Bad Company

Sixteen ꨄ

                    Billie O.

"Billie please eat your food babe" Lani begs, standing behind the counter making some sort of coffee drink for a customer.

"I too nerbous tuh eats Lani" I pout pushing the plate further away from me.

"Baby, you have no reason to be nervous you hang out with Fae all the time. You've gotta eat and be a big girl before she comes to get you" she says.

I just sigh, knowing that Lani is right. My tummy has been rumbling for the past few minutes and I should really get out of headspace now because I have no idea what time Fae is coming.

Taking small spoonfuls of my mac and cheese, I try to ignore the wave of nausea my nerves have caused. As I eat I relax and allow myself to slowly slip out of my headspace. My phone screen lights with a text message from Fae. She's probably close now.

Opening the message I nod slightly knowing I was right, she says she will be here in about 5 minutes or less.

My nerves return in the form of light static-like tingling in the tips of my fingers. I have no idea why my nerves are so out of control today, I just have this feeling something is gonna happen today. I've have this feeling since the minute I woke up.

"Babe your phone is ringing, it's Fae. She must be outside" Lani says snapping me out of my thoughts. She helps me put on my jacket and hands me my phone. "Okay look at me" I lock eyes with her, "deep breaths." I close my eyes and follow her breathing. "Okay if you feel too overwhelmed or anything just call me and I'll be there as quick as I can. I have your location so just send an SOS text and I'm there."

I wrap my arms around her torso, she hugs me back quickly before pulling away.

Once I am in Fae's car, her face lights up with this huge smile.

"Hi baby" she beams, reaching across the console to hug me.

"Hi" I giggle. "You look pretty" I feel myself blushing as the words leave my mouth.

"Thank you sweetheart, so do you" she says kissing my cheek quickly before pulling away.

My breath gets caught in my throat but I play it off and pretend to clear my throat. "So um what are we doing today?"

"Well I was hoping you wouldn't mind hanging out at my place. Claudia is out so it'll just be us. We can get some snacks, order some food and do anything you want" she shrugs.

"Sounds like we need to make a run to Target" I smile.

"Good idea" she chuckles lightly.

On the way to Target we just talk about how our week has been going. I didn't really have much to say, pretty much every day is like the weekend for me since I'm just with my brother or Lani. But I did tell her about this new game I started playing in my phone.

"So what do you do in the game?" Fae asks.

"You pretty much just serve the customers their orders but you have to be quick about it or they get angry and leave. And since I just started I only have limited seats for the customers so lots of them get pretty angry and leave" I laugh lightly.

"So where does Hello Kitty come in to play with that?"

"Well the game is called Hello Kitty Cafe, once you keep playing they add more people to help you out so you can do more than one order at a time and she becomes one of the helpers" I explain.

"That's cute baby. It's adorable how innocent you are."

We get to Target and I convince Fae to agree on a lego set with me for us to build together. It didn't take much convincing though. We also got some chips and gummy worms. And right before we made our way to the register Fae got the idea that we should wear matching pajamas to make it a more relaxing experience.

Luckily not too many people recognized Fae so we were able to get out of there pretty quickly.

*****

"No m-more tickling please" I laugh loudly as Fae is hovering over me tickling my sides.

"Okay okay" she laughs, "how about we decide to what to and then start building this lego disney castle while we wait, sound good?" Fae asks laying beside me on the carpeted floor.

"Okay, how about pizza?" I suggest since that is the first thing that came to mind.

"Perfect. Large plain?" She asks picking up her from off the couch.

"Mhm" I nod.

"Open the lego box while I order, it's over there in that bag" she says.

Once I have it I place it on the floor between us and tear the box open, dumping out all its contents.

Fae finishes ordering and her eyes widen at the mouth of pieces for this thing.

"This is gonna take a few days to finish, huh?" Fae pushes her hair behind her ears.

We silently start on the first bag and get halfway through following the instructions when Fae decides to speak.

"Billie?" She says not looking at me.

"Hm?" I hum half distracted by a disney princess mini figure I find.

"Have you ever dated anyone?"

I pause, letting the figure fall out of my hand. "No, never."

"Really?" Fae gasps.

"I know i'm super lame."

"No. Not at all. Are you interested in dating?"

"Why?" I feel my mouth go dry.

"I was kinda .. maybe wondering if you wanted to date me?"

My heart starts racing and it becomes a little hard to breathe. Just my luck. Someone's asks me out and I'm having a full on panic attack. My eyes begin to well up with tears.

"Hey hey what's wrong?" Fae moves closer to me, taking my hands in hers.

"M-My phone please" is all I can get out.

Fae rushes to get my phone and hands it to me. I struggle to put in my pin, unable to see because of my tears. I manage to text 'sos' to Lani and I put my phone down.

"Billie, I'm so sorry if I upset you" Fae expresses pulling me onto her lap.

I can't say anything. I wanna tell her that it isn't her fault but I feel myself slipping and if I talk she's find out my secret.

Not much time goes bye before the doorbell rings. Fae sets me on the couch and answers the door. I hear her talking to who I assume is Lani.