Billie
"Who are you texting?" I ask as I watch Maia stare down at her phone with a wide smile on her face, her cheeks tinted slightly pink.
"Alexis," she replies and taps out a message before looking over at me. "She's being really sweet."
I raise a brow.
"Alexis? Sweet? Sounds fake," I say and she laughs, showing me her phone so I can read the messages between them.
Maia: I'm 100% gonna fail i'm just gonna drop out lol
Alexis: nah, i've studied with you, you have this shit down.
Alexis: you got this, princess x
I don't know why, but my stomach twists when I see that last message. I thought Princess was our thing, but I guess it's just something she calls girls she's trying to get with, or is already getting with.
I know that I have no right to get jealous, after all I have no claim to Alexis. Not only are we not even close to being a couple, but Maia got with her first. I still can't help the feeling though, and I hate it.
Getting jealous and tripping over people is such a waste of time to me. Why get hung up over one person when you can just bounce around between multiple and not have to worry about getting your heart broken? I've been avoiding any sort of feelings with anyone for a while now, but Alexis seems to be throwing a wrench into that.
She just feels different somehow, like she has some hold on me. I can never get her out of my damn mind, it's driving me crazy.
"That's cute," I say simply and Maia nods happily then goes back to texting.
I look at my own phone and sigh softly when I see that Alexis still hasn't replied to my text from this morning.
I don't care. I don't care. I don't care.
"I know she's an asshole a lot of the time but she totally has a sweet and romantic side somewhere. She had a girlfriend all of Sophomore year and they were, like, all sappy and shit in the halls," she says as her eyes stay glued to her phone, while my eyebrows raise in interest.
"Really? I thought she made it clear she's not the relationship type."
Maia shrugs, "She used to be I guess. When she first came to our school it was obvious she didn't want to be there but she was still nice and outgoing, and she was totally head over heels for this girl that graduated last year. They dated for like a year and everyone thought they were adorable. It was really weird, Alexis just cheated on her and started sleeping around and turned into a cold bitch out of nowhere. Everyone was confused."
"Weird," I mumble absentmindedly and think to myself, wondering if Alexis' sudden change in personality had something to do with her brother being killed. I mean, it most likely does, that kind of thing would turn most people into an icy bitch. If Fin died I'd be a fucking monster.
I wonder if Maia and her classmates even know Alexis lost her brother, let alone how.
"You guys talk sometimes, right?" Maia asks and I nod.
"Yeah, we chat."
Among other things.
"Can I invite her over for our movie night?" she asks hopefully and I make a face. "Please! I'll tell her to bring a friend so you won't be a third wheel. She has hot friends."
She gives me that pout of hers that always gets to me and I sigh in defeat. I'm pretty good at standing my ground and saying no to people when I'm not feeling something, but when it comes to the people I care about I'm a total pushover. And I love Maia Chambers like a sister, so here we are.
"Fine. Tell her to bring her friend Darius, he's mad cute."
She smiles happily and sends another text while I let out a soft sigh that she doesn't notice. I can't believe I let myself cave to her, this is going to be so fucking weird.
-
It's a few hours later when the doorbell rings, and Maia bolts up from the couch and skips to the door like a damn cartoon princess.
I watch from the couch as she opens the front door, revealing Alexis in all her glory. Darius stands behind her awkwardly as Maia's arms wrap around her neck, pulling her down for a kiss.
Alexis looks surprised by the kiss but she doesn't object to it, snaking her arms around Maia's waist while she deepens it.
"Jesus Christ, already?" Darius huffs and pushes past them, making his way over to me while they remain unbothered, their lips still locked together.
This is going to be a fun night.
"Hey, Billie," he says with a friendly smile and sits down beside me.
I like Darius. We haven't interacted all that much, but I've talked to him enough to know that he's really naturally funny, and he has kind features that make him almost immediately likable, as shallow as that sounds. It's true though; despite his large build that could intimidate people, he has kind brown eyes and a wide, glowing smile that reveals deep dimples that probably drive girls crazy.
