58. Chapter 58

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Having Jessica Henderson in his bedroom was a strange experience for Billy. Under other circumstances Billy would have enjoyed it. Maybe if they'd had the house to themselves – or even if it had been them and Max. Billy couldn't relax with his Dad there. And who was he kidding? If Jessica had shown up and no one but Billy had been there, she would have turned around and gone back home.

About thirty minutes into Jessica's visit Susan came to stand in his doorway. She wanted to know if they needed anything.

"We're fine, Susan," Billy said brusquely.

Honestly, Billy didn't really have a problem with Susan. She'd never raised a hand to him like Neil did, but she didn't really help him when Neil went off either. It was probably a good thing because Neil had no problem turning his rage on a woman.

Billy wondered what would happen if Neil ever went after Max. Would Susan leave, take Max with her? Stick around knowing Max could be hurt again?

"You're Max's mom, right?" Jessica asked, getting up from her chair at the desk.

Susan nodded.

"Jessica. My brother goes to school with Max. They've become pretty close friends."

"Oh? That's nice."

"I sometimes hold movie nights for the kids – my brother's friends. I told Max about them and she said you'd probably want to meet me first."

Susan smiled softly. "Well, I guess we've met. It's nice of you to invite her. Let her know when the movie night will be and we'll see if she can make it."

Once Susan was gone Jessica sat back down, reached over with her leg and kicked Billy lightly on the shin.

"What if I had wanted water or something?"

She had a small smile on her face, so Billy knew she was teasing. Billy pursed his lips to keep from smiling back, distracted himself by reaching for the cigarette pack on his bedside table.

"Did you want water or something?"

"No. Just saying."

"Yeah, yeah. Stop answering for you. Got it."

Billy and Jessica had been getting everything organized, trying to figure out which points they wanted to hit and in what order. Music had been playing in the background all the while, not bothering either of them.

Once they started their actual debate it didn't take long for Neil to check in.

"I thought you guys were working on a project. All I hear is music and talking."

"That's the assignment," Billy said.

"What?"

"We have to debate back and forth," Jessica said. "It's for the book we're reading."

Neil stepped inside, closer to Billy and Jessica, and Billy sat up straighter on the bed, inched to the edge so he could be closer to Jessica as well. He knew Neil wouldn't do anything to Jessica, but he didn't like him being that near to her.

"Let me see."

Neil reached his hand out and Billy handed him his note cards.

"What book are you reading?"

"Frankenstein."

"Hm." Neil looked over the notes. "Of course you chose to argue that he shouldn't be held responsible for his actions."

"That's – that's not exactly what the assignment is," Jessica said. "I have to point out why the creature should be held responsible, so Billy has to think of reasons why he shouldn't be."

Billy wanted to tell Jessica to be quiet, to not even start with his dad. If he got too annoyed, it would be Billy that Neil took it out on.

"It's fine, Jess," Billy said. "It doesn't matter."

His dad left the room soon after that, and he and Jessica were able to work in peace for a while.

Billy and Jessica went over their presentation twice, both getting more comfortable each time.

"I hate speaking in public," Jessica said. "I'm gonna be so nervous when we do this."

"Forget everyone else. You love arguing with me and giving me a hard time."

"You need girls to give you a hard time. Might do you some good."

Billy scoffed. "See. You'll be fine. It'll take like five minutes off your life that you'll never get back and then it'll be over."

Billy wasn't much of a comforter. He'd never really received any and he didn't have practice giving it. He couldn't picture Jessica being nervous about anything, though. She had no problem standing up to him or Tommy or anyone. Speaking in class shouldn't be a problem.

Maybe he could rile her up beforehand so she wouldn't even think about it.

Steve woke up, his head and heart pounding in a way they hadn't in a while. He hadn't slept well the night before, kept having nightmares about the tunnels, about him and Jessica not making it out in time. The last one had really gotten to him. He'd had to watch as Jessica had been torn apart, had felt helpless when he wasn't able to protect her.

He'd basically jerked awake, causing his neck and head to start aching even worse. He'd had a bad night anyway. Had kept looking out of his window at the pool in his backyard, kept seeing shadows and hearing things that he knew weren't there. He'd almost gotten to the point where he'd wanted to call Jessica to see if he could go spend the night at her house. But he hadn't. He didn't know if he'd be welcome after their almost argument the day before. He'd been a real jerk.

