Dreams of Tomorrow

He was standing in front of the window, both hands on either side of the sink, starring at the skyline where the sun was slowly rising up. The previous night had been, let's just say: "A night to remember". That girl sure was something...

All of his friends had been gathered to celebrate his birthday, but one person stood out in particular. She truly was changing, metamorphosing, just like, as if she was slowly coming out of her chrysalides. He really did appreciate the effort she made.

But her present had been the best he had had in a while and even now, after a very short night, he still couldn't wipe that smile of his face. Dad, she called him dad... He nodded shortly to himself and brought the mug of coffee to his dry lips just as he felt a pair of arms slowly making its way around his waist and soft hair resting on his shoulder blade.
He brought the mug down and turned around, placing a tender kiss on his wife's head.

"Morning baby"

She smiled and tilted her head, slightly tiptoeing just to plant a kiss on her husband lips.

"Morning"

Billie Joe wrapped his arms around Adie, placing his head on top of hers. Both of them enjoying that small moment of peace. A shout was heard upstairs, followed by feet running on the wooden floor, a door opening and it all ended with the sound of a bed squeaking.

"The kids are up" mumbled Billie Joe, kissing his wife and rubbing his bed head.

"Poor Lya" whispered Adie, as she proceeded to start making breakfast.

As if on cue, shuffling could be heard in the stairs and a very tired looking Lya appeared, with Jakob on her back and Joey gripping himself to her leg.

"How did you manage to reach the bottom of the stairs without hurting yourself" asked Adrienne as both kids jumped from Lya and hurried to assault their father.

"Training" she replied, yawning and stretching herself. She went to hug Adrienne, mumbling a "morning mum" before heading to Billie Joe, greeting him with a hug and a "morning dad". A true grin split the man's face as he shared a look with his wife.
"Morning Lya, sorry about the 2 monsters invading your bed so early in the morning..." said BJ.
She shrugged, smiling lightly. "So, what's the plan for today?" asked Joey, sitting on a chair, about to munch on his cereals.

"Sleeping?" asked Billie Joe as Lya left his side and went to sit beside the young boy.

* * *

Athalya was back in her room in her grandparents’ home, after a short time spent with her 'family' as she had started to call the Armstrong's family. She was back from school, but had trouble finding motivation to do her homework. Her mind just couldn't focus, jumping from Jimmy's party, to Adrienne, to Billie Joe and back to her friends.

It seemed to her like she had just woken up from some sort of nightmare, she was seeing life in another angle. The world wasn't just black and white anymore, neither grey, there were colors in her world. The orange kimono of Jimmy, Val and Michelle's blond hair, Billie Joe's green eyes, her grandparents white hair... She felt a bubble of energy in her stomach, going up to her chest making it feel as if it was about to burst. Taking a deep breath, she lay down in her bed and turned to look at her night table.

"Hey mum, it's been a while isn't it? I'm sorry for not giving you any news but I know you don't need me to... You're probably watching me from somewhere... Time seems to fly by now... I mean, there is not a day that I don't think about you, but it feels like my heart doesn't hurt so much now... I know you're probably better off wherever you are now... It still hurts, but its feel like I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel..." Lya trailed off, smiling slightly at her mother's picture. She was about to add something when she heard a light
knock on her ajar door.

"Come in"

"Hey" said Jimmy, running a hand through his tousled hair. Add to that his bathrobe, kimono and he looked like he had just gotten out of bed, which could be a possibility since he wasn't in class.

"Jimmy!" she said enthusiastically, patting her bed.

Her tall friend sat down beside her, not before taking a glance at the medium size suitcase in the corner.

"What is that for?" he asked, frowning slightly.

"I'm gonna go to France for a short while" Lya said, "I need to go to my high school to fill up the papers, you know I'm going to try and pass the exams there as well..." she explained.

"How long will you stay there?"

"A week or two depends... I'll go during Spring break..."

"Fuck, me and the guys were planning to go to Matt's parents' cabin for the spring break... We were hoping you'd come..."

"I doubt I'll be able to come Jim', but I don't know... We'll see, right?"

"Yeah well, you have other things to do, so it's fine... As long as it's not because of your social phobia..." he said, teasing her.

"Oh shut up, I'm working on it... You know that Jimmy."

"I know, you did some improvement last Friday..."

"It was your birthday Jimmy, I did it for you." she explained, stretching her arms above her head and then moved to sit closer to Jimmy, gently resting her head against his arm.
Jimmy blinked and looked at the top of her head, trying to shake off the weird chill he was feeling down his spine.

* * *

Life was following its course.

She was hanging on the phone with Billie Joe and/or Adrienne trying to convince them that she could manage to graduate both in the USA and in France, therefore she could follow Green Day on tour the upcoming summer.

Lya had been dragged to Matt's place, having no say in that because she had been literally "kidnapped" by Michelle. Sure, she had to admit that for the last few weeks she had spend more time hanging with Jimmy than with the rest of the group.

She was sitting at the kitchen table, a book opened in front of her as some were arguing about what to eat and others were arguing on what movie to watch.

Her eyes drifted from one group to another until her eyes met Jimmy's blue orbs. He made a silly face, wiggled his eyebrows before nodding in direction of the book. Her eyes looked at the book before looking back at him and flashed him a smile.