In fact, I'd probably be lusting after his fine ass if I didn't have tunnel vision for Alexis.
I nod in acknowledgment and watch him as he sits down. "Whattup?"
He props his feet up on the coffee table and leans back on the couch before answering, "Honestly I'm getting ready to blow my brains out because Alexis told me I wouldn't be sitting here watching her mack on Maia all night, but clearly that wasn't true."
I laugh and nod along. "I'm right there with you, dude."
"Relax, it's over you babies," Maia says as she walks into the living room, pulling Alexis along behind her.
I can't help but stare at Alexis as she strolls into the room but she doesn't even glance at me, her eyes glued to her phone in her free hand while she lets Maia pull her to the other couch.
I can't get a good look at her face yet, but from what I can see her cuts and bruises are healing up nicely, which is a relief.
I was pretty fucking scared when I opened the door to find her face covered in so much blood last weekend. Blood doesn't really freak me out that much, but she looked really bad before I cleaned her up. Too much blood means something is very wrong, and that's when it starts to get scary.
The two of them plop down onto the couch and Maia immediately scoots into her side, but Alexis just keeps looking down at her phone.
"What are we watching?" Darius asks and I look over at Maia with a grin, which makes her groan and roll her eyes.
"It's Billie's turn to pick which means it's horror movie night."
Alexis perks up at that, suddenly interested. She locks her phone then drops it into her lap and adjusts to get more comfortable.
"I like that. Can we watch The Conjuring?" she asks hopefully and I nod eagerly.
"I'll put that one on first," I say excitedly and grab the remote.
"You're gonna have to cuddle me extra, I get scared," I hear Maia tell Alexis and I hold back a laugh because I can tell she's resisting the urge to roll her eyes, probably entirely unamused by the cheesy play.
If Maia knew anything about Alexis she'd know that's not the way to get her attention but, again, it's not like I care.
"I need extra cuddles too," Darius jokes and nudges me playfully, making me snort in amusement as I look at him.
"You're on your own, bro."
"Your loss, I'm warm as fuck," he says and for some reason I laugh out loud, and I see Lexi's head turn to me out of the corner of my eye.
"How about we take a shot every time one of us jumps or screams?" Lexi suggests and I laugh, shaking my head.
"No fucking way, Maia screams at everything. We'd get alcohol poisoning."
"I do not!" she says defensively and I give her a look that makes her pout. "I don't. We should totally do it."
I groan as she gets up and walks over to the liquor cabinet in the corner of the living room. She squats down to unlock in with the combination her parents don't know that she knows, and as she does my eyes drift over to Alexis.
She's on her phone again but she looks up at me, as if she could feel my eyes on her. She catches me staring and her lips pull into a smirk that makes me blush and look away.
Why does she always have to look at me like that? It drives me crazy.
"Bil, can you get glasses from the kitchen?" Maia asks and I push myself up from the couch to do as told.
When I walk back into the living room there are two bottles on the table and I have a shot glass for each of us. Maia is back on the couch again but this time Alexis has her arm around her waist while she laughs at something Maia says.
I clench my jaw slightly at the sight and do everything I can to push away the jealousy I'm feeling as I sit down next to Darius.
It's okay, that's not even her real laugh. You've heard her real laugh.
I don't find any comfort in those thoughts, because what I should be thinking is that I don't give a shit about how she interacts with other people, not comparing myself to them.
"Get your shit together, Bil," I mutter to myself, which Darius doesn't hear because he's busy shuffling the pillows around to get them just right.
"Why do rich people got so many pillows?" I hear him mutter to himself while tossing one of the frilly throw pillows away and I let out a little laugh in amusement and agreement.
We all settle in until we're comfortable then Maia presses play on the movie, and I watch the screen excitedly. This is one of my favorite horror movies.
Once things start to get more intense I feel Darius tense up beside me and I look over at him, finding a look of genuine fear on his face.
