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NEW promo images of Bill Skarsgård as Boy in Boy Kills World (opening April 26, 2024)

Still photographer is Graham Bartholomew. Found on kino-teatr

[soohaaaleemeee]

Love Just Happens

A New Chapter - Part 20

Characters: The future's Bill Skarsgård and others close to him. The rest is my own characters. 

Setting: This story is set in the future but because it's hard to say how the world is then (and it isn't that important for the story) the future is similar to our time now, even with fashion and so on. 

Warnings: 18+, age difference, alcohol, drunkenness, ageism, cheating, gossip, bullying, pregnancy, miscarriage.

It would be a surprise. A big, wonderful surprise. A gift, mostly to themselves, but they hoped others would feel the same.

Aurora sat in the waiting room to meet her midwife. She couldn't stop herself from fantasizing about all the things she and Bill had talked about. Their lives would be even more amazing with one more baby. It would mean so much for Isadora's life. She looked at her belly, which was weirdly flat for being a pregnant belly in her eyes, and sometimes she got caught up in her emotions and made up a whole story in her head about the pregnancy test being old and showing a false result. She had cried over that thought and done test after test after test, and all were positive. Still, she didn't dare to believe it fully. Her midwife confirmed the test, and Aurora, high on happiness, called Bill while still sitting in the examining chair.

Bill was happy too, hearing the confirmation, but he had never been that worried either. He had believed the test because it said on the box that a positive test was always accurate.

She was in week twelve, and that surprised Bill. He hadn't really seen anything on her, while she had gotten a belly quite fast the last time. He had hoped that the doctor would help Aurora with her mood swings, but the only thing they could do was give her antidepressants, and he didn't like the sound of that. She wasn't depressed; she was just on a hormonal roller coaster. He hoped it would end soon because he didn't have much more to say when she worried about her looks, career, or him getting tired of her. He had said everything there was to say, and she still continued.

He felt bad that he kind of liked being alone in the apartment in Scotland, being able to watch movies and series with blood; the pregnancy made her nauseous by it, to use his shampoo that was great for strengthening his hair (preventing hair loss) without her complaining about the scent, or to get stuck on his phone without her saying he was annoyed at her. He was annoyed, but he couldn't say that because it was his seed that had made her like that. He had to suck it up, so suddenly being able to do whatever he wanted without tipping on his toes was liberating.

They had gone home to Sweden together, and the thought was to visit the doctor together, but Bill had been called back because of his role as a producer. Both of them were really disappointed, but both of them were also used to unforeseen things happening.

Bill had taken his time alone to get together with the rest of the team. Getting to know the director better, taking a relaxing after-work break with one of the producers he had worked with many times, and also getting together with the whole team when they had filmed the last scene. That Saturday, they would visit an old castle for a guided tour and then eat and drink in the castle’s restaurant. He knew Aurora wouldn’t have said anything about him doing those things if she was there, but it was nice to do it without having a bad conscience out of leaving her alone on the couch, not even being able to have a glass of wine.

×××

Bill didn't notice he and the producer had started to talk and laugh a bit too loud, taking over the whole dinner with their stories. The wine he had been drinking moved like waves in his head and made him both energetic and a bit nauseous. Maybe he was more easily affected because he hadn't been drinking for a few months.

He had spoken with Aurora again before meeting the gang, and he knew she would have a nice night with Sonny at home in their house. She sounded a bit nervous when he said the whole team would be there. She really tried to cover it up, so he didn't say anything about it. She tried, and he didn't want to fight. Her emotions were everywhere, and some jealousy was probably natural, he had realized.

The night got wet for him, with not just wine but also booze. His head spewed when he stood outside of the restaurant, puffing on one of the director's cigarettes. He had stolen the pack but hadn't understood, in his drunkenness, that it wasn't his, so they laid it in his jean pocket and gave him a familiar feeling.

Sheilo looked at him amused as she stood leaned against a bench’s backrest.

“Aren't you too old to be this drunk?”

Bill looked at her with a smirk and made a confident smoke ring.

“I'm not drunk.”

“Oh, sorry, tipsy?” She said it with a giggle and walked up to him, a bit too close. She was taller than his wife and took the cigarette between his lips easily and placed it between her own. He looked at her with heavy eyelids but just took up a new cigarette from the package and lit it.

Sheilo smiled teasingly before talking again.

“Sorry, you're not old. I just think it's weird you're like that old. But not old, if you get me?” Bill looked up at the star-lit sky and shivered. It was surprisingly cold for September. He listened just with one ear on her. It sounded like she wanted to give him a compliment but instead just got caught in the fact that he was much older than her. Aurora had never made a thing of his age like that; even if she were younger, it wasn't information that made her think about him differently.

“You're twenty years older than me; still, I can't notice that? You could easily be like 35. Or something.”

Bill smiled at her, mostly to make her shut up. He wasn’t so drunk that he couldn’t still feel second-hand embarrassment. Sheilo smiled back and laughed softly. She looked at Bill's profile while he continued to smoke.

“Do you like younger women?” She asked. Bill cleared his throat. He started to see where this was going and that his wife had been right.

“Ehh… Not really?”

Sheilo made a sound of disbelief and smirked flirtily.

“Your wife is my age.”

“That just happened,” said Bill with a shoulder shrug. “That was not the thing I fell for.”

“That was a long time ago now; I guess she's not really the same woman you fell for? Mommy and all.”

He could hear his own voice in his head saying that he should leave, but the shame of not having listened to Aurora made him feel a need to talk.

“Aurora will always be amazing. And she has morals and class and would not do what you’re trying to do now.”

Sheilo looked at him, upset, and stepped away from him.

“What do you mean by that?”

Bill chewed his lip. He was drunk, and sometimes while being drunk, a colder, more ignorant side of him took over. He had probably never even shown that side to Aurora because there had never been a reason to come out with her.

"Oh, come on, I'm married. With five-, four kids. I will not say more than that.”

He knew what he could say, he knew where the line was. He had just made her think for herself.

Sheilo made a sound of offense but seemed to have gotten the hint. Both of them knew it wasn't good for their careers to fight. Bill, because he didn't know what she could say to the press, while she was afraid he would talk with his powerful friends. He was much more successful and seemed to become friends with everyone he worked with. She also knew that his wife looked and acted like a delicate flower but had more power than you’d believe by watching her.

Sheilo took a taxi back to her hotel. She regretted flirting with Bill. It could have been a successful thing if he had been interested. He was tall, handsome, and powerful, but he was also sweet in a way few men in Hollywood were. He had respect, connections, and was driven to do his own things. He would have been perfect. A girlfriend or wife had never stood in her way before; men would always be just men, but clearly she had underestimated Bill and Aurora’s marriage. They didn't fit, they had already broken up once, and now she had left him in Scotland just like that. But clearly, she had missed something when it came to Bill and Aurora’s marriage.

She was happy that there were just two weeks left of filming.

×××

Aurora was quiet, and it looked like she was thinking when he looked at her face on the iPad. Bill just waited for her to say something instead of stressing her out. He sat in bed, newly showered in boxers and a hoodie.

“But you're sure she flirted with you?” Said Aurora carefully. She had taken a pause from the standing lesson with Isis and let her watch a colorful series made for kids speech development. Isis sat and watched with her whole hand in her mouth, with her mom lying behind her on the floor. Bill gave Aurora an amused look. It was so typical of her to suddenly think the best of someone.

“Yes,” he just said, scratching his eyebrow. Aurora nodded.

“I just have to wrap this film up... But I want to have your approval to do that.”

Aurora looked at him with big brown eyes, and even if she didn't say anything, Bill had a bad conscience. He could also see that it was a totally different thing to film kissing scenes with a girl who had a real interest in him.

“Bill… That's mean…” She said that and looked away, hurt. He sat up a bit better in bed and looked closely at her. He didn't understand.

“I thought it was respectful to let you have a saying in this?”

“I get that, but whatever I say, it just gets weird. It's not like I want you to make out with her. I want to cut her tongue off. So if I say ‘okay’ it's just to be a good wife or pretend to be one. I get that ‘okay’ is the only right answer to this.”

Bill furrowed his brows.

“What? No, I would quit if you wanted that.”

Aurora looked at him, but then at Isis, who had started to make a high-pitched sound towards the TV.

“Okay. Do that then,” she said, without looking at him. Bill looked at her, shocked, but then he sighed because he could understand what she meant now. He actually believed she would give him approval when he showed he was prepared to leave the project. He was mean.

“I'm sorry,” he said regretfully with a sigh. Aurora just gave him a look and shrugged her shoulders. She didn't blame him; she understood he wanted to finish his work, but she didn't want to pretend she was okay with it either.

“I will just finish this. I will have as little contact with her as possible, and then I will come home, okay?”

He gave her a serious look with wide eyes. Aurora lifted the corner of her mouth.

“I do trust you, baby. It's just the hormones that make me crazy. And I know you will handle that situation perfectly. But I will fantasize about using your trimmer to shave her hair off.”

Aurora smiled sweetly, and Bill laughed at the face that didn't suit the words. He looked at her for a long time and listened to Isis happy sounds. He missed them so much. He wishes he could lay there on the floor with them, let Isis fly in his arms, and feel the softness of Aurora's body next to him. Fuck, he missed them.

×××

She didn't look at him. She had smiled and laughed at everyone for two days, but she didn't look at him anymore more than when they did their scenes. Bill didn't really care what Sheilo did, as long as they got the job done. She had never been so great of an actor, so it didn't matter that she had a look of irritation all the time while acting.

She stopped smiling towards everyone else the third day because the director had talked with her about her attitude. The director had told him that she said he had come on to her, but the director wasn't interested in her words. He didn't know Bill well, but Bill's morals shone through, as did his love and admiration for his wife. Since the director had ignored Sheilo's words, she walked around like an angry bee. Bill almost thought it was funny, but he also knew a conflict on set was never good. He thought about talking with her, especially when Aurora said it might be for the best. He even had her blessing in it. But he thought too long about how to do it because, with one week left of filming, Page Six posted an article about him. The interest in him had grown because of Aurora, and maybe especially now when they could create headlines about him and another young woman.

BILL SKARSGÅRD CHEATS ON AURORA LOU ON SET WITH YOUNG ACTRESS

They wrote about how Bill and Sheilo had an affair that led to a big conflict because Bill had just played around. How he had then succeeded in turning everyone against Sheilo. They even said Bill had shown this behavior before but didn't give any source to what they said.

Bill had comforted Aurora over a video call for hours, but he could understand her wild emotions. He felt it too, but instead it was like his brain couldn't cope with all the information, and a numbness spread over him. He knew he would get hate from both Aurora's fans and his own, but he didn't care about that. He could guess this wouldn't be a positive thing for his career, but he didn't care about that either. The only thing he cared about was his family and his wife. He wondered how this would affect them when everyone pictured him as a cheater, disrespectful to women, and a bully.

“I promise, I haven't said anything to the press. Okay, I'm mad. But I wouldn't do such a thing. I know such shit most often comes back to you,” said Sheilo while they sat with their managers, producers, and director. Bill just sat and played with his phone, thinking about his wife and daughters. He didn't care about Sheilo at all; he didn't know if he cared to know who it was who had talked to Page Six either. It didn't matter now anyway. It was too late.

Bill sighed and nodded a little. He just half way listened while they spoke about how to solve it to help him. All of them wanted his best and the project's best, even Sheilo, but he couldn't really see an easy solution, more than ignoring it and pretending like it didn't exist.

×××

Isis whined next to Aurora and Bill's oldest daughter. They were laying together in Gustaf's family's guest room, all of them on the bed. Isis lay in between them, and they tried to make her take her afternoon nap, but it had been hard this last week. They had moved in with Gustaf at once when the gossip had started and had isolated themselves, even if it wasn't good for any of them. Gustaf had taken Isis out, but he didn't succeed in taking Aurora out. She was just an empty shell, silent and lifeless, but he and his family could hear her cry when she talked with Bill. The heartbroken cries. Gustaf had tried to talk with her. This didn't need to be such a big thing. People would forget it soon. He tried to talk with Bill, but realized this was as hard for him. He had heard gossip about himself before, but nothing like this.

"Please, honey,” said Aurora tiredly to her daughter. She tried to make her calm down while she just sat up and whined. Bill's oldest daughter looked at their struggle but didn't say anything; she was afraid it would make Aurora even more upset.

Aurora succeeded in laying her baby down again and patting her back soothingly, but after just a couple minutes, Isis spit out the binky again and sat up. Aurora sat up too, with a deep sigh.

“I give up.”

Bill's oldest daughter looked at her with just as wide eyes as her father and swallowed hard.

“Aurora, how are you?” She hadn't really dared to ask her this simple question before. Aurora gave her a resigned look while holding a grip on Isis's pajamas so she wouldn't fall out of the bed.

“To be honest, I don't know. It's just… So sad. Your dad would never, ever cheat, but still, the whole world seems to believe that now. They don't even have a picture, a source, or anything. Still, everyone believes them.”

His daughter nodded. She knew her dad wouldn't cheat. It could have been just naive belief from a daughter, but she knew her father so well and how much he loved his wife. He would never cheat on her. He and Aurora were deeply in love.

“Maybe I’m making this into a bigger thing than it is; I don't know, but I know I can't even open an app without either seeing headlines or tweets or having so many messages about how I should leave your father and...”

She wiped away a tear and pulled Isis closer to herself again.

“I'm pregnant… And this was not the way I hoped everything would unfold.”

The teenager looked at her with shock. She didn't know how to react. She never believed they would have one more child, and now it would be in a moment where the world turned against them.

“Oh wow… One more baby?”

Aurora smiled through tears and shrugged her shoulders.

“We will see.”

It didn't feel like the right moment, even if she did want the child more than anything, but maybe it wasn't right to put one more child into this mess, or maybe her body would protest against it. She had already miscarried one time.

Bill's oldest gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Of course there will be another baby!” She said happily to cheer her up, and Aurora laughed a little, affected by the girl's positivism.

×××

People were used to Bill not being the loudest guy on set, but after the gossip had come out, Bill had been almost scarily quiet. The crew members who hadn't really spoken with him wondered if the gossip was true and if he would suddenly burst out in anger. Bill could absolutely be angry, even more shockingly mad than people thought, but it wouldn't happen there. He had no one to be angry at there, or he didn't know who, at least. It was probably someone there who had talked with Page Six, but he didn't know who.

When he sat alone, playing with his phone in his trailer, waiting for his next scene, there was a knock at the door. He gave the person outside the door a look through the window. It was Sheilo, dressed in a hoodie and leggings. He sighed a bit to himself and gave Aurora’s face on his home screen a final look before opening and walking out to Sheilo.

“Hey, eh, how are you?” She said it nervously. She looked younger and more nervous than she had done before, and Bill tangled up his crossed arms to seem less threatening. He shrugged his shoulders and looked down at the ground.

“I just… I'm really sorry. I haven't talked with Page Six,” she said nervously. Bill looked up at her and saw the tears stream down her cheeks. He nodded and gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder. More comfort than that, he couldn't give.

“I know. It would be stupid,” he said with an unamused laugh, and she gave one back between the tears.

“Yeah… It's awful how much shit people can write.”

Bill nodded. He wondered how much hate she had gotten. He knew the gossip was mostly about him, but she was a young woman accused of having an affair with a married man and father; she probably got more than him. He didn't look. He hadn't even opened a news app in days.

“Can we do something? Like, make a statement or something?” She asked and looked at him like he was the wise one. The problem was just that he had never had something like this written about him. He knew Aurora had such attention when she was together with Timmy, but together with Bill, she lived in their own little intimate, protected bubble. He smiled unsurely and scratched his neck.

“I don't know, actually. Ehh…”

Sheilo waited for him to say something more, but Bill didn't have more to say than that.

“But when you got together with Aurora Lou... People must have been writing then,” She said, questioning. Bill wagged his head from side to side.

“Sure. That we dated. And some said Aurora cheated on Timmy with me, but that disappeared fast. It was obvious they hadn't been a couple for many months, but it was just fans writing it. There is nothing like this. I think both me and Aurora want to just wait it out. It's just… It's just bad timing,” said Bill, thinking about their unborn baby and Aurora's hormonal state.

Sheilo nodded, even if she didn't know what he talked about.

“Can you think about, maybe, talking with Aurora about making a statement? I don't… I'm afraid this will really destroy my career.” She laid her hands over her face and cried, so her shoulders bobbed. Bill felt bad, even if he hadn't done anything, and for the fact that he couldn't comfort her. It would be weird for him to hug her at this moment, even if nothing had happened between them. 

“Sure… I will say it to her." 

Sheilo wiped away the tears from her cheeks harshly and smiled painfully. 

“I'm sorry for... That night,” she said with a low voice, looking down on the ground. 

Bill looked at her in silence for a few too many seconds, but it was just weird how much younger than Aurora she felt. She was three years younger than her, but still, their mannerisms were so different. It wasn't like Aurora didn't cry, but it felt so different from this. It felt like a schoolgirl standing in front of him. He would have never approached a girl like her; he would feel like a dirty uncle. He just nodded and gave her a strained smile as an answer to her apology. That night didn't really matter in the context. 

With an awkward goodbye, she walked away, and Bill stood behind her, looking up at the sky. It was perfect blue—not a cloud in sight. He would film in thirty minutes even if he just wanted the sky to be black and he could sleep. 

××× 

He walked through all the people at Arlanda Airport. It wasn't often he felt ogled at in Stockholm, not even on Arlanda. Of course, he always got curious looks, sometimes a friendly word about what a great actor he was, but otherwise the shy Swedes let him be. It felt different that day. It felt really different, even if no one approached him this time either. 

It felt like he could hear people whisper about him and feel their judging eyes on his skin. He had always been quite good at shutting such feelings off, even if he knew in reality that he was quite sensitive to negative attention to him as a person. Negative attention about his professional self could make him just want to do a better job but his private life should be private and not examined closely by unknown people. 

He had gotten death threats from people who believed he had cheated on Aurora and wanted to stand up for her. He wondered if they would want to take it back if they knew everything was a lie or if this was just their chance to throw their bitter feelings at him. He guessed the latter. 

He knew his managers didn't tell him everything and was glad he didn't need to know how much hate he actually got and how many wanted him gone from Aurora's life, one way or another. That they recommended him to have security in Sweden said a lot but he had refused. He didn't need that when he was alone and felt a buffy guy behind him would just stress him. He was stressed now anyway. He didn't believe anything would happen in Sweden, but he didn't want to relax too much. 

Aurora knew her husband would finally come home that day, and she had gotten help from Sonny to move home again. He was still at home with her and Isis, not because Aurora had asked but because he was too afraid to leave her alone. He had noticed she took this really harsh, harsher than he had thought, but he didn't know what was happening inside her body. He wondered for a few seconds if it was all true. Maybe Bill had cheated with a woman even younger than her. Maybe he had gotten the Hollywood obsession with younger women? But no, had you seen Bill and Aurora together, you knew it wasn't a possibility. He adored his wife. 

He looked at Aurora walking around in nervous circles while at the same time watching Isis crawl around on the floor along the couch. She picked on every dog's hair and showed them in pride for both him and the dogs, like they hadn't seen the hair before. 

“Shouldn't you sit down a bit? He just wrote that he is in a taxi on his way home, give him some time,” Sonny said carefully, patting the couch seat next to his. Aurora shook her head fast. 

“No, no, I can't relax. I need him now. He must come now.” 

She continued to walk around the couches while dragging her fingers through her messy hair. Sonny looked down at Isis again, who had started to play with the Corgi's ear. The dog just continued to sleep with its nose in the off-white rug. It may have been a bit cozy to have two baby hands around her ear. 

When they heard the sound of the entrance door opening, all five creatures in the living room reacted and turned their heads towards the door entrance closest to the hallway. Aurora also heard Bill's familiar low-smacking sounds from his lips, and she couldn't stop herself from running out to him like she was a child. Bill heard her soft running steps, and by reflex, he was already prepared to catch her when she threw herself around his neck. He lifted up his wife so she could have her legs around him and they could hug without the height difference separating their bodies. They were so close now that their hearts started to beat in the same rhythm. Aurora trusted Sonny with Isis, and so did Bill. During the time of their marriage, he really got to know Sonny and saw him now as something more than just the person wanting to be in the center of attention. He was intelligent and trustworthy, and on the side of his media gigs, he studied to be a psychologist. He wasn't that one-dimensional character Bill had seen him as first. 

