𝐈 𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐀 𝐂𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐔 𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐒 𝐎𝐔𝐓.

I shook my head, not allowing my eyes to leave him as they fogged with tears. "Why didn't you answer the phone, Stu. When I called you yesterday, why didn't you answer?!"

He looked down nervously, chuckling, "what? Why does that matter?"

"Because it matters, Stu! It matters because you wasn't at home last night- at 3AM, so where were you?!"

He didn't have an answer this time, instead turning to his puppy eyes and a quivering bottom lip.

"Oh my God," I sobbed, covering my mouth with my hands as I stumbled toward the door of the house- Stu's dad owned a handgun, I knew that.

"Ivy, please- listen!"

I could feel the doorknob behind me once I was up the porch stairs, praying to God that this was one of the times that Stu had left the door open.

I twisted it.

Click.

It fell open behind me, letting me inside and trapping Stu out as I locked it behind me- it would only be a matter of minutes before he found another way in, I knew that, so I had to move fast.

The master bedroom was where the gun stayed, which was upstairs. My feet thundered across each wooden step toward the ticket to my... survival?

Stu wouldn't kill me, I hoped- if he felt the way about me as I did about him (and Billy) he couldn't.

I burst into the room, only to see the gun already laid out on the bed. I grabbed it, holding it in my hands for a few seconds before I heard a crash from Stu's room.

I swallowed thickly as I heard him bellow out my name- he didn't sound angry, not at all, he sounded scared and sad.

I couldn't kill him, no matter how bad I wanted to.

But that couldn't be how it looked, he had to think I would kill him if I had to. So I composed myself and pushed opened the door, holding the gun in front of me as I was met with his scared face, tears running down his smooth skin and coating his lips until they wrapped around one of his piercings.

"Ivy... please, let me-"

"Get downstairs, now," I started in a cold voice, when really I wanted nothing more than to hug him. But I couldn't, I had to remember what he did to Casey and Steve, "now! Go, for fuck's sake!"

He walked down the stairs with his hands beside his head, letting me press the barrel to his skull as I thundered behind him.

Finally, we made it to the kitchen where he pulled out a wooden dining chair, placing his hands on the table and toying with them as I took the seat opposite him, keeping the gun facing him.

"D'you even know how to use that?" he asked shyly, not daring to meet my eye, he was ashamed, I think.

"Yes," I started, cocking it and turning the safety off before shooting the floorboards, "I do. Now tell me why you did it."

He rubbed his hand over his face before looking me in the eye, "I can't tell you that".

"Tell me"

"No"

"Tell me, or I'll blow your fucking brains all over this God-damn kitchen, Stu! Why did you kill Casey?!"

"Because, Ivy! She took you away from me. We spent every day together until you and her became friends, and then you suddenly started sleeping at her place instead of mine and I... I missed you!"

I softened for a moment, lowering the gun before the image of Casey being stabbed re-entered my mine, the image of Stu stabbing Casey.

"Couldn't you have just... spoke to me? She was my friend, Stu. My fucking friend!"

He sighed as he gazed upon me sympathetically, "I know, Sweetheart, I know"

I rubbed my eyes before opening them again, half expecting Stu to kill me whilst they were closed, but he didn't. "Are you going to kill me now?" I asked, lowering the gun into the waistband of my pants after turning the safety on.

"No, Sweetheart. I could never."

I nodded, rubbing my eyes, "I think I'm ok with it, Stu. It sounds fucked up but... I think I am".

He looked surprised, but nodded nonetheless and opened his arms, patting his leg for me to sit on- although now my adrenaline was crashing and I could barely walk, so I ended up laying my head on his lap whilst wrapping my arms around his torso.

"She was my friend, Stu. My friend" I sobbed, feeling the tears slip past my cheekbones and my soak into his black cargo pants. He rubbed my hair lightly as I heard him sniffling- this was the first I had ever seen Stu cry.

"I know, Sweetheart, I know," he consoled in a stuffy voice- a result of him crying, bending down and kissing my black tendrils, "but look at it this way, you don't have to worry anymore, you know I'd never hurt you."

