Sequel: Hold On

Life As It Is

Thanksgiving Blues

The two weeks passed by quickly. It was now harder for Ella to get on with her normal life even though she was slowly getting used to being pregnant somehow.

Billie Joe would call now and then and she was happy for that. The thing was though; he hadn't told Adrienne yet and it would soon get harder for him.

Meanwhile during that same time, Mike and Holly's relationship was suddenly going to turn in a new direction.

It had been after the great night they spent after the New York show when the two got more serious. During that second week, things changes drastically. The first thing that happened was something most couples would take a while to do. Move in together.

Holly had gotten off the phone with a giddy and exciting expression on her face.

Ella turned from her computer to see this.

"Did he ask to go steady?" She asked jokingly, knowing she had been on the phone with her boyfriend.

"He asked me to move in," Holly replied.

Ella's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

She nodded.

"Wait, so you just agreed to move back to California—in his house?" Shocked by all this news, a million things were running through her mind all at once.

"Yep!"

"Have you thought about any of this at all?"

Holly walked over and leaned against her best friend's desk.

"It's not that hard El, when it comes to work, I can get better stories out in the Bay Area. And it's time I move anyway, I move out of apartments and houses faster than cockroaches can flee across a room."

"And you're going to leave your pregnant best friend in Manhattan?"

She smiled. "Who said I wasn't going to drag you back across the country?"

That had definitely caught Ella off guard.

"Wait—what?"

"Come on El. I think you should move back out there. I mean your baby's father—," She whispered because no one was clearly aware of one of their co-workers being pregnant.

"Does live in California."

Ella fidgeted a little.

"And it gives him the opportunity to see his child instead of flying back and forth."

"You've always been queen of negotiating." She shrugged. "You're right."

Holly clapped her hands together like a little girl on Christmas morning. "Great!"

* * *
"Did you hear the big news?" Ella asked Billie Joe sarcastically.

The two had developed a friendship of some sort. And Ella was trying desperately to hold back her lingering feelings for him.

She remembered back when they first started being friends and she had developed a crush for him and wished she could go back to that time and just relive it—without the parental abuse.

"Of Mike and Holly moving in? But of course." He smiled.

"Everything's moving so damn fast, but hey if it keeps Holly this fucking happy..."

"Same for Mike. He hadn't gotten any action since his really, really quick marriage." The rock star chuckled.

There was sort of an awkward silence and Ella just had to break it.

"So guess where I'm moving."

"Where?"

"Oakland."

Billie Joe stopped fiddling around with something next to where he was sitting on his tour bus.

"What?"

"Hol' thinks it's a good idea... for the baby and for her to have someone to bitch and talk to."

"Yeah, that's actually a good idea El."

"But Billie, are you going to talk to Adrienne about this all?" Leave it to Ella to get straight to the point and ask the hard questions.

Billie Joe sighed.

"I have no idea. We've been having a rough time again."

Ella frowned.

"That sucks. What happened?"

"I really don't know. She's constantly complaining to me or we never get enough time to talk. I don't know but—it seems like we're drifting apart again just me and the guys are having the time of our lives," He said, smirking at the last six words.

"Yikes."

It was still sort of a weird idea for Ella to even be talking about his relationship given their history. But when had things ever been normal?

The weekend before their departure of the third week that had just passed by and before Thanksgiving; Ella and Holly's co-workers threw a going away party for them both.

After many hours spent packing things and throwing things out, the two were able to say they were ready to finally move out.

The party was filled with nothing but familiar faces with people the two encountered so much with throughout the years. Even when they'd be in California; there was no way they would quit working somewhere they loved so much.

Everyone was slowly getting hammered except for Ella and Holly since they'd both be taking turns driving.

Still, no one was to know about their departing co-worker's pregnancy. This wouldn't be the time to tell them all though.

Things had quieted down and all of a sudden, the thirty-five year old journalist Michael Rosenfield had out an acoustic guitar and drunkenly began to play and sing.

"Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road... " He began to sing.

Ella froze completely. She freaked out for some strange reason and then rushed towards the bathroom. Holly, who was too into what her co-worker was doing didn't notice at first but then ended up following her after getting puzzled looks from other people.

