The Kiss Off (31 page)
Authors: Sarah Billington
“I know,” I said. “I saw the video.”
“And the photos, all those photos. The media suck.”
I smiled. “Tell me about it.”
But he didn’t smile back. He let go of my hands and took a few steps away.
“Who are we kidding? It’ll never work.”
I blinked. “What?”
“They’re still going to be there, still going to take photos. Anytime I’m in the vicinity of a woman they’re going to say she was seen leaving my hotel. That I’ve been holidaying with her, that we went to Vegas and had a quickie marriage.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. I understood now. That it was all crap.
“And it’s not like we’ll ever see each other. I mean we’re touring all over Asia and then Europe next month. We’re not going to be back for months, until next year.”
“It doesn’t matter!” I said again. He was standing so far away from me, he was telling me not to be with him, but I laughed as my insides swelled toward my skin. I realized something then. I realized something important. It really, honestly, didn’t matter.
“What do you mean ‘it doesn’t matter’?” he said, incredulous.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “You’ll be back on breaks and holidays, and we can still Skype and email and maybe I’ll even write you letters.”
The corner of his lips curled up. “Letters?”
“Yes,” I said. “None of it matters. Because I love you.” I knew when I said it, it was true. It was really 100% true. “Say something.”
He squinted at me. “Are you sure?”
“Am I sure I love you?”
“Yes. No. Wait, that’s a stupid reply,” he said. “How about ‘that’s so great’, or ‘I’m really happy to hear that’.” He walked toward me and caressed my hair out of my face.
“Or maybe how about,” he said, “‘Say it again’.”
“I love you, Ty.”
“I love you too.”
He kissed me right there in the street in the middle of the street, with the sounds of conversation and laughter behind closed doors all around us. People having fun on Block Party night. But I wasn’t missing out on anything. They were the ones missing out. I hugged him tightly because he was here and he loved me and everything was okay.
“I better get back to the house,” I said after a while. “Since I’m babysitting and all. And grounded.”
Ty put his arm around me and I squeezed the hand that was draped over my shoulder as we strolled slowly back toward my house.
“Do you think we can keep this quiet?” he said. “From the media and all that?”
“We can do better,” I said. “Everything between you and me is between you and me, deal?”
“Deal.”
“And in that spirit, I’ve decided I’m shutting down PoppyLongStocking.”
“What?” Ty said. “But you’re so talented! You know, you could be signed as an artist through all this if you wanted to.”
“Pass.”
“Really?”
“Don’t get me wrong, I might like to write songs for other people, but jeez. You can keep the fame, Ty. I want nothing to do with it.”
I squealed from surprise as he picked me up and whirled me around, planting a kiss on my nose.
“That’s why I love you so much,” he said.
We were laughing as we got nearer to home, but the closer we got, the laughter died.
“So what are you going to say to that guy?” Ty asked, a couple of houses from home.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I hope we can get back to being friends eventually.”
Ty didn’t say anything but I could tell he thought it was unlikely.
I preferred lying to myself.
He slowed his pace as we neared my house. Cam was waiting at the gate watching us approach, entwined together. I glanced behind me up the street. Where had we been standing when it had all gone down? Had he seen the entire thing? I prickled all over at the thought of Cam having to witness that.
His lips were pushed tightly together and his face was blank. He nodded, turned, and walked away.
I couldn’t lie to myself anymore.
“Come on,” Ty said. “Maybe I can get the girls to do my hair in pigtails too.”
- The End -
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OTHER TITLES BY SARAH BILLINGTON:
NOVELS
Life Was Cool Until You Got Popular
UPPER MIDDLE-GRADE CONTEMPORARY/HUMOR
Thirteen year old Kaley’s best friend Jules is an alien clone. That has to be it. Because Jules wouldn’t dress like that or act like that…and she definitely wouldn’t be friends with Meg-a-bitch.
Kaley can't wait to start at her new school with her best friend Jules. Jules was away in Europe all summer (worst summer of Kaley's life!) But it's cool, now school is starting and everything is going to be awesome. However as the school bus pulls up on that first day, Kaley barely recognizes the silky hair and glossy lips as Jules gets off with the cool kids and with their arch-nemesis Meg, the popular girl (God only knows why) who made Kaley and Jules's lives miserable in elementary school. In Europe, Meg had somehow won over Kaley's best friend and Kaley finds herself frozen out.
LIFE WAS COOL UNTIL YOU GOT POPULAR is a first person upper-middle-grade novel told through Kaley’s eyes, chronicling the initial pain and incomprehension of what happened to destroy their friendship. But that doesn't last long. Kaley decides that underneath the bleached blond clone with the personality transplant, Jules is still in there. Somewhere. And she is going to get her best friend back!
WHAT READERS SAY:
“Fans of the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series by Louise Rennison are sure to fall in love with Kaley: the funny, admirably loyal, and endearingly quirky heroine of Sarah Billington's debut novel. The dialogue is brilliantly funny, and the tension is high. Readers will not want to put this book down until the very last page. This debut novel by Australia's Louise Rennison, Sarah Billington, is sure to have readers cheering for its heroine and laughing out loud.”