I nodded, not lifting my head up from his lap, "did you mean what you said yesterday? About being... In love with me?"

I heard him suck in a breath lightly, and I could practically hear the smirk as he said: "oh yeah, Pretty Lady" and kissed my hair again.

I looked up just in time to see him hooking his beastly hands under my arms and lifting my up until I was curled in his lap- his face was buried in the crook of my neck and I could feel his hot breath on my skin. He had bleary eyes and a red nose, accompanied by puffy, cherry lips that made him look even more gorgeous than he usually did. I missed Stu and Billy with every fibre in my body.

"And Billy, poor guy misses you too- misses how the three of us used to be, y'know?"

I chuckled lightly, "please, the guy's practically taken up abstinence since Sidney stopped screwing him".

"Not exactly... He just sleeps around with random girls from the next town over. He misses you, Vee. Guy's in love with you big time, like me"

𓆈

"𝐖𝐇𝐀'𝐃𝐘𝐀 𝐌𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐕𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃? 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓?"

Stu was holding the phone to his ear as I lit a joint he had given me- I had expressed my worries about being in on the two boy's plans so he had offered me it to calm me down, which I had happily accepted.

I had changed into one of his sweaters and had his jacket pulled over it, with my legs crossed underneath me and a glass of his father's finest whiskey set on the wooden dining table.

Stu looked stupidly handsome, even in his black joggers and band-T, I couldn't help but admire his slightly toned, 6 foot 4 frame.

He turned to me, "Ivy, we got a problem on our hands," he started, causing Billy to practically shout:

"Hold on, Ivy's there?!"

Stu nodded his head and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, she knows all about her 'birthday party' ,man, anyway, why did you say you were arrested?"

"Because they think I killed Casey and Steve, Stu"

I sighed, placing the joint on the edge of an ashtray and downing the last of my drink before hurrying over and taking the phone from Stu's hand, who wrapped his long arms around my shoulders and bent down to rest his cheek on my head, "Hey Billy, it's Ivy."

I could hear him take a breath of relief from the other end, "Hey Babydoll, you ok? You're not mad are you?" His tone was teasing in the good way, making me laugh as I held the receiver to my ear.

"Well, I'm sad, but I'm not mad. I guess I like you too much".

"Aw, well don't you worry, Pretty. Soon I'll be out'ta hear and me, you and Stu can all live happily ever after," he told me, and I could hear his cuffs shift as he said, "promise".

I held my pinky in the air before shaking it, "promise" i kissed my thumb at the same time I heard him do it, "I'm gonna take care of this problem, ok?"

"Alright, Babydoll, I trust you."

I smiled before handing the phone back to Stu, who spoke with the boy for a minute before ending it and pulling a cellular phone from a drawer, along with a blocky white device.

𓆈

𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐋𝐄𝐓 𝐆𝐎 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐖𝐄 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 𝐏𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐇𝐈𝐌 𝐔𝐏 𝐈𝐍 𝐒𝐓𝐔'𝐒 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐂𝐀𝐑.

He had his hand gripping my own as the hum of music played in the background, drowned out by the sound of Stu's own humming that reverberated from deep in his throat.

It was things like that that drove me wild, even as we waited outside the desolate police station for Billy in the car, his deep humming sent fireworks through my body- but soon enough I was distracted by the sound of Billy Loomis walking toward the vehicle.

"Billy!" I called out in relief at the same time Stu relaxed slightly in his seat, both visibly less stressed once the boy was in the back of the car- which Stu had promised would be taken to the garage for maintenance tomorrow after I found out he hadn't had it checked since he bought it.

"Thank God!" I started once we were out of view of the police station and Tatum's brother Dewey, who would most likely question me tomorrow, "are you ok?!"

I climbed into the back whilst Stu continued driving, looking at the red marks on Billy's wrists from the cuffs they had him in.

"Yeah, Babydoll, I'm fine," he started as he pulled me into his side, "glad to see you".

That was the last thing he said before my exhaustion took over once again, and the car grew blurry as I heard Stu say, "she's so cute, man. I can't believe we get to keep her".

That made me smile, Stu Masher and Billy Loomis did get to keep me, the two owned my heart, together.