Give Me Novacaine

[THIRD PERSON POV]

Billie went into his home and saw his bandmates playing video games on the couch and heard grease sizzling coming from the kitchen.

"Billie! We haven't seen you all day. What's up?" Mike asked without breaking concentration from the TV.

"Oh, not much." He sat on the love seat that was caddy corner from the couch and removed his shoes. "I met a girl today."

Mike and Tre paused the game, looking at him. Mike was more so intrigued than Tre by the news.

"And?" Mike asked. Billie shrugged.

"She's cute and we got to know each other." He saw Mike smile and nod his head, wanting more details. "I... I don't know, I've had a long day. I should get to bed."

"Alright, bro, just let us know if you need us for anything," Mike said before playing the video game. Tre shouted at Mike, not having any warning that it was going to be un-paused.

Billie went up to his room and removed his clothes before changing into pajamas.

----------------------

Three days later, Billie woke up to complete silence in the house. He put on some slippers that were at the end of his bed and went downstairs to find that he was completely alone. There was a note on the kitchen table that read...

Billie,

Katie, Tre, and I all went out to go fishing for the day. It seems weird for us but Kate insisted that we go today to 'experience new things'. Whatever. We'll be home later tonight.

- Mike

Billie sighed and went to make himself some breakfast: scrambled eggs, hash-browns, toast, and orange juice. He was trying to experiment with being vegetarian so sausage wasn't an option.

After two dropped eggs, spilled orange juice, and burnt toast later Billie called it quits and just ate what he had already made. He thought about Alyssa, or Ayla as she prefers, and how he was looking forward to their date. She had given him her number before they parted ways after he took her home so he decided to call her up.

The line ringed a couple times before she answered.

"Hey! It's Billie."

"Hey!" He became nervous and didn't know what to say.

"So... how are you?" He asked. He heard some ruffling sounds in the background and other soft voices.

"I'm... I'm okay. I'm in Ohio right now for a family friend's funeral." He noticed that the background noise had faded away quite a bit.

"Oh, wow. I'm so sorry. If this is a bad time I can call you in a couple of days-"

"It's okay, it's actually a perfect time. We're getting everything set up for the memorial service now and since they don't need me to help with anything I've just been sitting around." She sighed. "So, what's up?"

"Oh! Well..." Billie paused. "I was just wondering when you'd like to go out sometime?"

Ayla paused on the other end of the line.

"How about this... I get back to California in two days. My flight comes in around noon and as long as I have time to rest and become decent looking, we can shoot for Friday."

Billie smiled.

"Friday sounds wonderful," he stated.

Ayla agreed. Billie and her exchanged their goodbyes before hanging up the phone.

-------------------------

[FRIDAY]

Billie looks at himself in the mirror one last time before checking the time... it was 1:30pm. Ayla was expecting him to pick her up at 2:00 for their reservations at 3:00. Billie wore a freshly ironed black button up shirt with black blacks and a matching leather belt.

"I'm heading out!" He said to the guys as he approached the front door. "I don't know when I'll be back so you don't need to worry about dinner for me."

"Are you having your date tonight?" Tre asked. Billie smiled and nodded. "I wish you all the luck in the world, bro."

"Thank you. I have a feeling that this is my last first date... ever."

They exchanged a few more words and Kate lectured him on not pressuring the girl to do 'anything she didn't want to do' on the first date. Billie kept saying 'okay' and tried leaving but Kate knew the heartbreak that he had been through recently.

"Kate!" Billie said in a raised voice. "It'll be okay. I'll be back later tonight."

Billie exited the house and started up his car, driving towards Ayla's apartment.

It wasn't more than 10 minute later that he parked the car and went up to her door. When she emerged he was speechless. She was in a short black dress, black flats, and had her hair curled just enough to give it the perfect amount of volume.

"You look absolutely beautiful," Billie said, holding out his hand. Ayla smiled and took his hand after locking her door.