The couple kissed deeply, not of the passion created in happiness and sexual desire but the passion of love and healing. They needed to be together right now. Especially because it would only get worse.

×

[soohaaaleemeee]

Love Just Happens

A New Chapter - Part 20

Characters: The future's Bill Skarsgård and others close to him. The rest is my own characters. 

Setting: This story is set in the future but because it's hard to say how the world is then (and it isn't that important for the story) the future is similar to our time now, even with fashion and so on. 

Warnings: 18+, age difference, alcohol, drunkenness, ageism, cheating, gossip, bullying, pregnancy, miscarriage.

It would be a surprise. A big, wonderful surprise. A gift, mostly to themselves, but they hoped others would feel the same.

Aurora sat in the waiting room to meet her midwife. She couldn't stop herself from fantasizing about all the things she and Bill had talked about. Their lives would be even more amazing with one more baby. It would mean so much for Isadora's life. She looked at her belly, which was weirdly flat for being a pregnant belly in her eyes, and sometimes she got caught up in her emotions and made up a whole story in her head about the pregnancy test being old and showing a false result. She had cried over that thought and done test after test after test, and all were positive. Still, she didn't dare to believe it fully. Her midwife confirmed the test, and Aurora, high on happiness, called Bill while still sitting in the examining chair.

Bill was happy too, hearing the confirmation, but he had never been that worried either. He had believed the test because it said on the box that a positive test was always accurate.

She was in week twelve, and that surprised Bill. He hadn't really seen anything on her, while she had gotten a belly quite fast the last time. He had hoped that the doctor would help Aurora with her mood swings, but the only thing they could do was give her antidepressants, and he didn't like the sound of that. She wasn't depressed; she was just on a hormonal roller coaster. He hoped it would end soon because he didn't have much more to say when she worried about her looks, career, or him getting tired of her. He had said everything there was to say, and she still continued.

He felt bad that he kind of liked being alone in the apartment in Scotland, being able to watch movies and series with blood; the pregnancy made her nauseous by it, to use his shampoo that was great for strengthening his hair (preventing hair loss) without her complaining about the scent, or to get stuck on his phone without her saying he was annoyed at her. He was annoyed, but he couldn't say that because it was his seed that had made her like that. He had to suck it up, so suddenly being able to do whatever he wanted without tipping on his toes was liberating.

They had gone home to Sweden together, and the thought was to visit the doctor together, but Bill had been called back because of his role as a producer. Both of them were really disappointed, but both of them were also used to unforeseen things happening.

Bill had taken his time alone to get together with the rest of the team. Getting to know the director better, taking a relaxing after-work break with one of the producers he had worked with many times, and also getting together with the whole team when they had filmed the last scene. That Saturday, they would visit an old castle for a guided tour and then eat and drink in the castle’s restaurant. He knew Aurora wouldn’t have said anything about him doing those things if she was there, but it was nice to do it without having a bad conscience out of leaving her alone on the couch, not even being able to have a glass of wine.

×××

Bill didn't notice he and the producer had started to talk and laugh a bit too loud, taking over the whole dinner with their stories. The wine he had been drinking moved like waves in his head and made him both energetic and a bit nauseous. Maybe he was more easily affected because he hadn't been drinking for a few months.

He had spoken with Aurora again before meeting the gang, and he knew she would have a nice night with Sonny at home in their house. She sounded a bit nervous when he said the whole team would be there. She really tried to cover it up, so he didn't say anything about it. She tried, and he didn't want to fight. Her emotions were everywhere, and some jealousy was probably natural, he had realized.

The night got wet for him, with not just wine but also booze. His head spewed when he stood outside of the restaurant, puffing on one of the director's cigarettes. He had stolen the pack but hadn't understood, in his drunkenness, that it wasn't his, so they laid it in his jean pocket and gave him a familiar feeling.

Sheilo looked at him amused as she stood leaned against a bench’s backrest.

“Aren't you too old to be this drunk?”

Bill looked at her with a smirk and made a confident smoke ring.

“I'm not drunk.”

“Oh, sorry, tipsy?” She said it with a giggle and walked up to him, a bit too close. She was taller than his wife and took the cigarette between his lips easily and placed it between her own. He looked at her with heavy eyelids but just took up a new cigarette from the package and lit it.

Sheilo smiled teasingly before talking again.

“Sorry, you're not old. I just think it's weird you're like that old. But not old, if you get me?” Bill looked up at the star-lit sky and shivered. It was surprisingly cold for September. He listened just with one ear on her. It sounded like she wanted to give him a compliment but instead just got caught in the fact that he was much older than her. Aurora had never made a thing of his age like that; even if she were younger, it wasn't information that made her think about him differently.

“You're twenty years older than me; still, I can't notice that? You could easily be like 35. Or something.”

Bill smiled at her, mostly to make her shut up. He wasn’t so drunk that he couldn’t still feel second-hand embarrassment. Sheilo smiled back and laughed softly. She looked at Bill's profile while he continued to smoke.

“Do you like younger women?” She asked. Bill cleared his throat. He started to see where this was going and that his wife had been right.

“Ehh… Not really?”

Sheilo made a sound of disbelief and smirked flirtily.

“Your wife is my age.”

“That just happened,” said Bill with a shoulder shrug. “That was not the thing I fell for.”

“That was a long time ago now; I guess she's not really the same woman you fell for? Mommy and all.”

He could hear his own voice in his head saying that he should leave, but the shame of not having listened to Aurora made him feel a need to talk.

“Aurora will always be amazing. And she has morals and class and would not do what you’re trying to do now.”

Sheilo looked at him, upset, and stepped away from him.

“What do you mean by that?”

Bill chewed his lip. He was drunk, and sometimes while being drunk, a colder, more ignorant side of him took over. He had probably never even shown that side to Aurora because there had never been a reason to come out with her.

"Oh, come on, I'm married. With five-, four kids. I will not say more than that.”

He knew what he could say, he knew where the line was. He had just made her think for herself.

Sheilo made a sound of offense but seemed to have gotten the hint. Both of them knew it wasn't good for their careers to fight. Bill, because he didn't know what she could say to the press, while she was afraid he would talk with his powerful friends. He was much more successful and seemed to become friends with everyone he worked with. She also knew that his wife looked and acted like a delicate flower but had more power than you’d believe by watching her.

Sheilo took a taxi back to her hotel. She regretted flirting with Bill. It could have been a successful thing if he had been interested. He was tall, handsome, and powerful, but he was also sweet in a way few men in Hollywood were. He had respect, connections, and was driven to do his own things. He would have been perfect. A girlfriend or wife had never stood in her way before; men would always be just men, but clearly she had underestimated Bill and Aurora’s marriage. They didn't fit, they had already broken up once, and now she had left him in Scotland just like that. But clearly, she had missed something when it came to Bill and Aurora’s marriage.

She was happy that there were just two weeks left of filming.

×××

Aurora was quiet, and it looked like she was thinking when he looked at her face on the iPad. Bill just waited for her to say something instead of stressing her out. He sat in bed, newly showered in boxers and a hoodie.

“But you're sure she flirted with you?” Said Aurora carefully. She had taken a pause from the standing lesson with Isis and let her watch a colorful series made for kids speech development. Isis sat and watched with her whole hand in her mouth, with her mom lying behind her on the floor. Bill gave Aurora an amused look. It was so typical of her to suddenly think the best of someone.

“Yes,” he just said, scratching his eyebrow. Aurora nodded.

“I just have to wrap this film up... But I want to have your approval to do that.”

Aurora looked at him with big brown eyes, and even if she didn't say anything, Bill had a bad conscience. He could also see that it was a totally different thing to film kissing scenes with a girl who had a real interest in him.

“Bill… That's mean…” She said that and looked away, hurt. He sat up a bit better in bed and looked closely at her. He didn't understand.

“I thought it was respectful to let you have a saying in this?”

“I get that, but whatever I say, it just gets weird. It's not like I want you to make out with her. I want to cut her tongue off. So if I say ‘okay’ it's just to be a good wife or pretend to be one. I get that ‘okay’ is the only right answer to this.”

Bill furrowed his brows.

“What? No, I would quit if you wanted that.”

Aurora looked at him, but then at Isis, who had started to make a high-pitched sound towards the TV.

“Okay. Do that then,” she said, without looking at him. Bill looked at her, shocked, but then he sighed because he could understand what she meant now. He actually believed she would give him approval when he showed he was prepared to leave the project. He was mean.

“I'm sorry,” he said regretfully with a sigh. Aurora just gave him a look and shrugged her shoulders. She didn't blame him; she understood he wanted to finish his work, but she didn't want to pretend she was okay with it either.

“I will just finish this. I will have as little contact with her as possible, and then I will come home, okay?”

He gave her a serious look with wide eyes. Aurora lifted the corner of her mouth.

“I do trust you, baby. It's just the hormones that make me crazy. And I know you will handle that situation perfectly. But I will fantasize about using your trimmer to shave her hair off.”

Aurora smiled sweetly, and Bill laughed at the face that didn't suit the words. He looked at her for a long time and listened to Isis happy sounds. He missed them so much. He wishes he could lay there on the floor with them, let Isis fly in his arms, and feel the softness of Aurora's body next to him. Fuck, he missed them.

×××

She didn't look at him. She had smiled and laughed at everyone for two days, but she didn't look at him anymore more than when they did their scenes. Bill didn't really care what Sheilo did, as long as they got the job done. She had never been so great of an actor, so it didn't matter that she had a look of irritation all the time while acting.

She stopped smiling towards everyone else the third day because the director had talked with her about her attitude. The director had told him that she said he had come on to her, but the director wasn't interested in her words. He didn't know Bill well, but Bill's morals shone through, as did his love and admiration for his wife. Since the director had ignored Sheilo's words, she walked around like an angry bee. Bill almost thought it was funny, but he also knew a conflict on set was never good. He thought about talking with her, especially when Aurora said it might be for the best. He even had her blessing in it. But he thought too long about how to do it because, with one week left of filming, Page Six posted an article about him. The interest in him had grown because of Aurora, and maybe especially now when they could create headlines about him and another young woman.

BILL SKARSGÅRD CHEATS ON AURORA LOU ON SET WITH YOUNG ACTRESS

They wrote about how Bill and Sheilo had an affair that led to a big conflict because Bill had just played around. How he had then succeeded in turning everyone against Sheilo. They even said Bill had shown this behavior before but didn't give any source to what they said.

Bill had comforted Aurora over a video call for hours, but he could understand her wild emotions. He felt it too, but instead it was like his brain couldn't cope with all the information, and a numbness spread over him. He knew he would get hate from both Aurora's fans and his own, but he didn't care about that. He could guess this wouldn't be a positive thing for his career, but he didn't care about that either. The only thing he cared about was his family and his wife. He wondered how this would affect them when everyone pictured him as a cheater, disrespectful to women, and a bully.

“I promise, I haven't said anything to the press. Okay, I'm mad. But I wouldn't do such a thing. I know such shit most often comes back to you,” said Sheilo while they sat with their managers, producers, and director. Bill just sat and played with his phone, thinking about his wife and daughters. He didn't care about Sheilo at all; he didn't know if he cared to know who it was who had talked to Page Six either. It didn't matter now anyway. It was too late.

Bill sighed and nodded a little. He just half way listened while they spoke about how to solve it to help him. All of them wanted his best and the project's best, even Sheilo, but he couldn't really see an easy solution, more than ignoring it and pretending like it didn't exist.

×××

Isis whined next to Aurora and Bill's oldest daughter. They were laying together in Gustaf's family's guest room, all of them on the bed. Isis lay in between them, and they tried to make her take her afternoon nap, but it had been hard this last week. They had moved in with Gustaf at once when the gossip had started and had isolated themselves, even if it wasn't good for any of them. Gustaf had taken Isis out, but he didn't succeed in taking Aurora out. She was just an empty shell, silent and lifeless, but he and his family could hear her cry when she talked with Bill. The heartbroken cries. Gustaf had tried to talk with her. This didn't need to be such a big thing. People would forget it soon. He tried to talk with Bill, but realized this was as hard for him. He had heard gossip about himself before, but nothing like this.

"Please, honey,” said Aurora tiredly to her daughter. She tried to make her calm down while she just sat up and whined. Bill's oldest daughter looked at their struggle but didn't say anything; she was afraid it would make Aurora even more upset.

Aurora succeeded in laying her baby down again and patting her back soothingly, but after just a couple minutes, Isis spit out the binky again and sat up. Aurora sat up too, with a deep sigh.

“I give up.”

Bill's oldest daughter looked at her with just as wide eyes as her father and swallowed hard.

“Aurora, how are you?” She hadn't really dared to ask her this simple question before. Aurora gave her a resigned look while holding a grip on Isis's pajamas so she wouldn't fall out of the bed.

“To be honest, I don't know. It's just… So sad. Your dad would never, ever cheat, but still, the whole world seems to believe that now. They don't even have a picture, a source, or anything. Still, everyone believes them.”

His daughter nodded. She knew her dad wouldn't cheat. It could have been just naive belief from a daughter, but she knew her father so well and how much he loved his wife. He would never cheat on her. He and Aurora were deeply in love.

“Maybe I’m making this into a bigger thing than it is; I don't know, but I know I can't even open an app without either seeing headlines or tweets or having so many messages about how I should leave your father and...”

She wiped away a tear and pulled Isis closer to herself again.

“I'm pregnant… And this was not the way I hoped everything would unfold.”

The teenager looked at her with shock. She didn't know how to react. She never believed they would have one more child, and now it would be in a moment where the world turned against them.

“Oh wow… One more baby?”

Aurora smiled through tears and shrugged her shoulders.

“We will see.”

It didn't feel like the right moment, even if she did want the child more than anything, but maybe it wasn't right to put one more child into this mess, or maybe her body would protest against it. She had already miscarried one time.

Bill's oldest gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Of course there will be another baby!” She said happily to cheer her up, and Aurora laughed a little, affected by the girl's positivism.

×××

People were used to Bill not being the loudest guy on set, but after the gossip had come out, Bill had been almost scarily quiet. The crew members who hadn't really spoken with him wondered if the gossip was true and if he would suddenly burst out in anger. Bill could absolutely be angry, even more shockingly mad than people thought, but it wouldn't happen there. He had no one to be angry at there, or he didn't know who, at least. It was probably someone there who had talked with Page Six, but he didn't know who.

When he sat alone, playing with his phone in his trailer, waiting for his next scene, there was a knock at the door. He gave the person outside the door a look through the window. It was Sheilo, dressed in a hoodie and leggings. He sighed a bit to himself and gave Aurora’s face on his home screen a final look before opening and walking out to Sheilo.

“Hey, eh, how are you?” She said it nervously. She looked younger and more nervous than she had done before, and Bill tangled up his crossed arms to seem less threatening. He shrugged his shoulders and looked down at the ground.

“I just… I'm really sorry. I haven't talked with Page Six,” she said nervously. Bill looked up at her and saw the tears stream down her cheeks. He nodded and gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder. More comfort than that, he couldn't give.

“I know. It would be stupid,” he said with an unamused laugh, and she gave one back between the tears.

“Yeah… It's awful how much shit people can write.”

Bill nodded. He wondered how much hate she had gotten. He knew the gossip was mostly about him, but she was a young woman accused of having an affair with a married man and father; she probably got more than him. He didn't look. He hadn't even opened a news app in days.

“Can we do something? Like, make a statement or something?” She asked and looked at him like he was the wise one. The problem was just that he had never had something like this written about him. He knew Aurora had such attention when she was together with Timmy, but together with Bill, she lived in their own little intimate, protected bubble. He smiled unsurely and scratched his neck.

“I don't know, actually. Ehh…”

Sheilo waited for him to say something more, but Bill didn't have more to say than that.

“But when you got together with Aurora Lou... People must have been writing then,” She said, questioning. Bill wagged his head from side to side.

“Sure. That we dated. And some said Aurora cheated on Timmy with me, but that disappeared fast. It was obvious they hadn't been a couple for many months, but it was just fans writing it. There is nothing like this. I think both me and Aurora want to just wait it out. It's just… It's just bad timing,” said Bill, thinking about their unborn baby and Aurora's hormonal state.

Sheilo nodded, even if she didn't know what he talked about.

“Can you think about, maybe, talking with Aurora about making a statement? I don't… I'm afraid this will really destroy my career.” She laid her hands over her face and cried, so her shoulders bobbed. Bill felt bad, even if he hadn't done anything, and for the fact that he couldn't comfort her. It would be weird for him to hug her at this moment, even if nothing had happened between them. 

“Sure… I will say it to her." 

Sheilo wiped away the tears from her cheeks harshly and smiled painfully. 

“I'm sorry for... That night,” she said with a low voice, looking down on the ground. 

Bill looked at her in silence for a few too many seconds, but it was just weird how much younger than Aurora she felt. She was three years younger than her, but still, their mannerisms were so different. It wasn't like Aurora didn't cry, but it felt so different from this. It felt like a schoolgirl standing in front of him. He would have never approached a girl like her; he would feel like a dirty uncle. He just nodded and gave her a strained smile as an answer to her apology. That night didn't really matter in the context. 

With an awkward goodbye, she walked away, and Bill stood behind her, looking up at the sky. It was perfect blue—not a cloud in sight. He would film in thirty minutes even if he just wanted the sky to be black and he could sleep. 

××× 

He walked through all the people at Arlanda Airport. It wasn't often he felt ogled at in Stockholm, not even on Arlanda. Of course, he always got curious looks, sometimes a friendly word about what a great actor he was, but otherwise the shy Swedes let him be. It felt different that day. It felt really different, even if no one approached him this time either. 

It felt like he could hear people whisper about him and feel their judging eyes on his skin. He had always been quite good at shutting such feelings off, even if he knew in reality that he was quite sensitive to negative attention to him as a person. Negative attention about his professional self could make him just want to do a better job but his private life should be private and not examined closely by unknown people. 

He had gotten death threats from people who believed he had cheated on Aurora and wanted to stand up for her. He wondered if they would want to take it back if they knew everything was a lie or if this was just their chance to throw their bitter feelings at him. He guessed the latter. 

He knew his managers didn't tell him everything and was glad he didn't need to know how much hate he actually got and how many wanted him gone from Aurora's life, one way or another. That they recommended him to have security in Sweden said a lot but he had refused. He didn't need that when he was alone and felt a buffy guy behind him would just stress him. He was stressed now anyway. He didn't believe anything would happen in Sweden, but he didn't want to relax too much. 

Aurora knew her husband would finally come home that day, and she had gotten help from Sonny to move home again. He was still at home with her and Isis, not because Aurora had asked but because he was too afraid to leave her alone. He had noticed she took this really harsh, harsher than he had thought, but he didn't know what was happening inside her body. He wondered for a few seconds if it was all true. Maybe Bill had cheated with a woman even younger than her. Maybe he had gotten the Hollywood obsession with younger women? But no, had you seen Bill and Aurora together, you knew it wasn't a possibility. He adored his wife. 

He looked at Aurora walking around in nervous circles while at the same time watching Isis crawl around on the floor along the couch. She picked on every dog's hair and showed them in pride for both him and the dogs, like they hadn't seen the hair before. 

“Shouldn't you sit down a bit? He just wrote that he is in a taxi on his way home, give him some time,” Sonny said carefully, patting the couch seat next to his. Aurora shook her head fast. 

“No, no, I can't relax. I need him now. He must come now.” 

She continued to walk around the couches while dragging her fingers through her messy hair. Sonny looked down at Isis again, who had started to play with the Corgi's ear. The dog just continued to sleep with its nose in the off-white rug. It may have been a bit cozy to have two baby hands around her ear. 

