‹ Prequel: Green Porcupine
Sequel: Meant to be

So Close Yet So Far

So close yet so far

"Let's go watch the end of the show." Estelle suggests.
"Ahh, I don't know, we've seen it all before." Jakob says shrugging.
"Well, I'm going." Frankito says getting up.
"Fine, I'll go too." Jakob says shrugging, "You two coming?"
"I'm staying here and watch this movie." Ramona says pointing to the T. V.
"Yeah. Me too." Joey says shifting his weight.
"Fine." Frankito says as the three of them leave the room.

"Finally." Joey says as he wraps his arms around Ramona.
"Why don't we just tell everyone?" Ramona asks quizzically.
"You know as well as me what would happen then," Joey says raising his eyebrows.
"True. That would be awkward." Ramona says thinking to herself. She tilts her head and starts kissing Joey's neck. Joey moves so he's leaning over Ramona kissing her neck vigorously. Ramona slides her hands under his shirt and moves them across his back. Joey removes his lips from her neck from a second and takes of his shirt. He moves his hands over her hips and pulls off her shirt and tosses it to the ground carelessly. Ramona puts her arms around Joey's neck and pulls him closer.

"What the fuck is going on here?!" Tre's voice bellows out from the doorway. Tre angrily pushes Joey to the ground. "For fuck's sake Ramona put your shirt back on!" Ramona hurriedly grabs her shirt off the floor and puts it back on. She looks over at the doorway where everyone is standing. Billie Joe pushes past everyone.
"Joseph Marciano Armstrong, get over here right now!" Billie Joe says angrily.

*back at the hotel*
"What the fuck was that all about?" Tre asks as he paces back and forth.
"I don't know." Ramona mumbles, looking up at her father.
"How can you not know?! I find you in your bra and Joseph without his shirt and all you have to say is I don't know!" Tre says furiously. Ramona has never seen him like this before.
"Dad, will you at least look at me when you talk?"
"I can't look at you. For all I knew, I didn't even know you had use for a bra before today. It's just... Argh!" Tre rambles. "It's just I still think of you as little Ramona, not hormone driven teenie."
"I am not a teenie!" Ramona bursts out.
"You still get my point!" Tre bursts out as well. "For fuck's sake, Joseph?"
"Well would you prefer some complete stranger?" Ramona asks sarcastically.

*Meanwhile*

"Have you no sense at all?!" Billie Joe yells.
"Guess not." Joey mutters.
"You ruined his chances of getting lucky." Jakob teases.
"Jakob, not now!" Billie Joe says irritated, "You told me you two were just friends; I think your exact words were we're platonic!"
"Well it started off like that but one thing led to another." Joey mutters.
"Don't use that 'one thing led to another', it's the oldest excuse in the book."
"Well what do you want me to say? You're not one to preach, you were probably sleeping around at my age." Joey mutters.
"Don't take that tone with me; do you know how fortunate you are, I had nothing! I was exposed to crap morals of the street and you've had nothing but good morals all your life and you..."
"I never quite got what you liked about her; but now that I saw her without a shirt..." Jakob says maliciously.
"JAKOB!" Billie Joe yells, "What am I going to do about this?!"
"Just let it be." Joey suggests.
"You'd like that wouldn't you!" Billie Joe says angrily, "Just wait till your mother gets here tomorrow. Until then Jakob follows you everywhere."
"What?! No!"
"This is going to be fun." Jakob says evilly.

***
The next day the car from the airport bringing Adie, Bianca, Cassie, Travis and Josh was right on time.
"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck." Joey mutters nervously as he sees his mother entering the hotel lobby. Joey runs up to his mother. "Hi Mom how was your flight?"
"It was good." She says happily as she hugs both her sons.
"Dad, can we go to the pool now?" Joey asks hurriedly.
"Fine but punishment still applies." Billie Joe says as Joey and Jakob run off.

"Tre you look like shit." Bianca says as she hugs Tre lovingly.
"Yeah well I'll tell you what happened later." Tre says stressed out.
"Can I go swimming with Frankito and everyone?" Josh asks innocently.
"Yeah but wear your water wings." Bianca says warningly.
"And stick close to Franky." Tre adds on.

*Hotel Rooms*
"So what happened?"
"Well, all the kids except Ramona and Joseph came to watch the end of the show last night."
"Okay." Bianca says already suspecting what could've happened.
"We came off stage and were about to go celebrate so we all went down to the entertainment room to get those two. We open the door and both of them are heaving against each other shirtless."
"Jeez, that must've been extremely awkward." Bianca says massaging Tre's shoulders.
"No kidding, I can't even look at her the same and I have a new hatred for Joey which I can't shake."
"Yeah, I know."
"Now I know why your dad hated me so much when we were teenagers." Tre says rolling his eyes.
"And he never even walked in on us." Bianca adds in. "Have you told Lisea?"
"No not yet, and I'm not looking forward to it. " Tre says in an exhausted tone.
"I'll tell her if you like."
"Thanks." Tre says lying back, "I still can't believe she was doing THAT with Joseph, I mean..."
"Think of it this way; it's Joseph, your best friend's son, versus Chuck some guy from school." Bianca says in a mocking tone.
"Wait! There's a Chuck." Tre says worriedly.
"No, it's just an example."

