Love Conquers Every Time

“Have you enjoyed my gift yet?” Spike questioned Jewel on the phone a week and a half later as she sat on the bumper of the bus; they had just stopped at a restaurant as they were on their way to Chicago, Illinois for Green Day’s next tour date the following day, “It was the top notch shit, so you better have.”

“No, I haven’t,” Jewel told her best friend as she sighed, “Every time we’ve tried to my Uncle or someone else gets in the way,” she took a drag of her cigarette, inhaled, and then exhaled, “It fucking sucks though, because it’s like someone’s always watching or something.”

“Wait, what do you mean ‘every time we’ve tried’,” Spike quoted what she said, “Who are you going to light up with, Jewel?” He asked her with a light laugh.

“Billie is holding the shit for me because if I get busted with it then I’m in a shit load of trouble,” she explained to him with a light laugh, “So, in return, I have to share the goods with him, I hope you don’t mind, y’know, since you gave it to me and all.”

“No way! Billie Joe fucking Armstrong is going to smoke my hash,” Spike exclaimed in an excited tone, “That’s fucking intense, no, I don’t mind at all, I envy you right now though.” They laughed lightly together.

All of a sudden, Jewel felt her arm being jerked and her body being pulled; which made her jump, “What the fuck?” She practically yelled as she turned her head to see Billie with his hand on her arm, “What the hell are you doing? You scared the piss out of me!”

“Come on, I bought us some time,” he explained to her quickly as he made her walk with him towards the truck that held some of the band’s instruments, “I told the guys that I needed to make a few phone calls and not to bother me for awhile.”

“Spike, I’ll call you back, man,” Jewel explained into the phone quickly, “I’m being kidnapped by a senior citizen rock star.” She pressed ‘end’ on her iPhone and slipped it into her back pocket, “Couldn’t you tell me that calmly instead of dragging me?”

Billie laughed as he unlocked the back of the truck and lifted the door, “Don’t be a drama queen,” he told her and then motioned her to hop up onto the truck, “Ladies first,” Jewel rolled her eyes and climbed up, “What do we have here?”

Jewel turned around quickly, “What are you talking about?” She asked him as she crossed her arms out in front of her as she watched his mouth turn into a crooked smile, “What the hell are you smiling about?” She rolled her eyes as she spoke.

“Nice ink,” he said simply with a laugh, he was referring to the alignment of assorted colored stars that was on her lower back, “Another one of your secrets that your uncle doesn’t know about?” He began to roll up a joint of Mary Jane on the top of drum set that was in the truck.

“Yes,” she said simply and then sighed, “Everything that I get done I make sure that no one can see it or else I wouldn’t have a place to live anymore,” she explained as she leaned against the wall of the truck, “I don’t really care if Jason knows though, I just don’t want my grandma finding out, she really hates tattoos and piercings.”

“I know, she hassles me every time I see her about how I’ve branded myself for life and how I’m going to regret the things that I’ve put on my body,” Billie laughed as Jewel smiled slightly, “But what’s the point of getting them if no one’s going to see ‘em? What else have you had done?”

“I’ve got my hips and navel pierced,” she told him honestly as she watched him lick the paper on the joint, “I’ve got some more ink on my upper back and I’m thinking about getting a sleeve done on my right arm, but I’m not sure about that yet, maybe when I’ve moved out completely.”

“Can I see your hip piercings?” He asked her with a grin as he put the blunt into his mouth and lit it up; she nodded her head and lifted up her shirt just above her navel, “That looks really fucking painful,” he reached out to touch the piercings.

“Ow!” She shouted dramatically making him jump; she then busted into fits of giggles and he frowned at her but smiled, “Don’t be such a pussy.” He then ran his fingers over the piercing without any false alarms, “They don’t hurt now, but when I first got them, it was a bitch to sleep at night.”

He brought his hand back, “I could only imagine,” he said as he passed her the blunt and he watched closely as she took a hit, “Y’know, I haven’t smoked with a girl in years, no joke.”

“Doesn’t Adrienne smoke with you?” Jewel questioned as she lifted her head and blew the smoke up, “I mean, she’s your wife, I’d imagine that she would, or do you just smoke with Mike and Tre?” She handed him back the joint and waited for a response patiently.

Billie put the joint back in his mouth, “Adrienne doesn’t smoke with me anymore, ever since we had the boys she thinks it’s a bad example, I don’t know why though, it’s not like I do it in front of them or something,” he rolled his eyes as he went on, “But yeah, I do most of my smoking with Tre and Mike, like I have been for half of my life.”