Once he actually got out of bed he took in the brightness of his room and realized that it must have snowed sometime during the night. He loved the whiteness of snow, the clean look of it – or at least he had. Now it just made him feel like someone was stabbing his brain through his eyes.

That had to be left over from the concussion.

He quickly grabbed a pair of sunglasses and put them on even though he was inside. He just didn't want to deal with it. He was already nauseated from the sharp pain he'd felt. Better not to tempt fate and all that.

Things just got worse when he went downstairs. His dad was home and he and his mom were at the dining room table eating lunch.

His mom looked concerned when she noticed the sunglasses, but his dad looked less than impressed.

"Why do you look hungover? Do you know it's after twelve?"

"Dad, don't start. I didn't sleep well."

"I wouldn't sleep well either if I was your age and hadn't started on college applications yet."

"Jess and I are going to do them together, Dad. They haven't even released the dates for the SAT yet. Besides, you haven't even been here. How do you know what I've been doing?"

His dad started to respond, but his mom distracted him as Steve went to the fridge to pull out the water pitcher. He didn't know if his stomach could handle real food so he grabbed a packet of crackers from the cabinet, something he'd seen Jessica do time and again when she couldn't handle food.

He poured himself some water and put the pitcher back.

"You need to eat more than that," his mom said as he tried to get by his parents and head back upstairs.

"My head hurts, mom."

"You still have your medicine for that, right?"

"Yeah, I'll take one and eat a little before I lay back down."

"Let us know if it gets worse."

"Yeah. Okay."

Jessica stayed at Billy's house for about an hour longer, long enough to be able to speak her part from memory rather than looking at the cards all the time, and then she decided to stop by Steve's on her way home.

She said goodbye to Max before leaving and then at the door of the Hargrove house she turned to all of them and said, "Be careful driving in the morning. The roads are clear, but they still might freeze overnight. We have a lot of black ice out here, especially on back roads and side roads. You'll be driving and you won't even see it, it looks so much like asphalt. It's easy to lose control of your car."

"Thanks for the warning," Neil said. "We'll be careful. Won't we, Billy?"

"Yes, sir."

"Thanks for having me over on such short notice," she said. Then to Billy, "See you tomorrow."

She walked out the door and to her car, everything she'd brought with her in her bag. She got in the driver's seat and tossed her bag on the passenger seat.

It didn't take her long to get to Steve's once she got started. She noticed that Mr. Harrington's car was in the driveway – it had been missing more and more frequently since Steve's mom had come home because of his concussion and since she'd been busy with her fundraiser – and wondered if maybe she shouldn't have gone home and invited Steve over to her house.

She was already there, though, so she got out of her car and hurried on inside. Much like Steve did when he came to her house, she knocked just to announce her presence and let herself in. She walked through the little hallway that led to the living room only to find that Steve's mom was seated on the couch, a glass of wine on the table in front of her.

"Hey, Mrs. Harrington," she said, not really knowing what else to say because Jessica hadn't seen the woman drink outside of dinner in a while.

"Hey, sweetie. Steve's upstairs. He's either sleeping or avoiding his dad. Or both."

"Oh. Did something happen?"

"Steve woke up with a headache and the snow didn't help. He had his sunglasses on when he came downstairs. His dad was here when he woke up and they got into it again."

"Oh. Can I -?"

"Of course. He, um . . . he was kind of in a grumpy mood, so . . ."

"He usually is when his head hurts. It reminds him of the things he can't do anymore."

Jessica headed upstairs, glad she hadn't had to say anything to Steve's dad. He was probably in his study or something. Steve's door was closed when she reached it, so she knocked lightly before opening the door to let herself in.

Steve was in bed, under the covers. There was an almost empty glass of water and a half-eaten packet of crackers on the bedside table.

"Steve?" she said softly.

Steve didn't move, so he must've actually been asleep. He would never not respond to her if he was able to.

She clicked the door shut again and quietly made her way to the side of the bed not occupied by Steve so she could climb in herself. She moved close enough to him that she could sling an arm over his middle and cuddle in against his back.

