Worry Rock

Billie Joe moaned as he threw the bags down onto the bed next to where I sat, painting a clear coat of nail polish onto my nails. He pushed the bags away from next to me and then dropped down onto the bed, lying back straight on it with his feet still on the ground. I cocked an eyebrow as I looked up from my nails and over my shoulder to see him running his hands over his face. Deciding that he wasn’t worth talking to after his mood this morning, I turned back to my nails. “Please don’t be angry with me,” he mumbled after a moment. “You have no idea what I just went through downstairs.”

I didn’t answer, though I was interested in what exactly my husband had gone through downstairs.

Unsatisfied with the focus I had on my nails and not with him, Billie Joe stood back up and reached over to my bottle of nail polish. He grabbed the brush from my hand, screwed it on the top and then tossed it over to the dresser on the other side of the room. I cringed at the sound of the glass hitting the other objects on the wooden dresser and then scowled up at my husband. “The fumes aren’t good for you, anyway,” he stated as if that was his answer as to why he had been so rude just a second ago, “they could hurt the baby.”

“Do you really always have to be such an asshole?” I snapped.

“I think what I did was quite nice, actually,” Billie Joe bickered, “for all you know those fumes from you painting your nails could be giving our child brain damage. I saved it.”

I laughed humorlessly. “Oh yeah, and I’ve really got to worry about painting my nails once in a blue moon even though I’m married to a chain smoker.”

“Well we won’t have to worry about that much more, will we?” Billie Joe sneered. I rolled my eyes at him and turned my head so that I didn’t have to look at him. Once getting the message, Billie Joe groaned and fell back onto the bed where he had laid just a moment ago. He laughed, catching my attention. “Look at us,” he snorted while rubbing his hands over his tired face, “we’re fucking basket cases. Both of us! We’re both fighting over fucking nail polish and smoking meanwhile I’m getting fuckin’ sick constantly.” Billie Joe snorted loudly and then burst into a fit of laughter. I turned to face him with a cocked eyebrow, not seeing anything half as funny as he was.

“And you’re psychotic,” I added, “because I really can’t find anything real funny about that.”

Instead of getting the slap on the wrist like I expected to from insulting Billie Joe, Billie Joe nodded his head with his eyes squeezed shut from laughter. “You don’t see it?” He asked. “You don’t see how sad this is? We’re fucking hormonal teenagers, Joe!”

I felt the corner of my lips tug upwards at that to a smirk. Once seeing that, Billie Joe sat up slightly and pulled me back down next to him on the bed. I continued to smirk as my husband continued to giggle next to me for the next few minutes until Billie was finally able to calm himself down. “Are you done being a raving lunatic yet?” I asked with a chuckle. My husband laughed and nodded.

Billie Joe shifted closer to me on the king-sized bed, placing his head only about an inch from mine. He grinned.

We both lied there for a minute or two until Billie Joe had finally had enough of staring at each other and gently pressed his lips against mine. I smiled against his lips as he gently sucked on my bottom lip while sliding a hand underneath the black Foxboro Hot Tubs t-shirt that I was still in. “Mmm,” he hummed, “I’m sorry.”

“Me too,” I mumbled, though I wasn’t given much time to say anything with the way that Billie Joe’s lips were working. Within the next few minutes, my husband’s lips had only disconnected from my own once to enable us to both get a breath while he slowly maneuvered his way on top of me, though not lying down there to avoid applying any pressure onto my stomach. When I felt Billie Joe’s hand start to play with the waistband of my shorts, I had to pull my mouth from his and gently push him off of me. However, Billie Joe only allowed me to get one word in before climbing back over my body as if my pushing him off had no affect on him whatsoever and practically shovedL his tongue down my throat. I gasped loudly and managed to push him off of me again, disconnecting his mouth from mine. “Mmm, Billie, no. Sydney and her friend are downstairs and the bedroom door is wide open.”

Billie Joe fell onto the bed next to me and turned to lie on his side, wrapping both arms and legs around my body once I had also turned onto my side. He placed his lips on the side of my neck and sucked lightly for a response. When I tried to push him away again, he laughed and wiped his saliva from my skin. “Joe, think about it. She knows you and I have sex and since she’s always around, it must be when she’s around. So really, if we were to have sex right now we’d be helping her by confirming her knowledge.”

“You’re a sick bastard,” I mumbled white he laughed again and kissed just to the right of my lips.

“Besides, she beat me up earlier.”

I snorted at that and cocked an eyebrow, mental images of our fourteen-year old daughter beating on her father entering my mind. “I’m sure you deserved it, but why?”