Jimmy had been the one to bring that book, as soon as they arrived at Matt's place, Jimmy saved her from Michelle's grasp and placed her at the kitchen table.

"There, now you study." he had said, placing the book in front of her and patting her hair slightly.

"What? She didn't come here to study!" argued Zacky, looking weirdly at the book.

"Mind your own business dick head" he had said before winking at Lya and going to join Brian.

Lya just couldn't wipe the small smile on her face as she brought her focus back to the book, studying Spanish. She bounced her leg up and down, looking at the sentences and thinking about how grateful she was to have a friend like Jimmy.

Brian was looking at the exchange between his two best friends, wondering when exactly the
two had gotten so close. Sure, they were close before but it felt to him as if she had completely forgot about him. Which he had to admit, he didn't appreciate all that much.

"What's up between Lya and Jimmy?" asked Brian, pretending to help Val serving drinks.

"Oh, you noticed to? I think Michelle said something about Jimmy helping Lya, being like some sort of 'coach', like trying to motivate her. I think it has something to do with graduation in France and so on... I think it's pretty nice of him. But we were thinking that maybe they were getting closer, you know..."

Brian just stopped listening after those words left Valary's mouth. His mind just went blank for the rest of the day, he just starred at the wall, afraid to look at Lya and see that bright smile on her face. Because she wasn't smiling for him anymore, she was smiling for Jimmy.
He wouldn't say it out loud but he had to admit that he missed the days when she would only smile at him and for him.

For the next few days, Brian would just keep distant, not coming to have lunch with them, just hoping Lya would notice and say something. He was dying to hear the words: I miss you, coming from her when they would meet on the parking lot to get in Jimmy's car for the ride home. But nothing, she said nothing just simple, basic words and even though she was smiling at him, he did not warm up his heart, not anymore. He would sit in the backseat, along with Johnny and would keep on glaring at Jimmy's hair, wishing he was in his place.

"Hey Brian, we're dropping Lya and then we're going to Matt's, are you in?" asked Jimmy, looking at his best friend in the rearview mirror.

"Sure" was his reply, making sure not to look at Jimmy, pretending to look out of the window.

The car stopped in front of Lya's house and after she had unclasped her seatbelt, she turned to them and wave at them before turning towards Jimmy, giving him a hug. Brian would have let it go, if only it wasn't for Lya kissing Jimmy's cheek before getting out of the car.

Brian's blood started to boil in his veins, his fists clenched on his knees, gripping his jeans. He was trying to control his anger, hoping it would vanish before he would have to get out of the car.

But unfortunately for him, it didn't vanish so quickly and when the car was parked and Jimmy got out, Brian got out.

Before anyone could understand what was happening, Brian launched himself at Jimmy and swung his fist right in the tallest boy's jaw, taking everyone by surprise, even himself.
Jimmy didn't have the time to understand what had happened that Brian was already marching down the street, away from their group of friends.

"What the fuck just happened?" asked Matt as Val rushed inside to get a bag of ice. They all
gathered around Jimmy, forgetting about the car they were previously trying to repair.

"Like I have a fucking id-..." started Jimmy, but stopped before he could finish his sentence. He looked in disbelief at the direction in which Brian had disappeared and shook his head...

***

When Jimmy parked his car in front of Lya’s driveway, a few days later, he had to hold back a smile at the sight. She was washing her grandfather’s car, while dancing to the music coming from inside the garage. She was banging her head to the music while taking the sponge from the bucket.

“Hey Lya, whatcha doing?” asked Jimmy, leaning against the garage. She stopped in the middle of her air guitar solo and dropped the sponge in the bucket, drying her hands on her shorts. She smiled at Jimmy and rubbed her neck.

“Just washing my grandfather’s car you know… How about you?”

“Me? I just wanted to stop by and see how you were doing… Making sure you were studying or something…”

She laughed, “Well I dropped the book for a while, just thought I could help my grandparents for once… I kind of forgot about them while I was studying… Not cool, I promised to help them a bit more you know… After all, it’s only normal…”

“And what’s that?” he asked, taking a sheet of paper that just fell from her back pocket.

“Oh, that’s the list of the stuff I said I would do…”

“I can help, you know… I have nothing better to do and the fastest you’ll be done, the sooner you’ll go back to studying.”

He said that before even thinking… Jimmy would probably be punched again by Brian, but to hell with it. He couldn’t help it, he loved spending time with her. He really enjoyed helping her, even doing the smallest thing… It kept his mind away from thinking about his parents always pestering him about the smallest thing… And Brian’s punch didn’t help the situation, but could he really blame his best friend?

He knew damn well Brian’s feelings for the French girl, he had tried his best to show her that Brian cared, but she seemed uninterested.

Her determination made her even more loveable than when she was just that lost girl who had just landed in the USA… Those times seemed so long ago when it was just months ago.

Together, they finished cleaning the car and then got into Jimmy’s car to go grocery shopping. Lya said she would do it, and she promised she would try to cook dinner. She naturally told Jimmy to stay over for dinner.

As they drove past Brian’s house, Jimmy could help but to think back to the day when Brian punched him… He stayed out of school for a few days, just the time for the bruise to fade a bit, not wanting to explain the situation to Lya. He had called her, pretending to be sick.

He knew the motive behind the punch but what made the situation worse is that he couldn't even say he was sorry...
Not anymore.