Roxanne
014.
Despite the fact that I still didn’t really know jack shit about Berkeley, California, I knew that to get to my aunt’s house from the small restaurant that Billie and I had just been in you had to take a left. Billie took a right.
At the realization of the car going in the opposite direction than it was supposed to, I had opened my mouth to question Billie or to see if he had forgotten where I was living. However as soon as my mouth opened, Billie had placed a hand on my shoulder in a reassuring manner as if to tell me to not bother to ask. Apparently he had known exactly what he was doing.
We had been driving for five or so minutes in a silence that wasn’t awkward in the least; yet Billie mustn’t have liked it because he began to fumble with the radio. Once the radio had been turned on and to a normal volume, I noticed Billie’s eyes on me and a small chuckle leave his lips. “I made sure I didn’t deafen you with music tonight,” he pointed out. I tilted my head to the side in confusion at what he had meant at first, but then laughed when I remembered the day before and how we had both been surprised by the Ramones yelling at us.
Billie had continued to tune through stations slowly while scowling at music that he apparently didn’t like. As he continued to hit the seek button on the radio, I noticed the radio land on one particular artist. At the sound of the lead singer’s voice and an all-too familiar tune, the memory of the band that I had looked up about twelve hours ago came back to me. “Green Day, right?” I asked loudly. I felt proud for being able to point it out.
At my assumption, Billie’s body jerked in surprise while resulted in the radio station being changed. I heard him mumble a few obscenities while he pushed the button again, retreating back to the band that I was damn near positive was Green Day. Once I was sure that it was one of the songs that I had heard the night before while checking the band out on iTunes, meaning that it was indeed the band, I grinned in satisfaction.
Billie noticed my grin after looking over his shoulder to me quickly. “I thought you, uh…” Billie trailed off. He sighed heavily and ran a hand rather hastily through his thick hair, grabbing it and pulling almost angrily at a few points. “I thought you didn’t know Green Day.”
I cocked an eyebrow at the obvious turmoil Billie was going through inside his mind. When I didn’t respond right away, Billie turned his head from the road to me, whom he eyed suspiciously. At the feeling of his surprisingly reproachful eyes on me, I shrank back into my seat. Billie must have noticed my body language because as soon as I had shifted, he seemed to lighten up a bit. “I don’t,” I confirmed slowly. I paused in hopes for him to lighten up some more, however there was no avail. He certainly wasn’t making this any easier to say and it was getting to the point where I was about to verbalize that. “But I looked them up last night because you mentioned them and they sounded familiar.” I shrugged. “I don’t know what your problem with liking them is—they’re good.”
Billie’s eyes lifted from my body and he turned back to the road as an uncomfortable silence took over the car. “They’re good?” He questioned after a moment. He sounded confused, as if I had spoken to him in a completely different language and he was trying to translate it himself.
“Yes,” I agreed slowly. I folded my arms over my chest. I wanted so desperately to ask Billie what the hell his problem with the band was seeing as he was the one to have originally brought them up in the first place, however at the same time I didn’t want to anger him. Something seemed off about him and the mention of the band and even though I was becoming desperate to know what it was, I wasn’t going to jeopardize our good night by prying. Instead, I decided to be brutally honest and see where that brought me. “I like them,” I encouraged. “I mean, sometimes you can’t really understand the lead singer, but I kind of like that.”
Billie surprised me by laughing—loudly. I had been expecting it to be a bitter laugh with his current attitude, but I was surprised to hear that he was actually amused. “You can’t understand the lead singer?” He asked. “So, what—he has a crappy voice?”
“No!” I cried out. That hadn’t been what I had meant at all. I suppose I had been so defensive over my opinion about the band because I had grown up hearing a lot of criticism over Matthew Bellamy’s voice that I had adored so much and I didn’t want Billie to think that I had been doing the same thing. “Not at all—he’s got a great voice, but at some parts he’s kind of hard to understand. He jumbles his words together.”
“You think he sucks,” Billie stated bluntly. I was confused at how he was pushing that I thought the singer of the band was terrible when I had clearly stated he wasn’t, however that changed once I saw the playful grin on Billie’s lips. Apparently he had been joking in hopes of irritating me.
“Totally,” I agreed with the same playful attitude. I rolled my eyes to confirm that I wasn’t serious while Billie chuckled and shook his head.
The next five minutes of the car ride was spent in silence, in which Billie drove while looking completely lost in thought to the point where I was beginning to become somewhat worried that he’d swerve off of the road. I didn’t have to worry about crashing much longer, thankfully, for Billie ended up turning on his signal to turn into the parking lot of your stereotypical ice cream stand. At the realization of what Billie was doing and where he had brought me, I felt the butterflies that I had completely forgotten about from the night before begin to stir in my stomach.
I hadn’t realized Billie had killed the engine to his BMW at first, and so when I finally snapped back into reality Billie had already gotten out of his seat and was closing the door behind him. I jumped in surprise at how slow I had been and hurried to unbuckle my seatbelt, however at the same time I was rather hesitant to get out of the car. Billie had seemed to be in a slightly bitter mood ever since the mention of the band a few minutes ago and I was becoming afraid that when I opened the door to the car and stepped out, Billie would still had the same attitude and it would last throughout the rest of the night.
I didn’t have much time to worry about Billie’s questionable attitude due to the fact that within thirty seconds, Billie was opening my door for me as he had done back at the restaurant when I had also failed to realize he had gotten out before me. Also like back at the restaurant, Billie had outstretched a hand in order to help me from the car and I had accepted it gratefully.
Billie chuckled once he had pulled me to my feet and closed the door gently behind me while holding me against him with his other arm. I didn’t argue, but instead wrapped an arm back around his leather-clad back and dragged my nails along it. When the door had been closed to his car, Billie stood up straight though didn’t take his arm back from where it was currently resting comfortably around my equally small body. I had never realized exactly how perfect our bodies had fit together before that moment. It seemed as if our equal lack of height allowed us to fit into the crooks in each other’s bodies literally perfectly.
When Billie had stood back up straight, he turned his head to get the full view of my face that wasn’t resting all-too far away from his own. Had I moved about an inch, our noses probably would have brushed. I watched silently as he focused his dark eyes in on my straight teeth that were shown due to the grin on my face and then trailed them up past my nose to connect them with my very own eyes. “Hi,” I greeted once our eyes connected.
Billie laughed. “Hi there,” he greeted. He was mocking my tone, but in an amused way rather than an offensive way. He seemed to hesitate and for a moment I felt him begin to rock back and forth on the balls of his feet, however he ended it pretty quickly. “I come here all the time, too,” he admitted with a nervous chuckle. “And they have the best fuckin’ ice cream in the whole East Bay.” He grinned innocently at me, as if expecting me to somewhat angry at him for bringing me to such a place. “I thought you’d like to give it a try before we call it a night.”
I currently felt as if I was living in an unoriginal 1950’s movie that a typical parent would force their children to watch nowadays. It was all so cheesy to the point where it should have been absolutely unbearable, but at the same time I was becoming convinced that I had never lived such a perfect moment in life.
I giggled quietly at Billie’s idea and after hesitating for quite a long moment considering the way that this had turned out the night before; I placed my lips safely against Billie’s smooth cheek. “I would love to,” I accepted easily. I hesitated for a moment considering what I had wanted to do next wasn’t exactly the sweetest of things, however at the same time I still felt the need to get Billie back for the uncomfortable looks he had given me in the car. I sighed heavily and closed my eyes briefly, which caused Billie to begin to rock back and forth on the balls of his feet again underneath me. “But I’m lactose intolerant, Billie.”
For a while I began to wonder if Billie had caught onto the fact that I had already had pizza that evening, in which proved that I was in fact not lactose intolerant, however when I lifted my eyes to the poor man’s face, he seemed to have paled about five shades. In fact, his body had gone rather rigid against mine now that I thought of it.
“Billie?” I called out hesitantly. I winced at the fact that with my luck, he’d drop to the ground of a heart attack right then and there. When Billie didn’t respond, I lifted my free hand and placed it on his cheek to see if there was any heat radiating from his normally warm body. As soon as my hand brushed his skin, his body jerked as it had back in the car and he turned to face me.
“You’re lactose intolerant?” He asked. His eyes had gone wider than they had when I had first told him that I was eighteen and in high school back at the supermarket. Until then, I had thought of that as impossible. I didn’t get the chance to respond to Billie at his question, because about half a minute later he scowled loudly. “Oh, shit—Roxanne, I’m so sorry.” He slid his body from my arm and placed both hands on both of my cheeks. “I’m so sorry, Roxy,” he apologized. “I didn’t—fuck, I had no clue.” He shook his head and took a hand from my cheek to run through his hair hastily. “Fuck. Fuck, I didn’t think—I’m so sorry.”
My eyes widened at Billie’s multiple obscenities that began to pour from his mouth. In order to calm the poor man down, I brushed Billie’s hand from my cheek and wrapped my arms around his neck in order to pull his body against mine. “Billie!” I cried out once he failed to react to me. “Billie, I’m so sorry. Billie—I was joking. I’m not really lactose intolerant.”
It took Billie a good two or three minutes to realize what I had just admitted, but as soon as he did, his body locked up just as it had when I had first lied and told him that I was lactose intolerant. Billie pulled back from my arms that had been wrapped rather tightly around his small neck and narrowed his eyes once they met mine. “You’re joking?” He asked slowly.
“I ate pizza tonight,” I pointed out as lightly as I possibly could. I suppose you could say that I was somewhat afraid that I had angered him. “If I was, I wouldn’t have been able to eat the cheese.”
