Hey guys!! So, I promised that this chapter would be the moment of truth and, guess what? IT IS. I've been very hyper lately and I'm guessing it's because of the fact that my mom got home from another country and all that jazz and I finally get to spend one month with her! <3
Okay so, anyway, I know that I can only dedicate this chapter to one person (or...can you dedicate it to more? I'm still not sure :(( God, I'm a noob) but I will dedicate it to every single effing person who have stumbled upon this story.
I love you all so so so much...and the reason behind this [story] are my precious readers. I wanna kiss you all :*
Chapter Twenty-Three: “Can You Tell Me How This Song Goes?”
- Billie -
“Are you sure you want to?” I heard her voice ask quietly as she opened her locker to return the things she wouldn’t need.
“Of course!” I grin, “besides, I kinda need some tutoring in Physics as well…that subject just don’t agree with me.”
She nods, looking back at me and closing her locker door, “let’s go, then,” she beams, taking my hand and pulling me to the main entrance.
It has been a week since that last incident with Amanda Cross. I repeat: ‘last.’ I caught up with her in school during lunch near her cheerleader friends and some jocks, telling her that if she tried anything once more, I’ll personally make sure she --
“Billie, you’re dozing off again,” Chelsea giggled as she slapped my face lightly.
Wow, we’re on the main road already?
“Sorry,” I grin, “just thinking about…stuff.”
“Well, stop thinking about it,” she laughs once again. “Instead, think of the propagation of waves that our teacher discussed a while ago during Physics.”
I roll my eyes, “how am I supposed to remember the things I don’t even understand?”
She grins, poking me in the ribs, “oh, tsk, tsk…well, we’re gonna have to fix that. Let’s walk.”
And we did, in the familiar streets that inevitably lead me to Chelsea’s apartment. We let go of each other’s hands as Chelsea went in her apartment building first, reaching for her apartment keys as we walked up the stairs onto the second floor.
“Well, just…stay there. I’ll change,” she said as she opened the door to her bedroom.
I got a glimpse of her room. It wasn’t much, the walls were plain white and her bed sheets has green and purple shades on it. There were a few pictures above her bed and right beside her bed was a…is that a guitar?
“You can turn on the television, if you want to,” were her last words to me before she closed the door.
She reappeared through the doorway a minute later, wearing a baggy shirt and shorts. “Hi,” she smiled at me and I felt that swooping sensation in my stomach. Again.
Damn those butterflies. Just damn all you guys!
“Hey,” I managed to let out of my mouth as I followed her to the kitchen.
She turned around, “do you want anything?” before reaching into the cupboards for some snacks. Her shirt rode up a bit, exposing some of her pale torso.
Fuck. Not a good time to think about that… “A-anything’s fine,” I stuttered out before she pulled out a bag of chips and a box of Pop tarts.
“I do hope you eat these junk, though,” she grins at me, holding up the two items in her hand.
I scoffed, “are you kidding me?” I grab at the bag of chips and hurried over to her couch, dropping myself on it. She stuck her hand underneath the couch’s mattress and pulled out the remote control.
She clicked some buttons and the telly suddenly burst in colour, in a channel where Nicki Minaj’s song was playing.
“What the…?” I heard her mumble before changing the channel to a much more bearable channel and settled on Nickelodeon, where they were showing reruns of Victorious.
“You watch that?” I ask, raising my eyebrows at her.
She shrugged, “sometimes…when I catch it.”
We sat like that for a while, my whole body spread out across the couch while she used the arm rest to rest her head on it. The silence isn’t something that’s overwhelming but I just…want to hear her say something…I want to hear her talk.
“I saw a guitar in your room,” I began, taking her attention away from the television. “You play?”
She giggled, “well, I tried but…my fingers just won’t cooperate.”
“I’m sure you’re not THAT bad…” I mumbled, getting up and walking into her bedroom. I heard her yelp behind me and caught up, pulling me back but I already succeeded in taking her guitar case.
“Billie, please, I’m bad at that, I swear,” she started, pulling the guitar from my grasp.
“Just play me one song. That’s it. Just one song,” she began to open her mouth again, probably to tell me how bad she is at the guitar, “I don’t care if it’s a Taylor Swift song, just go.”
She exhaled and I felt her resolve dissolving. She nodded, her right hand asking for the guitar.
Yes!
I zipped it open and pulled the guitar out, a paper falling in the process. A music sheet.
I took it and began to run my eyes over it, seeing the scribbles that she had made. A title was at the top: it says, ‘Little House.’
She grew quiet; I took that as a moment to ask, “can you tell me how this song goes?”
She sighed and shook her head, the smile back on her face. Her hand was outstretched and pointed at me, asking quietly for the sheet of paper.
“Fine. But I’ll sing because it’s you…and I trust you to not judge me.”
My heart jumped at the words and I grinned, laying more comfortably on the couch, my head on the armrest, watching as Chelsea sat on the floor and began to sing.
I love this place
But it’s haunted
Without you…
I smiled a small smile; her voice did sound like wind chimes.
My tired heart
Is beating so…
Slow.
Suddenly, my ears perked up at the lyrics; I wonder who gave her the inspiration to write that. Maybe her parents? Her uncle? Someone close to her family?
Our hearts sing ‘cause
We do not know,
We do not know
…A past lover? Maybe?
To light the night, to help us grow
To help us grow
It is not said; I always know
My heart melted at the sound of her voice going higher in pitch and, suddenly, she had this glow around her, one that made her even more beautiful.
She strummed the final chords and, once again, her living room was filled with silence.
“Now…would be the best time for you to say something,” she said quietly, placing the guitar on the ground and, crawling near my place on the couch.
“…have I ever told you how amazing you are?” were all I said before I felt her lips gently on mine. I didn’t have time to register anything as she pulled away quickly.
“Well, no, you haven’t,” she smiled at the direction of the floor shyly.
I used my hand to tilt her chin up, making her face me, “well, Chelsea, you are amazing. And believe me when I say, I’m a hard person to please.”
My eyes dropped from her eyes, to her nose then, to her lips. I lick mine, trying to recall what she tasted like.
She swallowed nervously before saying, “I don’t like the way you’re looking at me right now.”
I tilted my head playfully, still holding her chin, “and how do you think I’m looking at you?”
“Like you’re about to kiss me.”
My eyes widened and I let go of her chin, sitting beside her on the floor, “and you don’t like that? Oh, God, look, I’m sorry if I’ve been pushing you to do something you don’t want to and…”
She shook her head vigorously, “no! No, not like that but…I don’t know anymore…what are we?”
And here comes the question I’ve been asking myself. We’re friends, technically, but I know for a fact that we’re more than that. We’re each other’s crushes, maybe? But our relationship seemed more than that, already…but I haven’t asked her to be my girlfriend…and we haven’t said those three words.
Yet.
“I don’t know, either…” I shook my head, keeping my eyes on the carpet I’m currently sitting on. “But maybe, this can help…?” I suggested as I brought my head closer to hers, closing the space between us.
Fireworks exploded in my chest, and I felt the sudden need of air. Her lips were uncertain, moving slowly against mine and I had to stop myself from laughing at how she’s so innocent.
That first kiss at the park was nothing. Nothing, compared to this, even if we did it better and more confidently back then but I was sensing that it was because of Gerard that she had to place her hand on my neck.
The need for air became too great and we both pulled back at the same time, gasping and catching our breaths. I leaned my forehead on hers as I sighed, “I love you.”
And I went in for another kiss when she said, “I love you, too.”
xo,
T.