let me love you | B.E.

six

⚠️TW: mentions of self harm

Billie's pov:

"Billie?"

Finneas pops his head in and I run over to the door, pushing my body against it in attempt to kick him out.

"Stop! Don't come in!" I yell at my brother.

I am overpowered by Finneas swinging the door open, despite me trying my best to push him out. He walks in the bathroom and stops in his tracks when he sees blood on the floor. His face contorts in confusion and he turns to me, his face dropping when his eyes meet the cuts on my arm. I couldn't keep in my cries anymore, my body shaking as I started bawling in front of him.

"Oh, Billie," Finneas almost whispers, engulfing me in a hug as his arms wrapped around my fragile body.

Finneas comfortingly rubbed my back while I sobbed into his shirt, becoming the most vulnerable I've felt in a while. I could tell he was crying now as well from his sniffles. This wasn't supposed to happen. Nobody was supposed to find out.

"Please don't tell Mom and Dad," I cried more.

"Billie, they have to know–" Finneas says, me cutting him off.

"No! Finneas, please. They can't know," I plead.

Finneas sighs but gives in, "Alright, but let's get you cleaned up."

I nod silently and hop up on the counter, sitting next to the sink. Finneas pulls out a first aid kit from the medicine cabinet, placing it down next to me before turning on the faucet. I watched as he wet a cloth and brought it over to my arm, gently washing the blood off. I try my best not to wince while he cleans my cuts, although he is making that quite difficult when he starts putting ointment on them.

"Promise me you won't tell them," I say in a hushed voice.

Finneas looks up at me with a facial expression I cannot read, "I promise."

He puts a bandaid on me after finishing cleaning my cuts and I hop off the counter. I look down at my blood on the floor, Finneas sensing my guilt and offering to clean up after me.

"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it. Get some rest," he says, lovingly kissing the top of my head before shooing me off to bed.

I walk back to my room, feeling somewhat drowsy already, and get into bed. I don't bother to set an alarm to get up for school since Finn is basically my own personal alarm clock. Before I know it, I am drifting off to sleep.

–

The sun from my bedroom window hits my face, waking me up. I groan to myself as I sit up, my head pounding. Suddenly needing to quench my thirst, I get up out of bed and head to the kitchen.

Stepping out of my bedroom, I hear faint talking coming from the living room. I pay no mind to it until I hear my name being mentioned, hiding behind the wall to eavesdrop in on their conversation about me.

"I'm worried about Billie," I hear Finneas say.

I couldn't make out what my parents were saying so I tried getting a little closer, but I cringe when the floorboards creak as I step forward, mentally cursing myself. The voices abruptly stop talking and I hear shuffling. My dad comes around the corner and spots me standing there.

"Oh, good, you're awake. Breakfast is on the table," my dad tells me.

I give him a weak smile and walk to the kitchen, passing my mom and Finneas sitting on the couch in the living room. As I grab a glass from the cabinet and fill it with cold water, none of them dare to utter a word to me about what they just previously were talking about. They all pretended like nothing happened as they watched me eat my breakfast at the table.