When they heard the sound of the entrance door opening, all five creatures in the living room reacted and turned their heads towards the door entrance closest to the hallway. Aurora also heard Bill's familiar low-smacking sounds from his lips, and she couldn't stop herself from running out to him like she was a child. Bill heard her soft running steps, and by reflex, he was already prepared to catch her when she threw herself around his neck. He lifted up his wife so she could have her legs around him and they could hug without the height difference separating their bodies. They were so close now that their hearts started to beat in the same rhythm. Aurora trusted Sonny with Isis, and so did Bill. During the time of their marriage, he really got to know Sonny and saw him now as something more than just the person wanting to be in the center of attention. He was intelligent and trustworthy, and on the side of his media gigs, he studied to be a psychologist. He wasn't that one-dimensional character Bill had seen him as first. 

The couple kissed deeply, not of the passion created in happiness and sexual desire but the passion of love and healing. They needed to be together right now. Especially because it would only get worse.

×

[soohaaaleemeee]

Avenue of Sins: Neon

A Sequel to Avene of Sins

SUMMARY: ‘90s. It’s the aftermath. Jaded, Bill and Alma navigate their new lives as they try to drag themselves out of the dark debacherous trenches they had once ensnared themselves in. It’s easy to forget their evils when a silver lining introduces itself into their lives but can they create a less hedonistic life that would be just as satisfying?

WARNINGS: adult content, mature readers only.

The completed first series can be read and found here.

Chapter Eighteen

May 1993  The Day of the Secret Show

Alma was yawning loudly while sitting on top of the cash wrap counter before having another sip from her coffee cup. It was seven am, and she had already been there for an hour along with Darby, who turned up to help. Their schedules as managers were flipped and overlapped on a day like today. Only the band's sound mixer had arrived, and after Darby had finished helping him bring in his equipment, he was now double-checking the employee schedule. All employees were expected to have a shift—even the four part-time high school students. 

They had left the back door open, and they both peered over when they heard some commotion to see a roadie wave at them and announce the presence of the others, all carrying a piece of musical equipment. 

“Shit,” Darby said under his breath as he turned to lean back on the counter. “That’s their stuff.” He was checking out their worn guitars, adorned with faded stickers and random splotches of spray paint.

“They’re probably coming right after they set up.” Alma smiled as the excitement built inside her. “You sure Lewis isn’t showing up for this? I know I asked before I left last night, but did he tell you anything different?” 

Darby nodded understandingly. “He said he’s just coming for the show. Said, he had other things to attend to.” 

“Right, right,” Alma nodded. “I want Echo to take a pic with them after their sound check,” she smiled.  

She had brought her professional camera with her. And now she was thinking she should have dressed up better. She knew what she’d wear to the gig, but it was too early to want to get dressed for this. She was just in loose, ripped-up jeans and had tied the hem of a plain white shirt to form better with her body because it belonged to Bill.

“Me too?” Darby chuckled. 

“I’ll take yours with them too,” she laughed. 

Bill was parked out front in the Jeep while Echo continued sleeping in her car seat. He was keeping a lookout for Lewis and waiting for a signal to come in from Alma. The radio volume was shallow when he ejected the strange ethereal music that was playing on the cassette. He took a look at it, Cocteau Twins. The music was pretty, but it wasn’t helping him want to stay awake under the overcast skies. He swore they weren’t really saying any real words, but sometimes he thought he heard a phrase or two. He turned the radio on at some shock jock station after putting it away in its case.

Inside the record shop, Alma had met the band's manager, Dean, in the backstage area. He was checking the place out, asking questions about ticket sales and what the maximum capacity of the venue was. 

“And I see you have what they requested. But the ice?” He turned to her as he clasped his hands in front of him. 

“It’ll be here by the time they perform.” 

“Good, ‘cause we want the beers cold,” he gestured towards the cases. “And at least half the water ice cold, and the other half room temp’.” 

“Right. Anything else?” She raised her brows. 

He smiled wryly. “Nope. They’ll be here in about 30 minutes,” he said, checking his expensive wristwatch. “They’re only sound-checking three songs. This place opens for business at 9 am?” Alma nodded. “Okay, that gives them time to get in and get out then.” 

“And for the gig? How would they like to be introduced, or what’s the plan there?” She asked, looking at how his eggplant-colored silk shirt ripped as she followed him out to the stage area.

“These curtains close right,” he asked, lightly tugging on the thick braided rope holding one half back. 

“They do—be careful.” She said a bit too motherly when she saw the rope wanting to loosen. He quickly tugged the knot tighter before it did. 

He lightly laughed as if he meant to do that, but it was clear he was visibly embarrassed by his near mishap. “Um, make sure these are closed before the roadies leave while the place operates. I don’t want equipment missing.” Alma nodded a bit annoyed because, of course, she knew to do that. “Anyway, the band will come in a nondescript van, so please make sure there’s a spot for it right outside the backstage door where they’ll come in about ten minutes after their set show time.”

“Creating anticipation,” Alma smirked. 

“Right,” he said dryly. “I have a guest list here,” he said, digging in his jeans pocket. “A few journalists.” Alma opened the printed paper he passed and saw the large publications they worked for right next to their names. “And a few radio hosts.”

“Um,” Darby said loudly by the exit door, looking a little starstruck. “Hey, what’s up? They’re here.” 

Bill was outside and could hear the muffled sound of cranked-up guitars and heavily booming drums from the shop, even where he was parked with the windows down. Echo was now in the front seat, sitting on his lap, and eating dry Cheerios from his large cupped hand. He was anxiously bobbing his knee up and down, and his signal to enter finally came. The neon open sign flickered on and off for him several times. 

He squeezed through the door while Alma quickly locked it behind him after she handed him Echo’s noise-canceling headphones. Dean, who was standing by the sound mixer, turned his head and gave the tall man with a child an odd look until he saw him kiss the shop girl. He wanted to remind her that this was a private soundcheck, but seeing her now next to her partner intimidated him. Of course, a girl like her would be with someone just as good-looking, and it irked him. 

Echo was clapping her little hands to the band's most popular single as they closed out their short soundcheck session. And it felt totally surreal to experience such a thing with less than ten other people in the room. They have been on MTV, constantly played on the radio, and received several accolades and awards, including a coveted Grammy. They have been on a continuous international tour, and yet here they were.

“That’s really them,” Bill chuckled lightly in disbelief after their song ended. 

“It’s a fucking trip, man,” Darby responded under his breath. 

They all stood at the back end of the concert floor and off to the side. Twice, Alma had to tug Darby back by the shoulder because it was as if the music had some pull on him, and he kept inching towards the stage. The wiry, sleepy-eyed, disheveled-haired lead singer was now crouched down with his guitar, giving some corrective notes to their sound mixer. 

“But, uh, yeah, I think that’s all good, man,” the lead singer said in a nearly bored vocal fry tone, but it just seemed as if that was just his natural deposition. “Who’s running the show, Dean? One of you two, right?” He pointed between Alma and Darby, looking at them through his locks of greasy, disheveled hair. 

“It’s the baby, man.” The shaggy-haired bassist playfully joked. 

The lead singer lightly chuckled. “I got one of those, too. But, uh, it’s you,” he pointed at Alma. “Your buddy is there, pointing at you.” 

She glanced down and saw that Darby was indeed pointing at her. “Yeah, I’m Alma.” 

“Alma. I like that.” He tapped his stubbly chin for a second. “Means soul in Spanish. Am I right?” 

“It does.” Bill glanced down at her and noticed her blush lightly. “Uh, would you guys be okay with taking a few pictures?” 

“We have to leave in like ten minutes, guys,” Dean said, seemingly wanting to exude some type of control like he had been since he’d shown up. Bill frowned, dissatisfied with the guy’s self-important attitude. 

“And could you all sign these records?” Darby quickly added, taking the bundle out from under his arm.

“I think that’s all the time we need. Isn’t that right, Alma?” He said, flashing her a crooked, boyish grin. 

“Plenty,” she said, smiling back.

“Sweet. Pictures, then we’ll sign.” 

They all quickly shook all the band members' hands before taking pictures of them outside the front of the building. Alma crouched down to get the shop name in the frame for a couple of shots before leading them to the back of the building for more privacy. Darby happily took his turn taking photos with them against the brick wall with a wide, elated grin. He was usually an even-mannered guy, but it was funny seeing him behave like this. Having his fan moment. 

“Could you take one with my daughter?” Alma asked, gesturing to her still in her father’s arms.

“Yeah, sure.” The lead singer said and then Bill passed her along for him to hold. “She looks about my daughter's age. What’s her name?” 

“Echo.” 

“Echo, echoo, echooo.” Their tall, slinky drummer imitated as if he were hollering into a cave. 

"Yeah, that’s a good one,” Alma sarcastically said, pointing her camera at them. It wasn’t like she hadn’t heard all the jokes at Trigger Finger before. 

Echo was touching the lead singer's tan cardigan; its fibers were all worn, fuzzed out, most likely reminding the little girl of her stuffed animals. Alma snapped some shots of their interaction before calling her name several times, which incidentally added to the drummer's joke. Nonetheless, she gained her attention, and luckily she smiled brightly, which seemed to charm the lead singer, making him crack his cool exterior and give a little smirk.

“Okay, family photo time for my bad joke,” the drummer suggested as he gave Bill a nod. 

“We got less than 5 minutes, guys,” Dean impatiently reminded them as he stood off to the side with his arms crossed. 

Alma passed her camera to Darby and quickly moved in place with the band. The lead singer, still holding her daughter, had waved her over to him, and he put his arm around the middle of her back.

“Uh, I-” Bill began to say, but Alma cut her eyes at him. “Okay.” He relented and stood at the bassist's side. He kind of felt a bit dorky doing this kind of thing. Sure, they were world-famous, but his story of meeting them and seeing them live made a better story than a picture, he thought. 

“Okay, okay. One more, but with me and Darby this time, and I’ll let you all free.” 

“Go for it,” the lead singer said, much to his manager's dismay. 

After Bill took their photo with one hand while holding Echo, the band stuck around even as they were herded towards the white commercial van they arrived in by their haughty band manager. The band, even with their fame, came across as very gracious. 

“This one you want made out to you too?” The lead singer asked Darby, as he passed the other records he signed to his bandmates, to do so as well. 

“That’s Alma’s copy.” He said, stepping aside for her. 

“To Alma,” he smirked at her before writing with a silver magic marker. “See you guys at the show. It’s good to be home,” he said, climbing into the van once the band was finished signing and giving fan service. 

…

Alma was at home with her family until three pm to switch shifts with Darby until he’d come back before the show. His taking the morning shift made more sense since she was going to be busy with the show that evening. 

Bill and Alma had been in bed for an afternoon nap after putting Echo down for hers. She had woken up with Bill caressing her. His hand was inside her panties making lazy circles with his two middle digits, while she lightly ground her bottom on his crotch. The movement stimulated both him and assisted his hand with his ministrations. Satisfied, shallow breaths began to fill the air around them. When he kissed her shoulder and trailed up her neck, she smiled. Reaching back to hold the back of his head, she turned to meet his pouty lips with her own. 

Bill was hard-pressed against her, enjoying how she pushed her bottom flush  against him. Sliding his hand across her hip, he pushed her panties down, and without so much as a prompt, she lifted her leg to place over his hip behind her. She glided her hand out of his hair, reaching down to pull him out of his boxers, and stroked his stiff cock a few times until he took over. He pushed in, and she let out a gratified gasp as he stretched her. 

She could feel her stress and anxieties about the day ahead chip away the more his thrusts built up to an even and determined rhythm. He slipped out of her, but that gave her time to take her shirt off as he greedily swept his dick along her slick folds. His lusty eyes fluttered closed at the sensation.

“Harder,” she moaned when he thrust back inside her. “Fuck me harder.” 

He grunted as he picked his pace, and her satisfied moans became more emphatic and erratic. He bent the arm her head lay on and put his fingers in her mouth to stifle them. Her lips wrapped around them, and he felt a low moan reverberate around them.  

“Ah, fuck,” Bill grunted through clenched teeth, feeling her velvet walls constrict around him. 

The ridge of the head of his cock was stroking against that utterly deep spot within her, and she tensed, feeling the buildup of an orgasm. She unlatched her mouth from his fingers as her head fell back. Bill’s head bowed to look at her blushed face, her sweetly furrowed brows, and gaping mouth. She looked back at him, putting a hand on his high cheek, and a needy yet bewildered look flashed across her eyes. She was going to come, and so quickly too. He pushed her leg that was draped across his hip and held it against her body with his forearm for leverage while his hand reached to rub her clit and plowed into her then, seizing his opportunity. Her eyes rolled back, and she cried out in ecstasy. His hips rocked into her then, as if to coax every ripple and wave he could feel. She wasn’t thinking of her neighbors, and neither was he when he let loose inside her. Pumping everything he had. 

Her body went limp, and so did his as he buried his head in the crook of her neck, trying to catch his ragged breath. 

They remained connected and cuddled afterward, not yet wanting to leave their blissful bubble. He had his arms wrapped around her from behind, holding her tightly as she softly ran her fingers through his arm hair. 

“He was flirting with you,” Bill said huskily, speaking into her wild hair after he had been nuzzling his face in it. 

“Who?” 

“You know who? ‘It means soul in Spanish, right’,” he playfully mocked the lead singer’s slow way of speaking.

“Please,” she giggled. He could feel the reflex of it with him still inside her, which made him smile. While his softening cock was sensitive, it still felt lovely to him. “He was just being nice.” 

“Yeah, maybe if he were a regular guy, but he’s a rockstar.” 

“He’s married to a model, and they have a kid. I don’t think you should take his politeness as a slight.” 

“I’m not threatened.” He said possessively, tightening his grip around her, but it made Alma laugh because he somewhat was. “Him being married and having a kid is probably for tax purposes only anyway.” 

“Yeah, yeah. He’s a rockstar; I get it.” She playfully rolled her eyes. 

“Since working at the shop and all the gigs you’ve seen, have you ever?” 

“Really?” She groaned, side-eyeing him behind her. 

“I’m just curious. I don’t care, you’ve always been mine.” She was silent, contemplating whether she wanted to be a smartass or not. “You have,” he said, figuring out the answer for himself and laughing.

“Why is that so funny?” She was annoyed. “Yes, I have. That’s a long time ago now, around the time I began working there.” 

“It’s just so… cliche.” 

“Shut up,” she tried to say with some bite, but her amusement leaked through. 

“Have you done it with anyone I’ve maybe listened to?” He chuckled. “Ow, fuck,” he said when she gripped onto a patch of his arm hair and pulled harshly. 

…

Alma was at work after helping with some final rearranging with her coworkers. Bill was off at the plaza down the road, with Echo killing sometime before heading home so they could both get dressed for the evening. 

Customers in the store were looking on curiously; they had never seen much prep for a show before. Some even asked employees at the cash wrap where Double Helix’s records were to see what the fuss was about. They were annoyed when they were told their albums were “sold out” but they should buy a ticket if they wanted to give them a listen. Smart ones did; others left in an annoyed huff. 

Time was ticking down. Darby had shown up to the shop much earlier than Alma expected him to. Which made her glance at the store clock with alarm, thinking it was much closer to show time. 

“Hey, I got the ice!” He winked at her, remembering her little faux pas from yesterday. “Matt’s grabbing them and the coolers from my truck. He’ll set that all up. And, uh, there’s a line starting outside already,” he informed, shrugging off his tan corduroy jacket and draping it over his forearm. “Short one for now, but that’s earlier than normal.” 

“Alright.” Alma nodded. “Let’s run down the tasks with everyone, and then,” she said, looking around the store, which was quite busy with customers. 

“We should get everyone the hell out?” 

“Yeah,” she laughed. 

“Let’s go,” he said, excitedly clapping his hands together. 

He rounded up the employees at the circular cash wrap and started assigning their positions. Alma stood by his side, listening on, holding onto her camera. 

“Shit! Am I late?!” Ulyssa said right as she walked in, gripping on to her tote as she scurried over. She was wearing a light blue tartan two-piece and combat boots. 

Alma smiled, waving her over. “You look cute! We just started early.” 

“Oh! Okay. Sorry Darb’.” She hushed bashfully.

“I just have one more thing. Teenagers,” he said, looking over at them. “As the law says, you have to clock out at 9 pm. You can stay for the show, but I’m asking all the adults to keep an eye on them.” The teens sneered with annoyance.

“I’m seventeen, not seven.” A young, chubby girl named Chrissy snarkily said it in age-old teen fashion. 

“Sure,” Darby smirked, unaffected. "Alma, do you have anything?” 

“Uhm,” she straightened up. “I know some of you asked about a guest list. There is one. But,” she stressed. “We’re allowing one per employee.” The teen collective groaned. They were the ones who pestered her the most about it. “I’ve spoken to a few of you individually today. So I have those names down. Anyone else, I need those names by the end of the hour. And yeah, that’s it.” Everyone began to disband then. “Oh! Wait! A picture first since we’re all here.” 

There were some gripes heard as they all shuffled back to place in front of the cash wrap, but they were all smiles as she took a couple of photos.

"Alma, you should be in it,” Ash said. “You!” She startled a boy at the magazine stand. He sheepishly turned to her. “Yes, you. Could you take a picture of us?” 

Alma quickly instructed the boy on how to take the photo and joined her crew. The door chimed, and Darby looked over and saw that it was Lewis with a big grin approaching.  

“Could I hop in?” He said inserting himself in for a photo. 

Once their employee photo shoot was over and Darby and the other boys ushered customers out of the shop, Lewis asked his crew to regroup by the cash wrap again. 

“Look at you guys,” he said appreciatively with his hands held behind his back. “Uh, I know a lot is going on tonight. But I have some news.” 

“I hope it’s good,” Matt quipped. 

Lewis chuckled. “I’ll start there then. So the good news is, everyone gets tomorrow off with pay.” People cheered, but all Alma did was smile because she was always off on Sundays, but getting paid was nice. “I also hired a cleaning crew for tonight, so you all don’t have to fuss with that after all your hard work tonight. And on to some not-so-good news. Maybe.”

Darby looked down at Alma with a knowing look. They both knew what he was going to announce and were now anxious about how everyone else would react. However, they were relieved that they didn’t have to bear the responsibility of delivering the news themselves.

“Well, as you know, I’m about half retired. But I’ve decided, along with my wife Helen, that it is time for me to step away.” A few scattered gasps were heard. “I’m in the process of selling Sheisty Sound.” 

“Selling?!” Gregory said, shocked. 

“Yes. I am hoping to find a buyer who will respect what has already been established here. But also make it something a bit more fresh.” His eyes became a bit misty, but he composed himself very well. “I appreciate you all very much, and I’m so excited for this show tonight. I think it’s a good last hoorah for me. I see this place evolving in a great direction even without me in it.” Darby patted his shoulder, feeling a little sentimental himself. “But, ah, yeah,” he let out a shaky sigh. “I wanted you all to hear it from me. I feel like I owe you all that much. And since that was such a downer, I bought pizza from Von’s for everyone here for dinner. Should be delivered soon.” 

After employees spoke to Lewis, some congratulating him on a well-deserved full retirement and others practically giving him condolences, he got the attention of his two managers. He looked at the two rather stylish young leaders. Darby had slicked his dark hair back instead of styling it in the usual bouffant he did. He looked like a 1940s blue-collar working man, with high trousers and a well-pressed button-down and Alma in a tight black ¾ sleeve denim jumpsuit. It was only zipped up enough to show some cleavage, and her hair was in a loose, playful updo with long curtain bangs.

“You two look great! Is there anything you guys may need from me tonight, or is everything all square?” Lewis asked. 

“Nah, I think everything has been settled.” Darby nodded.

“Ah, you two make my job too easy,” he chuckled. “And Alma,” she nodded at his acknowledgment. “You’ve hired security, correct?”

“Um, yes. A local motorcycle club. The Wayward Sons. They do charity drives for children with special needs and also Christmas toy donation rallies. Their chapter leader has a securities business, WS Security, so they’re experienced.” That she lied about. 

