TWO
god bless the blissfully ignorant.
Percy, Truman, and Uma looked between Billie and Rafe in surprise.
"North Carolina isn't actually that small is it?" Percy laughed and patted Rafe's back.
"No, but Kildare is," Rafe said and smirked, all the while not releasing his gaze off Billie. She couldn't move under his stare. Her throat was sandpaper.
"Don't tell me you're from the same place?" Percy exclaimed in awe. "I'm bringing old friends together, how quaint."
"Quaint," Billie repeated, finally able to break free from her trance. Yet she couldn't bring herself to laugh at the irony. Quaint. This all started to feel like a fever dream.
She looked at Rafe in defiance, who responded with an expression of amusement. A muscle feathered in his jaw. She noticed how he looked her up and down but couldn't decipher the look on his face.
"What are you doing here?" she finally asked, insinuating that this is her place, her friends. He only looked at her with interest. She didn't like the feeling that she was under observation, to be deciphered with every word she spoke.
"Rafe's company is prospecting father's firm to represent them. He's also my old friend from university. We studied business and law together at Columbia."
"You studied law?" Billie asked. She couldn't help herself. "That's... Interesting," she looked at Rafe with a narrowed gaze, words dripping with vicious judgment. She noticed how Rafe's nostrils flared and his jaw clenched. She smirked smugly, happy she got the reaction she wanted.
"This is interesting," Uma said slowly as her head flicked between them. "Uma Pollock," she stretched out her hand to Rafe who took it with a genuine smile, his expressions changing in a second. Psycho, Billie thought to herself and looked upon him with judgment.
"How about we get out of this joint?" Truman said after introductions had been made. "To the Sherwood Forest," he exclaimed extravagantly and walked towards the exit. Billie downed the rest of her drink and followed him, not taking another glance at Rafe. Words ran through her head. He can't touch me here, he can't get to me, this is my place, my friends, my life. He holds no power over me here. She didn't know he was watching her with confused interest. How can she be so poise, after everything she's been through? he thought, but shook the feeling of guilt away.
As they waited for the taxi, Uma came up to stand close to Billie.
"Rafe's coming too," Uma whispered through an excited smile.
"What?" Billie spat but couldn't say anything else before Rafe and Percy stepped out on the street.
They got two taxis to stop by the curb for them. Before Billie could do anything, her three friends jumped into the first taxi, Uma winking suggestively at her before disappearing inside the car. Oh, god, you have no idea, Uma bless you.
Billie felt Rafe brush past her to hold the car door open. He gestured for her to get in. She slid in the backseat without looking at him.
She looked out the window sourly after she told the driver where to go but felt her cheeks warm up as Rafe's knees bumped up against her own when he got in. Panic? Is this panic?
"Come on, Billie," he said and rolled his eyes. "You're just not gonna talk to me?"
"I have nothing to say to you, Rafe," she said concisely but hastily turned around to look at him. "No, I do, actually. Why are you here?"
"Percy already said. I'm here for work," he said in a bored tone. Dick, her head echoed. She put her hands into fists, not knowing for how long she could maintain this exterior of calm. She didn't want to let him win by being the first one to lose her cool. They were being civilized, but she doubted that he could do that for very long.
"No. Rafe," Billie shook her head. "Why are you here, with my friends, on your way to my apartment?"
"I didn't know we were going to your apartment," Rafe said, not sounding very surprised. His voice was monotonous, like he was bored of her ability to make even this conversation a dragging, uneventful, unsurprising one. Fuck you, echoed through Billie's head.
"Well, we are," Billie said, curtly, slammed her back onto her seat and looked out the window.
"Why did your friends ditch you so you had to drive over with me?" The interest in his voice irritated her.
"They think you would be a good rebound," Billie started. "But I wouldn't hold it against them, they don't know you the way I do." Her voice was raspy, like poison, an effect of holding her anger and irritation in for so long.
"I'm not that person anymore," Rafe said, unbothered.
"Oh, so you've changed?" Billie mocked him with a short laugh. "Heard that before." Rafe grabbed hold of Billie's wrist and clenched it tight.
"I'm not that person anymore," Rafe repeated, growling now, drilling his black eyes into hers. Okay, not unbothered.
"Let go of me." She ripped her hand from him. "Yeah you seem all better," Billie spat sarcastically and rubbed her hand around her blushed wrist. Jeez.
"Sorry," Rafe said silently and shook his head. Billie stared at him in surprise, her eyebrows furrowed. He's still a psycho; an apologetic psycho, she reminded herself.
"Let's just... Not talk about home and all that with them okay? It's just better that way," she suggested after a while. This was for her sake as well. Her friends knew nothing of her life before she got to the city. She just wanted to move on, and she'd been able to, for seven years. Until now.
