A Ballad For Beulah

Less than a year later, Green Day was out on tour yet again, but this time they weren't alone.

Oh, no.

They were sharing the tour with Blink 182, Jimmy Eat World and the unsigned, acid rock garage band Kut U Up that was friends with Mark Hoppus and Tom Delonge.

It was bound to be a crazy fun time. All the hijinks and shenanigans that would ensue would undoubtedly be unavoidable. And not to mention the camera crews that were following them around for the DVD that was being planned on showcasing said hijinks and shenanigans.

On the morning of April 21, 2002, the tour buses left Irvine, California where two nights of concerts had been played and the Green Day men had once again found themselves headed for Las Vegas for a show, this time at the MGM Grand.

Ironically, none of the bands were staying right at the MGM Grand. Instead they were staying at none other than the Bellagio. Though, they did spend time where they'd be playing because there was also a casino there was well.

That afternoon, once they arrived to the Sin City and got situated in their hotel suites, each band seemed to clump together and do their own thing. The camera crews stayed with Blink and Kut U Up while Jimmy Eat World hit up the Strip, whereas the Green Day men decided to go check out the MGM Grand and maybe get some gambling in there.

Around five, the trio was sitting in the hotel and casino's restaurant for a bit to eat, when Mike stood up and excused himself to go to the men's room. And it was on his way out that he more or less ran right into one of the servers because he'd been looking down at his hands which he hadn't completely dried.

"Oh shit," he muttered when the tray she was carrying began to slip. Catching it in time, he looked up at her, apologizing. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was---"

"Mike?"

"Beulah," he remarked with a surprised laugh.

"You are the last person I thought would run into me," she admitted honestly.

"Likewise." He stared at her for a moment, noticing how tired and harried she looked as she steadied the tray with his help.

"Thanks," she replied offering a smile, when he helped her with the tray again.

"You're welcome. Um...the three of us are in town till tomorrow, you know. We're playing a show here tomorrow night with Blink 182 and Jimmy Eat World."

"I know," she nodded. "I saw the advertisements in the paper and around here. I mean, I work here five days a week. I basically see everything that's going down, entertainment wise."

Mike smirked a little. "Well, uh, how are you?"

"Busy. I, uh...I really can't talk right now. I have like, five minutes left of my shift and then I really need to get home, so, if you could excuse me..." she began, trying to walk away.

"Beulah, wait."

She looked back at him as she began to walk away. "Hmm?"

"I know what happened between you and Billie two years ago, and I'm sorry he was such an ass for never calling you."

She shrugged and shook her head. "It's okay. I don't know what I would've said to him if he had."

"Well, he's here in the restaurant right now. All of us are. We're having dinner, but I think it might be a good idea if you and him could talk." Mike looked at her with endearing blue eyes, his light brown hair shagging a little around his face. "He did you wrong but I know he regrets hurting you."

"He has no idea," she responded in a soft voice.

Frowning as she turned and walked off with her tray in the opposite direction of the restaurant that the guys were sitting, Mike shoved his hands in his pockets and eyed Billie Joe immediately.

The green eyed guitarist was in the middle of laughing at something he and Tre were talking about when he looked up to see Mike's stern face.

"Did everything come out okay in there, Mikey?" he laughed. "Was it a double flusher?"

"Beulah's working here."

That sobered Billie Joe's mood right away. "What?"

"Beulah?" Tre questioned, a little confused at first. "Tom's Beulah?"

Mike nodded as he waited for Billie Joe to say more in regard to the subject at hand. "That's the one."

"How d'you know?" Billie Joe asked.

"Oh, I only ran into her when I came out of the bathroom and practically knocked the tray she was carrying out of her hands," Mike answered, taking a seat. "She looks pretty tired, like she works sixteen hour days, every day. Whatever it is that has her looking like that has aged her a bit. She doesn't look, what---twenty-two now? She looks our age."

Billie Joe swallowed back a lump in his throat.

Shit.

"Did you talk to her?" the guitarist wondered.

"Yeah, for about a second. Said she was busy. Her shift here ends in about five minutes and then she has to hurry home. And she knows we're playing here tomorrow. She's seen the advertisements and whatnot."

"Did she say anything else?"

"Well, I told her I knew about that thing and how you thought about it. You know. And she said you have no idea, and by 'you' she didn't mean anyone in general. She meant you, personally."

Tre licked his bottom lip, looking back and forth between his two friends, utterly lost. "Um, what are were talking about exactly?"

"Nothing," Billie Joe muttered, not taking his eyes off Mike. "Where is she now?"

Mike shrugged. "Floating around here for a bit longer."

