When We Met

Chapter 4: Bad Influence

I was curled up in bed, asleep, until a small tapping sound woke me up. I rubbed my eyes and tried to locate it. I looked at my bedroom window and saw an exhausted looking Billie Joe.

Billie and I had been friends for about two weeks. I really wanted him to be my friend, he was really cool. So to impress him, I told him that we could go back to mine whenever we wanted. This was true of course, my Mom was always with her boyfriend so most of the time I did everything by myself, in an empty house.

To my delight, Billie thought this was an 'awesome' idea. So my house was where we hung out from then. But now he was at my window.

I sighed as I sat up, then I realised I was curled up in bed in teddy bear pyjamas, clutching my own bear that I've had since before I can remember. My hair was a fluffy mess due to the amount of time I had been sleeping. I probably looked about 4 years old. He was going to laugh at me.

I sighed as I went to the window, opening it and letting him in. He looked at my pyjamas and said nothing, he just smiled. I wondered if he slept with a bear too. I eventually broke the silence. "Why are you here?"

He looked down for a moment before totally avoiding my question, trying to distract me by picking my bear up. "Who's this?"

Billie did this a lot. And I had learned that if he didn't want to talk about something, he would try and change the subject. I had also learned that asking him about it when he had changed the subject already only upset him or made him angry. He would end up talking about it anyway, due to the fact that when something was on his mind, he needed to tell someone. And as far as I could tell, I was his only friend.

I knew a lot about him already, and it seems like we just clicked. I had never had a best friend.

So I let my question slide, watching as he hugged my bear. "That's Mr." I said, sitting on the bed next to him.

"Mr the bear." He smiled and then frowned. "...Mom has a man around our house. I don't like him. I can't sleep when he watches me."

I frowned. This didn't sound right at all. But I decided to not ask, knowing that he would tell me. "Wanna stay here?" I asked, and he nodded.

We then climbed under the blankets together, facing each other. I didn't take Mr off of him, although I decided right then that he was the only other person allowed to hug him.

Billie curled up against me, still holding Mr in his arms and fell asleep straight away. He looked exhausted.

It was then that I wondered just how long his Mom's boyfriend had been watching him sleep.