Billie Joe whacked my arm playfully. “I didn’t deserve it, or well, all of it, but I walked in and put my shit down and then go out to ask where you are, and she gets up and starts beating me, telling me to apologize to you because I made you cry.” At that, Billie Joe sighed and lifted his hand to caress my jaw. He kissed me softly. “Which I’m sorry for.”

I giggled against his lips. “It’s fine. I’m so emotional already; it’s just terrible.”

My husband chuckled. “Oh, Joe, join the fuckin’ club.” He shook his head slowly and closed his eyes while resting his head on my shoulder. “I was in CVS before looking for the shit to help smokers quit, and I just couldn’t find it. For the first ten or fifteen minutes I was alright, but then I started getting aggravated and started to swear and pace and become all fuckin’ agitated.” Billie Joe started to laugh at the memory of just a while ago. “I had to actually sit down in an aisle and calm myself down because I was starting to get nauseas and I was ready to go up to the counter and call every single employee a different name that probably would have gotten me thrown out.” Billie Joe lifted his head and brushed his lips against mine. “I actually felt like a damn nutcase.”

I giggled again as I slid a hand to the back of Billie Joe’s head, playing with his hair as I kissed him sweetly. “Aww, my poor little psycho.”

Billie Joe rolled his eyes before closing them, leaning his head back into the palm of my hand. “Back to punishing Sydney,” he mumbled after a minute though not moving his head or opening his eyes, “I say we give her a beating for her birthday and coal for Christmas.”

I laughed and with my free hand, gently swatted my husbands’ chest. “I’m sure she didn’t even beat you, you big baby.”

“She slapped me,” he whined, “a lot, too. And then yelled at me and pushed me into the stairs. She barely even let me get my bags before she attacked me again.” Billie Joe sat up and lifted the sleeve of his white t-shirt. “Look, can you see bruises? I bet there is. I bet there’s a handprint.”

I rolled my eyes at my husband and sat up, but only to pull him back down next to me. “I’m not siding with you on this one, you big baby. I like what she did and I totally stand by her.” I shrugged. “She made you apologize, anyway.”

Billie Joe groaned. He sat up again, replacing the body heat that I was currently using since I was dressed in only shorts and a t-shirt and the air conditioning was on with cold air. Immediately I went to pull his body back down next to me, but Billie Joe held up a finger as if to say one minute, and turned around to face the bags that he had dropped onto the bed a little while ago. I sighed and turned to lie on my back while watching him shift through the plastic bags. He then turned around, holding one of them and dropped back down next to me, placing the bag on my lap but keeping his hand on the top to stop me from opening it. “I was too going to apologize, but before she seemed to understand that, she turned into an abuser. She get’s that from your family, you know.” When I scowled and whacked him, he giggled and took his hand from the top of the bag to wrap both arms around my body. He kissed my cheek while curling up against my side. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Now look.”

I did as my husband had said and pulled open the plastic bag that he had placed on my lap a few minutes ago. As soon as I looked inside I started to laugh while his cheeks turned a slight pink. I giggled furiously and turned away from the bag to press my lips against his, letting the kiss linger for a moment. “How much money did you spend on this?” I giggled against his lips.

Billie Joe laughed. “I don’t know; I didn’t look at the receipt. But I figured it was the least I could especially since you’ve been craving chocolate a lot.”

I sat up slowly, causing Billie Joe to groan in protest as I looked through the bag filled with large bags of chocolate—M&M’s, Reese’s, Reese’s Pieces, Butterfingers, Hershey Kisses, Almond Joys, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. I snorted. “I’m going to gain fifty pounds from this. People are going to think I’m nine months pregnant soon when I’m only four or five!”

My husband chuckled as he sat up next to me and placed a hand on my lap. He kissed my cheek. “Now there’s no reason for you to wake up at four AM and go searching for chocolate.” He kissed my cheek again. “You’ve got it up the ass now.”

I placed the bag next to me and wrapped my arms around Billie Joe’s neck. “I’ll have all this gone within fifteen minutes, baby.”

“Mm,” he hummed against my lips, “then you deserve to gain all of the fifty pounds and then some.”

Billie Joe’s hand slid to my stomach where he rubbed affectionately while I looked through the plastic bag and pulled out a bag of M&M’s. Billie Joe cocked an eyebrow as I pulled the side open and grinned, eating a few. “Want some?”

My husband grinned sheepishly. “I thought you’d never ask.”