"You okay?" I whisper and he shakes his head.
He leans closer to whisper back, "Fuck no, this is creepy as shit. White people are fucking idiots, man. Who the fuck explores a creepy ass cellar with just a fucking match?"
I laugh and his lips quirk into a smile as he looks at me.
"You got a cute laugh, I like that laugh," he says and I blush slightly. "Don't tell Alexis I said that," he whispers and I give him a confused look.
"Why?"
"I'm not allowed to flirt with you, she told me you're off limits," he replies and I raise my eyebrows in surprise, my stomach fluttering slightly.
Why would she make me off limits?
Why does the fact that she did make me feel so happy and hopeful? I feel like I should be defensive, but I'm just not.
I don't get to think about it for long before there's a jump scare on the screen and Maia's high pitched scream cuts into my thoughts. Darius yelps and jumps back too, while Alexis and I just chuckle in amusement, unfazed by it.
"Shot time!" Alexis shouts when the screamers settle down.
We all lean forward to grab our shot glasses and clink them together before downing them. I make a face and wait for it to go down before leaning back again.
After a few minutes I glance over at Alexis and Maia, only to find them making out shamelessly. I scrunch my nose when I see their tongues and everything and quickly look away, the pit of jealousy in my stomach growing despite my best efforts to push it away.
"You don't have to listen to Alexis you know," I whisper and lean closer to Darius, who gives me a questioning look.
"Hm?"
"She doesn't get to decide who gets me, it's up to me and I think you're cute" I say and see the way his eyes widen at my words.
"Forreal?" I nod and he scoots closer to me. "Get ready to get wooed then, Eilish."
I laugh at that and I can feel Alexis' eyes on me, the sound clearly getting her attention. Perfect.
Darius and I start whispering to each other while the movie plays. I think he's only talking to me to avoid focusing on the movie that clearly terrifies him, but I don't mind at all because he's actually a really sweet and funny guy.
Eventually his arm goes around my shoulder and I smile in amusement but let it happen, leaning in to him slightly. Well, at first it's just slightly. But Darius wasn't kidding when he said he's warm, and I find myself actually snuggling into him soon after he puts his arm around me. I rest my head on his muscular chest and feel him squeeze my arm for comfort.
I think he needs the comfort more than I do, dude is clearly terrified of this movie.
A bit over halfway through the movie I feel my phone buzz and look down, raising an eyebrow when I see it's a text from Alexis.
Lexi: meet me in the kitchen
I look over at her and find her eyes already on me. I give her a confused look and she just pulls away from Maia, which makes her pout.
"Gotta make a call," she says simply then gets up, walking down the hall towards the kitchen.
I bite my lip and weigh my options but give in pretty quickly, which makes part of me silently curse the other part. Whipped.
"I'm gonna go make popcorn," I say and pat Darius' chest, which makes him grumble at me.
"Calm down, I'll be back," I say with a smile and he reluctantly lifts his arms up to stretch and so I can pull away from him.
I get up from the couch and feel Darius watching me go, which makes me share a smirk with Maia who's still sitting on the other couch.
"Pop two bags please!" she calls after me as I walk through to the kitchen, and I stick my thumb up to acknowledge her request.
When I enter the kitchen Alexis is waiting with a smirk, leaning against the kitchen island.
Fuck, I remember what happened last time we were in this kitchen together.
"What do you want?" I ask in a bored tone that is a complete mask, and she chuckles.
"Don't play dumb," she says and walks over to me, which makes me swallow nervously. "We want the same thing."
I give her a look as she stands in front of me, so close that I'm having trouble putting my thoughts together. God, this girl turns me into such a mess, it's embarrassing.
"Are you serious? Not with Maia so close."
"Come on, princess. I know you're trying to make me jealous with Darius, don't act like this isn't exactly what you wanted."
Princess.
It doesn't feel as good to hear that now that I know she calls Maia the same thing, but for some reason it still makes my stomach flutter.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I mumble and she snorts, clearly not believing my bullshit for a second. "And don't call me
Princess."