Biting his lip, Billie Joe's green eyes shifted past Mike, searching amongst the tables of customers until they stopped moving. Mike knew when Billie Joe had spotted Beulah by the way the older man seemed to catch his breath in his throat.

"Bingo," Mike muttered a little sourly.

"I need to talk to her."

"Gee, ya think?"

Billie Joe narrowed his eyes at his best friend and shook his head. "Don't give me that shit, Mike. I still meant everything I told you about it all."

"And I don't doubt you, but I told you it would come back and bite you in the ass."

"Would anyone care to enlighten me in what's going on?" Tre demanded, frustrated about being kept in the dark.

"It doesn't concern you, Tre," Mike informed.

"So, now it's the Mike and Billie Club? No Tre Allowed?"

"Tre..." Mike began.

"I'll be right back, guys," Billie Joe said, standing up abruptly.

Without another word, the now lean, punk rocker moved through the tables, weaving in and out, closing in on where Beulah was standing at the other end of the restaurant. Taking a deep breath, he looked down briefly at her backside, mentally kicking himself.

Stop it, you ass. That's what got you in trouble in the first place.

But then, "Bee."

She seemed to freeze at the sound of his voice muttering her nickname. And as she slowly turned her head, Billie Joe was met with tired blue eyes that seemed a little heart broken. And he wasn't sure what to say. Everything he'd ever planned on saying seemed to fade away to unknown corners of his mind, abandoning him completely.

"Uh, hi," she replied.

"I, um...I wanted to know if we could talk?"

"What's there to talk about?" she inquired, moving toward the kitchen. But Billie Joe followed her.

"Everything," he answered. "I know I was a huge asshole for leaving you in the lurch like that, for never calling you back, but I did look for you last year when we were in town at the Cox Pavilion."

"Wow," she muttered flatly, setting the tray with dirty dishes on the counter by the sink and taking off her apron, hanging it up. "You really looked hard, didn't you?"

"I went to the Bellagio and I went back to your apartment, but you didn't work there and you didn't live there anymore. I looked your number up in the phone book. I couldn't find you."

"There were a number of resources you coulda tried. Tom, for one."

"And what was I gonna say, Bee? 'Hey Tom, I need your sister's number 'cause I fucked her all night long, went back to my wife and kids and now I want to call her and see how she's doing?'"

"No, you could've said, 'Hey Tom, I ran into your sister while I was in Vegas and I lost her number. Could you give it to me?' You could've lied." She then shook her head. "You're pretty good at it."

Billie Joe's shoulders slumped as he looked at her defeated expression. He could tell she was upset with him, but at the same time she looked like she was trying to forgive him.

"Could we please just go somewhere and talk?" he begged.

"I can't just go somewhere. I really have to go home. Didn't Mike tell you that much?"

"Yeah, he did. But, then...let me come home with you."

"To fuck me again?"

Billie Joe's face fell as he shook his head adamantly. "No. To talk. I-I'll even bring Mike and Tre if you want."

"I don't want a crowd."

"Then...then I'll just bring Mike. He's the only one who knows about us."

"Billie...there is no us. There's a you, there's a me. And there's...nevermind. I...I really don't think you should come back to my place with me."

"Why not?"

He looked at her with those green eyes she'd fallen so in love with when she was just ten, and she couldn't help but cave. Letting out a sigh, she pushed a few strands of sandy blonde hair out of her eyes.

"Fine. You and Mike can come home with me, and...that really sounded a little less weird in my head..."

Billie Joe smirked. "Thanks for giving me this chance to talk to you."

"Don't mention it."

* * *

After sending a disgruntled Tre on his way, Billie Joe and Mike tagged along with Beulah as she gave them a ride in her same old crappy car to an equally crappy neighborhood.

Not that it was a ghetto, but it wasn't exactly Beverly Hills either.

They walked up three flights of stairs before they came to her floor, and thankfully there wasn't a long walk to go. Her apartment was the one nearest to the stairwell.

"Could you guys just...wait out here? I'll just be a minute."

Both guys looked at her, then each other, then back again and nodded. Beulah slipped into her apartment and closed the door. The two punk rockers heard her muffled voice as she was talking to someone inside. Mike looked to Billie Joe and Billie Joe looked to Mike.

Then, suddenly the door swung open and a middle aged woman stepped out and smiled at the two men.

"Hello," she spoke, nodding to each of them, then glancing back at Beulah who was standing in the doorway. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Thanks, Evelyn. See ya." With that, Beulah sighed and ushered the guys inside. "If you could talk a little softly while you're hear, I'd appreciate it. I, uh...I have a cranky neighbor who bitches at the slightest ounce of noise and the walls here are, um, really thin."

