I Can't Believe This

We’d stayed at Emilie’s house for a couple of hours after she had told us the big news. We’d all had a great time and I think that now that Emilie and Ethan were together Billie Joe was making more of an effort to get to know him and, at least, tolerate him. But it was still bugging me that they were together, and that everyone but me seemed just fine with it.

Billie Joe parked the car and shut off the engine. Neither of us moved to get out of the car.

“So,” Billie Joe said, trying to start a conversation. “Emilie and Ethan. Who would have thought? Oh well, it’s about time he found someone who doesn’t already have a boyfriend,” he added.

I sighed. “Billie,” I warned. “Just stop.”

He actually looked taken aback. “Stop what? I’m serious. And you know it’s about time he latched onto someone else besides my girlfriend.” His tone of voice didn’t change. He wasn’t angry, he was just stating a fact.

But for some reason it pissed me off. “Well I’m tired of listening to you talk about that, alright? Yeah, Ethan liked me, but he has Emilie now, just let it go.” I closed my eyes and let out a breath. I knew this shouldn’t be bugging me as much as it was, but I couldn’t help it.

“I wasn’t trying to bring up all of that again, Lisa.” He sighed. “I was just saying.” He ran a hand through his hair and looked at me. “Okay?”

I shifted my gaze back to his. He was completely sincere. I could see it in his eyes. And he was right, Logically, I could see that. But I couldn’t let it go. “Okay. But I just don’t understand how they got together. I mean, yeah, they’re friends, but more than friends? It just doesn’t seem right, they don’t fit like that.”

Billie smirked. “You sound jealous.”

Grimacing, I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, right. Me jealous. That makes a lot of sense.”

“Well, think about it,” he offered, sounding amused. “Ethan was completely into you, and now he’s with Emilie. It’s okay. It’s nice to have someone be infatuated with you. I get it.”

I glared at him. “No, you don’t get it.” I opened the door and walked into the house, not even waiting to see if he was behind me.

I slammed the door behind me and stalked up the stairs. I threw my purse on the bed and went into the bathroom, grabbing my hairbrush. “I’m not jealous,” I said to myself in the mirror. “I’m not. I don’t care if Ethan doesn’t like me anymore. I don’t. I just don’t understand why he’s with her. Or rather, why she’s with him. She can do so much better. I wouldn’t want Ethan, and I’m glad to be rid of him.”

“You shouldn’t talk to yourself, people might think you’re crazy,” Billie interjected.

I jumped and dropped my hairbrush. “Fuck Billie Joe! You scared the hell out of me. Make a noise.”

He laughed an leaned against the doorframe. “Sorry. So how is the conversation with yourself going?”

I looked at him, then turned my attention back to my reflection and began brushing my hair again. “Perfectly well.”

He came to stand behind me and grabbed the brush out of my hand. “You have the most beautiful hair I have ever laid eyes on.” Running the brush through my hair once, he leaned forward and kissed my neck. “Long, thick, shiny, so soft, and such a unique color. You know, before you, I had never dated a redhead. Not a natural redhead anyway. I don’t know why, it was definitely the best decision I’ve ever made.”

Smirking, I turned to face him. “So, are you saying that if my hair was brown, you wouldn’t like me?”

“No, I would still love you,” He pecked my lips. “But your red hair is apart of you. A part I happen to find very attractive.” He kissed me again, briefly.

“Ah, I see.”

“Mhm. So, you want to tell me why you’re so concerned about Emilie and Ethan being together?” He raised an eyebrow at me.

“You just had to ruin the moment, didn’t you?” I sighed. I stepped around him and sat down on the bed. I could hear Billie Joe’s footsteps behind me. “I don’t know.” I bit my lip and looked at the floor.

“I think I do,” he mused.

The bed sunk down next to me and his arm found it’s way to my shoulders. “You have a crush on him.”

I snapped my head up, appalled. “I do not!” I argued, vehemently.

“You do. It happens.” He shrugged and kissed my forehead. “I know it’s nothing serious. And you may not like him for him, but you like that he likes you. And now that he’s with Emilie, he isn’t going be around as much.”