"And you look stunning yourself, Armstrong." He tried hard not to blush and turned away quickly.

They finally made it to Olive Garden, where they'd be having their first date. Billie turned the ignition off and quickly made his way to the passenger side so he could open the door for her.

"Wow, I even get door service. This is a great date already," she laughed as she put her hand on his shoulder. "Thank you."

He locked the car doors and they proceeded to go into the restaurant, his hand softly touching the small of her back.

------------------------

"How was Ohio?" Billie asked her, taking a sip of his wine. Alyssa sat her fork down and leaned back in the booth. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, no. You're fine," she said. "It was just a crazy experience. I've never had anyone remotely close to me pass away."

"It truly is life changing." Billie looked down at his food but didn't want her to see so he quickly remade eye contact with her. "I'm really sorry, again."

Ayla shook her head.

"It's okay. Even though it was under horrible circumstances it was still nice to see everyone again."

"So, how long have you been here in California?"

"It's a long story," she laughed. "Just long enough for me to finally know my way around."

They both laughed and continued eating their food. During the rest of the date, Billie and Ayla asked each other some more personal questions that they did that day at Panera. She learned about his father's passing, his work with the band, and a little bit about his previous relationship.

"It's just been hard," Billie said. "I'm not holding any grudges or trying to hold onto something that doesn't exist but when someone decides overnight that they don't want you anymore... it's a huge shock."

Ayla nodded her head and had the waiter bring their check over.

[BILLIE'S POV]

"Come on..." She whispered and got out of the chair after I had paid for our dinner. I got up and stood next to her, confused. Ayla grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the restaurant.

"Where are we going?" I laughed, following behind her. She ran into the woods behind the restaurant. There was no light coming through the trees at all. "Alyssa!"

"Just keep on running," she called behind her. I watched her run as her knee-length dress struggled to stay up on her.

Finally, we reached something that looked to be a meadow. Ayla slowed down and once we reached it, she turned around, taking deep breaths.

"Where are we?" I breathed, loosening my tie. "And how did you know this was here?!"

"Oddly enough, this is where I would come when I first came to California," she said. "I know, it's pretty ridiculous that of all places we go out to eat..."

"No, I think it's great," I replied.

We eventually laid in the grass and continued to talk. She started laughing.

"We never left a tip," she laughed. I began laughing too. The both of us started cracking up at something that wasn't even remotely funny. I sensed that we both had an adrenaline rush. From us rolling around and laughing, I found myself half on top of her and our faces were close. Slowly, we stopped laughing and looked into each other's eyes.

"What would you do if I told you that you're the most beautiful woman I've ever met?" I whispered, leaving my hands on opposite sides of her.

"I'd tell you to kiss me," she whispered back. I smiled and leaned in to gently kiss her. Suddenly, I felt like everything with my ex-fiancee didn't matter anymore. Like this was where I was supposed to be and who I was supposed to end up with. We pulled apart and she bit her lip.

"Where should we go next?" I asked, still staring at her. She smiled and sat up, pushing me up along with her.

Alyssa shrugged her shoulders and said, "let's go to the beach."

"The beach?" I asked a little confused.

"Yeah! We could walk along the boardwalk."

I agreed and we got up, dusting each other off of grass.

We made our way back to the restaurant and got into my car without the employees seeing us... though we laughed the whole time. The beach wasn't that far of a drive from Oakland, so we got there with still enough sunlight. The both of us got out of the car and I opened my trunk, revealing all of my extra clothes that I carry with me.

"You keep clothes handy?" She asked, leaning against the car. I picked up a t-shirt, shorts, and some sandals.

"Yeah, don't you?" She shook her head.

"I think you're the only one," she laughed. I rolled my eyes.

"Do you need anything?" I asked. Alyssa came around and looked through my stuff. She picked out a t-shirt and shorts.

"Now let's hope they fit me," she said and put the shorts on under her dress and the shirt over her, taking her dress off underneath.

"Whoa!" I said, turning around. She laughed.

