Best Man

Toward the end of June, Caroline's mother had been calling her nonstop, asking whether or not she had begun planning her wedding to Mike. And when the brunette frontwoman of The Sinners said no, Mrs. Woods was completely bewildered. If not left in a state of shock.

Her mother would go on and on about how it takes a good year of planning and booking the church and the banquet halls, ordering the dresses, the cake, the flowers...

Yada, yada, yada.

Caroline wasn't all that sure about what else her well-intentioned mother had been saying because at some point she just tuned her out. Though, she could understand her mom was being all crotchety and paranoid because this would be the first wedding for one of her two daughters.

Her sister, Giselle, being the other.

It was, however, on the second last day of the month when her mother's nagging finally got to her so she just huffed and ended the conversation without a word by hanging up.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Caroline leaned forward from where she sat with Mike on the couch.

"Your mother still doesn't realize that, put together, we have the funds necessary to pull off a big, extravagant wedding every month for about two years?" he quipped, looking at her from the corner of his eye while Oprah kept him glued to the television set.

"Apparently not."

Lifting his left hand, he patted her right knee and then gave it a squeeze. "What are your plans for this evening?" he inquired as he moved the same hand to entangle with her right one; both hands resting on her leg.

"Not sure," Caroline shrugged. "Might call Giselle to see if she can maybe talk some sense into Mom, since she still lives at home."

"Oh, yeah. Ain't she going into her first year of residency at, um, some Raleigh hospital?"

"Yup," Caroline nodded. "She's officially been Dr. Giselle Woods since last May." The brunette singer then scrunched up her nose. "Which, is still weird to think. My sister, the doctor, working in a hospital psych ward."

Mike smirked. "Well, as much as I'd like to discuss your mother's denial of our immense wealth and your sister's doctorly genius, I promised the guys I'd meet them at the studio for some frolicking," the bassist joked.

"Frolicking?"

"Yes. And around a maypole," he added, passing the remote to her.

Caroline simply snickered and kissed Mike on the cheek. "Which studio you going to?"

"880 as usual."

"Mmkay."

"Why?" Mike wondered with a soft smile as he stood up. "You planning to stalk me? 'Cause, if so, that would be super."

Caroline blinked once. Then twice. And then she broke out into a chastising smile as she shook her head, looking over to the television to watch Oprah talking with her celebrity guest du jour.

"Enough Van Wilder for you, bub." Smirking, Mike began to head into the kitchen to grab his car keys from where he left them by the coffee maker when he heard Caroline call out, "I miss ya already!"

Mike grinned as he picked up his keys, looking at the tiles of the kitchen floor as he walked toward the front hall.

"I miss you already, too."



After Caroline had hung up with Giselle, after having an hour-long conversation about everything and anything, she began to wander about the house, looking for something to do.

She really hated having no plans.

Being restless was not a good thing in her book.

"Mmm..." she moaned to herself as she opened the fridge and looked in.

Maybe food would give her something to--no. No, food bad. She lost weight for a fucking reason! She'd been tired of her chub rub between her legs and the slight double chin and how her arms kinda jiggled when she jumped around during shows.

She buckled down, went on a diet and exercised once a day with Mike, taking turns on the treadmill and lifting weights. And, well...they, whoever they are, always said that sex is another good exercise because you burn calories. So, yeah. Weight was lost that way, too.

So, Caroline trimmed down, while managing to keep her curves, the slight bubble to her butt, and her decent cup size.

And, woo hoo! No more double chin, flabby arms or chub rub! If anything, that was the best outcome. Screw being healthy! Her thighs no longer started brush fires!

In other words, Caroline had to step away from the fridge and find something better to do with her free time.

Mike, she thought. I'll give him a call. See how the 'frolicking' at 880 is going.

Flipping her cell phone back open, she dialed the number for Mike's cell and waited a moment for the ringing on her end to let her know that the call was connecting with his phone, but she sure wasn't expecting to hear Mike's ringtone going off.

She followed the sounds of 'God Save The Queen' to the living room and craned her head to spot Mike's phone stuck between the couch cushions.

He'd left it home on accident.

Frowning, she flipped her phone closed and picked Mike's up.

"Actually," she muttered to herself. "This'll give me something to do."



Caroline was unaware that Mike hadn't gone straight to 880 Studios, and instead stopped by his restaurant, Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe, for a bite to eat and then got caught up with talking to one of the cooks in the kitchen. So, continuing on to where she assumed him to be, Caroline drove to the recording studio where she eventually arrived.

After parking, she walked right in, passing Jason White who was on his way out because, according to him, he'd promised his wife a night out on the town.

