Only You and Me

by Janice Collins

  “I don’t know, but it really bothered me. I just haven’t said anything about how frustrated I am with this because it’s hard on Billy.”

  “But you can’t just keep holding everything back,” Kay reasoned.

  Aria sighed and shrugged as she sipped on her drink. Her gaze drifted over to where Tina was standing. That’s when she noticed Tina’s friend was watching her. He wasn’t even trying to be subtle about it any more, not that it would have mattered given how terrible he was at it. Aria drained the contents of her cup and shoved it into Kay’s hand. Enough was enough and this was just completely ridiculous. She marched right out to the balcony and stepped in front of the man.

  “Can I help you with something?” Aria stood in front of him with arms crossed and a serious look on her face. It was bad enough she had to put up with nonsense from Tina even though it had just been a couple days, but this was too much. There was no reason for her to keep her mouth shut about being stared at so shamelessly by a person she had never even met before.

  “Is there a problem?” Tina came into view as she took her place by her friend’s side.

  She was trying to come off as a friendly person. Aria wasn’t going to fall into the trap. She wasn’t going to come off as the crazy, jealous current girlfriend of someone else’s ex and end up losing her friends. She could feel the alcohol already starting to affect her. Aria looked at Tina and forced a fake smile onto her face.

  “We don’t,” Aria said before turning back to her friend and saying, “But maybe he has a problem with me. Or do you just really like my T-shirt?”

  The guy cleared his throat and looked at Tina as if Aria were behaving completely out of line when he had been the one staring at her for no reason. He wasn’t just staring at her but looked to be studying her every move.

  Aria scoffed and said, “You know what? Whatever. If this is how you want to act, I’m not even going to deal with it. So childish.” Aria stalked off and went back to find John and Billy, but saw they were no longer in the same spot.

  Instead, they had gathered around the entrance of the balcony along with Kay and had witnessed the entire exchange. Billy stood there, expressionless, looking at Aria. She had no idea what that meant so she just pushed past them and walked out of the apartment.

  This was a nightmare. She honestly thought she would be able to play it cool and had high hopes for the night running smoothly. If anything she thought she might find herself comforting Billy while calming herself down internally with reassurances that his feelings and behavior were completely understandable. Instead, she had polished off two drinks in less than two minutes and had caused a scene. This is exactly what she wants, Aria thought with disgust. She had to hand it to Tina, she hadn’t really done much yet had managed for this to be the turnout of the night. The more she thought of it, the angrier she got. After some time, Kay came out to join her in the hallway.

  “Billy thought you might not want to see him right now,” she said quietly as she leaned against the wall.

  Aria looked over at her in total confusion. “Why the hell would he think that?”

  Kay shrugged and responded, “He muttered something about this whole ordeal being his fault. I don’t know, he didn’t really clarify. He just went off with John to the room and they locked themselves in there.”

  Aria grumbled and sunk down to a crouch, burying her head in her hands. This really was a nightmare. She had no way of knowing why Billy thought she didn’t want to see him right now and she didn’t think it was the best idea to go back inside and ask. Instead, she decided to stay out in the hallway for a while and cool down.

  “You don’t have to stay out here with me.”

  Kay shrugged, “I know. But I’d rather stay her with you anyway.”

  “You know what? This is stupid. There is no reason I should have to stay out here like this. Let’s go in a get a drink.” Kay helped her up and the two of them went back into the apartment. They went back into the kitchen and fixed their drinks before stepping into the living room. Aria scanned the room and noticed Tina was nowhere to be found, but she did see her friend who was looking at her again. This time, however, he turned away when he met Aria’s gaze. She could have sworn she saw him smirk before taking a sip of his drink.

  Then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed John talking to somebody who wasn’t Billy. That’s when Aria started to feel uneasy. She set her drink down on a table and swallowed the lump in her throat. She had a nasty feeling sinking into her. She looked around and saw neither Billy nor Tina anywhere. She immediately walked off to John’s bedroom thinking maybe Billy had wanted to be alone. As she approached it, she noticed the door was ajar and she heard voices coming from inside. She paused with her hand on the doorknob debating whether to just walk in or stand outside and listen.

  She settled on the listening.

  Chapter 11

  “I told you to just leave me alone,” Aria heard Billy say. She felt her stomach sink. Who else would he be saying that if not to Tina?

  “Oh come on, Billy,” she heard Tina say much too flirtatiously. “Are you really going to tell me you don’t miss me?”

  Aria heard feet shuffling and more feet following behind.

  “Billy…”

  Aria tried to peer in through the crack in the door and was actually able to spot them. There was Billy, standing between the wall and Tina. He looked excruciatingly uncomfortable. Tina, meanwhile, was shamelessly trying to get close to him.

