BILLIE JEAN ( eddie munson.. ) ✔

007. Here Comes the Mirror Man..

The day was barely crawling to its afternoon exposure, yet Billie already felt out of breath entering her home and dropping the dislocated box filled with broken rocket parts beside the door. She didn't quite expect to see her boyfriend in the kitchen, but the sight was much welcomed, because it came at a moment when her heart, her mind, and even her very soul, longed for some peace.

He flashed a relieved smile towards the noise she came in with and that peacefulness made it so much easier to put behind her the stress of the morning, the unexplainable and the unexpected which already happened.

However, the sight of him also made it harder to lie that she's been thinking about Austin all the walk back. While her hands hurt from the box, she held back tears and now, they were closer than ever to bursting out of her eyes, otherwise already darker than usual due to her tiredness.

Were it not for her brother also being there, at the table with Eddie, a presence she became aware of only once hurrying to join them, she would have probably allowed herself that little moment of weakness, of collapsing and feeling the pain instead of brushing it under the mat and letting it rot under the surface. They looked happy to see her though and they seemed at peace with the time spent together too, hence the on-going card game happening on the table apparently, so Billie actively bit back her tears.

In six months of knowing each other through a relationship, Eddie never once saw his Billie Jean as concerned and as scared as she was now. The difference was stark, it was obvious.

He stood up and opened his arms to her. Billie did not approach for a hug -she knew too well the warmth was going to break down her walls quicker than she could hold on to her restraints-, but instead raised on her tiptoes and left a brief greeting kiss.

"Ew," Sam looked away. "Did you have to do that while I'm here too? That's disgusting."

"Well, I have good news," she defended herself and stepped back from Eddie.

His arms lowered back down, "You do?"

"Not necessarily the best news," she continued, already changing her approach on saying what she had to say. Billie was avoiding looking him in the eyes and Eddie furrowed his eyebrows down, slightly confused by that. Something happened, he noted. Not looking at me, her hands are shaking too... Worry built up in an uneasy amount in his chest.

"But at least now we know," Billie continued with a shrug. "It was a demon-"

"What?" Sam turned his face back towards the couple. His eyes immediately met Billie's. "Demon?"

Right. She didn't mention in the note just what sort of trouble Eddie found himself entangled into. Billie stepped away from Eddie and got in Sam's way, because one glance at his guilty-looking sister was enough to make him understand and feel the sting of terror build up in him. It made his hands ache for comfort and that comfort was on his bed, where he was aiming to run towards, until his sister blocked his way and she lowered down to be at his level.

"Let me go, I need to get the teddy bear-"

"Hey," Billie gently placed her hands on both his shoulders. "Look at me, Sam." Instinctively, he did as he was told. "You're safe. We are safe. The demon is probably gone already anyhow."

"That doesn't sound like you know for certain," his voice cried its way across stubbornness. Beside them, Eddie watched absolutely heartbroken to see the glee kid he spent the morning with around the house turn into a quivering mess.

"But I do," Billie insisted, making herself sound as confident as she could. "The demon killed someone in Eddie's house and now is gone. I just have to prove it was there in the first place so maybe my boyfriend doesn't miss another graduation." Sneaking even the slightest amusing hint to her tone calmed the waters which had been reverbing the echo of the rock of pressure which fell on Sam with the news.