When she had to inform them that they couldn’t set up their illegal bar, Big Rod wasn’t too pleased. Mostly because he didn’t want to be paid with a check because he didn’t want taxes garnished from it, but Alma assured him that she could arrange that they get cash. Which would be her paying them out, taking the check they would have gotten, and eat the taxes herself.

“Yeah… I know of them, decent guys. I used to date a Wayward Son’s sister,” he chuckled at the memory. “Okay, well, I’m going home to freshen up, and I’ll be back about an hour before nine. Oh,” he snapped his fingers. “I overheard some employees giving you names for a guest list, Alma.” 

“Yeah! Do you want me to add Helen?” She asked, holding her clipboard up and plucking a pen from behind her ear.

“She didn’t travel with me, unfortunately, but there’s a gentleman I’d like to add. His name is Bill Scarsgord.” 

“Mhmm.” Alma had to use everything in her power to keep from visibly grimacing at the butchering of his last name. 

“I’ll spell it for you. S-K-A...” It was even harder to keep herself from completing the spelling before he could finish reciting it. “Yeah, there you go,” he said when she finished writing. “He’s a rather tall guy. A little taller than Darby. Uh, big eyes, short styled hair, dresses pretty sharp. But he’s tall,” he said again, running out of descriptors. “You’ll see him.”

“We’ll look out for him,” Darby said with a slight smirk.  

“Great. I’ll see you all soon,” he said as he glanced at his wristwatch. “Pizza should be here soon. I left the tip with Ash.” 

…

The makeshift box office was really just three white folding tables built into a horseshoe shape underneath an instant canopy in front of the door. Ulyssa, Gregory, and Chrissy were the first group assigned to operate it. On one side, people with prepaid tickets lined up along the storefront, and another smaller line directly across was for day-of tickets. Bill, with Echo in his arms and the baby’s backpack over his shoulder, passed a loitering group of teens playing with a hacky sack and lined up right in front where there was a written sign that said ‘Guestlist Only’. Alma had called him just before he left the apartment to inform him that Lewis had added him to the list. He was on it just by word, but that Lewis added him personally, he felt good about. There were two others in front of him wearing press passes on lanyards. He didn’t want to be rude by passing them up and just walking in, so he waited. Ulyssa was counting out change for a customer buying a ticket when she glanced over, noticing him. 

“What’s your name?” The young girl, Chrissy, whom he had never met before, asked him when it was his turn.

“Hold on, Chrissy.” Ulyssa took the clipboard and pretended to peruse the listed names. “I don’t see your name here.” She peered at him from over her blue-tinted sunglasses, and he noticed her eyes were super bloodshot. Stoned beyond belief. And taking a glance at Gregory, so was he. 

“I never said it,” he smirked. 

“Fuck. Never mind, just come in,” she laughed. “Hey, cutie girl!” She said to Echo, to which she smiled. 

Walking in, he did his best to weave between some concertgoers who were congregated close to the front door. With his height, he was able to spot Alma, who was chatting with Ratz, or rather, he was talking at her while she adjusted a tarp that was covering a record table. Every shelf or table had been covered with a tarp or old sheets to protect the merchandise. As he got closer, he noticed Ratz's shirt had “Motherfucker” stenciled with red spray paint on it. He raised a brow, because what did he mean by that exactly?

“Hey, I’m running to the store for energy drinks,” Matt, whom he met very briefly at The Rooster, announced to his coworkers who were scattered about. “Who wants one?” 

He saw Alma turn her head, ignoring Ratz completely and saying she wanted one. Matt quickly took a count, dismissing the random patrons who also asked for one, and spun on his heel as he put on the headphones attached to his Walkman. Alma saw Bill then and smiled brightly.

“My boyfriend’s here,” she said, brushing off Ratz without so much as a glance, and he just begrudgingly shuffled away. “Hey, guestlist! Hey baby,” she said, kissing her daughter's cheek. “You dressed her up so cute!” She tickled her side, which made Echo snicker. She was in a carnation pink dress with little embroidered daisies on the front. “Was she good?” She looked up at him.

Bill nodded with a pursed-lip smile because he wasn’t going to tell her he caught Echo with his shoe in her mouth while he was trying to get ready himself. He had to brush her teeth before they left. 

“Did you have fun with Daddy, E’?” She said kissing her again, and then she tiptoed to kiss Bill. 

“Papa,” she said happily, in the only way she could answer. 

“You’re in a better mood,” he said, grinning at her while his hand caressed her waist. He had liked how she looked in this new outfit she showed off to him at the apartment. She had made him cinch the rope belt as tight as she could handle. She has had to loosen it some since then, though.

She grinned back at him knowingly. It seemed that Bill had maybe spoken too soon when suddenly Matt came barging in the front door and slammed into a local newspaper stand by the front door rather cartoonishly. It immediately caused Bill to turn Echo away from the door protectively, unsure of what happened behind him. 

“Ah, fuck!” Matt choked out, holding onto his groin. “Ash!” He pointed at her, where she was behind the circular cash wrap. “Turn the radio on right now! BUZ’R FM! Right Now!” 

“What’s going on, Matt?” Darby asked, striding over from the sound mixing table where he was speaking to the operator. 

“They’re talking about the show!” 

“What?” Alma said, confused. 

Ash was scrambling to switch the sound system over to the radio and over the store speakers, and suddenly the radio jockey's voice cut through across the airwaves. 

“We’ve given you two hints since our program started, and it’s almost time for us to get off the air. Have you figured it out?” 

Alma’s brows furrowed with worry and confusion. “What the fuck are they doing?” 

“This mysterious Double Helix is playing at Sheisty Sound Records tonight that we still haven’t found a record for. Isn’t that odd?” The jockey coyly asked. “Oh, wait a second, wait a second. No, here it is. Here’s your next hint.” The sound of scratchy guitar chords opened the most popular record-breaking single by the world-famous band playing there tonight. There was no confusion about it.

Alma's eyes widened as she gasped loudly; even Darby’s stomach flipped. 

“Holy shit, Alma,” Bill said, maybe with more elation than he meant to. But this was going to be big. 

"See, I told you! I told you I figured it out reading that zine!” A concertgoer with wine colored hair could be heard talking to his group of friends. 

“So... are we fucked?” Darby asked Alma, who seemed to be in thought or maybe shock; he couldn’t tell. 

“No…” she said, sounding a bit uncertain, looking at the store clock. “Big Rod is coming pretty soon with his guys. There’ll be eight of them tonight.

“Maybe we’ll need two more?” 

“I’ll tell him that when he gets here. It’s all just a matter of getting everyone in and…” She trailed off, putting her hand up. “I need to talk to Ulyssa,” she said, hustling away, leaving Bill and her child behind without a word, but he understood. 

“Uh, it’s going to be alright, right?” Bill asked Darby, who seemed to be in thought as well. “I mean, it gets pretty rowdy here, even for a local gig.” 

Darby took a deep breath. “Yeah. This just feels so much bigger, but Alma knows how to run this. She’s good at this. But, uh, I gotta make my rounds with everyone.” He was hustling away as well. 

“People with tickets first,” Alma explained to Ulyssa while Gregory and Chrissy listened. “Besides the guest list, everyone else has to wait until we get all those people in.” 

The revving of motorcycles could be heard up the road, and she was grateful for their deafening motors. It was like a cavalry arrived when they pulled into the reserved parking space made for them. 

“Hey, here for duty,” Big Rod said, tipping his weathered cowboy hat as he approached. “Where do you need us?” 

“I think BUZ’R blew your spot up,” Zeph quipped from beside Rod. 

“Yeah, about that. You think you can get maybe a few more of your guys?” She said to Big Rod. 

He nodded. “May I use the phone?” 

“Yes, yes. Please. For now, I need one of you out here. Um, Darby will let you guys know your places.” 

“Of course, Miss Lucio,” Rod said with a polite nod. 

Archie positioned himself in the box office while Big Rod led the rest of the crew inside. 

“Okay, Gregory, do you have the clicker?” He picked the steel people counter from the table to show her he did. “What’s the number?” The day of line was still fairly short, but for how long she didn’t know.

“Uh, twenty-seven?” Gregory said. 

“What?” Alma brows furrowed, baffled.” Twenty-seven? There’s more than– you’ve only been counting day-of tickets?” 

“Uhm, I see now how that was dumb...” he looked rather regretful.  

Alma shook her head while she quickly added that number to the pre-sold tickets and the guest list. “Set the clicker to 146. Once you’re able to start selling tickets again, start counting how many bodies come in. We can’t go past 232, or the fire marshal will shut us down. And with us working we’re pushing it, so please pay attention.” 

“Shit, Alma, you think it’s going to get crazy?” Ulyssa asked, looking worried. 

“We’ll do what we always do,” Alma assured. “Tonight will just be busier.” She tried to sound positive, but inside she wanted to scream. 

Bill was inside, and most of the patrons in the store area had now begun to bunch and congregate closer to the stage, wanting to claim their spot. He was crouched down with his back against the wall just outside the office, with Echo standing between his knees as he took the wrapper off a tiny yellow bendy strap before stabbing it into the designated foil-covered hole of the apple juice box. She took the slobbery fingers she was chewing on from her mouth and wiped them on his jeans before taking it. 

He was rubbing the slobbery spot on his knee into the denim when the front door blew open, and he caught a glimpse of Alma speaking to someone in line, but didn’t look too pleased before the pizza delivery boy came in with a tall stack of pizza boxes. The bangles on Ash’s wrist chimed as she waved him over to the cash wrap and happily accepted them. He heard the pizza boy ask her if the band was really playing there tonight and that he heard so on the kitchen radio at his job. 

“For real?” He said when Ash confirmed it as she tried to give him his tip. “I’ll let you keep that if I can stay.” 

“Aren’t you still technically at work?” Ash said, giving him a strange look. 

“Fuck that,” he scoffed. “Can I stay?” He asked again, taking his work cap off and brushing his flat hair out with his fingers.

“I guess?” She shrugged, watching him pull off his red work shirt and sling it over his shoulder before smoothing down his greasy undershirt as he jogged over to the stage. 

Alma walked in, looking rather perturbed, but Darby caught her attention as she walked in. Being a spectator at something like this was really strange for Bill. He ran his club and had hectic nights. Though maybe it had never had this much public buzz, things at Trigger Finger were rather discrete. He watched how hard Alma worked at Trigger Finger, but this was different, and even though he could tell she was swamped, she ran with the radio jockey curveball just fine. He noticed the people with tickets were filing in with more frequency than before. He had some space for himself and his daughter, but he worried for how long.

Bill looked up from where he was as Alma approached her family with two slices of cheese pizza for them on a flimsy paper plate. 

“Here you go,” she said, sitting down on the floor next to him. The cool floor seemed to soothe her nerves and ground her a bit. 

“You’re not going to eat?” He said as he was piecing apart a slice for his daughter. 

“I might barf if I do,” she sighed and rested her head on his arm. 

“Ah, Papa,” Echo said, opening her mouth and wanting to be fed. He handed her a piece when Alma decided to get back up to work so suddenly.

"Hey," he said, looking up at her. “It’s like any other show, right?” he assured. “If I could help–” 

“I know. Thanks,” she leaned down to kiss the top of his head. He unabashedly nudged his head into her cleavage, taking advantage of the proximity. “This starts the part where I don’t know you.” She whispered in his ear and hated how it sounded. He only nodded, not liking that he’d have to treat her like a stranger from this point on.

“Mama, eeksa.” Echo had her hand out, offering a piece of cheese pizza to her mother, but she had already walked away to tend to things. 

Bill smiled at her empathy. “Sweet girl,” he said, kissing the top of her head.

Shortly later, Echo decided she was finished with her slice of pizza and continued drinking her juice. He had given his slice to some random who gladly took it off his hands. If Alma wasn’t eating, he didn’t feel comfortable eating either. Together, they went to the other side of the store, further away from the front door, as the place filled up. 

“Echo, stay close,” he said before she strayed off as she was weaving between his legs where he stood.

He did a double take when he turned his head and saw Darby with his arm around his fiancee, Jennifer, speaking to Lewis. The place was getting packed, and show time was nearing. So far as he waited, the other record store employees who knew him kept their greetings or acknowledgments towards him minimal. He wondered what Alma said to them. All she had told him was that she’d think of something when he dropped her off. 

As Lewis approached the cash wrap, he spotted Bill and gave him a little wave. Then he looked down and noticed a little girl pulling on his wallet chain. 

“Glad you came,” he said, shaking Bill’s hand. “I hope you didn’t have to stand in line. I heard about the guest list at short notice.” 

“Oh, it was no issue. I didn’t wait long, if at all,” he smiled. “Uh,” he looked down at his daughter. “This is my kid; I brought her along tonight.” He had tried to get her to say hello, but instead, she shyly hid behind his leg. “Her mom is, uh,” he thought for a moment. “She’s having a girls night.” That to him sounded better than to say she was working because why would someone like him have a partner who worked when he made the money he had. 

“Hi, little miss,” he lightly chuckled. Bill was now wondering if having his daughter with him would endear Lewis or make him look irresponsible. “It’s getting hectic out there,” he continued. “I’m sure you figured out who’s actually playing tonight,” he said, giving Bill a witting glance. “I saw some people trying to buy tickets off those who bought theirs in advance.” 

“Really?” 

“Mhm. Triple the price too. It’s ridiculous, but quite funny, how desperate some people are acting out there. I’ve listened to these guys' first record. It’s… okay.” He shrugged indifferently. “Maybe it helps that the lead singer is a good-looking guy. Other than that, I don’t get the hype much.”

“All style, no substance?” Bill added to his indifference, even if he liked the band's debut record. He found it to be one of the best showcases from a band in quite some time. 

“Seems to be that way these days. Or maybe I’m just showing my age?” 

“Up Papa? Up? Papa.” Echo was patting his leg to get his attention. 

“Excuse me,” Bill said, picking his daughter up. 

“No worries. You know we have an office just on the other side,” Lewis pointed towards it with his thumb. “If she needs a moment or some space, you’re more than welcome to use it. I’ll let the managers know.” Darby was passing them by at the moment. “Actually, this is one of them, Darby.” He waved him over. 

“Yes,” he asked, doing his best to not give Bill any ounce of recognition. 

“This is Bill. He, uh, well, he’s a prospective buyer.” 

“Is that so?” He smiled at Bill. 

“Since he’s with his child, I offered him the office if he should need it for anything.” 

“Oh, for sure. But the rocker baby might outlast us all tonight,” he lightly joked.

“Could you let Alma know? Where is she actually?” Lewis wondered, trying to scan the store, but there were too many people, and he didn’t have the height to overlook them.

“Talking to press. Sorry, but I gotta run,” Darby said, backing away to head towards the stage. “Nice to meet you, Bill.” There was a hint of amusement in his voice when he said that. 

“Thank you for that,” Bill said appreciatively. 

“Yes, of course. I’m old, but I still remember having my daughter run around this place when she was little. My son, too. We’d have gigs, and she’d watch while sitting on top of the desk,” he smiled at the memory. “Or if she wasn’t fond of the music, she’d pile all her blankets under the desk and sleep.” 

In his peripheral vision, Bill saw Alma approaching the cash wrap asking Ulyssa to hand her camera to her; she had since switched jobs with Ash.

“You know this night is a bit of an anomaly,” Lewis continued. “I haven’t seen it so busy, but that could be me being out of the office, so to speak, these last few years. The '70s were pretty good. The band booker just stacks up gigs like I’ve never seen. I’m a bit impressed with her arrangement of this. I know you’ve been noticing things that may need changing here. Like the stage lights and a lot of things needing polishing. It’d be smart if– this is her. Alma.” 

“Uh, yeah?” She said putting the strap of her camera around her neck.

“I know you’re busy, but just one moment.” He quickly introduced her longtime boyfriend to her, unbeknownst to him. She shook his hand, and she had to break it free because it felt like he was holding it for too long. 

“Yeah, yeah, okay.” She said impatiently as Lewis explained who he was to him. Never in her life had she ever wanted to get out of Bill’s presence. However, it was a relief when Lewis informed her about the office situation. Bill said he’d just take Echo out to the car if she got fussy, but now he didn’t have to. “Is, uh, are you one of the Cali’ guys?” 

“He’s the gentleman from New York I had mentioned.” Lewis said.

“Right! The email guy,” she smiled as Bill looked at her with an amused expression. 

“Ma-ma. Mama.” Echo reached out to her, and she tensed when she felt herself wanting to take a hold of her, but she shifted on her feet to keep it from being obvious. Bill’s eyes widened for a moment, but he lightly brushed his hand over his daughter's face to pull her attention back to him.

“Aw, how funny. She’s sweet.” Alma lightly laughed to play it off. 

“Mhm,” Bill said, giving her a pursed-lip smile. 

“Well it was nice to meet you,” she said quickly. “I gotta…” she said to Lewis, who nodded understandingly as she backed away. “Doors are closing!” She turned on the heel of her Converse and paused when she saw the police coming in. She cursed under her breath and turned back towards her boss.

“I’ll handle them,” he said to her. “Do what you need.” 

She thanked him and then disappeared, with her camera, into the crowd. The police were just making their presence known; they weren’t breaking any rules.

“Um, if I don't see you,” Lewis turned to Bill before dismissing himself. “Enjoy the show. And keep an eye on those emails, eh?” 

“I will. Thanks for inviting me.” 

“Yes. Of course. Uhm, you might have similar nights like this to look forward to.” He smiled and went on his way.  

Bill brows raised with satisfaction hearing that from Lewis. While it was somewhat cryptic, he knew it was a hint that he was closer to owning the place than he thought. 

“And Echo, what was that?” Bill turned to his daughter, who just gave him a strange look. "You've gotta be cooler than that, darling.” 

He checked his wristwatch, show time was in 15 minutes. He put Echo down in front of him as he crouched down, pulling the backpack in front of himself to put her noise-canceling headphones on. He had placed her on his shoulders, giving his arms a break and also because her knee would occasionally dig into his sore ribs. Soon the house lights went out completely. The crowd hushed. Everyone was in position; the doors were closed, and security was now blocking them. People's faces could be seen pressed against the gaps of the poster-covered windows to get a peek from outside. 

Those same fuzzy, loud guitars could be heard behind the curtains, only for one anticipatory moment until Matt and Darby pulled them back and Gregory hit the stage lights on, revealing the band and the place exploded. Cheers roared, and the people were off their feet, hands in the air. The band fed off the energy and amped up for their homecoming show. 

…

Nearing the end of the show, Bill found himself in the office with Echo on his lap as he sat on the edge of the desk and watched the show through a sparsely sticker-covered window. She needed a change, and her headphones had begun to make her head sweat. He was next to Darby and his fiancee before he’d left their side. Darby just handed off the key to the office rather than miss any second of the concert. 

Brushing out her damp hair by her ears with his fingers, he was glad it was much cooler in the office. With all the bodies in the place, it was quite stuffy. It was then that he saw Alma being lifted on top of Zeph’s shoulders, and she reflexively gripped his face, trying to steady herself, earning a bit of an annoyed glance from him. She was taking photos above the crowd. Bill’s chest tightened with concern as she was near the wall of bodies corralling those who were moshing. This was probably the hardest part of this whole night—that he couldn’t be by her side. 

Alma was swaying a bit because Zeph was holding the wall of people back with one arm, and Bill sighed in relief when she began climbing off him. He hadn’t realized he was standing up now as if he had better sight doing so, but he was just up with worry. 

Alma grabbed his large bicep, and he led her right up to the stage, splitting through people in front of him effortlessly. The lead singer switched from his electric guitar to his acoustic, which was almost as famous as him, and began crooning one of their popular ballads, Declared, about undying love. The crowd settled some, and even a few teen girls in the crowd shed tears as they sang along. As Bill listened, he noticed that he was singing an extended version because these newly added lyrics he couldn’t recall from the album version. In these lyrics, he sang about the disillusionment of love, a complete flip from the hopelessly romantic lyrics prior. It sounded very personal to the singer's life currently. It seemed a bit melodramatic, Bill thought, even for a band such as themselves. 

