Life As It Is

With the release of their fifth album, Green Day's album Nimrod was off to a great start. The most unforgettable track off of the album was Billie Joe's acoustic ballad Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life). He was proud of that song as well as his fellow two band mates.

The album had been released in October and now it was the month was December of 1998. The end of the year. The band had gone through a crazy year of touring as well as getting kicked off of an Australian television show for kids after playing their song The Grouch.

If they were to sum the year of 1998 in one word, one of the Green Day guys would sum it up with the word 'exciting' or something similar like that.

It was specifically New Year's Eve. Later that night, the band would be performing on MTV's New Year's.

Unfortunately this year, Billie Joe's wife could not make it since their newborn Jakob 'Danger' Armstrong was only three months old.

Billie Joe walked down the streets of New York on this cold New Year's Eve. He walked into Macy's and headed towards the women's section to buy a gift for his wife.

He kept his sunglasses on and tilted his head so nobody could recognize him. Not that he wouldn't mind meeting some fans. He knew what it was like to meet one of your favourite bands and understood them unlike other people in bands.

His mind wandered off to the thoughts of what to buy his wife. He knew it didn't really matter and that she'd like it anyway since it was from him but he wanted it to be just right.

* * *
Ella and Dave walked into Manhattan's Macy's both in a bad mood. The whole way over they were arguing about just a little thing. So far, New Year's Eve didn't turn out the way they wanted it.

"Dave come on, we can't just invite everyone from fucking work. You have to pick specific people."

"Why—why not?"

Ella sighed annoyingly.

"The loft can't fit so many people. Come on, we're not in high school or college."

"Well they're my friends. Not yours."

"Fine, you know what? Bring whoever the fuck you want." Ella was walking towards the women's section as Dave continued to follow her.

"Why do you always give me such an attitude?" Dave demanded, crossing his arms.

"I'm not giving you an attitude. I'm being logic, unlike you." Ella rolled her eyes and went through the clothes. She was a few feet away from a man around her height. She felt a chill up her spine and a sense of familiarly knowing him from somewhere.

* * *
Billie Joe tilted his head a little up to notice the woman a few feet away from him. She was definitely familiar. Her hair seemed a little jet black, as if it'd been dyed recently. She was absolutely beautiful with just a black jacket on.

The woman was fighting with someone who was probably her boyfriend, fiancée or husband.

"You're just upset because like half of your little office friends bailed on you and Holly and some of her friends are coming." The guy said.

What a douche. Billie Joe thought to himself. How could he speak to the woman like that?

The woman, who now had her back to Billie Joe, sighed. He quietly walked over to another part of the women's section to get a better view. From what he could see of her, she had rich chocolate brown eyes that were blazing mad. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"I can't believe you," She said quietly, knowing Billie Joe was present but of course not knowing who he was. "You have the nerve to always abuse me verbally—and physically."

Billie Joe's eyes widened as he looked down, pretending to look at shirts.

"Yeah ok Ella. Start making up shit." The guy said.

"Ella?" Billie Joe said quietly. But if this was really the Ella he knew once upon a time, she'd have good hearing and would have just heard him.

And of course, she did. She stood frozen. She recognized his voice and knew it was him—Billie Joe.

* * *
Ella acknowledged Billie Joe's presence. She felt confident as she always had whenever he had been around a long time ago. She was ready to do something she was supposed to do a long time ago.

"You know what Dave," She said, shaking her head. "I'm so sick of your shit. All of you being pathetic. Holly was right. We should've never ended up together—married. I'm so sick of crying, of staying with you even after you called me a dirty whore. I'm sick of reliving the shit that happened to me and my parents in Berkeley when I was a teenager. So from this point on," She took a deep breath, about to say something very gusty.

"We're getting divorced. We're done." She quickly took off her wedding ring she thought she cherished and threw it at him.

"Ella, wait we can work this out."

Ella ignored him comment and walked off.

"Happy fucking New Year, Dave. Now you can party all you want because I'm kicking you out too."

She continued to walk off and Billie Joe stared at her as she walked farther and farther away. Then he looked over at Dave who shook his head.

"What the fuck are you looking at, jackass?"

"F.O.D." Billie Joe muttered and walked off to go find Ella. He completely forgot about the gift for Adrienne or the fact that he was married.

* * *
Ella had made it all the way to the Macy's back alley without shedding a tear. She couldn't hold it in anymore. She sat down, slowly hugging her knees, closed her eyes, and sobbed quietly, hoping Dave didn't follow her and that no one would see her.

"You okay?" A familiar voice asked her.

Although she didn't want anyone to see her, she was fed up and she didn't care if they did anyway.

"Of course not," She said.

She stopped hugging her knees and opened her eyes, wiping her tears away. When she looked at the person who asked her if she was okay, she saw a pair of familiar green eyes.

It was Billie Joe.

He was holding his sunglasses, looking worried at the twenty-seven year old woman.

