Sequel: Hold On

Life As It Is

Love Is In The Air

The next day had arrived quickly. Billie Joe awoke with his shoes still on as he got himself out of bed.

A night without Ella was depressing.

After storming out of Gilman Street pissed, he arrived home to find Ella's door shut without much other word being said. So he just shut the door to his room and lay on the bed until he fell asleep.

Meanwhile, Ella awoke the next morning feeling depressed. The night before she had just stared at the walls, continuing to over think her whole relationship with Billie Joe until she had just fallen asleep.

Ollie had been working a late night shift so she was sound asleep in her room. This left the house to the two of them.

Billie Joe went to the kitchen, but a little bit of him hoped he wouldn't find Ella there. Although she was thinking of going to the kitchen too, she decided to take a walk and see where she would go.

Ella hadn't been paying attention to know when Billie Joe was leaving his room to head to the kitchen. When she had reached there, he was there too.

The two didn't say anything to one another; they just looked at each other. Ella broke the stare by quietly walking out of the front door. Billie Joe sighed.

Ella walked the streets of Berkeley. They were all familiar, but the people were all a blur. She saw all the little things that reminded her of her boyfriend, or their relationship in particular. She wanted to get away, but could only think of another place that she dreaded to go to.

Her old home.

Although there could've been possible memories of Billie Joe on the street she used to live on, she wanted to go there anyway to try to clear it out. Once Ella got there, she walked straight to her old house.

It was still the same old suburban home, just that a new family had moved in a few weeks ago. Nobody was around the house that she would notice, but she had a feeling this new family would be happier than hers was.
This for a few minutes got her mind off of Billie Joe.

Billie Joe was never good at avoiding things.

He always tried to, but for some reason they came back to him. Like karma.
He himself had also tried to take a walk to clear his head off of Ella. But like her, he hadn't accomplished it. He sighed and walked to a familiar place he had never gone to with Ella.

And that was Christie Road.

Christie Road was a place he and most of his friends would go to and get high. It was one of his hangouts he went to when he would just want to get high or think. Today, maybe he'd do a little of both.

He hadn't been there for a while, but nothing changed. It was still quiet and there weren't many punks or stoners in particular getting high there. Especially on a Sunday.

Billie Joe sighed and dug into his pocket for a spare bong and found one. He was always prepared for this kind of thing. So he just sat there, getting baked and pointlessly giggled a little.

After a while, he noticed Mike walking over to their familiar hangout.

"Hey man." Mike said as he sat down next to his best friend.

"Heeyy... " He said and started staring at the ground.

"I know you're baked and shit. But what happened last night?" Mike looked awfully worried after Billie Joe had just darted out of Gilman Street the previous night.

Billie Joe sighed and tried to tell the story as best as he could.

"I don't know what to do." He said after finishing what he was doing with his bong.

"Are you gonna try to work it out?"

"I don't know man. She's upset at me and I'm depressed too. I think I did fuck up a little." Billie Joe put his hands on his face.

"You guys will work it out. I have a feeling you will." Mike patted his fellow band mate on the back.

The next two weeks were spent miserably.

Throughout those three weeks, Ella kept herself busy with school and work. She picked up a few more shifts for the 'hell of it' as she said to any waitresses or waiters. But she knew the real reason why and kept it that way.
Meanwhile, Billie Joe was busy as well. Mike and Al had successfully taken his mind a little off of Ella with band practice and such.

The only good thing that had happened for Billie Joe had been music related. Larry Livermore; a good friend of Sweet Children had offered them to record an album.

"Come on man we should celebrate, not mope!" Mike touched his best friend's shoulder.

"Hand over the booze." Billie Joe muttered. Mike sighed and gave him a beer.

By the time the third week of the couple not speaking, it was close to Ella's birthday. Not much was spoken about it because Ollie didn't get enough time to even speak if Billie Joe and Ella were even in the same room.

The day of her 18th birthday, Ella awoke to the smell of something good being cooked downstairs. Grinning and forgetting the circumstances, she went downstairs happily to find Ollie cooking.

"Happy birthday!" Ollie said as she noticed the birthday girl making the way down the stairs.

"Thank you but you didn't have to go to all of this trouble for me. My birthday isn't really a big deal." Ella said sitting down to eat.

"It's ok sweetie. You definitely deserve it after all you've been through this past month." Ollie sympathized.

