Would you Swallow all your Pride?

Chapter Five: Blue.

"Would you join me at my office, please?" Billie Dean carried a certain softness to her voice and features, which were enough for Wilhemina to know exactly why she wanted her over. Shit.

Emma looked down, slowly sipping on her coffee.

"Of course." Wilhemina got up and tried not to make eye contact with Emma. She leaned on her cane and walked over to Billie Dean, who quietly guided the way and closed the door behind them once they were in her office. For a second, Venable wondered if her gift had ben unwelcome.

"You really didn't have to," Billie Dean said as she turned back around to Wilhemina, voice soft and eyes sweet.

Wilhemina shrugged. Her cheeks tinted, but she ignored it. "I saw it at the store and thought of you."

Thought of you. Billie Dean bit her lower lip for a second. She was scared Wilhemina would start acting like everyone else around her—kissing her ass, taking her words as the maximum truth because of her celebrity status, tiptoeing around her—but she had a feeling the gift had come from a much deeper place than just being starstruck, given the way Venable continued to act. "Still... that's very sweet. Coral, huh?"

Wilhemina nodded. "It's your color."

Billie Dean still wondered why Venable didn't smile. She saw her smiling brightly with Emma for a split second, so she could smile. Why did it bother her so much, the notion that Wilhemina didn't smile with her? Billie Dean had thought perhaps Venable simply didn't like her, but with the gift she was now left at a murky situation. "You think?" She smiled a little. The idea of 'having' a color was new to Billie, even though she had chosen coral for the identity of her business. "Oh, because of the company?"

"Not really." Venable's brown eyes fell down to Billie Dean's gigantic nails before coming back up. "Your nails are always coral, and it matches you. Your skin has a nice tone that pops out with it." Billie had asked, and so Wilhemina was answering. Her own response caught her by surprise a little.

Billie Dean's cheeks tinted a little more. She chuckled softly, reaching to pull a lock of blonde hair behind her ear. Still, Wilhemina kept herself so serious. "You can let loose with me, you know? You don't have to be so serious. I saw you having fun with Emma." Billie Dean had a serious record of being treated differently; had it been when she was a child and people thought she was weird, when she got to high school and everyone called her a freak, or later in her adult life when people acted like she was the eighth wonder in the world. She was tired of being different. She was simply Billie Dean.

Having fun with Emma. Could Venable even call it that way? She tried not getting too stuck on that. "I know, Ms. Howard."

"Just Billie, please."

Venable frowned. "That would be disrespectful."

"I prefer it that way. I'm no different than you are."

"You're my boss."

"I know, I just—" Billie Dean licked her lips as she pondered. "I don't like titles."

Now that was new. Who'd have thought that the Billie Dean, Medium to the Stars would be one to not like a way of addressing her that was utterly correct and polished. "I find it hard to believe that, Billie Dean." The words were so weird as they rolled through her tongue. It just felt wrong.

With her eyebrows arching up, Billie Dean crossed her arms. "Why is that?"

Should I answer to that? Wilhemina had realized this past week that her opinions, even though asked for, weren't always expected for. "Are you really asking me, or should I pretend I have a different opinion?"