Lil's "Billy" wall and more talk

"This is it," Lil told Billy as he came up. She slowly opened the door to her room.

Lil's upstairs bedroom overlooked the front yard. In the distance through the window were bluffs of scrubby bushes heading down to the ocean. To one side was her desk, to the other was her closet, and above her bed was a big corkboard with photos and memorabilia.

A black-and-white poster of Billy playing guitar, seated on a wood bench under an oak tree. Tickets from three Billy Royce concerts. Printed out selfies from the concerts: Lil grinning as she stood in line with other attendees; Lil in the foreground, over her shoulder a stage with Billy performing; one taken by someone else, Lil wearing a concert T-shirt, her hands thrown over her head. A reproduction of the lyrics to one of Billy's songs, Billy's handwritten draft next to a carefully lettered hand-copy with little hearts and flowers and teardrops punctuating the words. Some of the special cards and inserts that came with Billy's albums if you got them on disk. Not all of the corkboard was Billy Royce. There were pictures of Lil in high school, wearing a number for a charity run, and another. One corner was conspicuously blank and had some gouges as if something had been ripped out.

Billy asked her what she liked about the concerts, what she remembered most, whether she'd gone with friends.

"Looks like a friend took that one," Billy said, smiling. "Hey, do that pose for me," he said, holding up his hands like she had in the picture.

Lil threw up her hands, her small breasts bouncing, bra-less.

"Cute!" he said. Billy spread his legs and struck up an "air guitar" pose. His sleeves fell back, revealing his tattooed forearms.

Lil laughed out loud.

"Hell, you could tell I wasn't holding it right, huh?" Billy said. He adjusted his hands, placing his left-hand fingers precisely. "This is an A chord." A shift. "E chord." Another shift. "G chord."

"And now get a drummer!" Lil said, laughing harder. "I used to have that on a shirt!"

"I still do," Billy said. "What happened to your shirt?"

Lil paused. "Um, it shrunk, and I got boobs," she said. "Kinda."

"More than kinda," Billy said. "Give yourself some credit, there."

Lil smiled. "Thanks," she said.

Billy straightened up, adjusting his pants. Lil looked at the poster of Billy, then back at the man. Especially the front of his pants. The rumors about Billy's package looked like they had some weight behind them. Billy grinned.

"I think I could guess your favorite musical artist," Billy said. "Got a favorite song?"

Lil felt dizzy. The back of her tongue tingled. "Um, wow," she said. She swallowed, then blushed pink.

"Don't wanna say it?" Billy asked.

Lil giggled. "Well," she said. "Um." She took a deep breath, then blurted something out.