Love and Conspiracy

People were scattered all around as I managed to make my way through the house. When they said it was gonna be a party, I hardly imagined that many people would show up. But I suppose the more, the merrier, as they say. There were several kegs in the corner of the room while the tables were filled with beer, punch, snacks, as well as everything else that would complete a party.

The guys had all decided that they were going to wait until after they performed to do any drinking, so they could do the celebrating afterwards. In the meantime, they all found a place in the backyard to sit until they were given the OK to start performing. Jess and I, on the other hand, went straight for the beer.

In the midst of our little hunt for alcohol, we lost each other. However, it didn’t take me long to bump into someone else that we knew. Kat.

“Where is everyone?” she yelled over the loud voices. I pointed towards the back.

“Backyard,” I replied. She turned and walked away without saying anything else to me. After grabbing another beer, I followed her back outside.

By the time I found them again, Mike and Billie were cracking jokes; Tre and Kat were making out; while Jess and Chris were on the other side of the yard, talking. Once Mike caught sight of me, he motioned me over.

“Good, you came back just in time before we have to go on,” Mike said.

“Oh yeah? Why isn’t everyone gathering out here then?” I asked, causing him to chuckle.

“Oh, they will be once we get the music going,” Billie answered.

“Tre! Stop your face-sucking, it’s time for your moment in the spotlight!” a random guy yelled, whom I’m assuming was his friend. It took another few seconds before he actually stopped.

“Alright, let’s do this fucker!” Tre yelled, excitedly.

“Well, good luck! You guys will be great like always,” I said to the three of them. As Mike pulled me into a kiss, I could feel Billie briefly looking at us before he walked towards the make-shift stage. A twinge of guilt was set in the back of my mind.

“That’s all the luck I need,” Mike said sweetly, heading back to the stage with the rest of them.

Once they plugged in and started the sound check, groups of people slowly made their way to the backyard. Not wanting to be part of the crowd this time, I sat on the table near the house.

The first chord Billie played rung throughout the yard. Everyone cheered for them to begin their opening song, which was obvious that Billie soaked up every second of it with joy.

“You all ready for some music?” Billie spoke into the microphone. People lightly yelled back in response. “What was that? We’re not playing fucking lullabies here! You wanna hear some damn music or what?!” he screamed. Once he got the reaction he wanted, he flashed his crooked smile before taking a deep breath and starting to put his all into the beginning song.

“People try to put us down,
Just because we get around.
Things they do look awful cold,
I hope I die before I get old.
My generation!”

