Brutal Love

Chapter 24

*Billie's POV*

By holding her in my arms, I calmed her down. We went downstairs and I made her some hot chocolate and some popcorn. We decided on watching a movie in the living room.

"What movie do you want to watch then?" She asked while the corn was popping.

"Any movie you want." I answered, getting the hot chocolate out of the cupboard.

"But you've turned down all of my suggestions."

"You never said you wanted to watch them, you just suggested them."

"Joey was the same way." She said so quietly, I barely heard her.

"What?"

"What?" She looked up in confusion.

"You said that Joey was the same way. Joey, as in my Joey?"

"No...Joey from Friends." She was trying to hide something.

"What's going on between you and Joey?"

"Nothing. Can we drop this?" She hopped off of her seat on the counter.

"Why are you lying?" I picked her up and put her back. "What are you hiding? You know my secrets."

"Nothing is going on between me and your son. Although he wants there to be." She instantly slapped her hands on her mouth.

"What does that mean? What happened?" I removed her hands and held them together on my chest. "Please tell me. It's not like I'll get mad."

"All he did was kiss me." I stepped back, shocked. "But, he said he's going to wait 2 years until we start something. If we still want to by then." Wait, still?

"Wait, still? Do you want to go out with him now? Would you have if I didn't kiss you?" She didn't answer me. "Winnie, answer me!" She flinched when I raised my voice. I sighed and moved in between her knees and wrapped my arms around her, resting my chin on her shoulder. She just sat there, not trying to get out of it but also not returning it. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell. I get jealous too y'know? Don't hate me."

She started giggling in my chest. I held her out at arms length and looked at her questioningly.

"You're so adorable and hilarious. I could never hate you, you big goof." She pushed my chest playfully. "And I did at first. But when he said he couldn't, then I just didn't care anymore and I just hoped it would strengthen our blooming friendship."

"Wow, you're wise for your age."

"Aren't I?" She put her hands under her tilted chin and smiled. Then the microwave beeped. I turned and opened it.

"You're so much like Tre, it's scary." I joked. She laughed.

"So that's why you like me so much, because I remind you of Tre. I guess I can live with that, just don't expect me to stick anything anywhere."

"Fuck no. That's disgusting." I gagged as I poured the popcorn into a bowl.

"Relax I'm just teasing. You like me so much because I'm perfect." She hopped off the counter, grabbed the bowl and ate a piece of popcorn. "Come on, let's go pick a movie." And she left and went into the living room. "Can you bring my hot chocolate, by the way, please?"

I rolled my eyes and put the chocolate powder in the bowl and poured the now boiling water, leaving some room for milk. I tossed in a couple of marshmallows and went into the living room. She was sitting on the couch, going through Netflix. I put the mug on the table next to her feet and sat next to her.

"You are perfect." I kissed the top of her head and put my arm behind her. "Now, what movie?"

"You know what movie I haven't seen in a while?" She asked, scrolling down with a purpose.

"And what's that, my dear?" She didn't answer and instead clicked on the movie. The Fox and the Hound. "A cartoon?"

She looked up at me, totally serious. "Not just a cartoon. A Disney cartoon. The best and my favorite Disney cartoon to be exact." She pushed up her glasses and shoved popcorn in her mouth, keeping a straight face the whole time.

"Really?" I asked, smiling and eyebrows raised. She huffed, put the popcorn in my lap and got up. "Winnie?" I heard her go up the stairs.

"Wait."

A few minutes later she came back with a black book. She sat on the couch, rubbed her popcorn hands on my shirt and opened it. It was a sketchbook. She flipped through a couple of drawing. I could hardly see them because of how fast she flipped through them. She finally stopped and sighed. I leaned over and looked. It was a drawing of the Fox and the Hound. It was like an exact copy of the cover.

"You drew this?" She nodded. "No tracing?" She shook her head.

"Look at his though. Not only is the plot emotionally gripping but the artwork is phenomenal. Original Disney has the soft colors inside of rough lines that move as the character moves. It's just breath taking."

As she was talking, I was watching her. She explained with all of this passion and excitement. It was adorable. It was like me when I talk about music. Her face glowed with happiness and her voice was trying to stay calm but just breaching the border. It made me want her more and more.

"Now do you agree with me that it's the best?" She asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"No." I answered with a smile. She frowned. "You are." She looked down and blushed. "So you like to draw?" I put my hand on the sketchbook in her line of vision. "May I?"

"I'd rather you didn't but you're going to anyways, so sure."

I put the popcorn on the table and grabbed the sketchbook. I went to the beginning and flipped through the pages one by one. They were incredible. They were bright and colorful. She was a great artist. There was a mix of copies of other things (I could tell because there'd be a little wallet sized photo in the corner of the page) and some original work. There were even some of me and the guys. Mostly me though. I chuckled. As I went through them, though, they started to lose color and became more somber and dark. These were all originals. The last one was a drawing of a room and a little girl in the corner, head in her hands, face full of fear. On the walls were smudged words that I couldn't make out.

"What does this say?" I asked. She looked at the drawing and quickly closed the sketchbook and took it away from me.

"Nothing." She got up. "I'll go put it away and then we can watch the movie ok?"

"Winnie?"

"Ok. Be right back." And she disappeared upstairs.