Call It What You Like - I Don't Care, chapter 16

I pressed my ear against the wood of Billie Joe's bedroom door; I couldn't hear him snoring so I knew he was awake. I knocked lightly on the door, my breath hitching as I heard him sit up in bed.

"Billie Joe?" I called quietly. I heard him stand up and walk over to the door. He slowly opened it and stood in the doorway.

"What?"

I swallowed and replied, "Billie Joe about before... "

"Don't worry Bella, I get it and I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"Billie... "

"I don't really care anymore Bella." He said firmly, closing the door in my face.

As soon as I heard him flop back down on the bed I felt the tears welling up in my eyes. I quickly walked back into my room and shut the door. Laying face down on the bed, I finally let it all out. I cried and cried for over an hour until I couldn't cry anymore. With that I stood up, went to the bathroom, got changed and curled up in bed without even having something to eat first.

***

The next morning I awoke to the sound of Tre's voice yelling at Billie to get out of bed.

"WHAT THE FUCK TRE?"

"COME ON! WE HAVE AN INTERVIEW TODAY!" Tre screamed.

For a moment there was silence, and then... "COME ON BITCH! WE HAVE TO GO!" There was a loud thump which I guessed was from Tre. I quickly jumped out of bed and tip-toed down the hallway and pressed my ear against the door.

"Fuck you Bill that hurt."

"Well you should have just tried the phone fuckwit."

"Well I knew what kind of a mood you might be in so I decided that this was more of a foolproof plan."

"What do you mean?"

"Well I just figured that if Bella wasn't in the bed with you then you obviously didn't make up and you wouldn't be in a good enough mood to pick up the phone, but if she WAS is in the bed with you then you wouldn't WANT to pick up the phone.

"How do you know what happened?" Billie asked quietly.

"After you ran upstairs crying like a girl, Bella needed some one to talk to so she rang me and told me everything." Tre explained.

"And you said what...?" Billie Joe asked.

"I, um, kinda told her that she should either ditch you or say she could stay. And I thought she was going to say she she'd stay but obviously not. " Tre trailed off and I hear Billie take a deep breath before speaking.

"I didn't talk to her." There was silence for about 30 seconds before Tre broke it,

"Can I ask why?" he asked aggressively.

"I thought she was gonna leave me... I didn't want to know if she was, so I just told her I didn't care and I just shut the door before she said anything... "

"Billie Joe you're an idiot sometimes; she was probably going to apologize anyway, and you kinda ruined it."

"But you don't really know for sure that she was. She did sound pretty serious when she said she had to leave."

"She sounded pretty serious when she left before."

After that I heard Billie Joe go into his walk in wardrobe and pick out some clothes, he shut the door and got changed. "So what's this interview for again?" he asked as he opened the door again.

"A magazine...I can't remember which one. I think it's one of those stupid pop magazines that 10 year old girls read." Tre replied.

"Useful aren't you?" Billie Joe said sarcastically, walking into the bathroom with Tre following him. The next part of their already quiet conversation was drowned out by the low buzzing of Billie Joe's electric razor, but I was pretty sure I caught my name more than once.

"Billie Joe you spend nearly as much time on your hair than I do," Tre pointed out.

"Who cares?" Billie Joe asked, "I could just spend the entire morning doing my hair and makeup, trying to make myself look good so I can have some twenty year old girl ask me stupid questions about why I even wear makeup... Remember that stupid TV Hits or whatever the fuck it was that time... "Is it to prove that you're punk."?"

You're in a good mood this morning aren't you?" Tre asked.

"I just got dumped and then completely killed the opportunity to fix thing anything... You'd be pissed off too." Billie Joe muttered, dropping something on the tiled floor, "Ah fuck it," He said.

"Come on Bill, you look fine, ok? Now get that sexy ass moving!" Tre practically screamed at Billie Joe. "And you should probably have some breakfast 'cause I know you wouldn't have eaten anything last night."

"I don't need anything... I had some dinner last night," Billie Joe said.

"Bullshit, I'll go make you something while you make yourself beautiful," Tre said walking quickly towards the door.