"Need a help up?" He said with a lop-sided smile. God, she always loved his smile. She felt her heart beating fast.

She put out her hand out and he pulled her up. He then pulled her in for a hug.

"I can't believe I married that bastard," She said quietly into his jacket as he stroked her hair. She had completely forgotten how much she loved Billie Joe.

"It's ok, El. You'll get back on your feet and get all the good shit in the divorce." Billie Joe gave a soft laugh.

They both couldn't believe they didn't start off with an introduction or anything. But with what had just happened, it just didn't seem that appropriate anyway.

The two exes stood there for a while in silence. Ella glanced at her watch.

"Shit, I-I have to go," She said, slowly pulling away from Billie Joe who nodded.

"I'll see you around," He said as he put his sunglasses back on.

Ella nodded and wiped some of the tears still left on her face. She wished the hug would've lasted longer.

"Yeah. See ya." She turned her back on him and walked out of the alley onto the New York street.

* * *
Billie Joe was back at his hotel room a few hours later when he heard the door open.

"Knock next time," He said lazily as he sat on his bed, flipping through television channels.

"What? It's not like you were masturbating or something? Plus, we had to share a damn room this time." Mike chuckled, sitting next to his best friend.

"Shut up."

"Where were you anyway?"

"What do you mean?"

"I came back here a few hours ago and you weren't here."

"I went to uhh Macy's," His eyes widened and he remembered he was supposed to have gotten a gift for Adrienne but forgot.

"Gift for Adie?"

"Yeah but something came up."

Mike looked puzzled.

"What came up?"

"I ran into someone... " Billie Joe continued to flip through channels.

"Who?"

"Ella."

Mike gave a look.

"What happened?"

He sighed and explained the whole story.

"Holy shit!" Mike said when his best friend was done explaining.

"Yeah man. I feel so bad. She deserves way better than that asshole."

"Yeah... but uhh Billie?"

"Mmm-hmm?"

"Do you still have feelings for her?"

The twenty-six year old punk rocker sighed.

"Maybe... but come on, I'm married. Plus, I mean, she was one of the first girls before Adie that I truly, truly was in love with. If I wasn't with Adie... then yeah, I'd get back together with her and work it out and never let her leave my side again. But it's too late for that."

The punk rock bassist nodded.

"Okay, just wondering before you went in over your head or anything."

Billie Joe smiled.

"But Mikeeyyy... it's what we do best."

* * *
Ella didn't know where else to go—except for Holly's. She walked in, explained what had happened as Holly got out the ice cream and they both sat in front of the TV talking.

"What a great New Year's Eve." Holly said sarcastically.

"Very." Her best friend agreed.

"Are you done completely with Dave?"

"Yes. We're officially over."

"Good." Holly smiled.

"Now I'll be single again." Ella said as she sighed.

"So what? It's better than being with that ass. You deserve a guy who treats you like royalty."

"I think I found that guy but I lost him." Ella muttered.

Holly knew who she was talking about but didn't speak of his name.

"El, there are tons of guys out there like him. You can't just dwell on the past. He's married anyway."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. But if he wasn't—"

"You'd go for it." Holly finished her sentence. That's how strong their friendship was.

"So what are we going to do about New Year's?"

"Pfft. What about it? We're still going to your place with crappy MTV blasting." Holly laughed.

* * *
Billie Joe, Mike, and Tre arrived at MTV studios a little earlier than they were to arrive.

"So what's the first song we're playing?" Tre said proudly in his outfit.

"No idea... any ideas Bill?"

Billie Joe thought for a second, contemplating to pick a song off of Nimrod that'd be pretty good to do.

"Scattered."

Mike and Tre looked at each other. Tre had later on learned the events of the previous hours.

"Cool man." Tre shrugged and realized he had just said cool.

"TRE COOL!" He yelled.

His fellow best friends laughed and went to go find their instruments.

* * *
At last, night had come and it was time for Ella's New Year's party. As said, MTV was blasting and Carson Daly's voice along with Jennifer Love Hewitt's voice could be heard throughout the building.

Everyone mingled as Ella watched Green Day perform Scattered. The lyrics in the song felt like it were written for her, but she doubted it.

"Those guys kick ass man." One of Holly's friends said, as she watched with her.

"Yeah. I know them from a long time ago."

"You do?"

"Yep, high school. And I uhh—used to go out with Billie Joe."

The woman's eyes widened.

"That's cool." She smiled at her.

"Yeah."

Ella let out a sigh of relief that the woman didn't get personal or anything and she had left it at that.

Soon enough, 1999 came and in a little while, Billie Joe was up by himself on stage singing Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life). Since he was drunk, he stumbled off after his performance. Ella smiled.

A few months into 1999, Ella officially divorced from Dave. Billie Joe had been right; she got the good shit in the settlement like the loft.

She never forgot her encounter with Billie Joe on New Year's Eve and neither did he. They'd meet again someday—when they would least expect it.