Pieces of Truth

I stared at Billie, who stared back at me, and by the look on his face I could tell he was getting increasingly worried with every second I was silent.

"Please say something.. Anything," Billie pleaded.

"Are you sure?" I finally asked, watching him take a step back and rub his hands over the back of his neck.

"I have never been more sure about anything in my entire life," he told me with a confidence.

"Good, because I'm definitely sure I want to spend the rest of my life with you," I smiled, then Billie swiftly wrapped his arms around my waist, spinning us around in circles.

"Woah there!" I giggled as he set me down and slid the ring on my finger.

"It's gorgeous," I said with a smile.

"Do you recognize it?" he asked as he took my hand and led me to the swings we used to play on.

"Not really.. Should I?"

We swayed back and forth and I looked down at the ring, still in shock.

"It was my grandma's. She wanted my dad to give it to one of his sons and he picked me I guess."

"I wonder why," I grinned, knowing that Billie had been Andy's favorite.

He knew that Billie was meant to be a musician like himself and that's what he didn't have with his other kids.

"I think he knew you'd end up with it," Billie winked, making me blush.

"Oh stop. Can we go somewhere warm?" I asked as I stopped my swing, rubbing my hands together.

"Want to get a drink to celebrate or what?"

"Yeah, drinks sound fine," I nodded and Billie got up, picking me up out of my seat.

"What are you doing?" I asked, wrapping my arms around his neck as he headed to the car.

"I don't want your feet to freeze off!" he laughed with a bright smile as he set me down by the passenger door of the car.

Sunday morning Billie and I had breakfast at Rod's so we could tell Ollie the news. She was ecstatic to say the least.

The woman was talking a mile a minute about how she wanted to help plan and find a dress and practically everything else, I had to tell her to take a breather.

"Yeah, mom! Relax," Billie agreed.

"You're my last baby to get married! How can I relax?" Ollie seemed a little offended, "Have you told your father, Grace?"

"After we're done here, that's where we're going," I told her.

"Well I can't wait to call your brothers and sisters, dear," she told Billie, who rolled his eyes.

"I bet..."

"Don't be snide," Ollie snapped, macking her son upside the head with her stack of menus, "Now get out of here you two!"

We headed over to my dad's house to find him doing a crossword puzzle, drinking coffee and listening to my CD.

"Hey there," he smiled at Billie and me as he let us in.

"Dad, we have something to tell you," I said, now feeling extremely nervous for some reason.

"What's up?" my father asked, but it looked as if he already knew.

"Billie proposed. We're engaged," I grinned.

"That's great!" he gave me a hug, then looked to Billie, "You sure don't mess around!"

"What do you mean?" I felt pretty out of the loop.

"I asked Mark on Friday if he was ok with it.." Billie said sheepishly.

"I think it's the first time he had ever asked to do anything, huh BJ?" my dad laughed as Billie nodded.

We continued to talk with my father, who told us how glad he was that we were finally together for good and how practically everyone assumed we would be since we were kids.

"Are you sure you guys didn't just arrange the whole thing?" I asked with a slight laugh. It sure seemed that way.

"If we had, you two would hate each other," my dad replied, which did make sense. From what I knew about arranged marriages, the participants usually weren't too happy about it.

Leaving around noon, we headed home for lunch.

"I'm really surprised that you asked my dad. I could tell that he appreciated it," I said as I made some quick grilled cheeses.

"Yeah, well.. There are some things I want to do by the book. I don't want to mess this up," Billie said from his seat on the counter beside the stove.

"We won't mess up if we do things our way."

As much as I would like a normal, traditional wedding, I knew it would be anything but.

"Can we get married in May?" he asked as we ate and I nearly choked.

"That's in six months," I coughed, setting down my sandwich.

"I know! I don't want to wait too long."

"May it is then." I knew six months was basically forever in Billie's mind.

"We have a lot to do.." I was beginning to feel stressed already.

"Calm down! It's not gonna be huge. Probably a hundred people at the extreme," Billie assured me.

"If you say so," I shrugged, "Have you told the guys?"

"Not yet. I'm gonna at practice.. Which is in a few hours," Billie realized as he looked at the clock on the microwave.

"Oh good! That means I'll be able to get my school work done," I laughed, putting my plate in the dishwasher.

"I'm not distracting," Billie gasped.

