Social Suicide

"So are you deaf now?" she asked with an innocent voice from over his shoulder.

She set her chin on his shoulder and turned her head. She could tell, after only a second that her closeness to him was having the desired effect. She could practically see the muscles in his back and neck tense up. The motion of the muscles tensing made her want to lean over and kiss him there, just where his neck curved down to meet his shoulder.

He turned his neck to the side as if to try to ease the tension then said, "Huh?" She could see from his surprised expression that he hadn't expected her to be the one that interrupted him.

"Oh and dumb now, too?" she said bluntly without thinking about it. "You're a real catch there Mr. Armstrong. I'm sure all the girls in the world are jealous of me. But really, they can have you."

"What do you want?" he asked with an annoyed tone as he threw down the magazine back onto the pile of others.

She reached around him and picked the copy up. She made sure to touch his back with her chest as she did it. She normally tried not to be too sexual in front of people she didn't know. With Billie she felt as if this was all just a little game that they were playing. If she wasn't asleep at least she could have an entertaining time with him.

"Checking out my layout?"

He looked away from her and took a step away before she could continue. She wondered for a moment if he moved because he wanted to get away from her. Did she really turn him off? Or had he moved away because her being so close got him a little antsy?

"So do you like the new suits?" she asked.

"Why would you think I was looking at you?" he replied. She looked at him from the corner of her eye.

She expected some sort of reply from him about the suits, maybe some insults to go along with his tense mood, but instead she got denial. Typical.

"Do you think I'm clueless?" she asked flipping through the magazine.

"Not exactly," he mumbled.

"Come on Billie. You were looking at them. I caught you, but hey really, it's okay." She found the picture she wanted and held it out for him to see. "I like this one myself." Her arm brushed his as she turned the page.

"Hmm," Billie said. She could tell that he was trying not to stare at the picture of her lying in the surf looking longingly at the camera, but he wasn't doing a very good job of pretending to be uninterested.

"I like that suit." She smiled at the thoughts that might be running through his head. She knew that most men would immediately try to picture her in that suit standing in front of them. "They let me keep it, you know."

There was a silence as they looked at the other pictures. For a moment they weren't fighting. It was nice, almost too nice. She was too comfortable with him.

"You get to keep a lot of your suits?" he asked.

'Making conversation, surprise. ' She thought.

"A few. I usually don't though, because I already have so many of them."

"Sounds like the deal we have with all the shit that fans send us. We usually donate them to local charities or hospitals."

"How very noble of you."

Billie let out a breath quickly and stepped away from her.

"Hey!" she said. She threw the magazine back with the others and looked over at him, again with her hands on her hips. "What was that for?"

"What was what for?"

She imitated the way he'd let out his breath.

"Oh THAT," he said, "Well THAT--" He repeated the sound. "That was for the lovely attitude you're giving me."

"Me giving you?" she asked, "You started this."

"Whatever."

"Look," she said taking a tough stance. "You and I have to work together on this video of YOURS, and although at the moment I can't stand you, we need to be professional." She leaned into his face and pointed at him. "So you 'Mr. -High-and-Mighty-all-the-girls-want-me' need to settled down. We could be in some compromising positions and don't think I won't knee you in the balls if you give me attitude."

"Are you finished?" he asked.

"No," she said, "You may think that I'm--"

Willa's breath caught in her throat as Billie pulled her close and kissed her. It was shocking to say the least. She got caught in the moment until she felt his hands on her back.

Pulling back she smacked at his shoulder and stepped further away. "What the hell was that?"

"The last time I checked, I think it was a kiss." He brushed his fingers across his mouth and looked at her from under heavy eyelashes. She watched him check his fingers for color then wipe them against his t-shirt.

"You frustrate me to no end." She turned and stomped away from him.

No man, hell no boy had ever forced her into a kiss like that before. While she wasn't at all displeased with the actual kiss, she was appalled with the manner in which it was delivered.

Billie watched her leave with a smile forming on his face. She went towards the elevators and he laughed when the elevator didn't come right away. He wondered if anyone really knew how flustered she could get from the simplest comment, or lack of comment. She seemed to be perfect, but deep down she could tell that there was something not so perfect about little Willa Marviani.

He stepped out into the lobby and leaned against the wall with his arms crossed watching her. He knew it would make her uncomfortable so he kept doing it even when she pretended to ignore him, although he'd seen her stare at him at a mirror on the wall she was facing.

'Score one for me. She's at least interested. Now all I have to do is get through tomorrow without killing her and we're set. '

He watched her get into the elevator then heard a commotion at the front door and turned to find the others returning. Mike and Tre all were still hyper from their night out. He hoped that he might get away with hiding from them, but Mike saw him and ran over.

"Man, you missed it!"
"Missed what?"

As Mike launched into a huge long story about a girl that Tre had been all up on, the others joined them. It was the typical flirting story. Tre had made eye contact with some girl when they walked into the club and by the end of the night the two of them were drunk and kissing in the corner.

