Love Conquers Every Time

The following morning Jason had woken up his niece at seven; which she had a problem with immediately, she wasn’t use to waking up before noon, “It’s still fucking dark outside, are you kidding me?” Jewel asked him a rude tone as she stood up in the bed, “I mean, really? Can’t I sleep for a few more hours? I need my sleep, y’know?”

He grabbed the bedspread and threw it off of her, “Yeah, well, the bus it at Billie’s house and we’re leaving at ten but we always have breakfast there before; we have to be there in an hour,” Jason told her with enthusiasm, “You’re going to have to get used to waking up early sometimes, now get up and get ready, we’re leaving in half an hour.”

An hour later they were pulling up in Billie Joe Armstrong’s driveway and Jewel was sound asleep in the passenger seat. Jason tugged on her ear and made her wake up instantly, “What the hell!” she said as she looked at him evilly, “You know you could kill someone by scaring them like that.”

He rolled his eyes, “We’re here, get your ass up,” he said as he laughed and got out of his car, “C’mon, we don’t have all day.”

Jewel groaned, grabbed her purse, got out of the car and then followed her uncle inside of the extremely large house, “Uncle Jason’s here dad!” Billie’s fourteen year old son said as he answered the door, “And some hot chick with big tits is with him, too!”

“A hot chick that’s too old for you,” Jason said as swatted the back of the teenager’s head and walked into the house as Jewel followed him, she glared at Joey in the process, “Besides she’s my niece, I would have to die before an Armstrong was with her.”

“I’m Joey,” he said as he stuck his hand out for Jewel to shake, “I’m eighteen years old, just in case you were wondering.” He smiled at her widely and his braces showed.

“What the fuck? You’re not eighteen, you little shit,” Billie said as he walked up to them and looked at Jewel, “He’s only fourteen, don’t pay attention to him, he’s going through puberty and his hormones are off of the wall.”

She shook Joey’s hand, “I’m Jewel,” she told him as he frowned because of what his father had just said, “I’m Jason’s niece,” she then looked up at Billie, “Hey, Billie, haven’t seen you in awhile.”

“It’s been what? Four years?” Billie questioned as she shrugged her shoulders as he smiled at her, “Last time we talked we got into a little war, huh?” She nodded her head with a smile, “Nickelback still fucking sucks my left nut.”

Jewel rolled her eyes, “I’m not going to get into this with you again, man,” she said to him as she shook her head, “Let’s save the fights until later, we’ll have a lot of time for that.”

“Breakfast is on the table!” Billie’s wife Adrienne shouted throughout the house, “Tre, don’t throw food, act your age, for crying out loud.”

The pre-tour breakfast ran smoothly. Everyone socialized civilly which wasn’t what usually happened; there would end up being a food fight or some kind of pointless drama that would ruin the entire morning. The goodbye process was really hard for Jewel to watch because each of the men were saying bye to their completely sad kids and their wives. It broke her heart to watch them cry, she was a softy when it came to kids.

“It’s always fucking like this, Adrienne,” Jewel heard Billie’s voice from inside of the bathroom, she wanted to use it before they headed on the road, “You don’t fucking say a thing for weeks and then the day I fucking leave you start this bullshit.”

“Well, you’re always fucking gone, Billie,” Adrienne told him in an angry tone, “Then I’m here for months alone with the boys, you don’t understand how fucking hard it is.”

“I know it’s fucking hard, I’ve been doing it for fucking years,” he shouted at her, “But you don’t seem to mind when you’re shopping with the money I’m making, right?” His voice was frustrated, “You make everything fucking stressful, even when you’re not around, and you call all the fucking time to complain about how I’m not there. Just stop already, you’ve been with me long enough, you should be used to it.”

Jewel waited patiently inside of the bathroom, she didn’t want to come out in the middle of an argument, “Well, maybe I don’t want to live like this anymore,” Adrienne told him in serious tone, “I want some stability in my life and for my kids, I want them to actually have a father that’s around to see them do things. You miss everything!”

Jewel couldn’t stand it any longer, she felt like she was eavesdropping on their conversation so she just walked out casually, “Sorry, I just wanted to use the restroom before we left,” she said innocently as she looked at Billie and Adrienne, “I didn’t mean to be in there during your talk.”

