Billy walked over to sit with Gemma, and squeezed her hand quickly as he sat down.
Billy: Sorry about that.
Gemma: *Her voice dripping with sarcasm* I haven't made things difficult with the girlfriend, have I?!
'Great', Billy thought to himself. 'Stuck between two girls and their emotions, where every man wants to be... not. What can I say?'
Usually, to anybody else, he would tell them to 'shut up' or 'get real', but even those kind of things he could never say to Gemma. Those replies were saved for people whose opinions he didn't care about, for people who he had a little less respect for. He could never tell Gemma to stop talking, to stop saying what's on her mind, because he wanted to know. He wanted to know everything, to share everything. And she wouldn't let him treat her like that, anyway. Unlike Brisky.
Billy: Don't be like that. She's not my "girlfriend". She's just... a girl. She could never be my girlfriend.
Gemma: Why?
Billy: Because of what she's done -
Gemma: Doesn't stop you fucking her, though!
Billy: If I wanted to, and had the opportunity, I could have sex with any girl. Sex itself doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean I feel anything. I will never love her. I don't even think I like her. She's not who I want.
Billy placed one hand on Gemma's knee and leaned across to wipe Gemma's hair out of her eyes. He wasn't coming onto her, it would be wrong, while she was grieving over Raven - even though he knew that for that reason alone she would want the comfort of a man. It was, after all, the death of her uncle that brought her to him the first time they got together, while he was still firmly in the "friend zone" and too afraid to make a move.
Billy looked into Gemma's big, deep green eyes and knew that if he let his hand slide down to stroke her cheek, and slowly leant in for a kiss, she wouldn't push him away. But he didn't. He could have kissed her, and known how the evening would end, with her falling asleep in his arms, the way it's meant to be, but he couldn't take advantage of her and her emotions. Unlike Brisky. So, no, he wasn't coming onto her, but he knew it would look like he was to others in the pub. He didn't really care what they thought, but he didn't want an argument between Gemma and Brisky, so for that reason alone, he took his hand away from Gemma's face and fixed it firmly around his glass.