Smiling and exchanging goodbyes, Caroline and Jason parted and continued in different directions.



Tre was sitting alone in the studio, drumsticks in hand, fooling around with some drum riffs and shit, when the door opened up, causing him to look and see who had arrived.

Stepping across the threshold, Caroline stopped in her tracks when she saw Tre a few feet away from her and she cursed under her breath.

"Uh...hi Tre," she greeted lightly.

Instantly lighting up when he realized who was there, Tre straightened his posture and parted his lips to say something but somehow couldn't think of anything. Not even a simple 'hello.' He simply stood up slowly while keeping his drumsticks in his hands.

"Oh...uh, hey. Care. I wasn't expecting you," he finally spit out. "But, um, as always...it's always a welcomed surprise, for sure."

Flashing him a pleasant smile, Caroline began to move further into the room, however, leaving the studio door open behind her.

"Isn't Mike here?" she questioned, changing the subject. "I tried calling him only to find he'd left his cell phone at home."

Tre shrugged. "No, he hasn't showed up yet."

This worried Caroline. "Do you think he's okay?"

"He's Mike. He's resilient." Tre's voice had two qualities when he spoke. When it was among friends or out in public, he tended to speak a little more nasally. But whenever he was with Caroline, or with any woman, intimately, for that matter, his voice seemed to drop an octave. "If something was wrong he'd get a hold of one of us."

"If something was wrong, he wouldn't be able to get to a phone because something was wrong," Caroline replied a bit curtly. Then, she sighed. "Sorry."

"S'okay." Tre assured.

Did she ever worry about me like that?

Leaning against his chair, he looked at her as silence fell over them, his mind reeling with all kinds of thoughts about her. Be they regular thoughts or even sexual fantasies he still revisited.

And how he wondered what would happen if he kissed her after all this time.

Flashing Tre another small smile, out of the need to alleviate the awkwardness, Caroline pulled Mike's cell phone out of her purse to glance at it when it slipped from her fingers and fell to the floor.

"Shit," she mumbled. Crouching down, she leaned forward a little to pick up the cellular device. And she did it she wound up giving Tre a very considerate view of her cleavage kept wrapped within her tee that said 'I Fuck A Rockstar' on it.

God love novelty shirts.

Only one more reason to make the drummer's mind reel.

Still looking at her cleavage as subtly as possible as she stood back up, Tre accidentally whispered, "Damnit, I've missed those."

Snapping her head up at her ex-boyfriend, Caroline just stared at him and muttered, "What?"

A wave of panic ripped through Tre, but it was an exhilarating feeling as well. But he wasn't sure he wanted Caroline to know the extent of it all just yet, so he replied, "Uh, nothing. I just...nothing." Shifting his eyes to the ground and fidgeted with the drumsticks still in his hands.

"Listen, Tre..." she began.

Looking back up, another wave ripped through Tre, but this one was very different. It was full of anxiety. It was full of the lust he felt for her; the desire he had to claim her for his own once again.

And he was pretty damn sure that his blue eyes conveyed that very feeling to her as their eyes locked.

Biting his lip, Tre stopped thinking rationally and made a bold move.

Closing the gap between their bodies, he dropped his drumsticks to the ground and reached his hands up to cup her face before she could even register what in the hell he was doing.

In one swift movement, his lips were upon hers, kissing her.

The gesture was soft yet insistent and it took a moment for Caroline to gather her wits and think straight. And just as she felt his tongue graze her upper lip, she felt panic eating at her mind.

Hearing a sharp intake of breath behind her, Caroline's eyes widened and she shoved Tre off of her.

Stumbling back a few steps, Tre brought his hand to his mouth as he looked past Caroline at Mike who was standing in the doorway and damn near turning red.

A shade of fury.

Whipping her head around, Caroline already knew it was Mike that was standing behind her before she even saw him with her own two eyes. She wanted to say something, but what would it have been?

Hey, Mike honey, your best friend who just happens to be my ex-boyfriend just tried sucking face with me. Please be gentle.

It just didn't work that way. Instead, she winced, knowing what his reaction would be.

"What the fuck, you fucking asshole!" Mike growled.

Despite the bit of guilt he felt for doing what he did, Tre couldn't help but smile a little smugly to himself. After all, he'd more or less declared war.

The War for Caroline.

And, okay, it was a declaration of war he'd declared only to himself, but still...

Closing his mouth in a tightlipped scowl, with eyes seething with venom, Mike took two long steps and grabbed Tre by the collar of his shirt and shoved the shorter man up against the wall.

"What the fuck were you doing, you cocksucker? What gives you the right?" With each demand, Mike shoved Tre a little harder against the brown paneling.

