Billy Carter

Chapter 36: Kiwi

When I woke up at nine o'clock the next morning, Ollie was still asleep. Unusual, for Mister Rise-and-Shine. I started peppering his face with kisses to wake him up, and when he opened his eyes and saw it was morning he nearly had a heart-attack.
"Holy shit what's the time? My parents are going to be freaking out, I'll be grounded forever!" he exclaimed, panicking.
"Relax, you'll only be grounded until you're thirty - tops. You want breakfast? We have Coco Pops. I guilted Eddie into buying them for me."
"Do you know how much sugar-"
"Ollie, you're being preachy again."
"Oh, sorry. Sure, I'll a have a bowl of sugar, carbs and calories for breakfast," he said sarcastically.
"Avocado toast and eggs then?"
"Yes thank you."
We went downstairs and met Johnny and Caitlin in the kitchen.
"Good morning Bi- oh, or should I say good morning boys?" Johnny asked, grinning at us. Ollie blushed awkwardly.
"We didn't, I mean, It's not like that - we fell asleep watching a movie, that's all," Ollie told him.
"I'm just teasing," John smiled at Ollie. "Do you guys want toast for breakfast? I've still got the bread out."
"Ollie does - I'm having Coco Pops."
I poured myself a bowl of pure deliciousness, and watched Ollie (who'd already been acquainted with the kitchen) make his egg and avocado toast. Health freak. Actually it looked and smelled pretty good. I was finished breakfast by the time he'd started eating, so I made us both coffee and we chit-chatted with John and Caitlin.
"When's your band coming over?" Johnny asked.
"We agreed to ten o'clock, so it'll be somewhere between eleven and twelve," I told him.
"Oh, alright."
"Do you want to hang out?" I asked Ollie. "You can be our test audience while we're recording."
Ollie shook his head. "I better go home after breakfast," Ollie told me. "I might come back later, but I've got to go to the gym and work at the pharmacy this afternoon."
"When are you working?"
"Just twelve to three today: I'll go home, go to the gym, go to work and then I might come over after dinner, but Dad's got this idea that we're going to do some 'quality family bonding' these holidays, so I might not be able to come over again. I think he's starting to panic about me moving out and going to Uni in a couple years," Ollie explained to me. "I think he thinks I'll never ever come back or something."
"Well why wouldn't you go back? I mean what about your laundry and the free food?"
"That's what I said, but he still thinks we need to 'bond'." Ollie rolled his eyes and I smiled grimly.
"At least your dad loves you and wants you around," I reminded him.
"Our dad loves you too, Billy," Johnny jumped in. "And he does want you around. You're the one who keeps pushing him away."
"He never wanted anything to do with me before, and he only says he does now because everyone knows about me and he'd look worse in the public eye if he continued to not want anything to do with me. You're the one who made him contact my mum, remember? You're the one who made him tell Michelle and Holly and whoever else. You're the one who wanted to meet me and be a part of my life."
"Ok, I guess you're right about that, but it doesn't mean he doesn't care about you now. He was extremely nervous to meet you, because he knew you already hated him. But after we met you and we all went back to America to get everything organised for a longer stay, he wouldn't shut up about you, Billy. He was so proud of you, how you had good grades, a beautiful girlfriend, how you're in a band too and your taste in music and how handsome you are, because of course that all comes from him," Johnny said, rolling his eyes. "He was very impressed and excited to start getting to know you more."
"Emphasis on was, alright? Because now my grades are shit and I'm dating a guy."
"No, now he's even more impressed by you," Johnny told me. "He doesn't care about your grades because he knows they weren't exactly top priority among everything else you were dealing with. He's proud of your courage to come out about dating Oliver, and he honestly doesn't care if you date boys or girls, as long as they're a good person and they make you happy - which obviously Ollie is, and does. And he's so proud of you for standing up to your step-father, Billy. You didn't back down, you didn't let him control you and break you. We're all proud of you for that."
"I don't want to talk about him right now, alright?" I told Johnny, giving Ollie his coffee and slumping into the seat beside him.
"Dad, or Steve?"
"Either of them."
"He's scared that Eddie'll lose interest in him and leave again," Ollie told Johnny.
"Ollie!" I protested.
