Rebel Yell

Another show bites the dust or so the saying goes. It hadn’t felt like we had played for two hours straight but maybe that was due to the fact that, all I wanted to do tonight was go and spend time with my girlfriend on her birthday. As soon as I played the last note of the last song, I made a dash with Mike and Tre in tow, to the tour bus.

I wondered, whilst casually speed walking to the buses, how Marci was doing after apparently nearly cracking her head open on the concrete flood earlier. I could only imagine by the vivid drawn description by Tre, that she must have gotten a lot drunker since I last saw her and that itself was a sight to see. She had crashed into me several times and fallen on the floor too many times, that I had finally lost count. In a way, I was glad she was ‘letting loose’, it was her birthday after all and she should have a good time.

I held still in my back pocket, her birthday present from Tre, Mike, Adeline, Debbie and I. Sure I should have probably taken it out of my back pocket before the show but in no way, was I loosing such a gift. I was weary, in our first thoughts of buying it her, she obviously deserved it but still, it just didn’t seem like something to give your girlfriend or your best friend on their birthday.

I would have instantly gone for something like perfume or earrings, something of the material kind but I know that she would love this even more. I was so pissed at Mike for allowing me to agree to the idea because I was too selfish in the first place to even think about it but with everyday that it sat in my pocket after we received the gift, I came to love the stupid present.

Obviously that wasn’t what we were only giving her, sure the present, (that was probably now drenched in my sweat,) was expensive but after a long discussion about the present and other stuff we could get her, we all decided to do individual IOU’s.

It sounds more stupid than what you think, in fact it was a genius idea created in the genius mind of one now penniless Tre Cool. We all decided to give her individual things that are suited to our special talents....no need to say what mine was for.

I smiled as I reached the tour bus, with our very pissed off driver looking grumpy as ever. He looked like he was on a nervous breakdown after maybe on too many pranks on the old man by Tre, Mike and I on very boring afternoons. I smiled at him as I entered the bus but all he could do was grunt and turn back to his remote radio to listen intently at whatever dull man spoke on the other side.

“Happy Birthday” I turned the corner into our ‘lounge area’ but I stopped dead in my place, closely followed by a pile up behind, from my drummer and bassist. What had they done to her, her beautiful brown hair was...it was as if...they had dyed it....and chopped it and we could official walk around saying we got the mister and misses hair cut from the buy one get one free salon.

“See he loves it Marci” Adeline bounced up and I looked at her like she was having a laugh.

“My hair” she cringed “what happens when it goes curly? I’m going to look like a teenager again” she eyed up the mirror again, staring out her adversary in disappointment.

“no, it’s nice” Mike took Adeline’s side, defending her just encase I attacked her for ruining those lushes brown locks.

“Actually Rhodes, it’s a good look. It’s like Blondie meets Madonna” Tre tapped me on the shoulder as he scooted past to go become Debbie’s baby daddy once more.

“You look beautiful in anything Marci, you could look like Richard Nixon and in some way, somehow I’d fancy the pants off you” she turned to look at me and smiled at my, lets say pathetic attempts to make her feel better. She wondered over to me and I scanned her bruised forehead before pulling her face close to mine. It was true, I’d love her no matter what she looked like and maybe I shouldn’t have reacted like I did but it was a bit of a surprise. A horrid surprise.

I could smell the alcohol still on her breath but she looked completely sober from the last time I saw her, maybe that bump to the head was the new remedy for a hangover.

“Hey you know something” Tre asked, breaking apart our kiss, as I turned to look at him, my hand still firmly against Marci’s back. “Marci could be your body double for shitty interviews now” I looked at him, as Debbie’s eyes grew wide, why did he have to say something like that.

“When-“Marci asked Tre, turning away from me, “has Billie ever had breasts, Tre?” Tre looked at her, his eyes gleaming with a brilliant come back but Mike’s sudden burp from below broke his momentum.

