Love and Conspiracy

I groggily got myself out of bed after a terrible night’s sleep. I woke up at least every hour throughout the night, tossing and turning. It just wasn’t the same sleeping next to Mike. However, he wasn’t to be seen when I woke up; in fact, after searching the apartment, no one was.

I slowly made my way to the bathroom, in desperate need of a shower. After closing the bathroom door behind me, I caught glimpse of myself in the mirror, horrified at the way I looked. Practically no make-up, puffy eyes, and frizzy hair. Thank god no one is here. I thought to myself.

~~~

Once I had my twenty minute shower and got dressed, I went back into the living room in the hopes to relax, watch TV, and just let my mind forget everything that was going on. I only accomplished one of them before the front door opened and Billie walked in. His smile grew wide when he saw me.

“Hey, there! How was your shower?” he asked happily. I raised a brow at him.

“How’d you know I was in the shower?” I questioned, causing him to slightly chuckle.

“I’ve been here this whole time, I just went outside really quick to have a cigarette,” he answered, sitting on the other side of the couch. Although it wasn’t that big of a couch, it still felt like there was a giant space between us.

“Oh, well it was nice,” I slowly said, “Felt like I washed some of the past day’s events off.”I could feel him look over at me. “Where’s Mike anyways?” I asked.

“Over at Tre’s. He wanted to tell him what happened,” he answered awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. I sighed.

“Of course,” I said to myself causing him to look over at me.

“It’s going to turn out okay, Lucy. You don’t have to worry.”

“Easy for you to say,” I scoffed.

~~~~

Mike came home less than an hour later.

“How’d he take it?” I heard Billie quietly ask from the other room.

“Pretty rough. He eventually accepted it, though,” Mike answered.

“So, is he gonna break up with her then?”

“I think so. He said that he was going to see her right before I left,” Mike still sounded guilty.

After some time, I decided that I should go out and join them. Mike was sitting on the couch while Billie was at the kitchen table. I plopped down next to Mike.

“Hey,” Mike said solemnly. I could immediately feel the tension grow between us.

“Hey,” I awkwardly replied.

“I need to go for a walk. Join me?” he asked without looking over at me.

“Sure,” I said as my stomach started to churn. By the time I got my shoes on, Mike was already outside. Billie shot me a wary look before I walked out the door.

We were silent as we walked down the street. It was a nice and breezy day; however, it didn’t fit the mood that was set between us.

“I don’t know what to do, Luce,” he finally said after some time.

“About what?” I asked quietly. He hesitated.

“About us,” he answered, “I mean, I love you to death, but I can’t help myself from feeling guilty about this whole thing.”

“It’s only been a day. It’s not like you’re gonna get over it right away,” I said nonchalantly. He abruptly stopped and looked at me.

“Then how have you?” he asked bluntly. I was speechless.

“Well, I… I know you didn’t mean it,” I admitted, what I thought was, the truth. He shook his head.

“But what if I did?”

“What?” I said, confused.

“What if I had meant to kiss her? I was drunk, yes, but I could’ve controlled myself.”

“I don’t believe that,” I lied quietly.

“Well, you should!” he said, angrily.

“Why are you telling me this, Mike? What does it matter now, I already forgave you!” I spat back at him. He ran his hands through his hair.

“I know you kissed him,” he said more calmly. My stomach dropped.

“What?” I squeaked.

“Billie Joe!” he said, hurt in his eyes. I was speechless.

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly, “I know it wasn’t right of me to do.”

“Damn, right it wasn’t! How could you do that with my own best friend?!” he yelled at me.

“Excuse me, but aren’t you being a little hypocritical here? It wouldn’t have happened in the first place if you hadn’t kissed that slut!” I said, starting to get angry myself.

“Don’t talk about her like that! You don’t even know her!” he defended. I looked at him incredulously.

“Are you seriously sticking up for her? What the hell has gotten into you, Mike?!” I yelled. He turned towards me, taking a deep breath.

“Fuck it. We’re through. I should have never brought you here in the first place,” he said before starting to walk away.

“So that’s it?! You’re just gonna break up with me over something stupid like this? What the fuck am I supposed to do now, Mike?! You know that I have nowhere else to go!” I screamed frantically.

“Not my problem anymore!” he yelled, not looking back. My lips quivered as the tears started to erupt down my face. Dropping to my knees, I began to sob. A blurred figure started to walk towards me as they called out.

“Lucy… What’s wrong? Lucy… Lucy!”

~~~~

My eyes shot open as I woke up from my nightmare. Billie’s worried eyes were looking at me while tears were falling down my face in reality.

“Don’t cry, it was just a dream,” he said soothingly. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him close to me as I continued to cry. He rubbed my back until the sobs slowly subsided.

“What am I gonna do if he finds out?” I whispered.

“He won’t,” he replied simply.

“But what if he does, Billie?” I said, pulling away enough to look at him, “I don’t think I can bear seeing him get hurt.”

“Trust me; he’s not going to find out,” he said firmly. I stared at him blankly, not wanting to argue with him. His green eyes looked longingly back at me.

I could feel the small space between our faces slowly get smaller as we continued to stare into each other’s eyes. After an eternity of waiting, his lips gently brushed against mine causing my body to go weak. I helplessly kissed him with more force as I began to melt in his arms. The more I thought about not being able to have him, the more I wanted him. For the following ten minutes, we simply sat on the couch and kissed each other, not taking a break for air.

His hand glided down the side of my cheek once we had finally managed to pull away from each other. His eyes sparkled more than I had ever seen them.

“You’re so beautiful, Lucy,” he mumbled. Just that simple compliment had me smiling and blushing uncontrollably. He pressed one more kiss to my lips before taking his place back on the other side of the couch. In seconds, I heard someone coming up the stairs.

My heart skipped a beat as I jumped up from the couch and dashed to Mike’s room, afraid of the flushed look I’d probably have on my face when he walked inside. I flopped down on the bed just in time for the front door to open.

“How’d he take it?” I heard Billie say from the other room.

“Pretty rough, but he eventually accepted it. By the time I left, he was already talking about going to the bar to find another girl,” Mike answered, causing Billie to chuckle.

“Yeah, that sounds like him. Did he break up with her already?”

“I would imagine that’s next on his to-do list,” Mike joked as his voice got closer to the room. He stood in the doorway for a moment.

“Hey,” I said in the happiest tone that I could. Luckily, it brought a smile to his face and he walked up to me.

“Hey, did you hear?” he asked, sitting next to me on the bed.

“Yeah,” I said, quietly, “He deserved to know.”