Destination Beautiful

“Billie Joe..?”

Oh God, he’s panicking. Right, okay Morgan, stay calm.

I saw Billie Joe reaching for his temple with his eyes closed and I could hear his breathing getting heavier and heavier.

“Billie, listen, you have to breathe,” I said, trying my best to keep my own calm.

I got up and stood in front of him, while my mind was racing in an attempt to think of what to do.

“Come on Billie, calm down.”

It seemed like my words didn’t even reach him.

Suddenly, he turned around, about to just walk away from me.

Without thinking I grabbed his arm.

“No, no you can’t leave. You have to calm down.”

He turned to look at me with bloodshot, watery eyes and I could just feel my heart sink.

“Come on, let’s sit down,” I said, pulling him with me back to the bench.

We sat down, him still being shaky. I hesitated for a moment, but I grabbed his hand.

“Just breathe with me.”

He looked at me for a moment before looking down to the ground. Minutes passed, but he seemed to calm down.

“Youknow, she’s a bitch for cheating on you,” I suddenly blurted out.

“No,” he said. “I love her.”

“Well she doesn’t deserve to be loved by you if she cheats on you.”

“It’s all his fault,” he said, looking up at me for a moment.

“I gotta go,” he said after a while, getting up.

“Ow, okay” I said, and I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

“Good luck,” I said, smiling a bit.

“Thanks,” he replied. “And um, thanks for, youknow.”

“No problem, you did the same for me, so.. yeah.”

He nodded, before turning around and walking away.

**

As he walked through the Berkeley streets slowly heading back towards the studio, Billie Joe was forming a plan in his head. This wasn’t Adie’s fault, this wasn’t something she’d ever do. It was that bastard who was manipulating the hell out of her. He was sure that’s what she would tell him too, when they would speak again. And that was exactly what Billie Joe was gonna do. Speak to her, in person, face-to-face. And in order to do that, he needed to go back to Minnesota.

Only how to tell his bandmates.

**

“So he just.. told you off?” Mike asked Tré, as he took another sip of his coffee.

“Yeah, pretty much. He said he needed to be alone or something.. But I mean, he could’ve said so earlier right?”

“He could’ve..”

“Something’s wrong with him,” Tré said after a bit of silence. “And I really wanna know what it is, because it’s really affecting our work and stuff.”

Mike nodded.

“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah he’s been acting rather strange for the past few weeks now. He may be introvert, but we’re his best friends. And we’re in a band together. We have a right to know.”

“Exactly,” Tré said, adding an enforcing drum riff.

“I hope it’s nothing too bad though,” he added.

**

When Billie Joe returned to the studio, he found his bandmates jamming a bit, Tré with a bottle of beer next to him, and Mike, of course, having a cup of coffee within his reach.

“Hey guys,” he said, grasping Blue, his precious Fender guitar that was turning into a piece of art itself with all the stickers stuck to it, from its hold. He sat down, strumming a bit and adjusting the tuning of some strings.

Both Mike and Tré stopped playing as Mike greeted him with a ‘Heya dude’.

“Hi Bill,” Tré said. “The pizza was good.”

Billie Joe tried to smile at that comment but he hardly managed. In stead, he tried playing some riffs on guitar, while trying to figure out how to bring up the Minnesota plans. Would they play gigs, go on tour? No, they were recording. Besides, all he needed to do was talk to Adrienne. And bring her back with him to California.

After a while of needless tuning and strumming, Billie put his guitar down.

“I’m gonna go to Minnesota,” he announced.

He looked from Mike to Tré as neither of them seemed to show any reaction at all to this news.

“Tomorrow,” he added.

Mike was the first to break the silence.

“Um, sorry to ask, Bill, but why?” he asked.

“Yeah, ‘cause youknow, we’re sorta in the middle of making a record here,” Tré added.

“Because I have to,” Billie said. “I have to see Adrienne and-“ he paused for a bit before continuing.

“Besides, it’s not like the record is progressing very rapidly these days.”

“Yeah well that’s just-“ Tré started, but Mike cut him off.

“Billie..” he said.

“Yeah?”

“Why do you need to go to Minnesota right now?”

“I told you, I need to see Adrienne!”

“Do you want to see Adie?”

“Of course I want to see her, didn’t you listen to what I just said?” Billie said, getting frustrated. Why couldn’t they just let him go?

“I did. And twice you said you need to see her..” Mike said, looking at his best friend.

“Yeah, well..” Billie Joe muttered.

“Bill. What’s going on?”

”Nothing’s going on, Mike! God, can’t everybody just leave me the fuck alone? I’m just gonna go to Minnesota and that’s all!” Billie snapped.

But as he spoke, Billie Joe knew exactly what was going on, why he needed to go to Minnesota. Because somewhere out there in the mid-west this bastard was making his girlfriend cheat on him.

“You can’t just leave,” Tré said. “We’re recording our first-ever, maybe only major label record. This is our chance. You can’t just walk away from that and expect the money and the time to wait for your return. So, unless you have a very good reason to go out and smooch with your girlfriend right now.. I’m really not gonna let you leave just like that.”

All eyes were aimed at Billie Joe now.

He sighed, lowering his eyes.

“Youknow, we’re just worried about you..” Mike said. “Because you seem so distant lately.”

“Yeah,” Tré added. “You hit a wrong chord every time we play, you’ve hardly written anything lately.. you go around and tell people off and then you leave off to go God knows where for how long.. That’s not like you.”

Billie grimaced.

“What happened to the old Billie?” Tré asked.

Billie sighed.

“Nothing,” he said.

“Oh come on,” Mike said, looking at Billie. “We’re your friends, you know you can tell us.”

Billie sighed and remained silent. Tré and Mike crossed eyes for a moment and Mike took another sip of his coffee.

“The old Billie got cheated on by his girlfriend.”