"Sorry about that, I should have warned you." I laughed. "Okay, you're good." I turned back around to see her in my clothes. Hot. She put her dress in the trunk and went barefoot, throwing her shoes along in there too.

"Where am I going to change?" I asked and scoped the place.

"Just do it here. I won't look." I shrugged my shoulders and quickly took my pants and shirt off, replacing them with the clothes I received from my car. She turned back around when I told her she could.

"Look at me, I look fat," she complained, pulling the shirt out as far as she could in front of her.

"Oh, it will. I'm not that much bigger than you," I said, putting my arm around her shoulders and walking off.

We got to the shore and there weren't that many people there. Walking along the water felt good, it was almost as if we were in some kind of movie. Her and I got to talking, about everything.

----------------

"And you just ran away like that?" I laughed, keeping my arm around her shoulder. She held onto my hand.

"We sure did."

"Okay, let me get this straight. You're what... fifteen?"

"We toilet papered this asshole's house, forked the yard, and picked up his mom who was insanely drunk," she finished. "We saw that cop lights on the street next to us and we all just jumped into a car and drove off."

I shook my head. "That's pretty good, but I have better."

"Oh, really?" I nodded my head. "Like what?"

I told a story about Mike and I in high school where we decided that it'd be fun to graffiti the side of the school with a whole bunch of punk icons and symbols. We saw the cops were coming and we ran away, throwing the paint cans at the cop. He turned and got into his car, speeding after us. At the time, Mike could drive but we just ran off into the woods because it'd take longer if we drove.

"Seriously?" She asked, smiling. I looked at her.

"Seriously."

"You two... are insane. Did you ever get caught?"

I laughed. "Nope." Pulling my arm off from around her, I grabbed her hand and put my fingers between hers.

"Is this alright?" I asked. She nodded. "Good."

[3 MONTHS LATER - THIRD PERSON POV]

Ayla and Billie continued to date and see each other about twice a week for a month since their Olive Garden date before becoming official right after a month. Things were going to well, in fact, that they had already talked about moving in with one another.

"Are you sure you don't feel rushed at all?" Billie asked, holding her hand as they sat in the park. "You don't have to move in right now."

"Billie!" Ayla whined. "Everything is okay."

He smiled at her and leaned in to give her a kiss. There was a lot of sexual tension surfacing since it has been three months of dating and they still hadn't partaken in any sexual activity. Billie gently bit her lip and she parted, giving him a stern look.

They walked back to the shared house that he lived in and started planning what they wanted to do with each of the rooms in their future home. She had stayed into the early hours of the morning before but she had never stayed overnight with Billie. The two of them stood in his bedroom upstairs and Billie took in a deep breath, sighing.

"Okay, I'm warning you... I'm not used to having anyone sleep next to me so I might roll over you."

"I do the same thing, it's alright," she laughed. Billie and her smiled at each other.

Two weeks later, Ayla had moved in with Billie and the rest of the gang. They figured that they could see how living with each other went before committing to buying a home with one another.

Tre helped them move some of Ayla's boxes into the house. Kate, who had coincidentally already known her through college, helped too. Mike had went to his hometown to visit family.

"It's great that you're moving in," Kate said to Ayla once everything was done. She hugged her and Ayla hugged back. "Now, I have a few rules for you..."

"Oh God, what are they?" Ayla laughed.

"First, make sure when you're having sex to keep it quiet. Yes, you and Billie have been dating for a few months now, and I know you're not easy. But when he kisses you and you feel a little something against you... you two are going to want to take your clothes off."

Alyssa was laughing while Billie was too busy making room in his bedroom upstairs.

"Don't think I'm not right! He's going to try and put his hand down your pants."

"Well, he hasn't tried... yet."

"Second," she started. "That's the only rule."

"Okay, okay. I promise that rule number one will not be broken."

"Do you swear?"

"I swear."

"If I hear anything, I will...!"

"Kate!" Alyssa laughed. "It's okay."