A Thousand Times Before
Chapter 5
By: Nicole
(Benji's POV)
I woke up around 6 this morning, idunno why so early, I'm usually the late sleeper of the group. I grunted and rolled out of my bed, my stomach letting out a loud grumble when my feet hit the floor. I sighed and made my way to the kitchen, fixed myself a bowl of Boo Berry and sat down at the island bar that seperated the kitched from the dining room.
Joel burst the the front door of the hotel room and immediately made his way to the stool beside me. "Benj, I need to talk to you.."
I took another bite of my cereal and put my spoon down, giving my twin my full attention. "Shoot."
He proped his elbows on the bar. "I wanted to take Ker somewhere tonight. Do you know where any 'nice' resturants are?"
I figured his emphesis of 'nice' meant fancy. "Uh, I think there's a French resturant a few blocks away, i can't remember the name though."
He nodded. "Well what are you gonna do tonight?"
I thought about it for a minute, then shrugged. " Idunno, I haven't really thought about it. I think Paul's gonna go see a movie and Billy and Nic will probably go do something...I really don't know.."
He just patted me on the sholder. "Maybe you could go with Paul or something."
I picked up my bowl and emptied it, no longer feeling hungry. "Nah, I'll just stay here."
He jumped up from his seat and headed for the door. "Seeya bro, I need to go find something to wear tonight and tell Ker about it."
I nodded and he walked out the door. I walked into the living room and crawled onto the couch on my stomach. I suddenly felt like a tag along with Joel always with Kerri and Billy always with Nic. Paul felt that way at first, but he started going places and just forgot about it.
----At the same time------
(Nic's POV)
"You ready to go Billy?" I stood by the door, wrapping my arms around my waist. Billy had called around and found a parlor downtown where we could get our tattoo's. I didn't know what i wanted to get, I just felt like getting a tattoo.
He clipped his wallet chain to his pants and his wallet and stuffed his wallet in his back pocket. "Yeah, you called a cab right?"
I nodded. "Yep we better get going."
He wrapped his left arm around my waist and we left the room. Joel stopped us in the corridor and told us he was taking Kerri out tonight. Hah, I knew he'd take her on a date sooner or later. We told him where we were going and finally made our way to the elevators and out of the hotel building. We climbed into the cab waiting for us and Billy told them to go to 'Blue Dragon' downtown. Roughly 10 minutes later we stopped infront of a nice one story building with 'Blue Dragon' written in glowing Old English letters on the sign above the double doors.
Billy paid the cab driver and we climbed out of the cab. We walked in through the double doors, hands laced together, and stopped infront of the guy at the front desk. I must admit, he was pretty cute, but nothing compaired to Billy. he had blue hair and a lip ring and two sleeves of tattoos. His name tag caught my eye.. Kriss.
He glanced at me and smiled breifly before he noticed our hands laced together. "Can I help you?"
Billy nodded. "Yeah we'd like to get two tattoo's..One apeice that is."
Kriss handed us a form. "We need you to fill these out. I also need to see some form if picture I.D. and if you don't know what your getting you can checkout the pictures on the wall."
Billy nodded and grabbed the forms. We took a seat in two chairs in the corner. Billy being the nice person he is, filled out my form and I told him what he needed to put on it. He took the form back to Kriss and showed him his driver's liscense.
Kriss cocked a brow. "Wait a second..Aren't you in that band..um what's the name.."
Billy grinned. "Good Charlotte? Yeah thats me, but Shh! I don't wanna be stuck signing autographs all day."
Kriss looked at me. "So do you two..date?"
I rose to my feet and walked over to Billy. He snaked his arm around my waist. "What do you think?"
"Okay well you guys can wait in here, Josh should be in here in a few minutes." he directed us into a small room with a weird looking flat chair thingy where they do the tattoos.
Billy sat down in the chair in the corner of the room and pulled me into his lap. "So what do you wanna get?"
I grinned and pointed to a dagger with two thorned roses intertwined around it. "I wanna get that with 'Billy' under it in Old English letters, under my right collar bone..I know the letters are kinda expensive, but is that okay?"
He nodded. "I'll get the same thing with 'Nicole' under it..Is that okay?"
I giggled and nodded. Josh, the guy who did tattoo's, walked into the room a few minuted later. We told him what we wanted and where we wanted it.
He nodded and get all of his stuff ready. "Who's going first?"
Billy pointed to me. I grinned. "Okay wimp." I took off my hoodie and fishnet shirt so I was left in a black tanktop and climbed onto the table thingy. 30 minutes later Josh put the little patch over my new tattoo and I put my fishnet shirt and hoodie back on and climbed off the table thing.
I kissed Billy on the cheek. "Your turn!"
He whimpered and took of his hoodie and shirt and climbed out the table. "Hold my hand Nic?" He pouted.
I laughed and climbed up beside him, lacing my fingers with his. "Anything you want babe."