Billie stared at me for a few moments with the same narrowed eyes. At once, he scowled loudly and dug his fingers into my side as a replacement for hitting me. How he had known that he would get such a reaction out of me I wasn’t sure, but as soon as his fingers dug into my sides, I ended up squealing loudly and pulling as far away from him as possible. “Roxanne,” Billie scowled while somehow managing to grab onto my body again. “Roxanne, you’re fucking awful.”
I giggled furiously as Billie locked his arms back around my squirming body so that I was unable to get away from him. “I’m sorry,” I apologized. “Really, I am—it was just so perfect.” I took a deep breath in order to try my best to mute my giggles and then bit down onto my bottom lip when I realized that there would be no such luck. “I’m sorry,” I offered again.
Billie stared at me for a long moment without loosening his tight grip from around my body while I continued to bite down onto my bottom lip and look up at his eyes that were barely visible in the darkness that had fallen over Berkeley. For a moment I had begun to wonder if Billie was actually angry with me about my ruthless joke, however when I had started to finally become somewhat worried, Billie’s lips pulled themselves back over his crooked and yellow teeth. “You’re awful, Roxy,” he repeated, only in a much calmer tone. He shook his head while a laugh escaped his lips. “You’re absolutely fucking awful.” I giggled in relief that Billie wasn’t angry at me in the least and felt my cheeks begin to burn as he pressed a kiss to my temple. It wasn’t exactly much of a kiss, though, seeing as he had placed his lips to my skin there and hadn’t taken them away for a good minute or so. “You’re so lucky I don’t just beat you for that,” he mumbled against my temple.
My giggles turned into a full laugh as I took my arms from where they had been pushed up against his chest to wrap around his neck. Despite the fact that it was apparent to me by now that Billie had some anger issues, it was obvious that he wasn’t exactly a woman-beater. Perhaps it was because his lack of height that made it so obvious. “I’m sorry,” I apologized through my now beat-red cheeks.
“Awful,” he repeated with a chuckle while shaking his head. He slid his arms from around my body which forced my arms to slide from around his neck. Once they were hanging loosely by my side, he took one of my hands and laced my fingers with his own. Instead of arguing or fighting against the sweet hold he had on my hand, I ended up tripping over my feet and scowling quietly at the feeling of what seemed to be literal butterflies gnawing away at my insides to the point where I felt sick.
By my hand, Billie had led me up to the window of the small ice cream stand. Once we had reached the window, he slid his warm hand from my own and placed it on my waist as he stood behind me looking at the flavors over my left shoulder. I felt my body freeze up at the feeling of his hand literally holding my waist, however forced myself to calm down at the fact that it wasn’t that big of a deal and I was truly overreacting. Billie had been right when he had picked me up at my aunt’s home earlier that evening—I was too shy.
Despite the fact that my body had frozen up like a damn stone under Billie’s affection and he was well aware of it seeing as it was impossible not to be, he only chuckled and instead of gripping my waist, he patted it reassuringly. I suppose he was staying true to his word when he had told me that he was going to loosen me up. Truth be told, he had already done a fantastic job doing so so far that night.
“I love cookie dough,” I admitted more to myself rather than Billie. It didn’t matter, though, considering he had heard it and chuckled.
“So get it,” he answered simply into my hair that he had subtly buried his nose in. I jumped at the feeling of the vibration of his words against my head and then rolled my eyes at how ridiculous I was. Billie chuckled again.
“I will,” I answered in the same tone that he had just used on me.
Billie rolled his eyes playfully at my stubbornness while his grip on my waist only tightened. It hadn’t taken us long to order our ice cream and receive it, which brought us to the bench that we were currently sitting next to each other on. I had been glad when Billie had taken the seat next to me rather than across from me as I had expected him to. While I hadn’t had much of a problem sitting across from him at the restaurant earlier that evening, I had missed the warmth of his body that I was only able to feel when close to him.
“I love ice cream,” I admitted honestly while taking a bite of the cookie dough that I had found.
Billie laughed. “Big surprise.” I looked up from my cone and cocked an eyebrow curiously at his words even though I knew what he had meant and that he had meant it in a joking manner. He laughed at my expression and shook his head while eating his own. “Don’t take it as an insult—I’m glad you eat as much as you do, Roxy.”
I giggled. “You’re the only one,” I admitted. “My friends make fun of me for it.” Billie laughed at that while my cheeks began to burn a bit. “When I’m like forty, my metabolism is going to slow down and I’ll just automatically gain three hundred pounds literally overnight.” I rolled my eyes. “Everyone tells me that and I’ve just accepted it.”
Billie laughed. He leant over and placed a sticky kiss to my temple. It was a nice feeling to feel his lips against a part of my skin such as my cheek or temple and not freeze nor have a miniature heart attack as I had done all the previous times I had been around Billie. I suppose he really had loosened me up as he had promised me he would, and I believe that the small kisses that he had placed amongst my skin that night was his way of making sure.
“You’ll still be adorable,” Billie stated.
The heat in my cheeks became a bit stronger while a few butterflies shifted in my stomach. By this point I was forcing myself to stay calm—I was no longer going to be a victim of my bashfulness. I giggled and ignored my thoughts that were only encouraging the butterflies to flutter a bit more. “You won’t be saying that in twenty years when I’ve gained about three hundred pounds.”
“I will,” he encouraged.
I laughed and rolled my eyes at how persistent he was. While the chances of that actually happening were slim, and by that I mean the chances of Billie still being around with me in twenty years, it was a sweet thought—even if it did involve me being severely overweight.
“I used to work at an ice cream stand,” I admitted a few moments later when I had successfully finished my ice cream.
“Yeah?” Billie asked. Instead of using a napkin to wipe his mouth on, he used the back of his hand like a typical male. He hadn’t noticed that I had noticed and for that I was glad—While no girl liked a complete pig, I didn’t want Billie to be some proper guy. It didn’t fit him in the least. “I gather you don’t still?”
“No,” I admitted as I leant back against the wooden table. I subtly slid my torso closer to Billie in order to become warmer from his body heat. For the first time that evening I was beginning to realize why Billie had worn a jacket—the temperature had dropped a surprising amount. I wasn’t going to be the stereotypical girl and shiver noticeably in order to gain his jacket, though. “It was a fun summer job, but that was about it.” I rolled my eyes.
Billie chuckled at my obvious lack of enthusiasm when it came to my past job. “Do you work now?” He asked while looking over at me.
“Right now?” I asked slowly. “Well, as of this moment, no. I can’t say I do.” I grinned as Billie rolled his eyes at how literal I had taken his question. “But I’ve worked at the mall near my house and a few small shops. I work during the summer mainly because I’m usually home for most of it.” Billie nodded slowly with his eyes focused upon the small stand that was before us. I hesitated for a long moment, mulling over whether or not to ask the one question that I had been pining over since I had been satisfied with knowing his last name. While I didn’t want to insult Billie by asking the question, I also felt as if I had the right to know seeing as I was indeed on a date with him. “Do you work?” I blurted after a moment of a comfortable silence.
In reality, I shouldn’t have been so nervous about asking the thirty one year old man next to me if he worked considering it really wasn’t that big of a deal seeing as just about all thirty one year old men worked and that I probably should have known already. Then again, I had a knack for overreacting.
“What?” Billie asked. Apparently he hadn’t even been paying attention. He turned his head to look at me with a cocked eyebrow and I silently pleaded with him to not make me ask again. Hadn’t once been torturous enough? I already felt like a bitch for asking. He must have realized what I had asked because he chuckled. “Of course I work, Roxy,” he answered with a grin. I let out a sigh of relief at how careless he had been towards his answer. I truly did have a knack for overreacting and he was only proving it even more.
“What do you do?” I asked quietly.
Billie seemed to hesitate at that. Instead of answering right away as he had when I had asked him if he worked, he shifted his small body next to mine so that he was sitting with his legs underneath the table. I followed instinctively. Once that he had realized that I was still waiting for an answer, Billie lifted a hand to run through his thick hair. “I’m in a band,” he finally admitted after a moment.
I blinked at Billie. He was in a band? As in a rock band? As in a band that involved touring and singing and guitars? As in Billie’s occupation was literally a guitarist or drummer or something along the lines? It didn’t seem to fit at all.
“A band?” I asked slowly.
Billie laughed. “A band,” he confirmed just as slowly as I had asked it. “You know, the kind that has guitars and drums?”
I scowled. “I know what a band is, Billie.” He laughed loudly at my sudden attitude while I felt my cheeks burn. I would have apologized had he made me feel like I needed to. “Wait, so for a job you’re literally in a band—your job is to make music?” I asked.
Billie continued to laugh, however he was nodding now. “Yeah,” he confirmed again. “I’ve been in it for about fourteen years now.”
My eyes widened. Considering the fact that I was only eighteen, Billie having been in a band for fourteen years meant a helluva lot to me. “Holy shit,” I murmured. Billie snorted however I ignored it. “Wait, so what’s the name of your band?” I asked slowly. My mind was still having a hard time processing the fact that the man next to me was a grown adult, yet in a band. While I was fully aware that Billie didn’t work a nine to five job since he had already told me so, I hadn’t really expected Billie to have an occupation such as this. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that I had never heard of him.
Billie seemed to hesitate and upon doing so, I cocked an eyebrow. If he was going to become all secretive about this to me now, I would probably rip my own hair out. “Sweet Children,” he stated after a moment. Before I could say a word or do as much as make a facial expression, he held up a hand. Clearly he knew that I hadn’t heard of them. “We’re not that big,” he stated. “You’ve probably never heard of us. We’re not on iTunes or any of that shit—I fucking hate the computer. I don’t even own one.” He rolled his eyes. “We play a lot of small venues around the bay area, so I’m not expecting you to really know about us.”