He still had his eye on the elevator when he noticed that Mike's story had ended and that the two of them were staring at him strangely.

"What the hell are you looking at?" Billie snapped.

"Whoa!" Tre said with a little bit of slurred speech. "BJ has some attitude!"

"Shut up!" Billie said then looked at each of them to see which one of them was the least drunk. He needed to have a rational conversation, if he was going to find out what they were staring at. "What are y'all staring at?"

Mike reached over and slid a finger along the side of his mouth. He examined the color left on his finger then showed it to Billie and asked, "Who've you been kissing up on?

Billie dodged his hand and made a face at his bandmates when Mike reached out again towards his face.

"What?" Billie was shocked that they would ask him that. He knew that he shouldn't do it, but he found himself wiping his lips. He'd thought he'd done the lipstick check well before when she'd been standing next to him, but apparently he'd missed a huge spot. Trust Willa not to tell him that he might get caught.

"BUSTED!" Tre said hyperactively bouncing up and down on his tiptoes.

"BJ you sly dog." Mike said with a smile.

"So who's the lucky lady?" Tre continued.

"It was nothing," Billie pushed passed them and went to get to the elevator.
He'd tried to say it forcefully, but he wasn't having much luck believing it really was nothing. There was something between them, some chemistry that he couldn't quiet understand that kept bringing them together. They fought like cats and dogs, but he liked to view that as sexual tension more than anything else, what else could explain the way she was acting? He'd noticed the way she'd brushed up against him and stood almost too close to him.

He smiled at the thought of it. She liked him. She must like him or she wouldn't be acting that way. It was an amazing epiphany. He'd known before in his life when girls had liked him, but this was somehow different. With anyone else it would be easy to get the person to admit their feelings for him, but with Willa it was going to be a challenge. She might think that she could keep up her cool attitude towards him, but if their kiss proved anything it was that there was a passionate woman behind all those pictures and it was going to be his job to get to the bottom of all the hostility that she threw at everyone.

[ Next Morning ]

"Beep! Beep! Beep!"

Billie pulled his hand out from under the warmth of the covers and slammed his hand down on the alarm clock next to his head and let out a groan. He'd gone to bed as quickly as he could make it up to his room the night before, but had spent most of the night tossing and turning thinking about Willa.

It was almost five in the morning, and although the thought of faking sick seemed to be a good way to catch up on his sleep he knew that he had to go to work. It was a video shoot after all and there was no real way to get out of it without completely messing up the schedules for at least fifty people.

"Beep! Beep! Beep!"

"Hit the fucking button, Billie!" Tre called from the far side of the room. He knew he should have turned the alarm off, but instead he'd just hit the sleep button.

"I got it!" Billie called out into the darkness of the room and rolled over and flipped off the alarm permanently.

"Who wants to go first?" Billie asked into the dark room. They usually called dibs for the first shower, but that morning he thought that he'd be able to trick Tre or Mike into taking the first shower, which would give him an extra twenty minutes of sleep. He never lost.
"You go furmnst!" Tre called smothering his face into his pillow, cutting off the last of his reply. Mike didn't reply, Billie thought he must have been sleeping.

"Fine," He mumbled and pushed himself up into a sitting position. He dropped his feet to the floor and took a deep breath then got out of bed and headed for the shower.

Tre had finally dragged himself out of bed; more or less Billie dragging him out of bed, and refused to take a shower. Mike had gotten up without one as well and had gone down for breakfast. A knock came to the door from Mike, who had forgot his keys but was also trying to rush the two.

Tre came running out of the bathroom, grabbed on some jeans and pulled a T-shirt over his head and was sliding into his loosly laced running shoes when someone knocked again.

"We're coming!" Billie called.

The person knocked again. "Damnit! We're coming, Mike."

The knocking didn't stop. "Christ, Mike. We're on the way!" Billie grabbed his backpack and went for the door. He swung it open. "Stupidass we're--"

He was cut short when he saw Willa standing at the door. Her hair was already done and she was wearing a good coating of make up, but was wearing work-out clothes.

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" she asked.

Billie leaned against the doorway. "Yes, but that's not the only person."

Willa blushed a little and looked in. "Tre, honey, you ready yet?"

"But of course," Tre said in a formal tone as he passed Billie and joined Willa in the hallway, offering her his arm. She smiled evilly back towards Billie before she took Tre's arm and went down the hall.

"You look great Willa," Tre was saying as Billie locked the door to their room and followed them. "Well the clothes need a little work, but other than that you look like you just stepped out of a magazine."

"It's her job dumbass," Billie mumbled from behind them.

"Did you say something?" Tre asked over his shoulder.

"No." Billie sneered at him and kept his head low as they waited for the elevator.

"Did you get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?" Willa asked then laughed at her own comment. "Oopps. I forgot. You're always an asshole."

