Dirty, Rotten Bastard

This had to be some kind of freakish nightmare, Billie thought, as he hid behind the frilly dresses in the department store. One his left were a bunch of jabbering teens. On his right were a few disapproving older ladies. He could walk either way with Adrienne as she finished looking at jackets or cardigans or whatever it was she was so fixated upon, but both ways presented completely different situations before him. To his left, the teenage girls wouldn’t even know Adrienne was there as he walked past and would probably try to say hi. To his right, he’d get a serving about being a wife beater and a generally appalling person. He could see it in their eyes the moment they’d spotted Adrienne, who’d made no attempt whatsoever to hide the almost faded bruise on her left cheek. They wanted to say horrible things to him. He could see them walking over to him as his hiding place had failed him. Hell, this really couldn’t wait, could it?

“My dear, are you okay?” one lady asked as she lightly brushed her cheek. Adrienne knew what she was talking about straight away. Billie watched on as she almost teared up but managed to keep it together to pull off a wonderful smile.

“What? Why do you ask?” The ladies exchanged a look before returning that smile.

“No reason, dear. Have a nice day, won’t you?”

Billie walked off past them as fast as he could, knowing full well that Adrienne hated losing him in the store. He was suffocating. He needed to get out. He made it to the front of the store and waited there, hiding amongst the mannequins, watching as a few other men did the same. This was Adrienne’s punishment for him; he knew it. She knew that it would only take one photo to screw things up and have thousands of people hurling abuse at him in any which way they could. It reminded Billie of the time he was caught drink driving only this was much, much worse.

He could see her making her way to the checkout and decided to reappear, almost mustering up the heart to wrap his arms around her waist but deciding against it at the last minute. He didn’t much feel like a cuddle. He felt like a long, quiet drive to nowhere in particular.

“Here, let me pay,” Billie offered, pulling out his wallet and placing his card in Adrienne’s hand. Of course she knew his pin.

“I thought your wallet was stolen?” He looked down to it, then back up at her questioning eyes. “Billie?”

“I guess I just misplaced it.”

“You said someone hit you then took your wallet.” He remembered saying that. He’d needed a different situation to telling her the reality: an angry young woman he’d just spent the night with had found out about her, and slapped him silly. That didn’t sound nearly as forgivable.

“Oh, they took my money. They dropped my wallet and I picked it back up. Are you going to pay?” He motioned to the cashier and looked away, at anything, to save the conversation continuing. Adrienne could go on forever if she thought she was right. The fact that she was this time meant little to Billie Joe and his pride as he walked behind her out of the store and into another one. This day would never end.

Adrienne took her time as she inspected each individual head of broccoli she intended to bag and put into their cart, annoyed that Billie wasn’t helping. Not even a little. But of course, this was him being his usual self. She usually did the shopping alone, because Billie wasn’t home.

“Does this look fresh to you?” He was still staring out at nothing as she tore her eyes away from the produce to find her husband. “Billie?”

“It’s fine. Wait, I don’t like broccoli all that much. Why are you buying so much? The boys don’t eat it, either.”

“Well you’re going to eat it.” She smiled, but her face was stern. Billie knew when he was beaten.

Adrienne walked off with the cart and Billie followed somewhere behind, catching up to her as she stopped at various places along the aisles. She was looking at razors, and he noticed the blush on her cheeks as her eyes momentarily averted to the condoms slightly to the left of them. So, they hadn’t had sex in a while. Together. Billie tried not to let the guilt show on his face. It was much easier when he remembered the situation to his best memory, and the missing pieces of that night pushed the guilt aside to make way for regret. Had he been protected?

Billie could feel the sweat beading on his back as they went through the checkout, and all he could think of was being a father to another woman's child. Oh god. He grabbed the bags for them and packed them onto the backseat of his car, whilst Adrienne talked to a friend of hers she spotted on their way out. He could hear them whispering as she opened the car door to an impatient Billie Joe.

“The ice-cream will melt,” he said, and Adrienne rolled her eyes.

“You don’t even eat it. It’s too cold on your teeth,” she said, calmly, as if his sudden attitude didn’t even faze her. But it did. She didn’t like when he was moody like that, and already the afternoon could be predicted. He’d spend it in one of the back rooms by himself, which left her by herself, too. Thankfully the kids would be back tomorrow, but she wasn’t so sure she wanted them around the house with Billie in such a state. She worried it’d open their eyes. She worried a lot about their innocence.

Billie pulled into the drive and helped with the shopping before retreating to the spare bedroom at the far side of the house to pull out his hair over everything. Why did he have to complicate things? This isn’t what he needed right now and he cursed his drunken self for putting him in this place. But Billie Joe had a plan. He was always full of plans, half of which would never be put into action. He still felt it was important to have them, though, regardless of his will to go through with them.

He’d have to go back to Bridget’s place and ask her what happened, and if there’s any chance she could be pregnant. He didn’t need that. He dreaded that perhaps she’d been as drunk as he had, though distinctly recalled her harsh remarks in the morning as they woke up. She had to remember. She’d shed some light on the situation and things could then move the fuck on. This was Billie Joe’s master plan.

He pulled himself from the place he’d found himself on the bed and snuck out the back gate. He didn’t need Adrienne’s questioning right now.