True to Billie’s word, I had absolutely no idea as to who the hell Sweet Children were and truth be told, I was a little disappointed. Not because I had wanted Billie to be “famous” or anything of the sort, but rather because I wanted desperately to go home that night and listen to the music that he had been making for the past fourteen years. He didn’t look as if he made crappy music, nor did he seem it in general considering his music taste consisted of The Ramones, Sex Pistoles, etc.
“So I can’t hear your band at all?” I asked slowly. I was well aware of the fact that I was becoming visibly upset and that I had completely ignored his band’s name, or I probably would have burst into laughter at how ridiculous it was seeing as he was thirty one and not at all a “sweet child”. The name was so juvenile and not what anyone would expect from the tattooed thirty one year old seated next to me.
Then again, I suppose there had been worst.
Billie chuckled at my obvious change of attitude. “I’ll bring you a CD,” he offered with a sweet smile. He laughed at the look on my face and wrapped an arm around my body while placing his lips to my temple. “We’re not anything special, Roxy.”
“I don’t care,” I argued. For once I sounded like the typical bratty eighteen year old that I was supposed to. Billie must have realized it because he laughed somewhat at that. “I think that’s so cool that you’re in a band.” I shrugged. “I should have realized it—with all your tattoos and everything. You look like you’re in a band.”
Billie laughed. “So guys that have tattoos have to be in a band?” He asked playfully.
I scowled at the fact that Billie was obviously making fun of what I was saying. “Yeah,” I snapped. I whacked his leg that was still covered by the tight black jeans while he snorted loudly. “You promise you’ll bring me a CD? I really want to hear you guys.”
He laughed again and re-pressed his lips to my temple for what had to have been the tenth time that evening alone. “I promise, Roxy. I’ll put one in my car when I get home tonight so that even if I forget, I’ll have it when I see you next.”
I giggled at the bullshitting Billie was doing and the fact that we both knew that we were well aware that he was doing it, but instead of calling him out upon it, I snuggled against the warmth of his body and accepted that instead. We had both continued to huddle together on the bench as if we were two people huddling for warmth in the middle of winter rather than the middle of summer for another ten or so minutes, basking in the comfortable silence that surrounded the two of us other than the murmurs of the other couples that were around us.
Despite the fact that Billie had told me not to bother looking him up when I got home that evening, I wanted desperately to. I wanted so desperately to hear the music that he had been part of creating—however at the same time, he obviously hadn’t been impressed when I had looked up the band Green Day and so I wasn’t going to relive a moment like that. I suppose that if my name had been out there on the internet as I was assuming Billie's was, I wouldn't have wanted Billie to go looking me up at the end of the night either.
The silence that Billie and I had surrounded ourselves in was murdered by my phone belting out Matthew Bellamy’s voice along with his lyrics that had grown so familiar to me. I scowled loudly as I reached inside my bag that I had placed on the bench next to me and dug out my Sidekick. As soon as I saw the name, though, I froze. Upon feeling the rigidness of my body, Billie cocked an eyebrow and peered over my shoulder at the screen that was lit up in my hands. He went to ask who it was, however I lifted a hand to cover his mouth and shook my head signalizing that he couldn’t speak. He must have gotten the message because he nodded.
“Hello?” I answered hesitantly. I squeezed my eyes shut while Billie placed a comforting hand on my back despite the fact that he had no idea what the hell was going on.
“Roxanne?” My aunt asked. She apparently hadn’t sensed the “clearly-up-to-no-good” tone in my voice. “Hi, sweetheart! Are you alright? I tried calling the house but I got no answer.”
“Oh,” I mumbled into the phone. I picked a hand from where it had been resting in my lap and ran it through my hair. “I must not have heard it—sorry,” I apologized lamely. I wasn't actually lying seeing as I hadn't heard the phone. Apparently she wasn’t home, which was good for me. I didn’t need to make an excuse so far as to why I wasn’t.
“Oh, it’s fine,” she replied easily. “I just wanted to see if you were alright. I’m a little late tonight, so I was hoping you wouldn’t mind.”
“Not at all,” I answered honestly. Luck was clearly working in my favor. I had expected, with my luck [or rather, lack of] that my aunt would have been home already and livid that I wasn’t there. “It’s fine.”
“Alright, good,” my aunt concluded lightly. If there was one thing that I adored about her, it was how she didn’t make you stay on the phone for hours for useless conversation much like my parents were guilty of. “I should be home within the next hour. You’ll be alright, right? You’ve got the pizza I got last night.” I winced at the fact that when I got home I’d probably have to eat a few slices so that it looked as if I had been home all evening. True, I could have told her that I was out on a date with Billie considering it would have been the “right” thing to do, but at the same time I wasn’t mentally prepared to convince my forty-seven year old aunt that a thirty one year old man and I were compatible.
“Yeah, I’m fine, I promise,” I answered honestly. Despite the fact that I hadn’t paid all-too much attention to it, the hand that Billie was using to rub circles on my back was incredibly comforting. “I could heat you up some for when you get home,” I offered in hopes that my rushing wouldn’t get her suspicious.
“Oh, no, sweetie that’s fine. I’ve already eaten—but thank you.” I sighed quietly in relief while continuing to avoid eye contact with the man sitting patiently next to me. “Alright, I’ll be home soon sweetheart.”
“Alright,” I answered simply. I sighed in relief at the fact that this was finally ending. “Love you,” I offered.
“Love you too, sweetie. Bye.” And then she was gone.
I sighed loudly in relief as I ended the call with my aunt and placed my phone on the table before me. I ignored Billie’s questioning eyes that were focused on me for a moment and instead paid full attention his hand that was still rubbing circles on my back. If Billie’s band didn’t work out for him, then he sure as hell could have been a massagist.
Billie chuckled after a moment and I assumed that he understood why I was worrying. “Your aunt?” He assumed. I nodded and he only chuckled again while shifting closer to me on the bench. “She thinks you’re at home and not prowling the town with thirty one year old?”
I giggled at Billie’s words and shifted so that his body was my support rather than the table. “For lack of a better word.” I hesitated and then lifted my head to make eye contact with him. “I’m sorry,” I apologized honestly. I was steadily becoming worried of the fact that Billie would become angry that I hadn’t told my aunt about him. It was insulting and I myself was honestly admitting it. “I’m sorry,” I apologized lamely. I was speechless.
Billie laughed while continuing to draw imaginary circles on my back. “Why?” He asked. “Don’t worry about it, Roxy,” he shrugged easily. “I haven’t gone spreading the word that I was taking out an eighteen year old tonight, either, sweetheart.” He smiled what seemed to be rather sympathetically at me—as if he understood. Then again, he had to considering he was the other part of this equation. “I can’t blame you for not telling your aunt that you were going out with a pedophile tonight.” Despite the sickness that I was beginning to feel, I laughed loudly and hit Billie’s leg. He giggled and slid his arm from my back to the side of my torso to hug me halfheartedly against his body. He pressed his lips to my hair and exhaled slowly. “We should get you home, though. I don’t want you in trouble, Roxy. I’m not ready for you to be grounded right yet.”
I giggled.
It was about a half hour later that Billie’s car pulled into the driveway of my aunt’s large home. Luckily, there was no other car in the driveway other than the one that I had driven a few days ago, meaning that my aunt still hadn’t arrived home. Once Billie had realized that we had beaten my aunt back home, he had opened up his car door and rounded the front of the car figuring that he’d open my door for me as he had done for the rest of the evening. I allowed him to. Once he had helped me out of the car by hand as he had also done like the rest of the evening, instead of dropping my hand, he linked our fingers for the third time that night and lead me from the car in that way. I wasn’t one to argue.
We had both climbed the stairs to my aunt’s porch and then those stairs rather quickly and I believe it was because we both knew that we were slightly pressed to time. I was surprised at how understanding Billie was about me not telling my aunt about going out with him that night, however at the same time I wasn’t surprised at all. If Billie had been upset, I suppose I could have called him a hypocrite if I had absolutely had to.
Once we had reached the top of my aunt’s porch, I had expected Billie to drop my hand and perhaps a repeat of the night before on the porch would have happened, however instead his only rubbed the patch of skin between my own thumb and finger. If the sensation of his skin rubbing against my own in such a sweet way wasn’t enough to make me feel a bit queasy, the feeling of the butterflies multiplying by the second finished off the job.
“So,” Billie hummed as we stood somewhat awkwardly on my aunt’s porch together. It seemed that no matter the situation, my aunt's porch would always somehow create an awkward feeling between the two of us. “Considering that you told me earlier tonight that this is, y’know, pretty much your first date…”He drifted off. He lifted his eyes from the dark porch and to my own. When our eyes connected, his lips were pulled over his teeth in a grin. “How’d I do?"
I giggled at the pure innocence of Billie’s question while he pulled me by my hand to the inside of his leather jacket that was hanging open and against his t-shirt clad chest. I inhaled the scent of cologne that he seemed to have bathed himself in before arriving at my aunt’s house that night deeply and then removed my head from the warmth of his chest. When I lifted my eyes to his face I realized that he was actually waiting for a legitimate, verbal answer. A grin crossed my face and at the sight of it despite the darkness that surrounded us, Billie’s reappeared.