The thirty-three year old pregnant woman caught her breath as she calmed down and looked at herself in the mirror.

What was up with her?

She heard the door swing open and saw a familiar face in the mirror.

"What happened?"

She turned around and looked at Holly.

"I have no idea, I just—freaked."

Holly took the message. She didn't want to talk about it and she had had that kind of feeling before. She nodded.

"Okay well, let's just go and make the most of tonight."

* * *
The morning of November twenty-first was absolute chaos. Ella and Holly rushed to John F. Kennedy Airport in a complete daze. They had to catch their nine o'clock flight to San Francisco which would then take them off to Mike's house.

They sat in their seats and waited for the five to six hour flight take off.

Once the plane was off into the air, Holly headed towards the bathroom while Ella flipped through a magazine. She then found herself face to face with Billie Joe.

He was everywhere she looked. And she knew it was a sign of some sort.

A few minutes later, her best friend returned with a blank expression on her face.
Something was up.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Ella asked as she sat down.

"I'm late," She said flatly.

"Late for... "

"My period."

It was the shock of her pregnancy all over again. How could all of this have happened in just a short amount of time? Another sign. Ella was always the believer of signs.

"Well... how long have you been late?"

"The same amount of time that I last saw Mike," She said as she breathed deeply.

"Well you know it could be just the stress of moving or something. You might not be—"

"Don't say it."

"Pregnant," Ella said as she frowned.

Holly was obviously panicking a little but tried to keep a brave face.

"Yeah it could be a false alarm but I guess I'll check later... "

The two sat in silence for another hour or so. Things were certainly changing.

* * *
Billie Joe sighed. A day off from the outside world and here he was ending yet another fight with Adrienne.

"Billie," Adrienne sighed as well. "This is ridiculous. We fight all day about you being on tour and this and that."

He shrugged.

"I don't know Adie. You're the one acting like I don't want our kids and that I'm so wrapped up in being on tour that I'm not giving a shit." He replied bitterly.

"Right! So I'm the bad guy here as usual. You've been so distant lately it's obvious. You're-you're being fucking selfish!"

The thirty-two year old punk rocker didn't know what to say to this. He knew he'd been distant and he knew it was because of getting his ex-girlfriend pregnant. He'd have to tell her sooner or later. Before they were bound to meet on Thursday; Thanksgiving Day.

"I have been distant, Adrienne. But that's only because I'm wrapped up in all of this band stuff. But I am not selfish. I don't understand why the hell you keep brining this fight up and then keep apologizing to me over and over again."

The now thirty-five year old woman leaned against the counter and sighed again.

"I really can't handle this anymore. We fight and we can't cooperate anymore," She said.

Billie Joe walked over to her and looked at her.

"I know but babe, we can work this out."

Adrienne looked into his hopeful green eyes and shook her head.

"No, I don't think I can do this anymore." She shook her head.

"Adie, no! You can't throw away ten years of marriage for this." He pleaded.

She kept shaking her head.

"I think this is as much as I can take anymore Billie. I don't think we can be together anymore."

Billie Joe died inside. How could she just say that?

"Adie—!" The phone suddenly rang and Adrienne reached over and checked the Caller I.D.

"It's Mike," She said and picked it up.

She and Mike spoke for a few minutes and then she hung up.

"What was that all about?" Billie Joe asked her.

"He said his girlfriend and her friend are going to be at Thanksgiving at their house when we go."

Adrienne saw Billie Joe gulp and stiffened. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"You stiffened. What's going on?"

"There's something I need to tell you," He said taking a deep breath.

She's gonna go crazy.

"Do I need to sit down?"

He nodded as she made her way to a seat.

"Okay, do you remember when we had one of our first fights in—September?" She nodded, wanting to get to the point already.

"Well... that night was when Mike and his girlfriend first sort of started their relationship. Her friend though is Ella—my girlfriend before you. That night we were both kinda bummed and then we got really hammered. Before we knew it, we had sex. And now she's pregnant." He finished off as he saw Adrienne's face expression go from curious to hurt.

"See Billie," She said softly but in a very mean tone. "This is why we need a divorce. I can't take this anymore."

"So what are we gonna tell the kids?"