“It’s not your fault that she’s being a nag,” Billie smiled at her politely which made her laugh nervously.

“How are we all going to fit on this bus?” Jewel asked her uncle suddenly as they all loaded onto the bus, “I mean, there’s a lot of us, this is a huge bus, but I don’t see how anything can hold this many people.”

Jason laughed, “Oh, yeah, we’ll all fit, there’s five bunks,” he explained to her as she raised her eyebrow in shock, “We’ve got a studio in the back, it’s actually really sweet.”

“LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!” Tre Cool’s voice roared through the bus, he was Green Day’s drummer, “Another tour, means another fucking party! I loaded up on the booze and had it stacked in everyone mini fridge this morning.”

“What the fuck, Tre,” Mike Dirnt, the band’s bassist said as opened up his mini fridge, “Where the fuck am I supposed to put my food? There’s no room in here.” Jewel opened up another fridge to see it filled up with Miller Lite, she smiled to herself.

About an hour after being on the road, Jewel threw her bag on her bunk and looked for her little bag of Mary Jane. She wanted to put it into her purse so that she could carry it with her all of the time. Her uncle was in the studio part of the bus so she knew she was in the clear. She unzipped the little compartment in her duffle bag and smiled once she saw it. She grabbed it quickly and opened up her purse to put it in but the substance was peeled out of her hands before she could.

Jewel turned around quickly to see Billie standing there with her pot in his hands and a crooked grin on his face, “You hiding something?” he asked her in a sarcastic tone as she groaned, “Does Jason know about this little bag of happiness?”

“No, he doesn’t,” she told him as she reached for the bag but he pulled it back, “Come on, don’t be an asshole and rat me out,” she crossed her arms and stared at him, “A friend of mine gave that to me and I’d like to enjoy it, thank you very much.”

“Were you going to light up on the bus?” Billie asked her curiously with a laugh, “Everyone’s going to fucking smell it and then you’ll be in a shit load of trouble.”

Jewel rolled her eyes, “No I wasn’t, I’m not a fucking idiot,” she told him and then she sighed, “I was going to put it my purse so that I could carry it with me and I’ll just light up whenever I was in the clear.”

Billie opened up the bag and smelled it, “Fuck, that’s pretty good fucking weed,” he said with enthusiasm as Jewel laughed, “I didn’t know they had this kind of shit in Little Rock.”

“Yeah, well, they do,” Jewel told him and then she reached for the bag again but he pulled it back again, “Come on, if Jason finds that shit he’ll kill me.” She watched Billie roll the bag back up and stuff it in his pocket, “What the fuck are you doing?”

“I’m saving your ass, that’s what,” he told her honestly as she sighed again, “If your uncle catches you with it, you’re dead, right?” Jewel nodded, “Well, he knows that I smoke bud like a fucking chimney so I’ll hold onto it so that you won’t get busted,” he explained to her as she smiled slightly, “Then whenever no one’s around we’ll light up… together.”

“I swear to God, if you smoke any of my shit without me I will kill you,” she told him as she zipped up her duffle bag, “Aren’t you a little too old to be smoking pot, anyway?” She laughed.

“I’m not old,” he told her in a serious tone, “And besides, no one’s too old to toke up, when we run out of this I know where to get some more, I’ve got connections, you don’t smoke daily, do you? That would be fucking insane if you did.”

Jewel shook her head, “No, I’m not a major stoner, maybe two or three times a week,” she explained to him as he smiled at her, “That’s if I’m lucky and have some, my friend Spike though, he smokes from the time he wakes up until he goes to sleep.”

“I went through that phase, some of the best times I’ve had,” he laughed lightly and then he sighed, “Hey, sorry you had to listen to that whole argument with Adrienne, we didn’t know you were in there.”

“I know you didn’t, it’s alright, everyone argues,” Jewel smiled at him sympathetically, “I’m glad fists weren’t being thrown.” She joked and made him laugh.

“This time,” he said in a serious tone which made her jaw drop down to the floor, “I’m kidding, I’ve never hit her before, I’m not a fucking coward, but she’s socked me pretty good a few times though.”

Jewel shook her head in disbelief, “At least it didn’t lead to that this time,” she told him as he flashed her another one of his crooked smiles, “That would have been a horrible way to start out the tour.”