+++

It was about two hours later when the door to the penthouse was being knocked on. By then, Billie Joe and I had made it downstairs—right to the kitchen. Or well, that’s where I had gone while Billie Joe had chuckled and shaken his head.

”Did you apologize?” I heard Sydney asked from the other room.

“Yeah,” Billie Joe snapped, “I did, like I planned to before you turned all fucking Hitler-like on me. And you know what?” He added. “I told your mother what a brat you were and that we’re never getting you anything for the rest or your life. Starting as soon as we get back home, you’re paying rent. You’re paying for your own food, electricity, internet, phone bills—everything.”

“Yeah, alright, whatever.” Sydney rolled her eyes. “You can’t do anything; you’re old.”

I was waiting to hear my husband snap at her, since he had always done so when people joked about his age, however Billie Joe only laughed. “I’m old? Yeah well, your mom is still pregnant.”

I could hear him cackling as our daughter cringed and scowled.

“Sydney,” Billie Joe mumbled from next to me, “get the door.”

“What?” Sydney asked. “Why me?”

“Because I’m not going to ask Tiff to get it since she’s the guest here, and according to you I’m old. And well, your mother is pregnant. Go get the door with your youth.”

Sydney rolled her eyes. “It’s my birthday.”

“In two days,” Billie Joe bickered.

After listening to their bantering for a few more minutes I rolled my eyes and pushed myself up off of the couch. “Children, children, shut up. I’ll be the adult here and get the damn door.” When I went to take a step away from where I had previously been lounging, Billie Joe groaned and pushed himself up. He grabbed onto my wrist and pulled me back with a great amount of force. I fell back on top of him, causing him to gasp and groan again. I laughed as I pulled myself off of my husband. “What was that for?” I asked.

“You don’t get the door,” he mumbled, “lie down and rest. I’ll get it.”

I rolled my eyes as I kissed Billie Joe’s cheek. “Darling, I’m three months pregnant. I’m not totally helpless yet.”

Billie Joe chuckled as he got up and left the lounge without another word. However, as he passed by our daughter and her best friend, he took the liberty to flick her in the back of her head. Sydney scowled. “What was that for?!”

A few minutes later, Billie Joe returned talking a kid that was as tall as he was. When I say kid, I mean early twenties. He had dark hair that was covered by a hat and looked remotely like his mother because his father’s features seemed to have taken over. Joey turned to face the three females sitting in the room and grinned, waving slightly. I grinned back at him and waved back, greeting him with a “Hey, Joey.”

“Hi Mandy,” he returned and then looked to his step sister and friend. “Hey, Sydney and,” he paused and looked up at his father and I, “did you have another kid that I didn’t know about?” At that, Sydney snorted loudly and got up. She tugged her best friend into the kitchen with her, leaving just my husband, his oldest son and me. Joey cocked an eyebrow. “What?” He asked. “Do I smell?”

“Yeah,” Billie Joe admitted, “but that’s not it. She’s just weird from the amount of times we dropped her on her head when she was younger.”

Joey laughed as he sat down on the arm of the couch that the girls had just occupied while Billie Joe sat down next to me. I knew exactly why Joey was over at the moment. Billie Joe had called him earlier and stated that we were in the area. He obviously wanted to mention the pregnancy.

I’m pretty sure that even though Billie Joe denied it and had said multiple times that he knew Joey would be fine with the next child coming along, he was still nervous, just as he had been with Sydney [though also not admitting it] and Jacob, in who he did admit that to.

The guitarist had also called his younger son, Jacob, but had only gotten voicemail. When he had called Adrienne to ask where Jacob could have been, she had responded with that she hadn’t any clue considering he no longer lived with her. Jacob, being nineteen, was off in college [and had fought the whole way about it].

Joey looked between my husband and me and cocked an eyebrow. “What’s up?” He asked. “I haven’t seen you two in a while and now things are real awkward?” He laughed. Billie Joe laughed while I excused myself for something to drink. As soon as I stood up, Joey’s mouth dropped open. Billie Joe and I both looked at him in confusion as I smoothed my husband’s t-shirt that I was still wearing that had risen up slightly. My husband’s oldest son chuckled as he shifted on the arm of the couch. “Really?” He asked with a laugh while looking at his dad. “Another baby?”

I looked up in shock and then down at my stomach, pulling the shirt up to see my rounding stomach. “You could tell?” I asked slowly.

Joey chuckled again. “You’ve always been thin, so a bump like that couldn’t really be much else. Plus, it’s more of in your gut—it looked like a baby bump.” When neither Billie Joe nor I responded, Joey continued to laugh. “Jesus, you two. Well, Dad more than you, Mandy. But Jesus, aren’t I the one supposed to be having kids?” I felt myself blush, forgetting about the drink I had wanted while my husband pulled me down onto his lap.