“So then, presents” he clapped his hands, as I took Marci over to the sofa.
“I told you not to bother” she spat but sat down willingly, as I kissed her cheek before standing back up to search for the present.

“Ok, so we all chipped in for this...all of us” Mike began, as I held the present between my fingers behind my back.

“because we love you loads and you deserve the best” Debbie nodded her head to Marci and she looked at everyone curiously.

“and although sometimes you might want to bang your head against a brick wall due to us” Tre spoke animatedly, showing her a representation of, if she had banged her against the wall.

“We do notice the tiniest things about you” Adeline picked up Marci’s clipboard and banged the top of it like Marci would do.

“So what would be the most appropriate gift for you?” I asked her and she shrugged her shoulders, her smile beaming from check to check,

“I don’t know, nothing?” She shrugged her shoulders, as I bent down on my knees, my hands still firmly on the present.

“like we said, we love you a lot and we want what is best for you” I spoke quietly, looking into her curious eyes all the time.

“Even though some of us were hard to persuade” Tre coughed in an indiscrete manner,

“Billie Joe” Mike followed up, quietly hinting towards Marci and I rolled my eyes at them, as Marci laughed quietly next to me. I assumed it was because of our lame inside joke but it was most probably down to nerves.

“So, we bought you this” I handed her a white folded envelope, that had been crushed in my back pocket and she nervously took it. I could feel the anticipation in the room from everybody- this was although a rushed idea, it was a very thought through. Her hands shakily peeled open the top and pulled out, one aeroplane ticket to Paris. Her eyes blinked, as she read the ticket and she looked up to everyone who sat, as if watching a food critic eating their best dish in the house.

“Your parents have booked you a hotel to stay in for a week and this is a round trip ticket from san Francisco to Paris, for that time period. You go in a week’s time, so you’ll have plenty of time to arrange things back in Oakland” Her face went blank and she pushed away a tear, fuck it, we got it wrong...shit!

“This is one of the most thought about gifts I’ve ever got” she looked at us all and our heads bent down to the floor, we were all thinking the same thing. “I don’t know what to say because nobody has ever done anything like this before, for me- ever” she pushed another tear away and smiled, “I suppose I can forgive you now for throwing me that party and getting me drunk” she laughed and I looked up. So we didn’t get it wrong?

“so, you like it, right?” Mike asked her and her face was in disbelief at such a question that she shook her head,

“Fuck yeah, Rhodes is going to Paris” I smiled at her, as she caught my eyesight once more, she threw her arms into the air and dived on me, hugging me tightly. “I don’t think I could love anyone more than I love you all right now” she spoke loudly and everyone looked relieved at her excitement.

“You do realise we have something more” I spoke into her ear and she jumped back up from me,

“Seriously, you guys shouldn’t have gotten me so much stuff”

“It’s nothing exciting, it’s like those coupons you get out off those cheap magazines you read” Mike had grabbed Adeline onto his knee, as I pulled out the coupons from the same jean pocket as the aeroplane tickets.

She looked even more intrigued than originally and she scanned the room cunningly, hoping to find somebody letting in on what type of coupons they were. Really when I had read through them, I found them all intriguing myself:

Billie Joe Armstrong: One whole guitar teaching session. Time may vary depending on clash with any other coupons. *see other for details.

Billie Joe Armstrong: One sexual education lesson to be used at coupon holders discretion at any time.

Mike Dirnt: invitation to grand opening of Rudy’s can’t fail Cafe....sometime soon.

Mike Dirnt: Free diner pass to anything from my restaurant in Emeryville.

Tre Cool: A signed copy of the single and a photo of ‘Billie Joe’s Mom- recorded and photographed by yours truly.

Tre Cool: Entitled to set alight my drum kit at the end of a Green Day show. *however maybe when I have enough money to buy another one.

Adeline Thomas: Free Tattoo, drawn and sewn by moi.

Adeline Thomas: Clothes shopping experience, the Adeline Rose Thomas way.

Debbie (your best friend-) Godmother?

Debbie: get out of jail free card. *you know what I mean.