ꜱᴡᴇᴇᴛ ʜᴏᴍᴇ ⇴ ᴛᴠᴅ ² ✓

ten

One thing Billie really had never missed about Georgie's apartment was her sinkhole of a sofa. She'd told her it had been her aunt's very first piece of furniture she'd ever bought back when she was a freshman in college.

Georgie used to have the cutest little sigh of happiness every time she crumpled into the dilapidated couch, the air of her youth and the memories that came with it clouding over her when she sat. 

Billie knew the couch as her bed for the time she'd stayed in Mystic Falls. It was where she woke up every morning and the last thing she collapsed in every night. The piece of crap had really wormed it's way into her heart. Georgie had even kept that thin, blue, cotton blanket she'd given her when she'd arrived, draped over the side, even though the colours didn't match in the slightest and looked nothing short of horrendous put together.

But in Billie's time away, she had somehow forgotten of the sofa's shortcomings, and when she came to sit down to watch a little tv before Georgie came, the full bowl of cereal in her hands tumbled all over her and Billie yelped in horror as her breakfast seeped into the nooks and crannies of her clothing.

Jumping up off the brown monstrosity would have been simpler had she not been buried so far in, allowing the milk to spread on her clothes, a little bit dripping onto the couch. "Oh come on!" She cried out in frustration, heaving herself up finally, mourning for the food she'd looked forward to eating.

The sound of the front door shutting to her left alerted Billie to another's presence and she whipped her head away from the mess to see her aunt, same bulky white sneakers, baggy clothes and tired expression as the last time she'd seen her.

They both stilled and Billie became overly aware of the obnoxious dripping noise made by the milk falling off her body. 

"Surprise..." Harper threw out enthusiastic jazz hands, despite the mess she'd been caught in and Georgie laughed brightly, wavy blonde locks shaking with her mirth. Georgie took a look at the scene, eyes lingering for a moment on the small dark spots staining her precious couch. 

"Oh, poor Tony, look he's got milk on him." She gestured, whining in feigned sadness as though the couch had died. 

Billie scoffed, radiant smile still on. "He'll be fine, I'm sure he's been through worse." She looked pointedly at Georgie, well aware the couch had experienced as much shit as her aunt. 

Georgie shrugged in agreement. "You're not wrong." She admitted, eyes falling on her niece again, twinkling happily. Billie caught her blue gaze, placing milky hands on her hips sternly. "What you're not gonna give me a hug? You haven't seen me all summer!" She exclaimed, a twinkle of mischief to her eyes.

Georgie backed away immediately thoughts of Tony the couch long forgotten. "I didn't see you for seventeen years, one summer wasn't so bad." She stammered out, reminding Billie immediately of herself.

Billie quickly closed the space between them, tackling her blonde aunt in a tight hug, her cinnamon scent overwhelming Billie with a calm she hadn't felt in an embarrassingly long time. The blonde yelped in shock, squealing with discomfort at the feeling of soggy clothes and wet cereal on her. The clairvoyant broke into laughter at the gesture and her aunt soon joined her, wrapping her arms around Billie securely.

"I missed you too Billie."

⇴

"How long have you been seventeen?"

"A while."

Billie sat at one end of the couch, sharing a bowl of popcorn with Georgie. Although the blonde had been up for hours on a night shift, she refused to sleep, wanting to spend time with her niece for once, so Billie had taken a quick shower and joined her in the living room once again for some quality time. Of all the movies that flitted past her eyes as Billie browsed the catalogue, Twilight was the one that caught her attention, making her smirk in amusement as she put on the classic for them to watch at half ten in the morning on a Monday.

Harper kept a hand over her lips as she watched, fighting the laugh that threatened to belt out of her grinning lips at the corny scene. Although she undoubtedly had respect for the classic because ultimately, that's what it was, she really couldn't help but want to delete her memory after some scenes.

She slapped her hands onto her thighs suddenly rising from the couch to head to the bathroom, shamelessly interrupting the movie to announce it as though it were the highlight of her day.

As Billie washed her hands in the sink, she caught her appearance in the mirror above the basin, sighing quietly. She barely recognised herself. The tan of travelling through southern states reflected on her usually pale skin, her dark mahogany hair now more like honey chestnut. Little freckles darted over her nose and deep bags decorated her eyes.

Billie thought she looked a bit like her aunt Georgie. She looked tired.

Turning away from the unfamiliar reflection, Billie opened the bathroom door, eyes on the head of curly blonde hair leaned against the couch. The teenager smiled softly when she realised her aunt had indeed finally fallen asleep, the movie playing in the background, covering up the space of silence and lulling Georgie further into a well deserved slumber.

Billie sighed quietly to herself. She needed the sleep, Georgie had a habit of overworking herself and it wasn't hard to notice. Fluffing out the blanket draped over Tony, Billie spread it up to the blonde's shoulders, shuffling on her boots and tiptoeing out the door again.

⇴

Billie pulled out her phone, spying the now four missed calls from Elena. She'd been shamelessly ignoring her phone calls for about an hour now, a little tired of being on everyone's speed dial for supernatural problems. 

Admittedly though, she could have used some company, it felt like the solitude was starting to eat her up from the inside. Billie found herself wanting to hop on a bus to Brooklyn without telling anyone so maybe she could enjoy her solitude in a bustling, busy city and not in a small town that reminded her of her dead boyfriend everywhere she looked.

And so, to stop herself going completely insane, Billie did what she did best. She got high.

Sitting on a park bench overlooking the town square, the clairvoyant allowed the drugs to ease through her, letting her mind bypass the memory of when she and Alex would sit on that very bench, making up a life story for every stranger that walked by.

"You really can't live without me, huh." That deep, soothing drawl spoke from her left and Billie calmly turned to view him, allowing the hallucination to make her that littlest bit happy again to see him, even if it wasn't real. 

"Seems not." She spoke out sadly, attracting the attention of a few people who looked at her strangely for talking into thin air. "Then again I was never very good at it in the first place." She remarked with a small nostalgic smile and Alex chuckled in response, arms crossed casually on his chest as he looked out into the park with fading blue eyes that couldn't focus.

"Neither was I." He admitted quietly, watching the pigeons swarm around the elderly gentlemen handing out pieces of white bread. He turned from the scene to look at her, small parts of his image blurred from the inability of Billie's inebriated mind to remember their details. "But I never had an imaginary conversation with a ghost sitting on a park bench." 

It was Billie's turn to laugh now, smile deepening the dimples in her cheeks, finding humour in a very sad situation. "You're right, I've hit rock bottom."

Alex shook his blonde head with a cute little smile, the one that she used to squeeze his chiselled cheeks for. "Nah... you've still a got a long way to go, baby."

He unfolded his arms, putting a hand on either side of his legs. Billie looked down at his large fingers, aching to thread her own through them, to hold him again. She wanted his large palm to swallow hers, to feel his warmth clawing out to her, begging for her to huddle closer.

But as she reached out her little hand, trying to place it on top of his, her black heart charred a little more when all she touched was a cold, empty park bench and his figure dissipated into the breeze, leaving her all alone again.