  She placed her hand on his shoulder and leaned in close to his ear, “Come one, Billy. Tell me you don’t still think about me. I know you can’t have replaced me with her.”

  Billy looked right into Tina’s eyes with nothing other than disgust. He placed his hand on her shoulder and pushed her away.

  “I didn’t,” he retorted, “Because what she is to me was something you could never compare to.”

  Tina scoffed and finished up her drink, tossing it off to the side.

  “I highly doubt that,” Tina said in a low voice as she charged forward and practically shoved her face against Billy’s in an attempt to kiss him. Right as he pushed her off and wiped off his lips, Aria burst into the room.

  “What the fuck do you think you’re doing here?” Aria was livid and was completely done holding back. She hadn’t been imagining the look of disappointment in Tina’s eyes when she saw her and Billy were together. Aria wasn’t wrong to think there was something off about her trying to contact Billy so insistently. None of this had been in her head.

  Tina laughed and looked at Aria with something akin to pity. She was looking at Aria as if she were a bug she could easily squash.

  “Be honest,” Tina said quietly and dangerously. She stepped close to Aria and stared her down. “Did you really ever think he was really over me? Did you really think you could pull me out of his heart?”

  Aria laughed, truly realizing how pathetic Tina was. It had been years since they broke up and she had been the one to end it. Tina had been the one who just disappeared after breaking Billy’s heart. And now she had shown up out of nowhere thinking she still had a chance with him. Whether or not Aria was in the picture, she felt sure Billy would have never gone down that road again.

  It was sad that Tina behaved this way though not nearly as sad as her actually believing it. Aria grabbed Billy’s.

  “Think whatever you want. We know what the truth is and that’s really all that matters.”

  Aria turned to head out the door and that’s when she realized most of the people at the party had gathered around to watch what was going on. Kay and John were at the front of the crowd. Kay had her arm thrown out in front of John as if she had stopped him from going in and interrupting. Aria’s heart swelled up with gratitude and she gave Kay a nod as her and Billy slipped past them.

  They went right out into the hall and stopped by the elevator. Aria pulled him into a hug. Billy relaxed in her arms. This must have been such a terrible ordeal for him. If s
he had thought it was a nightmare, she couldn’t even imagine what Billy must be feeling at that moment. She wondered how long Tina had him cornered in the room before Aria arrived.

  She ran her hand down his cheek, “why didn’t you just walk out?”

  Aria was genuinely wondering why that hadn’t been his course of action. He looked almost defeated.

  “I just couldn’t.”

  Aria pulled him back into the embrace and he nuzzled his face into her neck.

  “Can we go home now?”

  Aria nodded and told him she just wanted to let Kay and John know. Billy said he would wait outside and try to get a cab.

  She walked back into the apartment and saw Tina was sulking off in the corner of the balcony with her friend leaning back against the railing. He met Aria’s eyes and held her gaze briefly before looking down at the ground and muttering something. She saw Tina shrug. Aria shook her head to snap out of it and looked around for John and Kay. They were in the kitchen. She walked over and saw them talking quietly in the corner with their drinks in hand.

  “Hey, we’re going to head out now.”

  They both looked disappointed, but were understanding. Aria looked at John apologetically and said, “I’m so sorry for causing a scene at your party.”

  He held up his hand and shook his head. “You did no such thing. Really, don’t worry about it. I know it was definitely someone else who instigated it all. You’re not the one who should be apologizing.” He took a sip of his drink and shot a glare in Tina’s direction. “Are you okay though?”

  He looked back to Aria and waited on her answer. She nodded and reached out for Kay to get a hug. They both asked to send their goodbyes to Billy and Aria walked out feeling heavy and exhausted.

  When she stepped out onto the street she was relieved to see Billy had already hailed a cab. She slipped into the back seat and immediately leaned her head back against the headrest, letting her eyelids slide shut. They felt heavy the way they do when you feel emotionally exhausted. The silent cab ride back to their apartment went by quickly and before she knew it, she was already in her bedroom changing into her pajamas.

  Billy sat at the edge of the bed looking absent-mindedly at Aria as she changed and put her clothes away. She ended up just throwing the night’s outfit in the hamper before sitting next to Billy. She turned her head and looked at him wondering what she should do or say. Before she had a chance to act, he turned around and pulled her into a tight hug.

  “I’m sorry you had to deal with that,” he told her earnestly. He ran his hand through her hair and she could feel the rise and fall of his chest against hers with every breath he took. She wondered why he felt such a strong need to apologize, but decided against probing too much. He likely felt responsible for it at the core because Tina was his ex and it had been a very meaningful relationship.

  “It’s okay. It’s over now. Let’s just move past it and if she ever tries to pull another stunt, we’ll deal with it then.” Aria said as she rubbed his back. She pulled back to look into his eyes, “we’re going to be okay.”