He did move then, but he still didn't wake up.

If he was feeling as bad as his mom had said, she didn't want to wake him up. She settled herself comfortably against him and let herself relax enough so that she might be able to sleep as well.

Steve still had a headache when he woke up, but he could feel Jessica's presence beside him, which helped a lot, considering the dreams he'd been having the night before.

He turned so he could see her and just took her sleeping face in. He slipped an arm over her to pull her closer and she shifted a little, peaked through barely open eyes, and gave him a small smile before moving her head closer so they were breathing each other in.

"Hi," she said, voice barely above a whisper.

"Hey, beautiful," he responded, bringing a hand up to caress her cheek.

She smiled against his palm before kissing it.

"Your mom said you weren't feeling great."

"Stupid headache. I didn't sleep well, so I woke up not feeling well anyway, and then I looked outside and I swear it felt like I was being stabbed in my eyes."

"Ew. The brightness hurts my eyes too, but not like that."

"Yeah. And then Dad accused me of being hungover and got on me about college applications. It just wasn't a good time."

"I'm sorry."

"Not your fault."

She leaned forward, kissed him quickly, and then relaxed back into him.

"I, uh . . . I had to go to Billy's house today," she muttered. "His dad wouldn't let him drive because of the snow."

Steve tensed underneath her, but he didn't have the visceral reaction he'd had the day before when Billy had called looking for her. Jessica wasn't trying to hide the fact that she'd had to go to the guy's house. And she wouldn't have gone if they were going to be alone. Plus, Steve just didn't want to argue about him anymore.

He was not going to let Billy Hargrove come between him and Jessica when she wasn't letting Billy come between them. She'd never sought his attention, and it wasn't her fault Billy gave it to her.

He was sure their small argument the day before had been the reason for his lousy sleep and probably for the headache too. He didn't like not getting along with Jessica. It made him stress out and caused his anxiety to go through the roof. Especially if it was his fault they had a problem to begin with. And it usually was. He usually messed up somehow, but Jessica was very forgiving and very understanding most of the time. She usually didn't stay mad long.

"We're done, pretty much. We just have to actually present the thing."

"I'm sure you'll do great."

"I have it memorized, but I still don't want to have to talk in front of everyone."

He squeezed a little tighter and she let out a sigh of contentment.

"Anyway, Hopper said that they're officially closing the lab sometime this week. The military is coming in and everything."

"Maybe Nancy can finally get some peace."

"Yeah, and Barb's parents can get closure or whatever. They still don't have a body to bury, but at least they'll have someone to blame."

At some point in the conversation they switched positions. Jessica laid on her back and Steve had his head on her chest, right underneath her breasts. She had one hand in his hair, scratching his scalp enough to be soothing. It helped his headache like it normally did, had the stress leaving his body quicker than anything else probably would have.

"So I'll probably be going to Indianapolis either Tuesday or Thursday so I can do my shopping. I can't believe Christmas is in a week."

"Right? I'm mostly done with mine. A few last-minute things and that's it."

"Lucky."

"No, I just do mine whenever. Like if I'm out and I see something I know someone will like, I get it and keep it as a gift for Christmas or a birthday or something."

"Hm. Smart."

Steve nudged her with his head a little and said, "So . . . you know how you said you might want to get away for our anniversary?"

"Yes . . ."

"Do you think your mom would be okay with us going to the lake-house again? For the weekend after Christmas maybe?"

"I can ask her. Last time she said she didn't feel like she could stop me because I'm an adult, so . . . she'll probably say the same thing this time."

"Would you want to?"

"It could be fun," she teased. "Us alone, celebrating the fact we've been together a whole year."

"I love you," he said, voice kind of muffled from how he was laying.

"I love you too," she said. "Thanks for not freaking out about the Billy thing."

"I think I freaked out enough yesterday. I didn't like seeing you cry, and I definitely didn't like that I was the cause of it."

"Well, considering you did fine today, I think you learned your lesson."

Despite knowing he had work he needed to be doing Steve decided to indulge in the cuddling for a little longer. Jessica was slowly helping his headache go away. He would do his work when he felt better.