"Whoa!" Tre said and stepped back from Willa. "That wasn't cool."

"Leave it alone Tre," Billie warned.

"What? You're going to let her talk to you like that?" he asked.

"I didn't say that." Billie spoke to him, but was looking at Willa. "She is a little bitch and she'll get her dues."

"Billie!" Mike said from beside them.

"What?" He questioned. "She can call me an asshole, but I can't call her a bitch?"
Mike nodded and pulled Billie away from the elevator while Tre and Willa boarded to ride down.

"Hey! That was my ride." He protested and tried to pull away from Mike.

"Billie, I know I didn't just hear you call that girl a bitch... "

"You did."

Mike smacked the side of his head in a not so playful manner. "What are you thinking?"

"Owe!" He said and rubbed his head. "You didn't hear the things she said to me."

"Since when do you let girls get on your ass?" Mike asked.

"Since never."

"Then do you want some cheese with that wine?"

"No," Billie said.

"So are you going to apologize?"

"No," he said defiantly.

"Well are you at least never going to do it again?" Mike asked.

"Whatever Mike," Billie said and made his way to the elevator again.

He stepped into the elevator and Mike joined them and the two of them rode down to the lobby in silence. Billie could hear Mike breathing in the silent room and felt the guy staring at him angrily.

It wasn't often that they fought, but that was one subject that Billie wasn't going to back down from. He knew rationally that he shouldn't treat her that way.

There had been so many times when he wanted to lash out at people the way he'd ripped into Willa. All the times that they interrupted him at dinner or flashed pictures of him while he was in the grocery store or even while he was driving or even when they pulled on his clothes or on his hand when he did reach out to shake hands with them. He knew that he should be sorry for treating her badly, but deep down it felt good to get out that pent up anger.

[ Later that Day ]

Willa was exhausted as she stripped out of her outfit and changed back into the running pants and sweatshirt that she'd been in that morning when she'd arrived at the set. It wasn't the most glamourous of outfits, but she wasn't thinking about looks at the moment. She needed comfort. She'd been in costume all day, including during the lunch break and although she liked the outfit they'd chosen, she wanted back into her pajama-like outfit from the morning. She knew that the next day was going to be even longer.

They finally finished with her for the video shoot as the guys finished their first of two days. She was just getting dressed for that long night out she had promised Tre the night before.

"Willa dah-ling!" Tre called to her from outside the door.

"I'm coming," she giggled a little at his fake accent then adjusted her sweatshirt one last time before heading outside.

When she stepped out and found Tre waiting for her she smiled at him. It was about a quarter until midnight, and although he had been whining most of the evening about being tired, he sure wasn't tired now. When the mention of a party came up through the grapevine the guys instantly knew that they were going to go out to their friends' house, which had given Tre a second wind.

"You aren't going to take a long time to get ready are you?"

"No longer than it took you to do your hair this morning," she joked.

"Funny one, girl."

"No seriously. I'm already ready." She twirled around and did a few overly dramatic poses. "I hope people like the casual look at this party."

"They'll like whatever you're in," he said. "Now the important question is... How do I look?"

"Horrible," she said then laughed at his shocked look. "Tre, have you ever looked bad? Of course you look mav-e-lous!"

He pulled her into a hug as they made their way over to the van where Mike was climbing in, all wearing the casual clothes that they'd had on that morning.

"Billie isn't going again?" Tre asked as a group lined up to get into the van parked next to the van that they were in.

"Nah, Mike grounded him."

They all laughed, but Willa frowned at the comment. She watched as Billie loaded up into the other van with some of the other staff members. As they pulled out of the driveway the two vans split and while they headed south, the other van headed north.

[ Later that night ]

The knock on the door in the middle of the night came completely unexpectedly. When Billie opened his eyes he thought that it might have been Mike and Tre coming back late from the party. He figured that they'd probably lost the key again.

When he sat up in bed and looked around the room, he found his band-mates already snoring in the beds next to his own. Tre's was face down, no doubt after passing out drunk from the looks of it, as Mike laid with his face towards the ceiling and his mouth open.

Thinking then that maybe he'd heard the sound in a dream Billie lay back down. He tried to drop back into the dream he'd been having until he heard the knock for a second time. He then decided that he'd better answer the door considering that the others looked as if they were dead to the world.

He pushed himself out of bed to see who was at the door when the third knock sounded.

"I'm coming," he yelled out in a whisper and pulled the door open, looking back only for an instant to see if they had heard his yell. Mike just readjusted himself in bed and the snoring began again, now with him on his side.

His mouth literally dropped open when he saw Willa on his doorstep. He would have been surprised to see her in any way, shape, or form, but it was the fact that she looked like she'd been roughed up a little that caused him to bite back whatever initial comment that he had to make to pull her into the room. Her hair, that had been styled neatly when she'd left that night with the guys, was now sticking up on one side and the braid that it had been in was coming apart.