Forgive and Forget: A Billie Joe Story

Robbie sighs, looking kind of stressed out himself.

"We know, Billie," he says. "I can't help but be really pissed off at you though. More than anything I want Ellie to be able to trust me. It hurts that, because of you, she can't."

"I know," Billie replies. Tysen chuckles, so Billie looks at him questioningly.

"Ellie's on the top stair," he says. My heart drops as they all look over at me.

"Ellie, come down here," Robbie says. I stand up and walk to the table, standing away from everybody.

"How do you feel about everything you just heard," Tysen asks. I look down.

"I don't really know what to say," I murmur.

"We gotta go back to Susan," Billie tells me. "Together." I nod.

"I know," my voice cracks at the end. I feel Robbie's sorrowful stare on me. I look up at him. "Where's Linda?"

"Got called out on a business trip again," he answers. "Arizona." He notices the atmosphere's change as I think about that. "She'll be back tomorrow, Ellie. Just one day without her." I look over at the clock hanging on the wall. It's 2:32 AM.

"All right." Tysen slowly walks over to me and his hand rests on the small of my back.

"Let's go back to bed," he whispers. He gently pushes me toward the stairs and we go back up to my room, leaving Robbie and Billie. I get back into bed as Ty closes the door and climbs into the bed next me.

"Can we talk," he asks, sounding troubled. I sit up and look at him.

"Of course," I say softly.

"That dream you had," he starts, pausing while he thinks of what to say. "It didn't change us, right?"

"No, of course not. Why would you think it did?"

"I don't know, I mean..." He sighs and looks up at me. "I don't want you to think of that nightmare whenever we're together." I smile a little.

"I won't," I say. "And I'll never be afraid of you, either. Okay? Don't worry about that." He takes my hand and squeezes it.

"But no matter what, Iw ant you to tell me exactly whenever you feel the least uncomfortable around me. No matter what. Okay?"

"I promise." He smiles and leans forward to kiss my forehead.

"Goodnight, hun," he murmurs against my skin.

"Goodnight," I whisper back.

***Several Hours Later, 9:42 AM***

I wake up with Ty's arms still around my waist. I slowly slip out of bed and grab a T-shirt with some sweats before heading down the hall and into the bathroom. I don't hear any noise from anywhere in the house, so everyone must still be alseep. I undress and get in the shower. Someone knocks on the door only five minutes later.

"Babe, you in there," Tysen asks.

"Yeah," I say loud enough for me to hear.

"All right, I'll be in your room." I hear him walk back down the hall and laugh quietly. He is so protective it's almost sickening. Another ten minutes goes by before I turn the water off and wrap a towel around myself. After I dry my hair, I put on the Owl City shirt and New Moon sweats. I open the door and walk back to my room with my other clothes in hand. Tysen looks up at me from a notebook when he hears me enter the room. I drop the clothes in a basket and sit next to him on the bed.

"Whatcha readin'," I ask, looking at the chicken-scratch covering the page.

"One of your notebooks," he replies, looking back down at it.

"Oh... which one?" His expression turns a little confused.

"Poems." I nod and rest my head on his shoulder. "I'm reading these and I remember this is how you used to talk when we first met, all dark and menacing. So then I look at the date, and they're all recent."

"Okay? What's the big deal?" He closes the notebook and turns to look at me as I return the stare.

"You're starting to scare me, El. I mean, I thought you were over that."

"Over what?"

"Always being depressed and scared. For the past month, that's how you've been. You thought I didn't notice, but I did." I look down, but he tilts my head back up so I'm staring right into his eyes. "This is getting a lot harder than I thought it would be. Always trying to help you." I swallow and push his hand away from me.

"Then stop trying."