The crowd started to go wild within the first minute of the song, as a small mosh-pit began in the front of the stage. Jess eventually joined me on the back table, both of us cheering and singing along when we got the chance. It was the happiest moment of the night for me.

~~~

“Drink, drink, drink, drink…” everyone chanted throughout the house. Tre was attempting his second keg stand of the night, doing a slightly better job than the first time. He managed to last a little over a minute before tumbling over, gone far past the line of being buzzed.

“Whoooo!” was all he could scramble up to say. Chris helped him up, clumsily, as the next guy took Tre’s place on the keg.

I could feel myself swaying back and forth to the music inside as I sat on the couch with Jess. Everything around just seemed to blur together as I was gulping down my sixth beer.

“Damn, girl! You better watch yourself with those. They’ll kick your ass in the morning,” Jess said, surprisingly clear for her being drunk as well.

“Ohh, shhh! I’ll be just fine!” I yelled back at her, with a slur in my voice. She laughed.

“Whatever you say, babe,” she mumbled while putting her arm around me. As I glanced around the room, I saw Kat disgustedly looking at us with a raised eyebrow. Without even thinking, I pointed in her direction and burst out laughing uncontrollably. That immediately caused her to roll her eyes and walk out of the room, which just made me simply crack up even more. Jess quickly joined in with me once she saw who I was pointing at.

“She,” I hiccupped, interrupting myself, “she has no sense of humor, whatsoever!” I finished a little too loudly. Jess laughed even more.

“You got that right!”

“Hey! Hey, where is everybody?” I mumbled to Jess.

“Hmm, I don’t know. Wanna go on a search?”

She helped me get steady on my feet before we went on our journey. We went straight for the backyard first, figuring they would all be back there. Tre was laughing and smoking a joint with a group of people in one corner, while Chris was sitting on the small stage talking to a couple guys.

“Hey, babe!” Chris called over to Jess as we made our way over to them. He patted the spot next to him for her to sit in. She hopped right on and joined their conversation. I must’ve stood there for a good twenty minutes, laughing along with them before realizing that I had no idea what they were talking about. Instead of continuing to stand there and looking like an idiot, I decided that I would go look for the others.

I wandered around the house, dodging through people as I tried to look for a familiar face. I was failing for quite some time until I saw Billie through the front window. He was standing on the porch, laughing and talking to someone. A girl, to be specific. My stomach dropped a little bit, but I forced a smile on my face. I was happy that he met someone. At least, I told myself I was.

Not wanting to disturb Billie, I continued on through the house looking for Mike. He was the only person that I hadn’t seen all night ever since they got done performing. However, from what I heard from Jess, he was pretty hammered.

After looking throughout the living room, kitchen, and backyard, I still couldn’t find him anywhere. The only other place that I could think of to look was the bedrooms. I couldn’t imagine why he’d be in any of those, but it wouldn’t hurt to look, right?

Wrong.

~~~

There was only one room left for me to check in before I had checked the whole house. When I poked my head around the corner, I smiled as I saw Mike sitting on the couch in the room. However, my eyes trailed along his arm that was draped over the shoulders of the one person I did not want it to be.

Kat looked up at me as an evil smirk spread across her face. Before I could process what was happening, she grabbed Mike’s face and kissed him in front of me. I stood there, wide-eyed as he wrapped his other arm around her and they began to make out. Everything seemed to slow down so I could only hear my heart beat as I watched the scene play out in front of me. In one quick moment though, reality hit me again as I felt like I was about to puke. Speechless, I ran towards the nearest exit out.

As soon as I felt the cool, outside air hit my face, the tears started to pour down my face. Without thinking, I clumsily ran off the porch where Billie and the other girl were standing.

“Luce, what’s wrong?” I heard Billie say as I bolted down the street. I had no idea where I was heading, but all I knew was that I wanted to get the hell out of there; to forget everything that I had just seen. I didn’t make it far before somebody stopped me in my tracks. I spun around to see Billie’s concerned face. I just broke down crying even more than I already was. “Hey, hey, hey. What’s the matter?” he asked.

“That bitch!” I screamed, drunkenly, “That fucking bitch is what the matter is!”

“Shh, shh. Who’s the bitch?”

“That fucking whore, slut thing that Tre calls a girlfriend!” I yelled, letting out another sob, “I hate her!”

“Kat? What’d she say this time?” he asked calmly.

“Say?! She didn’t say anything! She just fucking did it!” I said, walking off into the middle of the street, once again being stopped by him.

“What did she do?” he asked, a little more frustrated. I looked up at him for a split moment, before letting out another sob.

“She kissed him! That fucker kissed him!” I yelled incredulously.

“Kissed who, Tre?”

“Mike! She fucking kissed Mike!” I said. He was taken aback. I looked down at the ground re-playing the situation in my mind. “He didn’t stop her, though,” I said helplessly, “He just continued shoving his tongue down her throat.” I yelled at the sky, before letting more large amounts of tears come down my face. Billie was speechless.

“Are you sure it was Mike?” he asked, quietly.

“Yes, it was fucking Mike! I’m pretty sure I know what my fucking boyfriend looks like!” I yelled incredulously.

“Goddammit, Mike,” he mumbled to himself, most likely not wanting me to hear. I quickly realized that I had interrupted his talk with the girl.

