Pieces of Truth

I didn't find my dress the first day out, which wasn't surprising. I heard from the women in the stores I went to that sometimes it takes months to find the perfect dress.

As soon as Billie and the guys headed into the studio to record their third album, I devoted most of my time to planning the wedding.

It was weird to be living with Billie and never seeing him. I was always out during the day at appointments with florists and decorators, while Billie spent his late afternoons and nights at the studio.

Spring semester at Berkeley had started back up, so that and work were keeping me busy too. I was paying most of the bills, much to Billie's dismay. I didn't care if he felt ashamed or like he wasn't doing what he was supposed to as my fiance, the bills just need to get paid one way or another.

The New Year's Eve gig at Amoeba was awesome. A lot of regulars to the store had come to support us and we sold a crazy amount of tapes and discs. It was then that Ross, Stella and I decided to do what Billie and Pinhead Gunpowder do. We would play shows and record when all three of us were absolutely out of other things to do.

Three weeks of only seeing Billie in passing slowly went by and it was mid January now. The first day out of the studio, Billie was attached to me.

"Billie Joe! I love you and I missed you too, but come on," I laughed, trying to untangle myself from his arms as I made us something for lunch.

"No! It was torture knowing that I barely missed seeing you when I came home every day! Now I'm never gonna let you go," he said in my ear, tightening his grip.

"You are such a kid sometimes," I smiled, "How did you ever get through touring?"

"My best friend Carlotta," Billie said, waving his right hand in my face.

"Ew! Get that thing away from me," I shrieked, swatting him away, making him let go and laugh.

"You're a douche," I said as I shot him a glare.

"Hey, you asked," he shrugged, "Isn't that right, Carlotta?"

"Don't talk to it! Gross!"

"Carlotta has feelings too you know. She understands me," he kept talking about his hand as if it were a person.

"Oh, so she gets you? I hope Carlotta is up to the task of being your only source of pleasure," I told him with a stern look, watching him gape at me.

"Sorry Carlotta, we gotta see other people," he immediately said and I laughed, rolling my eyes.

"I thought so."

Later that afternoon Billie and I went scouting for places to have our ceremony. We knew it would last ten minutes- if that, so we went to a few random places but nothing seemed right.

"What about Golden Gate Park?" I suggested since we were heading to San Francisco anyways.

As soon as we got there, I knew it was the place.

"Right here," I said, stepping onto a patch of grass that I could see the ocean from, "is where I want to become Mrs. Billie Joe."

"And here is where I'll be declared Mister Grace," Billie stood across from me with a smile.

"What day in May should we pick?" I asked, sitting on the ground and he sat beside me.

"May… Tenth," Billie decided and I nodded.

"Sounds like a good day to be the best day of my life."

"Oh, you think so? Just wait till the honeymoon," he winked, making me blush.

"Shut it! You know we can't afford to go anywhere," I reminded him.

"That doesn't mean we can't have one! You'll take off a week from work, we'll stay home and unplug the phone. No distractions, just us," Billie said with a sweet smile.

"That sounds so much better than actually going somewhere," I grinned, wrapping my arms around his waist, "I can't wait for it to be May."

"Me either. Let's go see if we can get some info about what we need to do to have our wedding here."

We went and found the main offices to the park, then spoke with a woman who gave us information and paperwork about the locations where ceremonies and receptions were held, as well as prices and rules.

Afterwards we headed over to my dad's to show him everything. He was adamant about paying for the whole wedding, and it gave him something to do to keep him busy besides work.

"You want 150 people there? Do you want the reception there too?" my father asked us.

"Yeah. We don't want a big thing, and it will be convenient," I nodded and Billie looked at me.

"Could you give us a minute? I need to talk to Mark in private."

"Uh.. Okay. I'll be upstairs…"

I got up and started heading up the steps, stopping when I knew I was out of sight.

"Look.. I know that we're taking a huge step and even though I can't take are of Grace as well as I could, no, should be financially speaking… I want you to know that I'm gonna do everything in my power to change that," Billie said, and I could hear the stress in his voice.

"BJ, I have no doubt that you'll be able to do that," my dad reassured him.

"She's already paying the bills. I can't help but feel inadequate."

