The Long Road

Oh God, I'm in the presence of Billie Joe Armstrong, the Billie Joe Armstrong, and I had no idea how to react. Should I go into automatic fan girl mode and scream my head off? Should I look away and pretend he's not there? Maybe I could fall to the floor and foam at the mouth? But I had a feeling that none of them were a going to help me socially.

Everyone else was operating just fine. They smiled and shook his hand calmly, not over reacting too much as to show their excitement. I was afraid if I even looked up I would completely screw up. Soon Billie turned to me and gave me a calm smile.

'So, you're Leslie? Joey said it was your idea to perform here.' Billie said.

I knew I had to say something. So how come my mouth wasn't working? I had to say something. ANYTHING!

'Oh - um - yeah it was.' I managed to say, my voice slightly shaky. Luckily Billie took this in and gave me another smile. I felt slightly more comfortable and I smiled back.

I sidled up to Joey and whispered in his ear. ‘How come you never told me Billie Joe Armstrong was your dad?’

Joey sighed and shook his head. ‘Well, imagine how you would have reacted if I told you earlier? You have no idea how hard it is to have a conversation with him around.’ Joey turned away from me, leaving me feeling slightly hurt. Why was he acting so moody? He didn’t have to have a go at me like that. Ignoring him, I turned to Katie.

‘Oh my God, aren’t you excited? This is one of your biggest idols who‘s standing right here and your acting like a nervous bird. What’s up?’ she said in my ear.

I sighed and looked down at my feet. ‘It’s just that I’m afraid if I say something stupid, I’ll completely embarrass myself in front of him!’

‘I can understand that.’ Katie replied, patting my arm. ‘Just act natural and don’t be fake.’

Suddenly, Harry came over to us, looking extremely pissed off. He was stuffing his mobile into his pocket and swearing under his breath.

‘What’s wrong?’ I asked nervously.

Harry glanced up at me and growled. ‘I just got a call from the airport. It’s storming outside and lighting struck the control tower at the airport. It’s completely busted the controls and shit like that. All the flights are cancelled for another two weeks.’

We all swore out loud, getting annoyed glances from people around us. I couldn’t believe it. With flights cancelled, it looked as though we would be stuck in California for two whole weeks.

‘You mean we can’t go anywhere?’ Hamish asked, his face growing pale.

‘That’s right. And I can’t afford to drive and waste money on petrol.’ Harry moaned.
We all stood there, looking around hopelessly down at each other. I knew that any idea of going on with the tour was being extinguished. But I didn’t want to give up.

‘Surely we can just do more shows here. We can do some more stuff here at Gilman Street.’ I said, for some reason looking over at Billie when I said this.

‘Sure why not?’ Billie said shrugging. ‘You guys got a place to stay though, right?’ he added.

‘We just booked out of our hotel.’ Justin said, speaking for the first time.

Suddenly, Joey broke into the conversation. ‘Dad, maybe they can stay at our place. We have a bunch of spare rooms don’t we?’ He said, glancing at everyone.

‘You’d have to ask Adrienne, Joey.’ Billie said. ‘I don’t mind the idea.’

‘You don’t have to do that for us, really!’ Harry said as Joey pulled out his mobile and dialled in a number.

Billie waved his hand away. ‘Look, its okay! I’d do anything to help out a genuinely good band. And you guys are seriously good.’

I blushed at the compliment, and I’m sure everyone else did too. To have a celebrity, and one you greatly admire at that, say your band is good didn’t happen to us on a daily basis.
Joey talked on the phone for a little while, but he gave us the thumbs up.
‘Mum said yes, they can stay over as long as you don’t trash the place.’

We all headed outside, and it was pouring outside, with dark clouds blocking out any sort of light, except for the occasional flash of lightning. We all raced to our cars and jumped in. We started following Billie’s car through the backstreets until we came into a smart neighbourhood outside of Oakland called Upper Rockridge, with nice looking two storey houses. I kept looking at all the houses, wondering which one was Joey’s.

It was when the actual shyness of the meeting Billie Joe died away and the amazement and excitement settled in. We had met Billie Joe Armstrong, who had loved our music, and now we were going to his house to stay over. Out of all the teenagers it could have ever happened to, it happened to us. A smile broke out on my face and I couldn’t keep still.

‘You are reacting a little bit late!’ Justin said, chuckling at me.

‘I know I know! It’s just- wow- y’know what I mean – we are just – I mean – wow.’ I stuttered.

Everyone burst into laughter at my failed English. I slumped back against the seat, abandoning to even talk. I kept my gaze on the car in front of us. Were Billie and Joey talking about us as they led us to their house? What were they thinking? I wanted to know so bad that my brains felt they would implode.

Eventually, after another 20 minutes, we pulled into Ocean View Drive. The car in front then slowed down and stopped. We also stopped and waited. After a few seconds, the car turned to the left and disappeared up a long driveway. We followed and parked outside the most beautiful house I had ever seen. From what I could tell through the rain, it was a HUGE house with a sort of dove grey slatted roof and a white brick exterior.

We rushed through the pouring rain, hauling our bags behind us. Leaving the instruments in the car, we rushed up the brick stairs to the front door. Billie shook the raindrops out of his hair and fished some keys out of his pocket. The door opened and he let us pass through with our damp bags.

‘Just dump your stuff by the door.’ Billie said, throwing the keys onto a small table.