“No,” Billie Joe quipped, “I’m not ready yet to have a grandchild.”

Joe laughed loudly. “Well with the amount of kids you’re having, you’re going to have hundreds of grandchildren!” The oldest Armstrong child shook his head.

The blush that I had begun to feel before was spreading from my cheeks as I began to shift uncomfortably on my husbands lap. I was glad that Joey was taking this extraordinarily well, probably the best out of all of Billie Joe’s children, but at the same time I was mortified. Joey wasn’t bothered with the pregnancy at all, in fact he was joking about it while congratulating his father and I. Once Billie Joe noticed my shifting around uncomfortably on his lap, he grinned and kissed my cheek. “What about Jacob?” Billie Joe asked, changing the subject. I thanked him silently and he winked, going unnoticed by the twenty-three year old.

“What about him?” Joey asked with a shrug. I could feel his eyes on my stomach for a moment but once I looked up, he looked away with a small smile pulling at his lips. “You like him more than me and you just wanted to test out the news to see how he’d take it?”

“Exactly,” Billie Joe agreed, playing along. “Actually, I called him but it went straight to voicemail and he hasn’t called back, any idea what’s up with him?”

“He’s your son, shouldn’t you know more?” Joey asked. When he saw his father wince, he immediately tried to show that he hadn’t meant his words in a spiteful way. “I didn’t mean it like that. All I meant was that I’m not as close with Jake anymore and since he’s your son I figured you’d know more. But,” he shrugged, “I can understand why he doesn’t like you at the moment.”

I could feel my husband shift underneath me and I went to stand up and excuse myself, not wanting to impose on the conversation here since to be perfectly honest I wasn’t part of that family at all, however as soon as I went to move myself from Billie Joe’s lap, he locked his hand around my arm and refused to let ago. I cocked an eyebrow at him as if asking him why he wasn’t letting me go and in return he just shook his head slightly so that Joey didn’t notice. I sighed softly and sat back against his chest, burying my face into it. I wished he had let me go, but at the same time I understood as to why he did. Had I been in the position he currently was in, I wouldn’t want him to leave either. We needed each other for comforting purposes.

Still, it didn’t make me feel any less awkward.

“What?” Billie Joe snapped. “Why? What the hell have I done?”

Joey sat back on the couch. He lifted the baseball cap that he had been wearing and ran a hand through his dark hair that he had gotten from his mother. “You know his most recent girlfriend, the one that he met senior year and claimed to love him?” Billie Joe nodded while gently stroking my hair. “Yeah, well, story of our lives, she loved you.”

The way Joey had said it made me cringe and I could feel my husband do the same thing. Since I had met and been with Billie Joe Armstrong, there had been multiple times as to where his sons would end up refusing to speak to him because of a sudden hatred for their poor father. That hatred coming from girls that they had—carefully—chosen to date and had still ended up confessing that it was to meet their father. I had watched my husbands’ heart bleed multiple times when Joey or Jacob would skip a weekend at their fathers’ house because of the resentment they felt towards him. There would be times where when one of them had stayed behind and the other was in their room sleeping that night, I’d come upstairs to find Billie Joe sitting at the end of our bed with his head in his hands.

“I knew it would happen and I was dreading it. I fucking knew it,” he whimpered as I pulled him into an embrace and he buried his face into my chest. “They don’t deserve this shit, Joe. They’re amazing kids. Why can’t they find the right ones? Why do these stupid bitches keep fucking with their minds? Why do I have to be their father?”

It took a lot of comforting [to both father and son] but after time, things would thankfully heal. And if it hadn’t been for Adrienne over the years comforting the boys each and every time, it probably would have been a lot harder. Every time when she would call Billie Joe to speak to him about the current issue with one of the boys, all I could honestly think was God Bless that woman.

Going through the teenage years with Joey and Jacob was most definitely not the highlight of anyone’s life.

Thankfully, now, however, Joey was twenty-three and two years steady with a girl that absolutely despised my husbands band ever since American Idiot. When she had met Billie Joe she had been sweet and had admitted that she didn’t hate him individually anymore, but still despised the music. As Joey had told his father once, she was perfect for him. Not because she despised his fathers music, but because she was still into the same things he was, wasn’t using him for his father and was a total sweetheart. As long as she loved Joey, though, Billie Joe could look past the music thing despite that it hurt his pride somewhat.

