A Soul For Sale Or Rent

And Your Daddy Says You Won't

The hours seemed to pass agonisingly slow until the next evening. Billie was so excited about going to Brian's house for dinner she could hardly contain herself in front of her father even though it was vital not to let him get any ideas. To her father Billie was doing what she did every Saturday, staying in her room lost in her art until late at night.

It wasn't even a complete lie, she actually was in her room. She was working on yet another drawing of Brian that she had started during the week. It was the third painting of the tall and slim boy she was working on. Spending time with him every lunch break left her with so many impressions of him she couldn't paint quickly enough to get them down on paper. She didn't want to lose any of them because to her he could not be captured in just one painting, it just didn't show how wonderful he looked. So the only solution to portray him accurately was to paint him as much as she could, hoping that all the paintings together gave an accurate impression of him. Other people might call that obsessive, but it wasn't obsessive to Billie. She was just paying attention to the details, like any good artist would.

She liked to consider herself a good artist. She didn't think much of herself, she was taught not to think much of herself by her father and even though he didn't think much of her as an artist either, she was relatively confident in herself when it came to that. That was partly Brian's fault, because he had liked her drawing of him so much. His opinion mattered to her and if he loved it, it couldn't be too bad. That's what Billie thought and she hoped she wasn't daring too much by being so confident in herself. She sighed and looked at the clock. It was six pm and she had told Brian she could leave the house some time after seven. She had another hour to kill, but the painting she had been working on needed to dry.

She sat on her bed and looked around her room, looking for a way to get that time to pass before she could leave. Homework was done, her art supplies were all cleaned, dry and put away.. there wasn't much to do. Eventually she got up and went to her closet. She opened the doors wide and started to take out her clothes piece by piece, looking for something that would suit an evening at a friend's house. A friend's house, Billie smiled to herself. How often had she wished she had a friend to spend time with and it seemed like she finally did. That didn't make the choice of clothes any easier though. She needed something that Brian would like and that his parents would deem appropriate. She had a daringly short leather skirt that she stole from her sister's closet hidden away behind everything else, and she was sure Brian would like that, but she was just as sure that his parents wouldn't. She'd have to save that for a time when it was just her and him, oh how she was looking forward to that. With a sigh she threw the leather skirt onto the pile of clothes that was already on her bed. Finally she settled for a plain dark red dress with lace arms that she could wear with some tights and a belt. That should be a safe choice, not too revealing but not too boring. She didn't want Brian to think she was boring.

She threw all her clothes back in the closet, she was going to tidy that up later. Now she needed to take a shower.

With her hair in a towel to get it dry she stepped out of the bathroom after a quick but refreshing shower. On the way back to her room she quickly listenend in on her father, hoping he hadn't changed his plans last minute. But he hadn't, he was already on his second bottle of beer so he was definitely going out later. Relieved Billie went back to her room and put on the combination she had laid out earlier. A glance at the clock told her that she had fifteen minutes left to kill before her father would hopefully leave the house. So she saw down at her desk and got out a box and a mirror from underneath her books. It was yet another secret she kept, her make up. If her father knew she occasionally put on make up he would most definitely kill her. But he was going to do that anyway if he found out what she was up to, so there wasn't really anything to lose. Billie put some light make up on, not wanting to seem like she was trying to hide herself behind a mask. When she was finished with that she dried her hair and put it in a loose braid. Smiling excitedly, she looked down on herself and decided that she looked okay. She was dressed up more than usually, but she hadn't overdone it. Now all she needed was to wait for her father to leave.

It were ten more minutes she had to spend sitting on her bed, impatiently fiddling with her fingers before she heard the relieving bang of the front door downstairs. Immediately she jumped up and grabbed her small handbag and shoes. She glanced out of the window to make sure her father had gone before she quietly left her room and locked it. She snuck downstairs and closed the front door quietly behind herself before she put on her shoes and walked to the bus stop. She had to wait for another five minutes, before she got on the bus to Brian's house. She was so excited she forgot she had to press the stop button so the bus rushed past the stop she was supposed to get off at. Panicking a little she jumped up and pressed the button, hoping the next stop wouldn't be too far away. Luckily it was only around the corner and she stepped onto the wet pavement soon. Billie looked around the street trying to gather her bearings. Which street was she looking for again? She took out the small piece of paper Brian had given to her and tried to read her handwriting under the dim street lights. Mumbling the street name over and over again she walked back on the route of the bus, trying to find the correct street. "Ah, there it is," she exclaimed delighted and walked down the side road. "Now I just need to find number 10." Slowly she walked along the row of houses until she found number 10. Carefully she walked up the small path to the front door and lifted her hand to knock on the door. She was a bit hesitant still and looked at the name sign, just to make sure. She was excited, yes, but she was still nervous to mess up. Relieved she sighed when the sign said "H. + R. May" and she gently knocked on the door. Feeling her heartbeat quicken she fiddled with her hands and waited for the door to open. She could hear voices coming from inside, making her smile when she could distinguish Brian excitedly yelling something at someone. Finally the door opened up and she came face to face with Brian who was beaming at her. "Hey.. you made it." He reached his arms out as if to hug her but dropped them again quickly when he remembered they weren't hugging, yet as he hoped. Billie nodded a little. "I made it.. I got off at the wrong stop, but I made it." She smiled timidly at him. Brian stepped aside. "Please, come inside. My Mum and Dad are already waiting for you." She nodded and stepped inside, looking around stealthily but curiously. "May I take your coat?" He held out his hands making her smile. Such a gentleman. She quickly took off her jacket and gave it to him, a warm smile on her face. "Thank you." Something about him made her relax immediately. As soon as she entered his house she was amazed by the warm and welcoming feeling. His smile only made her feel even more welcome and she had to hold herself back so she wouldn't break out in a wide smile herself.

This is just a random note at the end.. if you're reading this please do like it, and maybe even comment because it means so much to me and it's just such a good motivation. If I get likes and comments I'm much more motivated to put a lot of effort into the next chapter because I know you guys are going to appreciate it.. I know that sometimes you might feel silly commenting the same thing over and over again, but don't, it's not silly to me. So yeah, I just wanted to put that out there, and thank you so much for reading, it made me really happy to see that people are actually still following this story even though it's been so long. So thank you, I love all of you! 

Oh and also, do you want me to tell you who I'm imagining as Billie or do you want to keep your own images of her?