Feels Like Home

Mike and Tre' walked into the hotel and headed for Billie Joe's room. They had wicked plan and their identical smirks proved it. In the car, they decided that the only way for Billie Joe to become the Billie Joe they used to know, and to get Adrienne happy again, was to get them back together. Mike insisted that they sounded like preteen girls but Tre' didn't care, he was excited about the plan.

"Remember Andre, do not open this door until I tell you too." Mike told the bodyguard as he lifted his walkie-talkie. Andre's job was the keep this door locked and shut so Mike and Tre' could talk to Billie Joe without him running away. "Nobody comes in and nobody comes out."
"Got it." Andre said as the two musicians walked in the door. Andre took his place in front of the door and crossed his arms to wait.

Mike and Tre' walked in the room of disarray and looked for Billie Joe. They hoped Caylyn wasn't here. They didn't need her nasally voice distracting Billie Joe and ruining the plan. Fortunately, Caylyn was not in there and Billie Joe was. He was standing on the balcony with a glass of liquor and a cigarette, just staring at the city below.

"Hey." He greeted them quietly without turning around. He smashed the butt of the cigarette on the railing of the concrete balcony and set his glass down to light another. "What are you doing here?"

Mike and Tre' joined him on the balcony. Tre' took a seat on the railing while Mike took a vacant chair. Billie Joe was still standing.

"We want to talk." Mike started off carefully. "Like our mandatory talks we used to do when we were recording the record."

"Why?" Billie Joe looked at his old friend, smoke billowing out between his lips. "We pretty much said all we needed to this morning. This is the end so let's just accept it."

"I don't want to." Tre' said seriously. "We have been through too much shit to just give up now. Mike and I are willing to hash it out and we're going to drag you along whether you like it or not so I'll start the topic of the day. Let's see." He rubbed his chin as if he were actually thinking. "The last time I was truly happy was last week. I had a good spank, I got to talk to Frankito and made plans for me to see his school play, which he has the lead in, I ate at my favorite pizza joint, wherever we were, and I had another really good spank. I was a happy man that night. Mike, what about you?"

"Uh," Mike tried to stop laughing. He expected Tre' to say something like that, but it was always hilarious to hear it. "The last time I was truly happy was last month when I was at Estelle's ballet recital. She looked so graceful and happy up there and she got to spend the weekend with me after it. We just watched movies, ate junk food, and just had an awesome time." Mike paused. "What about you Billie Joe?"

Billie Joe smashed out the cigarette butt and turned to lean on the railing. His face was blank but his eyes were lost in a memory. He ran his tongue over his teeth in thought as he stared at the ground. The last time he had been truly happy was that night on the roof with Adrienne. At that moment, he had the world at his feet, his perfect match on his arm, and his heart in Adrienne's hand.

He left her that night and didn't have the chance to say goodbye because they left so early in the morning and he didn't have the heart to wake her. They became so busy that he never even had the chance to call her, and when he did, he ended up dialing the first few digits before he hung up the phone. He hadn't been happy since.

"This is bullshit." Billie Joe shoved off the railing and stalked back inside the suite to the door. He tried to open the door but it was locked and held shut. He turned to look back at Mike and Tre', "What did you do?"

"Andre is guarding the door. Nobody can come in and nobody can come out until Mike tells him too." Tre' informed him as he and Mike sat stationary on the balcony.

"Let me out." Billie Joe demanded.
"No." Mike said simply.

"Dammit let me out you fucking cunt " Billie Joe shouted as he began to bang on the door. "Andre, move your ass "

"He won't do it." Mike informed him as he leaned up on his knees. "Just answer the question Billie Joe. When was the last time you were happy? Was it when you were with Adrienne?"

Billie Joe stopped hitting the door and became frozen. As he stared at the door, hot tears began to well up in his eyes. Mike was right, but he wouldn't admit it. "Let me out, please." He begged in a soft, pathetic voice without looking at them.

