ꜱᴡᴇᴇᴛ ʜᴏᴍᴇ ⇴ ᴛᴠᴅ ² ✓

twenty two

Billie quickly slammed the door shut again. The apartment was dead silent. 

A nursery? No, that can't have been right.

The clairvoyant shyly inched the door open again with shaking digits, only to hastily slam it shut once more.

It was a nursery.

Billie rested her quivering hands on her hips, head falling back to rest on her neck as she closed her eyes facing the ceiling. This can't be happening. A baby? Seriously?

She huffed stubbornly, instinct guiding her to the rooftop so she could take a minute to think. Only, when her hand reached to the doorknob again, Billie instantly recoiled it back to her side. She couldn't even go to the rooftop without being in there.

In an angry haze, she ripped her sunglasses off, immediately hit with the naturally lighted space. Her eyes quickly squinted in response, frantically moving to put the glasses back on before she was hit with all the hues of clairvoyance.

Billie groaned out loud. She hadn't had very high expectations for her visit, but it certainly wasn't turning out like she'd thought.

After a good ten minutes of restless pacing around the vast space, collapsing on the stiff couch to watch TV for another hour, playing a meaningless and time wasting game of ping pong against herself and bowling on the Wii, Billie took a look around the apartment with tired eyes. 

It had taken her less than two hours in the place to get bored of it all over again.

Just like old times.

⇴

Billie patted her hair semi-dry, wet strands falling around her face attractively for once in her life. She turned longingly to the huge shower, eyeing the multiple showerheads that sprouted water to converge in the centre. It was one of the things she'd missed the most of her home here.

That damn shower, it was nothing short of heavenly.

She wrapped her body in a towel, the fluffy white material falling to her mid thigh. Fitting into slippers that waited neatly beside the door, Billie trudged leisurely out of the foggy, warm bathroom, sliding her feet as she walked, fluidly placing her sunglasses back over her eyes. 

She was here on vacation after all.

How long would they take before they came back? As far as she remembered, their hours were mostly quite spontaneous, although they never left later than ten in the morning, they often returned at sporadic times throughout the day.

A shotgun cocked square in her face.

Billie almost tripped over her slippers as she slid to an abrupt halt, eyes widening massively in the face of the weapon. A second passed before a deep sigh sounded from behind the trigger and she no longer faced a loaded barrel, but the face of her disappointed mother.

Billie did not move for several seconds and she was entirely unsure if it was because of the earlier prospect of getting her head blown off, or the sight of Cara. "Billie what the hell are you doing here?" Cara sighed once again, resting the shotgun casually over her shoulder as the sound of the elevator dinging caught her ears.

Harper slowly composed herself, crossing her arms over her chest protectively as she nodded to the woman curtly. "Gee golly, I missed you too, mom." She uttered sarcastically, so internally proud of herself for speaking like that. The old Billie would have never taken that tone with her mother, but she wasn't that girl anymore.

Cara rolled her eyes in annoyance, casually calling over her shoulder to her husband who was most likely in the kitchen. "Noah, Billie's here." Billie could feel the confused silence radiating from the other side of the apartment.

Billie frowned in confusion as she observed the shotgun leaning on her shoulder. She reached over to try and touch it, but Cara instantly slapped her hand away and Billie massaged it with a soft 'ow'. 

"Since when did we have a shotgun in the house?" She finally questioned the woman, being almost immediately dismissed. 

Her father's voice rang out eventually. "Billie?"

"None of your business, girl." Cara replied to her easily, turning her back as she left to presumably put away the deadly weapon. Billie frowned, following her for a moment, wanting to know where she kept it, before Noah Harper turned the corner, a half eaten donut in his hands.

"Billie, what the hell are you doing here?" Noah's reaction mirrored his wife's reaction as he observed Billie for the first time in months. Cara reappeared without the gun, leaning against a wall with crossed arms to hear her awaited response.

Billie smiled charmingly as she began. "Would you believe me if I told you I was homesick?"

Cara scoffed, turning around once again, already tired of her, closely followed by Noah. Billie threw her arms up in offence, quickly moving behind them. "What, you guys didn't even miss me a little?"

Cara cocked her head to the side as they entered the living room, as though in thought for a moment. "Not even in the slightest."

Billie gasped out dramatically, knowing her behaviour was slowly getting on their nerves but not giving enough of a rat's ass to change it. She didn't respond with words, only repeating Cara's spiteful words to her in a childish tone that made her laugh at herself.

Cara turned to glare at her daughter as she picked up a black case from beside the door, quickly redirecting her murderous look to Noah, who was oddly quiet since Billie's return. "I told you we should have changed the locks."

Noah, met her eyes as he sat in front of the flatscreen. "Oh well good for you." Before the man could turn on the TV with the remote in his hands, it was ripped away by his wife as she gestured towards the office. He sighed as he rose from the couch, casting an unreadable look Billie's way.

She watched them go, leaving her alone in the living room and hearing the heavy oak door to the office close down the hall.

Billie hummed to herself, joining her hands in front of her as she looked out to the empty expanse. "I think that went pretty well."