Jacob, though, wasn’t as lucky yet.

Billie Joe’s breathing picked up slightly. I lifted my hand from where it was wedged between our bodies and gently ran it over his chest to calm him down. “I guess that would explain why he’s not picking up his phone,” Billie Joe finally muttered.

Joey shrugged. “He’ll get over it. It’s all that teenage angst shit right now. To be honest, dad, I doubt you’d want to speak to the brat anyway. Mom was telling me that even though she loves Jake to death, she was so happy to get him out. He’s a prick, man. But college will most likely change him. I’m sure I was a little bastard too, before then. And well,” the young man across from us shrugged, “I resented both you and mom slightly until I got settled into college anyway, so it’s bound to get better.”

“I guess that’s good to know,” Billie Joe mumbled. He chuckled. “I’m not sure to be glad, or ask you why you resented us.”

Joey laughed. “Don’t, it’s not worth the time. Like I said—teenage angst. Just add famous good-looking to the public eye parents on top of that and it’s enough to make you hate anyone.” He shrugged again. “Sydney’ll probably start it soon.”

Billie Joe cocked an eyebrow as did I, though I went unseen. “She’s a girl, though, Joey.”

“So?” Joey asked. “Mandy isn’t exactly unattractive, dad.” That blush that had appeared and disappeared from before was coming back. “She’s young, like the age you were when all the girls were flipping out and drooling constantly about you. I’m sure a good amount of guys in Sydney’s school know who her parents are, meaning you, Mandy. I’m betting that--,”

“Sydney’s got a boyfriend,” Billie Joe cut off with a scowl, “Christopher What-ever-the-fuck his last name is.” I giggled into my husbands chest while he continued to scowl. “He’s already lucky enough that I can’t do shit about him being with my daughter since my wife threatens me if I do—however if he even looked at you the wrong way,” Billie Joe snarled at me, “I’d fucking rip his throat out.”

Joey burst into a fit of laughter on the couch. “Sydney’s got a boyfriend?” He cackled. “And you’ve allowed it?!”

I took my head from Billie Joe’s chest. “No,” I smirked, “he actually glares at the kid whenever he’s over, but I’ve made it clear that he’s got to get over and used to it.”

Joey continued to cackle on the couch while Billie Joe continued to scowl. Joey wriggled his eyebrows. “Have they kissed? Smooched? Tongue action?”

“Joseph,” Billie Joe snarled, “you’re not helping out your sister here. That boy is already first on my list to kill when I snap.”

Joey was now giggling. “Oh, do it. He and I aren’t that far apart in age and all I can think about is getting laid. I’m sure he’s thinking that already--,”

“Joey!” I cried out while Billie Joe barked it.

Joey’s giggles turned into full out laughter again while Billie Joe began to sulk next to me. Joey winked at his father. “Apparently you feel the same way, too, getting Mandy pregnant and all. Imagine how her boyfriend must feel though, hitting puberty an’ all—,”

“Joseph,” Billie Joe spat, “I’m going to rip your jaw out in a minute and then go and find her boyfriend and fucking kill him.”

“Please don’t egg him on anymore,” I begged, “your father is like a bomb. He snaps now, but explodes later.”

Joey snorted. “Alright, just because I like you, Mandy. Otherwise, I’d continue.” I grinned thankfully while Billie Joe huffed underneath me. I turned to him and giggled, gently running a hand through his hair as I kissed his cheek. Joey stood up. “Alright,” he started, “dad, you promised me lunch, or dinner, whatever you feel to call it now. I’m a growing boy, so whether we’re eating not or now, can I get some grub?”

I rolled my eyes and climbed off my husbands lap, smoothing out my shirt again and then pulled up Billie Joe. He stood up next to me and then motioned to me to follow him and his son into the kitchen. “I’ll tell the girls to shower and get ready, but they’ll start screaming all ’Daaad, you never told me we were going out! Oh my god, my hair’ and between the two of them take a good hour. But I’m hungry, too, so we can find some shit.”

“Jesus,” I muttered from behind. Both guys turned to look at me and I looked up in surprise.

“What?” Billie Joe chuckled.

I motioned to my stomach and then to them. “Eating now and then later? You two eat more than a pregnant lady, here.”

“We’re men,” Joey stated with a grin while flexing his arms jokingly.

I laughed while watching my husband search through the cabinets for something to eat. “Actually, funny story. Your father used to kind of be, but recently, he’s become almost as feminine as me.”

If looks could kill, Billie Joe Armstrong would have been arrested on the account of murdering his own wife.