Taste of your medicine

Chapter Ten

For Diana, it felt as though they had gone two steps back. Like the change she thought she saw in Billie was a temporary pretense.

Her investment in their relationship was disintegrating.

She remembers when they first landed back in LA, when Billie wouldn't shut up about their future plans. She would speak about taking her out on dates and vacations trips. She spoke with such ambition and sincerity.

The only version of a date Diana got was a dinner with her parents the very next day. This time, Finneas and Claudia were present as well. And Billie's parents, as always, didn't forget to bring their bitterness with them.

"I knew the two of you wouldn't last a week." was Maggie's starting line to the conversation the moment Diana and Billie showed up fashionably late to the dinner.

Billie turned to her brother immediately. "Really?"

"They asked." Finneas shrugged.

"I told him not to." said Claudia.

Billie resisted the urge to ask her to shut up, instead turning her attention to her menacing two year old, who took the opportunity to grab the bread neatly placed in the middle of the table and crush it into peaces.

"The problem, Billie, is that you refuse to listen, you always have. Your father and I told you a long time ago to find a nice girl, not a mistress with promiscuous tendencies." her mother began. "Having a child with her, now that, I won't even get into."

Finneas clears his throat. "That's a little harsh-"

"The truth is harsh, son." Maggie interrupted. "She isn't at all cautious of the people she welcomes into this family." she turns to face Billie. "Why can't you just be more like your brother? He's getting married to a nice girl, who's employed, and not ten years older than him."

Diana frowned at the over exagerrating of the age gap. She wondered why it was that Billie and Finneas still spoke to their parents, especially Billie. Finneas was favored, she on the other hand was blatantly despised.

Maybe it was that she needed their love and their support, hoped that one day she may recieve it. But that was simply wishful thinking. They would never love her, let alone accept her.

When a tense silence overtook the room, Claudia decided to change the subject.

"Diana, I was actually going wedding dress shopping tomorrow, could you come with? You know just for a second opinion. My mom won't be flying from Chicago until a few days before the wedding."

Diana smiles. "I'd be honored, Claudia."

"I won't be busy tomorrow, Claudia, why don't I join you both?" Maggie asked.

Claudia tensed. "Uhm.."

"She doesn't want your uptight ass criticizing every little thing as if you're going to be the one walking down the isle."

Maggie directed a scowl at Billie. "She would appreciate my judgement, unlike you."

"She is not going to play the daughter you wish you had, mom, nobody would willingly sign up to be related to you."

"Why don't you focus on your crumbling relationship."

"Why don't you focus on your miserable life instead of poking your nose in your kids'-"

"Enough!" Patrick spoke for the first time. Rarely did he ever care to even give an opinion, but at times when his wife wasn't winning, he'd but in as the backup. "Don't speak to your mother that way."

"Fuck off, dad-"

"Billie." Finneas gasped.

"You can fuck off, too." she spat."

"Language." Diana mumbled, taking Ava from Billie's arms.

Poor Claudia was awkwardly nibbling on her bread, unaccustomed to the family fights that, unbeknownst to her, were pretty consistent.

"Can we please have a peaceful conversation?" Finneas requested in held back frustration. "I'm getting married, and I would like my family to be happy for me, instead of fighting like cats and dogs."

His sister scoffs. "Don't you get enough attention?"

"That's because he's obedient."

"If obedience means being your puppet, I'd rather be the fucking black sheep, mom."

"Well then stop complaining about it."

Finneas let out a groan, looking between his mother and sister. "Seriously, you two, enough."

Another silence took over, it seemed like the only way for there to be peace between the relatives.

If Claudia and Finneas wanted a peaceful wedding they would have to keep Billie away from her parents.

"It's no wonder that woman won't marry you." Maggie mumbled. "I mean, who would?"

There were plenty of words Billie could count that her mother said to hurt her, from the moment she was born until now. Yet those words, were by far the worst. Because they implied that no one would love her.

Seeing as her parents couldn't love her, it only made sense that an outsider couldn't either.

She didn't attempt to say anything that would hurt her mother, it wouldn't do anything to erase the truth.

Diana on the other hand, had a lot to say to Maggie, that she summed up into simpler form, "You are a horrible mother."

She didn't care what Maggie's response would be after that. Instead she got up from the table, patting Billie on the shoulder to tell her that they should go.

Maybe Billie was so adamant on marrying her to prove her parents wrong. To show them that she can be loved, and that she deserved to be.

But even with that knowledge, Diana couldn't agree on marriage. It was too big of a step to take for the spiteful reason of proving her parents wrong.

When they got home, Billie headed straight for the guest room she had been sleeping in these days, having been awfully quiet in the car. Diana's never seen her that distressed, it was concerning.

After putting Ava to bed she went to the room to go check on her. She knocked on the door first, and when she heard a faint "come in" she opened it.

Billie had her phone in her hand, laying on her back.

"Are you okay?" Diana asks, letting herself into the room.

"She's said worst, trust me. Besides, it's true."

Diana frowned. "It's not true."

"Right." she smiles, unconvinced.

Diana sits down on the bed beside her, placing a soft hand on her cheek. Billie slightly moved away, rejecting the affectionate touch.

"I would marry you." Diana said, and for a moment Billie's eyes sparkled with hope. "But not yet."

The hope dies. "When?"

"When we're ready."

"I'm ready. I know I don't want anybody else. And if you knew that, we wouldn't have to do all this waiting."

The woman sighs. "I love you.."

"Don't." Billie pushes her hand away. "I'm really not in the mood for your pity 'I love yous'."

"It's not pity. I love you, Billie." she brings her hand back to her cheek, caressing it softly.

Billie's eyes shut, and before she could even think about it, her lips are on Diana's, moving passionately. She pulls the woman into her arms, wrapping her arms around her waist.

Diana brings her hands down Billie's body, passed her stomach until she was gripping her hard.

A gasp escaped Billie's throat, the first of many for that night.