The Innocent Can Never Last

Heartache

Emma's POV

I found Billie on the roof. He was standing as close to the edge as he could possibly get, staring straight down at the traffic in the streets below. I cautiously walked over to him and rested my hand on his arm, being careful not to startle him. "Billie..." I whispered.

He was trembling like crazy, and he also seemed to be breathing rather heavily. Not knowing what to say, I simply let my hand rest on his arm, and we stood in silence for several long minutes, as he continued to look down below. Finally, though, he spoke. "I really thought things were going to be okay with her..." he said quietly. "Things seemed to be getting better, don't you think?"
He raised his head to look at me, and I saw that his grey eyes were filled with emotion. I smiled sympathetically at him, still not knowing what to say. "I mean...I knew that she was probably seeing somebody else...but it still doesn't take any of the pain away," he whispered, as his eyes started to fill with tears.
"Of course not," I said. "You were cheated on. Lied to. Used. Of course you feel pain."
"I feel like somebody just ripped my heart out and put it in a wood chipper," Billie said, as the tears starting leaking down his face.

Billie looked back down at the pavement below, and I suddenly began to feel a bit apprehensive about being this far up, standing right on the edge of the building, with only a railing protecting me from falling over the edge. What if he tried to jump? "Billie," I said quietly, gently tugging on his shirt sleeve. "Come away from the ledge."
To my surprise, Billie simply sighed and followed me over to the doorway, where we both stopped, as I faced him and gently wiped his tears away. "In a way I'm kind of glad that it's over, because now I won't have to deal with her anymore...but I didn't want it to end this way..." he whispered, as more tears flowed freely down his face.
"Oh, Billie," I whispered, as my eyes filled with tears as well. "I don't even know what to say."
"Don't say anything, then. Just...stay," he replied. "It's comforting just having you here."
I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him close to me, as I began sobbing uncontrollably. "I'm here, Billie, I'm here," I said, as he buried his face in my neck. "I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere."
Billie didn't say anything, he just let out a shaky breath and wrapped his arms around me. After several minutes of silence, I pulled away from Billie and said, "Let's go back downstairs, okay? Everybody's probably worried sick about you."
Billie nodded, and followed me back down the stairs, looking like he just didn't have any heart left in his body.

We walked into the dressing room, where Mike, Tre, and Anastasia were all sitting on the couch, talking nervously amongst themselves, Mike and Tre both looking rather dishevelled after their fight. I couldn't imagine what I looked like. The stinging from the scratches on my arms and face hadn't got any better. As the two of us entered, Mike, Tre, and Ana all stood up quickly and walked over to us. "Thank god you found him, Emma," Mike said, throwing his arms around Billie's neck. "I'm so sorry, man."
Billie returned Mike's hug half-heartedly, all the while looking slightly bewildered. When Mike finally let go of Billie, Tre stepped forward and patted Billie on the back, looking more serious than I had ever seen him before. "Sorry, Billie," he said.
Anastasia gave Billie a sympathetic smile, one that was not returned. Instead, Billie walked over to the mini-fridge and pulled out a beer. He quickly popped it open, and took an extremely long swig from the bottle. The rest of us simply watched him in silence, all feeling the pain of our heartbroken friend, none of us quite knowing what to say. Billie threw himself down on one of the couches, looking if possible, more dejected. Tre walked over to the mini-fridge and started pulling out beers and handing them around to all of us. He offered one to me, but I declined, saying, "Somebody's got to stay sober. Not to mention we're all underage."
Tre nodded and shrugged, as I walked over and sat down next to Billie, who already had half of his beer bottle gone. I put my hand gently on his leg, and said, "It'll be okay, sweetie."
Billie gave me a puppy dog look that melted my heart, before he quickly took another swig out of his bottle. "Is there anything harder than Miller Lite around here?" he asked suddenly, causing everyone to jump a little.
"There's some tequila on the bottom shelf of the fridge," Tre replied. "But you might want to take it easy."
Ignoring Tre's comment, Billie stood up, walked over to the refridgerator, and pulled out the bottle of tequila from the bottom shelf. He returned to the couch and sat down heavily next to me. With that, he brought the bottle to his lips and took an extremely long swig from it. All I could really do was stare.