“Oh my god, here I am making a scene when you were talking to a nice girl over there,” I said, sobbing, “Don’t worry about me, Billie. It’s okay, go have a good time. I won’t let myself ruin your night.” I couldn’t control myself from rambling.

“No, I could care less about her right now! You’re upset for chrissakes; I’m not going to leave you out here alone,” he yelled back at me, obviously a little drunk himself, too. That caused me to cry even more.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered. He took a step towards me.

“Sorry? Luce, you have nothing to be sorry for,” he said, wrapping his arms around me in a hug, “I can’t believe you have to go through this fucking situation for the second time.” I continued to cry. “Did you say anything when you saw them?” he questioned, causing me to shake my head.

“No, I just ran,” I said, muffled against his shirt.

“God, I’m gonna kick his ass!” he abruptly yelled. I panicked at the thought as he let go of me.

“No! Please don’t, Billie!” I said frantically. He looked back over at me, sympathetically.

“This is not fair to you, Luce! He can’t do this freely and get away with it,” he said.

“I know, but he must be drunk. He wouldn’t do it otherwise!” I tried hopelessly to defend him. Billie shook his head.

“That’s no excuse.” he said, storming back towards the house. I ran after him and grabbed his wrist.

“Billie, no! For the love of god, don’t!” I pleaded, crying more.

“Why the hell shouldn’t I?!”

“Because I still love him, no matter what!” I yelled. He turned around, a hurt look on his face. It took a moment before he sighed.

“He’s out of his fucking mind,” he mumbled, “Only someone insane would cheat on somebody as perfect as you are.” My tears subsided for a moment.

“Perfect?” I repeated quietly to myself, not believing what he had just said. I couldn’t recall the last time, if at all, someone had said that about me. His emerald green eyes looked at me longingly.

“Yes, you are fucking perfect, Lucy,” he restated before doing the unexpected. He stepped towards me again, firmly put his hands on the sides of my face and passionately kissed me. The fireworks immediately went off in my head. However, instead of following what my mind was telling me and pushing him away, I let my hands snake into his hair and kissed him back eagerly. I quickly felt myself go weak, causing him to wrap his arms around me and pull me closer to him.

I could honestly say that was the first time I had experienced such an invigorating feeling from just a simple kiss. It was like as if the previous events had completely disappeared and all that mattered was us in that moment. Although, it could’ve just felt that way since I was still drunk.

Our breaths intensified as he grabbed handfuls of my hair and continued to kiss me. His gentle, yet fervent kisses just caused me to want him even more. However, our special moment was abruptly interrupted once we heard someone down the street.

“Billie? Where are you?” a girl’s voice softly yelled. Our lips finally separated and we looked at each other for a long moment. Reality slowly seeped back into my mind and the nauseas feeling quickly came back. I had done what I had just been so upset about Mike doing. “Billie?” the girl called again.

“Uh, yeah. Be there in a bit!” he yelled back, not taking his eyes off of me. I started to shake uncontrollably, gently pushing him away and running towards the nearest alley before I threw up. That was the easiest way to help sober me up. Right after I finished, I felt a soft hand on my back.

“Give me a cigarette,” I said suddenly on impulse, standing upright.

“What?” Billie said, not believing me.

“You heard me.”

“But you don’t smoke.”

“I do now, just give me a cigarette,” I said in an irritated voice.

“Luce, I don’t think-”

“Give me a fucking cigarette, Billie Joe!” I screamed at him. He quickly got the pack out of his pocket and handed them to me.

After I fumbled to light it, I took a deep breath of smoke. I immediately started to cough, disgusted by its taste. I couldn’t even think of taking another inhale of it, so I handed it to Billie, trying to stop my coughs in the meantime.

“What the hell did we do?” I asked quietly, “Now I’m no better off than he is.” Billie was silent.

“Well, I would apologize for doing it, but I would be lying to you,” he softly admitted. I looked up at him, causing him to look over at me, as well. His green eyes sparkled as he continued, “I really wish I had been the one to meet you first.”