An hour later we were back in our hotel room. Billy and I were cuddled up on the couch when Joel and Kerri walked in. Kerri was wearing a floor length black silk dress that laced up the back. Joel was wearing a simple black tux.
Billy glanced over his sholder at the two and I swear his jaw hit my head. "Whoah! Whats with the formal clothes?!"
Joel grinned and smaked his arm around Kerri's waist. "I'm taking Ker to Le' Gormauni downtown. We just wanted to let you guys know we won't be back until 3 or 4 in the morning."
Billy nodded. "Behave yourself children!" Joel flipped him off as they were walking out the door.
Just as Joel and Kerri walked out the door Paul walked in. "Hey you guys wanna go see a movie?"
Billy looked at me. "You wanna go?"
I thought for a second. "Nah, I think I'm gonna go spend some time with Benji, since we haven't reallt talked since I got here. But go if you want sweets."
He stood up and kissed me on the forehead. "Alright, I'll be back later." He grabbed his hoodie off the back of the couch and walked out the door with Paul.
I stood up and stretched breifly before grabbing my key off the kitchen counter and walking out the door. I kocked on the door next to ours, waiting for Benji to answer.
He opened the door. "Nic..hey.. Where's Billy?"
I wrapped my arms around my stomach. "He went with Paul to see a movie..I didn't wanna go."
He moved back from the door and I walked in, him closing the door behind me and following me over to the couch. "Oh..Well why'd you come over here?"
I curled my legs under me. "Because I'm sure you felt like you were being left out..So I mean, we need do a little friendly bonding."
He nodded, stood up, and walked into the kitchen. A few minutes later he came back with an armload of beers. "Ah well, you can join me on getting wasted."
I laughed and grabbed one, popping it open and taking a gulp. "Sounds like fuuun."
30 minutes and a shitload of beers later we were wasted beyond words. Benji stumbled over towards the couch I was stretched out on. He tripped over his own feet and landed ontop of me. "Holy shit! Benji get off!"
He gave me a toothy grin and snuggled close to me. "Noo it's comfortable!"
I whimpered and tried to push him off, but him being heavier and stronger than, he refused to move. "Benji, c'mon.."
He pulled himself off the couch and into a sitting position on the floor. "you wanna play truth or dare?" He spoke with a minor slur.
I sat up on the couch, facing him. "Sure" My slur matched his.
He grinned like a litle kid. "Truth or Dare?"
I pretended to think about it. "Hmm..Truth."
He scrunched up his nose in concentration. "Do you really love Billy?"
I tilted my head to the side. "I..I..I think so.."
"What about me..Do you love me?" He gave me a hopeful grin.
"Of course I love you Benji!" I giggled.
I guess he took this the wrong way because the next thing I knew he had crawled onto the couch on top of me and had enveloped me in a kiss, our lip rings clashing agianst eachother. Being under the influence and enjoying the feeling of his lips agianst mine, I ran my tounge along his lip rings. His tounge lashed out ever so delicately into my mouth.
"What the fuck!" Billy stood in the doorway, wide eyed and pissed as hell.
I pushed Benji off and he just laughed in a drunken manner. "Billy it's not how it looks I swear!"
"Nic.. I thought you loved me..But I see how it is.." A tear slid down his cheek.
I stumbled over to him, falling into his arms. "No Billy, it was an accident, Benji misunderstood me..I swear Billy! I love you!"
He pushed me to the floor. "Don't try to make excuses Nic.. You two were about to fucking fuck!"
Benji just sat on the floor giggling like a kid.
Tears started flowing down my cheeks. "Billy..." My voice caught on the lump forming in my throat.
He just turned and walked out of the room, not saying a word. I pulled my knees to my chest and cried into my pajama pants. 'Well you did it agian Nic..Way to fuck things up.' I couldn't get his words out of my head. 'I thought you loved me..' I broke into a fit of coughs, falling onto my side and curling up until pain was shooting throughout my body. "Billy.." I kept repeating it until I cried myself to sleep...
-----From where Billy left Nic on the floor-----
(Billy's POV)
I brushed the steady stream of tears from my cheeks. How could she do this to me?! I crawled onto the couch and curled myself into a little ball, crying into the sleeves of my hoodie. A lump formed in my throat and a quiet sob escaped my lips. 'What if she was telling the truth? What if it was a mistake? no no Billy, don't fall for that..She's just trying to get you back. you saw Benji's tounge down her throat and she didn't look like it bothered her! No, your too good for her Billy.' My brain was trying to convince me this was all for the better, but my heart was ripping apart. I thought about it until I finally cried myself to sleep.
-----
(Benji's POV)
I awoke the next day sprawled out on the floor with a skull splitting headache. "Ugh..." I grabbed my head and sat up. I spotted Nic curled up by the door with black streaks down her cheeks. "What happened last night?" As soon as I said it the memories came rushing back into my head, causing my head to pound twice as much. "Oh fuck! I kissed her!" I smacked myself in the head. "Ow shit!"
