Macy

Chapter 6

True to her word Billie picked me up from town after I got my coffee every Sunday afternoon when I was done with the piano for the day.

We did the same thing, smash things in the wreckers then lay in the middle of the pitch on our backs, talking about anything that came to mind.

But Billie's still yet to talk to me at school.

She glances my way and holds eye contact but never returns the favour when I smile or even wave at her.

Even though she said we are friends I can't help but question if we really are. I'm not totally experienced in the friendship area, but I'd think that one of the criteria is to associate with them daily.

Or at least smile back.

And every once in a while, the doubt creeps into the back on my mind, making me question if she's embarrassed to be my friend at school.

But I want to give her the benefit of the doubt and ask her why she doesn't talk to me at school when the time is right.

The drive to the towns café was slow from the pelting rain. I rushed into the café after parking the truck, but that didn't save me from being semi-saturated.

"I didn't think you were going to show" Billie said as soon as I entered the café.

"I lost track of time, but I didn't think you'd show either" I told her "it's raining heavily, surely we aren't going to the wreckers"

"We aren't" she said and handed me a takeaway cup that I stared at and looked back at her "it's you order Macy, you were fifteen minutes late, so I ordered for you and was going to drop it off"

Stunned by confession I nodded and quietly took the cup from her "thanks" I smiled and took a sip, letting the coffee warm my cold body.

Wow. She even got my order right, a latte with a shot of hazelnut.

"I didn't lock up the shed because I was going to continue working" I told Billie "do you want to come with me?"

"To the church?" she asked, her eyes a little wider than their normal lazy slits.

"Yeah, the shed's got plenty of space for the two of us"

After a few moments, reluctantly Billie nodded "let's go before it gets any darker"

"Wow" said Billie when she stepped into the shed, her eyes picking apart the space "your actually good at this stuff"

"Did you think I wouldn't be?" I teased her.

"What? Oh no" she shook her head quickly, thinking she offended me "I just mean I didn't expect your wood crafting skills to be this good"

"Years of practise from when Matty and I used to build anything we could to keep ourselves entertained at home" I told her and pointed to the seat by the bench "you can sit there if you'd like, you don't have to stand"

"One time Matty and I made this huge catapult that threw vegetables into our neighbours yard. It was so bad" I laughed at the memory of the weapon we built to hit their cat "they had this cat, and it used to scratch up the back porch so Matty and I would use the catapult to launch pumpkins and potatoes at it"

"Seems like you two were little terrors" Billie said.

"Matty was, and I was just the little sister wanting to do everything her big brother was doing"

"That's exactly me with my brother. But I'm better than him at most things" she bragged with a grin.

While I got my tools together to complete the final sanding of all four legs before I put them on the piano, Billie settled into the chair and watched me work.