Shevi Weaver, author of Ride of Your Life
SHORT STORIES
Life Was Easier When Boys Were Stupid
YOUNG ADULT CONTEMPORARY
Jess is at a party and girls and boys around her are locked together at the lips and hips. When did everyone grow up so fast? She's not sure she wants to, but her girl friend Carla points out a boy across the room with eyes only for Jess.
Life Was Easier When Boys Were Stupid won the Gippsland Award in 2009's Fellowship of Australian Writers Awards.
WHAT READERS SAY
“A fast, fun read that captures the insecurities and challenges that come with being a teenager. Billington has a strong, relatable voice--"I was just all out hideous. A great lump of hideousity."--and manages to add humor to a situation that might seem pretty daunting (but awfully familiar) to teen readers. For readers needing a quick pick-me-up, a chuckle, and reassurance that teens sometimes DO make good choices, LIFE WAS EASIER . . . will be a breath of fresh air.”
Erin Fry
, author of LOSING IT coming in 2012 from Marshall Cavendish Children's Books.)
“An immensely readable story that shows the advantages of not always going along with the crowd! Important advice for many during the ages of peer pressure! A great read!”
KRLM
The Death & Life of Rocky the Crab
HUMOR
Lisa was supposed to be pet sitting. Looking after a crab is easy, right? Unless you forget to feed it. And then you find it dead minutes before its owner is back in town.
There's something a bit different about this dead crab though.
WHAT READERS SAY:
“The frenetic hunt is hilarious. And I love the irony of the ending.
Sarah Billington is a creative storyteller whose tales will put a smile on your face...and maybe give you pause before you agree to pet-sit anything!”
Gail Handler
The Ballerina & My Best Friend
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
Everyone expected that one day Amanda and Tom would get married. But tomorrow is his wedding day, and Amanda is not the bride. Short and sweet, The Ballerina & My Best Friend is the perfect story for those that enjoy romance but have limited time to invest in it.
WHAT READERS SAY:
“A heartfelt contemporary adult short story with an unexpected ending that I'm still savouring. It's amazing to see Sarah Billington switch up genres and be such a versatile writer. I very much look forward to seeing more of her work and diversity!”
Shirley Marr, author of Fury and Preloved, Black Dog Books
LOOKING FOR SOMETHING A LITTLE DARKER?
Try books by Edwina Ray!
SHORT STORIES:
CRIME MYSTERY
In the small town of Carringwood, Doug and every other resident turn out to watch the drama as the Gabarski home burns down. Luckily Shana and the kids got out. And her husband Peter is mysteriously absent. Speculation runs rife through the town, why are arson investigators here? Did Peter do it? Why did he do it? But Doug wonders something else. If it wasn't Peter, who was it?
YOUNG ADULT SUPERNATURAL
In this new short supernatural thriller from Amazon Best Selling author Edwina Ray, when fifteen-year-old Alex is caught out in the secluded forest admiring the giant ancient tree set in a moss-covered clearing, she is sure Josh is pulling a prank on her.
Be careful of the witch's curse, he says. The tree has the power to kill you in the most horrible of ways.
Alex didn't believe him.
Maybe she should have.
HORROR/BLACK COMEDY
I, Zombie can't wait to eat the little girl.
The old man looks like he'd be a bit tough and gristly, and the teenage boy keeps waving that bat around, but the little girl, so rosy cheeked, so tender. Her heart beating so fast. He can’t wait to hold it, hot and wet in his hands, then rip it apart with his teeth. But he isn't the only zombie to find them.
He's got a fight on his hands, but with who, was unexpected.
WHAT READERS SAY:
"Well done you. I write feature movies (horror, rom-com, sci-fi etc), have won 3 film awards, and thought every angle in the zombie genre had been explored. I was wrong, you have proven such in an original and hilarious way. To have the story run from the point of view of the zombie makes this a pleasure to read, and gives hope to the future of the horror genre. Keep doing what you do."
Vinnie Cleghorne
"This is dark and wonderfully creepy! I love your writing style, very clean, compelling and top notch"
Heather McCorkle
SUSPENSE THRILLER
Angela waits, hiding in the dark of a house, her satchel packed and ready, her bloody clothes discarded on the floor. If Luc doesn't arrive soon, she knows they'll find her.
The Runaway is a short story that will keep you guessing.
WHAT READERS SAY:
“VERY intriguing. This is an extremely short story but the writing is delightful and the tension is set up from beginning to end. It's the kind of psychological mind-f*** that leaves you wondering...”
Heather Marie Adkins, author of The Temple, Heaven Below and more
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Billington is an Australian writer and editor with publications in anthologies and literary journals, articles, interviews and reviews in small newspapers and has won and been highly commended in international competitions for her short stories and screenwriting. She likes to write stories with love, laughs, suspense and zombies. Sometimes all in the same story. She writes light-hearted works under Sarah Billington, and darker, scarier and more torturous stories under her pen name, Edwina Ray.
Connect with Sarah online!
Website & Online Store:
http://www.SarahBillington.weebly.com