I Left My Heart in San Diego

By ten-thirty that night, I had learned all the notes on Billie's guitar that he knows, and Billie was starting to teach me some really simple melodies and lines of music.

Billie leaned back against his wall on his bed, sighing. "So, what do you think?"

I turned around to face him. "I love your guitar."

"I'm glad. Maybe you should think about getting one, and we could play together," Billie suggested, twirling the pick between his fingers. I hadn't even realized he had taken it from me.

"Billie, I have no money. I don't even have enough to buy myself a fucking candy bar," I answered, smiling.

Billie laughed. "Well, perhaps you should secure a job to solve that money problem," he said.

"Well...I would have a job if I had a car, Billie," I said, smiling and lifting his guitar over my neck and setting it down in between us.

"Guitars are more important," Billie said, smirking. I laughed and leaned over his guitar to kiss him. I pulled back to Billie's smile, and I started to lean back, but he pulled me back onto him, kissing me again. I squeaked and Billie started to nip at my bottom lip. I refused and broke off.

"What?" Billie asked, his yellow-green eyes betraying his vulnerability.

I picked up Billie's guitar and placed it on the stand next to his dresser, walking back to the bed. Billie hadn't moved from his spot on his bed, so I climbed back on and snuggled into his chest. "I didn't want your guitar to be a hindrance," I said, rolling into him.

Billie chuckled and rolled onto his side, dislodging me from his chest. "You're too cute," he said, gently kissing me. I melted into his kiss, and there was a moment of pure bliss...until some asshole knocked open the door.

Billie and I broke apart instantly, shooting daggers at the person who stormed the door. I knew he was one of Billie's siblings, but I didn't know which one. By the looks of him, he couldn't be much older than Billie himself. "David! What the fuck?!" Billie yelled.

I don't think he was paying any attention to Billie because he walked straight over to me and stuck out his hand. "David Armstrong, Billie Joe's other brother," he said. I took his hand and shook it with a small smile.

"Arizona Willows. My mom and I just moved in down the street," I said, sitting up.

"Cool." He turned to Billie. "Just wanted to see what you were up to, you know, make sure you weren't doing anything inappropriate."

"Fuck off, David. We don't need a supervisor. I can take care of the both of us," Billie growled.

David laughed. "Sure. If he starts getting a little aggressive or anything, just scream, okay, Arizona?" he asked, turning back to me.

I laughed. "I'll keep that in mind, David. Good night," I said, waving.

David smiled as he pulled the door to behind him. I sighed and laid down, staring at the ceiling. Billie kissed my cheek. "Thanks for getting rid of my brother, Izzie."

I giggled. "No problem. Where is he in the Armstrong birth order?" I asked.

"He's just before me. Second youngest," Billie answered. "Shall we resume?"

I grinned. "Right where we left off," I said, closing the gap between our faces and kissing him. Billie rolled over on top of me, making me squeak with glee and smile, our lips never breaking contact.

A little while later, after Billie and I had thoroughly explored each others' mouths, Billie moved the hand he had running through my hair to my waist and under my shirt. I slowed down to less passionate kissing, and Billie broke off. I could feel his labored breathing on my face, the pot-and-something-sweet smell assaulting my nose. "You alright?" he asked.

I nodded, my breathing labored as well. I licked my lips, and sat up, straddling his hips. "I'm fine. Just ask me next time before you start...I'll say going forward."

Billie chuckled. "I promise."

I smiled, stretching back over Billie's legs. "Good."

"So are you okay with me, as you said, going forward?" he asked, his hands preventing me from falling backwards.

"Would you be angry or upset of anything if I said no?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

Billie laughed. "Of course not. But that face you're making is absolutely adorable," he said.

I giggled and turned over, laying down on top of Billie, my head just under his. "Can I ask you something, Billie?"

"Of course, Arizona."

I took a deep breath. "Have you ever kept in contact with any of the random whores you've had?"

