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Work Song— Hozier
•••
"Why are you being so impossible, huh?" Laura whines, nudging my shoulder as we make it to the front steps. I bite my tongue and ignore her question. Opening the door, I close it behind me without letting Laura inside, then dash to my room after taking off my shoes. My mother calls for me, but I lock my door and crawl under my bed without responding. I pull my phone out and scroll through the messages that Melody had sent me about an hour ago, realizing how distracted I've been since Laura arrived.

"Geez..." I hear the front door unlock, and assuming my mother will now come to my room, I bite my fist to avoid grinding my teeth any more than I've done today.

Laura sure knows how to get on my f*cking nerves.

Taking a deep breath, I rub the inner corners of my eyes and wait for my mother to barge in, but even as moments pass by, she never does. All I hear is Laura and her laughing and talking in the kitchen, which saddens me.

Didn't even come to check on me.

I roll over carefully to not hit my back against the bottom of my bed, but unfortunately hit my head in the process.

"Ow..."

This is a pain in the a*s.

"Might sneak out, I don't know," I say to myself, laughing softly. "Wait... maybe I should." Squinting my eyes and scrunching my lips, I seriously consider slipping away while my mother and Laura are chatting all the oxygen out of their lungs.

I'll probably get caught, though... but maybe I could go see Billie...

I gasp, remembering that I forgot to ask for her number.

And I forgot to tell her about Jenny! Damn it.

My hands find themselves tangled in my hair, pulling softly at the roots. One hand slowly reaches for my nape, then rips out a short strand.

Alright, I think I'm gonna sneak out.

I grab a jacket and push my arms through the sleeves.

This is probably gonna backfire, to be honest.

I continue anyway, picking up my phone and shoving it into my pocket. Grabbing shoes from the rack, I tiptoe into the backyard that, thankfully, has a gate that leads outside. With the constant howls of laughter from my mother, a tiny vein practically pops in my forehead, so I hurry my pace and slowly close the gate behind me.

She won't notice I'm gone, right? With Laura there and all, how could she?

A little hop in my step keeps my shaky nerves from overriding. I take in the air and hope that my mother doesn't drag me back home by the collar of my shirt.

"I hope Billie's available..." I mutter and make a turn. "I'll make sure to ask for her number this time."

As I continue, my mind begins to wander to earlier today when I was cleaning Billie's cut on her cheek.

Her freckles... goodness. And her blue eyes. Her blushing face.

My face starts to heat up, so I take my face into my hands to pull back my creeping smile.

She's just so pretty...

Taking my headphones from my pocket and pushing them into my ears, I start playing music as loudly as I can.

I have to stop thinking about her like that. Though...

"Ah, this is annoying," I groan, taking steps at the beat of the song playing. Throwing my head back, my arms circle around my stomach as my gaze admires the sky.

–Billie's POV–

"I get it, Finneas," I say, subtly rolling my eyes.

I'm not stupid, geez.

"No, I don't think you do."

"What's there to not get? I hate her as much as you do. If not more." I sigh, feeling that pent-up frustration start to boil. Finneas crosses his arms and chuckles.

"I don't want you going anywhere near Jenny, got it?"

"I swear, Finneas. Do you think I'm going to just prance back over to her and let her trick me again? I'm not stupid," I say with a little more anger in my tone.

"Who knows. You're not exactly great at keeping your word."

My eyebrows furrow and I lurch forward over the table. "What's that supposed to mean? When—"

"Your new friend," Finneas takes a step forward and leans his hands against the table. "Don't think I trust her already."

"Man, I knew your apology was bullsh*t," I scoff and shake my head. "Did you honestly think that I'd stay away from people for the rest of my life or something?"

"No, but I thought that maybe I could get you out of this sh*t place before you'd start making friends again," he says, clearly holding back his rage.

Get me out of this place?

"You don't get to decide if I leave this place or not, got it? What, did you think mom and dad would just let you take me?"

"Oh, please. They're never home. I'd be doing them a favor. They could work and work without having to worry about you being home alone."

We both remain silent for a while. The sound of Shark and Pepper barking at each other in the background wouldn't make our locked stares waver.

I'm not going to let him keep making decisions for me.

"I think I'm going for a walk," I say, but I don't move until Finneas pushes himself back from the table and runs his fingers tightly through his hair. He nods slightly, then walks over to his room, slamming the door behind him.

I point my middle finger toward his bedroom door.

A**hole.

Sighing, I slip on my shoes and start to unlock the door. Meanwhile, I mutter swear words directed at my brother to try and clear my chest of its tight anger.

As I close the door behind me, someone's presence behind me makes me freeze. I look over my shoulder and notice Ash standing awkwardly at the end of the steps. I turn around, already feeling my anger start to morph into another specific emotion.

"Hi..." She half-smiles, hiding one foot behind the other. Words claw at my throat, but it grows dryer by the second. I cough softly and let go of the doorknob to walk over to her.

"Hey..."

"Are you okay?" She clears her throat uncomfortably, causing a wave of worry to wash over my spine.

She didn't hear us arguing, did she?

"I'm fine. What are you doing here?" I ask and hope that she'll change the subject. She raises her brows and looks down for a second.

"I... I think I...." she stops and looks around before chuckling softly. "I think I missed you."

My brows shoot up and, I'm sure, a red blush instantly rushed up my skin. "Oh..." I consider my words as my heart skips a beat.

Huh?

"I think I missed you too," I say, surprising myself.

Oh, God.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait but here y'all go💋

Also, y'all who read/write number boy x Billie stories are weird 😐 like..... did we not watch the same doc or.....