Love and Conspiracy

He smiled gently as he cocked an eyebrow at me. “Yes I am…and you are?”

“I’m, uh… I’m Lucy.” I stuttered, trying to think of the right thing to say. He set the guitar down and stood up, sticking his hand out towards me. I slowly reached for it, still in a daze, and we shook hands.

“Nice to meet you,” His smile widened, “Now, how might you know me?” He asked curiously.

“Oh, well… you’re in Green Day, right?” He nodded his head and chuckled.

“I sure am. I’m surprised to actually meet someone down here in Arizona that knows who we are. We’re barely even popular in California.” He said as he sat down.

“Well, I went to California last year and my friend took me to one of your shows. You guys were great!” I replied, sitting down next to him. He laughed.

“Thanks. It’s always good to hear feedback from the fans.” We remained quiet for a moment.

“So what are you doing at a Guitar Center here in Arizona? Seems a little odd, don’t you think?” I asked breaking the silence.

“Actually, Tre, our drummer, is here for personal business so I agreed to come along with him and get out of the house for a bit. However, I wanted to give him his privacy, so I decided to come here and play around with the guitars for awhile since it was just down the street.”

“Oh, well what a coincidence that you would be here the same time that I showed up,” I laughed to myself, “Plus, you happened to be playing my favorite guitar.”

“Oh, I was? Hah, well I guess we have the same taste in acoustics then. That one sounds great.”

We smiled at each other as I continued staring into his gorgeous, sparkling blue eyes. Once I realized what I was doing, I quickly looked away and felt immediately embarrassed. Fortunately, Sam came in at that moment and said, “Hey, sorry to kick you guys out, but we’re closing early tonight.” I felt a rush of relief as we walked out to the parking lot. We stopped and awkwardly looked at each other.

“So, is your car around here? I can walk you to it.” He asked.

“Well, actually, I walked here. I don’t have a car.” I said, a scowl grew on my face as I thought of Greg. His eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Oh, really? In that case, I can give you a ride home if you want.” He offered.

“No, no, it’s fine. I only live right down the street, I’ll be fine walking.” He frowned.

“Really, I would feel better if I just gave you a ride home. I would be worried letting a girl like you walk down the street at night.” I laughed.

“A girl like me? What’s that supposed to mean?” I joked.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but this area doesn’t seem too safe to me. I wouldn’t trust the people around here.”

“So why should I trust you?” I teased. His grin widened.

“Touché,” he chuckled.

“Alright, fine. I’ll let you give me a ride.”

“Great.” He smiled as I followed him back to his car.

“So, how long are you going to be in town for?” I asked curiously to break the ice once again.

“Uh, until Tuesday I believe.” He said as he drove down the street.

“Oh, I live at this next house.” I said pointing to the left. “Well, I hope you have fun for the rest of time you’re here and good luck with the band.”

“Will I see you again?” He asked. I smiled at him.

“Well, I’m sure I’ll be out and about while you’re here. So there’s a good chance we’ll run into each other.”I said as I opened the car door. He smiled back.

“Awesome. I’ll see you around then.”

“See ya. Thanks for the ride by the way.”

“No problem.” He said before I closed the door. I headed towards my front porch and before
I could even get my keys out, the front door swung open and my favorite person was standing there.

“Where the fuck have you been?” He growled, blocking the way. I could immediately feel all my stress and hatred flowing back into me as I heard Mike drive away.

“It’s really none of your business, so move out of my way.” I said, not making eye contact.

“Don’t talk to me like that. Do you have no manners?” He said in a mocking tone. I rolled my eyes and pushed passed him. “Who the hell do you think you are?” He yelled at me as I went upstairs.

“Your daughter!” I screamed back from the top of stairs.

“You’re no daughter of mine,” He yelled.

I slammed my door as hard as I could that caused the house to shake. I jumped on my bed, attempting to fall asleep, but I realized that it was only seven. “What am I supposed to do now?” I thought to myself. As soon as that crossed my mind, I began to think back to Scott, I couldn’t help the tears that were forming in my eyes, once again. However, I was soon interrupted by a tapping noise on my window. I quickly wiped my tears away and opened it to see Mike standing below with a smile on his face.

“What are you doing here?” I whispered loud enough so he could hear me.

“I thought you could use some fun.” He said, shrugging his shoulders. I smiled.

“I’ll be right down.” My worries immediately went away.

I locked the door so the bastard wouldn’t be tempted to spy on me and I climbed out the window. As I made my way to the nearest tree, my foot slipped on one of the tiles, causing me to lose my balance and slide off the side of the roof. Luckily, I happened to grab onto the gutter before I tumbled to the ground, but not for long. My hands were slowing slipping and I could see Greg getting up from his chair through the kitchen window. I let go and happened to fall right into Mike’s arms, making both of us fall back onto the ground.

“Ouch.”I said to myself.

“Are you okay?” I heard him say beneath me as he chuckled. I quickly got up.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. Are you hurt?” I asked frantically as he sat up and rubbed the side of his head.

“Nah, I’m fine.” At that moment, the back door swung open.

“Shit!” I whispered, pulling Mike along towards the bushes.

“Who’s out there?” Greg called out. We remained as quiet as we could behind the bushes underneath the porch.

“Make another noise, and you’re dead!” He called out to the backyard again, but soon went back inside. As soon as I heard the back door close, I let out a deep breath.

“That was close,” I whispered, “He would’ve slaughtered us both.”

“Better to die with someone than by yourself, don’t you think?” He joked. I playfully pushed him.

“Shut up.”

“Hey! Be careful! Don’t pick on the injured kid!” We both laughed.

“I’m really sorry about that.” I said seriously.

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” I smiled and looked into his eyes once again. The moonlight reflected perfectly off them, making them shine brilliantly. He nervously smiled.

“Ready to go?” I quickly shook my head to focus on what was going on and smiled.

“Yeah. Let’s get out of here.”