[16] HE LOVED YOU BACK
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
xvi. cain's talk
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EXHAUSTION, that's what April Ambrose felt as she walks alongside by Bill Denbrough up the cobblestone path leading to the steps of her house. Her eyes were drooping against the summetime heat that draped over her lids, the days activities catching up to her and she wanted nothing more than to strip of her dress and into a loose t-shirt and shorts.
She clicks her tongue angainst the top of her mouth, looking to Bill and rubbing her eyes. "Just leave Silver out here, I'll ask my dad if he could fix her," She tells him, smiling tiredly at him as she begins to climb up the front steps. He nods, kicking the kickstand down before trailing after her.
He watches as she fumbles with zipper of her backpack, a yellow and pink braid tied to the zipper, opening up the front pocket and shuffling her hand through it before he sees her nod in satisfaction, pulling out a set of housekeys adorned with multiple coloured keychains. He took notice of how she had been able to personalize it, you look at it and could tell that she was the happiest type of person. She even had one of her bracelets tied to it and he smiled softly.
It such a mundane thing, housekeys. Housekeys, for Gods sake! He was taking notice of her keychains and was smiling like a fool at the thought. It was so fitting, though. The little rainbow one she had, the bracelet she had made tied to a keyring, and was that... A Strawberry Shortcake one? Of course, April would have one of her. They were just both so sweet.
She hums as she pushes the brass key into the keyhole, jiggling it around and twisting before looking up to him and her cheeks staining pink softly at her struggle with the door. She laughs. "Always... It's--It's always causing me problems," She says shyly, shrugging her shoulders with a tight-lipped smile.
Bill shakes his head with a soft laugh, bringing his hand to her head and ruffling her already messy curls gently. "H-Here, let m-me try," He says, moving his hand down from her hair and to April's hand which still held the key, her knuckles turning white from the pressure she'd put on them. She nods, her hand lingering on the key a split second longer than it should have, Bill's hand running against hers.
Snapping from her thoughts, the odd feeling in her belly, she pulls her hand away nodding. "Thanks, Billy," She mumbles as Bill pulls the door handle down while turning the key to unlock it. "How'd you... Do that so easily?" She asks, her eyes squinted curiously as Bill laughs, puling the keys from the hole and handing them to her.
"You've g-g-gotta pull the h-handle. My house d-door is l-like t-t-that too," He responds, poking her cheek with a laugh at her curiousness and moving out of the doorway so she could enter first. "B-By the way, you d-don't have to s-s-say thank you for e-everything, Sunshine," He adds as she steps foot onto the indoor mat, leaning over and untying her shoes, seeing that her parents weren't in the living room. They were probably upstairs considering that they hadn't called out to her. She could hear the shower running and assumed her mother was probably in.
"You d-don't have to... Act l-like we're a b-b-business transac--... T-Transaction. Y-You're my b-best girl," He goes on as her cheeks burn pink again as she moves out of the way and places her shoes down on the show rack.
He took notice of how every little thing he'd do she'd thank him for it. He didn't mind, of course, her tiny mumbles were adorable. But, he felt like she was still trying remain formal. As if, if she wasn't overly polite he wouldn't want to be friends with her. That was not the case at all. It never would be. They'd been friends for such a short time yet he'd spent so much time with her latched to his waist that they felt inseparable.
She nods, her cheeks burning more red at a loss of words, unable to find anything to say other than the suck of a sharp breath. Bill begins to take off his shoes, pulling at the laces of his white converse as April runs a hand through her hair. "Hold on, I'm gonna go tell my dad, just... Uh, um... Hang your bag up on one of the hooks and, uh... Living room! Sit down and I'll be back in a second. Oh, actually, call your parents. They're gonna be worried! The telephones in the kitchen," She rambles, bobbing her head around before scurrying away and down the hall towards the stairs.
"Dad!" She calls, rushing up the staircase, her socks gliding against the hardwood floor of the steps. She bounds up them, up to the second floor and ignoring the groan she heard from Holly's bedroom.