"We're not telling them anything yet. Not until after Thanksgiving. Until then, your ass is sleeping on the fucking couch." She growled and left the room.

Billie Joe sat down and put his head down on the table.

Why had things gotten so complicated?

* * *
In six hours, the duo made it to California safely.

"What time is it with all the goddamn time zone changes?" Ella groaned as she awoke from her unplanned nap.

Holly shrugged.

"We're both too lazy to do the math."

They both headed to baggage claim where they got their stuff and headed out to find Mike and Tre.

As soon as they spotted them, Tre jumped over and jumped the two.

"Hot stuffs! Hot stuffs!" He said excitedly. From his breath, you can guess he had had a drink or four.

A sun glassed Mike Dirnt stood next to Tre and helped pick up the luggage. He reached over and gave a kiss to his girlfriend and a hug to her best friend.

The drive to the bassist's house was a total blur to Ella. She soon found herself standing near the front door as the guys lugged their things up stairs. Both of the women looked around the house. It was the typical kind of big home anyone as successful as Mike would own. Everything looked nice, neat, and in order.

"Please tell me you have some sort of cleaning lady." Holly said with a smile on her face as he made his way back downstairs.

"Hard to believe but I can actually clean myself."

"Liarrr... " Tre slurred. Mike turned around to look at his best friend.

"Shut up Tre. How the hell did you even carry all of that and not fall on your ass or do any crazy shit?"

The drummer shrugged.

"Your new roommates gave me an erection."

Ella smirked and along with Holly, hit him on the head.

* * *
Thanksgiving Day finally arrived and this year the celebration would be held at Mike's home.

Still sticking with this sudden decision of splitting, Billie Joe and Adrienne tried their best to not make it so obvious to their children while the adults all knew what was going on.

Ella woke up and waited for Holly to get out of the bathroom. Before the pregnant woman had a chance to get inside, Holly stopped her.

"I need you to go get me a pregnancy test," She whispered, not wanting Mike to somehow overhear her.

"I need to get it past almost everyone or else they'll think I'm a bored photojournalist who has nothing to do except take pregnancy tests out of pure boredom."

Holly nodded and looked at her best friend she knew something was up again.

"What's wrong?"

"Everything about today. I mean, Billie and Adrienne are coming over with the kids. It's gonna be so awkward since she knows what's going on and I don't think I can face this right now."

"Well you're going to sooner or later. Listen, just try and maybe steer clear of her or even maybe bond about something." Holly shrugged.

"And what would we bond about, both banging Billie?"

Her best friend laughed softly about that and touched her shoulder.

"You think you have problems? Mike's daughter is coming and I'm scared shitless that I'll screw up."

Ella gave her a look.

"You'll do fine. You need some of that bonding if it will help for a possible Baby Mitchell/Pritchard."

Holly hit her softly.

"Shut up."

The thirty-three year old photojournalist made a face.

"Touchy already." She headed into the bathroom.

Ella finished brushing her teeth and slowly undressed and went into the shower. She turned on the nice hot, steamy water and let it pour down her for a long time and slowly let out a sigh of relief. Showers always relaxed her. They were sort of a getaway from those problems she had until she was done.

A few minutes later she quickly dried her hair and made her way towards her temporary bedroom to get dressed.

The doorbell rang. She knew it was them. Tre had already come with his ex-wife Claudia and his children Frankito and Ramona.

She stayed in her room and heard Mike open the door. They said their hellos and walked inside. Suddenly, her stomach was doing somersaults. She walked down the staircase, staying on the second to last step, scared as ever about going down into the living room.

Come on Ella, you can do this. You can't hide all day long.

Ella slowly made it into the living room without any sort of notice. Everyone was fixated on their own conversations. A woman with dreadlocks looked up at her. It was Adrienne all right.

The thirty-five year old woman didn't glare at her or give her any sort of hateful look like the soap operas on television always exaggerated about. Her look was sort of a hurt one and Ella knew it was because her marriage was over.

She took a deep breath and gave a weak smile.

"Hey everyone," She said. She saw everyone look up at her. When she saw Billie Joe looked at her though, it was as if she just wanted to run into his arms and everything would be okay. She shook away the slightest thought of it, knowing it would never happen.

