Forgotten

I was only alone for a few minutes until Billie Joe came back. I used those few minutes to repeatedly tell myself I wasn't dreaming. Unlikely as it was, I couldn't deny what I saw.

He burst through the same door that I had come out of earlier. He still looked pretty sweaty, of course he would be, that was a pretty intense show. He must be tired, Tre and Mike too. He rushed down the stairs with much more grace then I had, proven by the fact that he didn't manage to hurt himself.

"Alright, now what the fuck are we gonna do about this?" He stood there and looked at me as if I knew what action to take. I'd been here for a while and had time to think about that. And still, I had no clue.

"I have no fucking clue. You should probably go tell MIke or something, you know, just so he doesn't think you were kidnapped by rabid fangirls or something." I suggested.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. I'm not leaving you here, though. Can you walk?"

"I don't know. I can try, I suppose." I knew very well I couldn't walk, but he didn't need to know that. I would try my best to, and hope to God that I didn't fall down and make an idiot of myself. Again.

He offered me his hand, to make getting up easier on me. I gratefully took it and forced my body upwards. He let go once I was standing, but he probably shouldn't have. I felt my ankle give and was waiting to hit the ground when I felt his arms around me.

"Hey, don't fall. That'll just make it even worse!" He smiled at me.

"I'm sorry. I fall a lot...hence this whole situation. I'm really sorry you got dragged into it. If you can just help me find a phone, I can handle myself from there I think." I apologized. He really had better things to be doing than sitting here helping some girl who couldn't even walk down a flight of stairs.

"No, it's okay. This is much better then lifting heavy shit all night. Did you come here alone?"

"No, I didn't." I stated simply.

"Well, then where the fuck are the people you came with? They shouldn't have left you alone!" Oh how right he was. Where the fuck were they, anyway?

"I honestly don't know where they are. I went to the bathroom after the show and when I got back they were gone. I went out to our car, but it was gone. None of them answer their phones." It was true, I didn't know where they were. All I knew was that I was gonna kick their asses when I saw them.

"Well, shit. That's fucking stupid. So they just left you here?" He looked somewhat pissed. I really hoped it wasn't my fault...

"Yeah, I guess."

"Do you live here in Fargo?" If only. I didn't even live in North Dakota! I was going to college in California and staying with relatives down there. The rest of my family lived in Bismarck, three hours from here.

"Technically, I don't even live in this state. My family lives in Bismarck, and my friends and I are all back for summer vacation." When asked where they'd rather spend their summer, North Dakota vs California, most people would choose the latter. I, on the other hand, grew up here. I rarely got to see my family, so I took every opportunity that I got. I missed seeing my friends from high school, too. I hadn't talked to Carolyn since last summer when I was in Fargo for something. Christen and I had lost touch right after high school, but ended up going to the concert together because our parents were still friends. And Kathryn? Her and I had always been close, since the day we met, so even though she was in Seattle for college and I was in California, we would email when we could, and see each other in the summer.

He seemed like he was wondering what the fuck Bismarck was. Even though it was the capitol, Fargo was a larger city. Not to mention that North Dakota was a fairly unnoticed state anyway.

"Okay, well let's go find Mike or Tre or someone, and we can figure out the rest once we finish tearing down." He headed towards the other door.

"If you can just help me find a phone-" He cut me off by saying,

"Your family lives in Bismarck and your friends left you here. How old are you? How much cash you do have on you?" At first, I had no idea why he was asking me this. What did it matter?

"Um, I'll be 21 on Sunday. I think I've maybe got like a dollar on me right now. Maybe. I left my purse in the car." I felt a little strange about all of this but there wasn't much I could have done about it.

"Exactly. I'm not leaving you here alone. You could get raped or some shit like that. I wouldn't be okay with letting that happen to someone when I could have prevented it. Now, follow me." He commanded. He really should just leave me alone, I didn't want to be a bother.

"O-Okay..."

"Since you can't walk on your own, just lean on me or something."

I felt a little awkward and weird about that, but I assumed it was either that or he carry me. As amazing as the latter would have been, that would have been slightly strange.

I grabbed his arm and leaned against him as he wrapped one arm around my waist, hoping that I wouldn't fall and take him down with me.

***

The room on the other side of the door was very large and spacious, with black curtains everywhere. An extremely tall garage door was to my left, open to the parking lot. I could see the fast food restaurants across the street. This was where we had been earlier, when we gave Sam Endicott a hug! Who knew that if we'd stayed another hour or two we might have seen Green Day?

There were lots of guys walking around, carrying amps and whatnot. Billie Joe looked around for a bit, probably trying to find Mike or Tre, until he spotted what he was searching for.

"Hey, Tre, get your ass over here!" He shouted to the other man. Tre looked over and gave Billie a "what the fuck?" look. I assumed he was confused by my presence, thinking something along the lines of, "Why the fuck does Billie have some random chick hanging all over him?"

Nevertheless, Tre jogged over to us, still giving Bilile that look.

"What's with the girl? She's kinda pretty..." He gave me an odd look.

"It's a long fucking story. Just help me find Mike and I'll explain it. And don't touch her, she doesn't need your STDs!"

Tre pouted and said very loudly, "I DON'T HAVE ANY STDS!!!!!". Almost the entire room stared at him.

The three of us started wandering around looking for the bass player. Tre once again looked over to Billie and asked him, "So how old is she?".

Billie was about to answer, but I did instead. "I'll be 21 on Sunday."

"Oohh 21...that's exciting. You can legally drink and shit then!" He started to ramble on and on about different drinks and how "fucking great" they were, until Billie slapped him upside the head.

"OW! Dammit, Billie!"

Billie just smirked as Tre clutched his skull in pain.

We hadn't been walking for long when we found Mike. Rather, he found us. The three of us were just walking around, looking for Mike, when he came up behind us and simply said,

"Hey."

I jumped at this, startled by the sudden appearance of someone behind me.

Tre whirled around, giving Mike a very ferocious hug. "Mikey!" he shouted.

Billie and I turned around together; I was still leaning on his arm, trying to not injure myself further.

Mike, unlike Tre, didn't ask questions about who I was. I guessed that he trusted Billie enough to find some whorish fangirl and bring her backstage.

"Mike, this is Shelbie. She, uh, tripped and fell down some stairs-" I looked down and blushed at that. It's not my fault I'm so clumsy!

"and it looks like she broke her ankle or something." Billie explained for me.

"Doesn't she have friends she came with or something? I could be her friend...." asked Tre. I answered this time.

"Of course I do...they're just not here anymore."

"What do you mean, they're not here anymore? Where they hell did they go?" Mike asked.

"I wish I knew."

They were silent after that, until Tre apparently couldn't take it anymore, and announced to us that he, "needs a cookie!"

Tre grabbed my wrist, trying to get me to come along with him to find this cookie, but Billie merely tightened his grip on me.

"Aww, Billie, come on! We're just gonna get a cookie!" he whined. I swear, he was a grown man but he acted like such a little kid.

"Fine. But you better make sure she doesn't fall. If she does, I'll kick your ass. And just a cookie, I'm not sure I trust you, Tre." I knew he was kidding about the last part, but the serious look on his face while he said it was pretty damn funny.

Tre pouted for a second, then his face lit up and he screamed, "Yay!". And I was dragged off to help Tre find a cookie.

*** End Chapter 3 - She***