but admire how good innocent looks on him. 

He catches me staring and raises the previously creased eyebrow questioningly, "You aren't going to look at the menu?"

"My mother works here and I help her out with shifts sometimes so I pretty much know it from top to bottom," I shrug. This is mostly the truth, however 'sometimes' is usually more often than not.

Billy nods slightly and goes back to reading the menu with a seemingly unconscious frown.

"I would definitely recommend the Happy Hawkins Burger, it's delicious and certain to bring a smile to your face," I add with a barely concealed grin.

I almost think my eyes are deceiving me when I catch Billy hiding his grin behind the menu in his hands, I'm about to make a sly comment about it but I'm interrupted by a waiter approaching our table.

When I look up I'm surprised to see an unfamiliar face, this is strange considering the fact that I know everybody who works here.

"Are you new?" I ask, my mouth moving too fast for my brain to stop me.

The boy had to be around the same age as Billy and I, or perhaps even a few years older. He has beautiful blonde hair and an innocent smile to match his apparent boyish good looks.

"Ah- yeah, I am. Is it that obvious?" he asks, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"Oh! No it isn't, I just- I help out here sometimes so I know everyone that works here is all. What's your name?" I ask lamely. 

"I'm Jesse, Jesse Henderson. I just moved here this week and was fortunate enough to get a job here," he offers with a small smile.

"Well it's nice to meet you, I'm Andie. Welcome to Hawkins, Jesse." I say with a smile of my own. 

I glance once at Billy to see if he's going to introduce himself but he hasn't even looked up from the menu. I roll my eyes unthinkingly and turn back to Jesse, who seems to have come to the same realisation as me.

"Ah.. so! What can I get for you guys?" he says, doing his best to avoid looking Billy in the eyes.

I give him my usual order and when I'm finished he looks at Billy expectantly. Billy glances at me for a split second before turning back to Jesse with a slight smirk.

"I'll have the Happy Hawkins Burger." 

* * *

helloo so i introduced a new character in this chapter & i'm not 100% sure if i'm going to keep jesse around yet but would you guys like it if i added him as perhaps another competing love interest or even just a good friend for andie? what are your thoughts?! 
(jesse is played by river phoenix btw)

& you know the drill! if you liked this chapter, be sure to give it a vote or drop a comment down below xx

HEY I MADE A GIF DO YOU LIKE IT?? SHOULD I MAKE MORE?