Flowers (name of book isn't confirmed)

Billie

Chapter five, Billie, 7:00 pm,

"Cris," I start.
"Yeah, ba-" he stops himself from calling me babe.
"Why can't I stay at your house?"
"My parents are pissed at me," he looks down.
"What happened?" I ask, "If you don't mind me asking."
"I- well, I told my parents that....."
He tells me everything that happened. "Cris.... I have to live in a hotel for a bit until I can get a job," I say.
"Yeah, I know," he wipes off a tear on his face.
"Could you stay with me?"
He freezes mid step.
"Babe," I start. "I need someone to help me go through this shit. Please."
My eyes widened. I just called him babe.
"I- This is too much too soon," he says.
"But-"
"I would love to, but. I just can't....."
"Why?" I grab Cris, before he topples over.
"I don't know," he pushes past me, and sits down on the curb. "We just met! Shit is moving too fast!"
"You're the one that already loves me, and wants sex!" I sit next to him.
"The sex part was a joke," he leans down, and uses his arms as support for his head. "Mostly."
"Ok," I wrap my arms around him.
"I didn't expect falling in love with you would come with so many responsibilities. I thought it would be smooth sailing," he pauses for a second, "But your fucking asshole parents don't know how to raise a kid!"
"Yeah, same. I came out as gay to them, expecting them to be super supportive, considering they have friends that are gay!"
"No!"
"Yeah!"
"What the actual fuck?" he looks up.
"Exactly what I said. They then went on an entire speech about how they can't stop their friends from being gay, but they can for their children. Which made zero fucking sense," I hold him closer.
"Did you tell them that being gay is something you can't control?"
"Yes, and they didn't believe me!"
"I'll stay with you," he makes me let go, and then hugs me.
"Really?" I try not to get too excited.
"Yeah, I'll be at the hotel tonight. I don't have much stuff because I sold it all. Except for the stuff I figured I'd give to my crush or somethin'," he replies.
"Awesome! What's your phone number so I can text you the hotel address and stuff," I get out my phone.
He gives me his phone number, and we head out.
"Babe," I stop.
"Yeah?" he actually responded.
"Are you comfortable with me calling you babe?"
"Valid question. Eh. I don't mind, but it does make me think I'm not single," he answers.
I nod my head understanding. We walk for about five minutes.
"Hey, this is my house," Cris gestures towards a house with cameras, an all inclusive pride flag, and a garage door opened, showing the random shit they had in their garage. "Looks like my mum is doing something."
"I like the flag!" I reply.
"Thanks," he smiles.
"Hey! Child!" his mum calls out. "Where the fuck have you been?"
"Sorry, I was do-"
"Who the fuck is that?" she interrupts.
"My friend," he says as I wrap my arms around him.
"Yeah right," she rolls her eyes. "He's your boyfriend."
"I wish!" I finally speak.
"Then ask her out!"
Silence falls for a couple minutes. I finally break it with, "Who?"
"My kid!"
"As far as I'm aware, you don't have any daughters," I try to defend Cris.
"Oh fuck no," his mum says, "Now you are going out to everyone that you are a boy?"
"Yeah, he is," I reply for Cris, which is now on the verge of tears.
"I wasn't asking you!"
"I'll be back, b-," Cris says to me.
"Kay babe," I whisper back.
"Now, where do you think you're going?" his mum asks.
"Inside," he says, "Billie, I'll be back in ten minutes."
Cris leaves, and as soon as he is inside the house, his mum starts questioning me.
"Who the fuck do you think you're doing? Trying to get with a person that doesn't even want to be with you!"
"Excuse me?" I ask. "He does too!"
"Oh yeah, give me proof!"
"He's literally packing his bags right now, to live with me, in a fucking hotel!"
"What? Why?"
"My parents fucking suck! They literally kicked me out of my house for being gay! And, the child inside your house, in their bedroom, is a boy not a girl." I spewed. "And he loves me enough to help me through a fight with my asshole ex girlfriend."
"Yeah right," she rolls her eyes.
"Did ya see his jaw?"
"No-?"
"He got hit with an uppercut my ex gave him!"
"Oh..."
"Anyhow, whatcha doing?" I asked.
She didn't answer, and instead went back to doing God knows what. I shook my head, and walked up the driveway. I tapped her truck's tire, seeing if she would notice. She didn't, so I kicked it a bit harder. She didn't even look up. I walked into the garage, noticing that Cris' bike still had an Ally flag, and not the Transgender and Bisexual flag. I'm pretty sure they got those flags and put them on their bikes for a pride event.
"How come his bike doesn't have a trans flag?" I asked as I took it off its hook. "Or a bisexual flag?"
Ignored as per usual. I noticed his bike needed the tires pumped up. So, I looked around the garage looking for a bike tire pump, and found one knocked over on the floor. I picked it up, and pumped the tires. After I pumped them up, I sat on it, waiting for Cris.
I heard the door rattling, and so I jumped off the bike, it towering down, and ran to the door to help him.
