I Can't Believe This

I stirred from my state of unconsciousness, feeling the warm glow of sunshine on my face. Yawning, I opened my eyes and gazed around the room a bit. White walls, clothes strewn everywhere, a guitar in the corner, and a few pictures on the wall. Billie's house. Right, I thought to myself. At first I'd thought that everything that had happened last night had just been a dream. Thank God it wasn't.

I shifted the tattooed arms that were holding me against Billie Joe's warm chest, and rolled over. He was still asleep, snoring lightly. I sighed happily. There is no way I will ever get over how wonderful he is, I thought to myself. How adorable he looked while he was sleeping. Absolutely angelic. Which was definitely an illusion. Because if he's angelic, then I'm a guy.

He mumbled something incoherently and pulled me closer. Without opening his eyes, his lips searched until they found me, then he placed a tender kiss on my cheek. Smiling, I ran my left hand through is hair slowly. He needed a haircut, I noted. But at least he was clean shaven now. When I'd picked him up at the bar I could only see about half of his face—the other half had been hidden behind a layer of scruff.

"Good morning," he mumbled, kissing me again.

"Good morning," I whispered back.

He cracked one eye open, smiled, then opened the other one too. He pulled me closer yet again, and I buried my face in his chest. His thumb was gently grazing back and forth over my hip, sending shivers through my body. It had been so long since he'd touched me like that.

I went over the time we had been apart in my head. We broke up the day of the barbecue, and that had been back in May. Now it was September. Almost four months. It had felt longer than that though. It felt like we had been apart for years.

I slid as close to him a physically possible; his arms automatically tightened around me.

He kissed me again, his eyes still closed. "I love you," he whispered. His voice was like leaves falling lightly to the ground.

"I love you too," I replied, trying to match his volume. I didn't want to completely disturb the comfortable silence that surrounded us.

A small smile appeared on his lips, then he rolled us over swiftly so that I was on my back and he was lying on top of me. He opened his eyes then, the smile growing. "Hi."

I wrapped my arms around his neck, then reached up to kiss him. "Hi."

"Let's stay in bed all day," he suggested.

"But what about the stuff I need to pack up at Emilie's and move here?" I asked.

"We'll do that tomorrow."

I smiled and shook my head. "We should get it done today. Get it out of the way, you know? We'll have all the time in the world to stay in bed all day after I've moved back in."

"All the time in the world?" he asked, grinning at me.

"Yep."

He leaned in and kissed my neck softly. "I like the sound of that."

"Mm." I agreed, getting lost in the sensation of his lips on me.

I could have spent the rest of my life like that. Just staying home and being together. Home. I'm home, I rejoiced silently.

***

"Are you sure you have to move out?" Emilie asked, smiling hopefully at me.

I smiled and nodded. "Yep. Now that Billie Joe and I are back together."

She nodded her head slowly. "Okay. But I'm going to miss having you around here, you know. It was like having a sister."

"I'll still be like your sister. I just won't be here all the time," I pointed out, packing up more of my clothing.

"Sounds good." She handed me another box. "I'm going to go grab some more stuff from downstairs and pack it up."

"Thanks." I looked around the room, making sure I hadn't missed any clothing that was laying on the floor. When I was sure, I walked over to my dresser and opened up the first drawer.

"Hey, need any help?" Billie Joe asked, walking into the room with a box.

"Yeah, of course."

I let him take over my dresser as I packed things from my closet.

"Hey!" he exclaimed a few seconds later. "How come you've never worn this?" he asked. He was holding the one piece of real lingerie I owned. A black teddy.

I shrugged. "I don't know, I forgot I had it." I turned back to the closet and began pulling shirts off of their hangers.

"How do you forget that you have an unbelievably sexy piece of lingerie?"

I just shrugged again. "No idea."

I didn't even hear him walk across the room, but suddenly Billie's arms were wrapped around my waist, holding me against him. "Well, when we get home, what are the chances of you showing this off for me?" he inquired, his voice husky and quiet.

"Hm," I mused. "I'd say pretty fair." I turned around to face him.

"Only pretty fair?"

I smiled. "How about this. A ninety-five percent chance." I said, my voice going quieter.

He barely nodded his head, then pressed his lips to mine. He kissed me deeply, his tongue tracing my lower lip.

I pulled back smirking. "We need to finish packing."

"Tease," he grumbled. He pulled me close again. "And you will pay for it," he vowed.

