The girl next door, - ᴛ.ᴋᴀᴜʟɪᴛᴢ

chapter thirty-eight.

• CIGARETTES OUT THE WINDOW - TV GIRL

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After a little while, I got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around myself. My feet padded against the cold tiles, water dripping onto them quietly as I made my way down the hall to Bill's room.

"Hi, Bill." I said.

His eyes flickered to me, and he seemed a little surprised. "Woah. Hey, Mandy. Tom got you covered or..?" He said, tossing me a shirt. I nodded, nudging the door closed. Bill looked down at his magazine while I dressed, also holding out some boxers.

I pulled them on and crawled onto his bed to watch him. "I'm glad you're out of bed."

"Oh, wow." I smiled. "Thanks, Bill. I'm fine now." I nodded, looking around and then back at him. "I hate it when you just.. push everyone away. Doesn't anybody notice?" He mumbled.

My lips parted, and I lowered my voice slightly. "Oh, well, it's not really anyone's fucking business. And it's not like anybody cares, so,"

"I care." Bill tilted his head, trying to catch my gaze. I looked at him, nodding slowly as I rested my head on his shoulder. "You have Tom and I." He said quietly.

Don't lie, Bill. I have the minor options that get people nowhere in life because my family are dropkicks. Alcohol, heroin, or suicide.

"We should do something for Seb." Bill said, setting his magazine aside and glancing at me. "I don't think I'm ready." I said quietly.

"When you are, we'll go to the skatepark and have a few drinks or something, like a gathering almost. Get shitfaced and do shitfaced stuff." Bill suggested, shrugging his shoulders with a small smile.

"Maybe." I nodded, looking at Bill. "I'm gonna wait until Vince comes down."

"Vince?" He questioned, his eyebrow raising. "Her other brother." Tom suddenly said as he walked in and set the plate down in my lap.

"Jesus, how many of there are you?" Bill looked down at me as I stared at the food, then shrugged. "I have a sister, too. But she died years ago." I said and looked at Tom. "I dont have a knife of fork."

"You don't need one." He watched carefully, making sure my focus was on the food. "I could." I murmured. Tom nodded towards the chips, muttering. "Eat."

I looked at Bill skeptically, and he nodded softly in approval.

I was used to the usual cycle of smoking in the morning, evening, and night without eating. I remember it getting so bad that Seb took me to the hospital. I was 15 then, and I guess once I recovered from it, I slipped right back into the habit from stress.

It wasn't just the starving that made me skinny. It was the smoking. But they don't know that. I don't expect them to.

I picked up one of the chips and put it in my mouth, chewing slowly. Tom sighed, sitting on the bed next to me and kissing my head. "Good."

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"A concert?" I questioned, sitting on Tom's bed. "Apparently. And a photoshoot. I'll be back later, okay? Well.. not until late. Get some rest." He said as he leaned down, pressing a kiss to my neck before he looked at Bill and left the room.

Alright then. Cool. I definitely didn't agree to come here for his company.

After I heard the front door close and voices become faint, I slowly got up and started to look around.

I'd been in Tom's room a matter of times, but I never really noticed how many caps he had. I forgot he was rich, which confuses me since why does he live with Simone? Maybe it's the underage thing.

My fingers ran over the strings of his guitar in the open case in the corner before I glanced at his desk and sat down. There was an open file with my name on it.

"On The Edge - Mandy's song V1 Acoustic."

I picked up his headphones, settling them on my head before checking how many minutes were left. Once I saw that it was enough, my hand moved on the mouse, clicking on the file and playing the video.

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The song was slightly incomplete, and it was the last of their Scream album. Then, it was Zimmer 483. I probably shouldn't be looking at this stuff.

There was a call bank beneath it. I could either click on it or leave it.

I slowly dragged the mouse to the audio and played it.

"You there, Tom?"

"What? Yeah, uh, we're kind of busy.. at the moment." Tom said in broken english, small mutters of German being crossed to who I was assuming was, Bill.

"Listen, are you scrapping On The Edge? You and Bill still have to do By Your Side, and another Ready, Set, Go performance at the Roxy in a few weeks." The man scolded slightly, breathing out. "Is Bill with you?"

"What do you think? No, we aren't. We're completing it soon and doing By Your side at the start of Zimmer 483. Stop riding my ass, Dave." Tom sighed.

"Right. And then you're doing another song, Reden, about that girl Mandy you were on about. Tom, this is unbelievable, and I don't think it'll be a hit since you have a shitload of female fans wondering who the special girl is! Truth was, she's a junkie. Get that fucking song done." Dave warned, his voice slightly muffled from poor quality.

"Fuck off will you? We're taking our time. Don't feel inadequate just yet. Maybe save that for when you're fired. If you'll fucking excuse us, Dave, I'm going to go fuck models." Tom called out to the phone, and Bill's giggles were in the background. "Fuck you, Dave!" A few other cusses came from the background, and the audio ended.

Reden? On The Edge? Is Dave their producer or something? After checking, yes, he was. What an asshole.

I stood from Tom's desk, breathing out softly. Even if I didn't understand, I decided to just leave it and turn off his computer before crawling into bed, and laying there. Lost in thought.