Pieces of Truth

A week before school started the guys were getting ready to leave for their tour. I had all of my classes picked and registered for, and I was excited to go back. It was pretty weird helping Billie pack things to last a month an a half when I knew I wasn't going anywhere.

"So Grace, you wanna do me a solid?" he asked as we rummaged around through his room to find all of his clothes so I could do laundry.

"Depends on what it is," I told him, grabbing a bunch of shirts from under his bed.

"Will you stay here at the house? I'd feel a lot better knowing you were here.."

"I guess I could. I kinda like the place," I smiled.

"Good, I'm glad. Now when we're gone, you can do just about anything you want.. Except throw a huge party or have an orgy. I wanna be there for that!" he laughed, making me turn red.

"Don't worry, I'm pretty boring. No orgies for me," I threw a handful of socks at him.

"Hey, don't make me come over there!" Billie threatened from his closet.

"Oh yeah? What do you plan on doing if you come over here?" I asked, going along with his game.

"I might just have to start our own two person orgy," he winked and I immediately felt uncomfortable.

I guess Billie picked up on this because he dropped his clothes and headed toward the door.

"Let's take a break and grab a snack," he suggested and we walked down to the kitchen.

Billie sat at the island as I began straightening up the counter absent-mindedly.

"I thought you were past that," Billie said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I thought so too," I admitted.

"Are you scared of something I might do?" he asked and I shook my head.

"Of course not.. Not when you're sober."

"Grace, how can one mistake make you think I'm horrifying when I drink or get high? You know me well enough to know that I had to be seriously fucked up to try and do that kind of thing," Billie defended himself.

"I know... But who's to say it won't happen again? You have no problem trying new things like that."

"I would never intentionally do anything to you. I can't help how things affect me. But I get why you're hesitant. I'm impulsive and yeah, sometimes I can't control myself. I can tell you that this won't ever happen again, but I don't know if that's true. If it ever does, you can beat the shit out of me then and there. You should even hit me now," he said, pointing to his jaw seriously.

I pulled my right hand back, balling it into a fist and releasing, only to tap his jaw lightly. Billie shot me a quizzical look and I shrugged.

"I'd never mar such a face. I will, however, give you a swift kick to the balls if it happens again."

"Now I definitely have to watch myself," he chuckled.

"Okay, now that it's settled, I'm gonna do that laundry. Help me bring it down here," I told him, feeling a lot better and ready to get back to business.

While the laundry was going, Billie and I were looking for something to do. Billie decided that it was time to dye his hair, which meant I had to do mine too.

We sat in his bathroom with bleach in our hair and tin foil wrapped over it. Billie had his whole head covered while I only had my bangs wrapped up.

"Is it supposed to burn?" I asked, taking a look at ourselves in the mirror and laughing.

"Stop being a pussy!" he told me.

"Shut up! I don't do this every five weeks," I poked at him.

"I wouldn't have to if my hair didn't grow so damn fast!"

"You're such a chick!" I giggled, "Look at you with all that foil in your hair. It's ridiculous."

"But it keeps the heat in, which helps the bleach," Billie replied smartly.

"Well someone definitely showed up for their chemistry class during school."

"Only cause I had a badass teacher," he shrugged.

A little while later, Billie decided it was time to was out the bleach. I washed his hair in the kitchen sink and then my own.

"Hey, since your hair is so dark, wanna put blue in it?" Billie suggested, an excited gleam in his eyes. He seriously was having fun doing this.

"I dunno," I shrugged, ruffling my hair with a towel.

"Come on! It'll make you look hot! Well, hotter than you are now, if that's possible," he played the flattery card and I gave in.

Billie had a pack of blue dye under his bathroom sink, so he mixed it up and carefully applied it to my now bright blond bangs that swept over my right eye. We let the dye set, so Billie dried his hair and checked himself out.

"Oh stop, you're not as good looking as you think you are," I teased him, earning a glare.

"At least I'm not fat," he shot back.

"Excuse me?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest, "Who's fat?"

I shot him the 'you'd better redeem yourself right now' look.

"You didn't let me finish! At least I'm not fat like Tre," Billie recovered, thus avoiding a huge slap for calling me fat.

"Good call," I laughed, patting his back in approval.

We went down stairs and grabbed a couple of beers to drink in the living room. Even though it was only two o'clock, it was five somewhere!

As we waited for the dye to set in my hair, I took the opportunity to bring up a topic I'd been thinking about a lot.

"Come sit with me. There's something I want to talk to you about," I said, taking a seat on the couch.

"What's up?" he asked suspiciously, sitting so he could face me on the sofa.

"Okay.. So, I know you. I know you're extremely social and very sexual," I began and Billie jumped in.

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Shut up and let me finish!" I laughed, continuing, "I get that you drink and smoke and love a good
party.. You especially love physical contact and the connections you have from that.."

"Come on, Miss Freud. What are you getting at?"

"If you want to have sex on tour, I'm not going to say you can't. I'm won't be there for you, so naturally you'll seek out something elsewhere. What I want you to know is that you can go and have meaningless sex if you want, but I'm the one that you're coming home to and I'm the one you're making love with. Is that clear?" I asked, watching Billie's eyes go wide.

"Let me get this straight. You're telling me to go have all the sex I want.. Then I can come home and you won't be mad at all?" He was awe-struck, I could tell.

"That's it. Oh, and you do need to take precautions. Wear a condom, don't get diseases, that whole deal," I said simply.

Giving him freedom like this will make him think more about his actions and eliminate the temptations. If he wants it, he'll go for it. If I tell him that I'm okay with this, he will appreciate our physical and emotional relationship much more.

Billie seemed to be at a loss for words, but his eyes did all the talking. He was surprised and a little suspicious at the same time.

"What?" I asked, trying to make sure he understood.

"Nothing.. I'm just, I dunno, shocked that you're saying this?" he shrugged.

"Well if you're gonna get drunk or whatever, you may end up doing something and I don't want you feeling guilty or that you have to hide it from me. It's best if it's just out in the open."

We both fell silent, waiting for the other to say something.

"Let's go get that dye out. I bet it's rad," Billie finally said, helping me off of the couch as he got up.

Once my hair was washed and dried, I could really see how well Billie did with it.

"I told you I knew what I was doing!" he said proudly, brushing my now vibrant blue bangs out of my face.

"I never said you didn't!" I laughed, ruffling his hair playfully.

"Oh, so you wanna be like that?" he asked, pulling me into his chest and moving into his room.

I pushed him onto the bed, a smirk on my face as I watched Billie eagerly undo his belt. I heard a buzzer go off from down stairs and I grinned.

"Laundry's done!" I announced, turning on my heel and walking out of the room.

"Oh, come on, Grace!" Billie called after me, obviously flustered and frustrated.