Pieces of Truth

[Billie Joe]

"Grace, come here!" I called out to her as I stood on the set of the Basket Case shoot. With Blue hanging at my side, I stared thoughtfully at the layout.

"What?" She looked up from the TV monitors that were playing back takes.

"I need you for something." I noticed that she sighed before nodding and walking over to me.

The poor girl was being pulled in so many directions lately, between school, work, the wedding and this shoot… She was exhausted and I could tell. I went and stood in front of the microphone to give her a visual.

"Should I face this way… Or This way?" I watched for her answer.

"Just do whatever comes naturally. Don't force it," she replied hastily, much to my dismay. I wanted a straightforward answer.

Hours passed and then we cut filming for the day. We just had a few minor things left, which was a relief.
It was a lengthy ride home, so I decided to suggest something to Grace.

"For your bachelorette party you and your girls should go to a spa. You need to relax and not worry about anything for a change. I'll plan it and everything."

"Billie Joe… That would be amazing. What are you doing for your party though?" Her question was hesitant, like she wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

"Nothing major," I shrugged, adjusting my grip on the steering wheel, "I really just want to hang out and go to a baseball game."

"That's it?" She seemed shocked.

"Yeah."

"Really? You don't want to go out with a bang? It's gonna be your 'last night as a free man'." Grace was curious.. I had peaked her interest.

"Gray, I haven't been a free man since I met you." This made her laugh.

"You were eight."

"Ok then. I haven't been a free man since I was eight." I corrected myself.

[Grace]

Billie Joe was adamant about simply going to an Oakland A's game. Rather than planning some elaborate party with strippers in cakes and tons of drugs and booze, Billie took to setting up a day at the spa for my party after the video shoot had totally wrapped.

It was a gorgeous Saturday two weeks before graduation and three before the wedding. I was stuck inside studying of course. I had the window open in hopes of being satisfied, but no.

Slamming my book shut, I got up and grabbed my longboard. There was no way I was gonna let a day like this just slip away.

"Come on Billie! Let's go skating!" I called as I made my way down to the living room.

He was lounging on the couch, drinking Tang and reading the newspaper.

"Tang? Really?" I skeptically stared at the unnaturally orange liquid.

"What? It's the drink of the astronauts!"

"Okay then… Get your board! I wanna go riding." I quickly changed the subject from Tang.

"Alright. I'll meet you outside." He set the paper down and pulled himself off of the couch.

[Billie Joe]

When I got outside with my board, Grace was cruising around the driveway. We spent the next hour skateboarding through the neighborhood and we got nothing but dirty looks the entire time we did it.

"Obviously we're the only people that know how to have fun in the Oakland Hills.." This made Grace's sea foam green eyes light up as she smiled.

"They're just not used to seeing the residents of such a classy neighborhood with blue hair and nose rings on skateboards." She poked fun at me.

"Hey! Don't single me out because I'm different!"

Grace had eradicated all traces of blue dye from her hair and returned to her natural dark brown, but I couldn't complain. She's beautiful no matter what color her hair is.

"I think you're doing a fine job at that without me pointing it out," she mused, not watching where she was going.

The next thing I see is Grace's board hitting a huge crack and she goes flying forward. My heart skips a beat as she lands on her knees. She skidded and fell but she caught herself before her face could touch the road.

She remained on the ground in total shock that she almost ate shit. I jumped off of my skateboard and run over, getting down on the pavement.

"Are you ok?" She just looked at me, pain written all over her face.

I helped her up and she winced the whole time. I looked over her scrapes; she was pretty thrashed.

"Come on, let's go home…" I grabbed our boards and carefully walked her back to the house.

"No, no, no! That stuff hurts like a bitch!" Grace started as soon as she saw the can of Bactine I had, along with the first aid kit.

I had her sitting on the island counter in the kitchen and I got a rag, taking the cap off of the Bactine.

"It's gonna get infected, there's fucking asphalt in there!" I pointed to her shins and knees.

"I don't care." She argued with me, trying to pull away.

"Remember how I told you I got poison ivy on the first tour with Mike and Al?" I reminded her.

"That's not the same!"

"Shut up." I sighed then quickly sprayed one of her knees.

"Fuck!" She squeezed her eyes shut as I used the rag to wipe up excess.

I sprayed every scrape on her legs, then went to her hands.

"Your palms are shredded. This is gonna hurt like a mother fucker."

"No, really?"

I spritzed as quickly as I could and Grace was kicking the cabinets with her heels.

"You're gonna ruin the cabinets. Now sit still." I went into the first aid kit, pulling out the biggest band aids we had.

After each one that I put on I lightly kissed it, trying to make her feel better somehow. I wasn't sure how to cover her hands though.

"Use the gauze then wrap that with medical tape," Grace told me through clenched teeth.

I somehow managed to McGuyver something that actually worked.

"There," I said after finishing, "All better!"

"Thanks." She smiled and leaned forward to give me a few well-deserved kisses.

"No more guitar for a while, huh?" I held back a laugh as she frowned

"Don't remind me. Uh- do you think you could help me study? I made flash cards and stuff.."

"So you want me to flash you?" I winked. lifting her off of the counter and setting her on the hardwood floor.

We sat on the couch in the living room and I held up Grace's color coded note cards that had terms on the fronts. She would rack her brain and recite the formula or definition that was on the back that faced me.
I set the ones she knew down in a pile and kept testing her on the ones she didn't. I could tell that she was getting frustrated by the cards that she didn't know, so I thought of a way to try and help her.

"What class is this for?" I shuffled the small piles of 'don't know' cards, waiting for a response.

"Finance." Grace sighed, laying back into the couch cushions and closing her eyes.

"Come with me." An idea had suddenly hit me.

A part of how she studied was by explaining to me how the concept worked. If we hit one she didn't remember too well, we looked it up in her book. With the notecards in hand, I led her down to the basement and grabbed one of my guitars, plugging it into the amp.

I did my best to associate chords with what the cards said.. Things like dividends didn't exactly work too well, but I still tried. Grace got what I was doing and it put her at ease and helped her focus.

For dinner we raided the fridge for leftovers then watched a movie on the couch. It had been Grace's turn to pick the movie, so we were watching 'Joe Versus the Volcano', starring Tom Hanks.

"God this movie is ridiculous!" I shook my head, shoving handful of popcorn int my mouth.

"Last time you picked we watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit." Grace rolled her eyes, returning her gaze to Tom Hanks.

"Hey, it's a great movie!"

"Yeah, yeah. You just like Jessica Rabbit."

"She's got nothing on you though!" I saved myself.

"Now that's what I want to hear. Will you be quiet now? I'm trying to watch."

"Fine!" I crossed my arms over my chest and she quickly turned, kissing me abruptly and turning back to the movie.