When You Were Young

Rae wiped the tears from her face as she sat on the empty train tracks. There was no place else to go. Everywhere there were people. People she didn't know. People she didn't want to be around. She knew this would end in disaster. She knew she shouldn't have gotten involved with Billie Joe. Now she was. Now she was attatched. Now she wanted to just let go and go home.

She was sick of it.

All of it.

And she wanted out.

It'd been almost 5 hours since she'd run out of the Armstrong house. It was dark and past 11:00 PM. Rae looked up at the street sign she had been sitting under for more than a few hours.

The street facing North said 'Christie'. Rae smiled slightly and looked down, drawing circles with her shoes.

"Give me something to do to kill some time..." Rae whispered, her voice cracking as she spoke. "Take me to that place that I call home. Take away the strains of being lonley..."

"Take me to the tracks at Christie Road." sang another voice. Rae looked up quickly. Billie Joe was standing a few feet away, his hands shoved into his pockets.

"If there's one thing that I need...that makes me feel complete...." Billie sang softly, walking closer to Rae.

"So I go to Christie Road..." Rae whispered, looking back down in the dirt. "It's home."

"Rae--" Billie started.
"Don't Billie. Just--just leave me alone...okay?"
"Rae I can't leave you alone."
"Why Billie? Why! Why can't you fucking stay out of my life and away from me!" Rae cried.

Billie swallowed hard. "Because I'm in love with you."

"W-w-what?"
"I love you."
"No Billie--please...you don't."
"Yes...Yes I do and I don't think I could live without you." Billie said softly, making his way over to Rae. He grabbed her hands in his. "What I said before--it was--it was stupid...I didn't want to believe that you had to go back. I didn't want to believe that you had to go....because...because I know that I won't be able to live without you and...God I love you so much.." Billie cried. Yes. Cried. Tears were actually falling from his eyes.

Rae gripped his face in her hands and pulled him up to look at her. She let out a half-sob half-laugh and pressed her lips to his. "Why do you have to do this?"
"Because--" was all Billie could get out before he lost all sense of self control.

His lips crashed into hers with such force, if Rae hadn't been sitting down she would have fallen backwards. He ran his fingers through her dark hair, moving his lips down to her neck, leaving gently butter fly kisses all the way down her coller bone.

Rae's fingers gripped Billie's dark hair tightly, holding his head close to hers. She pulled his face back up to hers and pressed her lips roughly against his. She pulled away quickly and looked Billie in the eyes. "I love you too."

Billie's lips curled into a smile as he placed one more gentle kiss on her lips. "Oh yeah...Happy Birthday." He pushed a piece of paper into her hand.

Rae looked at Billie and down into her hand. It must be passed midnight. "Don't read it now."
"Oh." Rae mumbled, shoving hte paper into her back pocket. "Alright."

She grinned as he pulled her up and into his arms. They walked back to his car in silence, but not about to let go of each other's hands.

"You know I used to spend all of my time here." Rae spoke, sitting down in the passenger seat of the car.
"Really? I do too. Geuss we were both there in a weird sense."
"Ha...yeah." Rae whispered.

Billie pulled out of the old train tracks and out into the city. There weren't too many cars out. Especially since it was this late. Even in a big town passed midnight it was kind of unusual to see too many cars out.

Billie pulled up to a red stop light and looked over at Rae. "I've never met anyone like you."
"I'd have to say the same about you." Rae said with a smile.
"I love you." Billie said, putting his foot on the pedal just as the light turned green.
"I love you t--oh my God...Billie. BILLIE LOOK OUT!"

BAM.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Owww shit." Rae mumbled. Her head hurt. Actually, her whole body hurt. All over. She tried to move her arms or legs but she was unable to. And everything was dark. Great. She was blind.

"Rae? Rae rae are you awake?" said a voice. It was a female voice. Rae slowly opened her eyes. Oh good. No longer blinded.

"Oh my god Rae..." a girl came running over to her, wrapping her arms around Rae's neck. Rae pulled away.

"What? Where the hell am I? DANI?"
"Yeah...oh good." The girl, Dani, said thankfully. "Don't you remember? You were in a horrible accident."

"What? Accident? Oh my God...where's Billie..." Rae asked nervously. "Is he alright? Is he hurt?"
"Billie?" Dani asked, confused. "Sweetie I don't know who you're talking about."

"No...oh my God...oh shit...what day is it?"
"It's July 14th. You've been out of it for almost a week. Today's your birthday."

"Oh no...oh no..." Rae muttered, putting her hands to her head. "I have to get home. Please--Dani I need to get home."

"Jesus Rae! Not until you tell what the fuck is wrong with you!"
"Have I been here? This whole time I mean?" Rae asked. Dani cocked an eyebrow
"What do you mean? Of course you've been here You've been in the hospital since you were hit."
"Oh my God..." Rae mumbled. "It was a dream."

Rae wiped the small tears that were falling from her eyes. If it was such a dream then why did it feel so real? Why could she still feel his lips on hers. Why could she still hear his voice in her head saying 'I love you' over and over again?

"Rae--Rae what was a dream?"
"Nothing..." Rae said softly, trying to make a small laugh. "You know...me and my crazy--crazy imagination."

"Okay well...Rae the doctor's gonna come in...run some tests then maybe i could take you back to your apartment."
"My apartment. Right." Rae said looking around the bland, white hospital room. "Just a dream."

+

Rae stood at the front desk, signing herself out of the hospital. The doctor had wanted to keep her a few more hours just to make sure she was alright. She had no internal or external injuries, surprisingly. Just a few minor cuts and bruises.

She signed her name at the bottom. Her signiture a little sloppy, seeing as her hands were shaking like crazy. She just wanted to forget about all of this. She turned to walk out of the front door but was run into by two younger kids.

"Sorry." The older one muttered, pulling his younger brother along by hand. A woman followed in right behind them.
"Sorry. They're a bit eager." She said softly. Rae smiled and shook her head.
"Don't worry about it."

The woman had looked vaguley familiar but right now nothing seemed familiar to Rae. All she could picture was the Armstrong household, with it's warm, happy feeling and smell of good meals. And Gilman's....oh shit.

Gilman's. They must have destroyed it by now.

Dani came walking out behind her. "Hey, Rae. You ready?"
"Yeah. Sure." Rae muttered to her best friend.
"Hey you sure you're alright?"
"Yes Dani I'm fine. Could we er--could we stop at Gilman's though? Or what used to be?"

"Gilman's? Oh yeah! I totally forgot to tell you! Wow um--ha--I didn't even tell you who hit you did I?"
"What? Hit me?"
"Yeah. In their car."
"Who?"
"You're gonna freak."
"Just fucking tell me Danica"
"Billie Joe Armstrong."