"Mike, stop," Caroline pleaded. Not wanting any bloodshed on her clock, she tried to grab Mike's arm and pull him away because she didn't want him to hurt his friend, and she knew Tre wasn't thinking.

Or, at least, so she thought.

Unfortunately for her, Mike pulled his arm back at that moment she reached for him, in order to sock the drummer in the jaw, and in the process, Mike's elbow hit Caroline in the nose.

Stumbling back and dropping to the floor, on her ass, Caroline let out a stunted groan as she cupped her nose just as Billie Joe walked into the studio and his eyes immediately shot over to his right where Mike was in the process of punching Tre, who was struggling to fight back under the older man's grasp. But the green eyed punk rocker's attention was averted a second later to Caroline.

Dropping down to a crouching position, he looked upon her with concerned eyes as he spotted blood dripping from her nose.

"Care, you okay? What happened?" he began to ask, as concerned as a big brother would be. He placed his right hand on the left side of her face and wiped some of the blood away with his left thumb.

Caroline just shook her head. "I'm fine."

"You're hurt."

"I'm fine," she reiterated. "Just get Mike off of Tre, please."

"Caroline..." Billie Joe began to protest, wanting to make sure she was okay first.

"Just do it, Billie," she almost growled. "I said I'm fine. Just a nose bleed."

Staring at her for a few more moments, Billie Joe nodded and helped her up to her feet before turning and grabbing Mike by the shoulders.

With a hard tug, he'd pried his friends apart, shoving Mike away with a force that didn't seem like it should come from his small frame. However, like Rolling Stone magazine had said about him back in November of 2005, Billie Joe was a tiny dynamo.

With Tre garnering a red eye that was starting to puff up and already bruise, Mike remained fuming, wanting to fight Tre some more when Billie Joe gave Mike another shove.

"Hey. Hey!" Billie Joe shouted at Mike, bringing his focus away from Tre. "I don't care what your reasons are for this fight, but there is no reason for Caroline to have a bloody nose because of it."

His steely blue eyes widening with fear, Mike snapped his head around to see his beautiful fiancee covering her nose and tipping her head back a little, but the sight of blood seeping between her fingers was enough to make his heart break, if not stop all together.

"Caroline..." he began, reaching out to her, but she pushed his hand away from her with a bit of anger all her own.

Tears brimming her eyes, but not allowing them to fall in the slightest, Caroline turned away from him and walked out of the studio.

Tre just stood there, ignoring the pain where Mike had punched him in the eye and stared after Caroline with the other two. And when he saw how Mike went to follow after her, he still didn't feel guilty for kissing Caroline.

"Don't, Mike," Billie Joe spoke, smacking the back of his hand against his taller friend's chest.

Green Day's frontman locked eyes with the bassist, expressing the seriousness in his gaze. He looked between both of his friends and didn't say another word as he walked out of the studio, as well; leaving Mike and Tre alone.



Caroline was sitting in the driver's seat of her car, but she hadn't started it up yet. She just sat there, holding her nose and trying to stick a tissue up her nostrils to stop the bleeding, when the shadow of someone approaching her door caught her eye.

Turning her head up and to the side, she frowned and pressed the button on her door to roll the window down.

Billie Joe leaned down and peered inside at her with a sympathetic smile.

"Leave your car here. I'll give you a ride home," he told her.

"I wasn't planning on going home tonight," she answered in a low voice.

Shrugging, Billie Joe lifted the outer handle to her door and opened it up. "Even better," he smirked, despite the situation hanging over them all. "You come home with me and you can stay in our extra bedroom. Adrienne has extra clothes you can borrow for the night."

"No, Billie, I'm not---"

"It wasn't a suggestion, Care." His response was firm and unwavering. Meeting his gaze halfway, she could see he was very serious. "You're one of my best friends. I even consider you like a sister. So when I say I'm gonna take you home to my house, in my car, and my wife is gonna give you something to wear, it's because I'm looking out for you and right now I can see that you just want to get away from it all, and you can do that at my house, okay? You can do the girl thing with Adrienne, even." Then he added, "Or with me, too, because I've been told I sometimes look kinda feminine."

Caroline laughed despite herself, then caved. "Fine," she spoke in a low voice again. "Okay."

Hopping out of her car, she made sure she had her purse with her as she shut the door and locked the car.

Throwing an arm around her shoulders, Billie Joe gave her a platonic squeeze and an equally platonic kiss on the cheek.

"C'mon, toots."

Walking toward Billie Joe's car, side by side with him, Caroline wasn't sure how she was feeling about what Tre had done, or what Mike had done.

At the moment, she wanted to do what Billie Joe suggested and do the girl thing with Adrienne.