Muffled through the door, she hears her sister yell. "April, shut up!". April has to stifle a laugh, giggling to herself as she goes to her parents door, knocking on it rapidly before its swung open by her dad, dressed in a grungy dark blue button up with oil stains on the rolled up sleeves.
"What's the rush, Apple? Where'd you get those scrapes?" He asks worriedly, his daughters hair messy and seemingly breathless as she huffed in and out. He gestures to her bloodied elbows and ashy scrapes knees. "Your moms going to throw a fit, Stumblebum. More scrapes?" He shakes his head with a somewhat impressed expression at how breathless she seemed.
April pauses, holding her finger up to signal him to wait as she caught enough breath to speak. Not that she couldn't, she was just a bit... Dramatic at times. She huffs again. "Alrighty, we have a situation at hand, Mister Man. Bill's downstairs, his bike tire popped! And, to make a silly story short, we're both a bit scraped up," She explains, shrugging her shoulders and plucking at a piece of peeling skin from her elbow.
Cain pauses, furrowing his eyebrows at his daughter before snickering. "You fell off a bike," He laughs at his daughters luck, ruffling her hair before turning back into the bedroom, grabbing at the cigarette pack, lighter and keys to the garage that sat on the dresser, stuffing them into his pocket. "Lead the way, Stumblebum," He gestures for her to walk, April rolling her eyes, poking her dads arm and kicking his leg lightly before rushing down the stairs once again and back to the living room where Bill sat.
♧
After an awkward recount of events, Bill and April talking over each other wildly to explain the situation with the bike. April laughing as Bill retells the way the tire popped, it was funny for no reason at all yet she found herself holding her belly in a painful cramp. Cain had listened to their words with an amused smile, seeing the way April leaning into Bill's arm with each laugh bringing him back to how him and Josephine once were in their youth.
Speaking of, Josephine was hurriedly attempting to dry her soaked hair and rush downstairs to sneak a real glance of the boy her daughter had already spent so much of her time with.
Bill has also sputtered out nervously that he wasn't sure when his parents would be coming to pick him up considering that by the time his bike would be fixed it'd be long passed curfew. They never paid much attention to him anymore, after all. After Georgie, they could never really bring themselves to acknowledge their eldest. Cain only nodded, not wanting to touch a sensitive topic, feeling that distress was thick in the family after the youngest sons death.
That brings us here, Bill sat in the Ambrose's garage with Cain using a wrench on the front tire of Silver while April was off somewhere in the house, said she was going to look for the first-aid kit and scampered out of the garage before Bill would be able to follow after her.
It was awkward, both of them not sure what to say at all. All Bill knew was that he was nervous around Cain. He had this air around him, he was intimidating. However, Bill was able to notice where both April and Holly got their dark hair and he guessed that they got their light eyes from their mother.
The garage door was propped open a bit to air out the scent of the smoke that lingered from the cigarette that hung in Cains mouth loosely as he worked. It was silent for the most part, before Cain places the wrench down — pulling the popped tire off and placing it on the ground, taking the nearly burnt out cigarette out his mouth and stamping it out.
"So, you and my Apple get on well, huh?" He breaks the silence as Bill looks up from his hands startled at the sudden conversation.
He nods, opening his mouth to respond. "Y-Yes, sir. S-Sunshine? She's real s-sweet," He sputters out, not even noticing the way her nickname slid off his tongue. Cain did and he couldn't wait to report it to his wife.
Cain smiles, nodding his head as he takes the spare bike tire that he had conveniently had in the shed from the Daniel's boys old bike that they asked Cain to get rid of for them, he had outgrown it and they had no use for it anymore. "She's a sweet one, that's for sure. She doesn't cause any secret trouble that we don't know about, does she?" He asks, laughing lightly as he holds the tire up to the bike before beckoning Bill over. "Could you hold this up for me?".