If it was any worse that he had been flirting with his girlfriend, the lead singer had spotted her taking photos right in front of the stage. His gaze seemed to look past the camera and directly at her. The last chords he strummed on the guitar lingered in space when he leaned down and kissed the back of her hand, which made other girls at the show squeal in excitement at the display. Bill couldn’t help but roll his eyes and groan. 

“Ugh. Dickhead,” he said under his breath. 

Bill decided to leave the office not long after. He stood in his old spot with Darby and Jennifer. Just before the last two songs, Lewis waved at them and left for the night, not wanting to deal with the after-show crowd. The show ended with a bang, and the band was quickly swept away by their own personal security. The house lights went up, and the Wayward Sons were quick to usher the concertgoers out then too. 

Echo was in Bill’s arms, her head resting on his shoulder as she fell asleep. Her hand fit between the space of the buttons of his dark-colored shirt jacket and was gripped around the strap of the white tank he wore. While it was late for her, he was surprised that she slept through the noise. Alma was able to cut through the crowd with Zeph’s assistance, and then he broke away once she got to the thinner part of the crowd. Bill noticed her getting stopped and surrounded by two groups of young girls, one including Chrissy. Who were gushing to her about the kiss she received most likely. Then it was apparent to Bill when one of them took her hand and caressed the back of it with her cheek. Alma looked at her strangely, and Darby laughed when he also noticed the interaction. 

“The hell,” she said, snatching her hand back and quickly walked away from them. 

She pushed her bangs out of her face and blew raspberries with relief that it was all over. 

[soohaaaleemeee]

[soohaaaleemeee]

Love Just Happens

A New Chapter - Part 20

Characters: The future's Bill Skarsgård and others close to him. The rest is my own characters. 

Setting: This story is set in the future but because it's hard to say how the world is then (and it isn't that important for the story) the future is similar to our time now, even with fashion and so on. 

Warnings: 18+, age difference, alcohol, drunkenness, ageism, cheating, gossip, bullying, pregnancy, miscarriage.

It would be a surprise. A big, wonderful surprise. A gift, mostly to themselves, but they hoped others would feel the same.

Aurora sat in the waiting room to meet her midwife. She couldn't stop herself from fantasizing about all the things she and Bill had talked about. Their lives would be even more amazing with one more baby. It would mean so much for Isadora's life. She looked at her belly, which was weirdly flat for being a pregnant belly in her eyes, and sometimes she got caught up in her emotions and made up a whole story in her head about the pregnancy test being old and showing a false result. She had cried over that thought and done test after test after test, and all were positive. Still, she didn't dare to believe it fully. Her midwife confirmed the test, and Aurora, high on happiness, called Bill while still sitting in the examining chair.

Bill was happy too, hearing the confirmation, but he had never been that worried either. He had believed the test because it said on the box that a positive test was always accurate.

She was in week twelve, and that surprised Bill. He hadn't really seen anything on her, while she had gotten a belly quite fast the last time. He had hoped that the doctor would help Aurora with her mood swings, but the only thing they could do was give her antidepressants, and he didn't like the sound of that. She wasn't depressed; she was just on a hormonal roller coaster. He hoped it would end soon because he didn't have much more to say when she worried about her looks, career, or him getting tired of her. He had said everything there was to say, and she still continued.

He felt bad that he kind of liked being alone in the apartment in Scotland, being able to watch movies and series with blood; the pregnancy made her nauseous by it, to use his shampoo that was great for strengthening his hair (preventing hair loss) without her complaining about the scent, or to get stuck on his phone without her saying he was annoyed at her. He was annoyed, but he couldn't say that because it was his seed that had made her like that. He had to suck it up, so suddenly being able to do whatever he wanted without tipping on his toes was liberating.

They had gone home to Sweden together, and the thought was to visit the doctor together, but Bill had been called back because of his role as a producer. Both of them were really disappointed, but both of them were also used to unforeseen things happening.

Bill had taken his time alone to get together with the rest of the team. Getting to know the director better, taking a relaxing after-work break with one of the producers he had worked with many times, and also getting together with the whole team when they had filmed the last scene. That Saturday, they would visit an old castle for a guided tour and then eat and drink in the castle’s restaurant. He knew Aurora wouldn’t have said anything about him doing those things if she was there, but it was nice to do it without having a bad conscience out of leaving her alone on the couch, not even being able to have a glass of wine.

×××

Bill didn't notice he and the producer had started to talk and laugh a bit too loud, taking over the whole dinner with their stories. The wine he had been drinking moved like waves in his head and made him both energetic and a bit nauseous. Maybe he was more easily affected because he hadn't been drinking for a few months.

He had spoken with Aurora again before meeting the gang, and he knew she would have a nice night with Sonny at home in their house. She sounded a bit nervous when he said the whole team would be there. She really tried to cover it up, so he didn't say anything about it. She tried, and he didn't want to fight. Her emotions were everywhere, and some jealousy was probably natural, he had realized.

The night got wet for him, with not just wine but also booze. His head spewed when he stood outside of the restaurant, puffing on one of the director's cigarettes. He had stolen the pack but hadn't understood, in his drunkenness, that it wasn't his, so they laid it in his jean pocket and gave him a familiar feeling.

Sheilo looked at him amused as she stood leaned against a bench’s backrest.

“Aren't you too old to be this drunk?”

Bill looked at her with a smirk and made a confident smoke ring.

“I'm not drunk.”

“Oh, sorry, tipsy?” She said it with a giggle and walked up to him, a bit too close. She was taller than his wife and took the cigarette between his lips easily and placed it between her own. He looked at her with heavy eyelids but just took up a new cigarette from the package and lit it.

Sheilo smiled teasingly before talking again.

“Sorry, you're not old. I just think it's weird you're like that old. But not old, if you get me?” Bill looked up at the star-lit sky and shivered. It was surprisingly cold for September. He listened just with one ear on her. It sounded like she wanted to give him a compliment but instead just got caught in the fact that he was much older than her. Aurora had never made a thing of his age like that; even if she were younger, it wasn't information that made her think about him differently.

“You're twenty years older than me; still, I can't notice that? You could easily be like 35. Or something.”

Bill smiled at her, mostly to make her shut up. He wasn’t so drunk that he couldn’t still feel second-hand embarrassment. Sheilo smiled back and laughed softly. She looked at Bill's profile while he continued to smoke.

“Do you like younger women?” She asked. Bill cleared his throat. He started to see where this was going and that his wife had been right.

“Ehh… Not really?”

Sheilo made a sound of disbelief and smirked flirtily.

“Your wife is my age.”

“That just happened,” said Bill with a shoulder shrug. “That was not the thing I fell for.”

“That was a long time ago now; I guess she's not really the same woman you fell for? Mommy and all.”

He could hear his own voice in his head saying that he should leave, but the shame of not having listened to Aurora made him feel a need to talk.

“Aurora will always be amazing. And she has morals and class and would not do what you’re trying to do now.”

Sheilo looked at him, upset, and stepped away from him.

“What do you mean by that?”

Bill chewed his lip. He was drunk, and sometimes while being drunk, a colder, more ignorant side of him took over. He had probably never even shown that side to Aurora because there had never been a reason to come out with her.

"Oh, come on, I'm married. With five-, four kids. I will not say more than that.”

He knew what he could say, he knew where the line was. He had just made her think for herself.

Sheilo made a sound of offense but seemed to have gotten the hint. Both of them knew it wasn't good for their careers to fight. Bill, because he didn't know what she could say to the press, while she was afraid he would talk with his powerful friends. He was much more successful and seemed to become friends with everyone he worked with. She also knew that his wife looked and acted like a delicate flower but had more power than you’d believe by watching her.

Sheilo took a taxi back to her hotel. She regretted flirting with Bill. It could have been a successful thing if he had been interested. He was tall, handsome, and powerful, but he was also sweet in a way few men in Hollywood were. He had respect, connections, and was driven to do his own things. He would have been perfect. A girlfriend or wife had never stood in her way before; men would always be just men, but clearly she had underestimated Bill and Aurora’s marriage. They didn't fit, they had already broken up once, and now she had left him in Scotland just like that. But clearly, she had missed something when it came to Bill and Aurora’s marriage.

She was happy that there were just two weeks left of filming.

×××

Aurora was quiet, and it looked like she was thinking when he looked at her face on the iPad. Bill just waited for her to say something instead of stressing her out. He sat in bed, newly showered in boxers and a hoodie.

“But you're sure she flirted with you?” Said Aurora carefully. She had taken a pause from the standing lesson with Isis and let her watch a colorful series made for kids speech development. Isis sat and watched with her whole hand in her mouth, with her mom lying behind her on the floor. Bill gave Aurora an amused look. It was so typical of her to suddenly think the best of someone.

“Yes,” he just said, scratching his eyebrow. Aurora nodded.

“I just have to wrap this film up... But I want to have your approval to do that.”

Aurora looked at him with big brown eyes, and even if she didn't say anything, Bill had a bad conscience. He could also see that it was a totally different thing to film kissing scenes with a girl who had a real interest in him.

“Bill… That's mean…” She said that and looked away, hurt. He sat up a bit better in bed and looked closely at her. He didn't understand.

“I thought it was respectful to let you have a saying in this?”

“I get that, but whatever I say, it just gets weird. It's not like I want you to make out with her. I want to cut her tongue off. So if I say ‘okay’ it's just to be a good wife or pretend to be one. I get that ‘okay’ is the only right answer to this.”

Bill furrowed his brows.

“What? No, I would quit if you wanted that.”

Aurora looked at him, but then at Isis, who had started to make a high-pitched sound towards the TV.

“Okay. Do that then,” she said, without looking at him. Bill looked at her, shocked, but then he sighed because he could understand what she meant now. He actually believed she would give him approval when he showed he was prepared to leave the project. He was mean.

“I'm sorry,” he said regretfully with a sigh. Aurora just gave him a look and shrugged her shoulders. She didn't blame him; she understood he wanted to finish his work, but she didn't want to pretend she was okay with it either.

“I will just finish this. I will have as little contact with her as possible, and then I will come home, okay?”

He gave her a serious look with wide eyes. Aurora lifted the corner of her mouth.

“I do trust you, baby. It's just the hormones that make me crazy. And I know you will handle that situation perfectly. But I will fantasize about using your trimmer to shave her hair off.”

Aurora smiled sweetly, and Bill laughed at the face that didn't suit the words. He looked at her for a long time and listened to Isis happy sounds. He missed them so much. He wishes he could lay there on the floor with them, let Isis fly in his arms, and feel the softness of Aurora's body next to him. Fuck, he missed them.

×××

She didn't look at him. She had smiled and laughed at everyone for two days, but she didn't look at him anymore more than when they did their scenes. Bill didn't really care what Sheilo did, as long as they got the job done. She had never been so great of an actor, so it didn't matter that she had a look of irritation all the time while acting.

She stopped smiling towards everyone else the third day because the director had talked with her about her attitude. The director had told him that she said he had come on to her, but the director wasn't interested in her words. He didn't know Bill well, but Bill's morals shone through, as did his love and admiration for his wife. Since the director had ignored Sheilo's words, she walked around like an angry bee. Bill almost thought it was funny, but he also knew a conflict on set was never good. He thought about talking with her, especially when Aurora said it might be for the best. He even had her blessing in it. But he thought too long about how to do it because, with one week left of filming, Page Six posted an article about him. The interest in him had grown because of Aurora, and maybe especially now when they could create headlines about him and another young woman.

BILL SKARSGÅRD CHEATS ON AURORA LOU ON SET WITH YOUNG ACTRESS

They wrote about how Bill and Sheilo had an affair that led to a big conflict because Bill had just played around. How he had then succeeded in turning everyone against Sheilo. They even said Bill had shown this behavior before but didn't give any source to what they said.

Bill had comforted Aurora over a video call for hours, but he could understand her wild emotions. He felt it too, but instead it was like his brain couldn't cope with all the information, and a numbness spread over him. He knew he would get hate from both Aurora's fans and his own, but he didn't care about that. He could guess this wouldn't be a positive thing for his career, but he didn't care about that either. The only thing he cared about was his family and his wife. He wondered how this would affect them when everyone pictured him as a cheater, disrespectful to women, and a bully.

“I promise, I haven't said anything to the press. Okay, I'm mad. But I wouldn't do such a thing. I know such shit most often comes back to you,” said Sheilo while they sat with their managers, producers, and director. Bill just sat and played with his phone, thinking about his wife and daughters. He didn't care about Sheilo at all; he didn't know if he cared to know who it was who had talked to Page Six either. It didn't matter now anyway. It was too late.

Bill sighed and nodded a little. He just half way listened while they spoke about how to solve it to help him. All of them wanted his best and the project's best, even Sheilo, but he couldn't really see an easy solution, more than ignoring it and pretending like it didn't exist.

×××

Isis whined next to Aurora and Bill's oldest daughter. They were laying together in Gustaf's family's guest room, all of them on the bed. Isis lay in between them, and they tried to make her take her afternoon nap, but it had been hard this last week. They had moved in with Gustaf at once when the gossip had started and had isolated themselves, even if it wasn't good for any of them. Gustaf had taken Isis out, but he didn't succeed in taking Aurora out. She was just an empty shell, silent and lifeless, but he and his family could hear her cry when she talked with Bill. The heartbroken cries. Gustaf had tried to talk with her. This didn't need to be such a big thing. People would forget it soon. He tried to talk with Bill, but realized this was as hard for him. He had heard gossip about himself before, but nothing like this.

"Please, honey,” said Aurora tiredly to her daughter. She tried to make her calm down while she just sat up and whined. Bill's oldest daughter looked at their struggle but didn't say anything; she was afraid it would make Aurora even more upset.

Aurora succeeded in laying her baby down again and patting her back soothingly, but after just a couple minutes, Isis spit out the binky again and sat up. Aurora sat up too, with a deep sigh.

“I give up.”

Bill's oldest daughter looked at her with just as wide eyes as her father and swallowed hard.

“Aurora, how are you?” She hadn't really dared to ask her this simple question before. Aurora gave her a resigned look while holding a grip on Isis's pajamas so she wouldn't fall out of the bed.

“To be honest, I don't know. It's just… So sad. Your dad would never, ever cheat, but still, the whole world seems to believe that now. They don't even have a picture, a source, or anything. Still, everyone believes them.”

His daughter nodded. She knew her dad wouldn't cheat. It could have been just naive belief from a daughter, but she knew her father so well and how much he loved his wife. He would never cheat on her. He and Aurora were deeply in love.

“Maybe I’m making this into a bigger thing than it is; I don't know, but I know I can't even open an app without either seeing headlines or tweets or having so many messages about how I should leave your father and...”

She wiped away a tear and pulled Isis closer to herself again.

“I'm pregnant… And this was not the way I hoped everything would unfold.”

The teenager looked at her with shock. She didn't know how to react. She never believed they would have one more child, and now it would be in a moment where the world turned against them.

“Oh wow… One more baby?”

Aurora smiled through tears and shrugged her shoulders.

“We will see.”

It didn't feel like the right moment, even if she did want the child more than anything, but maybe it wasn't right to put one more child into this mess, or maybe her body would protest against it. She had already miscarried one time.

Bill's oldest gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Of course there will be another baby!” She said happily to cheer her up, and Aurora laughed a little, affected by the girl's positivism.

×××

People were used to Bill not being the loudest guy on set, but after the gossip had come out, Bill had been almost scarily quiet. The crew members who hadn't really spoken with him wondered if the gossip was true and if he would suddenly burst out in anger. Bill could absolutely be angry, even more shockingly mad than people thought, but it wouldn't happen there. He had no one to be angry at there, or he didn't know who, at least. It was probably someone there who had talked with Page Six, but he didn't know who.

When he sat alone, playing with his phone in his trailer, waiting for his next scene, there was a knock at the door. He gave the person outside the door a look through the window. It was Sheilo, dressed in a hoodie and leggings. He sighed a bit to himself and gave Aurora’s face on his home screen a final look before opening and walking out to Sheilo.

“Hey, eh, how are you?” She said it nervously. She looked younger and more nervous than she had done before, and Bill tangled up his crossed arms to seem less threatening. He shrugged his shoulders and looked down at the ground.

“I just… I'm really sorry. I haven't talked with Page Six,” she said nervously. Bill looked up at her and saw the tears stream down her cheeks. He nodded and gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder. More comfort than that, he couldn't give.

“I know. It would be stupid,” he said with an unamused laugh, and she gave one back between the tears.

“Yeah… It's awful how much shit people can write.”

Bill nodded. He wondered how much hate she had gotten. He knew the gossip was mostly about him, but she was a young woman accused of having an affair with a married man and father; she probably got more than him. He didn't look. He hadn't even opened a news app in days.

“Can we do something? Like, make a statement or something?” She asked and looked at him like he was the wise one. The problem was just that he had never had something like this written about him. He knew Aurora had such attention when she was together with Timmy, but together with Bill, she lived in their own little intimate, protected bubble. He smiled unsurely and scratched his neck.

“I don't know, actually. Ehh…”

Sheilo waited for him to say something more, but Bill didn't have more to say than that.

“But when you got together with Aurora Lou... People must have been writing then,” She said, questioning. Bill wagged his head from side to side.

“Sure. That we dated. And some said Aurora cheated on Timmy with me, but that disappeared fast. It was obvious they hadn't been a couple for many months, but it was just fans writing it. There is nothing like this. I think both me and Aurora want to just wait it out. It's just… It's just bad timing,” said Bill, thinking about their unborn baby and Aurora's hormonal state.

Sheilo nodded, even if she didn't know what he talked about.

“Can you think about, maybe, talking with Aurora about making a statement? I don't… I'm afraid this will really destroy my career.” She laid her hands over her face and cried, so her shoulders bobbed. Bill felt bad, even if he hadn't done anything, and for the fact that he couldn't comfort her. It would be weird for him to hug her at this moment, even if nothing had happened between them. 

“Sure… I will say it to her." 

Sheilo wiped away the tears from her cheeks harshly and smiled painfully. 

“I'm sorry for... That night,” she said with a low voice, looking down on the ground. 

Bill looked at her in silence for a few too many seconds, but it was just weird how much younger than Aurora she felt. She was three years younger than her, but still, their mannerisms were so different. It wasn't like Aurora didn't cry, but it felt so different from this. It felt like a schoolgirl standing in front of him. He would have never approached a girl like her; he would feel like a dirty uncle. He just nodded and gave her a strained smile as an answer to her apology. That night didn't really matter in the context. 

With an awkward goodbye, she walked away, and Bill stood behind her, looking up at the sky. It was perfect blue—not a cloud in sight. He would film in thirty minutes even if he just wanted the sky to be black and he could sleep. 

××× 

He walked through all the people at Arlanda Airport. It wasn't often he felt ogled at in Stockholm, not even on Arlanda. Of course, he always got curious looks, sometimes a friendly word about what a great actor he was, but otherwise the shy Swedes let him be. It felt different that day. It felt really different, even if no one approached him this time either. 

It felt like he could hear people whisper about him and feel their judging eyes on his skin. He had always been quite good at shutting such feelings off, even if he knew in reality that he was quite sensitive to negative attention to him as a person. Negative attention about his professional self could make him just want to do a better job but his private life should be private and not examined closely by unknown people. 

He had gotten death threats from people who believed he had cheated on Aurora and wanted to stand up for her. He wondered if they would want to take it back if they knew everything was a lie or if this was just their chance to throw their bitter feelings at him. He guessed the latter. 

He knew his managers didn't tell him everything and was glad he didn't need to know how much hate he actually got and how many wanted him gone from Aurora's life, one way or another. That they recommended him to have security in Sweden said a lot but he had refused. He didn't need that when he was alone and felt a buffy guy behind him would just stress him. He was stressed now anyway. He didn't believe anything would happen in Sweden, but he didn't want to relax too much. 

Aurora knew her husband would finally come home that day, and she had gotten help from Sonny to move home again. He was still at home with her and Isis, not because Aurora had asked but because he was too afraid to leave her alone. He had noticed she took this really harsh, harsher than he had thought, but he didn't know what was happening inside her body. He wondered for a few seconds if it was all true. Maybe Bill had cheated with a woman even younger than her. Maybe he had gotten the Hollywood obsession with younger women? But no, had you seen Bill and Aurora together, you knew it wasn't a possibility. He adored his wife. 