  Chapter 12

  It was two weeks later and there had been no backlash from that night at John’s party or any news about Tina. It felt like things were getting back to normal, almost as if Billy would be able to forget about the whole ordeal entirely. The only thing that had started bothering Aria over the last couple days was the lack of sex in her relationship.

  She supposed she would be okay going a couple weeks without it, not that she hadn’t already, there was just something about having the dry spell now that bothered her. After being disconnected in that aspect for some time, she and Billy had found something that revived their passion.

  Rather than just revive it, Aria often thought of it as the one aspect that had been missing from her relationship and would make it stronger. They had been right in the midst of exploring BDSM play together when Tina showed up and nothing had happened since. They hadn’t even shared a heated kiss since that night. It wasn’t until now that it started to bother Aria so she decided to talk to Kay.

  “Maybe I’m overreacting,” she said after spilling out all her feelings to Kay over lunch one Saturday afternoon. It was a bright and cheery day by all accounts, save for Aria’s mood. Kay tapped her finger on the table as she processed everything Aria had just confided in her. She took a sip of her iced tea and leaned forward on her elbows.

  “I don’t think you’re overreacting,” she said. Aria felt a wave of relief wash over her. “I do think you might be taking the wrong thing away from this.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, has the thought that it has to do with Tina crossed your mind? And I don’t mean in that it has to do with her because of the incident. I mean, have you wondered if his seemingly lack of interest is related to her?”

  Aria pursed her lips and sighed. She nodded reluctantly. She was not happy to admit it, even to herself, but the thought had crossed her mind more than once since she started feeling bothered by it all.

  That had only caused her worries to increase, so she had to keep replaying Billy’s strong rejection of Tina over and over in her mind to feel reassured. There was no way he could have known Aria had been watching and acted only for her benefit. What she had secretly witnessed was real. She confessed all of this to Kay.

  “The thing is I shouldn’t have to constantly reassure myself. There’s no need to.”

  “You need to talk to Billy about this,” Kay told her. Aria sighed because she knew this was the conclusion it would come to. She didn’t want to make the same mistake as last time and end feeling worried by herself, building her fears on a foundation of nothing. She was certain there would be no accidental stumbling on a webpage this time to send her the surprising but secret message to push forward through the concern. Aria nodded and finished up her sandwich. She would talk to him as soon as she got back home.

  About an hour later, she walked into her apartment. It was quiet so she wondered if Billy was out. She went into the bedroom and found him lounging in bed reading one of his books. She leaned against the doorframe and smiled. She loved seeing him like this.

  “What’s up?” He looked up from his book and returned her smile. He took off his glasses and put them on his nightstand along with his book.

  “I need to talk to you,” Aria said as she crossed the room and sat on the bed, facing him.

  “Uh-oh,” he replied, straitening up and giving her all his attention. He didn’t look all that worried, but he did seem like he cared to hear her out.

  “We haven’t had sex since John’s party,” Aria blurted out. She bit her lower lip and shrugged. She had been hoping to handle the conversation a bit more gracefully but that wasn’t exactly her strong suit. They had been together long enough for him to know this about her. He was used to it by now. What she wasn’t expecting was for him to chuckle in response.

  “Why are you…” she trailed off, cocking her head to the side in confusion.

  “I was wondering when you would bring it up,” he admitted with his smile still in place. He looked amused and he scooted over on the bed to be closer to her. “I honestly thought you would bring it up sooner, not quite as bluntly though.”

  Aria felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment. She placed her hands over them and smiled shyly.

  “Why didn’t you say something?”

  He shrugged. “I was just curious to see what you would do.”

  “Really.”

  This wasn’t something she would put past him. He had an interesting sense of humor and curiosity and this was no exception.

  She shoved him playfully, “Ah how I missed that.”

  He winked at her as she laughed. Aria fell forward on his lap and stretched her body out on the bed.

  “I really love you,” she told him. He nodded and smiled.

  “I know,” he told her with a wide grin. She rolled her eyes.

  “So, what, you didn’t care to get any of this t
he past two weeks?”

  “Oh, I definitely wanted to but you know how I am.” She reached up lightly slapped him before saying, “I know.”

  He reached forward and stretched his arm, grabbing the hem of her shirt and pulling it up to expose her bra. He grabbed her shirt with both hands and pulled it off completely, throwing clear across the room.

  He placed his hand flat at the base of her neck and slid it down over the curve of her cleavage and let it rest on her flat stomach. A light shiver raced up her back as he moved his hand around her waist and rolled her on to her side.

  He had meant for her to sit up, but her face had landed right in front of the crotch of his pants. She decided to do something else. She rolled her body to lie down on her stomach and reached for the opening of his boxers to pull out his cock. She stretched her neck forward and took his entire half stiff cock into her mouth.