Nodding, Bill comes over, taking the tire into his hands and holding it against the part of the bike where Cain held it. "N-Not that I know o-of, sir. She's a-always making s-sure we d-don't get into trouble," Bill responds as Cain chuckles, beginning to screw the tire onto the bike.
Unable to hold on his thoughts, Cain continues to laugh before shaking his head and looking to the boy. "Call me Cain. Sir makes me feel old. She talks about you a lot," He says, watching as Bill's eyebrows furrow and his cheeks stain themselves with the colour pink lightly.
"S-She does?" Bill asks, surprised at the words. "W-What does she say?" He presses shyly, Cain shrugging his shoulders.
He continues to tighten the tire to the bike, not looking at the boy as he ponders what to respond with. "All good things. She makes you out to be some sort of saint. You seem like a good kid, Bill," He says, placing the wrench down once he deems the bike tire tight enough.
Bill nods, not sure what to say as he lets go of the tire. There was another lull of silence, both of them not sure what to say and not sure what to do. Cain breaks it once again, rubbing his hands on his pants. "You make her happy, you know?".
Looking to him, Bill furrows his eyebrows. What did he mean? April was always happy, she was always smiling. It was just her. "I-I think she's happy o-o-on her own. I w-wouldn't say it's b-because of me," Bill shrugs sheepishly, looking to Cain with a confused expression.
Shaking his head, Cain elaborates. "There's April happy which is her set mood and then there's the happy she gets when her eyes glisten. It's hard to miss, have you seen it? She's had it more than ever these past couple of days, especially when she talks about you," He says, pulling the rag that hung on the handle of the bike and running it against his sweaty forehead.
Come to think about it, Bill did notice it. That twinkle in her eyes whenever she smiles at him. It was noticeable, the way she'd beam brightly. "Y-Yeah. Her eyes t-turn lighter," He responds, a smile on his face as a mental image appears, the few days they had and the many smiles she offered.
"That's it," Cain nods, looking to Bill. "That's true happiness. Not her... Personality but actual true April happiness. Not many get to people see it but when she does open it up to you, you'll never get anything else," He goes on, watching as Bill's eyes get glossed over and a dazed look come over his face. "Could you make sure... Make sure that those girls who would always tease her during school don't tease her whenever you're with her? They make her feel..." He trails off, Bill finishing the sentence quietly.
"D-Different," He mumbles, knowing the feeling all too well and swearing to himself that he didn't ever want her feel that way again.
Cain nods, smiling softly at the boy and feeling thankful. He thanks the lord that April had found someone who in the few words spoken seemed to understand so well. There wasn't much else to say, a mutual understanding — they both cared for April deeply. April Ambrose may not have been rich in friends but she was rich in something much more important, in people who cared.
There was a few moments of silence before the door connected the garage to the house opened. "Sorry that it took so long!" They turn to see April standing in the doorway, a white kit in her hand. "It's usually in my room but Holly took it for some reason so I had to bang on her door until she opened it," She rambles on, her bangs fallen into her face as Bill and Cain exchange an amused glance at her breathlessness. "Anyway," She mumbles, looking to the bike. "Lets go, Billy?" She goes on, smiling softly.
He nods, looking to Cain once more. "T-Thanks, Mr. A-... C-Cain," He corrects, smiling at the older man as he stands and begins walking towards April.
"Of course," Cain nods, gesturing them off into the house as he pulls out his pack of cigarettes and begins to light one.
♧
Being in the Ambrose house made the way April was make sense to Bill. She was the way she was because of the parents she had. From the conversation he had with her father, Bill took note of the care her father had for her. The protectiveness of a father shining visibly yet not to the point of being overbearing. Especially with the way April and him interacted, the way they both had the same carefree laughter.
Bill hadn't talked to her mother much. A simple introduction before April brought him up to her bedroom to clean their scrapes. Yet, he instantly saw where April got her eyes — eyes of a pooling blue that only sometimes glistened for few special people. He felt honoured to know that he was one of them. He wondered if April was aware of her shine, if she knew that there were only few people who saw it.