“Hmm,” I hummed softly. Billie groaned at the realization that I wasn’t going to make this simple. I giggled furiously at his impatience and dragged one of my nails idly against the skin of his hand. “Well,” I continued slowly. “The pizza was amazing and I loved where you took me—so I’ll start you off with a seven when it comes to that.” Billie chuckled and despite the fact that we both knew that I wasn’t seriously rating the date we had just had on a one to ten scale, he didn’t seem to mind where I was starting the count. “And then you took me out for ice cream,” I added. Billie nodded as if I had been waiting for him to confirm it. “But,” I added, “I’m lactose intolerant…so…” I trailed off. I bit down onto my bottom lip as I waited for some sort of response from the man that I was currently encased in.
And it took Billie a minute to realize what I had meant, however when he did, his body jerked and he scowled loudly. “Roxanne,” he scowled. He slid his hand from mine and took his other arm from where it had somehow managed to wrap itself around my back. “That wasn’t funny—I thought you were fucking serious.” He scowled again. “I nearly shit my pants, Roxy.”
I burst into a fit of giggles as Billie continued to complain at what I had done to him earlier that evening at the ice cream stand. Clearly unimpressed by my giggles and lack of sympathy, Billie rolled his eyes and placed both of his hands on my hips. He pulled my body rather roughly against his own and before I had the time to ask what the hell he was doing, he had dug his fingers into the sides of me.
Apparently he had remembered my reaction from when he had done something similar to that in the parking lot earlier.
I gasped loudly as the feeling of shocks spreading throughout my body from where Billie had jabbed me and began at once to squirm and squeal in order to get away from Billie’s hands. However, Billie had obviously figured I would do so because the grip he had had on me was much stronger than I was, thus giving me no avail whatsoever. “Billie!” I cried out while squirming in his arms. “Oh, Billie, stop! I hate being tickled!” Despite my pleas for him to stop, Billie only continued to dig his fingers into my sides until I was firmly backed against my aunt’s door with absolutely nowhere to go. Throughout the time of which I had used for trying to get away I had managed to free my arms somewhat, which I used to whack Billie’s chest and push him as far away as possible. “You’re absolutely horrible!” I cried out once I was able to regain my breath.
Billie laughed loudly out of clear amusement at my reaction to the tickling that he had just done and my way of getting back at him. “I’m horrible?!” He cried out loudly through laughter. “Roxy, you had me terrified in the parking lot!”
I scowled loudly and whacked his chest again. “That’s it; this date is officially down to a zero. You’re absolutely horrible. You’re no sweet child.”
Billie cocked his head to the side along with an eyebrow; however when he realized that I was making an obvious reference to his band, he laughed loudly and poked my side again. I scowled loudly and grabbed his hand in order to stop him. Billie giggled at the scowl on my face and the grip I had on his hand. “Alright,” he murmured. “Alright, I surrender. I won’t tickle you anymore, Roxy. I can’t—there’s nowhere for you to go and frankly, I’m afraid of you kneeing me in the balls. You squirm like a goddamn worm on speed.”
I scowled and whacked his chest for the third time that night. In return, Billie grabbed my hand with his only free hand in order to stop me. Considering that the two of us had ended up holding onto each other’s hand so that we weren't able to continue to attack each other, the two of us found ourselves stuck against my aunt’s door. Billie chuckled. “I’m sorry,” he cooed innocently.
I rolled my eyes and shifted against my aunt’s door, however making no attempt to get free. The same went for Billie. “You’re just a jerk.”
Billie laughed loudly and let go of my right hand. For a moment I was confused as to why he had done so seeing as I had been considerably comfortable, though my questions were answered as I felt his hand place itself on my waist as it had done the night before when we had been on my aunt’s porch after spending the day together. Unlike the night before, though, I didn't freeze up a damn stone, but instead melted a bit against his touch. My body seemed to have done a complete 180.
For the first time since Billie had begun to tickle me, as ridiculously cheesy and overly-cliché as it sounds, I had realized exactly how close we were standing. In fact, I was beginning to realize that the warmth I had felt on my face hadn’t been the Californian air as I had assumed it to be, but rather the breath of the man that was now somewhat pressed up against me.
It seemed that we both realized how close we were at the exact same time because as soon as I came to terms with how close to me Billie was, his hand had tightened a bit on my waist and the hand that was still holding onto my own began to rub my own in a comforting manner. It was when I realized that Billie was trying to comfort me as if he was expecting my body to go rigid as it had so many other times that I realized that not only was I becoming nervous as hell for reasons unknown to me at the moment, but my heart seemed to have sped up as if I had just ran a mile. Billie had tickled me, true, but he hadn’t tickled me enough to get that much of a reaction from my body seeing as I wasn’t that out of shape.
I lifted my eyes from the black t-shirt that Billie was wearing and to his lips that had parted a bit to release the rasps of breath that I had been subconsciously feeling for the past few minutes. From his lips, my eyes trailed up past his nose and to his own eyes that I somehow managed to see despite the complete darkness that had engulfed us. I don’t believe that I so much saw that we had made eye connection as much as I felt it, to be honest.
Billie seemed to straighten his body up so that rather hovering over me, he was standing a bit straighter before me. I felt his body turn rigid in what I believe was momentary hesitation for a minute or so and I took his apprehension to my advantage by allowing myself to watch him silently knowing fully well that he couldn't see me doing so. After he seemed to get over his slight silent anxiety, Billie took a step closer to me so that I was once again surrounded by the leather of his jacket and pressed against his t-shirt clad chest. At the feeling of the cloth rubbing against my nose, I tilted my chin upwards to allow myself to breathe without being forced to practically taste the cologne that was still radiating off of him. Once I had inhaled and exhaled deeply, I was surprised at the feeling of what I could only describe as a soft, warm object brushing against my lips in such a hesitant manner that I wasn't really sure that there had been anything there at all.
At first I had come to the conclusion that what had brushed my lips had been one of Billie's hands since only one of them had been significantly rough to where I knew it couldn't have been. It was when within half a minute later that I felt the same object brush against my lips again and capture my top one that I realized that rather than Billie's hand brushing my lips, it had been his own.
At the sudden realization that it had been Billie's lips brushing against my own so delicately only a few seconds prior to then, I felt my body go rigid in shock. The butterflies that I had been sure that I had been used to by then surprised me by not only fluttering around as if on speed, but gnawing at my insides and climbing my throat at the same time.
Billie chuckled quietly at the feeling of my body freezing against his and gently began to pat my waist in a comforting manner with the hand that had been resting idly on it before. I also realized that his thumb had begun to rub the skin between my finger and my own thumb in the same comforting manner. As if it had been all that I had needed from the beginning, I relaxed back against my aunt's home and Billie's body.
Due to the darkness, I spent the next few minutes of the evening searching for Billie's face to my best ability. I knew the he had to have been close due to the way that my body was encased in his, yet at the same time I couldn't seem to find him. Billie must have felt the same way as I had because only a mere thirty seconds after I had began to silently search for the thirty one years old face, both of our bodies jerked in the surprise of our noses clashing.
We both giggled quietly at the fact that we had both been caught searching for each other in the darkness and then both stood silently and perhaps even nervously against each other. It was the awkward moment that all movies that had to do with relationships held and before that very moment, I had been a firm believer that it had only been in the movies.
I tilted my head to the side where I could feel short, warm rasps of breath against my cheek, figuring that it had most likely been Billie. Billie must have realized that I had shifted to see him despite the fact that I couldn't see him because he began to also shift his body against mine slowly—and the next thing I knew, his nose was brushing and colliding with my own as the sensation of what I had learnt to be his lips brushed returned.
It took me about half a second for my body to react even though my mind seemed to have completely fizzled out. By the time my mind had caught up with both mine and Billie's bodies, his lips had been placing delicate, yet repetitive kisses rather hungrily against my own while the hand that had once been holding mine for most of the evening had slid to cup my neck.
I allowed my body to go limp against the door to my aunt's home and had it not been for the grip that Billie still had on my waist, I probably would have completely crumpled to the ground altogether. Billie didn't seem to mind my lack of structure all too much seeing as his body followed mine automatically with nothing but a small grunt of surprise.
At the sound of Billie's grunt I began to giggle furiously, forcing our lips to disconnect. Upon hearing my giggles and figuring out what they had been about, Billie chuckled softly while sliding his hand that had been resting comfortably on my waist to snake his whole arm around it. We both shifted rather awkwardly against my aunt's home seeing as my legs had turned to almost literal jelly, making it impossible for me to move anything but my torso without the threat of collapsing. Billie seemed to have realized my paralyzed state because he chuckled again and stopped shifting at once.
Billie's nose brushed against my own once more as his head tilted to the side to ironically avoid the clashing of noses as he brushed his lips against mine. I grinned involuntarily against the lips that had currently picked up where they had left off before I had forced them apart by my giggles, however it went unnoticed by Billie whom only continued shift against my body while repeatedly locking our lips together.
It had been when I had completely given into every kiss that Billie had been presenting me with when, despite the fact that I fought him about it by refusing to allow his lips to actually disconnect from mine, he pulled away. He was gasping for air as if he had been holding his breath underwater for hours.
Billie sighed rather loudly and after staring at me for a good two minutes, his lips brushed mine with an agonizingly light pressure. “Your aunt is going to home any minute,” he whispered while nuzzling his nose into the hand that I had placed against his cheek. He kissed it.
“I don’t care,” I murmured. Out of desperation, I tried my best to find his lips in the darkness, however he had figured out what I was doing and pulled his face away from my own entirely. I groaned loudly in frustration.
Billie laughed at my stubbornness and placed a kiss against my jaw. “You should, Roxy. I do." Another kiss against my jaw. "I’m still not ready for you to be grounded yet, Roxy.”
Despite the fact that I was still trying to chase Billie's lips in the darkness and I still planned on being stubborn about letting him go that evening so easily, I giggled. And despite the fact that he was still standing by his words, I was granted with the feeling of the warmth of his lips against my own for the final time that evening.