Mike and Tre' exchanged a glance, they were right. "Andre," Mike said into the walkie-talkie. "Let him out."

Billie Joe, doing a fine job of hiding his real emotions, brushed past Andre appearing arrogant as he normally was and went down the hall.

"We have to get Adrienne to that show tomorrow." Mike said in a definite voice.

"Yeah." Tre' agreed as he picked up Billie Joe's glass that still had some drink left in it and tossed it back. "How?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Adrienne sat at her desk the next day and tried to grade some papers while her last sociology class of the day worked in their groups. It was relatively quiet but as the bell grew closer, their attention spans dwindled, including hers.

Adrienne stared at a small picture on her desk. It was a picture of her and Billie Joe when they were together. They were sitting on an old swing set, Billie Joe in the swing and Adrienne on top of Billie Joe. The sun was bright that day and their eyes were slightly squinted. He had his arms wrapped tightly around her waist as she held on to the rusted chains of the swing. They were smiling and laughing.

Adrienne smiled at the memory and barely heard the bell rang. "Study for your test." She reminded her departing class as she tried to look more attentive; even though her mind was a thousand miles away, two thousand to be exact. She quickly packed the papers into their proper grading folders and threw them in her desk, she wasn't in the mood to grade tonight.
She grabbed her purse and walked to the main office to sign out. Misty, the secretary, was sitting behind her desk with violent purple hair. She was always grabbing on to the latest fad and proclaiming it as the greatest thing until it became old. It always irked Adrienne that Misty could have multi-colored hair but yet Adrienne could not have her hair in dreadlocks, like she once had them.

"Oooh, I can't wait for tonight " Misty gushed as she stood behind the counter where the sign out sheet was.

Knowing Misty was baiting her for conversation, Adrienne gave in. "Why is that Misty?"

"Because I'm going to the Green Day concert " Misty squealed as Adrienne's pen went haywire on the sheet.

"Oh," Adrienne replied as she tried to compose herself. "That's nice. I didn't realize you were into punk."

"Oh yeah " Misty said. "I've loved them forever. I mean, Boulevard of Broken Dreams is just my jam Just think, to start off your career with a song like that.... they're going to be huge. Wait, what's punk?"

Adrienne slammed the pen down. She didn't know why she was so terribly irked. Maybe it was the ignorance towards one of the most influential bands of the decade or just because Misty got on Adrienne's nerves. "How can you be a so-called "fan" of Green Day, but yet you have no idea what they stand for? They have had numerous albums before American Idiot and so many wonderful songs. You are nothing but a poser Misty and you are doing Green Day a disservice by claiming to be a fan. You have no idea what punk is nor do you have any idea what Green Day is."

Misty huffed and flicked her purple hair. "You're just jealous because you don't have tickets."
Adrienne leaned closer, her anger bubbling. "I don't need tickets Misty. I'll I have to do is call the band up. You'll be seeing me in the VIP section tonight. You see, they appreciate their real fans."

"Mommy."

Adrienne dropped her anger and turned to find Joey in the doorway of the office. "Hey sweetheart. Ready to go?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After Adrienne had gotten her daughter and taken the kids home, she sat on the couch with them and watched cartoons. She had her cell phone in her hand, Mike's number poised to be called.

'This is stupid.' Her mind screamed. 'Just call, you know you want to.'

Adrienne got up in frustration and walked upstairs to her bedroom. She leaned up against the closed door and stared at the bed. That bed that she had shared with Billie Joe so many times before. Sometimes it was physical and other times they just laid there and talked.

She missed those talks where they could talk about nothing and everything all at once.

She missed those secret little spots he used to kiss.

She missed him.

Adrienne didn't care that he was a rock star or that he was famous or that he had more money than she could ever dream of. She knew him before all the fame and glory. That was when she fell in love with him; when he was just a kid from California playing a guitar.

She needed to see him one more time. Even if it was just to finally say goodbye.

She hit the 'call' button on her phone.