Coming Clean, chapter 1

"Jaime, are you sure you want to do this?" Billie Joe asked, desperately hoping that her answer would be no.

"Yeah, I am, Bill. I really need to get away from everything." And you, she silently added. She needed to go someplace where he wouldn't be able to find her. Someplace that would protect her from his vicious heartbreak. Billie obviously didn't want her, and Jaime had to accept that. But she couldn't. So it was either tell him, or leave, and she just wasn't brave enough to do either. But leaving was her only sane option.

"I still don't really understand why. You know Mike and I are always happy to let you stay with us."

"No, it has nothing to do with you," Jamie lied. "I've just got to get out of here. I think there's more to me than this town."

Billie smiled. "I think so too. But we could find it together. Let me come with you. We could go somewhere for a couple weeks. Mike too. Like a vacation, and then come back home." He realized what he was offering, but all he was looking for was anything to keep her from leaving.

"No, I've got to do this. And I've got to do it on my own. I promise I'll visit." She knew she wouldn't, though.

"Ok," he said, and that was the end of their conversation. He continued boxing up her things, her apartment slowly emptying. The only thing that was left was the closet in her bedroom.

"Hey, Billie, I'm gonna go pick up something from my mom's house, then I've got to stop by Sherry's to say goodbye. I might as well pick up something for lunch on the way back. What do you want?" Jamie asked.

"Salad, please. Do you want me to pack up the rest of your things? It won't take long."

"Um... Sure. Okay. Yeah, I'd like to get out of here as soon as I can."

Jamie left, leaving Billie sitting on her living room floor. So all that was left was the closet.

He grabbed a few boxes and dragged them into Jamie's room. The closet was mostly filled with clothes, which he folded as best he could and packed them in boxes. Near the back were a few really old looking, falling apart boxes. He carefully pulled them closer and opened them.

The first was filled completely with old photos, yellowing with age. They were all of Jamie, Billie, and Mike. Some even had Tre in them. Oh, man. She's got Tre. How come we didn't know? He thought.
Two years ago, Tre had overdosed on pills. Jamie was the one who found him dead on his bathroom floor, and she had never forgiven him for leaving her. She never fully recovered from her best friend killing himself. They put anything that reminded her of Tre into the attic, and Jamie threw everything away.

But obviously she hadn't. There were pictures of Tre along with all the pictures of the rest of them. Some pictures went as far back as when they were seven. That was fourteen years ago.

The next box had all of Tre's old things that Jamie had sworn she had thrown away. Billie Joe smiled, glad she hadn't. She had been so fucking furious with him. It was good that she hadn't hated him enough to get rid of him completely. Was this why she was leaving?

He packed up Tre's things and the pictures and pulled the third box towards him. It was full of papers. These must be her important papers, like birth certificates and bills and stuff, I thought. He began to pull them out and shuffle them into some kind of order. Near the bottom of the box were a bunch of envelopes. He picked one up and read the front. It said Billie Joe on the front. So did the next one, and the next. All of them had his name on them. He furrowed his eyebrows. Why would Jamie have a bunch of envelopes addressed to me?

Curiosity got the best of him, and he began to slit open the first envelope.