Billie sighed. "No," he said.

"What if one of them came up to you and told you that she was pregnant and she knew it was yours?"

"Arizona..."

"It's just a question. You don't have to answer if you don't want to," I said, taking one of Billie's hands.

"I don't know, Iz."

"Think about it a little. In the meantime, do you feel that you know me well enough now to divulge some of those songs that no one has heard before?"

Billie chuckled. "Maybe just a couple. Lemme get a few," he answered, clapping the sides of my waist with his hands. I rolled off and sat up as Billie fished through his shit-covered bedroom, coming up a few minutes later with about eight sheets of music in his hand. Picking up his guitar from next to his dresser, he sat back down on the bed, lifting his guitar over his neck and spreading out some of the sheets of music over the bed.

I sat across from Billie and his music as he started playing. "Shoplifter, you'll never learn, when you commit the crime. Shoplifter, you're getting burned, and now you gotta do some time. It's a one, two, three on the felony, well not everything is free. Now that you've served the community, it's the life of a petty thief. It's not considered stealing, unless you're getting caught, but you've been caught stealing, trying to take something you haven't got." The song ended about a minute later. Billie shuffled his papers to reveal another song, adjusted his guitar on his neck, then looked up at me with raised eyebrows.

The smile on my face was left over from laughing. "That was cute!" I say, chuckling again.

Billie smiled and tuned his guitar for the other song he had laid out. "This is one of my favorite covers," he said, sobering up and taking a deep breath. "As soon as you're born, they make you feel small, by giving you no time instead of it all. Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all. A working class hero is something to be. A working class hero is something to be. They hurt you at home and they hit you at school. They hate if you're clever and despise a fool. Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules. A working class hero is something to be. A working class her is something to be."

I listened intently when Billie started to play his guitar a little fiercer. I know that he wishes he could plug his guitar into an amp, but it was a few minutes after eleven o'clock at night, and a lot of the family was already asleep. After the song was over, Billie kept his head down a moment as he shoved all his papers back together and got off the bed to put them back, along with his guitar. When he came to sit back down on the bed, he looked up at me and beckoned me close. I scooted over the covers over to Billie, laying against his pillows. He put his shoulder around me and held me close. I rolled onto my side and laid one of my hands on Billie's chest, snuggling into his shoulder. "That was a pretty song," I told him, twisting my hips to get comfortable.

"Thanks. The song was originally by John Lennon."

I smiled. "I know. That's my favorite John Lennon song," I said.

I felt Billie laugh under me. "Well I'm glad to know that you have at least some kind of music education."

"I'm not as musically-uneducated as you might think," I argued.

"Well, not now," Billie said.

I laughed. "Well, yeah, not now, but not before I learned how to play your guitar either."

There were a few moments of silence before Billie squeezed my shoulder and took my hand. "Arizona, I want to ask you something."

"Go ahead."

I could feel Billie's breathing get a little faster underneath my hand, but he took a deep breath to steady himself. "I may have had a bunch of random whores, and only one real girlfriend, but I can't forget what it was like to have that first girlfriend." Billie sat up slightly, making me sit up with him, and he looked down at me, straight into my eyes, his yellow-green ones as fierce as I had ever seen them. "Arizona, I want you to be my second girlfriend," he said.

I smiled and looked away for a moment, then looked back. "That wasn't a question, Billie."

He chuckled. "Leave it to you to take that literally. So?"

"So what?" I teased, still smiling.

"Izzie, you know so what."

I laughed. "Yeah, I know, I just want to hear you say it."

"How typical-girl of you." Billie rolled his eyes. "Do you want to be my girlfriend, Arizona?"

I grinned, watching Billie's expectant yellow-green eyes. "Of course," I said happily, never taking my eyes off of his.

Billie's eyes lit up, a huge smile gracing his face. "Awesome," he said, kissing me.

I giggled and kissed him back, snuggling back into him as he laid back down. It wasn't long after that that we fell asleep.