Nic pushed herself off the floor and made her way into the kitchen. She grabbed the asprin off the counter and popped two of them into her mouth. Her eyes were swollen and drained of any emotion.
"Nic.." My voice caught in my throat and it came out as a whisper.
She looked up. "Yeah..?"
"I'll go talk to Billy about..last night.." I gave her a hopeful smile.
"Thanks.." She sighed and brought me two asprins and a cup of water. I took the hastely and drank the water, suddenly feeling extremely thristy.
(Billy's POV)
I was sitting on the couch, sorting through the event's of last night when the front door creaked open and Benji sat down beside me moments later.
"What do you want?" I shot him a look of hatred.
"Look man, what you saw last night wasn't her fault.. We were drunk and we were playing truth or dare and I just misunderstood what she said and..I'm sorry man.." He stared at the floor.
I thought over it for a minute. Nic told me the same thing..But what if she told him to say that? God this was so confusing. "Don't try to make excuses for her fuck up! I saw you two and from what I saw it looked like you were about to fuck right then and there!"
His head shot up and his eyes narrowed at me. "Fuck you Billy, I was telling you the truth and your gonna deny it! Well then your not good enough for Nic!" He stood up and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
"Fuck fuck fuck.." I smacked myself in the head over and over agian.."Why does life have to be so complicated?"
"Because life's not meant to be perfect." I snapped my attention to Kerri's bedroom where Joel was standing in the doorway clad in only boxers.
"Shit..Since when did you two get home?!" I shot him a suspicious look.
"God Billy, You'd think you were deaf! You didn't hear us? Or should I say you didn't hear Ker? She's loud as fuck man!" His cheeks flared up a bright pink as a wide grin crossed his face.
"Uh ohh..Joel and Kerri got it oooon! woot woot!" I nearly feel off the couch laughing.
Joel grabbed a pillow off the floor and threw it at me,smacking me right on the chest. "Dude shut up!"
I whimpered and shot him a fake hurt look. I opened my mouth and was about to say something when the front door slowly swung open. I closed my mouth and turned in the direction of the door to see Nic standing in the doorway. Her eyes looked so innocent and empty, and her hair fell messily around her face. She truged past me and into her bedroom, closing the door quietly behind her.
Joel looked from me to the door and back to me. "Whats up with you two? This is the first time I haven't seen you two joined at the lips..I mean hips."
I fiddled with the ring on my left hand. "Last night..I walked in on her and Benji kissing.."
His jaw dropped. "Are you sure it wasn't an accident or something? I mean I don't see her as the type to purposely cheat on someone.."
I shrugged and wiped at a tear threatening to fall. "They said it was but Joel..They both looked like they were enjoying it..I don't know..Maybe it was, Benj did say they were drunk.."
Joel regained his composure and folded his arms over his chest. "I think you should go talko to nic. Cause, you know Benj wouldn't lie about something like that.."
I nodded and pulled myself off the couch. "Thanks Joel." I gave him a brief smile before slipping into Nic's room.
----Back to right before Nic walked in-------
(Nic's POV)
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and pushed the door open. I pushed it closed behind me, opening my eyes and immediately made eye contact with Billy. I divertied my attention to the floor and trudged into my room. I let out the breath I had been unintentionally holding. Wipeing the unseen tears from my cheeks, I climbed into my bed and curled into a shivering ball. 'So this is it..I'll leave tomorrow then..'
I had been thinking of how I was going to get back home when I heard my door click closed. I rose from my position and turned to the door only to be greeted by Billy. He flashed me a brief smile. "Can we talk?"
I patted the spot beside me. "Sure.." My voice cracked when I talked, probably because I had been crying so much.
He climbed onto the bed, seating himself right beside me. "About yesterday..I.."
I interupted what he was saying. "Don't worry about it, I'm leaving tomarrow, so you can go back to how things were before we met." I tried my best to avoid his eyes.
He placed two fingers under my chin and lifted my head, his eyes locking with mine. "Don't leave.. I just want to know if benj was telling the truth. Was it honestly an accident?"
I was so caught up in his eyes, drowning in their deep blue texture. "I..uhh.. what was the question agian?"
His eyes were searching mine, breaking into all the emotion that had built up since last night. "Was it really an accident?..What happened yesterday that is.."
I nodded my head slowly. "Yes..it was Billy, I swear. You know I'd never do anything to hurt you.. Me and benj were playing truth or dare and he asked me if I loved you andthen if I loved him and I guess he misunderstood friendly love as you-and-me love."
He kissed my forehead and pulled me into a loving hug. "Thank god. I thought I was gonna go insane from not holding you."
I grinned and brushed my lips aginst his. "It's good to be back in your arms."