Always There

Billie Joe stood in the extra bedroom of Adrienne's parents' house, where Adrienne was standing at the dresser, putting on a pair of earrings. He'd been trying to get her out of her funk for the past hour, a funk he didn't understand why she was in. She wasn't PMSing, no one had died, and he was pretty damn sure he hadn't said or done anything wrong.

He tried dancing around like a sex-deprived Oompa Loompa while only wearing his bathtowel around his waist. He serenaded her with 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight' and 'In The Jungle.' But she still seemed to be distant toward him.

Giving up, he turned from her and pulled his clothes out of his suitcase and started to get dressed. Combing through his hair, he looked himself over in the mirror as Adrienne stepped passed him.

"I'm gonna go see if the boys are dressed and ready," she informed, stepping out of the bedroom and shutting the door behind her.

As soon as he heard her footsteps dying down the hall, he let out a frustrated growl at the door.

"What...the...fuck?!" he grumbled to himself. Pulling out his socks he sank down onto the bed and began to put them on.

Adrienne's funk was starting to put him in one.

* * *

A half hour later, the Amstrongs were sitting in a church pew with the Nessers for the Christmas Eve service as the Pastor droned on and on. At some point, Billie Joe's head rolled back and the sound of him lightly snoring caused both his sons to nudge each other, point at their dad and giggle. When Adrienne noticed, she scowled and shook his arm.

Stirring awake, he wiped some drool from the corner of his mouth and gave an apologetic smile in time for the congregation to stand up to single 'Silent Night.'

As soon as the service was over, and they were driving back toward his in-law's, Adrienne turned to him in their rented car and laid into him.

"What the hell is your problem? Falling asleep in church? And snoring?" she shook her head. "There're times when it's okay for you to be immature because of who you are, but damn, Billie."

"Christ, what's your problem? You know how I feel about church. Neither of us are religious people--"

"But the one time in a year we go and you have to fall asleep? As if you don't embarrass me in front of my parents enough."

"So, that's it? I embarrass you? Oh, well, I'm sorry that I'm such an embarrassing fuck-up, Adrienne. What can I possibly do for you to forgive me? Oh, wait. Better yet, what can I do to get you out of this 'Bitch' mode you've been in for the past fuckin' month?" he ranted, switching his eyes back and forth between his wife and the snowy road before them.

"Chill out," she snapped, her eyes gesturing to their sons who's postures were slunched at the sound of their parents arguing. "It's Christmas, let's just drop it for now, okay?"

Billie Joe pursed his lips, his eyes firmly planted on the road, but his mind was racing with so much frustration and angst that it was a miracle he didn't just let out a growl and run the car off the road on purpose.

"Well, Merry-fucking-Christmas," he mumbled to himself.

* * *

The next morning, Billie Joe was lying on his side in the living room of his in-law's house, grinning as the boys tore into their presents like ravenous vultures. They enjoyed every single thing they got, except for the clothes. In that case, they feigned interest. That, alone, amused the punk rocker like crazy.

After all was said and done, and everyone was sitting amongst a pile of multi-colored wrapping paper, Billie Joe excused himself and grabbed up his cell phone. Disappearing into the kitchen, he sat down at the table and dialed Maria's home phone number, waiting as the ringing wore on.

In her Long Island home, Maria stumbled over her children as she plopped down onto the couch and grabbed up the phone; tucking her feet up under her and tugging her robe closed a little more.

"Hello?"

"Merry Christmas," Billie Joe announced with a smile, leaning back in his chair.

Maria's face lit up as her eyes flickered over to Olivia who was happily gathering up all her unwrapped presents and moving them to her own section of the floor; away from her brothers'.

"Hey, Merry Christmas to you, too," she replied. "Did Santa bring you everything you wanted?"

Hesitating, Billie Joe tried to think of something funny to say in response but he couldn't come up with anything so he simply nodded his head as he muttered, "For the most part, yeah."

"That's good."

"How about you? Were you a good girl or did you get a stocking full of coal?"

"A bit of both," she joked. "So...you wanna talk to Livvie?"

"Yeah, of course."

Maria held the cordless phone out as she nodded to her daughter. "Olivia."

The preteen looked over at her mom and got up when she saw the phone pointed at her. Walking across the room she sank down beside Maria and took the phone. "Hello?" she asked warily.

"Hey, hon," Billie Joe grinned to himself. "It's me."

Like her mother, Olivia's eyes seemed to light up at the sound of her father's voice. "Hey!" she exclaimed. "Hi."

"How was your Christmas? Did you get the presents I sent you?"

"Uh-huh, and I love them. Especially the pink iPod. It's so cool. Mitch said it was a waste of money, but now I got one and it's so cool."

Billie Joe frowned a little. "You talk about Mitch like that when he's there?"

"No, he's at his office 'cause he has some court thing tomorrow in Manhattan," Olivia replied. "Oh, and Ben and Nate like their gifts, too. My mom's mouthing at me to tell you that."

"Good, I'm glad." He licked his upper lip and leaned forward on the table, propping his head up sideways in his hand. "D'your mom like her gift, too?"

"You got her a present, too?"

"Yeah. Didn't she open it?"

"I dunno," Olivia shrugged, glancing at her mom. "I wasn't paying attention to what she got."

"Oh."

"I'll put her back on the phone. You can ask her yourself," the twelve-year-old said before Billie Joe had a chance to respond.

In a matter of a second, the phone had changed hands again.

"Hi," Maria began slowly.

"Hi," Billie Joe repeated. Silence fell on both ends as he twirled his right pointer along the smooth surface of the table. "So, did you get the gift I sent you?"

Maria bit her bottom lip, rolling up the sleeve of her left wrist to admire the diamond tennis bracelet she was wearing. "Yes, I did. But you really didn't have to," she insisted.

"Nah, I wanted to. I figure, you've been wearing the same, knock-off bracelet every Christmas for the past thirteen years, you should at least have the real deal."

Maria gave Olivia a look as she smirked. "She told you about that, didn't she?"

"Guilty," Billie Joe laughed. "Tell me something, though. Was Mitch able to tell the difference between the zirconia and the actual diamonds?"

"Heh...well, he was gone before the majority of the gifst were opened this morning."

Silence fell again. Billie Joe could tell by the sound in Maria's voice when she answered that she wasn't in the mood to talk about it. However, they did chat for a bit longer about what each other had done for the holiday so far, as well as talking about what they were planning for New Years. Billie Joe mentioned how he wanted to bring his family to New York City, but apparently Adrienne wanted to stay in Minneapolis to still visit with her folks whom she hadn't seen in a while.

In the end, Billie Joe had decided he'd bring Joey with him and Jakob would stay with Adrienne, and Billie Joe told Maria that he wanted her to bring her family over if they didn't have anything planned. It was something that the Long Island housewife agreed to.

New Years Eve in New York City, it was.