"I thought we were over you pretending not to like it," she teases but I just cross my arms and furrow my brows, unable to contain my jealousy and hurt from earlier.
"That was before I knew you called other that too," I huff and she suddenly looks confused.
"What are you talking about?"
"Cut the crap, Maia showed me her texts from you. I don't actually give a shit, so you don't gotta lie."
"Billie, I seriously only call you that," she insists and fishes her phone out of her pocket to scrolls through her texts. "Oh shit, that one was meant to reply to your text from earlier."
"Sure," I tease. I'm starting to care less, because the fact she's so eager to prove she only calls me princess is making my heart flutter.
She cares a little bit too.
"Look," she says and types something into her phone then passes it to me, so I can see that she had key word searched 'princess' in her texts. 3 names pop up, mine with a whole lot of messages, Maia's with just the one message, and Darius' with one message as well. I can only get part of it in the preview, but I can see 'I call her princess and she drives me cra...'.
I pass it back to her and try to hide how giddy I feel as I look up at her, "Congrats, you proved that only I get your corny pet name," I tease and she smirks, unfazed by my teasing.
"You were jealous at the thought of me calling other girls that 'corny pet name'."
"You were jealous that I was getting close with Darius."
"Sure was," she whispers and I'm surprised, because I didn't think she'd admit to being jealous that easy. Before I can reply she leans in and kisses me and despite knowing it's a terrible idea, I kiss her back right away.
As usual, my arms wrap around her neck while hers slide around my waist, pulling me even closer to her body.
Her tongue slips into my mouth and I melt into the kiss even more, all my thoughts about Maia and this whole situation completely vanishing from my mind.
Without breaking the kiss, she turns us around and presses me against the kitchen island she had been leaning on, her hands resting on either side of my body to trap be in place.
There's definitely something to be said about the fact that Alexis and I both get jealous seeing each other being cute with other people, but I don't think either of us are ready to confront what that could mean just yet.
Neither of us want anything more than casual, but both of us are feeling things we don't want to be feeling.
At least, I hope she's feeling it too.
"Wait," I mumble and she pulls her lips away.
"What?"
"I should actually put popcorn in or they'll know somethings up."
She steps back so I can walk away and I rummage through the cabinets until I find some packets of microwave popcorn.
I put one in the microwave then walk back over to Alexis quickly, unashamed by my eagerness because she's just as eager. Our lips meet again and she wastes no time in deepening it again, her hands moving to the backs of my thighs to lift me up and set me on the counter.
My head spins as our lips move together hungrily and her warm hands rest on the tops of my thighs.
When her lips move to my jaw then down to my neck I close my eyes and tilt my head to the side.
"This is so dumb," I mumble and bite my lip when Alexis nips at a particularly sensitive spot.
"You always say that, but here we are."
I sigh because she's right, I always give in to whatever it is I feel around her.
"If you leave a mark this time I will actually kill you," I warn and she chuckles.
"Don't worry, I'm not that reckless," she assures me and connects our lips again.
We kiss until the microwave beeps and we reluctantly pull apart, both of us clearly willing to continue for hours if we were in a position to do so.
"You should go back to the living room," I say and she nods slightly in agreement.
She leans in and presses one more kiss to my lips, softer than the others. It's not meant to be deepened, it's quick and sweet and catches me a little off guard.
She's kissed me like this before, the day I cleaned her up after her fight. It felt like there was more behind it both then and now, but then again I might just be reading into things that aren't really there.
She looks into my eyes after she pulls away and I take a risk, reaching up to gently stroke her cheek.
"I'm glad you're all healed," I say softly and she leans into my touch, which surprises me. I was half expecting her to squirm away from the sweet gesture.
"You helped with that," she replies and smiles slightly. "It wasn't that bad anyway."
I roll my eyes playfully, "Uh huh, sure. I'll play along and pretend that dude didn't fuck you up."
