Bill nervously shifted from one foot to the other as he was waiting for Amelia to finish shooting. He tried to see what was going on but the ten feet high metal gate separating him from the movie set was blocking his view.
He hated to confront Amelia about her sudden change of behavior but he knew that it was necessary. Although they had only known each other for a short period of time, they had grown very close to each other and this matter was more than important to him. Bill rarely got nervous, but his heart beat twice as fast as he remembered Amelia's devastated look at the party. Back then, he didn't think much of it, but it had gotten clearer every time they talked that Amelia and Isaac's relationship was as unhealthy as it could be. Bill wasn't stalking her social media by any means, but he noticed how she had deleted certain pictures of her and tweets between the two of them and it had only contributed to him being even more worried.
He felt sweat start to pearl around his hairline as he thought about the right words to say to her, but it turned out he didn't have as much time to prepare a speech as he though.
The gate slowly opened and the screeching sound of the rusty hinges pushed him out of his thoughts. Amelia stood there, accompanied by what he assumed to be her cast mates when she noticed him propped up against a tree just a few feet away from her. They stood there for a moment, mustering each other and Bill couldn't help but notice how tired and sorrowful she looked. Her blonde hair was neatly tucked behind her ears as always, but they looked dull and lifeless as well as her usually so sparkling green eyes that would light up when she talked to him.
Amelia quickly mumbled something to her friends before slowly approaching the man. He was tall, but so was she.
"Hey," she said, flashing a weak smile.
"Hi," he responded, nervously sticking his big hands in the pockets of his jeans. They both looked at each other hopelessly before Amelia began talking again.
"Do you wanna tell me why you're here?" She asked, the smile developing into a smirk.
"Ah, of course, sorry," Bill laughed, "I just wanted to congratulate you on your new project."
The actress furrowed her eyebrows but let him continue talking.
"Do you maybe wanna go grab some coffee?"
"Right now?"
"Uhm, yeah?" Bill said, but instead it came out as a question. He mentally cursed himself for acting so awkward towards her but there was no easy way to approach this topic.
"I'm sorry, but I can't. I told Isaac I would be home right after filming," Amelia explained, biting down on her lip. The fact that she wore a pained expression as she talked about her boyfriend came as no surprise to Bill.
"Please?" he begged, "it's kind of important."
Amelia sighed, "I'm sorry, Bill. But I can't."
As she turned around, her hair swayed perfectly in sync with her, letting him inhale a whiff of her apple shampoo. Amelia wanted nothing more than to turn around and spill everything, but then she remembered what Isaac had told her just a day before. Nobody would ever love her the way he did and she was lucky to have him as her boyfriend.
She didn't know what would come at her when Bill softly grabbed her wrist and pulled her back, standing just inches away from her now. She would still feel his soft hands on her wrists hours later, but it wasn't scary or menacing. It made her heart beat just thinking of it.
"Amelia, we're worried about you," He spoke ever so softly as not to scare her away. Amelia couldn't help but notice his Swedish accent becoming thicker the more he talked. It was only an observation, for her accent wasn't anywhere near perfect either. But she smiled at the little fact she had just discovered about Bill. His accent comes out when he's concerned. Trying to look for any emotions in her eyes, he was surprised to find hope and ... relief? For a moment, Bill was sure that he could get through to her.
"We?" Was all Amelia could say.
"Yeah. Me, Mickey, Em-"
"Did Emil put you up to this? I told you he was just paranoid."
"Is he, though?" Bill replied and Amelia tilted her head back in bewilderment.
"I'm just gonna say it," Bill continued and sighed heavily. "We're concerned about you because the way Isaac is isolating you. We've all noticed how you were cancelling plans or not texting back. He's completely taking over your life and frankly we're scared for you."
"Why scared?" Amelia scoffed, "Isaac loves me and he would never do anything to hurt me. He just wants to protect me."
Bill felt every fiber in his body tense up. He ran his fingers through his hair as he was thinking of something - anything - he could say that would convince Amelia to finally break up with her sad excuse of a boyfriend.
"You can't possibly mean that," he whined. "I saw the way you looked at me at the party. How scared you were. And how many times did you text me about an 'altercation' with him? You may think that you love him and you may think that he loves you, but he doesn't. He's manipulating you because he's ashamed of the person he'll be once you finally leave him."
Amelia didn't know what to say. Instead she looked at the pebblestone ground where she tried to look for any patterns, an old habit she had developed as a child. Back then it had just been a nice pastime, now it was a distraction. A distraction from the obvious problem at hand.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't bring out any arguments that would contradict what Bill had just told her. For a few seconds they looked at each other. Nobody dared to say a word; to outsiders it must have made a strange picture, but that was the least of their concerns.
"H-how do you know all this?" Amelia whispered, barely audible. Her throat felt dry and clumpy all of a sudden.
"My sister Eija," he explained with a sad undertone in his raspy voice. "A couple of years ago she was in a really bad relationship. Almost like yours but he was much more violent. Then one night, he punched her so hard that she had to be rushed to the hospital. It was hard for her, but do you know how hard it was for all of us to sit there and witness their bickering and screaming for months without being able to get through to her? We begged her to leave him but Eija insisted they were fine and that they loved each other. She was blind, just like you are now."
Amelia stared at the young actor with her mouth parted. She couldn't comprehend any of the words she had just heard. Once again, they looked at each other, trying to find any sort of emotions in each other's pools of grey-green eyes before the blonde bridged the gap between them and wrapped his arms tightly around his neck. Bill was taken back by surprise, but soon returned the hug and buried his face into her neck. It felt nice to stand there and enjoy the warmth radiating from both of their bodies. Electricity flashed through Bill's every cell as he could barely contain his tears. Talking about his sister awoke many feelings and traumas he had learned to suppress over time. Almost the same thing happened on the other side, only Amelia recalled the events between her and her boyfriend and his behavior shift from the last few months. It had gotten to a point where she could barely recognize the person she had agreed to go on a date with almost two years ago. There was nothing cute or glamorous about their relationship. She suddenly realized he was the reason she had been feeling so miserable and shy. She needed to get out.
She felt as if Bill had just pulled away the floor from beneath her feet. Luckily, Bill was quick enough to catch her by the arm before tears started streaming down her face like a waterfall. Amelia slowly sunk down against the tree. Bill quickly sat down next to her and wrapped his arms tightly around her while softly stroking her hair.
"It's okay, I'm here," He whispered, "We'll get through this."
As she slowly calmed herself, she looked up at the young man. Amelia looked at him with utter gratefulness and admiration that Bill's heart threatened to tear in half. It made every second worth it. He had come through to her. It would take more than one talk to convince her to leave Isaac, but it was a start.
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within hearts || b. skarsgård
Fanfiction»i won't give up on you. no matter how many obstacles are thrown our way, i'll always be by your side.« - - - »danish is not a language, it's a throat condition« ________________________________________ or, in which a swede and a dane fal...
