Billet

Once I calmed down for a moment, I realized that I had blood streaming down the side of my face. And now down my hand. I grabbed an old sweatshirt I had in my backseat and tried to stop the bleeding with some pressure. I could deal with it when I got home.

After it had calmed down some, I started the car, turned up my music to as loud as it could go and drove towards home. Quiet sobs rippled through my body as confusion took over. How had Levi and I gone from close friends to that vicious fight and then a kiss...?

I just couldn’t comprehend the situation.

Luckily, I was welcome home by an empty driveway. Easton must have gone out with some of the guys and I remembered that my parents were having a “date night” tonight.

I grabbed the bloody sweater and my keys before making my way to the front door. I quickly rinsed out the shirt into the laundry sink before going to the bathroom to inspect the cut. It ran on the right side of my face from my temple to my mouth. On top of that my eye was blackening along with other scattered areas that looked like they would bruise. The cut wasn’t overly deep so I decided I mustn’t need stitches or anything of the sort. I cleaned it out quickly and covered it with gauze and bandages. I washed off the remainders of my make-up, since it was a runny mess down my face, before going into my room, turning on my TV to some cheesy infomercial, bundling up under my covers and falling into a deep sleep.

I was woken up, in what seemed like minutes later, by a knocking on my door. I didn’t move from under the covers and simply mumbled “Uhuh.”

“Hey Tie-” It was Easton. But he stopped in his tracks, presumably after seeing me hidden under the covers. I felt the bed shift, as he sat on it. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I muttered.
“Tier...” I lay in silence, ignoring him. But being the stubborn boy he is, he pulled the covers back, “Holy shit!” He shouted, seeing the current state of my face. “What the hell happened?”
I tried to think of the quickest excuse I could, and instantly replied, “I fell down the concrete stairs at the rink. And that was a fight I definitely didn’t win.”
“Bullshit,” he shook his head disapprovingly.
“I’m 100% serious.”
“Care to tell my why Levi suddenly has some cuts and bruises then too? Weird coincidence, eh?”
My confidence faltered, “Wait, how’d you see Levi?”
“Jer and I stopped by his place tonight to hang out. So care to explain what went on because both of you have given me shitty excuses and I’m ready to hear the true fucking story. Come on, Tier, it’s me. You know you can tell me anything.”

I sat up, hugged my pillow tightly and went into an explanation of my day. Easton sat and listened, making appropriate comments and curses when need be. And he gave me the tightest hug when silence came about after I had finished.

“Fuck, Tier. I don’t even care that he’s my teammate and one of my best friends, I’ll fuck him up.”
I just shook my head, with a tiny smirk gracing my lips, “Don’t worry about it. I covered that one.”
He ruffled my hair something that normally got on my nerves but currently seemed oddly endearing. “Of course you can handle yourself. You could probably take me any day.”

We sat in silence for a few moments before Easton asked, “So what’re you going to do?”
“Nothing,” I shrugged, “Everything that had to be said between us was said. I’m done with him.”
“Everything’s out there? Explanation from the kiss? Talking things out?”
I covered my face with my hands and took in a deep breath before meeting eyes with him, “Eas, I can’t handle all of this right now. With hockey and school and trying to get recruited...I just- I just can’t. I already have too much to worry about; I don’t need to worry about him too!” I was tearing up at a rapid rate and he comforted me again with a hug.
“It’s okay, shhhhh. I understand.” He kissed my forehead before letting me go. “I’m going to go make us some dinner okay? It’s late and I think some food will make you feel, even a tiny bit, better. I know for me it always does,” he let out a tense chuckle. “But give me a shout if you need anything, okay?” I nodded.

He turned and walked out of the room, but just before he closed the door I spoke in a whisper, “I love you Easton.”
He turned around with a smile on his face, “I love you too Tier.”

I made myself a comfy little nook, in the corner of my bed, with pillows and sat there, listening to an episode of Friends. I had seen it a million times before and so I was scrolling through some social media websites as well. I was on Instagram when I came across a picture of some of my teammates. It was a photo of each of our assistant captains with a serious look on their faces, sticking their sticks out at the camera. All of the rookies were spread throughout the background photobombing them. I chucked for a moment before realizing: that could’ve been me, if I hadn’t been stubborn; if I had been angry; if I hadn’t let Levi’s bitterness get to me. Quickly the anger and sadness tightened my chest and I tossed my phone across my bed.

“Fuck ‘em.” I muttered.

I continued watching Friends until Easton appeared in my doorway, wearing an apron and carrying two bowls and steaming food.

“Oh my gosh Eas, this is so snapstory worthy,” I burst out into a fit of giggles.
“Shut up or you don’t get any food, you little brat,” he joked. I sent him a glare, knowing I couldn’t argue with that; he did have my food in his hands. As he took off the apron, tossing it to the floor, and taking a seat next to me in bed, he handed me the bowl. “Bon appétit! Mac and cheese for the beautiful girl I get to call my billet sister.”
“I don’t need your pity Easton,” I jabbed, but he simply responded with a knowing look. “Okay, maybe just a little.”

We ate our food in silence, minus the giggling as we watched Friends.