He looked at Aurora walking around in nervous circles while at the same time watching Isis crawl around on the floor along the couch. She picked on every dog's hair and showed them in pride for both him and the dogs, like they hadn't seen the hair before. 

“Shouldn't you sit down a bit? He just wrote that he is in a taxi on his way home, give him some time,” Sonny said carefully, patting the couch seat next to his. Aurora shook her head fast. 

“No, no, I can't relax. I need him now. He must come now.” 

She continued to walk around the couches while dragging her fingers through her messy hair. Sonny looked down at Isis again, who had started to play with the Corgi's ear. The dog just continued to sleep with its nose in the off-white rug. It may have been a bit cozy to have two baby hands around her ear. 

When they heard the sound of the entrance door opening, all five creatures in the living room reacted and turned their heads towards the door entrance closest to the hallway. Aurora also heard Bill's familiar low-smacking sounds from his lips, and she couldn't stop herself from running out to him like she was a child. Bill heard her soft running steps, and by reflex, he was already prepared to catch her when she threw herself around his neck. He lifted up his wife so she could have her legs around him and they could hug without the height difference separating their bodies. They were so close now that their hearts started to beat in the same rhythm. Aurora trusted Sonny with Isis, and so did Bill. During the time of their marriage, he really got to know Sonny and saw him now as something more than just the person wanting to be in the center of attention. He was intelligent and trustworthy, and on the side of his media gigs, he studied to be a psychologist. He wasn't that one-dimensional character Bill had seen him as first. 

The couple kissed deeply, not of the passion created in happiness and sexual desire but the passion of love and healing. They needed to be together right now. Especially because it would only get worse.

×

[soohaaaleemeee]

Shared photography from Hemlock Grove costar Landon Liboiron @/77flippedofficial via IG Stories

[soohaaaleemeee]

NEW picture of bill via instagram

📍Central Park, New York

goldenstateboi: Thank you so much for stopping to idulge my need of a picture! This made my vacation! Nicest dude ever #billskarsgard can't wait to see The Crow!

[soohaaaleemeee]

[soohaaaleemeee]

I have an idea for a new fic (when I have ended one of the others lol) but don't know what to do with some details and also the whole feeling of it. I always see my stories in a specific aesthetic but it's hard to make that come through in text.

[soohaaaleemeee]

BILL SKARSGÅRD in BOY KILLS WORLD (April 26 2024)

[soohaaaleemeee]

Love Just Happens

A New Chapter - Part 19

Characters: The future's Bill Skarsgård and others close to him. The rest is my own characters.

Setting: This story is set in the future but because it's hard to say how the world is then (and it isn't that important for the story) the future is similar to our time now, even with fashion and so on.

Warnings: 18+, age difference, smut, ageism, pregnancy, jealousy, cheating.

He would never cheat. She knew that. Every day was proof of that. She felt his love in every gaze and in every caress. They had romance and passion. They had closeness in mind, even if they were so different from each other. There were things they had believed they would miss in a partner, but that wasn't important anymore. Bill didn't need someone who understood his job and she didn't feel a need for someone who was what people expected her to be with. It wasn't important stuff at all. Bill said to himself that he couldn't understand now how he had believed that or what he had seen in his earlier partners that was so different from her. She knew at their first meeting that he was everything she had wanted. Everything she had believed she would never get.

She looked at him sleeping. He was pink in the cheeks, and his short hair was messy. It was obvious he was older than when they met, and he gave off a more manly vibe than ever, especially when she looked at his thick arms and broad chest.

He looked good. He looked like all those words young girls call handsome men over forty or men with kids. She was young when they met. Twenty-three. Maybe even a bit too young for a forty-year-old man to take seriously, but he had. He had never treated her like anything else but a woman. An equal.

He treated all women well and showed softness and humbleness naturally. It wasn't weird that other women were attracted to him. It wasn't weird other young women looked at him with big eyes.

Sheilo Medley. Aurora Lou could feel that she wanted him. The two of them have met her a couple of times together now. Sheilo was always nice, even sweet. She said hello to Isadora Li and said she was cute, but as soon as she thought Aurora looked away, she looked at Bill in a way not suitable between friends. Aurora looked at her husband joking around with his co-actress, how he talked in confidence to her and let her wrap her arms around his waist as a hello and goodbye.

Could he cheat? No, he would never. Bill crawled closer to her in his sleep and dragged her close to his chest, like she was a comforting teddy bear.

All her other boyfriends had cheated. They were never pleased with just her. Why would Bill be that? He could have an even younger woman now. Someone whose body wasn't affected by pregnancy or childbirth. Someone with big tits and worked with the same thing as him. A girl taller than her that also seemed tougher than her.

“I’ve met someone else,” he would say while they sat at home in Sweden by their kitchen. He had asked her to sit down, and she had sat down with some struggle because of her big pregnancy belly.

“Sheilo?” She would ask and look away with glassy eyes. He wouldn't say anything; he just lowered his eyes, but that would be enough of an answer. She would have nodded but let the tears stream down her cheeks freely.

“So it happened when I was there? In Scotland?” She would ask, and Bill would still not answer. “Can’t you even answer me? Am I not even worthy of that?”

He would drag his hands over his face.

“I'm so sorry, Lou... I'm so sorry.”

She would cry, but silently because she had already known, and drag her hands over her big belly.

“But I will still be here... I will still be here for you and our babies.”

Aurora cried against his naked chest. He was still sleeping. It was the pregnancy hormones playing games with her again, but just like when she was pregnant with Isadora, she forgot that and took her emotions as completely true.

She kissed Bill's lips and twisted herself out of his grip. He would cheat. He would leave her like all the other guys had. She stood up, and in silence, she started to pack. She didn't want to leave him like that, but she couldn't look at him, especially not when he moved and the sheet uncovered his nakedness. They had slept with each other the night before. He had made her come twice and acted like they made love, but now she wondered if he was thinking about Sheilo.

She carried the suitcase to the door, then she walked to the room Isis was sleeping in. She didn't want to take his daughter from him like that, because she would have panicked if he had done the same thing to her, but she couldn't leave her baby. She just couldn't.

Bill woke up when he heard Isis whine and let out a grumpy cry. It didn't sound like her normal morning sounds, so he opened his eyes and listened more carefully. Aurora wasn't next to him, so he stretched out in bed and closed his eyes again, believing she was just taking care of their dissatisfied daughter.

“Shh shh shh… We must go, baby. You can sleep again soon,” Bill heard his wife say to their daughter with a low voice. He opened his eyes in confusion and sat up when he heard shuffling in the hallway. He covered himself with the sheet and walked out with it around his hips. Aurora stood in an emerald green velvet set and laid Isis down in the stroller; behind her stood her pink, shiny suitcase.

“What are you doing?” asked Bill, confused, and fixed the sheet around his hips. Aurora looked up at him reluctantly. Her eyes were red, and her cheeks were wet. Bill looked at her, confused. He was used to her crying because of things with a variety of seriousness, especially while pregnant, so he just looked at her in confusion.

“I just...” she said, looking at Bill with furrowed brows while Isis cried in the stroller. She couldn't really say what she was doing now when he stood in front of her. It wasn't like he had cheated. He hadn't done anything wrong at all, and now she couldn't find an answer to what she was doing, so instead, she started to cry almost as loudly as Isis.

“Okay, okay,” said Bill, knowing at once that this was the hormones again. Her big emotions really became crazy from the hormones. He walked up to Aurora and the stroller and took his wife under one arm because of the sheet around his hips, but realized he wouldn't be able to comfort both his girls with just one arm, so he had no choice but to let it slip down on the floor. Aurora looked at his nakedness while he took up Isis from the stroller and then laid the other arm around his wife. Aurora couldn't stop herself from laughing through the tears.

“I had no other choice, okay?” He said, with a smirk. Aurora smiled, amused, while all three of them crawled down under her covers. Both the girls had calmed down by being close to Bill, and Aurora sat with her nose pressed against Bill's chest, breathing him in, while Isis lay with her cheek against his other pec. She didn't know what she would have done without him, and luckily, there was never anything she really needed to worry about.

“You know it's the hormones, right?” Bill said it softly and kissed her head. Aurora nodded, even if she had forgotten about it. "So, what was it this time?”

Aurora breathed out deeply.

“I… I had a feeling you would cheat with that Sheilo girl.”

Bill smiled, a little amused but lovingly.

“Mhm, what was it that made you have that feeling?”

Aurora didn't say anything, instead, she wiped away some drool on Isis's chin, who had started to fall asleep against her father's chest.

Bill didn't say anything either, he just kissed her forehead and leaned back against the headboard. He knew Aurora's hormones were responsible for this, and he had nothing to worry about. Their relationship was still just as strong.

“I love you, my one and only,” he said with a smile. Aurora looked up at him and then kissed his lips.

“I love you more than everything,” she whispered, and then gave their sleeping daughter a kiss too.

×××

Two days later, Erica visited again and offered to take Isadora so Aurora and Bill could have a night out. His work day wasn't that long that day, so they would have the whole night. Aurora thought she could meet him on set, but that day Bill asked her not to come. Oh. She knew what that meant; intimate scenes. Today was the day he would make out with Sheilo.

Aurora knew it wasn't a romantic setting, she knew Bill didn't feel pleasure in doing such scenes, but Aurora didn't know if Sheilo felt the same. Maybe she would do everything to impress him and to make it something it wasn't. Aurora trusted Bill, but maybe she wanted to torment herself because she decided to visit the set anyway. She just wanted to see if the girl would try anything or if she might have enough respect to not try to make him hard while his wife was watching.

She was let in without any fuss; it didn't matter who her husband was; she would have been let in anyway. She was Aurora Lou.

Bill sat in a white robe over his outfit for the scene, a pair of burgundy boxers that sat tight and that enhanced his bulge more than hid it. He sat and looked at his phone while a stylist put some bronzer on his forehead.

“Aurora, hey!” The stylist said that and made Bill look up. His wife gave both him and the stylist a small smile. She was dressed in black pants that sat low on her hips and a black tube top, showing her belly. It was still flat and gave nothing of the pregnancy away. Bill looked at her and furrowed his brows. He had said she shouldn't come.

“Hey babe?” He said, flashing a crooked smile. Aurora smiled sweetly and put her dark, long hair behind her ears. It was obvious she was ashamed to be there. She leaned up to give him a kiss. Even if Bill was a little annoyed, he took a few seconds to admire her outfit and her face. It was a sexy outfit, and he could imagine other men on set looking at her.

"So, what are you doing here?” He said. Aurora had lowered her eyes. She had done it out of shame, but then she saw his outfit. The robe had opened a bit, and she could see his naked chest and the boxers. She really didn't want to be that sort of wife, but the hormones jumped around, and she couldn't stop herself from sucking her lips and making a disapproving sound. Bill could see what the problem was and sighed. In that moment, he was reminded of why he had thought it was more simple to be together with an actress. Aurora couldn't understand how different filming a sex scene was from reality.

“Isn't it better if you go home instead?” He said it with a low voice, so no one would hear. Aurora looked up at him, her eyes swimming with emotions. He gave her a serious look. Aurora lowered her eyes again. She wanted to beg him to not do this. To not make out with a girl she didn't like, who obviously liked him too much.

“Bill!” A director's assistant called for him, and the two of them looked at the woman. Bill sighed because he realized he didn't have time to make Aurora leave the set. She would be there while they were filming. He gave her a quick look before standing up. He gave her a soft kiss and then an unsure smile. Both of them had noticed Sheilo lying down on the mattress in the shed, or the walls looking like a shed, to be able to film them. She was dressed in a lacy dark blue bra and black thongs. Her breasts were big and full, and her skin was pale and soft. Aurora looked at Bill, pulling off the robe and sitting down on the mattress. Sheilo said something that made him smile. He said something that made her laugh. They hadn't started filming yet, but already Aurora was so jealous that it felt like she would throw up.

Bill laid down on the mattress, still talking to Sheilo but also the director. Aurora swallowed the sour taste in her mouth while looking at Sheilo, looking at his abs, his bulge, and his long legs. Aurora looked down at her wedding rings. She had accepted his weird profession, but now it didn’t feel good anymore. She twisted the rings around her fingers while swallowing the bile coming up in her throat. She had put her career on hold for their child; couldn't he stop doing these sorts of roles for her?

She looked up when she heard Sheilo laugh. They had started filming now, and Aurora could see the girl laying on top of her husband. They shared deep kisses before the director said cut. Bill moved away at once from the girl, but it didn't matter; Aurora had seen enough. She succeeded in keeping her tears in check, but it didn't matter. It felt like everyone could see her emotions and how she then ran away. It wasn't that bad; it was just the stylist and a few of the set designers that saw it. Bill didn't notice how she disappeared, and soon he had Sheilo on top of him again. It was a job. The kisses were dry and emotionless, and he didn't even think Sheilo was that attractive. Especially not compared to his wife. Sheilo was pale in comparison, flat, and uncharismatic. He just wanted the job day to be over so he could take his wife out. Her kisses were the only kisses he enjoyed.

×××

Erica watched her friend cry and cry and cry. Everyone who knew Aurora had seen her cry many times. She had been through a lot, and heavy tears had been spilled because of death, abuse, and cheating, but she also spilled tears over much smaller things. For a short second, Erica wondered why Aurora still hadn't started to wear waterproof mascara, but she waved that thought away. She sat on the floor with her friend’s 10-month-old daughter, who looked at her mother with worry.

“They like… They kissed and, like... He just kissed her like that. In front of... She wants him.” Aurora cried while wiping her black-striped cheeks with her hands, so her fingers became just as black. Erica looked at her in confusion.

“You mean Bill kissed someone else? In front of you?”

“Yes!” Aurora cried and whined something else Erica couldn't interpret. She couldn't believe Bill would do such a thing and understood there was something Aurora missed saying.

“You mean in a scene? When he was filming?”

“Yes! But with her!”

“Her?”

“Yes!” Aurora said she was annoyed and started to cry hysterically again. Erica looked down at Isis, who looked just as confused. If it were another guy, she would have taken her friend’s side at once, but this situation was something else. Aurora was a drama queen, a hormonal, pregnant drama queen, while Bill was so trustworthy and irritatingly in love with that said drama queen, even if Erica in that moment couldn't understand how such a down-to-earth guy had energy for her friend.

“So he kissed her in a scene? I'm sorry, Aurora, but he's an actor.”

Aurora made a frustrated sound and laid down with her face in a pillow.

“You don't get it!”

Erica didn't understand, but Bill, who stood in the hallway, did. He had sneaked in but had frozen in the hallway and listened to his wife. There was something with Sheilo that rubbed her the wrong way, and that she was the first girl in a long time he had intimate scenes with, didn't make it better. On top of that, she was hormonal in a way she had never been before. He understood this, but this was a bit much for him too. He was an actor; she knew that, just like Erica said, but it was obvious she had problems with that, but it wasn't until now that they had come to the surface.

Aurora obviously needed some help with her galloping hormones, but the jealousy would still be there. Maybe he shouldn't say anything because he had also been jealous many times, but he saw it as two different things. His jealousy was about protectiveness, but he felt her jealousy was her not trusting him. Not believing he could handle his job and not being a trustworthy husband.

After some deep breaths, he walked into the living room. Erica gave him a relieved look and showed an expression that she had started to give up. Aurora looked up at Bill and, with a fast movement, she stood up and marched by him dramatically. Bill knew her so well that he knew that meant she wanted a fight; she wanted him to run after her, so he did. It was better to just follow her rules when she was mad. It saved time.

Erica lifted up Isis and walked to the stroller, and Bill gave her a thankful look before she left with Isis, and he went into Aurora in the bedroom. Once again, she was packing. She probably noticed it the last time it was a good way of getting his attention. Bill sat down on the bed with a sigh and looked at her, packing her sexiest thongs in the corner of the suitcase closest to him. He wanted to smile but didn't, but it was so obvious to him that she did that to not lose his attention.

“Why are you sad?” He said it softly while he took a pair of delicate panties and played with them between his fingers. She let him play with them, so obviously it was what she wanted him to do.

“I'm not sad! I'm mad!” She said she was upset and pushed down the hair heating tool in the bag. Bill nodded a little.

“Why?”

Aurora looked at him, annoyed, but was quiet. She didn't exactly know why she was mad, but she was mad.

“It's my job. There weren't any problems when I kissed Lydia last year.”

“That's different!”

“Why?” He said, confused.

Aurora once again made a frustrating sound and looked at him, continuing to play with her panties with long fingers and licking his lips.

“Sheilo is hot!” She said that and crossed her arms.

Bill looked at her with furrowed brows and a little smile.

“And Lydia isn't?”

“Do you think that?”

“No, but I don't know if I think Sheilo is that attractive either,” Bill sighed. “Does that really matter? I thought you trusted me. I've said so many times that you're the only woman for me. Every woman pales in comparison to you.”

Aurora looked at him with big, glassy eyes.

“It's okay to be jealous, but you must trust me. I would never cheat because kissing other girls is a job for me, and it feels like a job. When I kiss you, it's... everything that is good,” he said with big, sincere eyes.

Aurora felt the tears start to run down her cheeks again. She felt awful for doubting him. Bill sighed a little with a smile.

“And babe, this is very much the hormones,” he said carefully. Aurora furrowed her brows in embarrassment. She didn't like to confess that she had done something out of nothing because her hormones went wild. She could do the same thing when she had PMS, but with smaller things, and thought it was just as embarrassing to confess that her day wasn't ruined because she hadn't succeeded in painting her lips just right.

“It is hormones because while we've had this conversation, you have not just presented your cutest panties for me but also looked at my arms and lips every other second.”

Aurora looked annoyed, crossed her arms, and pouted a little. She wanted him to comfort her and come close, not give her this, even if he was right. She has had filthy thoughts while trying to stay inside the anger.

Bill sighed, stood up, stretched out all of his 6’4 height, and looked at her tiredly. He didn't want to fight and also knew it would take, like, a minute before she had her nose pressed against his chest and her hands dragging over his muscular back.

He was right. 52 seconds later, she was pressed against him and begged for his forgiveness. Bill just smiled and kissed her. He had said what he wanted, and he knew she would remember it. She was a drama queen, but she never held on to a grudge just because. She just wanted everything to be good between them, always.

27 seconds of kisses later, Aurora started to pull down his black jogger pants.

“We really must visit a doctor to get those hormones in check,” said Bill, a bit amused with furrowed brows, but let her pull them down along with his dark gray boxers.

×××

It had been an hour since Erica left the apartment with Isis, and she guessed Bill had succeeded in calming Aurora down in that time. Or he was forced to have succeeded in doing that because she didn't have the energy to walk around and, at the same time, keep Isis awake so she wouldn't be up all night. Isis was also not as easy to please as her own son, and she didn't look amused at all by her. She needed to be with her parents, who knew her ways.

Erica walked into the apartment while singing for Isis that whined on her hip and hoped her parents would meet them by the door but it didn't happen. Erica was annoyed now and thought about just berating Aurora for her silly behavior and giving her, her whiny daughter. She stamped into the apartment with annoyance rising in every step.

“Ah fuck! I should have known this was what would meet me!” Said she outside of the bedroom, annoyed and covered Isis face when she saw Bill's trim hips and plump ass cheeks between Aurora's tanned legs. It was like seeing a great Dane smash a king Charles spaniel.

Bill stood up on his knees and gave Erica an annoyed look. She was the only one he knew would just stand there by seeing such a scene.

“Hey! Can we just get some time to dress?” He said and gave Aurora a look who hid her face with her hands in embarrassment.

“Stop sounding like I'm the one doing something wrong. You can sound so ungrateful sometimes, Bill!” Said Erica and walked away with their daughter who continued to whine.

Bill looked down at Aurora again with big eyes in disbelief, she giggled now and stretched her arms over her head so he felt forced to just play with her nipples a last time.

“Your friend is insane.”

“I know. She's so annoying,” she joked, knowing it was probably herself that was the annoying one.

