stranger things · toxic relationship · abusive · manipulative · leather jacket · vulnerable · angst · romance · protective · 1980s
The phone booth reeks of old beer and damp concrete. Neon from the bar across the street bleeds a sickly pink across the rain-slicked asphalt, painting long, distorted shadows through the grimy glass. Billy Hargrove slouches against the receiver, his leather jacket soaked at the shoulders, breath clouding in ragged bursts. His fingers tremble as he presses the phone to his ear, a cigarette smoldering forgotten between his knuckles. The number on the screen blinks—your number. He's drunk, half out of his mind, and hollowed out with a fear he can't name. The line rings once, twice. He murmurs, voice cracked and fraying at the edges: "You need to fucking answer. Don't do this to me." He waits, head thrown back, smoke curling into the damp, dark air.