"You can tell Johnny, I'm sure he understands," Ollie told me. "You dance around the subject and get upset because you don't know what to do about whatever is upsetting you. If you'd just be straight with people, some of us might be able to help you out with your concerns. You keep all the wrong secrets, Bill, from the wrong people."
"Ollie's right, you can trust us with anything," Johnny told me. "As for Dad ditching you again, I wouldn't worry about it, alright? Dad's one of those all or nothing people, and now, he's all in on being your father. He won't give up very easily, no matter how much you push him away and disregard him. I know he fucked up in the past, but give him a chance to prove himself. I promise you won't regret it. He is a decent human being, if you give him the time of day."
"Alright, I'll try," I said. We heard the front door open and Johnny turned around and frowned.
"Who could that be?" he asked.
"I'll check," I said, and got up and headed for the foyer. I was greeted by Mum and Harry, the former still in last night's dress and heels. Mum's face was washed of any makeup, except for the black rings around her eyes from her mascara, and her hair was damp and brushed down her back. I assumed this meant she'd showered recently, and Harry's damp hair indicated he'd had one too. He looked better, dressed in clean clothes and smelling of after-shave.
"Good morning baby," Mum smiled at me. I glared at her and Harry.
"What is this? Walk of shame?"
"Stride of pride, honey," Mum said with a grin, kissing my cheek before she and Harry, both laughing, headed straight for the kitchen.
"You defiled my mother?!" I exclaimed in outrage. They both laughed again and went straight to the coffee maker, pausing to say hello to Johnny, Caitlin and Ollie.
"Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answers to," Harry advised me.
"Calm down sweetheart, it looks like I'm not the only one who had a sleep-over last night," Mum told me, smirking at me and Oliver.
"We fell asleep watching a movie!" I protested. "It was completely innocent!"
"Enough yelling Bill, I've got a bit of a hangover, alright?" Mum told me.
"Sit down and drink your coffee," Harry told me. "I spoke to your mum about you two coming over for dinner and she thought tonight might suit you both. What do you say? Lamb souvlaki for dinner, and bougatsa for dessert - how does that sound?"
"I don't know what that last one is but it sounds disgusting."
"It's delicious baby, you'll really like it," Mum told me. "It's filo pastry buttered and folded over with a custard filling."
"Or we could make diples instead?" Harry offered.
"I don't know what that is either!"
"It's yummy too sweetheart," Mum said.
"Just give me chocolate pudding."
"Oh that reminds me," Mum dug around in her handbag and gave me a slice of chocolate cake in a clear take-away container. "They didn't have any cheesecake on the menu, so Harry ordered this for you instead."
"Oh shit, thanks! I didn't think you'd heard me, and I was only joking anyway," I told them.
"You're welcome. Here," Harry reached into the cutlery drawer and gave me a spoon.
"Thanks," I said to Harry, then I turned to the others at the table. "Do you guys want any?"
"No, thank you," was the general consensus, so I happily dug in by myself. Mum had a bite, then she went about helping Harry make their coffees, and then they sat down with us all too.
I went with Ollie back to his place, and after he soothed his worried parents he roped me into going to the gym with him.
It was twelve when I got home again, and I'd just showered and was still recovering when Tony and Cyn arrived. A few minutes later Trent arrived, and we went downstairs to the basement studio with Johnny.
Our first day in the studio was pretty boring. Johnny wouldn't let us play or record anything yet - instead he showed us how to play around with the recording system and all of that. I already knew most of it (in theory) because my Studio Music class had covered it, but it was completely new to the other three.
We did that until five o'clock, when they all went home for dinner and Harry drove me and Mum over to his house. I'd been there a few times, so I remembered where the loo was, but it was interesting looking around at all his personal stuff. He had a wicked guitar collection in the downstairs bedroom.
Me and Mum helped Harry make bougatsa for dessert, then while we left it to bake we made souvlaki for dinner. Harry wanted to know everything about our first day in the studio, even though I told him it wasn't that exciting.
Anyroad, it turns out I really like Greek food. I'd just sat down to my second helping of souvlaki when Harry and Mum exchanged nervous looks and the former cleared his throat.
"Billy, your mother and I were talking-"
"I already don't like where this is going," I interrupted quickly, starting to get nervous. That's what adults and parents say when they're about to say something life-changing and my life had already changed more than I'd have liked.