Dinner passed by in a complete blur. The tone was mellow, but they had no other choice to be that way for the children. After dinner, the Armstrong boys, Mike's daughter, and Tre's kids went on to roam around the home.

Billie Joe crossed paths with Ella but they barely spoke. It wasn't a silent treatment of some sort but, things were just too weird. He sighed and watched her as she threw her head back slightly, laughing at something Tre had said, wishing he could just hold her.

Get out of it, Armstrong.

Meanwhile, he kept a safe distance from Adrienne. It was only during dinner when they would both have to sit next to each other to not give their boys any sort of idea yet. Both of them didn't want to spoil their Thanksgiving.

His soon to be ex-wife was talking to Holly, trying not to look so down in the dumps.

"El, are you really feeling okay?" Tre asked seriously and quietly.

She shook her head.

"You wanna talk about it?" He shrugged, trying to look casually.

"Sure."

They both headed up to her room and softly closed the door, not wanting anybody to overhear them.

"So what's up?" Tre plopped himself down on the bed where she had just sat down.

"I don't know anymore Tre. I feel so crappy with everything that's going on. God, I ruined a marriage too." She put her hands on her face and felt her friend's arm around her.

"You're not the reason they broke up. He told her after and you can't keep stressing, it's bad for the baby."

Ella sighed.

"I don't know what to do anymore Tre. I-I think I might still be in love with him too." She finished off quietly.

"Fuck. That's even worse." Tre said quietly as well and pulled his friend into a hug.

They stayed silent for a few moments until Ella looked up at him with her hurt chocolate brown eyes and suddenly kissed him on the lips.

Suddenly realizing what she had just done, she quickly pulled away.

"Oh my god—I'm—oh crap."

"It's okay... "

She put her hands to her face again.

"Shit. I feel so stupid, I don't want to lead you on I'm just feeling blue and—"

"It's really okay."

The thirty-three year old woman had never seen the serious side of Tre. He was such a good friend. She let out a soft laugh.

"What?" He asked.

"I've never seen the serious Tre Cool."

"It's a holiday—the real Tre Cool is taking the day off."

* * *
"Hey," Billie Joe said to Ella as he walked up to her. Adrienne had gone home with the boys and he decided to hang around for a little.

"Hey," She said trying to act casual.

"So I guess you've heard by now about me and Adie."

She nodded, biting her lip.

"How's that going?"

He shrugged. "Bad. She's barely talking to me and we haven't even told the boys yet."

"Is it because she knows about what... happened between us?"

"That and everything that's been going on between us I guess. Everything is just so fucked up."

Ella looked at him directly.

"Tell me about it."

Holly made her way inside the living room and tapped on Ella's shoulder. She smiled and gave a little laugh at Billie Joe.

"Excuse me; I need El for a sec... "

Ella looked up at her best friend confused and looked back quickly at a confused Billie. Before she knew it, she ended up in front of the bathroom door.

"Phew, okay here's the deal. You had gone out and gotten me the pregnancy test and I sneaked out and got another one before anyone noticed and now I'm so goddamn afraid."

The thirty-three year old journalist fidgeted a little. She needed Ella just as much as she needed her.

"I'll guard the door," She said as Holly went inside.

Three minutes later, she opened the door.

"What does it say?" Ella asked worriedly.

Holly took a deep breath.

"It says I'm pregnant."

Ella nodded at her.

Three minutes passed by again and it was for sure that Holly was pregnant.

"Are you okay about it?"

Holly shrugged.

"Honestly, I don't know anymore. I mean, today was awesome, I really made an impression on Estelle and she really likes me. And really, Mike and I are just awesome together. I think he'll be okay."

"Well look what we have here, Holly the optimist." Ella hugged her.

"Guess we'll both have food cravings... "

"And bitch fights."

"Hmm... what else is new?"

They laughed and then Ella headed off downstairs to Billie Joe.

Billie Joe spotted Ella coming back downstairs. He watched as she glowed with her beautiful face and body. She was so beautiful for a pregnant woman. He completely forgot about Adrienne at that moment as well.

Looks like someone else's feelings are slowly coming back...