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Karen Wheeler doesn’t spend an inordinate amount of time at the Hawkins community pool. It’s just that it’s so hot in the summer, and there really isn’t much to do in Hawkins at any given time. So unless she wants to be slow-roasted in her own house, which isn’t particularly appealing, her only option is the pool.
The presence of a certain… attractive young lifeguard is just a lucky bonus.
The other one, Heather, Karen thinks, uncrosses her legs and hops down from the chair. “Ladies,” Karen murmurs, because it’s time. She hears the faint rustling and muted whispers that come with her friends adjusting themselves for the main event, but she keeps her eyes glued to the door Heather disappeared through.
Sure enough, he emerges mere moments later, toned arms and bronzed chest sparkling in the midday sun like a Greek god. He strides out onto the concrete, pausing on his way to the chair like does every day.
“Hello, ladies,” he says, the low rumble of his voice entirely too smooth and sultry for their location.
“Hi Billy,” they chorus back. He grins at them, all teeth and charm, nearly blinding in the sunlight.
“You’re looking hot today,” he tells them. “Remember to stay cool out here.” It would be an innocent enough comment, if not for the look in his eyes.
Karen swears he’s staring straight at her as he winks and walks away.
The rest of her “coven of wine moms,” as Nancy so elegantly describes them, titter behind her, but she doesn’t bother to engage. Every once in a while, Billy will toss a smile her way.
Yes, the pool is the place to be.
* * *
That Tuesday is shaping up to be a real scorcher. Ted barely blinks an eye when Karen tells him she’s headed to the pool. Bitterness rises in her chest like bile for a moment before she puts it out of her mind. She’s got bigger, better things to focus on.
She times her arrival perfectly, having just settled in when Heather’s shift ends. Billy takes her place as usual, with his customary greeting to Karen and her friends. He looks so relaxed up on the lifeguard’s chair, like he knows he can handle anything that’s thrown his way. Something about that easy confidence makes Karen hot under the collar, so she settles back against her pool chair, magazine held up in front of her face so she can watch Billy over the edge of it.
About half an hour later, something strange happens. Namely, Billy shadows his eyes with his hand, squints into the sun, and shouts, “Harrington! To what do I owe this pleasure?”
Karen looks toward the gate to the pool, where Steve Harrington has appeared with five children in tow. One of them is hers, she realizes as Mike elbows Will’s arm and leans close to whisper into his ear. Dustin and Lucas are there too, as well as a redheaded girl Karen vaguely recognizes as Billy’s sister.
She turns back to Billy, a little wary. His voice was laced with a challenge, and everyone in Hawkins has heard the rumors about their fight last November. Karen hadn’t had the misfortune to see the aftermath herself, but from what little she’d picked up from her kids, it wasn’t pretty.
But Billy doesn’t seem like he’s going to get up from his perch, and Steve doesn’t look particularly threatened either.
“The brats wanted to come to the pool,” he calls back, because they’re still at opposite ends of it, “and I had the day off. So, you know, here I am.” He says it with the kind of weariness that Karen associates with parenting preteens, a weariness she knows well. Steve’s turned into a good kid.
“Lucky you,” Billy sneers. Steve’s too far away for Karen to really see his expression, but she’d put money on him rolling his eyes so hard he sees his brain.
He ignores Billy after that, turning to the children and speaking to them softly before letting them free. He doesn’t swim himself, just takes a seat in a chair across the way from Karen, fully shaded by an umbrella, and slides a pair of sunglasses over his eyes. After a few minutes, Karen’s pretty sure he’s asleep.
Billy dons sunglasses as well, and doesn’t flash her a single grin until Steve’s gone.
* * *
It becomes something of a regular occurrence after that, Steve showing up with a varying number of other people’s children a couple of days a week. Usually he claims a chair and immediately passes out on it, although sometimes he brings a notebook along and spends hours with his head bent over the pages, scribbling away like he’ll die if he stops. And once or twice, he arrives in swim trunks and slathers more sunscreen on himself than Karen makes Mike wear, which is really saying something. Somehow, he still comes out the other side looking mildly burned.
Whenever Steve is there, it’s like Billy forgets Karen even exists.
* * *
Maybe three weeks into this, Billy calls Steve out like he always does, but instead of shooting some thinly veiled aggression his way and leaving him be, he beckons Steve over. The hesitation in Steve’s movements is painfully obvious, but he walks over to the lifeguard’s chair anyway, coming to stand under the umbrella. Billy starts talking to him, quietly now that they aren’t separated by a hundred feet of splashing water and screaming children. With a sigh, Karen drops her eyes to her Cosmo and actually reads it for the first time in her life. When she glances up about an hour later, Steve is just walking away from the chair, Billy staring after him as he goes.
He doesn’t come by the next three days, and Billy’s back to being his usual charming self.
* * *
The next time Steve shows up, he’s brought someone his age in addition to the ever-present children. She’s somewhat tall, with sandy brown hair and a slightly awkward gait. Karen can tell just by her posture that she’s not thrilled about being here. She pulls Steve aside to talk to him while the kids gleefully jump in the water, swatting him gently on the shoulder when he says something she evidently doesn’t like. But then she shakes her head and flaps a hand at him, collapsing into a chair when he walks away. Karen hasn’t heard anything from Nancy about Steve dating someone new, but she thinks they make a nice couple.
The redheaded girl seems to like her too, taking the chair next to her rather than joining the boys in the pool. The older girl ruffles her hair like Nancy used to do to Mike when he was younger. It’s cute.
