a work of art

chapter 29: higher education

I shook my head. "I want to be honest. It doesn't make my feelings right. But I want to be... transparent. You weren't the only one at fault. You shouldn't feel like you are."

Claire let out a breath. "I—"

But Billie opened the patio door and stuck her head out. She was wrapped up in the duvet. She looked terrible; well, she looked as terrible as she could look, which was still better than me on a good day, in my opinion.

Mostly she just looked sick.

"I would like to let you know that I hate you both, deeply, and I'm going to go throw up in the shower now," she announced.

Claire and I looked at one another and busted up laughing.

"Thanks for the info, baby," I choked out.

She nodded, and I felt bad at the green tint of her face as she leaned against the door frame.

"Oh, and Claire?" Though she was pale and on the verge of barfing, a sneaky little smile was spreading across her face.

Claire slowly stopped laughing and tried to catch her breath. "Yeah?"

"I'll let it slide one time because it was fucking sexy, but next time we hang... maybe don't kiss my girlfriend, okay?"

I whipped my head toward Claire, my mouth hanging open. She took one look at me and knew I hadn't told. So Billie hadn't been sleeping when Claire had kissed me last night.

Claire took a breath and nodded, slowly. "Yeah. Sorry, dude."

Billie smirked, and gave a little shrug. "Or maybe at least, like... ask me first?" She grinned at her and went back into the house.

I watched her, biting back laughter, and looked back at Claire. Her face was in her hands and her ears were beet red. "I've never been so embarrassed in my entire life."

"At least you know my girlfriend isn't gonna kick your ass," I said, chuckling lightly. Then I sighed as my stomach rolled. "I'm making pancakes. You want some?"

Claire gagged, covering her mouth. She held up her hand for a moment, and I waited.

Finally, she lowered her hand, took a breath, and nodded.  "Yeah, okay."

Billie insisted on having Claire stay with us, even though she'd planned to stay in a hotel until we left for Europe.

"We're gonna be in nothing but hotels and a stinky bus for a month. You should stay in a house with real food and creature comforts for a few days."

She'd asked me first, and though I had reservations about it, I'd agreed. I wanted Claire to be comfortable. She was, after all, becoming a good friend of mine.

Both women were in the final frenzy before leaving, doing rehearsals every day with their bands and crew. Billie also had lots of final wardrobe choices to make, and other planning for interviews and such while we were overseas.

I was unbelievably bored. I had projects I was working on, but I could only put in so many hours a day. I didn't want to start any new house projects until we got back, in case I couldn't finish them. And I'd read all my books.