He watched from the cross-legged position he sat in on her bed as she glided across her bedroom floor on her pink socks towards her dresser, placing the kit into one of the drawers. They had just finished cleaning their scrapes and covering them with a plethora of bandaids.
He looked around her room, the walls a pale pink and her bed neatly made. Her headboard had fake pink and yellow flowers draped on it. A vanity in the corner covered with all types of girly trinkets and jewelry. Covering one part of her wall, she had a multitude of photos covering it. A group photo of her and her family, a photo of her and Holly, her and an older woman Bill could only imagine was her grandma. Everything just radiated her energy and he felt so at peace, his back leaned against her wall.
Hearing April begin to walk back towards her bed, he tears his eyes from the wall and towards her as she sat on the bed and it sunk down a bit where she sat. "Hey," She smiles, her voice hushed as she crawled next to him and leaned against the wall as well.
"H-Hey," Bill responds, laughing lightly at the greeting because they had been in the same room the entire time. There was no need for another one. "Y-Your parents are n-n-nice," He says, looking for something to talk about — they'd never hung out alone before besides for being on her bike. For some odd reason, being outside was easier than being inside her bedroom — it was a lot more... Intimate. More vulnerable.
April fiddled with the bracelet on her wrist, shyly. "Yeah, they are. I love them a lot," She responds, bobbing her head before resting it against the wall.
He hums, smiling at her response — happy that she was in such a comfortable family life situation. Unlike himself. His smile fades at the thought. "My p-parents aren't r-really," He trails off, his head resting beside hers against the wall. Passing, he wasn't sure what to say — wasn't sure if he should even bring it up. "Present," He finishes, looking to her and seeing her eyes soften. "Not after, G-G-Georgie," He goes on.
She nods, looking to him sympathetically. "I'm sorry. I never got to tell you that since we didn't really speak until now. But, I'm sorry about what happened, Billy," She says, Bill looking back to her and nodding.
Her heart felt a dull ache for him, the way his eyes flickered down to his hands and lip trembled. Not sure what else to do, she did what her father would often to her mother when she was distressed. She took his hand in hers and intertwined their fingers lightly, squeezing it.
"I-I miss him," Bill mumbles, biting his lip and gripping her hand tightly. "I s-s-should have... Went w-with h-h-him, Sunshine. I-It's my f-f-f-fault he's gone," He sputters out, tears beginning to flood his eyes at the reliving of memories.
Shaking her head, April takes her other hand, lifting it up to his face and wiping his falling tears away with the pad of her thumb. "No, it isn't," She whispers, her lips in a small pout as she softly runs her free hand through his hair. "You couldn't have ever known," She goes on, feeling him begin to heave in shallow breathes.
She wasn't sure how to comfort him, she wasn't sure at all. She's never dealt with grief at all. Seeing him heave in and out, his body shaking as his grip on her hand became tighter and tighter, almost as if he used it to ground himself.
"B-But, it i-is. I w-wasn't that s-s-sick and I s-should've b-b-been there," He stammers, looking to her with watery green eyes, he's holding onto her hand and his head is lulling to the side and April's heart is breaking for him.
"N-No, Billy. It isn't," She says, letting go of his hand and hurriedly pulling him to her and hugging him, holding him in her arms. "It isn't, it isn't," She repeats, one hand on rubbing his back and the other twisted in his hair. "You loved him," She whispers softly, Bill letting out a muffled sob into her shirts shoulder.
He sobs again, nodding into her shoulder. She could feel his tears seep into the fabric. "That's right, you loved him," She whispers again as his shaking beginning to subside, however he continues to cry softly.
"It wasn't your fault, Billy. It won't ever be. He loved you back. He loves you back," She comforts, continuing to hold him in her arms before the only thing she could hear was the occasional sniffle and a brief tremble.
And, they'd stay there for a while. Until, slowly, he pulled away from her, wiping his eyes and looking to he and with a shaky voice begins to tell her about his little brother who was lost all too soon.
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