"Thanks Billie!" he exclaimed as I helped him carry his bags.
"No problem!"
I set the bags next to his bike, picked up the bike, and carefully stapped the bags to the bike.
"Hey, I'll ride it, and you can sit behind me," I offer.
"Kay, afterall you're the one that's choosing the hotel!" he nods his head.
I hop on the bike, him after me. As we ride off he yells, "Bye bitches!" He waves. I smile. "Hey, my brother owes me six thousand bucks, and hasn't paid me yet. So when he texts me that he has the money, we are going to have to come back."
"Aight," I smile as he holds me tight, fearing he will fall off.
"So, where to?" he asks.
"New York!" I joke.
"Naw, not right now! I'd love to, one of these days!" He holds me tighter. "Maybe somewhere close to the school?"
"I know a great place!"
"Nice," he says. "How much longer?"
"A few minutes," I say.
"Awe man!" he yells.
"Huh? Why?"
"I wanted this moment of me and you longer!" he whimpers.
"Ha, I'll take the longer way then! 'Cause I also don't want this moment to end," I turn onto a park.
"You're amazing!" he yells as he ride on, riding towards the hotel of my choice. "When are we going to your house to pick up your stuff?"
"After we put your shit in the hotel room," I say as I pass the hotel.
"Was that the hotel we're going?" he asks after ten minutes pass of us just riding around.
"Yeah," I say as we pull in the driveway. "I just don't want to go to my parent's home again."
"So you're putting it off?" he asks as we walk into the hotel with all his stuff.
"Hey, could we get a room?" I asked the hotel lady.
"Yeah, how many beds, and for how long?"
"One bed, and could we check it out for a few months?" I ask.
"Yeah. Here's your room key, it should say the level, and room number on it," she hands me the key.
"Thanks," I said as we walked away. "Yeah," I say to Cris.
"Relatable," he says as we walk past other hotel rooms. Soon we get to our room, and Cris unlocks the door because I'm holding his stuff.
"Throw it in there, we'll take care of everything later when we get back," he says as he opens the door.
I do as told, and we then leave, after he locks the door and shoves the key in his pocket.
We leave.
***
We arrive to my parents home. I hop off the bike, and we walk in. Cris and I crawl past my parents arguing, and walk into my-soon-to-not-be-room.
"I like the flags," he says as he helps me pack.
"Thanks," I smile.
"WHO THE FUCK DID YOU BRING HOME MICHAEL????" my parents scream.
"Oh shit, we gotta be quiet," I say as I shove my stuff into bags.
"Oh shit," I hear them say. "I MEANT BILLIE!"
"Exactly," I say. "Always calling me by my brother's name."
"Gotcha," Cris says as he looks at my suicidal papers. "Hey wait a minute!"
"What?" I ask.
"This Post-It," he shows me. "Where'd you find it?"
"I went to my sister's school to pick her up, a while ago, last year, and I found it, so I picked it up, knowing one day I'd need a new friend. I never texted the number though," I say.
Now that I think about it, Cris' phone number and the one that's on that Post-It are exactly the same.
"Dude, last year I needed new friends, so I wrote this note, and threw it, hoping I could make a new friend!"
"Well, here I am," I joke.
"Fucking finally," he says as my parents just so happen to open the door.
"Who is this fuck?" they ask.
"Friend," I say as I get back to packing my stuff.
"That's it?" they started getting annoyed.
"Eh, for now," Cris says as he puts my papers in a binder.
"What is that supposed to mean?" they scream.
"Jeez, I don't know! Something could come up, and bam no longer friends, or maybe he wants to be more than friends!" Cris sarcastically says.
"You better not get with this guy! Remember, gotta be straight!" my dad slaps me. I ignore the pain, as I have gone through this shit multiple times, and continue to pack.
"Bi," Cris spoke.
"BYE??? YOU JUST SAID BYE???" my dad yells.
"I said bi, b-i," he corrects.
"BISEXUAL??" my mother yells.
"That's me. And trans," he says as he places one of my briefcases on my bed, packing it full with my clothes. "And I could go for you to leave."
"EXCUSE ME??"
"Damn, you two tend to yell a lot," Cris says in a calm voice.
My parents walk over to him, and slap him as hard as when I got kicked in the nuts. He barely flinches as he continues to pack my stuff. I stay quiet.
"By the way, I'm moving out," I notify them.
"GOOD!" they then slap Cris harder. "Do you know where your other two brothers went?"
"No, I literally just got here," I answer.
"Don't be snarky you little bitch!" My dad kicks me in the nuts, and my mom slaps me.
"Leave." Cris gets mad. "Now."
"Naw," my dad says as he crosses his arms.
"Before I beat the shit out of you," Cris continues.
"Yeah right. Like you could do any damage," my dad rolls his eyes.
"If I can beat up his ex, then I can beat you up."
"GIve me all you got!" My dad and mom challenge.
"I'll be happy to.... Put you in a coma as well," Cris jumps, and lands on them. He starts beating them the fuck up.
"Thanks, Cris," I say as I watch in glee. "Also, should I call child abuse survices?"
"Yeah," he manages to say. "Actually, naw, not right now."