Changes

Tony blinked. It was still dark, and for a few minutes, she couldn't tell what had woken her up.

Then she saw her cell phone flashing, and cursed silently. She looked at the caller ID, and cursed again when she saw Robert's name illuminated.

Laying back, she looked at Billie. He was still asleep, hair mussed, eyeliner smeared. He looked too innocent. And based on last night, he was anything BUT innocent.

Draping a sheet around herself, she slipped quietly out of the room and into the bathroom.

"Hello?" She whispered, knowing full well that Robert would be yelling.
"WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU???"
"Can you calm down? I'm fine." She muttered, massaging her wounded ear.
"Once again, where the fuck are you?"
"With...with Billie." She whispered, holding the phone a few inches away from her ear. Robert's screech was pure metal, pure rockstar. And when it was over, Tony sighed.
"Now, why can't you ever do that onstage?"
"Did you screw him?"
"That's really none of your business."
"Tony, don't be an idiot."
"I'm not."
"He'll use you and lose you, the second a better girl comes along."
"Berto, look at his marriage. He was with Adri for...YEARS and that was with groupies flinging themselves at him left and right."
"That was then. This is now. Tony, don't be stupid about this."
"I'm not. I trust him."
"You're an idiot, Tony, do you know that? You're an idiot for love."
"Really?" She snapped.
"Yes. You date this musician losers...like Andy. He left you, he hurt you real bad, didn't he?"
"Leave him out of this." Tony hissed, her jaw tightening.
"He hit you. He treated you like shit and you wouldn't leave him until you caught him in bed with another woman, even though you KNEW he was cheating."
"Shut up."
"I won't, Tony. You let these men hurt you. Billie Joe's no different than the rest of them, just richer. He's got you feeling sorry for him because his entire family died. But trust me, he just wanted to get into your pants. The second he gets what he wants, it'll be over."
"He's not like that."
"Whatever. If you want to be his whore, far be it for me to stop you."
"Berto, wait."

But he'd hung up, leaving Tony frustrated and confused. She looked in the mirror, glaring at herself.

"Stop that. He's not like that, you know he's not. He loves you."
Just like Andy loved you? Just like Tyler before him, and Chris before him?
"Billie's not like that."

But the little voice just stayed condescendingly silent. Tony could almost feel it smirking.

"He's not." She said again, then slipped out of the bathroom.

~~~

Billie was still asleep. She slipped back into bed, dropping her phone into one of her shoes.

She cuddled up against him, feeling his body warm her. He stirred in his sleep, wrapping his arms around her.

"Love you." He murmured sleepily.
"Love you too." She replied, and began to cry.

That woke him up.

"What's wrong?" He kissed her forehead, kissed her tear-stained cheeks.
"Nothing...nothing...I just love you."

Billie didn't exactly know why this made her cry, but hugged her tightly and prayed that she really was okay.