A Soul For Sale Or Rent

It's Gonna Be Fine, So Fine

Over the next couple of weeks the two of them continued working on their project, which was mostly Brian doing the work and Billie helping from time to time. She still didn't quite understand what exactly they had to do, but she tried her best. Disappointing Brian was the last thing Billie wanted. There were two reasons for that.

Firstly, she had a fear of not being good enough. Secondly, she didn't want to disappoint Brian in particular, for the crush she had only grew over her time working with Brian. Recently, Brian had managed to convince Billie to stay for half an hour each day to work in the library with him. She had only agreed because spending time with Brian on a daily basis made her a bit more comfortable around him, even though they only spoke when necessary.

But the fact that he just let her be the quiet girl she was, meant a lot to her, she felt accepted. When Billie walked into the library that day, she even managed to flash Briana genuine smile. "Hey Brian." She sat down next to him and dropped her bag onto the table. The young man retuned the gentle smile. "Hello Willow."

She closed her eyes and sighed. "C-can I ask you a favour?" Brian took out his Physics book and looked at her curiously. "Of course, Willow. Do you need help with another exercise?" Billie flinched again slightly. "Uh, no.. I-I was just wondering," she nervously crossed her legs. "C-could you not call me Willow? Please.."

Brian looked at her with his eyebrows furrowed, leaning forward a little. "W-what should I call you then?" Chewing on her lip, she glanced at him and almost inaudibly mumbled, "Billie". Brian furrowed his eyes a little more, looking at the girl next to him. She took a deep breath and looked up at him again, speaking a little more confident. "Billie. You can call me Billie. Please."

Brian nodded. "Okay, Billie, no problem." The young woman sat up relieved and took out her work sheets too, starting to work quietly next to him. What she didn't notice was that Brian glanced at her from time to time with a small smile that grew with every look. Focussed on the Physics exercise in front of her, she didn't notice anything else that was going on around her.

"Hey Wil-Billie?" The young woman looked up with slightly wide eyes, smiling back at him timidly. "Yeah?" Brian fiddled with the pencil in his hands. "Uhm, you know we need to build a model of this, right?" He pointed to the sketch he had been working on. Billie nodded, sitting up a little straighter. "Yes.. I know."

Brian put down the pencil. "My - my dad has a workshop at home and.. if you want to come over today or tomorrow, we could get that done in time." Nervously, Billie crossed her legs and mumbled. "I-I can't come over.." The young man furrowed his eyebrows. "You can't? Are you busy?"

Billie nodded shyly. "Y-yeah, I'm .. busy. Sorry." She looked down and started drawing patterns on the piece of paper in front of her. Brian looked down as well. "Uhm, so how do you want to do this? We need to be finished by Friday.."

Billie shrunk on her chair and mumbled again, "I'm sorry.." Brian sighed, making Billie feel even worse than she already did. "It's okay, Billie. Would you mind if I built it with my dad? We could meet up early and I could explain it to you, if you want."

She looked up with a small, hopeful smile. "You'd do that?" Brian smiled at his partner. "Of course, my dad would be happy to help me." Billie's smile grew a bit wider and she sighed relieved. "Really? Oh, thank you so much."

"No problem," Brian smiled and continued working next to her quietly. That was how they worked best, quietly sitting next to each other, slowly getting more and more used to being around the other. Neither of them needed to talk much for that. They were happy just to be sitting there in comfortable silence, getting more of their project done.

Billie didn't want to admit it necessarily, but she was always looking forward to spending time with Brian every day. It at least seemed like he enjoyed being around her a little. He didn't despise her, not like the rest of Billie's classmates, that's how it seemed to her anyway.

Surprisingly, it didn't take long for her to finish her current exercise, so she quietly packed up her things. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" She smiled timidly at Brian. He looked up at her. "You finished?" Billie nodded and fiddled with her hands. "Yeah... it was surprisingly easy today."

Brian smiled at her. "That's good, I'm glad. Uh, are you in a hurry?" Billie shrugged. "Not really, why?" Brian smiled at her. "Do you maybe want to stay until I'm done too? In case I need help..." She giggled quietly. "In case you need help? Like I could help you with Physics." Brian smiled widely at her. "You never know."

Shrugging, the young woman put down her bag and sat down again. "I quite sure I know I couldn't help you. But I can stay if you want." She took out her sketchbook and started to draw, letting a comfortable silence envelop them again. She stayed next to him, drawing quietly while Brian finished his exercise.

After a while, he also closed his notebook with a relieved sigh, making Billie smile at him. "You done too?" He nodded and timidly moved a little closer. "Can I see what you're drawing?" Billie hesitantly pushed her sketchbook over to him. "Yeah.."

Brian picked it up and looked at it, widening his eyes a little. "T-That's me..?" Billie nodded sheepishly. "Yeh.. I-I'm sorry.. do you want me to throw it out?" Brian immediately shook his head. "No, I really like it.. is it finished?" Billie looked at the drawing and shrugged. "Uhm.. kind of, why?" Brian smiled shyly at her. "Can I have it?" She looked at him curiously. "You want it? Then.. sure, you can keep it." Brian smiled wider. "Thank you, Billie. It looks great!" She smiled at him, encouraged by his reaction. "It's not problem. Are you ready to go?"

He nodded. "Yeah, come on." He got up and picked up his bag, waiting for Billie to do the same before they walked through their school together, getting curious, and sceptical looks from their fellow students. When they got to the gates, Brian smiled and waved at her. "See you tomorrow Billie. And thanks again for the drawing." She smiled and waved back. "You're welcome.. see you tomorrow!" They both smiled each other, before going their own way home.