You've Got to Hide Your Love Away

“What're you doing back here?” Billie asked. Ava didn't even jump at the unexpected sound of his voice. She was sitting with her back turned to him, hair wild and uncontrolled with her knees curled up to her chest. It looked like she was working on something with a feverish pace.

“Writing. Is this your spot?” She asked without looking up or making any indication that she cared she was in his space. They were in a room that should have been reserved for him later that night, but he wasn't about to get all fucking territorial over a dressing room.

“Yeah, but its cool. I'll just, y'know, drop my shit off and leave you to it.” He wondered what the hell she was doing back here. She must have known it was his room. Hell, his name was posted next to the door.

“You don't have to go.” He wondered if she was ignoring his sarcasm or really just didn't pick up on it.

“Oh, I don't? That's good.”

She turned to face him and rolled her eyes. “I just had a sudden hit of inspiration and my bus has the noise equivalent of a bunch of teenies at a Jonas concert. Not a very good workspace. Give me like two fucking minutes to put this into words and I'll be out. Deal?”

“Ava, I'm not kicking you out. I get it. Its cool.” He waved his hand dismissively before heading over to the mini-fridge pre-stocked with beer.

Ava looked up from her work at the sound of him popping the cap of his bottle.

“Where the fuck did you get that?” She asked as he took the first sip.

“This?” He asked holding up the bottle innocently. She glared. “Oh, someone dropped it off for me. Chilled and all.” He smirked.

“And you didn't think to ask if I wanted one?”

“Well, you see, these were brought her specifically for me. They have my name on them. Literally.” He reopened the fridge and pointed to the six pack with ARMSTRONG scrawled across the cardboard in black sharpie, mocking her.

“Ah, you fucking big shots get all the goods.”

He took another sip. “There are some advantages.”

“Like the fact that your bus has built in luxuries and doesn't sound like its about to take its dying breath at any second?”

“That's one.” He reopened the fridge as Ava looked back down to her paper, crossing something out with great passion. “Here,” He held his hand out to her. She looked up and grinned so big her cheeks dimpled before taking the proffered beer and opening it. He her press her lips to the bottle and take a sip, and then his eyes drifted to her throat, watching it work as she swallowed. She placed the bottle down and returned to her work without another word.

“So, what're you writing?” He was standing behind her, sorta leaning over her shoulder. The whole premise was a weird and the the way he was standing behind her was just making things weirder. He couldn't help but notice the way the angle gave him a nice peek at her breasts. He was a bad man.

“A song.”

“No shit, I thought you were into writing obituaries now.”

“If I play my cards right I might make it into that business someday.” He smirked.

“Come on, kid. What's the song about?”

“Kid? I'm not that much younger than you.”

“Yeah, in real years you're not. But you're our baby band on tour, and in music years I've got a few on you. Nice stall, by the way.”

“Fair enough.” She smirked. “Its about, I dunno.” She paused and tilted her head like looking at the scrawled words at a different angle might help her to wrap her head around it all. “It's hard to sum up what I have right now.” She looked him in the eye. “I guess its about wanting something out of reach.” She tore her gaze away from his and looked back down at her work, shrugging.

“Oh, really?” He felt like the weird situation just got even weirder. What was he doing?

“Yeah, its...different.” She finished, a little unsure.

“I thought your normally got what you wanted.”

She looked him right in the eye. He felt like a teenager with her looking at him like that. Then, she answered, heat in every word, “I do.”

He swallowed, hard.

She refused to look away first, even after she noticed how he swallowed. Instead, she was half daring him to respond and half trying to come up with something to cover up the impending awkwardness of the entire situation. Not that it wasn't her fault. She was the one who'd been fucking with his head since day one for her own private joke. And she had found her way back into his dressing room. Yeah, she'd had an idea and needed somewhere quiet to work it out, but Tre's dressing room or even the bathroom would have been fine alternatives.

“Ava, I actually kinda need to start getting dressed. But if you need some more quiet, you could come back later.”

She almost laughed out loud at his response.

“Why, because of this?” She gestured between the two of them. The tension between them was so strong that she felt like she was pointing to a tangible object.

“What? No, I-” She was standing up and walking towards him.

“Or because of this?” She cut him off by pressing her lips against his.