At the realization of the car going in the opposite direction than it was supposed to, I had opened my mouth to question Billie or to see if he had forgotten where I was living. However as soon as my mouth opened, Billie had placed a hand on my shoulder in a reassuring manner as if to tell me to not bother to ask. Apparently he had known exactly what he was doing.
We had been driving for five or so minutes in a silence that wasn’t awkward in the least; yet Billie mustn’t have liked it because he began to fumble with the radio. Once the radio had been turned on and to a normal volume, I noticed Billie’s eyes on me and a small chuckle leave his lips. “I made sure I didn’t deafen you with music tonight,” he pointed out. I tilted my head to the side in confusion at what he had meant at first, but then laughed when I remembered the day before and how we had both been surprised by the Ramones yelling at us.
Billie had continued to tune through stations slowly while scowling at music that he apparently didn’t like. As he continued to hit the seek button on the radio, I noticed the radio land on one particular artist. At the sound of the lead singer’s voice and an all-too familiar tune, the memory of the band that I had looked up about twelve hours ago came back to me. “Green Day, right?” I asked loudly. I felt proud for being able to point it out.
At my assumption, Billie’s body jerked in surprise while resulted in the radio station being changed. I heard him mumble a few obscenities while he pushed the button again, retreating back to the band that I was damn near positive was Green Day. Once I was sure that it was one of the songs that I had heard the night before while checking the band out on iTunes, meaning that it was indeed the band, I grinned in satisfaction.
Billie noticed my grin after looking over his shoulder to me quickly. “I thought you, uh…” Billie trailed off. He sighed heavily and ran a hand rather hastily through his thick hair, grabbing it and pulling almost angrily at a few points. “I thought you didn’t know Green Day.”
I cocked an eyebrow at the obvious turmoil Billie was going through inside his mind. When I didn’t respond right away, Billie turned his head from the road to me, whom he eyed suspiciously. At the feeling of his surprisingly reproachful eyes on me, I shrank back into my seat. Billie must have noticed my body language because as soon as I had shifted, he seemed to lighten up a bit. “I don’t,” I confirmed slowly. I paused in hopes for him to lighten up some more, however there was no avail. He certainly wasn’t making this any easier to say and it was getting to the point where I was about to verbalize that. “But I looked them up last night because you mentioned them and they sounded familiar.” I shrugged. “I don’t know what your problem with liking them is—they’re good.”
Billie’s eyes lifted from my body and he turned back to the road as an uncomfortable silence took over the car. “They’re good?” He questioned after a moment. He sounded confused, as if I had spoken to him in a completely different language and he was trying to translate it himself.
“Yes,” I agreed slowly. I folded my arms over my chest. I wanted so desperately to ask Billie what the hell his problem with the band was seeing as he was the one to have originally brought them up in the first place, however at the same time I didn’t want to anger him. Something seemed off about him and the mention of the band and even though I was becoming desperate to know what it was, I wasn’t going to jeopardize our good night by prying. Instead, I decided to be brutally honest and see where that brought me. “I like them,” I encouraged. “I mean, sometimes you can’t really understand the lead singer, but I kind of like that.”
Billie surprised me by laughing—loudly. I had been expecting it to be a bitter laugh with his current attitude, but I was surprised to hear that he was actually amused. “You can’t understand the lead singer?” He asked. “So, what—he has a crappy voice?”
“No!” I cried out. That hadn’t been what I had meant at all. I suppose I had been so defensive over my opinion about the band because I had grown up hearing a lot of criticism over Matthew Bellamy’s voice that I had adored so much and I didn’t want Billie to think that I had been doing the same thing. “Not at all—he’s got a great voice, but at some parts he’s kind of hard to understand. He jumbles his words together.”
“You think he sucks,” Billie stated bluntly. I was confused at how he was pushing that I thought the singer of the band was terrible when I had clearly stated he wasn’t, however that changed once I saw the playful grin on Billie’s lips. Apparently he had been joking in hopes of irritating me.
“Totally,” I agreed with the same playful attitude. I rolled my eyes to confirm that I wasn’t serious while Billie chuckled and shook his head.
The next five minutes of the car ride was spent in silence, in which Billie drove while looking completely lost in thought to the point where I was beginning to become somewhat worried that he’d swerve off of the road. I didn’t have to worry about crashing much longer, thankfully, for Billie ended up turning on his signal to turn into the parking lot of your stereotypical ice cream stand. At the realization of what Billie was doing and where he had brought me, I felt the butterflies that I had completely forgotten about from the night before begin to stir in my stomach.
I hadn’t realized Billie had killed the engine to his BMW at first, and so when I finally snapped back into reality Billie had already gotten out of his seat and was closing the door behind him. I jumped in surprise at how slow I had been and hurried to unbuckle my seatbelt, however at the same time I was rather hesitant to get out of the car. Billie had seemed to be in a slightly bitter mood ever since the mention of the band a few minutes ago and I was becoming afraid that when I opened the door to the car and stepped out, Billie would still had the same attitude and it would last throughout the rest of the night.
I didn’t have much time to worry about Billie’s questionable attitude due to the fact that within thirty seconds, Billie was opening my door for me as he had done back at the restaurant when I had also failed to realize he had gotten out before me. Also like back at the restaurant, Billie had outstretched a hand in order to help me from the car and I had accepted it gratefully.
Billie chuckled once he had pulled me to my feet and closed the door gently behind me while holding me against him with his other arm. I didn’t argue, but instead wrapped an arm back around his leather-clad back and dragged my nails along it. When the door had been closed to his car, Billie stood up straight though didn’t take his arm back from where it was currently resting comfortably around my equally small body. I had never realized exactly how perfect our bodies had fit together before that moment. It seemed as if our equal lack of height allowed us to fit into the crooks in each other’s bodies literally perfectly.
When Billie had stood back up straight, he turned his head to get the full view of my face that wasn’t resting all-too far away from his own. Had I moved about an inch, our noses probably would have brushed. I watched silently as he focused his dark eyes in on my straight teeth that were shown due to the grin on my face and then trailed them up past my nose to connect them with my very own eyes. “Hi,” I greeted once our eyes connected.
Billie laughed. “Hi there,” he greeted. He was mocking my tone, but in an amused way rather than an offensive way. He seemed to hesitate and for a moment I felt him begin to rock back and forth on the balls of his feet, however he ended it pretty quickly. “I come here all the time, too,” he admitted with a nervous chuckle. “And they have the best fuckin’ ice cream in the whole East Bay.” He grinned innocently at me, as if expecting me to somewhat angry at him for bringing me to such a place. “I thought you’d like to give it a try before we call it a night.”
I currently felt as if I was living in an unoriginal 1950’s movie that a typical parent would force their children to watch nowadays. It was all so cheesy to the point where it should have been absolutely unbearable, but at the same time I was becoming convinced that I had never lived such a perfect moment in life.
I giggled quietly at Billie’s idea and after hesitating for quite a long moment considering the way that this had turned out the night before; I placed my lips safely against Billie’s smooth cheek. “I would love to,” I accepted easily. I hesitated for a moment considering what I had wanted to do next wasn’t exactly the sweetest of things, however at the same time I still felt the need to get Billie back for the uncomfortable looks he had given me in the car. I sighed heavily and closed my eyes briefly, which caused Billie to begin to rock back and forth on the balls of his feet again underneath me. “But I’m lactose intolerant, Billie.”
For a while I began to wonder if Billie had caught onto the fact that I had already had pizza that evening, in which proved that I was in fact not lactose intolerant, however when I lifted my eyes to the poor man’s face, he seemed to have paled about five shades. In fact, his body had gone rather rigid against mine now that I thought of it.
“Billie?” I called out hesitantly. I winced at the fact that with my luck, he’d drop to the ground of a heart attack right then and there. When Billie didn’t respond, I lifted my free hand and placed it on his cheek to see if there was any heat radiating from his normally warm body. As soon as my hand brushed his skin, his body jerked as it had back in the car and he turned to face me.
“You’re lactose intolerant?” He asked. His eyes had gone wider than they had when I had first told him that I was eighteen and in high school back at the supermarket. Until then, I had thought of that as impossible. I didn’t get the chance to respond to Billie at his question, because about half a minute later he scowled loudly. “Oh, shit—Roxanne, I’m so sorry.” He slid his body from my arm and placed both hands on both of my cheeks. “I’m so sorry, Roxy,” he apologized. “I didn’t—fuck, I had no clue.” He shook his head and took a hand from my cheek to run through his hair hastily. “Fuck. Fuck, I didn’t think—I’m so sorry.”
My eyes widened at Billie’s multiple obscenities that began to pour from his mouth. In order to calm the poor man down, I brushed Billie’s hand from my cheek and wrapped my arms around his neck in order to pull his body against mine. “Billie!” I cried out once he failed to react to me. “Billie, I’m so sorry. Billie—I was joking. I’m not really lactose intolerant.”
It took Billie a good two or three minutes to realize what I had just admitted, but as soon as he did, his body locked up just as it had when I had first lied and told him that I was lactose intolerant. Billie pulled back from my arms that had been wrapped rather tightly around his small neck and narrowed his eyes once they met mine. “You’re joking?” He asked slowly.
“I ate pizza tonight,” I pointed out as lightly as I possibly could. I suppose you could say that I was somewhat afraid that I had angered him. “If I was, I wouldn’t have been able to eat the cheese.”
