Chapter Thirty: Heart to Heart

It didn’t take long for me to catch up with Billie.

After hurriedly questioning Joe West and Nathan Bishop, I learned he was doing prefect duty in the PE department, monitoring the doors that led out onto the courts at the back of school.

I ran off before they could say anything more. By the time I reached Billie, I was out of breath and bright red in the face. I came to a sudden halt as soon as I turned the corner to where the doors were. Sure enough, he was there, talking to a gaggle of Year 7 boys who appeared to be trying to get through the door in a very slow and careful manner while he droned on. He was leaning against the doorframe, arms folded.

“...And I suppose I’m just getting mixed signals from her,” he was saying, and I felt a sinking sensation in my stomach. “I don’t know whether I should give up or not, though, I just...”

I watched as his head angled downwards even more and he glared at the Year 7s. “You can stop trying to get in,” he told them. “I had noticed what you were doing, by the way.”

That was when he seemed to notice me. He slowly stood up, his limbs loosening with the movement.

He gestured at the Year 7 boys. “Get out,” he said firmly. Despite their mutterings and complaints, they finally backed out of the doorway, allowing him to pull the door shut and lock it. Then he turned to look at me properly.

“Were you just having a heart-to-heart with some Year 7s?” I asked curiously. He shrugged.

“Someone to talk to,” he said, resting his body against the door behind him.

“Shouldn’t there be someone on duty with you?” I walked forwards and let my bag drop to the floor just next to the door, and then I mimicked his pose, leaning against the wall.

“Tyler,” he said shortly, “But I told him I wanted some time alone.”

“That doesn’t make much sense,” I objected. “You were talking to those boys.”

“Yeah, well.” He rubbed the back of his neck, looking uncomfortable. “That just kind of happened, it wasn’t intentional.” He glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes. “I still want t be alone.”

“Oh, Billie.” I bit my lip, pushing off the wall and moving around so I was stood in front of him. “I –”

Billie held up his hand, shaking his head. “Don’t. I’m fine. Really.” He sighed. “What did you want, anyway?”

“I told you before – I want to talk.”

Billie sighed again, but this time the sigh was heavy. “I kind of knew this was coming,” he muttered. “Might as well get it out of the way. Look, I’m sorry.”

I frowned, incredulous. “You’re sorry? Why are you sorry?”

“I’m sorry if I’ve made you feel uncomfortable or awkward lately,” he explained, rubbing the back of his neck. “Honestly. I guess I just kind of misread you, misunderstood what was going on. I mean, even though we...I thought we’d sorted everything out. I thought you had – but, eh, maybe I was wrong.”

“Billie –”

“It’s just – shit, Nerys. I like you. And I have done for ages.” His hand passed over his face and he looked at the ceiling. “I noticed you in France, you see – not with that incident with the shark tank, before that. I guess that’s why I did it – to get your attention. And it worked, but it backfired on me, because now you can’t stand me – or that’s what it feels like.”

I took another step towards him, but he didn’t look at me; his eyes were still fixed upon the ceiling.

“See, I just couldn’t bring myself to leave you alone, even if I was just annoying you. And then, you kissed me at the cinema, and I thought...I don’t know what I thought. I just decided to keep up the charade of you being my girlfriend. You know, I don’t even know if I was just trying to help you see me in a better light, or...” He trailed off. “Now I’m rambling. Shit. This wasn’t supposed to come out like this.”

His hand reached up, running through his hair as he pursed his lips. The expression upon his face amused me but I didn’t dare laugh.

“I thought you liked me too. I guess I was wrong...” He looked down at me, a morose expression on his face. “But – but if you’re with Antal –” when he spoke the name, his eyes grew momentarily angry “ – then, I suppose I have to be happy for you both because...it makes you happy and I can’t really argue with that, can I?”

He cocked his head to one side, expectant of my answer.

I took a deep breath. I shook my head. “Oh, Billie,” I repeated, voice a whisper. “You idiot.”

Billie glared, offended. “What?” he growled. “I’ve just told you how I feel and you call me an idiot?”

I nodded in confirmation. “Because you are an idiot,” I told him.

He opened his mouth to angrily retort, but I cut him off before he could speak by rising onto my tiptoes and pressing my lips to his in a quick kiss.

I pulled away, feeling embarrassed.

“Um,” I mumbled, stepping away from him. “You’re wrong,” I said, a little bit sheepishly. “I, um, I do like you.”

In a very, very quick movement, Billie touched his lips, before dropping his hand back down to his side. His eyes narrowed. “What about Antal?” he asked.

I felt my face heat up. I felt embarrassed. “I was wrong about Antal,” I admitted. “Me...Liking him, and this whole Valentine’s Day thing was just – just my way of denying the fact I didn’t like you. I mean – I shouldn’t like you. Not in a Romeo and Juliet feuding families kind of way – I shouldn’t like you because you’re Billie Winters and I punched you in the face and you get on my nerves. Admitting that I like you to myself is like admitting maybe I was wrong for not liking you in the first place.” I paused. “Am I making any sense?”

“Not really,” he laughed. I smiled.

“But my point is,” I continued, “Is that I do like you. In fact, you owe this to Antal. Seriously. He basically told me to come and tell you that I like you.”

“Really?” Billie pushed himself off the door, stepping close to me. I nodded.

“Yep,” I said, softly. The bell went, signalling the end of break.

“Hmm.” Billie lowered his face. “He’s quite smart then, that Antal?”

“Of course.”

His mouth moved closer to mine, and then the doors we were stood in front of began to shake as people tried to get in, waiting for us to turn and unlock the door.

Billie stuck his middle finger up at them.

And then he kissed me, properly this time, and it seemed to go on and on and on and I immediately felt happy and content, stood there in the circle of his arms. Everything was all right.

A/N: Finally.

I’m sorry the chapter is so short. I tried to make it longer by adding some stuff in but it wasn’t working for me, so I just left it at this.

I’m not sure when the next chapter will be up. We’re kind of coming to a close now, but I need to step back and think about how I’m going to end this. Even though the basic story is finished, I’m still wondering about Glyn and how I’m going to wrap things up with that. I had some ideas originally but I scrapped them, so I need to think about him.

Apart from that...I hope this was a good chapter.

Please review!