If the outside of the house looked beautiful, then the inside was ten times more than that. I stepped forward and looked around, taking in the polished black staircase and the perfect white walls of the little entrance suite. Justin looked around with me and whistled.

‘This is one sexy house Billie.’ He said, looking over at him. Billie laughed as he took off his jacket.

‘Gees, thanks.’ He said, looking a little embarrassed. ‘You can compliment Adrienne on the decorating though.’

Joey stood near the staircase, looking awkward and out of place. He looked over at me. I smiled kindly at him, but I got a stony expression back.

‘I’ll be back down in a few minutes.’ Joey mumbled, suddenly shooting up the staircase and disappearing around the corner.

I felt hurt again. Joey and I were getting along so well a few hours ago, but now it looked as though he wanted to avoid me forever. Maybe he guessed that I slightly liked him and freaked out! Now I knew that I would back off and try not to be so flirtatious.

Billie led us through to the living room which was spacious, with creamy walls, brown felt couches with coloured pillows and a real fireplace, which had a real fire burning in it. It had such a warm atmosphere that I started wishing I lived there.

‘This place is so beautiful.’ I mumbled to myself. I didn’t know that Billie had been standing next to me and heard what I said.

‘Well you must be glad you’re staying over.’ He said, surprising me.

‘I really hope you don’t think we’re taking advantage of you.’ I suddenly said, a wave of guilt coming over me.

‘Leslie, if I had known that, I wouldn’t have let you come through the front door. And don’t be so nervous, I don’t bite.’ he added as I blushed.

‘I’m sorry – I know you don’t bite.’ I said, laughing slightly. ‘It’s just that I’ve been trying not say anything stupid cause I’m a huge fan and if I did say something stupid then I would be humiliated and never live over it ever.’

I said this as fast as I could and I was pretty sure that Billie did not understand a single word I said. But he nodded at me.

‘I guess that is understandable. I felt like that when I met Robert Daltrey from The Who. Except I was more nervous than you are just now, because we were both in a steam-room and he was naked.’

We both broke into fits of laughter, and I tried not to imagine Robert Daltrey naked. And after that, I had no problems talking to him. It felt like I had known him for years, like the older brother I had never had.

We were then introduced to Adrienne, who had just come through the door herself. She was extremely pretty, with gentle brown eyes and undoubtedly awesome dreadlocks. She seemed very nice, shaking our hands and smiling at us.

‘I have to hear your music while you guys are here, see what Joey’s been raving about.’ Adrienne said as we filed into the kitchen and sat down at the table. It turned out Adrienne was a great cook as well, because I could smell her cooking from the other side of the room, and it smelt and tasted great.

‘Maybe we can give you a show tomorrow.’ Justin said, bouncing his head to his usual personal beat as he walked towards the table. ‘We will be so good it’ll make your brains melt.’

‘You better! I actually want to feel the brains spurt out from my ears when you play.’ Adrienne replied, making everyone chuckle.

Joey eventually came down, still slightly stony faced, along with his little brother Jakob, who was energetic and obviously starving as he gave us a quick hello and grabbed his bowl of pasta. We all sat around and chatted, Billie and Adrienne wanting to know more about how we got together and all that sort of stuff. I felt so at home with the Armstrong family. They made us feel so welcome, even though we were complete strangers. I guessed that if anyone was a musician, they were welcome in the Armstrong home.

After dinner, we picked up our bags again and sorted out where we were going to sleep. It turned out that the house had a basement that had been turned into a living area, complete with a mini fridge, mattresses, pillows and sleeping bags. We set everything up and said goodnight to the Armstrong’s as they went upstairs to bed. We all sat on our mattresses, whispering in low voices.

‘I still find it hard to believe that we are actually here!’ Hamish said, looking around at us excitedly.

‘You got that right.’ I replied. ‘I think I’m still getting over the shock!’

‘Hey Leslie? A certain someone couldn’t keep his eyes off you during dinner.’ Justin said in a sing-song voice.

‘What are you talking about?’ I asked, my face growing hot. If he was going to talk about Joey then I would belt him to death with my pillow.

‘You know perfectly who I mean. Joey has it bad for you man!’ Justin chuckled, poking me repeatedly in the shoulder. I picked up my pillow and walloped him over the head as hard as I could. Although I realised my anger out on him, it didn’t stop me from blushing.

‘You obviously like him back.’ Harry said, ganging up with Justin and giving me an annoying grin.

‘No, I don’t!’ I replied as quietly as I could. ‘Besides, he’s way too bipolar for me. One minute he’s being really nice, and the next he’s acting like shit. What’s up with the guy?’

‘He probably thinks you like Billie, you know, being the craziest fan girl out of all of us.’ Justin responded, lying down on his pillow and looking up at the ceiling.

‘I like Billie, but not in that way.’ I said, following suite and lying down on my mattress. ‘He’s like my long lost sibling, the brother I really should have had in my crappy personal life. It would have made up for not having a dad.’

Everyone was silent after this sudden angry outburst. I sighed and rubbed a hand over my face.

‘I’m sorry guys. I’m just really tired at the moment, that’s all.’ And with that I turned around and tried to fall asleep.

After a little while, the light switched off and I began to drift to sleep. But no matter how hard I tried, thoughts of having a dad and Joey kept racing around my mind like an endless racetrack.