She laughs and I smile because when she laughs I can see her real smile instead of her forced, smug one that's usually on display.
"We should continue this later," she says suggestively and squeezes my hips, making me blush.
Before I can respond she pecks my lips one more time then, without another word, she walks back into the living room. I take a second to compose myself before hopping off the counter and walking over to the microwave.
Once I pop the second bag I walk back into the living room, trying to ignore my stomach clenching when I see Maia snuggled into Alexis' side, giggling at something being whispered in her ear.
I cuddle back into Darius, no longer just to be petty but because it feels nice and he seems to need someone to hold. Who would've thought he'd be such a wuss?
By the time the movie ends we're all pretty tipsy, thanks to Maia and Darius being total pussies and screaming at every little jump scare. Despite our state after the first movie, we for some reason decide it's a good idea to do another round with the Conjuring 2. Well, I guess our state actually explains our decision.
The more wasted Maia gets, the more jumpy she is, so the more she screams and the more we have to drink. It's a vicious cycle but none of us tap out.
I'm tempted because my head is spinning and I can't focus my eyes on anything properly, but I'd never live it down so I tough it out. Drinking culture is weird, I'm not sure I like it. But in this instance, I'm actually having a fair amount of fun.
But also the drunker Maia becomes, the touchier she gets, and watching her hang all over Maia is making me slowly lose my fucking mind.
"You guys should spend the night! Slumber party!" Maia shouts and bounces around excitedly. Alexis watches her with an amused smile then pulls her closer to calm her down, and I have to look away. "Lex, you can sleep with me, Billie you're kicked to the other room."
"Great, thanks best friend of 7 years," I reply with an eye roll and she just giggles.
"Speaking of, we should get you to bed. You're fucked," Alexis tells Maia with a chuckle and starts to stand up, making the other girl whine in protest.
"But the movie isn't over yet!" she whines and burrows into the couch more in defiance. Typical Maia, getting her to bed drunk is the worst task in the world.
I glance over at Darius and he's already knocked out on the couch, so I put the blanket I was using over him gently. I lift his head up carefully and push one of the pillows under it then stand up and walk over to the other couch.
"This is a two man job."
"I don't wanna go to bed," Maia whines and Alexis and I both chuckle.
Alexis leans down and wraps her arms around Maia, pulling her up from the couch with ease while Maia protests.
"Calm down," she mumbles and places a sweet kiss to her cheek that makes Maia relax slightly, but has the opposite effect on me, reigniting that flaming hot jealousy.
Maia whines and finally puts her feet on the ground, albeit very unsteadily. I wrap my arm around her middle and Alexis and I hold her upright.
When we finally get her upstairs to her room we help her get into her bed. Luckily she had already put pajamas on for movie night so we don't have to worry about helping her change.
"Good night," I say quietly and lean down to kiss her forehead. "Even though you kicked me out of bed."
"Sorry, Bil. It's hoes before bros tonight," she mumbles back tiredly and nuzzles into her fluffy pillow, clearly already half asleep. "Even though Alexis refuses to cuddle in bed."
Alexis snorts in amusement and looks over at me, our eyes lingering on each other before we both look at Maia again.
Her eyes are closed and her breathing is steady, meaning she's already knocked out or just about to be.
We walk out of the room quietly and I start walking down the hall, turning around when I don't hear Alexis following me.
"Are you coming?" I ask and she raises an eyebrow.
"Where to?"
I pull my shirt up over my head and toss it at her playfully, watching her lip get pulled between her teeth when she catches it and stares at me.
"Guest room," I say simply then turn around and start walking again. "You said you wanted to continue, right?"
"Fuck yeah," I hear her mumble and I smirk to myself.
Her footsteps follow quickly.
-
A/N
they're really pushing it with this sneaking around stuff, eh?
one might say they're LUCK PUSHERs
stan finneas stan talent
any other UC applicants reading this while freaking out this week hello dudes