False Pretense

"What do you mean I'm screwed?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows and taking a seat at the edge of my bed.

"You are screwed because of Billie Joe! Tre promised him that he wasn't going to pursue anything further than friendship with you!"

"What? When did he say this?"

"After that fight you two had yesterday. Before Tre came out to talk to you, he told Billie he had no intentions! I guess that all went to hell when you two talked on the porch."

I couldn't believe Tre was breaking a promise he had made Billie. I wondered how Billie was going to react, because Traci was no doubt going to tell Mike. I could almost scream.

"Traci, can I borrow your car?" I stood up from my bed and walked over to the closet and grabbed my coat. Traci walked over to her coat and fished out her car keys.

"Where are you going?" I put on my coat and smiled nervously as I retrieved the keys from Traci's hand.

"I'm going to go face Billie Joe."

* * *

I knocked on the door three times before a blazed Billie Joe opened the door.

"Sassy." He smiled and stepped aside; silently telling me to come in.

"Hi. Are you home alone?" I asked as I turned and watched him shut the door.

"Yeah, Mike went...somewhere." He laughed and ran a hand through his newly dyed hair.

"Oh, well, we need to talk."

"All right. What's up?"

"Tre broke his promise to you." Once again, I wasn't one to beat around the bush. I just had to get it over with.

"What promise?" He cocked his head to the side and he looked up at me angrily when he realized what I was talking about.

"Think about it." I said simply.

"You two?" He yelled, stepping closer to me.

"He kissed me yesterday on the porch. And...when he took me back to the dorm today we kind of...made out."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you deserve to know what's going on." He laughed.

"So...what now? Are you two...a thing?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I don't know how I feel about...everything. I like Tre, but then there's you." I sighed, walking over to the couch and plopping down on it. Billie sat down as well and faced me.

"Then there's me?"

"Yeah. You're a jerk and an asshole and seriously sometimes I just want to strangle you, but then you're also nice and kind and last night when we were drinking and I was telling you all these wild dreams I had, you didn't laugh. You just listened and it was nice to know I had somebody to finally talk to. You're showing me this false pretense and I don't want it anymore. I want the real you, because I've seen glimpses but you always seem to be hiding."

"What do you mean finally have someone to talk to?"

"I have only one sister, Casey, and she's the perfect daughter. My mother was never disappointed in her and she was just my parents little princess. But then she moved out a few years ago to go to college and my mom has been stuck with me. The black sheep of the family. I never did anything for myself after my dad's death. I haven't in a long time and I'm sick of it. I don't even know what I want anymore. And, honestly, I think I only want Tre because I don't want to hurt his feelings. I'm so tired of doing things for other people."

"I'll make you a deal. You show me the real you, and I'll show you the real me. Interested?" I looked up at him for the first time since I started talking; his eyes were soft and kind.

"Very." I smiled and he chuckled; running a nervous hand through his hair.

"I'm not sure what to say now. I know we're supposed to confide in each other, but it's weird when it's about you." I laughed and turned to face him.

"Why do you say that? You talked about me earlier and I reacted fine."

"I know, but I think this is the first time you've complimented me."

* * *

To kick off our new found deal, Billie and I went for a midnight walk and were playing a game called truth-or-truth.

"Have you ever been in love before?" He asked, kicking gravel with his converse as we walked.

"No. Have you?" I looked up at him and the moonlight cased a shadow across his features.

"I thought I was in love with Ashley, but as time goes on and you reflect back, I think I was in love with the idea of having a girlfriend. So, I'm going to have to say no as well."

"You know, the night of your house party, when Traci was telling me that Ashley had left you an angry person, I didn't believe her." He cracked a smile and looked up at me.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, just by looking at you I knew your pain went a lot deeper than just some girl. You intrigued the hell out of me, and even though you treated me bad, I couldn't stop thinking about you. Instead of being mad, I just wanted to know what the hell was up with you." He reached out and grabbed my hand; lacing our fingers.

"I'm glad you didn't give up on me, Sassy. Now, if I'm not mistaken, I think it's your turn for a question." I rolled my eyes and thought for a few moments.

"When did you first lose your virginity?" He chuckled and rubbed his neck with his free hand.

"When I was seventeen, to a girl I had been dating for a year and a half. How about you?"

I looked up at the moon and sighed.

"I've actually never had sex." Billie stopped walking and turned to look at me.

"You're a virgin? Really?"

"Gee, they way you're asking is like it's something to be ashamed of." He furrowed his eyebrows and I looked at our hands.

"What? No, I'm just saying it's surprising."

"Oh, well, I've only had one boyfriend and that was in high school. He was a jerk off and I dumped him." I started walking again and it was silent between us, I guess Billie was actually having a hard time to grasp the concept that I was inexperienced.

"I have my question." He chuckled and gave my hand a light squeeze.

"Shoot."

"Would you mind if I kissed you?" I stopped walking and looked up at Billie, who was already looking at me, and I smiled.

"I wouldn't mind one bit." He smiled and let go of his hold on my hand and snaked his arms around my waist. I smiled and stood up on my tip toes as I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him.

~ ~ ~

I woke up the next morning with a rush of excitement because of one thought: Kat. You know when you picture something you want, and it's amazing? Well, do you know the feeling when what you want happens, and it's more amazing than you could of ever imagine? That's what it was like kissing her. It almost made me wonder why we hadn't been doing this all along. But I knew that answer, and now I was guilty of messing around with my best friend's girlfriend.

I made my way downstairs and saw Tre and Mike sitting in the living room lifelessly watching television.

"Hey guys." I greeted them as I passed by the back of the couch and headed toward the kitchen.

"Hey." They spoke in unison; not tearing their eyes away from the tube. I rolled my eyes and chuckled to myself as I walked into the kitchen, only to stop dead in my tracks.

Kat was kneeling on the floor picking up caplets of aspirin that seemed to have fallen from the bottle. She looked up when she heard me enter and smiled slightly.

"Hey, roots." She stood up and poured the handful of tablets into the bottle. I walked over to the coffeepot and poured myself a cup.

"Hey, sassy. What are you doing here?" I turned and leaned against the counter and she downed a few pills and sipped on her glass of water.

"I woke up with a migraine and we didn't have any medicine back in the dorm."

"Oh, well do you want to talk later or something?" She walked to the counter across from me and jumped onto it.

"Yeah, I think that'd be good." She seemed to be hesitant to reply and I raised an eyebrow.

"You don't seem to thrilled." She smiled slightly and cleared her throat.

"I just don't know if you'll like what I have to say." With that, she hopped off the counter and walked out of the kitchen.

I turned against the counter, slamming the coffee mug hard onto the counter; hot coffee spilling onto my hands.