"Just hear us out, alright?" Mum asked. I nodded cautiously, and took another slow bite.
"Well, we were talking about your living arrangements with Eddie, and about how you're mum is trying to save up for a deposit. We think we might have come up with a solution, but we wanted to know what you make of it."
"I'm not going anywhere without you, Bill," Mum assured me. I narrowed my eyes at them both and looked around the kitchen. Suddenly this didn't feel like a night away from Eddie and the others; it felt like a trial run.
"You want us to move in... here?" I asked them both. "You guys want to move in together?"
"Well, yes," Mum said.
"We got talking about it last night and we thought it made sense," Harry agreed.
"This way we're out of Eddie's way and he's out of ours," Mum shrugged.
"You don't have to work so much," Harry told Mum.
"We'll be somewhere safe."
"And we get along, don't we Bill?" Harry asked me.
"I suppose. Can I think about it a bit first?" I asked. "I'm not saying no, it's just... A lot. All at once."
"Of course sweetheart," Mum told me.
"We just wanted to pitch it to you, Bill. No pressure," Harry added.
"I know you're getting sick of living with Eddie, that's all," Mum told me. "You could always go over there whenever you want, and you could stay there sometimes if you like, like shared custody or something."
"Just let me think about it. Coffee and bug-guts or whatever it is might help."
"It's bougatsa," Harry corrected me. "And it won't be as good as my mum's, even though it's her recipe."
"I know, I still can't make spaghetti sauce as good as Mum's," I agreed, and Mum smiled at me.
"It's from a jar, Billy - nothing fancy."
"But you add something don't you? No one else's spaghetti tastes that good."
"Well, I do add a little extra garlic."
"Ah-ha!"
I finished my dinner, then I helped Harry do the dishes while Mum made coffee and served dessert. We watched a movie in the lounge room as we ate, and after the film finished and Mum and Harry took our dishes back to the kitchen to load the dishwasher, I checked out the backyard to make sure it was suitable for Blue Jean. It was bigger than Dad's backyard, so I guess it was acceptable. There was a dog-friendly park about fifteen minutes walk away, too - a quick Google search told me.
"What are you looking at?" Harry asked. I turned around to face him and Mum. He really was like an uncle to me, Harry. I'd known him forever and I considered us friends, even with the age-gap. And we liked the same music and movies, and he could help me with my homework and study. He'd be cool with Ollie and my other friends coming over too, most likely. He might even let us close the bedroom door.
"Can Blue Jean come inside? Would you let me bring her inside?"
"Well, sure."
"Where would I sleep? Where do you sleep? How many bathrooms do you have again?" I'd been to Harry's house with Mum before, but we hadn't spent any time upstairs, so I didn't know what to expect up there.
"Well why don't we go have a little tour then?" Harry asked, looking at Mum too. She smiled and nodded, and Harry led us around his house.
It wasn't huge, but it had three bedrooms (two upstairs and one downstairs) and one and a half bathrooms. Harry's bedroom was upstairs, and the other one he was using as a study and the one downstairs was his music room, where he kept his guitars and bass guitars, a drum kit and an upright piano, and all his own leads and speakers and stuff from when he was in a band as a teenager. He'd let me, Cyn, Tony and Trent borrow them for our gigs before we'd saved up enough to get our own.
"I could easily merge all the music gear and study into one bedroom, no problem," Harry told me. "You can pick whether you want to be upstairs or downstairs, and I'll move everything out of the way for you."
"If you want downstairs, love, you'll get your own toilet," Mum told me. "Of course it's in the laundry, and you'll still have to come upstairs for showers."
"But the upstairs bedroom is a few feet bigger," Harry told me. "And you won't be so easily disturbed by any commotion downstairs, like the telly or something."
"Actually that's a good point, perhaps you should have all your music stuff downstairs so that if either of you are making a racket I won't hear it as much while I'm trying to sleep," Mum said. "But whatever you want, love," Mum told me.
"Well, I'll take the upstairs then," I told them.
"So that's a yes? You're happy to move in with me?" Harry asked me.
"Sure, why not. You can't be any worse than the last two men we moved in with."
I was wrong, because I found out when I looked around his bathroom that he leaves his wet towel on the floor, like an animal.