Always There

For the Thanksgiving holiday, Maria had about five days off of school and she was planning on driving home to San Diego for those couple of days. And she asked Billie Joe if he wanted to come with her and meet her family. He agreed. Telling the guys he'd be out of town for a couple of days so they wouldn't take on any gigs with him not there to perform in, he then went on to pack a small bag of clothes and his guitar.

The drive down to San Diego from Berkeley was a long one. A little over seven hours. They left after her last class on that Tuesday which was at around four thirty in the evening. Along with stopping to get a quick something to eat along the way, consisting mostly of French fries due to both of them having converted to being vegetarians. That alone was a running joke for the trip. They were headed to San Diego to spend time with her family for a holiday that centered around eating a turkey.

Maria's parents were in for a surprise when they stuck to the vegetables and buttered rolls and desserts.

A little before midnight, they pulled up in front of Maria's childhood home and the got out, stretching their arms and legs before looking up at the decent sized house. Billie Joe was certainly impressed. He was lucky if the house he grew up in was half the size of Maria's.

"What do your parents do, again?"

"Uh, my dad's a bankruptcy attorney," Maria replied, pulling her bag from the bag seat of her Pinto. "And my mom's teaches History and Government classes at one of the high schools mine was rivals with."

"Wow. They're obviously good at what they do."

"My dad, more so. You'd be surprised how many people go bankrupt," Maria smirked as they both lugged their belongings up the front walk to the porch. She turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. A single light was on in the living room at their right and the faint glow of light from the kitchen along with someone talking in a low voice caught their attention. "Who's up?" she called out.

Stepping out of the kitchen with a cordless phone was the guy around seventeen years old. He had chocolate brown hair and was faintly tanned. His brown eyes were a giveaway, though. It was like looking into Maria's eyes. This was clearly her brother Catcher.

Sure enough, Maria dropped her bags and walked up to him and they shared a hug as he muttered a, "Hold on," into the phone and then a, "My sister just got in. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Talking to a girlfriend?" Maria teased.

"No. Dylan."

"Ugh, that punk?" Maria scrunched her nose, then turned to Billie Joe. "And not 'punk' in your sense of the word, just soz ya know."

Billie Joe smiled a little and offered his hand to the teen. "You're obviously the brother."

"Yeah," Catcher replied with a nod, shaking hands with the guitarist. "And you're obviously the boyfriend. Or Temperance has some really ugly girl friends."

Billie Joe laughed but Maria simply punched her brother in the shoulder. "Retard. Billie would make a very hot woman," she joked. "If he were a girl and I was a lesbian, I'd still be with him. Or, uh...her."

They all smiled a little before Catcher said their parents were already asleep but said her bedroom was all set for her visit. He then bid them goodnight and headed upstairs to his own room after hanging up the kitchen phone.

After about a half hour of showing him around the house downstairs and grabbing some bowls of ice cream from the freezer, Maria and Billie Joe headed upstairs with their shit. Walking quietly along the bare wooden floors, they entered her bedroom.

It was pretty big.

She had a queen sized bed, two dressers, a desk, a color television set, a stereo, book shelf, a small, walk-in closet and a keyboard.

"You're musically enhanced?" Billie Joe inquired, amusedly.

"I used to take lessons a few years ago," she explained. "Now it's more of an extra shelf space. Usually."

The walls were painted purple and her bedspread was an off-white. She didn't have many frilly pillows like a typical girl would have. Nor did she have any stuffed animals, save for a pink Care Bear with a rainbow on its stomach that sat on her windowsill. Speaking of which, she had a fucking window bench!

"And I'm staying...where?" he wondered. "Am I leaving my stuff in here and then you're making up the couch for me? Or do I have to shack up with your little brother?"

Maria grinned, kicking her bags to the edge of the wall with her now bare foot. "No, you're staying in here with me."

Billie Joe just stared at her for a moment, letting it register. "Seriously? You sure your parents aren't gonna kick my ass for sleeping in the same bed with their daughter? I mean...there's not, like...an extra bedroom?"

"Oh, there's an extra bedroom. But they don't care. They know I'm an adult now and make my own decisions. And I didn't have to come home. Even if they were against the idea, they'd have to accept both or none at all."

"Oh, so now you don't care what people think about you being associated with me?" he raised an eyebrow devilishly.

"Oh, that was so funny. I think I even peed a little." She rolled her eyes, turning down the bed. "No...my parents are so liberal about shit like this it would make your head spin. And then fall off."

"My kind of parents, then, I guess."

Maria snickered and quickly stripped free of her clothes and stood there in the center of her bedroom in just her undergarments. Skimpering over to her dresser she pulled out an oversized T-shirt that was brandishing the fact that it was a Madonna tour shirt from the Blonde Ambition tour. Billie Joe laughed and read the dates on the back of the shirt, finding about five dates played in may of 1990 in Los Angeles.

"I take it you went to see Madonna."

"Three times," she verified. "Twice for the Blonde Ambition tour. My parents had bought me a ticket for my 18th birthday. The second one I had was for the show the following night that I won from a radio station. But the first time I saw her in concert was in July of '87 during the Who's That Girl tour when she was in Anaheim."

"Dork," Billie Joe muttered teasingly.

"Loser."

"In the flesh."

"Speaking of flesh..." Maria trailed off, beckoning him to join her in bed. Soon, the sound of muffled giggles followed but went muted to the world outside the bedroom.