Always There

Billie Joe stood beside Adrienne in the backstage room while Chris Cote, the lead singer from Kut U Up, peeled the white bandage from his ass to show off the crown shaped scar from when Billie Joe branded him with a hot pool cue. Adrienne's mouth dropped open and she covered her hand across it, taking in the sight. However, the Green Day frontman smiled proudly with his hands on his narrow hips.

"You did that to him?" Adie asked in disbelief.

"Well, he let me," Billie Joe replied, smiling at his wife but being met with her shaking her head at him. "What?"

"He could've been seriously hurt."

"But he's okay. I rubbed ointment on his ass. He's fine now. Right, Chris?"

"Yeah. I'll cherish the memory of the skin on my ass being singed by Billie Joe Armstrong," the blonde smiled as he reapplied the bandage and pulled his pants up. "It's all good."

"See?" Billie Joe grinned as he looked his wife in the eye.

Adrienne simply shook her head again as she walked away to go talk to Tre's wife, Claudia. Why the hell was Adie so gung ho about it being a stupid move on all their parts? Sure, he instigated and committed the crime, so to speak, but Chris allowed it to happen and there were, like, six other guys lighting that pool cue up.

Shaking his own head, Billie Joe grabbed a beer as everyone got together to toast to Kut U Up for making it fun on tour, since the Pop Disaster Tour had finally come to a close. Mike began the toast but was interrupted by Mark Hoppus and Tom Delonge walking into the room a little late.

"You already started?" Mark asked as Mike gave him a hug and the two Blink guys joined the circle.

Mike continued with the toast and everyone took a drink. Tre, who was standing between his wife and Tom was in the midst of joking around, wondering if they could have fun without any sexual innuendos.

"Apparently not," Tom replied with a smile.

Tre grinned like someone up to no good. "Well, alright then. Let's hear it for ass fucking!"

Blink 182's tour manager ended up getting cake smashed over him and a cake fight commenced before everyone finally cleaned up and moved the party to a club nearby for the after party. Billie Joe found himself dancing with Chris from time to time, joking with Adie that he was leaving her for him. It was plain to see that by the time the night was getting lighter, due to the sun on the brink of rising, Billie Joe was well past drunk.

He was inebriated. His speech was slurred, his ability to walk was like a chore because he was mostly stumbling, and everything was so hazy it was as if he were hallucinating from bad acid.

The following day he woke up in his hotel room completely buck naked and spread eagle on the bed with a massive hangover. His head was throbbing as he squinted, looking over at the bedside clock. It was five in the evening. Christ, he'd been out a long time. Or maybe he just didn't get to bed until really late, which made more sense.

Sitting up slowly and throwing his legs over the edge of the bed, Billie Joe got to feet as subtly as he could without tipping over on his wobbly legs. They felt like Jell-O as he walked, slightly hunched, over to the bathroom. Taking a long piss and washing his hands, Billie Joe returned to the bedroom part of his hotel suite to find Adrienne making the bed.

"You know they have people who do that," he muttered. He caught the look she gave him that made him wonder if he'd done something. But thinking about it made his head hurt even more. "Ugh, do you any aspirin on you?"

"Yes," she replied curtly.

"Well, can I have some?"

"No."

"What the fuck, Adie. I'm naked and in pain. Can I at least get some aspirin to take care of one of my problems?"

"Billie, you being naked and hungover are not your only problems." Adrienne walked away from the bed and opened the windows letting the evening sun shine in, causing Billie Joe to squint.

"Okay. What the fuck crawled up your ass and died?" Billie Joe snapped, turning his head to look around for his clothes.

"When you came back to the hotel last night, we had sex."

"And that's a problem because...?" Dammit, where were his clothes?

"Because of what you said to me afterward." Billie Joe looked at his wife and knitted his brow in confusion.

"Okay, you're gonna hafta refresh my memory because I don't remember anything from last night except for joking around about running away to Cancun with Chris." Adie didn't find what he said funny, so he became serious. "And where the hell are my clothes?"

"Who's Maria?"

"What?"

"Maria, Billie. Who is Maria?"

"Maria?" Billie Joe repeated as if he were a Frenchman trying to understand English for the first time.

"That's what I said," she replied irritably. "I mean, you only moaned it when you came. And you moaned it like you meant it. Who the fuck is Maria? Is she some cheap groupie slut you've been fucking on tour while I've been home with our kids? Or are you having some affair I should know about?"

"What---Adie. I didn't...okay, if I said 'Maria' it was on accident, and not because I'm cheating on you. You know how I get when I'm shitfaced. Nothing make sense to me and I'm totally gone. I'm a happy drunk and I was probably revisiting some past memory, I dunno..."

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. How could he have moaned out Maria's name while having sex with his wife? That had never happened before.

"How come I don't believe you?" Adie questioned, her chin quivering.

"Adie..." he walked up to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Maria was a girl I dated for a year while we fell out of contact ten years ago. A fucking decade. I probably had alcohol poisoning last night, this morning...whatever. I was talking gibberish. I haven't seen her in ten years or talked to her. I haven't had contact with her in ten years. You're the only woman I'll ever love, so if I said her name, it was on accident because I was piss ass drunk. You should know how I get by now." He watched Adie look to the side and down as she listened to him. "Adie, I love you. You're my beautiful, smart, loving wife. My one and only wife."

"Okay," she replied in a small voice. "I believe you."

"Thanks." He brushed his hand across her cheek and kissed her so sweetly and then hugged her close.

"But if you were cheating on me, you wanna know how I'd kill the other woman?"

Adie pulled back and smirked coyly at Billie Joe. He narrowed his eyes at her and rolled his own. "Adie..."

"Okay, okay. Fine. But you wanna know how I'd kill you?" She dragged her tongue across her upper lip real quickly as she sat down on the bed. "I'd divorce you, take you for everything you're worth, take the boys away and deny you visitation, then I'd cut off your dick and throw it in the Bay for the sea lions by Pier 39..."

"Alright, I get it," Billie Joe laughed nervously. "Now can I please have some aspirin?"

"What about your clothes?"

"If I can at least have aspirin, I will be more than happy to walk around naked for the rest of my life. Its not like people have seen all I have to offer before."

Adrienne laughed and walked over to her purse where she pulled out a bottle of Excedrin, handing him two pills.

"Thanks, oh wife of mine." Billie Joe gave her an impish smile as he headed back into the bathroom to pour himself a cup of water to take the pills with. Shutting the door behind him he did just that. After taking the aspirin, he sighed and set the glass down as he rested the palms of his hands down on the marble countertop of the sink. Looking at his reflection, he took in the sight of the dark rings around his eyes, his disheveled dark hair and the look in his green eyes.

He swallowed back a lump in his throat.

He could never tell Adrienne that he hadn't been completely shitfaced. But with the lights off and in the throws of sexual release, the corners of his mind had a light shined upon them.

And all he could think about for those few moments, were Maria.

A knock on the bathroom door disrupted his train of thought and he turned to his right. "Yeah?"

"I laid out some fresh clothes for you, hon. If you can manage to get dressed and comb through your hair, you wanna go get something to eat with Tre and Claudia?"

Billie Joe nodded and licked his lips, giving a smile his wife could not see. "Yeah. Thanks. Um...that sounds like a plan." Opening the bathroom door he gave his wife a smile she could see this time as he walked past her and began to dress.