Billie stared at me for a few moments with the same narrowed eyes. At once, he scowled loudly and dug his fingers into my side as a replacement for hitting me. How he had known that he would get such a reaction out of me I wasn’t sure, but as soon as his fingers dug into my sides, I ended up squealing loudly and pulling as far away from him as possible. “Roxanne,” Billie scowled while somehow managing to grab onto my body again. “Roxanne, you’re fucking awful.”
I giggled furiously as Billie locked his arms back around my squirming body so that I was unable to get away from him. “I’m sorry,” I apologized. “Really, I am—it was just so perfect.” I took a deep breath in order to try my best to mute my giggles and then bit down onto my bottom lip when I realized that there would be no such luck. “I’m sorry,” I offered again.
Billie stared at me for a long moment without loosening his tight grip from around my body while I continued to bite down onto my bottom lip and look up at his eyes that were barely visible in the darkness that had fallen over Berkeley. For a moment I had begun to wonder if Billie was actually angry with me about my ruthless joke, however when I had started to finally become somewhat worried, Billie’s lips pulled themselves back over his crooked and yellow teeth. “You’re awful, Roxy,” he repeated, only in a much calmer tone. He shook his head while a laugh escaped his lips. “You’re absolutely fucking awful.” I giggled in relief that Billie wasn’t angry at me in the least and felt my cheeks begin to burn as he pressed a kiss to my temple. It wasn’t exactly much of a kiss, though, seeing as he had placed his lips to my skin there and hadn’t taken them away for a good minute or so. “You’re so lucky I don’t just beat you for that,” he mumbled against my temple.
My giggles turned into a full laugh as I took my arms from where they had been pushed up against his chest to wrap around his neck. Despite the fact that it was apparent to me by now that Billie had some anger issues, it was obvious that he wasn’t exactly a woman-beater. Perhaps it was because his lack of height that made it so obvious. “I’m sorry,” I apologized through my now beat-red cheeks.
“Awful,” he repeated with a chuckle while shaking his head. He slid his arms from around my body which forced my arms to slide from around his neck. Once they were hanging loosely by my side, he took one of my hands and laced my fingers with his own. Instead of arguing or fighting against the sweet hold he had on my hand, I ended up tripping over my feet and scowling quietly at the feeling of what seemed to be literal butterflies gnawing away at my insides to the point where I felt sick.
By my hand, Billie had led me up to the window of the small ice cream stand. Once we had reached the window, he slid his warm hand from my own and placed it on my waist as he stood behind me looking at the flavors over my left shoulder. I felt my body freeze up at the feeling of his hand literally holding my waist, however forced myself to calm down at the fact that it wasn’t that big of a deal and I was truly overreacting. Billie had been right when he had picked me up at my aunt’s home earlier that evening—I was too shy.
Despite the fact that my body had frozen up like a damn stone under Billie’s affection and he was well aware of it seeing as it was impossible not to be, he only chuckled and instead of gripping my waist, he patted it reassuringly. I suppose he was staying true to his word when he had told me that he was going to loosen me up. Truth be told, he had already done a fantastic job doing so so far that night.
“I love cookie dough,” I admitted more to myself rather than Billie. It didn’t matter, though, considering he had heard it and chuckled.
“So get it,” he answered simply into my hair that he had subtly buried his nose in. I jumped at the feeling of the vibration of his words against my head and then rolled my eyes at how ridiculous I was. Billie chuckled again.
“I will,” I answered in the same tone that he had just used on me.
Billie rolled his eyes playfully at my stubbornness while his grip on my waist only tightened. It hadn’t taken us long to order our ice cream and receive it, which brought us to the bench that we were currently sitting next to each other on. I had been glad when Billie had taken the seat next to me rather than across from me as I had expected him to. While I hadn’t had much of a problem sitting across from him at the restaurant earlier that evening, I had missed the warmth of his body that I was only able to feel when close to him.
“I love ice cream,” I admitted honestly while taking a bite of the cookie dough that I had found.
Billie laughed. “Big surprise.” I looked up from my cone and cocked an eyebrow curiously at his words even though I knew what he had meant and that he had meant it in a joking manner. He laughed at my expression and shook his head while eating his own. “Don’t take it as an insult—I’m glad you eat as much as you do, Roxy.”
I giggled. “You’re the only one,” I admitted. “My friends make fun of me for it.” Billie laughed at that while my cheeks began to burn a bit. “When I’m like forty, my metabolism is going to slow down and I’ll just automatically gain three hundred pounds literally overnight.” I rolled my eyes. “Everyone tells me that and I’ve just accepted it.”
Billie laughed. He leant over and placed a sticky kiss to my temple. It was a nice feeling to feel his lips against a part of my skin such as my cheek or temple and not freeze nor have a miniature heart attack as I had done all the previous times I had been around Billie. I suppose he really had loosened me up as he had promised me he would, and I believe that the small kisses that he had placed amongst my skin that night was his way of making sure.
“You’ll still be adorable,” Billie stated.
The heat in my cheeks became a bit stronger while a few butterflies shifted in my stomach. By this point I was forcing myself to stay calm—I was no longer going to be a victim of my bashfulness. I giggled and ignored my thoughts that were only encouraging the butterflies to flutter a bit more. “You won’t be saying that in twenty years when I’ve gained about three hundred pounds.”
“I will,” he encouraged.
I laughed and rolled my eyes at how persistent he was. While the chances of that actually happening were slim, and by that I mean the chances of Billie still being around with me in twenty years, it was a sweet thought—even if it did involve me being severely overweight.
“I used to work at an ice cream stand,” I admitted a few moments later when I had successfully finished my ice cream.
“Yeah?” Billie asked. Instead of using a napkin to wipe his mouth on, he used the back of his hand like a typical male. He hadn’t noticed that I had noticed and for that I was glad—While no girl liked a complete pig, I didn’t want Billie to be some proper guy. It didn’t fit him in the least. “I gather you don’t still?”
“No,” I admitted as I leant back against the wooden table. I subtly slid my torso closer to Billie in order to become warmer from his body heat. For the first time that evening I was beginning to realize why Billie had worn a jacket—the temperature had dropped a surprising amount. I wasn’t going to be the stereotypical girl and shiver noticeably in order to gain his jacket, though. “It was a fun summer job, but that was about it.” I rolled my eyes.
Billie chuckled at my obvious lack of enthusiasm when it came to my past job. “Do you work now?” He asked while looking over at me.
“Right now?” I asked slowly. “Well, as of this moment, no. I can’t say I do.” I grinned as Billie rolled his eyes at how literal I had taken his question. “But I’ve worked at the mall near my house and a few small shops. I work during the summer mainly because I’m usually home for most of it.” Billie nodded slowly with his eyes focused upon the small stand that was before us. I hesitated for a long moment, mulling over whether or not to ask the one question that I had been pining over since I had been satisfied with knowing his last name. While I didn’t want to insult Billie by asking the question, I also felt as if I had the right to know seeing as I was indeed on a date with him. “Do you work?” I blurted after a moment of a comfortable silence.
In reality, I shouldn’t have been so nervous about asking the thirty one year old man next to me if he worked considering it really wasn’t that big of a deal seeing as just about all thirty one year old men worked and that I probably should have known already. Then again, I had a knack for overreacting.
“What?” Billie asked. Apparently he hadn’t even been paying attention. He turned his head to look at me with a cocked eyebrow and I silently pleaded with him to not make me ask again. Hadn’t once been torturous enough? I already felt like a bitch for asking. He must have realized what I had asked because he chuckled. “Of course I work, Roxy,” he answered with a grin. I let out a sigh of relief at how careless he had been towards his answer. I truly did have a knack for overreacting and he was only proving it even more.
“What do you do?” I asked quietly.
Billie seemed to hesitate at that. Instead of answering right away as he had when I had asked him if he worked, he shifted his small body next to mine so that he was sitting with his legs underneath the table. I followed instinctively. Once that he had realized that I was still waiting for an answer, Billie lifted a hand to run through his thick hair. “I’m in a band,” he finally admitted after a moment.
I blinked at Billie. He was in a band? As in a rock band? As in a band that involved touring and singing and guitars? As in Billie’s occupation was literally a guitarist or drummer or something along the lines? It didn’t seem to fit at all.
“A band?” I asked slowly.
Billie laughed. “A band,” he confirmed just as slowly as I had asked it. “You know, the kind that has guitars and drums?”
I scowled. “I know what a band is, Billie.” He laughed loudly at my sudden attitude while I felt my cheeks burn. I would have apologized had he made me feel like I needed to. “Wait, so for a job you’re literally in a band—your job is to make music?” I asked.
Billie continued to laugh, however he was nodding now. “Yeah,” he confirmed again. “I’ve been in it for about fourteen years now.”
My eyes widened. Considering the fact that I was only eighteen, Billie having been in a band for fourteen years meant a helluva lot to me. “Holy shit,” I murmured. Billie snorted however I ignored it. “Wait, so what’s the name of your band?” I asked slowly. My mind was still having a hard time processing the fact that the man next to me was a grown adult, yet in a band. While I was fully aware that Billie didn’t work a nine to five job since he had already told me so, I hadn’t really expected Billie to have an occupation such as this. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that I had never heard of him.
Billie seemed to hesitate and upon doing so, I cocked an eyebrow. If he was going to become all secretive about this to me now, I would probably rip my own hair out. “Sweet Children,” he stated after a moment. Before I could say a word or do as much as make a facial expression, he held up a hand. Clearly he knew that I hadn’t heard of them. “We’re not that big,” he stated. “You’ve probably never heard of us. We’re not on iTunes or any of that shit—I fucking hate the computer. I don’t even own one.” He rolled his eyes. “We play a lot of small venues around the bay area, so I’m not expecting you to really know about us.”