Twenty minutes later the two of them were finished lighting up and were as calm as can be, “So, you’re going to school, right?” Billie asked Jewel as he rested his head again the wall of the truck; she nodded her head, “What are you studying?”

“My first major is journalism,” she explained to him with a bright smile, “And my second major is photography, I should be done in about two years, unless I want to study something else, but I doubt it, I’m kind of already focused on what I want to do.”

“Which is?” He questioned as he laughed lightly, “You know what I do, obviously, who doesn’t know what I do, right?” They laughed together, “I’m just curious because the last time I saw you, was when you were like sixteen, even then I didn’t know much about you, and so, I’m just filling in the blanks, y’know?”

“I want write for a magazine and take pictures for them,” she told him honestly as he smiled at her, “Maybe like Rolling Stone or something, as long as it has to do with music then I’m happy.”

“Well, from what your grandma and uncle tell me, you’re pretty fucking smart, so,” Billie said as he ran his fingers through his jet black hair, “You’ll be able to do all that shit pretty easy, just keep your mind on what you want and soon enough, you’ll get it, that’s what I did, and it worked. Are you enrolled at a rinky dink college in Arkansas?”

“Actually, no, I’m doing online courses, that way I can get my degree from a better college,” she told him as she watched his face turn into a questioning one so she figured he wanted to know the college in which she was enrolled, “I’m enrolled at UC Berkeley.”

“Fuck, then you are really fucking smart, that’s like one of the top schools in California,” he said in shock as she laughed at his reaction, “That’s good though, education is important, I sometimes I wish I would have at least finished high school, but I was an idiot.”

“Obviously not, look where you’ve gotten,” she told him with a smile, “You’ve got to have some intelligence to have gotten this far, in one of the biggest bands in the world and stuff, that’s a pretty big accomplishment.”

“I just call it luck,” he said as he watched her stand up, “Where are you going?” He questioned Jewel curiously as he stood up straight, “I was enjoying our conversation.” They both laughed.

“I was too but I think they’re going to start looking for us soon if we don’t go inside to eat,” she told him honestly as he nodded his head, dug into his pockets and handed her eye drops, “Thanks,” She dropped a few drops into each of her emerald green eyes and handed him back the drops, “You better guard the rest of my hash with your life.”

He smiled, “Yes, ma’am,” he told her as applied the drops into his eyes quickly, “Alright, we’ve hidden all the evidence and we don’t smell like Mary Jane, thanks to the wind blowing in the opposite direction.”

“I didn’t know the two of you were out there together,” Jewel’s uncle stated as she and Billie walked into the restaurant together, “What were you doing?” His voice sounded as if he was accusing the two of them of mischief.

“What do you mean what were we doing?” Billie scoffed as he took a seat in between Mike and Tre, “I told you I was going to make some phone calls, then when I was done I told Jewel to come join us to eat, that’s all, why?” He questioned his friend back, “What did you think we were doing?”

“I didn’t think you were doing anything,” Jason replied as he took a bite out of his cheeseburger as Jewel took a seat next him, “Just forget it, I was just curious that’s all, forget I mentioned it,” he then turned to his niece, “Order something, put some meat on your bones.”

Later on that evening all of them were gathered around in the front of the bus drinking a couple of beers, “Here, you’re almost twenty one, anyway,” Tre told Jewel as he handed her a Miller Lite beverage, “Do you drink this?”

She nodded her head, “Yeah, this is good,” she told him with a smile as she opened up the bottle with teeth, “Thanks, Tre.”

“You do realize that giving alcohol to a minor is illegal, right, Tre?” Jewel’s uncle said from behind the two of them, “I could easily have you arrested if I wanted to.”

“Oh come on, Jase,” Billie said from the couch, “Don’t be a fucking dickhead, she’s going to be twenty one in a couple of months anyway, let her have a drink.”

Jewel smiled at her uncle sarcastically as he frowned at her, “Yeah, Jason, don’t be a dickhead,” she told him as the rest of the guys laughed, “It’s not like I’m going out anywhere anyway,” she rolled her eyes as she sighed.

“Exactly, she’s here with us,” Billie added as he smiled at Jewel, “She’s safe, there’s nothing to worry about, don’t be go and be a buzzkill for her, or she’ll just act out steal all of our beer and drink it alone.”

“Alright, fine,” Jason said as he raised his hands up in frustration as Jewel smiled at him thankfully, “Since no one else is going to back me up on this, I guess I’m defeated, just know your limits, alright?”

Jewel mouthed a simple ‘thank you’ to Billie who gave her back a simple nod along with a crooked smile. She knew what her limits on alcohol were already; she was extremely experienced when it came to her relationship with the bottle. She only had a couple of beers before heading off to bed.