"Yeah, agreed," Rafe nodded. They stayed silent for the rest of the journey.
***
Billie was getting more and more restless the closer they got to her and Uma's apartment. Here she was, a loyal Pogue, taking not just a Kook, but the worst of them all, to her home. And she wasn't even protesting, or punching him in his square jaw when he smirks that annoying side-smile.
As they walked up the many flights of stairs, Rafe huffed behind her.
"I thought you found the Eldorado treasure. You can't afford to live in a house with an elevator?" he spat. Billie smiled inside. For once he hadn't been able to take it away from them. He had lost. Rich little boy, he deserved to be two steps behind her, huffing up sweaty hallways.
"I don't expect you to understand the value of giving money to charity," Billie snarked, blinking excessively, trying to get out what was bothering her eye. "I only saved enough for college tuition. I basically live on commission now, so no, there's no elevator."
Rafe scoffed. "At least you don't have to pay for a gym membership," he huffed and Billie smiled with her back turned. "I can hear you smiling." He thinks he's so charming. Billie turned her face into an annoyed scowl and swung around. They had reached the top landing of the floor.
"I'm not smiling," she said. Rafe turned his head slightly and looked at her face intently. Billie furrowed her eyebrows restlessly. What now?
"What's up with your eye, it's all red," he asked and stepped closer to her. She backed away, almost hitting the wall.
"It's probably just dirt from the wind," she dismissed but blinked again. Yep, her contact lens was definitely fucked up. She couldn't help herself but blink.
Rafe smirked and stepped closer yet, so that she could smell his cologne and feel the warmth of his breath hit her face. Him being taller than her, he bent down slightly and peered into her irritated eye. Her heartbeat was back in her ears, pounding away and only allowing her tunnel-vision. But why did he have to be the one at the end of it?
"It's an eyelash," he said smirking and leaned away again. He stared at her, as if waiting for her to cave.
"I could remove it, you know." Billie huffed at his suggestion. No way, she thought as her left eye burned. No way I'm playing his weird power game.
As Rafe looked at her intently, she tried to avoid blinking in defiance, to show she wasn't as fragile as he made her out to be. But her eye hurt too much and finally she had to shut and open her eye a few times to make it feel better. She sighed and looked at him with annoyance. Why him?
"Fine," she huffed and Rafe nodded, pleased. The whole situation confused her. He took a step closer and she backed away instinctually, her back pressing up against the beige wall. Rafe looked at her with disappointment.
"Stand still," he demanded and closed the gap between them.
Billie let out a sigh and reluctantly did as he said as Rafe brought his hand out to steady her face. She shuddered at his touch and her gaze fluttered around on Rafe's focused face. He clenched his jaw as he located the eyelash, his breath flowing rhythmically through his nostrils.
"There," he said and showed her the tiny black eyelash on his ring finger. "Make a wish."
She pursed her lips and blew out on the eyelash, making it disappear into the air.
"What did you wish for?"
"For you to go away," Billie said after a while and pierced her eyes into his defiantly. She expected him to give her a scowl, say something mean or aggressive or evil. But Rafe didn't even flinch. He just looked at her, mouth in a straight line, like he was trying to figure her out.
They stayed like this, neither of them turning away - two stubborn born enemies stuck in a staring contest in a cold New York hallway.
Suddenly, something different than defiance fell on Rafe's face, the change minimal but Billie still noticed it. Just for a millisecond his gaze fluttered to her lips, making a sticky warmth spread in Billie's gut and her breath uneven. The change in her body was involuntary and made her equally surprised and angry. But as she gave him a hard stare she noticed that his eyes had changed too. They were no longer hard and black, but soft and deep, pulling her in.
Billie and Rafe stood immovable, knowing they were in dangerous waters, but not willing or daring to remove themselves from the situation. Maybe, with the constant possibility of mind games, they didn't know if breaking away would mean defeat. With a sudden creak, the door to the flat swung open and Uma peaked out.
"I thought I heard something," she said but grew quiet when she saw how close Billie and Rafe were standing. Looking over at Uma's surprised and slightly amused face, Billie shoved Rafe away from her. A wave of anger that had been waiting to crash down fell over her as she did so and started walking towards the door.
"I know that wasn't what you wished for," Rafe said after her. Billie ignored him and walked past Uma in the doorway, also ignoring her friend's intrigued expression.
Billie walked into the kitchen and looked over to where her friends were sitting, thrown over the sofas and footstools in the living room, they smirked at her. Truman even motioned his eyebrows up and down suggestively. Billie looked at them angrily and drew her thumb across her neck which made them all chuckle and look away. If only they knew who he is, she thought and opened the fridge to see what they had to drink.
___
A/N
Oh-oh!
It's gonna be a bumpy ride.