True to Billie’s word, I had absolutely no idea as to who the hell Sweet Children were and truth be told, I was a little disappointed. Not because I had wanted Billie to be “famous” or anything of the sort, but rather because I wanted desperately to go home that night and listen to the music that he had been making for the past fourteen years. He didn’t look as if he made crappy music, nor did he seem it in general considering his music taste consisted of The Ramones, Sex Pistoles, etc.
“So I can’t hear your band at all?” I asked slowly. I was well aware of the fact that I was becoming visibly upset and that I had completely ignored his band’s name, or I probably would have burst into laughter at how ridiculous it was seeing as he was thirty one and not at all a “sweet child”. The name was so juvenile and not what anyone would expect from the tattooed thirty one year old seated next to me.
Then again, I suppose there had been worst.
Billie chuckled at my obvious change of attitude. “I’ll bring you a CD,” he offered with a sweet smile. He laughed at the look on my face and wrapped an arm around my body while placing his lips to my temple. “We’re not anything special, Roxy.”
“I don’t care,” I argued. For once I sounded like the typical bratty eighteen year old that I was supposed to. Billie must have realized it because he laughed somewhat at that. “I think that’s so cool that you’re in a band.” I shrugged. “I should have realized it—with all your tattoos and everything. You look like you’re in a band.”
Billie laughed. “So guys that have tattoos have to be in a band?” He asked playfully.
I scowled at the fact that Billie was obviously making fun of what I was saying. “Yeah,” I snapped. I whacked his leg that was still covered by the tight black jeans while he snorted loudly. “You promise you’ll bring me a CD? I really want to hear you guys.”
He laughed again and re-pressed his lips to my temple for what had to have been the tenth time that evening alone. “I promise, Roxy. I’ll put one in my car when I get home tonight so that even if I forget, I’ll have it when I see you next.”
I giggled at the bullshitting Billie was doing and the fact that we both knew that we were well aware that he was doing it, but instead of calling him out upon it, I snuggled against the warmth of his body and accepted that instead. We had both continued to huddle together on the bench as if we were two people huddling for warmth in the middle of winter rather than the middle of summer for another ten or so minutes, basking in the comfortable silence that surrounded the two of us other than the murmurs of the other couples that were around us.
Despite the fact that Billie had told me not to bother looking him up when I got home that evening, I wanted desperately to. I wanted so desperately to hear the music that he had been part of creating—however at the same time, he obviously hadn’t been impressed when I had looked up the band Green Day and so I wasn’t going to relive a moment like that. I suppose that if my name had been out there on the internet as I was assuming Billie's was, I wouldn't have wanted Billie to go looking me up at the end of the night either.
The silence that Billie and I had surrounded ourselves in was murdered by my phone belting out Matthew Bellamy’s voice along with his lyrics that had grown so familiar to me. I scowled loudly as I reached inside my bag that I had placed on the bench next to me and dug out my Sidekick. As soon as I saw the name, though, I froze. Upon feeling the rigidness of my body, Billie cocked an eyebrow and peered over my shoulder at the screen that was lit up in my hands. He went to ask who it was, however I lifted a hand to cover his mouth and shook my head signalizing that he couldn’t speak. He must have gotten the message because he nodded.
“Hello?” I answered hesitantly. I squeezed my eyes shut while Billie placed a comforting hand on my back despite the fact that he had no idea what the hell was going on.
“Roxanne?” My aunt asked. She apparently hadn’t sensed the “clearly-up-to-no-good” tone in my voice. “Hi, sweetheart! Are you alright? I tried calling the house but I got no answer.”
“Oh,” I mumbled into the phone. I picked a hand from where it had been resting in my lap and ran it through my hair. “I must not have heard it—sorry,” I apologized lamely. I wasn't actually lying seeing as I hadn't heard the phone. Apparently she wasn’t home, which was good for me. I didn’t need to make an excuse so far as to why I wasn’t.
“Oh, it’s fine,” she replied easily. “I just wanted to see if you were alright. I’m a little late tonight, so I was hoping you wouldn’t mind.”
“Not at all,” I answered honestly. Luck was clearly working in my favor. I had expected, with my luck [or rather, lack of] that my aunt would have been home already and livid that I wasn’t there. “It’s fine.”
“Alright, good,” my aunt concluded lightly. If there was one thing that I adored about her, it was how she didn’t make you stay on the phone for hours for useless conversation much like my parents were guilty of. “I should be home within the next hour. You’ll be alright, right? You’ve got the pizza I got last night.” I winced at the fact that when I got home I’d probably have to eat a few slices so that it looked as if I had been home all evening. True, I could have told her that I was out on a date with Billie considering it would have been the “right” thing to do, but at the same time I wasn’t mentally prepared to convince my forty-seven year old aunt that a thirty one year old man and I were compatible.
“Yeah, I’m fine, I promise,” I answered honestly. Despite the fact that I hadn’t paid all-too much attention to it, the hand that Billie was using to rub circles on my back was incredibly comforting. “I could heat you up some for when you get home,” I offered in hopes that my rushing wouldn’t get her suspicious.
“Oh, no, sweetie that’s fine. I’ve already eaten—but thank you.” I sighed quietly in relief while continuing to avoid eye contact with the man sitting patiently next to me. “Alright, I’ll be home soon sweetheart.”
“Alright,” I answered simply. I sighed in relief at the fact that this was finally ending. “Love you,” I offered.
“Love you too, sweetie. Bye.” And then she was gone.
I sighed loudly in relief as I ended the call with my aunt and placed my phone on the table before me. I ignored Billie’s questioning eyes that were focused on me for a moment and instead paid full attention his hand that was still rubbing circles on my back. If Billie’s band didn’t work out for him, then he sure as hell could have been a massagist.
Billie chuckled after a moment and I assumed that he understood why I was worrying. “Your aunt?” He assumed. I nodded and he only chuckled again while shifting closer to me on the bench. “She thinks you’re at home and not prowling the town with thirty one year old?”
I giggled at Billie’s words and shifted so that his body was my support rather than the table. “For lack of a better word.” I hesitated and then lifted my head to make eye contact with him. “I’m sorry,” I apologized honestly. I was steadily becoming worried of the fact that Billie would become angry that I hadn’t told my aunt about him. It was insulting and I myself was honestly admitting it. “I’m sorry,” I apologized lamely. I was speechless.
Billie laughed while continuing to draw imaginary circles on my back. “Why?” He asked. “Don’t worry about it, Roxy,” he shrugged easily. “I haven’t gone spreading the word that I was taking out an eighteen year old tonight, either, sweetheart.” He smiled what seemed to be rather sympathetically at me—as if he understood. Then again, he had to considering he was the other part of this equation. “I can’t blame you for not telling your aunt that you were going out with a pedophile tonight.” Despite the sickness that I was beginning to feel, I laughed loudly and hit Billie’s leg. He giggled and slid his arm from my back to the side of my torso to hug me halfheartedly against his body. He pressed his lips to my hair and exhaled slowly. “We should get you home, though. I don’t want you in trouble, Roxy. I’m not ready for you to be grounded right yet.”
I giggled.
It was about a half hour later that Billie’s car pulled into the driveway of my aunt’s large home. Luckily, there was no other car in the driveway other than the one that I had driven a few days ago, meaning that my aunt still hadn’t arrived home. Once Billie had realized that we had beaten my aunt back home, he had opened up his car door and rounded the front of the car figuring that he’d open my door for me as he had done for the rest of the evening. I allowed him to. Once he had helped me out of the car by hand as he had also done like the rest of the evening, instead of dropping my hand, he linked our fingers for the third time that night and lead me from the car in that way. I wasn’t one to argue.
We had both climbed the stairs to my aunt’s porch and then those stairs rather quickly and I believe it was because we both knew that we were slightly pressed to time. I was surprised at how understanding Billie was about me not telling my aunt about going out with him that night, however at the same time I wasn’t surprised at all. If Billie had been upset, I suppose I could have called him a hypocrite if I had absolutely had to.
Once we had reached the top of my aunt’s porch, I had expected Billie to drop my hand and perhaps a repeat of the night before on the porch would have happened, however instead his only rubbed the patch of skin between my own thumb and finger. If the sensation of his skin rubbing against my own in such a sweet way wasn’t enough to make me feel a bit queasy, the feeling of the butterflies multiplying by the second finished off the job.
“So,” Billie hummed as we stood somewhat awkwardly on my aunt’s porch together. It seemed that no matter the situation, my aunt's porch would always somehow create an awkward feeling between the two of us. “Considering that you told me earlier tonight that this is, y’know, pretty much your first date…”He drifted off. He lifted his eyes from the dark porch and to my own. When our eyes connected, his lips were pulled over his teeth in a grin. “How’d I do?"
I giggled at the pure innocence of Billie’s question while he pulled me by my hand to the inside of his leather jacket that was hanging open and against his t-shirt clad chest. I inhaled the scent of cologne that he seemed to have bathed himself in before arriving at my aunt’s house that night deeply and then removed my head from the warmth of his chest. When I lifted my eyes to his face I realized that he was actually waiting for a legitimate, verbal answer. A grin crossed my face and at the sight of it despite the darkness that surrounded us, Billie’s reappeared.
“Hmm,” I hummed softly. Billie groaned at the realization that I wasn’t going to make this simple. I giggled furiously at his impatience and dragged one of my nails idly against the skin of his hand. “Well,” I continued slowly. “The pizza was amazing and I loved where you took me—so I’ll start you off with a seven when it comes to that.” Billie chuckled and despite the fact that we both knew that I wasn’t seriously rating the date we had just had on a one to ten scale, he didn’t seem to mind where I was starting the count. “And then you took me out for ice cream,” I added. Billie nodded as if I had been waiting for him to confirm it. “But,” I added, “I’m lactose intolerant…so…” I trailed off. I bit down onto my bottom lip as I waited for some sort of response from the man that I was currently encased in.