I opened my mouth to argue with everything that he had just said, but he interrupted me. “And,” he continued, “He’s your friend. Which means you won’t see him as much. It sucks not seeing your friends as often.”

I closed my mouth and looked everywhere but at Billie Joe. “You’re right,” I whispered. And he was. As ridiculous as it sounded, I was angry that he wasn’t going to be fawning over me anymore. “You’re right,” I repeated. “And I’m stupid. I shouldn’t be feeling this way,” I went on, my voice gaining more strength. “It just felt good having someone be so infatuated with me. I did like that he liked me.”

I felt horrible. I had Billie Joe, so why would I want another man vying for my affection. It didn’t make sense. Maybe I really was crazy.

Billie chuckled. “It’s okay. I’ve had feelings like that before too. It’s a natural thing, and I know it’s not serious. We love each other, and I’m not worried.”

I laughed, a hint of skepticism in my voice. “You’re okay with the fact that your girlfriend has a stupid crush on another guy? Seriously?” I couldn’t believe it. This from the man that beat the hell out of Ethan at one point. Although, Ethan had tried to beat the hell out of him too.

“Yes, seriously. I think it’s weird that you would want someone like Ethan to like you; you’re crazy, I swear, but that’s okay. It’ll pass.” He paused for a moment, and looked at me. “It better pass,” he joked, nudging my shoulder.

I rolled my eyes. “It already has. I think you’re right. I need my head checked.”

Billie raised his fist and gently knocked on my head. “Eh, no need to worry, there’s nothing in there anyway.” He tried to dodge my hit and ended up laying on his back on the bed.

“Ha, ha.” I laid down next to him and rested my head on his chest. “I love you, you do know that, right?”

“Of course I know that. And I love you, too.” He kissed the top of my head.

***

I could feel the sunlight streaming through the window, warming my face. I shifted, yawning and stretching at the same time. My entire body was a little stiff, almost to the point of being sore. I groaned and stopped trying to move.

“You okay?” Billie Joe asked, yawning.

“I’m a little stiff. I think I’ll just lie in bed all day.” I laughed when he shifted to laying on top of me.

“Oh yeah? Sounds like a plan.” He kissed my shoulder.

“Ugh,” I groaned a second later. “Get off. I’m a little too sore for anything right now. Last night, uh, well, yeah.” I blushed a little and smiled.

His world famous grin spread across his face. “Mmm,” He kissed my neck. “Last night.” He lifted his weight off of my body and looked down at me. “I’ve never seen you like that before.”

His voice had gone husky and I could tell that right now he was only thinking about one thing. I smiled. “Yeah, well, I’ve never done anything like that before.”

He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “I definitely enjoyed it. As did you, I would assume.”

I giggled and pushed him back. “You are such a guy.”

“And it’s a damn good thing too.” He wriggled his eyebrows and laughed.

“Mmm, very true.”

I pushed him back a little more and sat up. “I think we should go out for the day. Just the two of us.” It’d been awhile since we’d gone out and done anything by ourselves. And now that both of us could move around without limping, I figured it we should take advantage of that.

“I was actually thinking the same thing. And, later, I think we should go out and celebrate.”

“Celebrate what?” I asked, confused.

Billie Joe’s hand rested on my stomach and a smile spread across his face.

My smile mirrored his as I said, “Sounds perfect.”

***

*BILLIE’S POV*

“Lisa! We’re going to be late!” I yelled up the stairs. What was she doing? It shouldn’t take over an hour to get ready to go out to dinner.

I checked my watch for the umpteenth time and sighed. Maybe I should wait on this for a little while, I thought to myself. I mean, it doesn’t necessarily have to be right now. My hand automatically slipped into my pocket and closed around the small, square, velvet box. Yeah, we could wait, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. But what if I waited and then something were to happen?