***
"So what's the punishment all about?" Adie asks calmly already used to the boys' rowdy behavior.
"We walked in on Joey and Ramona 'together'," Billie Joe says disturbed.
"What exactly do you mean together?" Adie asks cautiously.
"As in the saliva exchange, shirts off and heaving!" Billie Joe outbursts.
"Your not joking, are you?" Adie asks in disbelief.
"Nope."
"What's the punishment? I mean you can't say; you can never see her again."
"Jakob has to follow Joey wherever he goes."
"That'll work." Adie says, thinking to herself, "But I still want to have a long talk with Joseph."

***
"So what's up with Billie and Tre? Usually they're all joking around grabbing each other's asses and stuff." Cassie asks as she picks out a change of clothes.
"You wouldn't believe what happened. After the show last night we walk into the entertainment room to find Joey and Ramona all over each other, I mean shirts off and everything." Mike says rolling his eyes, "I mean the tension is at an all time high between Billie, Tre, Ramona and Joey."
"Tre must've lost it." Cassie says still a little in awe.
"Oh yeah, Billie too surprisingly." Mike says shrugging. "And now I feel the sudden urge to keep Estelle away from Jakob."
"Don't be ridiculous, Jakob is still more amused with television to even think about Stella or any girl." Cassie says laughing.
"Not true, you wouldn't believe how young Billie was when he started groping around." Mike says in an interested tone, "I guess me too; we're not sure about Tre though."
"What do you mean you don't know about Tre?"
"Well Tre was with Bianca at like seventeen, eighteen, but before that we'd see him with the occasional girl but that's about it." Mike says shrugging.

***
"So do you want tell me what happened?" Bianca asks cautiously.
"Why, you already heard the whole thing from Dad." Ramona says cynically.
"Hey, if you don't want your father to kill Joseph I suggest you tell me your're side of the story." Bianca says slightly annoyed, "So how long has this been going on?"
"You can't tell Dad." Ramona says worriedly.
"What? Fine."
"Well we were kind of checking each other out the first week on tour, and then Joey invited me to meet him at the arcade late at night, so I went."
"So you planned to sneak out?"
"Not exactly, we were both on MSN and we decided to meet in fifteen minutes and so we did. Then nothing happened we played a few games then Joey suggested we go swimming and he kissed me."
"How come your Dad is all worked up about a kiss?"
"Well, as the week went by we kept a low profile then yesterday I guess it all came out." Ramona says awkwardly.
"I see." Bianca says thinking to herself.
"Aren't you going to scold or lecture me?"
"Can't, or else I'd be a hypocrite. Just some advice, take it easy, and keep your clothes on for the time being." Bianca says warningly.

***
"So you and Ramona?" Adie states.
"Yup."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Nope."
"Too bad because I do."
"Mom, you already know what happened! Dad, Tre and everyone walked in on us making out!"
"Well how did this start?"
"I had the hots for her; she had the hots for me. BAM!" Joey says snapping his fingers.
"Were you planning on using a condom?" Adie asks seriously.
"Mom?!"
"I'm serious; answer the question."
"We weren't planning on getting that far; what they walked in on was as far as we were going to go." Joey says rolling his eyes.
"Promise?"
"I promise, jeez we've only been seeing each other for like two weeks and you already think we're..."
"Well how was I supposed to know how long this was going on for?" Adie says annoyed.

***
"You're not all boy crazy are you?" Mike asks cautiously.
"Boy crazy?" Stella asks confused.
"I mean what's your boyfriend situation?"
"None, I mean this guy asked me out but it didn't work out." Stella says shrugging.
"So that's it then you don't have the hots for Jake or Frankito?" Mike asks jokingly.
"EW, no! Frankito is too young for me and Jakob keeps putting ice cubes down my shirt."
"He what?!"
"Puts ice cubes down my shirt." Stella repeats a little annoyed.
"When did this happen?"
"At your shows, when we're just sitting in the entertainment room, he has a tendency of popping ice cubes down the back of my shirt." She says rolling her eyes.
"I think I'll have a talk with him." Mike says cautiously.
"Nope, it's okay. Last time I told him if he did it again, I'd kick him in the nuts." Estelle says shrugging.
"Good."