And it took Billie a minute to realize what I had meant, however when he did, his body jerked and he scowled loudly. “Roxanne,” he scowled. He slid his hand from mine and took his other arm from where it had somehow managed to wrap itself around my back. “That wasn’t funny—I thought you were fucking serious.” He scowled again. “I nearly shit my pants, Roxy.”
I burst into a fit of giggles as Billie continued to complain at what I had done to him earlier that evening at the ice cream stand. Clearly unimpressed by my giggles and lack of sympathy, Billie rolled his eyes and placed both of his hands on my hips. He pulled my body rather roughly against his own and before I had the time to ask what the hell he was doing, he had dug his fingers into the sides of me.
Apparently he had remembered my reaction from when he had done something similar to that in the parking lot earlier.
I gasped loudly as the feeling of shocks spreading throughout my body from where Billie had jabbed me and began at once to squirm and squeal in order to get away from Billie’s hands. However, Billie had obviously figured I would do so because the grip he had had on me was much stronger than I was, thus giving me no avail whatsoever. “Billie!” I cried out while squirming in his arms. “Oh, Billie, stop! I hate being tickled!” Despite my pleas for him to stop, Billie only continued to dig his fingers into my sides until I was firmly backed against my aunt’s door with absolutely nowhere to go. Throughout the time of which I had used for trying to get away I had managed to free my arms somewhat, which I used to whack Billie’s chest and push him as far away as possible. “You’re absolutely horrible!” I cried out once I was able to regain my breath.
Billie laughed loudly out of clear amusement at my reaction to the tickling that he had just done and my way of getting back at him. “I’m horrible?!” He cried out loudly through laughter. “Roxy, you had me terrified in the parking lot!”
I scowled loudly and whacked his chest again. “That’s it; this date is officially down to a zero. You’re absolutely horrible. You’re no sweet child.”
Billie cocked his head to the side along with an eyebrow; however when he realized that I was making an obvious reference to his band, he laughed loudly and poked my side again. I scowled loudly and grabbed his hand in order to stop him. Billie giggled at the scowl on my face and the grip I had on his hand. “Alright,” he murmured. “Alright, I surrender. I won’t tickle you anymore, Roxy. I can’t—there’s nowhere for you to go and frankly, I’m afraid of you kneeing me in the balls. You squirm like a goddamn worm on speed.”
I scowled and whacked his chest for the third time that night. In return, Billie grabbed my hand with his only free hand in order to stop me. Considering that the two of us had ended up holding onto each other’s hand so that we weren't able to continue to attack each other, the two of us found ourselves stuck against my aunt’s door. Billie chuckled. “I’m sorry,” he cooed innocently.
I rolled my eyes and shifted against my aunt’s door, however making no attempt to get free. The same went for Billie. “You’re just a jerk.”
Billie laughed loudly and let go of my right hand. For a moment I was confused as to why he had done so seeing as I had been considerably comfortable, though my questions were answered as I felt his hand place itself on my waist as it had done the night before when we had been on my aunt’s porch after spending the day together. Unlike the night before, though, I didn't freeze up a damn stone, but instead melted a bit against his touch. My body seemed to have done a complete 180.
For the first time since Billie had begun to tickle me, as ridiculously cheesy and overly-cliché as it sounds, I had realized exactly how close we were standing. In fact, I was beginning to realize that the warmth I had felt on my face hadn’t been the Californian air as I had assumed it to be, but rather the breath of the man that was now somewhat pressed up against me.
It seemed that we both realized how close we were at the exact same time because as soon as I came to terms with how close to me Billie was, his hand had tightened a bit on my waist and the hand that was still holding onto my own began to rub my own in a comforting manner. It was when I realized that Billie was trying to comfort me as if he was expecting my body to go rigid as it had so many other times that I realized that not only was I becoming nervous as hell for reasons unknown to me at the moment, but my heart seemed to have sped up as if I had just ran a mile. Billie had tickled me, true, but he hadn’t tickled me enough to get that much of a reaction from my body seeing as I wasn’t that out of shape.
I lifted my eyes from the black t-shirt that Billie was wearing and to his lips that had parted a bit to release the rasps of breath that I had been subconsciously feeling for the past few minutes. From his lips, my eyes trailed up past his nose and to his own eyes that I somehow managed to see despite the complete darkness that had engulfed us. I don’t believe that I so much saw that we had made eye connection as much as I felt it, to be honest.
Billie seemed to straighten his body up so that rather hovering over me, he was standing a bit straighter before me. I felt his body turn rigid in what I believe was momentary hesitation for a minute or so and I took his apprehension to my advantage by allowing myself to watch him silently knowing fully well that he couldn't see me doing so. After he seemed to get over his slight silent anxiety, Billie took a step closer to me so that I was once again surrounded by the leather of his jacket and pressed against his t-shirt clad chest. At the feeling of the cloth rubbing against my nose, I tilted my chin upwards to allow myself to breathe without being forced to practically taste the cologne that was still radiating off of him. Once I had inhaled and exhaled deeply, I was surprised at the feeling of what I could only describe as a soft, warm object brushing against my lips in such a hesitant manner that I wasn't really sure that there had been anything there at all.
At first I had come to the conclusion that what had brushed my lips had been one of Billie's hands since only one of them had been significantly rough to where I knew it couldn't have been. It was when within half a minute later that I felt the same object brush against my lips again and capture my top one that I realized that rather than Billie's hand brushing my lips, it had been his own.
At the sudden realization that it had been Billie's lips brushing against my own so delicately only a few seconds prior to then, I felt my body go rigid in shock. The butterflies that I had been sure that I had been used to by then surprised me by not only fluttering around as if on speed, but gnawing at my insides and climbing my throat at the same time.
Billie chuckled quietly at the feeling of my body freezing against his and gently began to pat my waist in a comforting manner with the hand that had been resting idly on it before. I also realized that his thumb had begun to rub the skin between my finger and my own thumb in the same comforting manner. As if it had been all that I had needed from the beginning, I relaxed back against my aunt's home and Billie's body.
Due to the darkness, I spent the next few minutes of the evening searching for Billie's face to my best ability. I knew the he had to have been close due to the way that my body was encased in his, yet at the same time I couldn't seem to find him. Billie must have felt the same way as I had because only a mere thirty seconds after I had began to silently search for the thirty one years old face, both of our bodies jerked in the surprise of our noses clashing.
We both giggled quietly at the fact that we had both been caught searching for each other in the darkness and then both stood silently and perhaps even nervously against each other. It was the awkward moment that all movies that had to do with relationships held and before that very moment, I had been a firm believer that it had only been in the movies.
I tilted my head to the side where I could feel short, warm rasps of breath against my cheek, figuring that it had most likely been Billie. Billie must have realized that I had shifted to see him despite the fact that I couldn't see him because he began to also shift his body against mine slowly—and the next thing I knew, his nose was brushing and colliding with my own as the sensation of what I had learnt to be his lips brushed returned.
It took me about half a second for my body to react even though my mind seemed to have completely fizzled out. By the time my mind had caught up with both mine and Billie's bodies, his lips had been placing delicate, yet repetitive kisses rather hungrily against my own while the hand that had once been holding mine for most of the evening had slid to cup my neck.
I allowed my body to go limp against the door to my aunt's home and had it not been for the grip that Billie still had on my waist, I probably would have completely crumpled to the ground altogether. Billie didn't seem to mind my lack of structure all too much seeing as his body followed mine automatically with nothing but a small grunt of surprise.
At the sound of Billie's grunt I began to giggle furiously, forcing our lips to disconnect. Upon hearing my giggles and figuring out what they had been about, Billie chuckled softly while sliding his hand that had been resting comfortably on my waist to snake his whole arm around it. We both shifted rather awkwardly against my aunt's home seeing as my legs had turned to almost literal jelly, making it impossible for me to move anything but my torso without the threat of collapsing. Billie seemed to have realized my paralyzed state because he chuckled again and stopped shifting at once.
Billie's nose brushed against my own once more as his head tilted to the side to ironically avoid the clashing of noses as he brushed his lips against mine. I grinned involuntarily against the lips that had currently picked up where they had left off before I had forced them apart by my giggles, however it went unnoticed by Billie whom only continued shift against my body while repeatedly locking our lips together.
It had been when I had completely given into every kiss that Billie had been presenting me with when, despite the fact that I fought him about it by refusing to allow his lips to actually disconnect from mine, he pulled away. He was gasping for air as if he had been holding his breath underwater for hours.
Billie sighed rather loudly and after staring at me for a good two minutes, his lips brushed mine with an agonizingly light pressure. “Your aunt is going to home any minute,” he whispered while nuzzling his nose into the hand that I had placed against his cheek. He kissed it.
“I don’t care,” I murmured. Out of desperation, I tried my best to find his lips in the darkness, however he had figured out what I was doing and pulled his face away from my own entirely. I groaned loudly in frustration.
Billie laughed at my stubbornness and placed a kiss against my jaw. “You should, Roxy. I do." Another kiss against my jaw. "I’m still not ready for you to be grounded yet, Roxy.”
Despite the fact that I was still trying to chase Billie's lips in the darkness and I still planned on being stubborn about letting him go that evening so easily, I giggled. And despite the fact that he was still standing by his words, I was granted with the feeling of the warmth of his lips against my own for the final time that evening.