𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐬

6

addy

"fine. you're mistake. what you wanna start with, why i moved here, or why i hate it here?" i ask billie.

she looks surprised at my comment. i would be too, i spoke a bit aggressively. she was pissing me off.

she gets ahold of her blank-faced demeanor one again and leans forward, ready to listen, "tell me everything."

"ok," i make myself comfortable, "i moved here from connecticut. we had a house in this small beach town, we were friends with all our neighbors. i lived in that small two bedroom house my entire life."

she listens intently.

i continue, "then, eight months ago, my dad died of lung cancer." i cut her off before she could say anything, "it was painful, it tore our family apart. he was smoker, so it was kind of inevitable. he was the one mostly raising us, mom was always off at work or some lunch with her friends. she wasn't like a bad parent or anything though. just distracted, i guess."

i bite my lip as an uncomfortable feeling washes over me. i hate opening up to people. what was it about this bitchy silver-haired girl that made me wanna tell her my life story, literally.

"mom also smokes." i take a deep breath, "the difference was that my dad wanted to quit. and every fucking time he was making decent progress, he would relapse. he told me it was hard being around my mom when she still had packs lying around, so he never made it past two weeks clean."

"why do you hate it here so much, though?"

"the longest time my dad was clean was when me, my brother, and him came out here for a week and a half to go to universal. every time i think about la i think about what could have been. he could have stayed clean if it wasn't for my fucking mom. she wasn't even making any attempt to hide it around him. she didn't give a fuck, and now he's dead. and she could be too in five years for all i know."

"that's why i don't fuck with cigs, i'm sorry andy."

there's silence for a bit while i look down at my hands, fidgeting with the hem of my blanket.

"two months. we mourned for two. fucking. months. before she met this douchebag rich guy named mark who wanted us to move here to be close to him or whatever. he's paying for all this shit." i scoff at the thought.

"eat the rich." billie says.

"for real!" i say, choking up a bit.

"come here, baby." billie pouts and pulls me into a hug.

i start to laugh under my breath at the name. baby. it caught me off guard, though i kind of liked it. i could get used to that.

"sorry if that was a lot." i say hesitantly.

she holds me tighter and mumbles quietly in my ear. "i don't mind. as long as your talking i'll listen."

a smile pulls at my lips, which she can probably feel as my face rests on her shoulder.

i hear a knock on my door which startled us, quickly pulling away from the hug.

they open the door without waiting for me to say anything. mark. he wasn't supposed to be back from his meeting until later tonight.