1.13 Pretend to Be Decent

Sage slows down uncertainly as she nears his address. For a long moment she hesitates, staring at the spacious house. 

Billy had been... less than thrilled... to have her over, but still invited her over at her insistence. Now that's she's here, she wonders what's holding her back. 

Shaking her head, Sage walks to the door. 

It's wide open, but Billy's not in the house. Sage finds him outside, painting. 

"It's a bit chilly out to be painting," Sage remarks as she strolls into the yard. 

Billy jumps, smearing some of the paint on his palette. Sage winces. 

"Oh is it 10:30 already?" Billy asks, his tone flat. He stares at Sage wanly and scratches his temple. 

"10:45, actually... I tried calling to say I'd be late, but you didn't pick up the phone..." 

"Yeah, I was kind of in the middle of something. Well, until you showed up." He looks back at his unfinished painting and sighs. "I can finish it later, I guess. You said you wanted to talk?" 

Sage nods somberly, "It might be direct of me to say but... I wanted to know where we stand." At Billy's lack of reaction, Sage continues, slightly deflated, "Are we just dating? Are we exclusive, or are you seeing other women?" 

Billy massages his temple, "Why do women need all this certainty? You seriously think I could handle seeing multiple people at once? I'd never have any time to myself!" he finishes his sentence with an eye roll. 

Sage bristles, "I've never done any of this before, I-I don't know what the rules are!" She looks down at her shoes, "I just didn't want to waste time- yours and mine. But if you don't want to spend any more time on me, I guess I have my answer." 

She begins to walk away but Billy stops her with a gentle but firm hand on her shoulder. 

"No, wait... I do want to be with you. I just get caught up in my work, is all. I don't mean to be so snappy," he sighs, "I'm not great at relationships. No one seems to understand my work schedule and past girlfriends would get really clingy and demanding... so I just overreacted with you." 

"I understand. Completely. My job is important to me too and you know I spend most of my time on music... I don't know what kind of women you've dated before, but I get it, Billy. I just wanted some clarity on our relationship, is all." 

Billy sighs. "I was being a jerk. I didn't realize you understood it so well; forgive me?" 

Sage strokes his cheek, "I think that can be arranged..." 

They both head inside. Billy changes into more comfortable clothes before cuddling up to Sage on his couch. 

"It's so nice being with someone like you," Billy sighs, "Someone who gets it, you know?" 

Sage nods eagerly, "I feel the same way. We make time for each other when we can but can still have our own schedules." 

There's a beat of comfortable silence. 

When Billy turns his head towards her, she meets him in the middle. 

This time Sage feels more confident in what she's doing; she returns his kisses firmly and lets her free hand roam Billy's torso, staying over his shirt. 

Right then and there, Sage makes a decision. 

"Should we move to the bedroom?" 

Billy stares at her lips for a moment before kissing her again, "Good idea." 

Sage didn't come to Billy's house specifically to get into his bed, but she's satisfied with the way things turned out. 

But it seems Billy doesn't feel like talking about it. 

"Where're you going?" she asks Billy. 

He pauses before addressing her. 

"It's just, uh... my painting's still outside," he explains lamely, "I should really bring it inside..." he scurries off before she can respond. 

Sage waits for about ten minutes in his bed before she gets impatient. She thinks it's pretty rude to abandon someone in your house, not even taking into account that they just slept together. 

She gets dressed and creeps down the stairs. 

"Don't forget to close the door on your way out," Billy says absently to her, absorbed in his newest masterpiece. 

Sage feels a wave of annoyance and- to her absolute dismay- tears welling up in her eyes. Not wanting to embarrass herself, she walks briskly out the front door. 

By the time she gets back home, the embarrassment has turned into anger. 

What a rude, uncaring neanderthal, she inwardly seethes. He could at least pretend to be a decent human being. 

Not even the taste of her excellent-quality spaghetti can mollify her. If he didn't want here there, why didn't he just say so? 

Their brief argument from that morning replays in her mind; "why do women need all this certainty?" How did that comment completely escape her? Her annoyance turns to herself. She forgave him far too quickly. 

Though her meal was delicious, her irritation causes her food to roil in her stomach. 

Thinking about all the time she wasted on this entire travesty of a romance just makes it worse. She turns to her guitar to soothe her chaotic emotions. 

After an hour or so of guitar practice, Sage feels enough like herself to do some chores. 

But that sick feeling comes back all to soon. 

She barely makes it to the toilet before the contents of her stomach make a dramatic exit from her body. 

Trembling, flushed, and a little dizzy Sage flushes the toilet. Her distress must have been worse than she thought. 

After a long, warm bath Sage's nausea abates. She changes into her PJs and tries to do some reading in the living room. Before she makes it through even a single chapter of her book, she falls into a deep, dreamless sleep. 

She has a busy day tomorrow. 

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AN: I didn't intend to write Billy as this horrible, manipulative jerk (I was originally going for innocently insensitive and a slob) but he was awful to Sage in game. His inappropriate trait surfaced in pretty much every non-flirty interaction they had in insults and arguments. 

And then right after they woohooed, what does he do autonomously? Go straight back to painting. I wanted to have them cuddle or chat D: 

Eugh. She's better off without him.