Center Stage (Into the Future)

Billie was stunned for a second.

“Who, Tre. Claudia?” he asked sitting down next to him. Tre shot him a look. “No, not her. Nikky.”

Billie blinked.

“Nikky? You mean the drummer for Whiplash Nikky?” Billie asked blankly.

“Yes, her,” Tre said as he tapped his feet nervously.

“B-But…I thought that was just, like…A crush or something,” Billie said trying to sort things out.

“I know, I know…So did I…I just…I just don’t know what happened. I was just talking to her on the phone before I came here and…” he stopped and put his head in his hands. He groaned and lay down on the bed.

“Tre, you can’t do this! She’s married!” Billie said standing in front of him.

“She doesn’t have kids though! So it wouldn’t be so bad,” Tre said hopefully, scrambling back up to a sitting position.

“Yes it would, Tre. And you know it,” Billie said angrily. “Find a nice, caring NOT MARRIED woman and forget about Nikky. She’s your best friend, that’s why you love her,” Billie said as Tre groaned and flopped back down.

Suddenly there was a sick -THUD- against the door followed by a stream of cursing. Billie cocked an eyebrow at Tre and walked over to the door. He opened it to find Nikky on the ground holding her foot.

“I thought it was open,” she said when she saw him. Billie laughed. “It’s good to see you, too,” he said picking her up off the ground. Nikky gave Billie a hug and then looked inside the room.

“TRE!” she screamed. She ran out of Billie’s arms and tackled Tre. They laughed. Billie gave a small cough and Tre looked up. Billie gave him a ‘don’t-do-anything-stupid’ look and walked out of the room.

“Finally, our parties are gonna be back to normal,” Nikky yelled, still hugging Tre.

“Why?” Tre laughed dumbly.

“Because you’re back,” she said hugging him tighter. Tre could feel his stomach flip.

‘But she’s married,’ he thought to himself. He gave Nikky one last hug and they stood up.

“Let’s go downstairs, I think Mike and Katie are here,” Nikky said excitedly as she grabbed his hand and pulled him downstairs.

Sure enough, Mike was standing in the doorway with everyone hugging him, even Billie for some odd reason. Billie opened his eyes and saw Tre and Nikky laughing at him.

“I felt alone,” Billie said glumly as he continued to hug Mike. Tre just shook his head and laughed. Katie heard him and turned around.

“TRE!” she yelled. Tre was immediately in Katie’s arms. Tre felt weird, hugging Katie with Nikky right next to him. But, then again, Nikky didn’t have the same feelings for Tre as he did for her.

Kaylee and Joey

Joey knocked on the door to Kaylee’s house. He heard footsteps coming up to the door. The door opened.

“Hey Kay…” he stopped. It was Evan that answered the door…Evan with only boxers on. He must have seen rage in Joey’s eyes for he immediately blurted.

“I WAS SWIMMING IN THE POOL! DON’T KILL ME!” and then ran away. Joey heard Kaylee laughing form the backyard. He walked through the house and went in the back. Tomi, Evan and Kaylee were all out there.

“Joey!” Kaylee yelled from the pool. Joey smiled.

“Hi guys,” he said. He walked to the pool edge to pull Kaylee out.

“I told you!” Evan yelled from the other side of the lawn. He picked up a towel and began to dry off his shaggy auburn hair.

“Get in the car guys,” Joey yelled as he gave Kaylee a towel.

“Why?” Tomi asked as he got out and shook his blonde hair like a dog.

“Cuz you’re coming over too,” Joey said.

“Really?!” Evan yelled, dropping his towel in excitement.

“We get to meet them!?” Tomi squealed. Joey nodded.

“Woo hoo!” Evan yelled as he ran to grab his jeans and shirt form the table. Tomi quickly followed.

“Snake bites! Where are my snake bites!?” Tomi yelled as he rummaged through his pile of clothes.

“Oo I found earrings on the ground,” Evan cooed as he pranced away. Tomi scrambled to his feet and began to chase his drummer.

“Give ‘em back!”

Kaylee laughed at the two and turned to Joey.

“Love you babe,” she said as she hugged him.

“Love you too,” he said. They had always said that to each other, but recently, Joey felt like he really meant it. He held her close.

“Joey?” Kaylee said.

“Hm?”

“Can I put some clothes on?” she said signaling to her bathing suit. “Oh…yeah,” Joey said, smiling. Kaylee laughed and grabbed her jeans and T-Shirt.

After a few minutes they were in the car. “So…what do I say…what do I do!” Tomi was bombarding them with questions.

“Yeah, like, are we allowed to look them in the eye?” Evan asked. Joey stopped at a red light and turned around to look at them.

“Why would you not be able to look them in the eye?” Joey asked slowly.

“Well…they’re like…gods,” Evan said. Joey shook his head.

“Yes, if you look them in the eyes, all of their magical punk rock powers will disappear,” Joey said sarcastically.

“Thanks, Joe. I don’t know how I would feel if I made them lose all of their powers,” Evan said seriously. Tomi smacked him in the head.

“He’s being sarcastic, dumb ass.”

Joey laughed and continued to drive.