Cocky Brat

Joey stood there outside the tour bus with his father, both of them had a cigarette in their mouths. It had been three days since he and Ness went for drinks.
"Shouldn't be smoking." Billie Joe says.
"Yeah, I know." Joey mumbles, "But look who's talking."
"Ahh yeah." The older man laughs, "Thinking about quitting."
"That's what you've been saying for ten years."
"Yeah, I know." He laughs, "Maybe this year I will."
"Cold turkey?"
"Yeah, I once quit for six months cold turkey." He says proudly.

"So what's up with you and Vanessa?"
"What?"
"I'm a smoker not a blind man."
"Finally got her to go for drinks with me and I found out the hard way her opinion on cigarettes."
"Yet here you are." His father mocks.
"You know what the real kick in the face is." He chuckles at the irony, "She said she doesn't kiss ash trays. Meaning I hadn't messed up all evening, she wanted to kiss me until this." He holds up his cigarette.
"So boy-o, you going to quit?"
"What?"
"You're young, its easier for you to quit." He says dropping his cigarette and stubbing it out, "and you obviously like this girl." He laughs, "for once being whooped could be good for you." with that Billie Joe walks away.

Joey stands there and stares at the slowly burning cigarette in his hand. He looked up to see the canteen tent, it's lunch time. He stubs out his cigarette and charges into the tent. He sees a garbage can in the center of the canteen and walks up to it.
"Vanessa!" he calls.
"Joey what the hell!" she hisses from two tables over.
"Vanessa, I'm quitting!" he says pulling the box of cigarettes out of his pocket, he drops it in the garbage. "No more." She puts her head in her hands embarrassed as a few roadies start clapping in amusement. "Now will you go out with me?"
"Give the boy a chance!" one of the older roadies calls out.
"Yeah!" the woman running the canteen adds in. Everyone in the canteen tent starts cheering. Vanessa turns darker and darker red as the cheering gets louder.
"Okay!" she yells and everyone claps then goes back to their meal.
"So, I uhh, will pick you up at seven?" Joey says awkwardly.
"Sure." She says rolling her eyes. Joey sheepishly makes his way out of the tent and ends up getting wink from one of the older ladies.

"Awe that was so sweet." Ramona says catching up with him.
"Not you." Joey mumbles.
"So are you seriously quitting or are you just quitting in front of her."
"Nope, I'm quitting for good."
"Wow, you must really like this chick."
"Yeah."
"Where you going to take her tonight?"
"I have no idea."
"Want my help?"
"No." he says shaking his head, "Yes please." Ramona laughs.
"Take her dancing."
"Dancing?"
"Yeah, she looks like she needs to cut loose and have fun."
"You sure about this?" she nods furiously.
"Go look up a club on the bus's lap top." She says nudging him. "Oh! And wear a tight shirt, you got the bod, use it." He just bursts out laughing as he goes onto the bus.

*
"Okay Ramona, what do you think?" Joey asks as he steps out of the tour bus washroom.
"Missing something." She mumbles as she looks him over. "Hold on." She goes off to her guitar case and pulls out a blue guitar pick.
"What the hell?"
"Shut it." She says as she goes over to the cork board and pokes a hole through the piece of plastic. She glances around the barren bus.
"What are you doing?" Ramona just shakes her head as she digs through her bag and retrieves a piece of black string. She puts the guitar pick on the string then goes over to Joey and ties it around his neck.
"There."
"Isn't this a little . . . " he trails off as he goes to look in the mirror, "You're right."
"Yeah I know."
"Thanks Mona." He says hugging her.
"Yeah, yeah no problem." She says pushing him away, "You better leave or you'll keep her waiting."

Joey runs out of the bus to where the rental cars are parked. He drives to the motel where the film crew is staying and finds Ness's room. He knocks on the door and waits patiently.
"Hey." She says stepping outside. "You look," she pauses, "You look good."
"Thanks, so do you." he says as he leads her back to the car.

"So how was your first day sans nicotine?"
"Easier than I thought, apparently the third day is the hardest." He says as he drives down the free way.
"So where are we going?"
"There's this club I heard about, apparently the DJ is pretty awesome." She nods casually.
"You don't look like you're much a clubber."
"A friend of mine recommended it."

They get to the club and make their way through the crowd for their own personal space on the dance floor. As the night progresses Vanessa finds herself dancing closer and closer to Joey until her arms are comfortably wrapped around his neck. Joey builds up his shattered confidence and leans forward to kiss the woman in his arms, and she doesn't stop him. She actually intensifies said kiss as the strobe light blares behind them, causing brief moments of blindness.

"Do you wanna get a drink?!" Joey yells over the music, Ness nods. He puts his arm around her waist and leads her to the bar. His new wave of confidence makes Ness tense up for a second, but then she relaxes. Joey wouldn't hurt her, he wouldn't go so far for her just to hurt her, she tells herself.

Joey gets the drinks and they head over to a vacant booth.
"Are you having fun?" he ask, his arm still confidently wrapped around her.
"Yeah, I'm having a blast." She says taking a swig of beer, man was she thirsty. "Sorry I was such a bitch to you."
"According to my brother, I had it coming." He says laughing it off. She leans her head on his shoulder, working all day then dancing for at least an hour straight is exhausting. Joey loves these new signs of affection, he keeps reminding himself not to try to play it cool.

Joey's mind is racing, he wanted to get her out of this club, away from the blasting music, where he could have her to himself.
"Wanna get our of here?" he says stupidly, she nods. Where the hell am I going to take her? he thinks to himself. She obviously is the winner in the game of hard to get, I couldn't just take her to my hotel room.

They get back into the rental car and he has yet to put the key in to start the car.
"So where do you want to go?" Ness just laughs, "What?"
"I saw the way you were looking at me, so just kiss me already." She says rolling her eyes.
"Well now who's being cocky."
"Shut up and kiss me Armstrong." She says cupping his cheeks and putting his lips against hers. He wasn't quite sure what got into her, but he wasn't about to start asking questions now. They make out in the car for a while until Ness's cell phone starts ringing.

"Let it ring." Joey mumbles, she pushes him off of her.
"It could be work."
"So?"
"I told you I'd go out with you as long as it didn't get in the way of work." She says pulling out her cell phone. "Hello?"
"Hey Ness, where are you?" Kathleen asks casually.
"I went out, clubbing."
"With who?"
"Oh umm." She stammers, "Just a few people I hooked up with, don't worry no drug addicts or pimps."
"Uh alright."
"Why is there something going on?"
"No, just a few of us crew members were going for drinks tonight." Kathleen says casually, "So you have a lift back to the motel?"
"Yeah." She says confidently, "I gotta go now." She hangs up the phone and puts it back in her pocket.

"Everything okay?" Joey asks drumming his fingers against the steering wheel.
"Yeah." She says turning towards him, "where were we?" she asks putting a delicate arm over his shoulders. He turns to her and puts his smirking lips against hers, but this whole situation was bothering him all too much to enjoy this moment. He pulls away from her.
"You okay?" Ness asks curiously.
"Umm, its like yesterday you didn't want anything to do with me, and now you're all over me." he says mentally kicking himself in the head. She sighs.
"Listen, I thought you were just being shallow wanting to go out with me, but I realized someone shallow wouldn't go that far to go out with me."
"That all then?"
"And to admit I was sort of scared because I haven't been with anyone for a while and my job of course." He just chuckles. "What?"
"I ruined the moment, didn't I?"
"It can be salvaged." She says kissing his lips. He gets really into this make out session, his full confidence restored as his hand made it's way up the back of her shirt. Best part was she didn't stop him.