“If you were a Friends character, who do you think you’d be?” Easton asked out of the blue.
I raised my eyebrows, looking over at him. “Could you ask a more skill-testing question?” I joked. “I’d say Rachel.”
His face scrunched up, “I was going to say Monica.”
“I am not as uptight as Monica!”
“Bullshit Tier!”
“Come on, remember that time I got drunk at that party and made-out with you? Is that uptight?”
“Touché. But in my defence, you were looking out for my best interests, so I’d say that’s still a bit Monica.”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, we’ll you’d be Joey, cuz you always need to bug me to borrow something. Or maybe Chandler because you can’t get a girl to save your life. Actually maybe Ross because you’re needy as fuck?” I laughed.
“Woah there, if anything I’m Chandler because I have the driest sense of humour around,” He laughed.
“Touché. Touché.”

Once the episode ended, I looked over at Easton, “Okay, time for you to help me with some make-up.”
“Excuse me? How much does it look like I know about make-up?”
“I need to cover up these battle wounds so mom and dad don’t see them, or at least don’t see how bad they are. You can let me know if you think it’s convincing enough.”
“Tier, you’re seriously not going to tell them?”
“I told you before, I’m not dealing with any of this drama right now. Mom and dad would be furious to know that #1. I literally fought out my problems instead of talking them out and #2. I got into a fucking fight with Levi! I’m avoiding that conversation at all costs.”
He just shook his head, “Lead the way.”

After about half an hour of toying around with foundations and bronzers, I managed to nearly cover up my black-eye and make my cut look like a scrape. Now I just had to make sure that my injuries were at least covered up a bit for the next few days or so until they began to heal. As I finished up, Easton headed out to get ready for bed. It had gotten to be quite late and we were both about ready to call it a night. Mom and dad were due to be home soon, but hopefully I could avoid much confrontation tonight. If the opportunity came up, I’d stand by my alibi of tripping on the stairs at the rink.

I was leaving my room to head to the washroom to brush my teeth before bed, when Easton called me into his room. I poked my head in, assuming he had a question about homework or something. When I looked in though, my jaw dropped. In mere minutes, he had transformed his room into a giant blanket fort.

“I’m not going to let you mop by yourself all night. We’re having a fucking girly sleepover to cheer you up.”
I ran in and tackled him, knocking down a blanket or two in the process. “Oh my gosh Easton you are honestly the best! Thank you so much!” I looked around, realizing that I had knocked down a few blankets in the process. “Whoops, I got it!” I said, standing up, putting the blankets back into place.

We both got comfortable in the fort and Easton hit play, and Goon appeared on the screen. Easton passed over a few bowls of candy and we both dug in, keeping our eyes glued to the screen.

Some time later, I was awoken by the sound of whispering voices. It took me a moment to realize that it was my parents.

“Look at the kids,” my mom spoke, sounding like she was standing right in the doorway.
My dad chuckled, “Those crazy kids. Making a blanket fort on a school night. How ridiculous.”
“They are just the sweetest pair,” she paused for a moment, “How did we get so lucky?” There was a silence before I heard footsteps as they left.

“How did I get so lucky?” I mumbled to myself before snuggling to the blanket around me and drifting back off into a peaceful slumber.

“You two better get up! It’s getting late!” My mom’s voice called, waking me up.

The sun was shining through the tiny gaps between the blinds glistening the room with morning sunshine. I was a bit cramped up after spending the night on the floor, despite all of the blankets and pillows that were dispersed around the room. I stretched out my arms, but happened to hit Easton in the face as he was sitting up.

After calming down my laughter, I finally got around to asking, “You okay?”
He nodded, “But do it again and I’ll make your other eye black too,” he joked.
I had completely forgotten about my face until he mentioned it. “Shit, is the make-up still covering things up alright?” I was worried my mom would see me before I had touched things up.
“Yeah, you’re fine. No worries.”

The two of us split up as we got ready for the day; it was only Tuesday so we still had a long week ahead.

It wasn’t until I was heading out the door that my mom made a comment.

“Oh Tier, what happened?” She asked, tugging on my arm so she could pull me closer and get a better look at my face.
“Fell on the stairs yesterday at the rink. You know how nasty they are.”

Luckily I mentioned that Easton and I were running late and had to leave right away to make it to class on time, so I avoided further questioning.

I had to hold back giggles as I sat in first period. I had somehow arrived to class earlier than Levi and as he walked through the door I was taken aback. Even if I wasn’t wearing make-up, his face definitely looked worse off than mine did. I was wondering what excused he was using because it sure as hell looked like he was in a full out brawl; I have no idea how he could ever explain that one away. Speaking of which, I had no idea why he didn’t bother telling Easton and Jeremy what had happened. With how angry he was at me, I’m surprised he didn’t want to try and make me look bad. But then again, I was close to both of them so he probably didn’t want to end up on their bad sides either.

The two of us sat silently beside each other in class, until the bell rang over an hour later. I tried to bite my tongue as I got up to leave the room, but I couldn’t help muttering under my breath, just loud enough for him to hear:

“So, do you still think I hit like a girl?”