SHIT, that gave me about 3 seconds to move. I turned around and lightly ran down the hallway and through myself into my room just as Tre opened the door to Billie Joe's room.

I quietly pulled the door almost shut as Tre began to walk slowly down the hallway. I think he knew I was there. I held my breath as he walked past my door. I heard his footsteps stop right near the door and I suddenly realized what he was doing; the son of a bitch was listening for my snoring. Without warning the door flew open and I nearly screamed but held it in because I didn't want Billie Joe to know I had been listening.

"Knew you'd be listening," he said, quietly shutting the door behind him as he walked in and sat on my bed. I didn't say anything so he kept going.

"He's really fucked up Bella... From what I can tell he's probably been crying all night and that's very un-like Billie... And it's even more un-like Billie to not want to eat," He said seriously. All I could do was look down guiltily.So Tre pressed on, "Can I just ask you one thing before I go?" Without waiting for a reply he went on, "When you went to talk to him yesterday what were you going to say?"

I lifted my head so that my eyes met his but quickly darted my eyes back down, "I was just going to try and end things on at least slightly better terms," I mumbled.

"Bella, not to be rude but Billie is one of the best things that has ever happened to you and don't deny it. You really are an idiot." With that he walked out and went to get Billie Joe some breakfast. Just as he was about to open the door I thought I heard light, quick footsteps going into the room next to the one I was in but I decided that I had just imagined it.

Billie Joe's P.O.V

Well, I've heard enough...I was, officially an ex-boyfriend...again...


I just couldn't seem to hold relationships, I mean, I thought I'd be with Adie until the day I died but we just started growing away from each other. I was pretty miserable for a while but I had Mike and Tre there for me,but now not even my friendship with Mike was falling apart. I hadn't had a proper conversation with him for ages. I guess it was just me and Tre at the moment but even he seemed to be keeping something to himself.

Oh well...I'll get over it...hopefully.

I walked into the kitchen and ate some breakfast. Surprisingly, Tre CAN cook.

***

The interview was fairly normal; a young woman was batting her eyelids and asking stupid questions that have been answered about a million times before. The only strange thing was that Mike showed up fifteen minutes late... Usually it was me or Tre that was late.

Once we finished the interview we went and got coffee and talked about some stuff. I told Mike about what was going on... He to felt sorry for me and said he was sorry that he wasn't there this morning but he also seemed to think that Bella would 'come to her senses' as he had phrased it. That made me feel a bit better but I knew it was just false comfort.

She was leaving. All the time that we were talking I had a feeling that they were both keeping things from me. Which was weird because we always told each other everything.

Once we got up to leave the Café Tre finally decided to remember that we were supposed to be at a photo shoot in about 5 minutes. We got a cab and went straight to the studio, running inside 10 minutes late. As soon as we entered we were dragged in by a bunch of people who instantly shoved us into chairs and did our hair and makeup.

The photo shoot cheered me up a little bit. Tre being Tre always made those kind of dull annoying things loads of fun. We got one really nice shot of him kissing Mike and then the shot after that Tre pinned to the ground with Mike's hands around his throat. In all, fairly interesting, but eventually it had to stop.

Mike said goodbye and left while me and Tre talked for a few minutes longer.

"You were listening this morning weren't you?" Tre asked me.

"Yeah... "

"Well she was listening to us... "

"You mean he heard what I said about... " I was cut off by Tre.

"No, she didn't actually hear that because you had your razor turned on... But she heard everything else."

"Right... Wonderful," I muttered, "I'm going home now, see ya... I dunno when but anyway."

"Right, see ya Bill."

I walked down the street and got a cab into town. It was only 5:30 and I didn't really want to be home alone with Bella. I went to one of my favourite bars and ordered a beer. I sat down on one of the stools and made small talk with some of the guys sitting near me. I managed to down the beer in less than a minute... So I ordered another, and then another, and another.

I wasn't trying to get drunk but after a few hours I'd had more than enough to drink and I was sitting at the bar, openly telling the bar tender about all of my problems. After a while the guy took pity on me and called a cab for me. I handed over the money for the beer and walked out.