“Yeah!” Bill said like it was obvious and stood up and pulled on his boxers. Aurora sat up but moved sensually and laid down on her knees, like a cat stretching. Bill stood with his hands on his hips and gave her an annoyed but aroused look.

“Stop doing that, you hormonal… cock teaser.”

Aurora giggled and stood up on her knees. Bill threw her silky robe to her and gave her the panties he had played with in his hands earlier.

He had pulled on the joggers again then they walked out to Erica who sat with Isis by the table, eating a banana each. She gave them a killer look while Isis smiled and waved with the banana piece in her hand.

“We're sorry… It just happened…” said Aurora and looked at her friend pleadingly but with playfulness in her eyes. Erica looked at the both of them. Bill took a sip of Isis water from her baby bottle then gave it to the girl again.

“Yeah, yeah. But I hope you get that this night went from being yours to being mine. God, your daughter seems to believe she's the queen of Sweden!”

Bill smirked amused. Everyone said their daughter was high maintenance but those who knew her had a much easier time understanding her. He guessed it was a bit the same with her mother, but in another way.

“I think you two can take a night out and I’ll stay with the queen, okay? But don't get in a fight and don't let her fall asleep somewhere,” Bill said, the last thing towards Erica. The girls smiled happily and he got a kiss from Aurora on the cheek.

“That was nice of you, Billy Boy,” said Erica who stood up. He gave her a crooked smile but jumped when she spanked his ass.

“And I must say, you have a great ass.”

Isis laughed at her father's bug eyed expression and Aurora did the same and gave Bill a pointed look. His ass was way too cute.

×

[soohaaaleemeee]

Love Just Happens

A New Chapter - Part 19

Characters: The future's Bill Skarsgård and others close to him. The rest is my own characters.

Setting: This story is set in the future but because it's hard to say how the world is then (and it isn't that important for the story) the future is similar to our time now, even with fashion and so on.

Warnings: 18+, age difference, smut, ageism, pregnancy, jealousy, cheating.

He would never cheat. She knew that. Every day was proof of that. She felt his love in every gaze and in every caress. They had romance and passion. They had closeness in mind, even if they were so different from each other. There were things they had believed they would miss in a partner, but that wasn't important anymore. Bill didn't need someone who understood his job and she didn't feel a need for someone who was what people expected her to be with. It wasn't important stuff at all. Bill said to himself that he couldn't understand now how he had believed that or what he had seen in his earlier partners that was so different from her. She knew at their first meeting that he was everything she had wanted. Everything she had believed she would never get.

She looked at him sleeping. He was pink in the cheeks, and his short hair was messy. It was obvious he was older than when they met, and he gave off a more manly vibe than ever, especially when she looked at his thick arms and broad chest.

He looked good. He looked like all those words young girls call handsome men over forty or men with kids. She was young when they met. Twenty-three. Maybe even a bit too young for a forty-year-old man to take seriously, but he had. He had never treated her like anything else but a woman. An equal.

He treated all women well and showed softness and humbleness naturally. It wasn't weird that other women were attracted to him. It wasn't weird other young women looked at him with big eyes.

Sheilo Medley. Aurora Lou could feel that she wanted him. The two of them have met her a couple of times together now. Sheilo was always nice, even sweet. She said hello to Isadora Li and said she was cute, but as soon as she thought Aurora looked away, she looked at Bill in a way not suitable between friends. Aurora looked at her husband joking around with his co-actress, how he talked in confidence to her and let her wrap her arms around his waist as a hello and goodbye.

Could he cheat? No, he would never. Bill crawled closer to her in his sleep and dragged her close to his chest, like she was a comforting teddy bear.

All her other boyfriends had cheated. They were never pleased with just her. Why would Bill be that? He could have an even younger woman now. Someone whose body wasn't affected by pregnancy or childbirth. Someone with big tits and worked with the same thing as him. A girl taller than her that also seemed tougher than her.

“I’ve met someone else,” he would say while they sat at home in Sweden by their kitchen. He had asked her to sit down, and she had sat down with some struggle because of her big pregnancy belly.

“Sheilo?” She would ask and look away with glassy eyes. He wouldn't say anything; he just lowered his eyes, but that would be enough of an answer. She would have nodded but let the tears stream down her cheeks freely.

“So it happened when I was there? In Scotland?” She would ask, and Bill would still not answer. “Can’t you even answer me? Am I not even worthy of that?”

He would drag his hands over his face.

“I'm so sorry, Lou... I'm so sorry.”

She would cry, but silently because she had already known, and drag her hands over her big belly.

“But I will still be here... I will still be here for you and our babies.”

Aurora cried against his naked chest. He was still sleeping. It was the pregnancy hormones playing games with her again, but just like when she was pregnant with Isadora, she forgot that and took her emotions as completely true.

She kissed Bill's lips and twisted herself out of his grip. He would cheat. He would leave her like all the other guys had. She stood up, and in silence, she started to pack. She didn't want to leave him like that, but she couldn't look at him, especially not when he moved and the sheet uncovered his nakedness. They had slept with each other the night before. He had made her come twice and acted like they made love, but now she wondered if he was thinking about Sheilo.

She carried the suitcase to the door, then she walked to the room Isis was sleeping in. She didn't want to take his daughter from him like that, because she would have panicked if he had done the same thing to her, but she couldn't leave her baby. She just couldn't.

Bill woke up when he heard Isis whine and let out a grumpy cry. It didn't sound like her normal morning sounds, so he opened his eyes and listened more carefully. Aurora wasn't next to him, so he stretched out in bed and closed his eyes again, believing she was just taking care of their dissatisfied daughter.

“Shh shh shh… We must go, baby. You can sleep again soon,” Bill heard his wife say to their daughter with a low voice. He opened his eyes in confusion and sat up when he heard shuffling in the hallway. He covered himself with the sheet and walked out with it around his hips. Aurora stood in an emerald green velvet set and laid Isis down in the stroller; behind her stood her pink, shiny suitcase.

“What are you doing?” asked Bill, confused, and fixed the sheet around his hips. Aurora looked up at him reluctantly. Her eyes were red, and her cheeks were wet. Bill looked at her, confused. He was used to her crying because of things with a variety of seriousness, especially while pregnant, so he just looked at her in confusion.

“I just...” she said, looking at Bill with furrowed brows while Isis cried in the stroller. She couldn't really say what she was doing now when he stood in front of her. It wasn't like he had cheated. He hadn't done anything wrong at all, and now she couldn't find an answer to what she was doing, so instead, she started to cry almost as loudly as Isis.

“Okay, okay,” said Bill, knowing at once that this was the hormones again. Her big emotions really became crazy from the hormones. He walked up to Aurora and the stroller and took his wife under one arm because of the sheet around his hips, but realized he wouldn't be able to comfort both his girls with just one arm, so he had no choice but to let it slip down on the floor. Aurora looked at his nakedness while he took up Isis from the stroller and then laid the other arm around his wife. Aurora couldn't stop herself from laughing through the tears.

“I had no other choice, okay?” He said, with a smirk. Aurora smiled, amused, while all three of them crawled down under her covers. Both the girls had calmed down by being close to Bill, and Aurora sat with her nose pressed against Bill's chest, breathing him in, while Isis lay with her cheek against his other pec. She didn't know what she would have done without him, and luckily, there was never anything she really needed to worry about.

“You know it's the hormones, right?” Bill said it softly and kissed her head. Aurora nodded, even if she had forgotten about it. "So, what was it this time?”

Aurora breathed out deeply.

“I… I had a feeling you would cheat with that Sheilo girl.”

Bill smiled, a little amused but lovingly.

“Mhm, what was it that made you have that feeling?”

Aurora didn't say anything, instead, she wiped away some drool on Isis's chin, who had started to fall asleep against her father's chest.

Bill didn't say anything either, he just kissed her forehead and leaned back against the headboard. He knew Aurora's hormones were responsible for this, and he had nothing to worry about. Their relationship was still just as strong.

“I love you, my one and only,” he said with a smile. Aurora looked up at him and then kissed his lips.

“I love you more than everything,” she whispered, and then gave their sleeping daughter a kiss too.

×××

Two days later, Erica visited again and offered to take Isadora so Aurora and Bill could have a night out. His work day wasn't that long that day, so they would have the whole night. Aurora thought she could meet him on set, but that day Bill asked her not to come. Oh. She knew what that meant; intimate scenes. Today was the day he would make out with Sheilo.

Aurora knew it wasn't a romantic setting, she knew Bill didn't feel pleasure in doing such scenes, but Aurora didn't know if Sheilo felt the same. Maybe she would do everything to impress him and to make it something it wasn't. Aurora trusted Bill, but maybe she wanted to torment herself because she decided to visit the set anyway. She just wanted to see if the girl would try anything or if she might have enough respect to not try to make him hard while his wife was watching.

She was let in without any fuss; it didn't matter who her husband was; she would have been let in anyway. She was Aurora Lou.

Bill sat in a white robe over his outfit for the scene, a pair of burgundy boxers that sat tight and that enhanced his bulge more than hid it. He sat and looked at his phone while a stylist put some bronzer on his forehead.

“Aurora, hey!” The stylist said that and made Bill look up. His wife gave both him and the stylist a small smile. She was dressed in black pants that sat low on her hips and a black tube top, showing her belly. It was still flat and gave nothing of the pregnancy away. Bill looked at her and furrowed his brows. He had said she shouldn't come.

“Hey babe?” He said, flashing a crooked smile. Aurora smiled sweetly and put her dark, long hair behind her ears. It was obvious she was ashamed to be there. She leaned up to give him a kiss. Even if Bill was a little annoyed, he took a few seconds to admire her outfit and her face. It was a sexy outfit, and he could imagine other men on set looking at her.

"So, what are you doing here?” He said. Aurora had lowered her eyes. She had done it out of shame, but then she saw his outfit. The robe had opened a bit, and she could see his naked chest and the boxers. She really didn't want to be that sort of wife, but the hormones jumped around, and she couldn't stop herself from sucking her lips and making a disapproving sound. Bill could see what the problem was and sighed. In that moment, he was reminded of why he had thought it was more simple to be together with an actress. Aurora couldn't understand how different filming a sex scene was from reality.

“Isn't it better if you go home instead?” He said it with a low voice, so no one would hear. Aurora looked up at him, her eyes swimming with emotions. He gave her a serious look. Aurora lowered her eyes again. She wanted to beg him to not do this. To not make out with a girl she didn't like, who obviously liked him too much.

“Bill!” A director's assistant called for him, and the two of them looked at the woman. Bill sighed because he realized he didn't have time to make Aurora leave the set. She would be there while they were filming. He gave her a quick look before standing up. He gave her a soft kiss and then an unsure smile. Both of them had noticed Sheilo lying down on the mattress in the shed, or the walls looking like a shed, to be able to film them. She was dressed in a lacy dark blue bra and black thongs. Her breasts were big and full, and her skin was pale and soft. Aurora looked at Bill, pulling off the robe and sitting down on the mattress. Sheilo said something that made him smile. He said something that made her laugh. They hadn't started filming yet, but already Aurora was so jealous that it felt like she would throw up.

Bill laid down on the mattress, still talking to Sheilo but also the director. Aurora swallowed the sour taste in her mouth while looking at Sheilo, looking at his abs, his bulge, and his long legs. Aurora looked down at her wedding rings. She had accepted his weird profession, but now it didn’t feel good anymore. She twisted the rings around her fingers while swallowing the bile coming up in her throat. She had put her career on hold for their child; couldn't he stop doing these sorts of roles for her?

She looked up when she heard Sheilo laugh. They had started filming now, and Aurora could see the girl laying on top of her husband. They shared deep kisses before the director said cut. Bill moved away at once from the girl, but it didn't matter; Aurora had seen enough. She succeeded in keeping her tears in check, but it didn't matter. It felt like everyone could see her emotions and how she then ran away. It wasn't that bad; it was just the stylist and a few of the set designers that saw it. Bill didn't notice how she disappeared, and soon he had Sheilo on top of him again. It was a job. The kisses were dry and emotionless, and he didn't even think Sheilo was that attractive. Especially not compared to his wife. Sheilo was pale in comparison, flat, and uncharismatic. He just wanted the job day to be over so he could take his wife out. Her kisses were the only kisses he enjoyed.

×××

Erica watched her friend cry and cry and cry. Everyone who knew Aurora had seen her cry many times. She had been through a lot, and heavy tears had been spilled because of death, abuse, and cheating, but she also spilled tears over much smaller things. For a short second, Erica wondered why Aurora still hadn't started to wear waterproof mascara, but she waved that thought away. She sat on the floor with her friend’s 10-month-old daughter, who looked at her mother with worry.

“They like… They kissed and, like... He just kissed her like that. In front of... She wants him.” Aurora cried while wiping her black-striped cheeks with her hands, so her fingers became just as black. Erica looked at her in confusion.

“You mean Bill kissed someone else? In front of you?”

“Yes!” Aurora cried and whined something else Erica couldn't interpret. She couldn't believe Bill would do such a thing and understood there was something Aurora missed saying.

“You mean in a scene? When he was filming?”

“Yes! But with her!”

“Her?”

“Yes!” Aurora said she was annoyed and started to cry hysterically again. Erica looked down at Isis, who looked just as confused. If it were another guy, she would have taken her friend’s side at once, but this situation was something else. Aurora was a drama queen, a hormonal, pregnant drama queen, while Bill was so trustworthy and irritatingly in love with that said drama queen, even if Erica in that moment couldn't understand how such a down-to-earth guy had energy for her friend.

“So he kissed her in a scene? I'm sorry, Aurora, but he's an actor.”

Aurora made a frustrated sound and laid down with her face in a pillow.

“You don't get it!”

Erica didn't understand, but Bill, who stood in the hallway, did. He had sneaked in but had frozen in the hallway and listened to his wife. There was something with Sheilo that rubbed her the wrong way, and that she was the first girl in a long time he had intimate scenes with, didn't make it better. On top of that, she was hormonal in a way she had never been before. He understood this, but this was a bit much for him too. He was an actor; she knew that, just like Erica said, but it was obvious she had problems with that, but it wasn't until now that they had come to the surface.

Aurora obviously needed some help with her galloping hormones, but the jealousy would still be there. Maybe he shouldn't say anything because he had also been jealous many times, but he saw it as two different things. His jealousy was about protectiveness, but he felt her jealousy was her not trusting him. Not believing he could handle his job and not being a trustworthy husband.

After some deep breaths, he walked into the living room. Erica gave him a relieved look and showed an expression that she had started to give up. Aurora looked up at Bill and, with a fast movement, she stood up and marched by him dramatically. Bill knew her so well that he knew that meant she wanted a fight; she wanted him to run after her, so he did. It was better to just follow her rules when she was mad. It saved time.

Erica lifted up Isis and walked to the stroller, and Bill gave her a thankful look before she left with Isis, and he went into Aurora in the bedroom. Once again, she was packing. She probably noticed it the last time it was a good way of getting his attention. Bill sat down on the bed with a sigh and looked at her, packing her sexiest thongs in the corner of the suitcase closest to him. He wanted to smile but didn't, but it was so obvious to him that she did that to not lose his attention.

“Why are you sad?” He said it softly while he took a pair of delicate panties and played with them between his fingers. She let him play with them, so obviously it was what she wanted him to do.

“I'm not sad! I'm mad!” She said she was upset and pushed down the hair heating tool in the bag. Bill nodded a little.

“Why?”

Aurora looked at him, annoyed, but was quiet. She didn't exactly know why she was mad, but she was mad.

“It's my job. There weren't any problems when I kissed Lydia last year.”

“That's different!”

“Why?” He said, confused.

Aurora once again made a frustrating sound and looked at him, continuing to play with her panties with long fingers and licking his lips.

“Sheilo is hot!” She said that and crossed her arms.

Bill looked at her with furrowed brows and a little smile.

“And Lydia isn't?”

“Do you think that?”

“No, but I don't know if I think Sheilo is that attractive either,” Bill sighed. “Does that really matter? I thought you trusted me. I've said so many times that you're the only woman for me. Every woman pales in comparison to you.”

Aurora looked at him with big, glassy eyes.

“It's okay to be jealous, but you must trust me. I would never cheat because kissing other girls is a job for me, and it feels like a job. When I kiss you, it's... everything that is good,” he said with big, sincere eyes.

Aurora felt the tears start to run down her cheeks again. She felt awful for doubting him. Bill sighed a little with a smile.

“And babe, this is very much the hormones,” he said carefully. Aurora furrowed her brows in embarrassment. She didn't like to confess that she had done something out of nothing because her hormones went wild. She could do the same thing when she had PMS, but with smaller things, and thought it was just as embarrassing to confess that her day wasn't ruined because she hadn't succeeded in painting her lips just right.

“It is hormones because while we've had this conversation, you have not just presented your cutest panties for me but also looked at my arms and lips every other second.”

Aurora looked annoyed, crossed her arms, and pouted a little. She wanted him to comfort her and come close, not give her this, even if he was right. She has had filthy thoughts while trying to stay inside the anger.

Bill sighed, stood up, stretched out all of his 6’4 height, and looked at her tiredly. He didn't want to fight and also knew it would take, like, a minute before she had her nose pressed against his chest and her hands dragging over his muscular back.

He was right. 52 seconds later, she was pressed against him and begged for his forgiveness. Bill just smiled and kissed her. He had said what he wanted, and he knew she would remember it. She was a drama queen, but she never held on to a grudge just because. She just wanted everything to be good between them, always.

27 seconds of kisses later, Aurora started to pull down his black jogger pants.

“We really must visit a doctor to get those hormones in check,” said Bill, a bit amused with furrowed brows, but let her pull them down along with his dark gray boxers.

×××

It had been an hour since Erica left the apartment with Isis, and she guessed Bill had succeeded in calming Aurora down in that time. Or he was forced to have succeeded in doing that because she didn't have the energy to walk around and, at the same time, keep Isis awake so she wouldn't be up all night. Isis was also not as easy to please as her own son, and she didn't look amused at all by her. She needed to be with her parents, who knew her ways.

Erica walked into the apartment while singing for Isis that whined on her hip and hoped her parents would meet them by the door but it didn't happen. Erica was annoyed now and thought about just berating Aurora for her silly behavior and giving her, her whiny daughter. She stamped into the apartment with annoyance rising in every step.

“Ah fuck! I should have known this was what would meet me!” Said she outside of the bedroom, annoyed and covered Isis face when she saw Bill's trim hips and plump ass cheeks between Aurora's tanned legs. It was like seeing a great Dane smash a king Charles spaniel.

Bill stood up on his knees and gave Erica an annoyed look. She was the only one he knew would just stand there by seeing such a scene.

“Hey! Can we just get some time to dress?” He said and gave Aurora a look who hid her face with her hands in embarrassment.

“Stop sounding like I'm the one doing something wrong. You can sound so ungrateful sometimes, Bill!” Said Erica and walked away with their daughter who continued to whine.

Bill looked down at Aurora again with big eyes in disbelief, she giggled now and stretched her arms over her head so he felt forced to just play with her nipples a last time.

“Your friend is insane.”

“I know. She's so annoying,” she joked, knowing it was probably herself that was the annoying one.

“Yeah!” Bill said like it was obvious and stood up and pulled on his boxers. Aurora sat up but moved sensually and laid down on her knees, like a cat stretching. Bill stood with his hands on his hips and gave her an annoyed but aroused look.

“Stop doing that, you hormonal… cock teaser.”

Aurora giggled and stood up on her knees. Bill threw her silky robe to her and gave her the panties he had played with in his hands earlier.

He had pulled on the joggers again then they walked out to Erica who sat with Isis by the table, eating a banana each. She gave them a killer look while Isis smiled and waved with the banana piece in her hand.

“We're sorry… It just happened…” said Aurora and looked at her friend pleadingly but with playfulness in her eyes. Erica looked at the both of them. Bill took a sip of Isis water from her baby bottle then gave it to the girl again.

“Yeah, yeah. But I hope you get that this night went from being yours to being mine. God, your daughter seems to believe she's the queen of Sweden!”

