Absolutely Unforgivable(76)
I giggled and then went into the bedroom with the other girls to change into my next outfit. After I had slipped into my pretty white dress my phone rang. I half expected it to be Jeromy, but it wasn’t. It was my mother.
“Hi Mommy!”
“Don’t hi mommy me! What is this video I am seeing of you? Did you have sex with that boy in the club?”
Oh my God. My mother had seen the video of Billy and me from last night. My mind began to race, trying to come up with something to say. How could I possibly explain away what had happened? She would never understand. I still don’t understand. My hands started to shake and as I looked at them I flashed back to last night when I had been frightened by the crowd. That’s when the story came to me.
“Mother! Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I didn’t. How could you think that?”
“Because Stacy, I’m looking at the video right here in front of me.” She was mad, more than mad. I don’t think I’ve ever heard her this upset with me before.
“Then you aren’t seeing what you think you are. Yes, it’s true he carried me off stage and to the back room, but if you look you’ll see three other large men following close behind. The crowd was getting a little worked up so they rushed me into the back room for my own safety. I had started to cry a bit and was shaky and Billy just wanted to get me away from all the noise and madness.”
I took a deep breath and continued.
“What you don’t see in the highly edited video, Mother, is after Billy got me to safety, Trista came in and touched up my hair and makeup and then we made our way back on stage. Look at the video carefully. You’ll see my hair and makeup looks better after than it did before. How do you explain that? Wouldn’t it have looked worse if I was in the back being naughty?”
“Stacy, I’m sorry. It’s just from the way the video made it look ....”
I lowered my voice and continued. “I know, Mother. I really do. I’ve talked to Brick about that before. He’s a perv. He likes to make things seem the way that they aren’t. I will talk to Billy and Trista about him again. I don’t like what he does any more than you do. I’m sorry if the video upset you, but please trust me a little more than that. I’m not going to get drunk and run around the stage naked. You know I’m not that way.”
“I just worry about you, being so far away from home, dear.”
“I know, but ... well, I hate to cut this call short but I’m in the middle of a photo shoot and they need me back out there. Can I call you later?”
“Sure. Just please remember to use your head and think before you do anything you might later regret.”
“I promise, Mother.” As I said those words my mind went to the thought of what Billy and I had actually done in the back room of the bar, not just the cover story I had told my mother. I sighed. I don’t want my mother to worry about me and I don’t want her to think badly of me. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that. Maybe things around here have been getting to out of hand lately. I’m not that kind of girl. Well, at least I wasn’t. What is it about being here in Houston that makes me lose my common sense and good judgment?
After I hung up the phone, I finished getting dressed. The other girls were waiting on me. When we came back out of the bedroom all dressed up in our fancy clothes, Trista had them touch up my hair and makeup. I had become a tad disheveled.
It wasn’t long before Trista had me positioned in Billy’s arms, smiling for the cameras with the rest of the gang. All of the girls were dressed to the nines. And the boys, well, they were in their usual jeans and t-shirts.
Billy leaned in and whispered in my ear, “I love you.” I looked up at him and smiled as he squeezed me tightly. This was the first time he had ever said that to me. My heart skipped a beat as I thought about those precious words. I know it was soon but it really wasn’t. We had been building up to our first embrace for a while and in that time had become really close. God, I have been in love with him for a while and I just didn’t realize it until now.
The cameras continued to snap photos but I didn’t care. When I was in Billy’s arms, he had a way of making me think of nothing else but him. After a few different poses everyone was starting to get restless. Finally Trista released us, telling us she got the perfect shot for our poster. It turned out to be the shot of me looking up at Billy smiling at the moment I realized that I was in love with him too.
I had felt love before. I loved Jeromy. But it wasn’t the same way that I felt for Billy. With Billy it was a deep, passionate love that bored into the very depths of my soul. It was as if fate had drawn us together and no matter how hard we tried to resist, we were going to somehow, some way be brought together as if it were decreed from the heavens above.