"Please! Who hides my textbooks until I give him the attention he wants?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"It's not my fault you give in," he retorted.

"How exactly is it mine that I just want to work in peace?"

Playful arguing always led to playful makeup sex, and I had a feeling that was what Billie was after.

"Go to practice. I"ll sex you up when you get home," I laughed, trying to get him to leave.

"You promse?" he asked seriously.

"Yeah, now get out of here!"

"Ok. You'd better.. I'm gonna hold you to it. And by it, you know what I mean," he smirked, giving me a rough, sloppy kiss.

"Ew, nasty!" I groaned, wiping my face with the back of my hand.

"Whatever Grace, you love it."

"You keep telling yourself that. Now get going"

Billie gave me one more kiss before grabbing his things and leaving me to my homework.

[Billie Joe]

I went and me up with Mike and Tre feeling better than I had in a long time.

"What's got you in this disgustingly good mood?" Mike asked after we powered through a ton of songs.

"Did someone get lucky last night?" Tre chuckled, twirling his sticks.

"Luckier than I've ever gotten," I answered.

"Sweet man!" Tre grinned and Mike gave me a look.

"What?"

"You didn't!" Mike said in a shocked voice.

"Didn't what?" Tre was definitely confused.

"And she said yes?" Mike seemed surprised.

"Yeah, why wouldn't she?" I asked in response.

"Oh shit! You and Gracie are getting hitched aren't you?" Tre suddenly blurted, making me turn red.

"Shut up and let's play," I mumbled, grabbing my guitar and strumming a power chord.

The rest of the time we practiced the guys gave me shit.

"What's so wrong with wanting to get married? I don't see myself with anyone but Grace, so we're just making it official." I hated having to defend myself and my actions to people in the first place, but to my best friends?

"Dude, we're just fucking with you. This has been a long time coming," Mike told me as we packed up when we decided practice was over.

We chilled out and lit up a few joints, staring at Mike's TV blankly, consumed by whatever was on. A few hours passed and I was ready to go.

"Hey I'm gonna jet. I'm fucking starving," I said, slowly getting up and grabbing my guitar.

The guys nodded dully and I left.

Before walking into the house, I rubbed my bloodshot eyes and messed up my already crazy hair. The whole place was quiet, which was a good sign. It would give me time to totally come down from my high.

I put my guitar in the basement then went upstairs, keeping an eye out for Grace. I peeked into her study and saw her at the desk, a pair of headphones plugged into a cassette player as she flipped through a textbook and jotted down notes.

I retreated to our bedroom and took a shower, hoping to get rid of the sweet smell of good pot that radiated off of me. Walking into the room with my towel around my waist, I saw Grace folding laundry on our bed.

"Hey G," I smiled and she looked up at me.

"How long have you been here?" she asked curiously.

"Half an hour? Uh, what are we doing for dinner?"

"I dunno," she shrugged, reaching for the shirt I had thrown on the bed before my shower.

I watched her give it a look, then hold it to her nose and inhale. I felt my whole body tense up as she made a weird face and glanced up at me.

"You guys do more than practice today?"

I couldn't tell if she was mad or what, so I just stood there and nodded.

"Well, I'm doing another load of laundry in a minute. I'll wash this stuff too," she said simply.

As I got dressed, I kept looking at Grace to see if I could get a vibe from her, but she seemed indifferent.

"Aren't you gonna yell at me or something?" I asked as I rubbed the towel over my head.

"Why?" she asked, getting up and putting clothes away.

"I figured you wouldn't like me you know.. Smoking pot."

"I can't and won't stop you from doing what you do," she shrugged, "Blaze it up to your heart's content!"

"Well! Where did this come from?" I asked, sitting on the bed.

Grace came over and stood in front of me, putting her hands on my shoulders and squeezing gently.

"It's not my place to put a leash on you. All I want to do is make you happy, and I can live with it because of that," she told me with a slight grin.

"I'm so lucky to have you," I admitted.

"And why's that?" she asked, a playful curiosity to her voice.

"No other girl would compomise her own feelings for someone like me," I said simply, wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her into me, wet hair and all.

"Billie Joe! Stop!" she giggled, even though I was getting her shirt all wet.

"Ssh! Listen," I hushed her, listening to her stomach growl then I laughed.

"Someone's hungry!" I tickled her, earning a high pitched shriek from the girl, "Let's make some dinner."