Going Nowhere Fast

10. Weird

I woke up in the guest bedroom at aunt Rose's. The room was painted a pale yellow and there were floral accents everywhere. If anyone could pull off old lady chic, it was Rose.

I walked down stairs when I started to smell that all-too familiar smell that reminded me of my childhood. Aunt Rose was making Oreo pancakes. I walked into the kitchen and noticed an unusually cheery looking Billie already sitting at the table with Mipsy on his lap. She kept trying to lick his face and it was making him giggle so hard. Aunt Rose was next to the stove humming to herself. The sun was shining through the light catchers in the window creating a warm glow with splashes of colorful reflections. Everything just seemed kind of perfect in that moment.

"Good morning, Scar," Billie said to me with a huge smile on his face. He'd never called me Scar before but it was really nice to see him in such a good mood.

I sat down next to Billie at the table. He immediately flashed me a large grin but it quickly faded as he started looking down at his hands. I think I just saw a glimmer of confidence in his eyes. He must've not been used to that.

Aunt Rose sat down three plates, two with Oreo pancakes and one with toast and an orange. She slid the pancakes over to us and started to peal her orange. Billie and I had already started scarfing down our pancakes when the house phone started ringing.

Billie looked at me immediately with fear in his eyes. We both turned our heads to look at aunt Rose who was already getting up from her chair. Before picking up the phone she glanced over at us and said, "Don't make a sound."

"Hello?.. Oh hi Kathy.. She did? .. No, I haven't.. Yes, I'm sure.. Another kid?.. How dangerous is he?" I looked over at Billie whose face had turned into total terror. How could anyone think this kid was capable of harming anyone? "I'll let you know if I hear anything.. You don't have to do that.. I hope you find them.. goodbye." She hung up the phone and looked over at us with a defeated expression. "I have a feeling that your mother is going to send someone to look here. She doesn't trust me enough. I'm sorry but you two have to leave as soon as possible."

I wondered if they believed anything I wrote on my letter about Billie. I told them he was innocent, but I figured I had lost all of my parent's trust by that point anyway.

---

We packed our bags rather quickly. Aunt Rose made us some sandwiches for our drive to Vancouver. She even wrote the directions to the Holiday Inn that her friend managed and gave him a call to let him know we were coming. He said we could stay for free for a week and then we had to leave. I had no idea what was going to happen after that but it seemed like we had plenty of time.

The view from the road was beautiful. I had offered to drive given Billie had driven all the way here by himself. I wasn't sure if they had any number tracking on his license plate but I figured our best bet was to park the car in a garage somewhere not too close to the hotel and walk the rest of the way on foot. Billie thought it was a good idea as well so that's what we were planning on doing granted we didn't get pulled over on our way there.

I was flicking through the radio when I heard a Panic! song start to play on one of the stations. Billie heard it too and looked at me with wild eyes. I left the station on and cranked the volume to almost max.

"BACK TO THE STREET WHERE WE BEGAN, FEELING AS GOOD AS LOVERS CAN YOU KNOW, WELL NOW WE'RE FEELING SO GOOD," we both screeched out in unison.

We kept singing until the song was over. I kept looking over at Billie, I wasn't sure what it was but something seemed different about him since yesterday. He seemed happier. Maybe he just needed to get out of that dumb little town for a bit. Either way it was nice to see him smile. He had a really handsome smile. It was just hard to tell because he always had such a blank expression on his face.

"You seem to be in a good mood today," I started.

"Yeah," he replied quietly, "Well. It's, uh.. sun," he stumbled. Was he hiding something?

"Yeah, it is sun," I responded sarcastically. "But really, what's up?"

"Nothing much, I spoke with Rose last night, we both couldn't sleep so we went outside and smoked a joint."

My eyes widened and I let out a snort, "You what?"

He let out a small laugh, "Yeah she had some real quality shit," he had a huge grin plastered on his face after hearing my reaction.

"And you didn't invite me out?" I asked kind of offended.

"It was three a.m."

"Why were you even up that late? Aren't you tired?"

"Yeah," was all he said in response. His voice sounded a little upset so I decided not to push it.

"Well next time aunt Rose offers to smoke you up I want to be invited."

"It's a deal," he said with a more cheerful tone.

That was so weird. It seemed like he was definitely hiding something. I realized that I knew very little about this kid. I didn't know who his friends were, what his interests were. I didn't even know what kind of music he was into. Though, looking at him, that one seemed more obvious but still. It made me wonder why it was so easy to trust him. It felt like I knew him but I didn't know a thing about him.

--

We finally got to the Holiday Inn which was all the way over on the west end of Vancouver. We parked the car in a parking garage about twenty minutes away, grabbed our bags, and started walking to the hotel. I only had my backpack and Billie only had a smaller duffle bag, so it wasn't too bad.

We decided to stop at this little café for dinner. We sat down in the booth and opened our menus. I still had a bunch of money so I decided to treat, but Billie objected to that notion. Why did he always have to be so considerate?

We both ordered. I got a veggie burger and a coke and he just got an order of fries and tap water. The waitress was giving us weird looks like she's never seen a ginger and an emo having a meal together. I could tell it was making Billie uncomfortable because he seemed really relived after she left with our orders.

It was perfect timing to get to know my new partner in crime a little better.

"So," I started with eagerness in my tone, "who were you friends with at school? I mean before everything happened." I realized that probably wasn't the best starter after the fact but I still wanted to know.

"I was friends with Riley and Elijah, but I don't think I am anymore." There was some real pain in his voice. Shit.

"Okay," I tried to change the subject, "what do you like to do in your free time?"

His eyes narrowed at me in suspicion. "What is this?"

"Nothing," I responded quickly, "I just want to get to know you a little better."

His face flashed a quick look of worry but he immediately switched it over to his blank expression he wore so well. "Oh, um okay. I like to listen to music. Uh, I like to draw sometimes. Oh, and uh I like to garden. What about you?"

"Me?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah, all I know about you is that you like to stalk people and you have a cool aunt." He did have a point. I didn't really tell him a lot about myself. I mean we both established our fucked-up families but other than that, I was a total stranger to him.

"I like to hang out with my friends. I like to go shopping. I like to destroy the establishment. Oh, and I like to go to concerts." I realized how boring I sounded, but his hobbies weren't exactly unique either so I figured it was fine.

"I feel like you're holding out on me here," he said with a smirk.

"You're one to talk," I retorted, "You're the one with a secret so big it made someone want to ruin your whole life!"

I should've bit my tongue. Billie's face went blank. I could tell he was putting up a mental wall. I didn't mean to bring it up, but there was definitely something he wasn't telling me, something bigger than I first realized.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sa-"

"It's fine," he said. His voice sounded stone cold.

The waitress put our food down in front of us inthat exact moment. Perfect timing.