Lovers End

Esmee woke to the sound of hushed voices outside Billie Joe's door. Her eyes widened in panic as she realized that Billie had come home early.

"So she's in there? Is she okay? Is she hurt? Did they-" Billie Joe said, talking a mile a minute.

"Calm down, dude. She seems fine...a bit shaken up, but overall okay," Mike reassured him. Esmee heard Billie Joe sigh.

"So she's not hurt?"

"No, she's fine."

"This is killing me. I mean-"

"I know...I know..." She heard Billie slide down the door, resting his back on it.

"What am I supposed to do about it, Mike?"

"Tell her. That's all you can do." There was a pause, which Esmee presumed was due to a manly hug.

"Thanks, man."

"Anytime." Mike's footsteps faded into the basement.

Billie waited outside the door for a few minutes, then slowly turned the handle. Esmee closed her eyes, pretending to have just woken up, as he entered the room.

"Es? Esmee?" he whispered. She opened her eyes and sat up.

"Hey, I'm sorry, I should leave-"

"No, it's okay..." He perched on the bed beside her.

"Did your parents have a fight again?" She ran her fingers through her messy hair and leaned against the headboard.

"Yeah..."

"You okay? They didn't hurt you-" She smiled faintly.

"I'm fine, Billie Joe." There was a short silence between the two.

"Esmee, I have something to tell you," Billie said, his voice barely audible.

"What is it?" She furrowed her eyebrows.

"You can't laugh. You can scream at me, jump around, whatever you want, just don't laugh. Promise me."

"I promise." He let out a shaky breath and turned towards her.

"Esmee, I..." He paused and held her small hands in his own calloused ones. "I still love you."

Esmee gaped at him.

"But...after everything I did to you?" Tears threatened to spill onto her cheeks, and Billie pulled her into a hug.

"I don't care about that anymore. Oh, Esmee, I love you so much..." he whispered into her hair.

"I'm so sorry, Billie," she sobbed into his shoulder as he stroked her hair and murmured quietly.

"Shh, it's okay...it's okay, Esmee." She slowly stopped crying, and he held her at arm's length.

"You are so beautiful," he whispered, and she laughed as he wiped her cheeks with his thumbs.

"So what do you say?" he asked. She paused, then brought her hand to his cheek for a soft caress.

"I need some time to think about it, okay? This isn't no...just... give me some time..." he nodded.

"As much as you need, babe." He smiled sadly.

"I know, I'm so sorry-"

"No, take as much time as you need." She grinned and hugged him.

"Thank you so much." There was a pause.

"Well, are you staying for breakfast? I think Ollie's making pancakes," Billie said, and Esmee made a face.

"No, thanks...I think I'd better get home. Thanks for the whole...window thing..." she stammered.

"No problem. You sure you don't want to stay? We could make cereal." She shook her head and got up.

"No, thank you...I think you'd have a lot of explaining with Ollie." Billie chuckled.

"That's true. Well, I'll see you later, then, I guess." She nodded and shoved her converse on. She stood up and made her way to the still open window.

"Bye, Billie Joe. Thanks for everything." He smiled and waved as she jumped down.

Esmee made her way to her house slowly, still pondering the conversation with Billie.

What should she do? Yeah, she still had feelings for Billie, but things had gone so... wrong the last time they'd tried to be together...

She sighed and sat down, leaning against someone's fence and closing her eyes.

Esmee was dancing. She was dancing her ass off at some club with some guys...she had no idea who the fuck they were or how old they were, but she didn't care, she was having a good time. One of the guys grabbed her ass, and she punched him, blackening his eye, and kept dancing.

Suddenly a slow song came on, and she made her way to the bar. No way was she dancing with one of those dudes, Billie would kill her.

She ordered a beer and sat there, surveying the club, sadly wishing Billie was there.

"Hey, chick, what's up?" some guy said, sliding onto the stool next to her.

"Not much, Tré...how are you?" She grinned, recognizing his voice.

"I'm good...you?"

"Good, good...hey, can I buy you a drink?" Esmee hesitated.

"Sure."

She woke up lying beside him, both of them naked.

The memory brought tears to her eyes. She didn't want to remember it. She didn't want to remember Billie screaming at her and crying. She didn't want to remember crying herself to sleep for weeks...she didn't want to remember all the rebound boyfriends that she endlessly compared to Billie.

What should she do?

She sighed, wiped the tears from her eyes, and sprinted the rest of the way to her house...