Bill smirked amused. Everyone said their daughter was high maintenance but those who knew her had a much easier time understanding her. He guessed it was a bit the same with her mother, but in another way.

“I think you two can take a night out and I’ll stay with the queen, okay? But don't get in a fight and don't let her fall asleep somewhere,” Bill said, the last thing towards Erica. The girls smiled happily and he got a kiss from Aurora on the cheek.

“That was nice of you, Billy Boy,” said Erica who stood up. He gave her a crooked smile but jumped when she spanked his ass.

“And I must say, you have a great ass.”

Isis laughed at her father's bug eyed expression and Aurora did the same and gave Bill a pointed look. His ass was way too cute.

×

[soohaaaleemeee]

Bill Skarsgård in BOY KILLS WORLD (2024) dir. Moritz Mohr

[soohaaaleemeee]

Love Just Happens

A New Chapter - Part 19

Characters: The future's Bill Skarsgård and others close to him. The rest is my own characters.

Setting: This story is set in the future but because it's hard to say how the world is then (and it isn't that important for the story) the future is similar to our time now, even with fashion and so on.

Warnings: 18+, age difference, smut, ageism, pregnancy, jealousy, cheating.

He would never cheat. She knew that. Every day was proof of that. She felt his love in every gaze and in every caress. They had romance and passion. They had closeness in mind, even if they were so different from each other. There were things they had believed they would miss in a partner, but that wasn't important anymore. Bill didn't need someone who understood his job and she didn't feel a need for someone who was what people expected her to be with. It wasn't important stuff at all. Bill said to himself that he couldn't understand now how he had believed that or what he had seen in his earlier partners that was so different from her. She knew at their first meeting that he was everything she had wanted. Everything she had believed she would never get.

She looked at him sleeping. He was pink in the cheeks, and his short hair was messy. It was obvious he was older than when they met, and he gave off a more manly vibe than ever, especially when she looked at his thick arms and broad chest.

He looked good. He looked like all those words young girls call handsome men over forty or men with kids. She was young when they met. Twenty-three. Maybe even a bit too young for a forty-year-old man to take seriously, but he had. He had never treated her like anything else but a woman. An equal.

He treated all women well and showed softness and humbleness naturally. It wasn't weird that other women were attracted to him. It wasn't weird other young women looked at him with big eyes.

Sheilo Medley. Aurora Lou could feel that she wanted him. The two of them have met her a couple of times together now. Sheilo was always nice, even sweet. She said hello to Isadora Li and said she was cute, but as soon as she thought Aurora looked away, she looked at Bill in a way not suitable between friends. Aurora looked at her husband joking around with his co-actress, how he talked in confidence to her and let her wrap her arms around his waist as a hello and goodbye.

Could he cheat? No, he would never. Bill crawled closer to her in his sleep and dragged her close to his chest, like she was a comforting teddy bear.

All her other boyfriends had cheated. They were never pleased with just her. Why would Bill be that? He could have an even younger woman now. Someone whose body wasn't affected by pregnancy or childbirth. Someone with big tits and worked with the same thing as him. A girl taller than her that also seemed tougher than her.

“I’ve met someone else,” he would say while they sat at home in Sweden by their kitchen. He had asked her to sit down, and she had sat down with some struggle because of her big pregnancy belly.

“Sheilo?” She would ask and look away with glassy eyes. He wouldn't say anything; he just lowered his eyes, but that would be enough of an answer. She would have nodded but let the tears stream down her cheeks freely.

“So it happened when I was there? In Scotland?” She would ask, and Bill would still not answer. “Can’t you even answer me? Am I not even worthy of that?”

He would drag his hands over his face.

“I'm so sorry, Lou... I'm so sorry.”

She would cry, but silently because she had already known, and drag her hands over her big belly.

“But I will still be here... I will still be here for you and our babies.”

Aurora cried against his naked chest. He was still sleeping. It was the pregnancy hormones playing games with her again, but just like when she was pregnant with Isadora, she forgot that and took her emotions as completely true.

She kissed Bill's lips and twisted herself out of his grip. He would cheat. He would leave her like all the other guys had. She stood up, and in silence, she started to pack. She didn't want to leave him like that, but she couldn't look at him, especially not when he moved and the sheet uncovered his nakedness. They had slept with each other the night before. He had made her come twice and acted like they made love, but now she wondered if he was thinking about Sheilo.

She carried the suitcase to the door, then she walked to the room Isis was sleeping in. She didn't want to take his daughter from him like that, because she would have panicked if he had done the same thing to her, but she couldn't leave her baby. She just couldn't.

Bill woke up when he heard Isis whine and let out a grumpy cry. It didn't sound like her normal morning sounds, so he opened his eyes and listened more carefully. Aurora wasn't next to him, so he stretched out in bed and closed his eyes again, believing she was just taking care of their dissatisfied daughter.

“Shh shh shh… We must go, baby. You can sleep again soon,” Bill heard his wife say to their daughter with a low voice. He opened his eyes in confusion and sat up when he heard shuffling in the hallway. He covered himself with the sheet and walked out with it around his hips. Aurora stood in an emerald green velvet set and laid Isis down in the stroller; behind her stood her pink, shiny suitcase.

“What are you doing?” asked Bill, confused, and fixed the sheet around his hips. Aurora looked up at him reluctantly. Her eyes were red, and her cheeks were wet. Bill looked at her, confused. He was used to her crying because of things with a variety of seriousness, especially while pregnant, so he just looked at her in confusion.

“I just...” she said, looking at Bill with furrowed brows while Isis cried in the stroller. She couldn't really say what she was doing now when he stood in front of her. It wasn't like he had cheated. He hadn't done anything wrong at all, and now she couldn't find an answer to what she was doing, so instead, she started to cry almost as loudly as Isis.

“Okay, okay,” said Bill, knowing at once that this was the hormones again. Her big emotions really became crazy from the hormones. He walked up to Aurora and the stroller and took his wife under one arm because of the sheet around his hips, but realized he wouldn't be able to comfort both his girls with just one arm, so he had no choice but to let it slip down on the floor. Aurora looked at his nakedness while he took up Isis from the stroller and then laid the other arm around his wife. Aurora couldn't stop herself from laughing through the tears.

“I had no other choice, okay?” He said, with a smirk. Aurora smiled, amused, while all three of them crawled down under her covers. Both the girls had calmed down by being close to Bill, and Aurora sat with her nose pressed against Bill's chest, breathing him in, while Isis lay with her cheek against his other pec. She didn't know what she would have done without him, and luckily, there was never anything she really needed to worry about.

“You know it's the hormones, right?” Bill said it softly and kissed her head. Aurora nodded, even if she had forgotten about it. "So, what was it this time?”

Aurora breathed out deeply.

“I… I had a feeling you would cheat with that Sheilo girl.”

Bill smiled, a little amused but lovingly.

“Mhm, what was it that made you have that feeling?”

Aurora didn't say anything, instead, she wiped away some drool on Isis's chin, who had started to fall asleep against her father's chest.

Bill didn't say anything either, he just kissed her forehead and leaned back against the headboard. He knew Aurora's hormones were responsible for this, and he had nothing to worry about. Their relationship was still just as strong.

“I love you, my one and only,” he said with a smile. Aurora looked up at him and then kissed his lips.

“I love you more than everything,” she whispered, and then gave their sleeping daughter a kiss too.

×××

Two days later, Erica visited again and offered to take Isadora so Aurora and Bill could have a night out. His work day wasn't that long that day, so they would have the whole night. Aurora thought she could meet him on set, but that day Bill asked her not to come. Oh. She knew what that meant; intimate scenes. Today was the day he would make out with Sheilo.

Aurora knew it wasn't a romantic setting, she knew Bill didn't feel pleasure in doing such scenes, but Aurora didn't know if Sheilo felt the same. Maybe she would do everything to impress him and to make it something it wasn't. Aurora trusted Bill, but maybe she wanted to torment herself because she decided to visit the set anyway. She just wanted to see if the girl would try anything or if she might have enough respect to not try to make him hard while his wife was watching.

She was let in without any fuss; it didn't matter who her husband was; she would have been let in anyway. She was Aurora Lou.

Bill sat in a white robe over his outfit for the scene, a pair of burgundy boxers that sat tight and that enhanced his bulge more than hid it. He sat and looked at his phone while a stylist put some bronzer on his forehead.

“Aurora, hey!” The stylist said that and made Bill look up. His wife gave both him and the stylist a small smile. She was dressed in black pants that sat low on her hips and a black tube top, showing her belly. It was still flat and gave nothing of the pregnancy away. Bill looked at her and furrowed his brows. He had said she shouldn't come.

“Hey babe?” He said, flashing a crooked smile. Aurora smiled sweetly and put her dark, long hair behind her ears. It was obvious she was ashamed to be there. She leaned up to give him a kiss. Even if Bill was a little annoyed, he took a few seconds to admire her outfit and her face. It was a sexy outfit, and he could imagine other men on set looking at her.

"So, what are you doing here?” He said. Aurora had lowered her eyes. She had done it out of shame, but then she saw his outfit. The robe had opened a bit, and she could see his naked chest and the boxers. She really didn't want to be that sort of wife, but the hormones jumped around, and she couldn't stop herself from sucking her lips and making a disapproving sound. Bill could see what the problem was and sighed. In that moment, he was reminded of why he had thought it was more simple to be together with an actress. Aurora couldn't understand how different filming a sex scene was from reality.

“Isn't it better if you go home instead?” He said it with a low voice, so no one would hear. Aurora looked up at him, her eyes swimming with emotions. He gave her a serious look. Aurora lowered her eyes again. She wanted to beg him to not do this. To not make out with a girl she didn't like, who obviously liked him too much.

“Bill!” A director's assistant called for him, and the two of them looked at the woman. Bill sighed because he realized he didn't have time to make Aurora leave the set. She would be there while they were filming. He gave her a quick look before standing up. He gave her a soft kiss and then an unsure smile. Both of them had noticed Sheilo lying down on the mattress in the shed, or the walls looking like a shed, to be able to film them. She was dressed in a lacy dark blue bra and black thongs. Her breasts were big and full, and her skin was pale and soft. Aurora looked at Bill, pulling off the robe and sitting down on the mattress. Sheilo said something that made him smile. He said something that made her laugh. They hadn't started filming yet, but already Aurora was so jealous that it felt like she would throw up.

Bill laid down on the mattress, still talking to Sheilo but also the director. Aurora swallowed the sour taste in her mouth while looking at Sheilo, looking at his abs, his bulge, and his long legs. Aurora looked down at her wedding rings. She had accepted his weird profession, but now it didn’t feel good anymore. She twisted the rings around her fingers while swallowing the bile coming up in her throat. She had put her career on hold for their child; couldn't he stop doing these sorts of roles for her?

She looked up when she heard Sheilo laugh. They had started filming now, and Aurora could see the girl laying on top of her husband. They shared deep kisses before the director said cut. Bill moved away at once from the girl, but it didn't matter; Aurora had seen enough. She succeeded in keeping her tears in check, but it didn't matter. It felt like everyone could see her emotions and how she then ran away. It wasn't that bad; it was just the stylist and a few of the set designers that saw it. Bill didn't notice how she disappeared, and soon he had Sheilo on top of him again. It was a job. The kisses were dry and emotionless, and he didn't even think Sheilo was that attractive. Especially not compared to his wife. Sheilo was pale in comparison, flat, and uncharismatic. He just wanted the job day to be over so he could take his wife out. Her kisses were the only kisses he enjoyed.

×××

Erica watched her friend cry and cry and cry. Everyone who knew Aurora had seen her cry many times. She had been through a lot, and heavy tears had been spilled because of death, abuse, and cheating, but she also spilled tears over much smaller things. For a short second, Erica wondered why Aurora still hadn't started to wear waterproof mascara, but she waved that thought away. She sat on the floor with her friend’s 10-month-old daughter, who looked at her mother with worry.

“They like… They kissed and, like... He just kissed her like that. In front of... She wants him.” Aurora cried while wiping her black-striped cheeks with her hands, so her fingers became just as black. Erica looked at her in confusion.

“You mean Bill kissed someone else? In front of you?”

“Yes!” Aurora cried and whined something else Erica couldn't interpret. She couldn't believe Bill would do such a thing and understood there was something Aurora missed saying.

“You mean in a scene? When he was filming?”

“Yes! But with her!”

“Her?”

“Yes!” Aurora said she was annoyed and started to cry hysterically again. Erica looked down at Isis, who looked just as confused. If it were another guy, she would have taken her friend’s side at once, but this situation was something else. Aurora was a drama queen, a hormonal, pregnant drama queen, while Bill was so trustworthy and irritatingly in love with that said drama queen, even if Erica in that moment couldn't understand how such a down-to-earth guy had energy for her friend.

“So he kissed her in a scene? I'm sorry, Aurora, but he's an actor.”

Aurora made a frustrated sound and laid down with her face in a pillow.

“You don't get it!”

Erica didn't understand, but Bill, who stood in the hallway, did. He had sneaked in but had frozen in the hallway and listened to his wife. There was something with Sheilo that rubbed her the wrong way, and that she was the first girl in a long time he had intimate scenes with, didn't make it better. On top of that, she was hormonal in a way she had never been before. He understood this, but this was a bit much for him too. He was an actor; she knew that, just like Erica said, but it was obvious she had problems with that, but it wasn't until now that they had come to the surface.

Aurora obviously needed some help with her galloping hormones, but the jealousy would still be there. Maybe he shouldn't say anything because he had also been jealous many times, but he saw it as two different things. His jealousy was about protectiveness, but he felt her jealousy was her not trusting him. Not believing he could handle his job and not being a trustworthy husband.

After some deep breaths, he walked into the living room. Erica gave him a relieved look and showed an expression that she had started to give up. Aurora looked up at Bill and, with a fast movement, she stood up and marched by him dramatically. Bill knew her so well that he knew that meant she wanted a fight; she wanted him to run after her, so he did. It was better to just follow her rules when she was mad. It saved time.

Erica lifted up Isis and walked to the stroller, and Bill gave her a thankful look before she left with Isis, and he went into Aurora in the bedroom. Once again, she was packing. She probably noticed it the last time it was a good way of getting his attention. Bill sat down on the bed with a sigh and looked at her, packing her sexiest thongs in the corner of the suitcase closest to him. He wanted to smile but didn't, but it was so obvious to him that she did that to not lose his attention.

“Why are you sad?” He said it softly while he took a pair of delicate panties and played with them between his fingers. She let him play with them, so obviously it was what she wanted him to do.

“I'm not sad! I'm mad!” She said she was upset and pushed down the hair heating tool in the bag. Bill nodded a little.

“Why?”

Aurora looked at him, annoyed, but was quiet. She didn't exactly know why she was mad, but she was mad.

“It's my job. There weren't any problems when I kissed Lydia last year.”

“That's different!”

“Why?” He said, confused.

Aurora once again made a frustrating sound and looked at him, continuing to play with her panties with long fingers and licking his lips.

“Sheilo is hot!” She said that and crossed her arms.

Bill looked at her with furrowed brows and a little smile.

“And Lydia isn't?”

“Do you think that?”

“No, but I don't know if I think Sheilo is that attractive either,” Bill sighed. “Does that really matter? I thought you trusted me. I've said so many times that you're the only woman for me. Every woman pales in comparison to you.”

Aurora looked at him with big, glassy eyes.

“It's okay to be jealous, but you must trust me. I would never cheat because kissing other girls is a job for me, and it feels like a job. When I kiss you, it's... everything that is good,” he said with big, sincere eyes.

Aurora felt the tears start to run down her cheeks again. She felt awful for doubting him. Bill sighed a little with a smile.

“And babe, this is very much the hormones,” he said carefully. Aurora furrowed her brows in embarrassment. She didn't like to confess that she had done something out of nothing because her hormones went wild. She could do the same thing when she had PMS, but with smaller things, and thought it was just as embarrassing to confess that her day wasn't ruined because she hadn't succeeded in painting her lips just right.

“It is hormones because while we've had this conversation, you have not just presented your cutest panties for me but also looked at my arms and lips every other second.”

Aurora looked annoyed, crossed her arms, and pouted a little. She wanted him to comfort her and come close, not give her this, even if he was right. She has had filthy thoughts while trying to stay inside the anger.

Bill sighed, stood up, stretched out all of his 6’4 height, and looked at her tiredly. He didn't want to fight and also knew it would take, like, a minute before she had her nose pressed against his chest and her hands dragging over his muscular back.

He was right. 52 seconds later, she was pressed against him and begged for his forgiveness. Bill just smiled and kissed her. He had said what he wanted, and he knew she would remember it. She was a drama queen, but she never held on to a grudge just because. She just wanted everything to be good between them, always.

27 seconds of kisses later, Aurora started to pull down his black jogger pants.

“We really must visit a doctor to get those hormones in check,” said Bill, a bit amused with furrowed brows, but let her pull them down along with his dark gray boxers.

×××

It had been an hour since Erica left the apartment with Isis, and she guessed Bill had succeeded in calming Aurora down in that time. Or he was forced to have succeeded in doing that because she didn't have the energy to walk around and, at the same time, keep Isis awake so she wouldn't be up all night. Isis was also not as easy to please as her own son, and she didn't look amused at all by her. She needed to be with her parents, who knew her ways.

Erica walked into the apartment while singing for Isis that whined on her hip and hoped her parents would meet them by the door but it didn't happen. Erica was annoyed now and thought about just berating Aurora for her silly behavior and giving her, her whiny daughter. She stamped into the apartment with annoyance rising in every step.

“Ah fuck! I should have known this was what would meet me!” Said she outside of the bedroom, annoyed and covered Isis face when she saw Bill's trim hips and plump ass cheeks between Aurora's tanned legs. It was like seeing a great Dane smash a king Charles spaniel.

Bill stood up on his knees and gave Erica an annoyed look. She was the only one he knew would just stand there by seeing such a scene.

“Hey! Can we just get some time to dress?” He said and gave Aurora a look who hid her face with her hands in embarrassment.

“Stop sounding like I'm the one doing something wrong. You can sound so ungrateful sometimes, Bill!” Said Erica and walked away with their daughter who continued to whine.

Bill looked down at Aurora again with big eyes in disbelief, she giggled now and stretched her arms over her head so he felt forced to just play with her nipples a last time.

“Your friend is insane.”

“I know. She's so annoying,” she joked, knowing it was probably herself that was the annoying one.

“Yeah!” Bill said like it was obvious and stood up and pulled on his boxers. Aurora sat up but moved sensually and laid down on her knees, like a cat stretching. Bill stood with his hands on his hips and gave her an annoyed but aroused look.

“Stop doing that, you hormonal… cock teaser.”

Aurora giggled and stood up on her knees. Bill threw her silky robe to her and gave her the panties he had played with in his hands earlier.

He had pulled on the joggers again then they walked out to Erica who sat with Isis by the table, eating a banana each. She gave them a killer look while Isis smiled and waved with the banana piece in her hand.

“We're sorry… It just happened…” said Aurora and looked at her friend pleadingly but with playfulness in her eyes. Erica looked at the both of them. Bill took a sip of Isis water from her baby bottle then gave it to the girl again.

“Yeah, yeah. But I hope you get that this night went from being yours to being mine. God, your daughter seems to believe she's the queen of Sweden!”

Bill smirked amused. Everyone said their daughter was high maintenance but those who knew her had a much easier time understanding her. He guessed it was a bit the same with her mother, but in another way.

“I think you two can take a night out and I’ll stay with the queen, okay? But don't get in a fight and don't let her fall asleep somewhere,” Bill said, the last thing towards Erica. The girls smiled happily and he got a kiss from Aurora on the cheek.

“That was nice of you, Billy Boy,” said Erica who stood up. He gave her a crooked smile but jumped when she spanked his ass.

“And I must say, you have a great ass.”

Isis laughed at her father's bug eyed expression and Aurora did the same and gave Bill a pointed look. His ass was way too cute.

×

[soohaaaleemeee]

Bill Skarsgård in Boy Kills World

[soohaaaleemeee]

Bill Skarsgård in BOY KILLS WORLD (2024) dir. Moritz Mohr