"You know she kinda thinks of you as her daughter-in-law?" Billie Joe's words had suddenly crept back into her thoughts.

Oh shit. Billie Joe.

Suddenly, she heard him coming down the stairs. This was really going to get awkward. Ella wasn't completely sure if Ollie even knew about the situation. But somehow she knew that something was up but didn't question it.

"Hey sweetie." Ollie said as she continued to cook in the kitchen.

"Hey Mom." Billie Joe sat across Ella, who bent her head as if she was still the shy girl she used to be.

Billie Joe felt just as awkward. He didn't know what to say or do at all.

"Happy birthday." The words suddenly came out of his mouth. He and Ella were a little stunned.

"Thanks." She said and smiled a little. Still feeling awkward, Ella picked at her breakfast.

"Umm... I-I should go to school. I need to catch up on a lot of stuff and um stuff."

"Yeah." Billie Joe muttered.

You idiot. Ella thought to herself.

"Thanks again for the breakfast Ollie." She called over before she darted out the door. Ollie smiled and nodded, making her way to sit across from her son.

"So... are you going to tell me what happened between you two or am I going to keep guessing?" Ollie asked straight out, looking at her son in the eye.

"About what?" Billie Joe was playing stupid.

"You and Ella. Come on hun. For the last three weeks, you two haven't said two words to each other. You've been sitting in your opposite rooms being miserable. I'm a mother, I'm not stupid."

"It's... complicated and kind of personal." Ollie's son said and for the first time in what seemed like a while, he looked her in the eye.
"Well you guys should and will work it out." Ollie walked over and kissed her son on the cheek.

The rest of the school day, Ella spent it as if it was any other day. She had seen Mike during the day when Billie Joe wasn't around and wished her a happy birthday.

When she arrived home, she found Ollie, Mike, Al, Tre, and Billie Joe there. A typical birthday party plan.

While she spent some of this small gathering talking to Tre; who was hugging her tightly and then tried to lick some of the icing on her birthday cake, Ella couldn't help but look over at Billie Joe. He was talking to Mike and then headed upstairs for a second.

After the cutting of her cake, Ella had received some last minute gifts from Mike, Al, and Tre. She had gotten a book each from Mike and Al while Tre got her stolen candy from Ollie's candy dish.

Billie Joe had just been fiddling with something in his hands for the last twenty minutes.

The small gathering of a party had ended. The three guys who had came decided to leave and to catch up later. Ollie had gone for work.

Which left the house once again to Ella and Billie Joe.

After fiddling with the gift in his hands, Billie Joe finally approached Ella.

"It's a gift from me to you." He said as he stood close to her. Ella found her heart beating fast.

Billie Joe had then left the house to leave Ella by herself. It made her feel sad. As she heard the door close, she opened the gift.

No. He hadn't. It was a camera. It was one of those cameras she had dreamed of using instead of the mediocre ones.

She ran out of the house as quickly as she could. To her luck, Billie Joe was sitting on the front stairs. He stood up as soon as he heard her coming.

"I-I can't believe you got me this!" She exclaimed and took deep breaths.

"It was nothing... " Billie Joe looked at the ground.

Ella continued to look at Billie Joe in the eye until he met hers.

"I'm sorry. About... What happened, I was stupid and I shouldn't have said what I said." Billie Joe finally said.

"No, it wasn't your fault. I overreacted and I let that bitch get to my head." Ella's eyes had filled up with tears a little but she didn't let them leave her eyes.

She suddenly grabbed Billie Joe and kissed him as passionately as she could.
She had taken him by surprise but returned the kiss.

"I missed you." He said in between kisses.

"Me too." She said.

Their kisses had started off softly, but they were growing deeper. Billie Joe pushed Ella back into the house where they continued to kiss. Before anything else happened, Ella ran upstairs to her room. Billie Joe followed.

"What are you doing?" He grinned for the first time in what seemed like forever.

"I'm not fucking up a new camera." She grinned back and then went to Billie Joe's room. He stood at the corner of his door.

"Whatcha doing now?" He said as he saw her looking through his things.

"Bingo." She said and held up a familiar object he hadn't used in quite a while.

"You wanna—"Billie Joe was confused.

"Yeah. I'm ready, I realized I love you too much and I want to get this over with anyway." She handed it over to him.

After a few minutes, they started kissing again.

The rest is up for your slashy minds to imagine...