𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐄 | 𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘔𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘯

𝐢𝐯. 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲

~ four. dear billy ~

***

With no curtains to block out the sun, Val was awake much earlier than she'd have liked. Not as early as Eddie, however, who wasn't there when she opened her eyes. His jacket was, though, laid over her to preserve what little warmth the boathouse offered, so she knew he couldn't have gone far. Quite surprisingly, sleeping in a boat wasn't as awful as it sounded. It wasn't by any means a permanent change she was willing to make but, for what it was, it was good enough.

Wrapping Eddie's jacket tighter around herself as she got up, Val found herself drawn to the back entrance where she found him on the dock, legs dangling over the water and a cigarette in his mouth. 

"Morning," She said, sitting herself down next to him. 

"Morning," He turned to her and grinned, nodding at the jacket. "Suits you."

"How long have you been up?" 

"Not long. Only about an hour."

"An hour? Why didn't you wake me? What if something had happened?"

"I didn't want to disturb you," He shrugged, blowing a cloud of smoke into the air. "But, hey - look - no harm done."

"Not yet there isn't. There will be if I give in to the urge to push you into the lake."

"You wouldn't..." He looked at her apprehensively, putting out his cigarette in case of a quick getaway. 

"Wouldn't I? Keep running off on me and you'll find out."

The threat alone was enough for Eddie, who got to his feet, extending a hand for Val to do the same, and headed back inside. The food delivery he received the day before was down to a few morsels of cereal so, unless another one came later that day, they were going to have to fend for themselves. The boathouse didn't have anywhere to store food and the door to the house remained locked. That being said, a locked door didn't necessarily mean the end of the road.

Val had never picked a lock before but, given how many new experiences she'd had recently, it didn't seem wise to let that stop her. She found a screwdriver in the boathouse and approached the house with it, sticking it in the lock and wiggling it around, hoping to hear the familiar click of success. However, the only thing she heard was an annoying snicker coming from behind.

"Can I help you?" She muttered, not giving him the satisfaction of turning around.

"No, no - I'm fine," She could hear the smirk in his voice. "What is it you're trying to do exactly?"

"I'm trying to pick this lock so we can get inside the house because, I don't know about you, but I need to eat."

"Well, you're not going to pick anything with that," He said, making his way over and removing the screwdriver from the lock. "Do you have a pin or... a paperclip or something like that?"