***

I woke up the next morning with a pounding headache and a very week stomach. I got up and stumbled into the bathroom and promptly vomited my guts out. After I finished and rinsed my mouth out I walked back into my bedroom and sat down on my bed. It was then that I noticed a small glass of water with some asprin next to it. Tre must be here.

I swallowed the pills then went down the hallway into the kitchen. I walked all around the house but Tre was nowhere to be found. I looked up at the clock and noticed that it was only seven in the morning. I groaned and flopped down on the lounge. A moment later the cordless phone, which happened to be right next to my head, started ringing. I grabbed it and checked the caller ID: Tre.

"Go away," I groaned.

"Heya Billie how's your hangover?" Tre asked cheerfully.

"Have you already been here?" I asked.

"No... It's just that Bella rang at about ten last night and asked me if I knew where you were... So I'm guessing you got fairly pissed?" Tre said.

"She rang you?"

"Yes... She was worried because you weren't home... And I talked to her about 5 minutes ago as well."

"You guys talk to each other heaps."

"Yeah well, she's really cool to talk to and by the way rest assured you didn't say anything you regret last night... Well from what Bella said you didn't actually say anything last night... You just sort of passed out on her and she had to drag you upstairs." Tre said.

"Okay... "

"Anyway, I gotta go now, Frankito's being typical, so I'll see you later."

"Ok, see ya," I replied.

I walked back upstairs and went to sleep for another hour or so. When I got up again I went downstairs to have some breakfast but I stopped in the doorway of the lounge room when I heard voices coming from the kitchen.

Bella's P.O.V

I was in the kitchen eating breakfast and talking to Tre on my mobile, I had it on speaker so I didn't have to bother holding it. New technology is designed to make people lazy asses.

"So anyway, how's sleeping beauty fairing?"

"Sleeping beauty?" I snorted, "I dunno, to my knowledge he's sleeping, which makes sense."

"You're in a really weird mood. You were earlier his morning too."

"How do you mean?" I asked him.

"Well, yesterday you were crying your eyes out and today, well you're not happy. Well actually you seem kinda depressed but you're in a weird mood, and you helped Billie Joe when he was pissed last night.

"I um, I... " I stuttered, "I had a call from my mum last night... "

"Really? Why?"

"Um... She wanted me to know that she never wants me to come home again, and then I got a call saying I've been offered a job as a lawyer here." I said, slightly nervously.

"Oh my God..." Tre muttered. "Please tell me you're taking it! PLEASE Bella tell me you're taking the job,"

I grinned at how excited he was. "I'm taking the job," I said, "But I'm still a bit upset about what happened with my family, even if they are assholes. They're still my family and I've just been officially disowned but hey, if Billie Joe's in a nice enough mood, I'm staying!" I said excitedly.

"Yeah... Have fun telling Billie Joe that you're staying. Three hours will be plenty long enough to uh, explain ... Then I'm coming over... coz I'm really bored."

"Tre you have a sick mind."

"I didn't say anything of the sort. You are the one with a sick mind 'cause that's what you want isn't it?"

"Whatever you say Tre... I'll see you later." I replied.

"Bye."

I pressed end call on my phone and got up from the table. I put my plate in the sink and walked into the lounge room only to see Billie Joe standing next to the doorway, completely frozen with an un-readable expression on his face.

Whoa. This was weird.

I looked at him nervously until I found my voice, "Well, I guess you heard enough to know what I was gonna say... " Billie Joe stared at me for a few seconds longer and then grinned and flung his arms around my back. I was taken aback for a second but then I hugged him back he planted a soft kiss on my forehead and hugged me again.

Three hours later me and Billie Joe were laying in Billie Joe's bed talking when the phone rang. Billie Joe groaned and picked it up and without even checking the caller ID he said, "What do you want Tre?" Billie Joe was silent listening to Tre for a moment then he handed the phone over to me.

"Bella?" Tre asked.

"Yeah."

"I need to tell you something important." I got up and went into the bathroom so Billie Joe couldn't hear,

"Ok, what is it?" I asked.

Tre gulped slightly then said, "Adie's pregnant."