Whatsername

"Billie's home! Billie's home!"

""Thank goodness," I sighed in relief as Tre jumped up and down on the couch. He quickly stopped his excited bouncing and scowled at me.

"I'm not that boring," he grumbled.

"Guess who got a new cell phone and brought home pizza!" Billie sang, walking into the living room.

Tre quickly grabbed the pillow off the couch and covered me with it. "Keep the phone away from her! I just got her to remember her favorite color, and I don't need you ruining all of our progress!" he screeched.

"Green," I mumbled into the pillow. Even if Billie couldn't hear me, I still felt the need to try telling him my favorite color.

"I'm not going to hit her with the fucking phone, dipshit!" Billie groaned, walking out of the room.

Tre finally removed the dusty pillow from my face and sighed. "Okay, I was just making sure, geez. You don't have to get all piss-- wait! Did you say pizza?!" he yelped, jumping off the couch and chasing Billie into the dining room. I rolled my eyes and followed them.

"Yes, pizza, but you can't have any." Billie smirked, hiding the box behind his back so Tre couldn't grab it.

"Billie!" he whined, reaching for it. "Why do you have to be so mean?!"

"Me? Mean? After all the stupid shit you've done, you should be happy I still allow you in my house," Billie said, setting the pizza box on the table. Tre quickly opened the box and pulled out a slice of pizza, stuffing it into his mouth like he hadn't eaten in weeks.

"Mmm, yummy." He grinned, grabbing another piece and sitting down at the table.

"I'm going to go get some plates before everything ends up on the floor. I really hate vacuuming," I mumbled, walking into the kitchen. After getting a couple paper plates out of the cabinet, I grabbed a soda from the refrigerator and walked back into the dining room, sitting down next to Tre at the table. Tre had taken a short break from his pizza-eating-frenzy and was now staring excitedly at Billie as he sat down in his chair. I shook my head in disbelief; this was what Tre had been looking forward to all day.

The moment when Billie sat down and that awful fart noise filled the room had to have been Tre's highlight of the day, for sure. He giggled, and Billie rolled his eyes and pulled the whoopee cushion out from under him. Billie threw it and hit Tre in the forehead as he continued to laugh like an insane, hyperactive hyena, almost falling out of his chair in the process.

"Yeah, laugh it up, asshole. I'll get you back," Billie grumbled, his slightly red cheeks being hidden by the sudden smirk appearing on his face. "By the way, Sprinkles left you a little present to pick up on the lawn."

That sure made Tre shut up....

Half an hour later, I stood out in the front yard, watching Tre wander around the grass, picking up dog... presents. I winced after hearing a particularly violent threat to Sprinkles, the neighbor's dachshund. It involved a lawnmower, the shovel he was currently using, and a secluded desert. He had been switching his anger back and forth between the dog and Billie. One minute, he would be ranting about how he was going to shave off Billie's eyebrows, and then the next minute, he would switch back to his plans of viciously neutering the poor puppy; although, some of his plans involved castrating both of them....

"Sprinkles is going to have one hell of a surprise tomorrow after I set that trap," Tre said, grinning evilly.

"Tre, don't get mad at the dog. It's not his fault that his owner is an idiot," I sighed.

"Yeah, but I think Billie would get mad at me if I killed his neighbor...," he mumbled reluctantly.

I rolled my eyes. "I didn't mean that you needed to kill his neighbor, Tre."

"Oh... wait! You want me to kill Billie?!" he squeaked. "But I love Billie!"

"Oh my god, you're a moron," I groaned, rolling my eyes as he gaped at me.

"Well, then, what did you mean?" he asked, throwing the shovel down and crossing his arms.

"What I meant was-- never mind. I don't even remember anymore. Just finish what you're doing so we can go back inside," I whined, looking back at the front door longingly. I wrapped my jacket tighter around myself and pouted as a strong breeze blew by.

"Are you cold?" Tre asked, sounding extremely amused. He smirked after I shook my head no and shivered involuntarily. "You're cold," he teased.

"Shut it, and what's wrong with me being cold, anyway?" I asked, my teeth chattering as I spoke.

"Nothing's wrong. Actually, I don't blame you. There's supposed to be a storm tonight," he said, picking up the shovel and continuing his job. "It's starting to get pretty crappy out here. We'll probably get a shit load of rain."

"A storm?" I asked, biting my lip after looking up; the whole sky was covered in thick, dark gray clouds.

"Yeah, a storm. Rain, thunder, lightning, wind.... You do know what a storm is, right?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as he turned to face me.

"Yes, I know what a storm is. But how do you know it's going to rain?" I asked curiously.

"I watched the news earlier, duh," he said, walking into the backyard to put the shovel back.

"Oh, sorry. I was too busy watching the remote fly across the room and break in half," I replied with a smirk. "And by the way, Billie's gonna kill you once he finds out you broke his remote!"

I rolled my eyes after hearing a faint "No, he won't," and waited for him to come back, taking one last nervous glance at the sky as a drop of water landed on the tip of my nose. "It's raining! It's raining!" Tre shrieked, flailing his arms above his head as he ran onto the porch, dragging me with him.

"Hurry, Tre, before you melt," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes as we walked into the house.

"Billie!! It's raining!!" Tre screamed, running upstairs. "Billie, it's--"

"Whoopdy-fuckin'-doo!"

A few hours later, I was lying in bed with my blankets over my head, biting my lip as the wind blew through my window. The eerie whooshing sound it was making was not comforting in the least. I slowly uncovered my head, opening one eye to carefully examine the room; shadows from the swaying tree branches outside covered the walls and made the noise coming from the window seem ten times creepier. A bright flash of lightning filled the room, and I quickly ducked under the covers again.

I had been scared awake a few minutes before then by an earsplitting boom. That had definitely reminded me that I hated thunder. Part of me thanked it for saving me from a horrible nightmare, and another part of me wished I was back asleep, having that scary guy with a baseball bat trying to kill me. At least then I wouldn't have been awake, huddled under my blankets like a frightened little kid.

I screamed after hearing another loud clap of thunder and buried myself under my pillows. This was getting ridiculous. I was acting like a five-year-old. And it wasn't even the storm that was scaring me that much; it was a combination of it and my oh-so realistic dream.

"Kate?! What's wrong?!" I heard Billie's panicked voice yell from the hall. I peeked out of the pillows as the door opened and watched him run in. He sighed and walked over to the bed, pulling the blankets off of me. "Kate, are you okay? Why were you screaming?"

"The thunder. It scared me," I mumbled, biting my lip, and he took the pillow away from my face and frowned at my terrified expression. "And I kinda had a bad dream.... Sorry I woke you."

"It's okay. Don't worry about it," he whispered, smiling slightly. "Are you going to be able to get back to sleep?"

"Yeah, I think so. Thank you, Billie."

"No problem. Now go to sleep," he ordered, fixing my blankets and walking out of my room with one last sympathetic smile as he closed the door.

Not even thirty seconds after he left, a deafening clap of thunder, way louder and closer than the others were, crashed. Within a couple more seconds, came a strike of lightning, followed by the power going out. The whole room turned pitch-black, and, of course, I screamed again....

"Okay, that's it!" Billie yelped, rushing back in, a flashlight in his hands as he threw the covers back and climbed into the bed with me.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm keeping you from screaming. Now please go to sleep," he mumbled, sliding his arms around my waist and pulling me toward him. I lay there, wide-eyed and shocked at how fast he had run into the room and jumped into my bed. I was so surprised, I didn't even hear the thunder anymore.