FicWad

She turned down the alley and started walking swiftly as Bill jogged to catch up before smoothly asking, “Oh, where can I start? Should I go on about my troublesome friends or my troublesome family?”
“Just start with why you ended up here,” she suggested smiling innocently.
Sighing, Bill began to explain the topic that sparked onto his personal well being during a formal Christmas dinner with his family. This family including his annoyingly narcissistic sister, his overly sensitive mother, and his strict authority father. All of whom weren’t overly impressed on his career status.
Bill skimmed over the details, not wanting to further inflict a shocked response over his career of choice, so instead, he asked, “What about you?”
“Uh,” she began while biting her lip as if to think it over before she resumed, “To say the least, I was spending my Christmas Eve by myself and drank heaps in celebration. Now here I am, letting some stranger walk me home in hopes of making a friend for the night.”
William chuckled at her brutal honest response, curious now for how much she’d exactly had to drink in order to obtain such honesty. He had a feeling this wasn’t quite an every night thing. Tonight was a special occasion reserved for two individuals, whose lives weren’t exactly on the ball.
After five minutes of walking, Josey stalled and said, “This is my apartment building.”
William looked up, expecting there to be some bent out of shape apartment on the bottom floor of a cheap living facility. But as he looked up at the giant building, he was shocked to see that it was a well maintained looking place. There were cut green bushes lining the front door of building 1221 as Josey approached the door loosely, oblivious to the fact that Bill stood ten feet behind her gawking at the cleanliness of the place she’d lived.
“It’s not that great,” she mentioned modestly while brushing the snow off her coat standing now inside the lobby of the building. Bill jogged over and asked over exaggeratedly, “What do you DO?”
She chuckled expectantly before muttering, “Can you keep a secret?”
“Only if you can keep mine,” he joked lamely. Smiling now, she explained, “I’m a little embarrassed by my job because most people are so ridiculous in the business. But generally, I’m a journalist for Spin magazine.”
“That’s really cool,” William said honestly, smiling dumbfounded as she asked, “What do you do?”
“Oh,” Bill suddenly felt like his breathing jerked to a stop as he suddenly remembered who he was. He’d been communicating like he was a completely average human being for the first time in several years. He’d forgotten in the time he’d spent speaking with this strangely attractive girl the true status that society had labeled him in.
He wasn’t just a guy she ran into. He was William Beckett- lead singer of The Academy is. But did he want her to know the things he’d told her about himself when he wasn’t aware she was a journalist?
Thinking quickly, he started to say, “I’m sort of in a band. But hey…I should really get going. I’m sure my parents must be worried sick about me by now.”
“Won’t you come in?” she asked, a little confused by his sudden edginess.
“Sorry, I can’t but I’ll see you around, Josey. You can hold me to it,” he said as he clenched onto his jacket and started down the sidewalk hurriedly leaving Josey utterly confused.
“Well, that was weird,” she muttered as she walked upstairs to her apartment, alone and disappointed.

‘I’m such a jerk,’ William sighed as his thoughts circled around his last conversation with the girl he knew now as Josey. He groaned thinking to himself, ‘I should’ve just told her the truth. I didn’t have to act like a total dick and run off. I could’ve explained to her the real me…’
But the deed was done and William knew he wouldn’t dwell on it too long. He’d see a million faces before he’d ever see that girl again.