“Ugh!” I groaned to myself. I ran my hand through my hair and sighed. I was going to end up driving myself crazy. “Lisa!” I called again, turning to look up the stairs. “We’re going to be--”

Lisa laughed at what must have been a stupid look on my face. “Uh, wow.” Uh, wow? Really? That’s the best you could think of dumbass? I tried again, clearing my throat first. “You look beautiful.” She came down the stairs and stopped in front of me.

“Yeah?” She asked, smoothing her black dress.

I could feel my eyes look her up and down. “Yeah.” I lightly kissed her and smiled. “Let’s go.”

***

*MY POV*

The look on Billie’s face was well worth all the time it had taken me to get ready. It never usually took me an hour to get ready to go out, but the results had been exactly what I’d wanted. Billie had said that he wanted to take me out for a special dinner to celebrate our baby. So I’d decided to make a special effort. I went out with Emilie and bought a new ‘little black dress’. And I had to admit, I looked amazing in it. And apparently Billie had thought so too, since he hadn’t been able to wipe the grin off of his face the whole night. And I figured I should take advantage of the body I had while I still had it.

“Wow, Billie. This place is gorgeous,” I said, taking in the beautiful scenery in the restaurant. Everything was so elegant.

“You’re gorgeous,” he replied.

“And that was cheesy,” I countered, laughing.

He laughed and nodded. “Yep.”

A waiter led us to our table and put a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket next to us. “Uh, Billie?” I asked, eyeing the bottle.

“Sparkling cider,” he responded, understanding.

“Oh.” I smiled, as he poured some into my glass. “This is so amazing,” I commented.

“Well I have been planning this for awhile now.”

My face scrunched up. “Awhile?”

He looked at me, and all of his emotions were visible on his face. Excitement, happiness, anticipation, and uncertainty? “Yes, awhile. For about two months, actually.”

“Two months? Billie, we’ve only known I was pregnant for a couple of weeks, unless you’re psychic and didn’t tell me.”

He laughed and shook his head. “No, I’m definitely not psychic.”

My confusion grew. “Then why would you be planning this for two months?”

“Well, um.” Billie cleared his throat before continuing. “I wanted to bring you here tonight because I, uh,” he paused, clearing his throat again. He ran a hand through his hair and settled his hand on the back of his neck. “Sorry.”

I brought my hand up onto the table and laced my fingers through his. “Why are you so nervous?” I’d only seen him like this a few times during the course of our relationship, and now I was beginning to get nervous.

He didn’t say anything for a moment. He looked down and I could see him take a deep breath.

*BILLIE’S POV*

I didn’t know why I was so nervous. I knew that what I was doing was right. I could feel it deep inside myself. Lisa and I belonged together. I looked up into Lisa’s worried face and smiled. Get it together, Armstrong.

“Lisa, I’m not very good at romance. I try, but really I’m not that good at making things completely perfect when it comes to special occasions. But, I’m going to do my best.”

“I’m really not following you, Billie Joe.”

Her face clouded with even more confusion as I stood up and came around to her side of the table. Reaching into my pocket, my hand clasped the velvet box. Here goes nothing, I told myself.

As I got down on one knee in front of Lisa, I could see it finally click into place for her. She really had had no idea. A smile was already forming on her face; a smile exactly like the one on my face.

*MY POV*

Tears welled up in my eyes as Billie Joe looked up at me and pulled out a black velvet box from his pocket. “Lisa, I love you so much. When I first met you, I just knew that you were it. You are everything that I want in life.”

I couldn’t believe this was happening. My tears were blurring my vision and I blinked to try and clear them away.

“Lisa Hulings, will you marry me?” He opened the box and the most beautiful ring I’d ever seen lay inside of it.

“Oh, Billie,” I whispered. I smiled and I could feel myself nodding before I even got the words out. “Yes, yes I will.”

Billie Joe slipped the ring on my left ring finger and stood up, pulling me with him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face into his shoulder.

His face nuzzled my neck and he kissed my cheek. “I love you so much, Lisa.”

I pulled back and looked at him. “I love you, too, Billie Joe. So much.” I kissed him, then laughed. “Oh, my god. We’re getting married.” I pulled him to me again and closed my eyes, enjoying this perfect moment.