Billie White

Chapter Twenty

CHAPTER TWENTY

I stared at my phone, and breathed hard, as I made my final decision.

Slowly, I picked up the phone, and scrolled down till I reached Roman’s name. I tapped the screen and licked my lips, as my thumbs quivered over the keyboard. “Come on Billie. Just text him. Two, simple words.”

My jaw tightened, and I quickly typed the message. “I’m coming,” then sent it before I could change my mind. Dropping the phone on my bed, so I didn’t see if he replied immediately or not, I fled to my closet and pulled a baggy T Shirt and shorts, since it was too hot to wear sweats or jeans. I grabbed my washing things, then ran to the bathroom. Pushing my hair back, I cleaned my teeth and rinsed my mouth, then jumped into the shower and turned it on. 

Out of the shower head, cold water sprayed over my skin. The temperature rose, but I didn’t spend time to appreciate the heat. Once my skin was soaked with water, I scrubbed my body and hair to its cleanest, then rinsed down again. I had to get out, before I changed my mind. My mom wasn’t here to persuade me out of my second thinking, so it was all down to me.

Once I’d finished, quickly squeezed the excess water out of my shoulder length hair, and jumped out of the shower. In a rush I toweled myself dry, and rubbed on some lotion. I wrapped the towel round my body, then hurried back into my room. 

My phone was lit, but I did my best to keep my eyes off of the screen. Instead, I pulled on my underwear, then my chosen items of clothing came on afterwards. I toweled my hair again, combed it into some sort of normality, then grabbed hold of my brown satchel. I dumped in my purse, keys and phone, then ran downstairs without glancing back.

I ran through the front door, locked it hurried down my path and gasped for air, once I was on the sidewalk. It felt as if I was running away from a ball, which was coming at me at full speed. I stood still, and realized that I’d given the ball time to catch up, and before I knew it, it’d hit me in the side of the head. I swayed slightly, and stumbled to the side, clutching my head.

Slowly, I recomposed myself, and started to walk fast down the sidewalk. “No offense Billie, but crying is for pussies. Just let the sadness out as anger, and make sure it’s all badass,” I mumbled to myself, and shook my head. I had no idea what I was saying, so be honest. I realized though, that just talking to myself, and keeping up a conversation seemed to hold in my emotions, and let them out in a more positive way. “Just tell him how you feel, and make it sassy.”

I looked up, and narrowed my eyes as Roman’s house came to view. My pace slowed down, and my angry squint, turned into a confused one. As I approached Roman’s home, I noticed that in front of it, was a table. He stood behind it, with numerous amounts of plastic and glass cups, an empty ice cream tub and three glasses of lemonade. There were no signs though. Just him, his cups, his ice cream tub and lemonade.

Once he noticed my presence, he gave me a somewhat awkward smile. I wasn’t interested in his innocent looks and games though, I just wanted to set things straight between us. And that had to honestly start, with this ludicrous lemonade stand of his. “What, the hell are you doing?” I snapped. His smile faded, and he rolled his eyes at me.

“I’m running a lemonade stand, Billie.”

“You need a permit, stupid,” I said harshly and he sucked in his cheeks.

“What do you want, Billie?”

“I want to set things straight, and I can’t with this lemonade stand in the way.”

“So what do you want me to do?” he said trying to sound bitter, but smiling slightly. “Leave my lemonade, and just talk to you? Someone might steal this, you know.”