"No problem," Mike muttered, his hands stuffed in his pockets, looking around at the place.

"What happened to your other place?" Billie Joe asked. "The one that was rent controlled that you liked."

"I had to give it up. Even with rent control, it became hard to keep up with the rent. I've, um, kinda fallen on hard times. Money seems to be going towards other things as soon as I get it. I can afford this place, though. And it's enough. Not much to look at, but I've made it as homey as possible."

Mike felt horrible for her. Here she was; young, pretty...and struggling so hard to make ends meet.

"You know, if there's anything we can do---"

"I don't need charity," she cut him off, the winced. "Sorry. Just a little tired, lately. But, uh...sit down." She gestured to the couch. "Can I get you something to drink?" she asked, heading into the small kitchenette.

"Uh...what do you have?" Billie Joe wondered.

"Water from the tap, milk, orange juice, Kool-Aid..."

"Kool-Aid's fine," Billie Joe replied.

"Same here," Mike added, as both men took a seat side by side with each other.

When Beulah came back into the living room, holding two glasses of red Kool-Aid, she sat down in the chair across front of them.

"So, what do you want to talk about, Billie? How's life been treating me? How's my super fun job at the MGM Grand? Shit like that?"

"Well, sorta, I guess. Ah, who was that lady?" he asked, thumbing at the door. "Evelyn you called her?"

"She's my neighbor. She, uh...she watches the place for me while I'm at work. Because...uh, there's been break-ins at empty apartments, so she keeps an eye on everything for me."

"What about her place?"

"Her husband is retired and at home all the time."

"Oh," Billie Joe replied lamely, even though he could tell there was something else to it.

Mike noticed it too. Beulah just seemed a little suspicious and antsy. Like she was hiding something.

"I wanna apologize again, Bee. For treating you like I did. I didn't mean to just...leave you like that. But I got scared. Scared of what would happen if Adie found out. I know I told you I was on the verge of giving up on my marriage, but then after me and you...after we...well, I realized just how much Adrienne meant to me and how badly I wanted to fix things with her. And I did do that."

"I knew you'd go back to Adrienne, Billie. I'm not stupid. Even though a part of me always wished I could have you to myself. But that's not saying you still didn't hurt my feelings and left me with...some things to deal with. And believe me when I say---"

THWAP!

All three jumped at the sound of an apartment door down the hall slamming shut, followed by heavy footsteps that diminished with each step they took.

"Oh, shit," Beulah muttered, as she swallowed back a lump in her throat.

For a moment, both men were confused, just as a baby's wailing began to echo from one of the two small bedrooms that apartment had.

"Shit," she muttered again. "Uh...I'll be right back."

Beulah jumped to her feet and scurried to the door to one of the two bedrooms. The crying became louder as she opened it, and then muffled again once it was shut. Narrowing his eyes, Billie Joe looked at Mike in confusion.

"Does Beulah have a kid?"

Mike shrugged. "Sounds like it," he replied, standing up at the same time as his best friend.

Needing to feed their curious minds, Mike and Billie Joe set down their drinks and walked out of the tiny living room to the bedroom Beulah had disappeared into.

Knocking lightly, Billie Joe didn't bother waiting for an answer as he pushed the door open and stepped inside.

"Beulah, is everything alri---"

He stopped in his tracks, causing Mike to bump into his back.

"What's going---"

Mike stopped too.

Beulah was holding a little boy in her arms that had to be no older than a year old. His hair was light brown, and already slightly thick and curly. His adorable little face was red and stained with tears as he was being hushed and rocked by the obviously tired and frustrated Beulah.

"Bee? Is he yours?" Billie Joe wondered.

She turned her blue eyes to him, her chin quivering with emotion that was screaming to spill from her every pore.

"He's half mine."

Moving over to Billie Joe, she handed the little boy over to the punk rocker, who took the child in his arms with some surprise.

"What the--" he began in protest.

"Who's the dad?" Mike asked, ever so curious.

"Take a long, hard look," she replied as she stepped past the men and her son, exiting the room with tears welling up in her eyes.

Billie Joe and Mike watched as she walked out of the room but then both looked at the child. Propping the boy up in his arms, the guitarist looked him over and felt like he was gonna have an anxiety attack right where he stood.

"Bill, am I missing something? What are we looking for?"

Billie Joe couldn't take his eyes off the boy who seemed to be settling down some. The older man's lips quivered as he tried to say something coherently, and finally managing two words.

"Billie, what's wrong? Do you know who---"

"Green eyes," Billie Joe muttered in disbelief. "Green eyes..."