Billie and Brandon: Unpredictable Circumstances

7

Billie slowly opened her eyes, yawning heavily. She'd been hearing the birds for a while, and she even had heard everybody bustling about to get out of the house and get to their destinations in the morning. But all through that, she had kept her eyes firmly shut. Even when Drew had finally gotten up to take a shower, Billie had feigned sleep, preferring to lounge around in the bed all day.

She turned to face the bright lights coming from the window, her head lightly pounding with that small headache that she usually got when she cried herself to sleep.

For a second-a small second-she wondered why she had been crying, but it all suddenly came crashing down on her at once.

Her mother yelling at her, getting kicked out, walking to Drew's in the shitty rain.

That's right. I live with her now.

Because her parents hated her and wanted nothing to do with her.

It was like a nightmare that had snuck out of the dreamscape and infected her life.

Billie's lips quivered, and she sat up, hugging herself tightly and trying to will herself not to cry again. She'd done enough crying for a whole lifetime the night before. But even as she said that, she couldn't fight the tears welling up in her eyes. She needed to preoccupy herself.

Forcing herself out of bed, she shed her clothes, grabbing one of Drew's sweatshirts and a pair of sweatpants and headed to the bathroom. Almost on autopilot, she cleaned herself up and got dressed slowly and mechanically, trying to keep her thoughts from overtaking her once again. Billie avoided glancing in the mirror as she left the bathroom. She couldn't stand to look at herself at the moment.

Finger combing her hair as she waited for it to dry, Billie stared at the picture of Drew's family on her dresser. Never in her life had she ever felt so much despair looking at the close-knit family. Her family had been like that once. Now she had fucked it up completely for everybody. She hadn't spoken to Finneas in about a month and they definitely didn't have the same relationship since he left for college in the fall. And Billie's family was almost completely destroyed now. She didn't even know if she had parents anymore.

Billie eyes were filled with tears at the thought. She curled up into a ball on Drew's bed and tried to control her sobs.

She didn't know how long she stayed that way, sobbing and drifting in and out of a fitful rest, but by the time the last of the tears had dried, the midday sun had long passed and was even starting to set. She knew Drew had come to check up on her a couple times, softly calling her name or asking if she was awake, but Billie remained silent, tracing tiny patterns of Drew's comforter as she sniffled.

Taking a deep breath, Billie finally sat up, rubbing her eyes. She couldn't stay lying in bed forever. She had to at least eat something. The scent of food traveled through Drew's open door and into her nose and Billie's stomach grumbled painfully, clearly irritated with her for not having eaten anything for several hours. She was absolutely starving. She pried herself up and out of bed, dragging her feet to the kitchen.

Drew was frying an egg on the stove when Billie walked in. Billie frowned. It was relatively quiet in the house for it being the late afternoon. Usually everybody was home by now.

"Where is everyone?"

"Mom's working late tonight and dad went to go get some pizza" Drew said, flipping the egg over and sighing dejectedly when the yolk burst open, "Are you hungry?"

Her stomach growled in response, and Drew giggled lightly. Drew opened up the fridge and pulled out a plate with what appeared to be chocolate chip pancakes. They were lopsided and looking a little rough, but she smiled sheepishly and set them in front of Billie.