L'AMOUR DE MA VIE - Billie Eilish

Chapter 7

Em's POV

What was supposed to be a quick visit turned into a diner invitation from Billie's parents. Not wanting to be rude, I accepted and to be completely honest, I was happy to see Billie's family after all this time. I'd been worried in the car about the possibility of things being awkward, but our little "reunion" had been surprisingly pleasant. Patrick and Maggie took me into their arms like no time had passed. If they were angry about me breaking their daughter's heart, they certainly were good at hiding it. I was happy to know that they still liked me despite what happened between me and Billie. Finn, on the other hand, was a bit more distant. He'd seen me at Ky's house a couple weeks ago, and he'd been civil, but tonight, he'd been avoiding me like the plague. I can't lie and say it didn't hurt my feelings a little bit. Granted, I'd been the one to walk out of the family's life, so I couldn't really blame him. Still, Finn and I had immediately clicked when Billie first brought me to meet her family. His calm and comforting demeanour  made it really easy for me to feel at ease around him. Contrary to Billie, Finn is much quieter and reserved, just like me. Our friendship blossomed naturally considering the fact that we shared a lot of the same personality traits. Billie often joked that I loved her brother more than her. Over the course of Billie and I's year and a half long relationship, Finn became one of my best friends. Although I do understand his reasons, him giving me the cold shoulder stung more than I'd like to admit.

As the evening came to an end, I found myself in the kitchen, helping Maggie wash the dishes. She washed and I dried, both of us doing so in a comfortable silence.

"It's really good to see you, Emily," she spoke up. She spared me a glance before looking back in the sink to pick up the last dish to wash.

"It's really good to see you guys too...," I trailed off, debating whether or not I should speak up about my initial concerns. "I didn't think you guys wanted to see me again considering Billie and I's history. I thought that you all hated me, to be perfectly honest," I chewed on my bottom lip nervously as I dried off the plate that Maggie handed to me.

Billie's mom turned her head to look at me as she emptied the sink filled with dirty water. She dried her hands on a nearby rag before clearing her throat.

"Emily, we could never hate you. We were obviously sad about what happened, but we were mostly shocked and confused. As far as we all knew, you and Billie were doing so good. Hell, we all thought that you guys were gonna get married someday. Obviously, things have changed and that's okay. Although I think you could've handled things differently, you were true to yourself by getting out of a relationship that wasn't working out for you. I'm not gonna hold a grudge against you for that, sweetie." Her eyes were filled with love and understanding. That alone made me want to sob, but I swallowed the lump in my throat and thanked her for her kind words.

"Thank you, Maggie. I guess a part of me kind of hates myself for abandoning you all. It feels nice to know that you guys managed to move on," I said sincerely.

A smile made its way on Maggie's face before she embraced me in her arms. I felt her hand rub my back in a motherly manner, which made me immediately relax.

"For the record, I've been watching Billie all night and I can tell that she's happy you're here. She lights up when she sees you and it feels so good to see my girl like that again,"she whispered in my ear. We both pulled away from the hug and I felt a blush creep up my neck. The idea of Billie lighting up at the sight of me filled me with hope. Hope that things could eventually return to what it was before everything went to shit. That feeling quickly faded as I remembered everything that lead up to Billie and I's breakup. I'd lied to my girlfriend about not loving her anymore because of all the people who were against our relationship. Obviously, Billie knew about the general hate I was getting, but she didn't know that she was surrounded with a bunch of hypocrites. Hypocrites pretending to root for her happiness when they would actually meddle against her behind her back. I'd been a victim of that meddling, which gave me no choice but to walk away.