Always There

"Sorry," Billie Joe apologized as soon as they stepped into his penthouse. "I told you there wasn't anything here."

"It's okay. It's not like I haven't sat Indian style on a floor before."

Maria followed Billie Joe into the kitchen where he opened the fridge and began to put away the stuff he'd bought. He then muttered some sort of curse on his breath as he closed the fridge door and crumpled up the grocery bags.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't have cups to offer you anything to drink," he muttered.

"So, you never drank anything from the bottle or container?" she smirked shyly. "C'mon. Let me help you put these sheets on your bed."

Billie Joe hesitated as he smiled. "Alright."

The two of them walked down the small hallway into the bedroom as Billie Joe began to tear open the bed sheets. They were so crisp as he unfolded them. Maria grabbed the opposite end and began to shake them out with him. The began to make the bed in silence until Billie Joe began to smooth out the wrinkles and Maria place her hands on her hips and wore a look of confusion.

"Don't you have any pillows?"

"Heh, no. I just got some basics I'd need for tonight. I'm gonna do the rest tomorrow."

"Ah," Maria replied lamely. "Well, um...let's crack open a bottle of something and play catch-up, shall we?"

"Sure."

Billie Joe let Maria exit the bedroom first, doing the typical male gesture in glancing south; taking in the sight of the shape of her hips and then some. They weren't the same hips he remembered from thirteen years earlier, but then again, thirteen years ago she hadn't gone through childbirth three times.

As decided, they broke out a bottle. A bottle of Arbor Mist wine. Retreating to the bare living room, they descended into Indian style position as they sat on the hardwood floor. They passed the bottle back and forth, getting through the pleasantries before delving into the heavier questions.

Billie Joe pulled out a cigarette, placed it between his lips and then held the pack out to Maria, offering her one.

"No, thanks. I don't smoke cigarettes anymore," she replied, shaking her head.

"Just not cigarettes?" he questioned with an impish grin. She returned the gesture with a knowing smile, watching as he leaned forward, placing his left elbow on the side of his left knee and then resting his head in his hand. He looked at her, and the stare made Maria look down at the floor, biting her bottom lip. "It's hard to believe it's been almost thirteen years since we've seen each other. I mean, that's, like...the same distance in years of going to school with someone from kindergarten to 12th grade."

Maria gave a slight nod along with a faint smile as her brow raised with her own recollections. "Remember that time we went to Pier 39 and threw a box of Rice-A-Roni into the water?"

Laughing, Billie Joe sat up straight. "Yeah. And then that flock of seagulls - the birds, not the band, of course - swarmed over the surface of the water, pecing away at the dry noodles. Oh, oh--and then that old woman with the cane--"

"--began shaking it at us and yelling that the birds could die because of the hard noodles, but then you said--"

"--'They'll get soggy in the water. It'll be like they're eating spaghetti,'" Billie Joe finished. His smiled faded somewhat at how they completed one thought together. It was a funny thing. "Remember drawing on your bedroom walls with crayons?"

"Oh, God. Don't remind me," Maria said, placing her hand to her forehead.

"Aw, c'mon. How can you not wanna be reminded about the stick figure people having sex?"

"The two, male stick figures having sex. And those crayons didn't wash away either in time for when my parents came to help me pack my things up."

"Well, I think the two gay guys that moved into your room after you left were grateful for the homemade decor," Billie Joe commented, ruefully.

A moment of silence befell them as they took another swig from the bottle that was reaching the point of being halfway gone. Billie Joe found himself picking at the bottom of his pant leg as he took one last drag from his cigarette, which he put out on the hardwood floor, much to Maria's disgust.

"That's a good floor!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, but it's my good floor. I could piss on it until it was stained yellow if I wanted to."

Maria grimaced and rolled her eyes. "Did you buy toilet paper or anything resembling a napkin?"

"Yeah, I have toilet paper."

"Okay, gimme a minute." Maria stood up and walked down the hall toward the bathroom.

"Gotta take a shit?" Billie Joe called after her.

"No," came a reply. The sound of her heels clicking on the hallway floor became louder as she reappeared in the dining room with several pieces of toilet paper that was half wet. Bending down onto her knees, she wiped up the cigarette ashes and the cigarette, getting back to her feet. "Just because you're a guy living on his own for a little while, doesn't mean you have to be a complete slob," she chastised.

"Sorry, mom," he grinned playfully as she walked into the kitchen to most likely throw away the tissue. When she came back again, she sat back down, Indian style, and grabbed the bottle from its position on the floor between them.

Another moment of silence found its way to surround them once again. As Billie Joe took a deep swig of the wine, he felt Maria's chocolate eyes on him. Pulling the bottle away from his lips, he slowly locked eyes with her, feeling the lump in his throat make him feel like he'd suffocate.

"Remember your birthday?"

"My twentieth?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "The night we met. Remember how I thought you were such a loser walking into my room, thinking it was the bathroom?"

"You thought I was a loser?"

Maria grinned. "Initially. But then you started to talk, and I realized what a charmer you were."

"That a good or bad thing?"

"Not sure. I'd like to think it's a good thing. I mean, you got me in bed within three hours of meeting."

Billie Joe scowled, jokingly, as if he was insulted. "You insisted. And all we did was sleep. There wasn't any hanky panky."

Biting her bottom lip once more, Maria scooted closer to him and then laid down on her side, propping her head up with her elbow and hand. She looked up at him and sighed. "Yeah," she muttered.

Finally able to swallow back the lump, Billie Joe couldn't resist in brushing back some random strands of hair from out of her face. "Remember our first time?"

She looked up at him, a smile that seemed both happy and sad, and nodded. "Every time was like the first time."