"Listen. When Gloria and I got married, we had just moved here, knew no one and had barely enough money to get by. Things get better. Your career is going to skyrocket. Grace told me about your new record you're releasing soon. If she has faith in you, I do too."

My dad had always been there for Billie; when we weren't friends, when we were, and even when he thought I was gone for good.

"Well I know where she gets her optimism from!" Billie laughed.

"Yeah. She's stubborn like her mother though, so she's going to do what she think is best to help."

"Oh trust me, I know. She's running the house like a corporation with that business degree of hers," he told my dad.

"I'm not surprised."

I stopped eavesdropping and tiptoed silently to my old room, laying back in my bed and the next thing I know, Billie is tapping my shoulder to wake me up.

"What's going on?" I asked, sitting up against my pillows and headboard.

"You've been sleeping for three hours," he laughed, "I got everything squared away with Mark and we've been watching highlights of the Raider's game…"

"Why didn't you come get me sooner?"

"You needed the rest. You've been working yourself a lot with school, Amoeba and all the planning," Billie explained.

"It's no big deal," I shrugged and he gave me a look, "Okay. It's a little overwhelming. But that's what I have you for."

I hated admitting when I couldn't handle something, and so did Billie. We really were two peas in a pod.

February 1st was the release of Dookie and after I got off of work, Billie and I went to the release party that was being thrown by Reprise, their new label.

A few of the heads of the company were there, so I took it upon myself to get to know them. Billie wasn't one to get friendly with his 'bosses', so I had to make nice while he stood beside me silently.

"Today at Amoeba, where I work, I sold just about every copy of Dookie that I had stocked," I told them, noticing Billie smiling proudly.

"And you said you're graduating from Cal Berkeley in business?" one of the CEO's asked me and I nodded.

"Well when you graduate, stop in our offices and we can get you on track for a great career," the man told me, handing me a business card.

"Thank you! I'll definitely keep that in mind," I smiled and we talked until Billie pulled me off to the impromptu bar.

"Are you seriously gonna take his offer?" he asked and I shrugged.

"Maybe?"

"What about starting our own…" Billie seemed hurt that I was considering this.

"We will! It would be good for me to have some experience at a label before we decide to start one up ourselves," I explained.

"But you took classes…"

"Classes aren't the same as the real thing. I didn't even commit! Don't get your panties in a bunch," I sighed.

"I'm not wearing any," he grinned, giving me a peck on the lips before grabbing a drink.

Mike found us after a bit, an excited look on his face.

"They want us to make a music video!" he said to Billie, who lit up.

"Sweet! Did you tell Tre?" Billie asked and Mike nodded. They went to find their manager, leaving me to mingle.

A week later I was at work, sitting behind the counter. It was around noon and pretty slow for a Tuesday. Billie's birthday was next Thursday, so I was using my spare time to make him a card.

"Grace you're ridiculous," Ross laughed upon seeing my construction paper card.

"What?" I asked, looking up as I set my marker down.

"Are you in fourth grade or something?"

"Shut up! Billie appreciates little things like this," I defended myself, watching the door open and Billie walk in.

I hid the card, smiling up at him.

"Hey Ross… Grace, when you get off, come to Mike's ok?"

"Why? I was gonna go find envelopes for our invitations…"

Our wedding invitations were actually really interesting. We went to a photo booth and had 'Save the Date 5.10.94' on four pieces of poster board, then held up one in each frame and made fun, silly faces and kissed in the last frame that had the actual date in it.

I needed to find envelopes wide enough to fit the film strips.

"I can do that. Just come over, ok?"

"Yeah. I'm off at four," I nodded.

Billie leaned over and gave me a kiss, then said bye and left.

Four o'clock rolled around and I headed over to Mike's house, where I noticed several vans and cars in the driveway.

I rang the doorbell and Tre answered.

"Heyyy, Gracie!" he said, pulling me into the busy house.

"What's going on?" I asked, looking around as we went into the basement.

Billie was sitting on the sofa; cameras and people were everywhere.

"We're filming a music video!" Tre grinned, which made me smile too.

Billie motioned for me to come sit with him and when I was close enough, he grabbed me and I fell onto the couch.

"Come on! You're gonna help make this video awesome," Billie told me. He was excited beyond belief now.