Steve, strangely enough, heads straight for Billy. He crosses his arms over his chest, obviously more at ease than the last time they had spoken. Karen’s all for mending bridges, but she has to admit it’s a bit unexpected.
* * *
Billy starts keeping a closer eye on the gate. Karen only knows because she still keeps a close eye on him, like Ted keeps a close eye on his newspaper.
* * *
“Isn’t it strange, how they get along so well now?” Martha whispers to the group one day as Steve takes up his new usual position by Billy’s side. “I thought they were at each other’s throats.”
Karen hums in agreement. She’s seen Steve around; it’s nice that he’s making more friends his age, considering how much time he spends with all the kids. Why it has to be Billy, she doesn’t know, but she supposes it’s not her place to make value judgements on that sort of thing.
* * *
Billy absolutely roars with raucous laughter, slapping his leg and drawing every eye in the pool to him. “Full of surprises, Harrington!” he shouts, loud enough for the Carsons down the road to hear him. “Who knew!”
Next to him, leaning against the arm of the lifeguard’s chair, Steve is smiling like he’s holding back his own mirth. Karen rolls her eyes. Boys.
* * *
On the rare occasion that Steve is off doing something else, Billy’s gaze follows him around the pool.
* * *
Billy and Steve are sharing a cigarette by the end of the pool.
Billy smokes all the time, despite the No Smoking signs posted everywhere. But he’s the kind of guy who will chew out anyone else trying to light up with his cigarette still dangling from his lip. It’s alluring, his flagrant disregard for the rules combined with the obvious double standard.
But now, Karen thinks as she watches Billy hand the cigarette to Steve, watches Steve take a long drag before passing it back, that double standard seems to extend to the other boy.
It’s almost funny, when Billy yells “Hey!” and points threateningly at a kid that probably went to school with them. He’s got his lighter halfway to the cigarette held between his teeth, frozen with confusion rather than fear. “Can you not fucking read?” Billy shouts, gesturing with the hand holding his own cigarette at the sign on the fence just behind the offender.
“But—you—” the kid starts, pointing back at Billy, then at Steve, who plucks the cigarette from Billy’s fingers and inhales deeply, blowing the smoke out with a smug smile. “Him—”
“Ah,” Billy cuts him off. “Put it away. Rules are rules.”
The other kid looks like he’s going to keep protesting for a moment before the fight drains out of him and he shoves his hands in his pockets, kicking rocks as he flees with his tail between his legs. Billy and Steve share a look before cracking up silently into their fists, Billy leaning dramatically against the back of his seat and Steve nearly bent double.
Steve’s girlfriend, who’s been accompanying him to the pool more often recently, rolls her eyes with her whole body even while sitting. Karen is inclined to agree.
* * *
Billy hasn’t looked her way in days. It’s starting to feel like she’s back in her own home.
* * *
Heather slides down from the lifeguard’s chair to the excitement of every woman at the pool. Karen positions herself carefully on her pool chair, casually showing off the new bathing suit she bought at the mall yesterday. Ted hadn’t said anything that morning, of course, but Billy’s always been very observant and liberal with his praise. It’s harmless, really. Just a bit of an ego boost.
Except Heather leaves the locker room with her things and Billy still hasn’t come out to take his station. Which, truthfully, is surprising, because whatever else one might say about his professional demeanor, Billy is always punctual.
Two minutes pass, then five, and the concerned whispers around her are just starting to grate when she feels a touch at her shoulder. When she turns, Mike is standing next to her, dripping wet and shifting his weight from foot to foot.
“Hey Mom,” he starts, returning her slightly confused smile. “Can I have some money, please? Will and I want popsicles.”
“Of course, sweetie,” she replies, reaching into her bag to pull out a couple of neatly folded dollar bills. “Is Steve here with you?”
Mike shrugs, taking the offered money. “Yeah, he brought us here, but I don’t know where he went. Thanks!” He runs off before she can question him further, looping his arm over Will’s shoulders as they walk to the concession stand. There’s still no lifeguard on duty.
“All right, ladies,” Karen says, unfolding herself from the chair and standing up. “I think it’s about time for someone to check up on this public safety violation.” She makes for the locker rooms before the rest of the women have a chance to respond. At the very least, that bitch Doris would try to convince them to let her go instead.
Inside the building there’s a clear sign indicating that the men’s locker room is to the left and the women’s is on the right. Karen knocks on the wall outside the men’s side, hovering awkwardly in the doorway. “Billy?” she calls.
His response comes almost immediately. “Karen?” he asks, sounding startled. She supposes it’s a fair reaction.
“Heather went home for the day,” she explains, “and there’s no lifeguard on duty right now. Some of us parents are a little concerned.”
It takes him a moment to reply this time. “You’ve caught me at a bad time,” he says, voice quite steady if that’s the case. “I’ll be out in just a moment.”
“Alright,” she says slowly. When he doesn’t offer anything else, she pads out of the building.
True to his word, Billy strides to the chair after barely thirty seconds have passed, tossing her a suggestive wink as he takes his seat. She smiles back over the top of her Cosmo, licking her lips briefly.
Several minutes later, Steve comes out of the locker room, rolling his shoulders like he was just lifting something. He slides onto the chair next to his girlfriend’s, popping his sunglasses on and leaning his head closer to her so they can talk. Billy keeps glancing over at them as they laugh together, and even though Steve’s eyes are obscured, it’s clear enough from the tilt of his head that he’s looking at Billy too.
Karen doesn’t really understand their friendship, but stranger things have happened in Hawkins, Indiana.
* * *
(She realizes pretty quickly after that that trying to draw Billy's attention away from Steve is an exercise in futility.)