"Mm, I can't wait." I disentangled myself from his arms and went back to packing.

He walked back over to my dresser, mumbling every once in a while about who knows what.

I rolled my eyes every time he did too.

Emilie walked back into the room a few minutes later. "Oh good, you two aren't doing anything inappropriate, like having sex or something."

"We just finished," Billie said, not looking up.

Emilie laughed and walked over to me. "He's kidding, right?"

I looked at her, fighting back a smile. "Maybe," I said seriously, then turned back to the closet.

"Oh my God! That's gross!" she shouted, backing out of the room.

"Yeah, I'm pretty good at quickies," Billie informed her.

"Too much information!" she yelled, running down the hallway.

Billie and I looked at each other, laughing.

"That was really funny," he commented.

I couldn't speak, I was still laughing too hard, so I just nodded my head.

***

We had finished packing by 5:00 PM and now it was 11:30. We were just lying on the couch together watching T.V.

"I don't see the point in this show," Billie said disgustedly.

"Your guess is as good as mine. But it is entertaining."

At the moment we were watching Celebrity Circus, and Christopher Knight—you know, the guy who played Peter Brady—was swinging through the air on a trapeze. I didn't have any idea why, but it looked fun.

"I'm tired," Billie said, resting his head against my back. "Let's go to bed," he suggested.

I would have believed him if his voice hadn't dropped an octave on the word 'bed'. "You just want to see me in that teddy."

"So?"

I shook my head and got off the couch. I reached out to pull Billie up, then guided him up the stairs.

There was a grin on his face the entire time.

Once we reached the room I pulled open the closet and picked something out. I walked into the bathroom, smiling the entire time.

When I came out, Billie's mouth practically fell to the floor. "What happened to the teddy?!" he sputtered, taking in my boxers and loose t-shirt.

"I didn't say I was going to put it on. I said that there was a ninety-five percent chance," I reminded him, climbing onto the bed.

"But—but, you can't just—," he said, pouting at me.

"Goodnight Billie Joe." I kissed him softly, stroking his face, then pulled the covers over myself.

The light went out and the bed sunk down beside me. Billie Joe's arm rested on my waist, just like every other night. He kissed my neck whispering, "Goodnight, tease."

I laughed softly. "Tomorrow night," I promised, then drifted off to sleep.

***

Minority broke through the silence around me. I jumped, startled, then grabbed my cell that was sitting on the table in front of me.

"Hello?" I asked, still paying attention the television set.

"Lisa?"

"Ethan. Oh hey, what's up?" I turned the T.V. off and concentrated on what he was saying.

"Nothing much, really. Just called to see how you were doing," he explained.

"Oh, well I'm doing really well, thanks," I bit my lip. He was the only person who didn't know Billie Joe and I were back together. Well, he and Rhianna.

"Okay good. I was just wondering because Emilie said that you weren't living with her anymore, so I wanted to check with you."

"Yeah, I'm, uh, not."

"So, you found a new place, huh? I hope it's still close to the coffee shop. That way you can still come see me," he said hopefully.

"It's close to the coffee shop. Only a few miles away actually." God, why couldn't I make my mouth forms the words? All I needed to say was 'I've moved back in with Billie Joe'. How hard was that?

Harder than I thought apparently. I knew why I didn't want to tell him though. What if he thought that I shouldn't have done it? That I gave in too easily? No, I argued with myself. Ethan is my friend. He'll understand and be happy for me, like he should be.

"Awesome. I should come by later, check it out."

"I don't know if that's a possibility," I mumbled.

He laughed. "Why not?"

"I moved back in with Billie," I said, the words tumbling from my mouth faster than I ever thought possible.

It was quiet on the other end of the phone for a moment. Finally he spoke, but his voice was still just above a whisper. "Really? That's, uh, awesome!"

"Really?" I asked, not reassured.

"Really. I'm glad you two could work everything out."

"Thanks. That means a lot — "

"No problem. Listen, I have to go. I'll talk to you some other time."

The phone clicked, signaling that he had hung up. I closed my cell phone and pulled my legs up beneath me. That hadn't gone as I'd thought it would. I'd figured he would either be pissed at me, or really happy. But instead he seemed, what? Confused? Sad?

I glanced at the clock and sighed. It was only 12:43 PM. Billie Joe wouldn't be home for another hour or so. He was at the studio today, recording.

I set my phone back on the table and turned the T.V. back on, not bothering to pay attention to what was going on.