I Left My Heart in San Diego

"Ready, guys?" Billie said, looking over and back at his two fellow band-mates.

"I would be if I knew what song we were playing," the other guitarist said, shuffling through papers shoved haphazardly in his guitar case.

"Um...I think we should start out by playing a couple choice songs from the album," Billie answered, his yellow-green eyes staring off into space.

"American Idiot?" the drummer immediately suggested.

"Probably a good starter. American Idiot. Ready?" Billie said, looking over and back at his fellow band-mates again.

"Ready," they reported back, assuming some sort of stances. I smiled.

Billie started with a riff on his guitar, then the other guitar and the drums joined in, making for an awesome-sounding beginning to a song.

"Don't wanna be an American idiot!" Billie yelled into the microphone. "Don't want a nation under the new media. Can you hear the sound of hysteria? The subliminal mind fuck, America." He threw into what seemed to be a chorus of sorts. "Welcome to a new kind of tension, all across the alienation, where everything isn't meant to be okay. The television dreams of tomorrow, we're not the ones who are meant to follow, for that's enough to argue."

A few minutes and one mind-blowing song later, Billie struck the last chord, ending the song. He looked over to me, his face covered with a sheen of sweat even with his garage door cracked open in the middle of December. "What did you think?" he asked, adjusting the guitar strap on his shoulder.

"I think I'll need to hear another song before I can make a truly good analysis," I answered, crossing my legs.

Billie smiled and turned back to the drummer. "Are We The Waiting," he said. He turned sideways to the other guitarist and said the same thing, all three of the boys setting up for this song.

It started with a drum sequence. A few seconds in, Billie came in on the guitar, and when he started singing, the other guitarist came in. "Starry nights, city lights coming down over me. Skyscrapers, stargazers in my head. Are we we are, are we we are the waiting unknown. This dirty town is burning down in my dreams. The lost and found city bound in my dreams. And screaming," -- the other two joined in here and damn, I wish I knew their names -- "Are we we are, are we we are the waiting. And screaming: Are we we are, are we we are the waiting."

After a very dreamy-sounding verse and 'are we the waiting's, Billie struck a fast chord, and stood there for a few moments, picking back and forth between two strings on his guitar. He started singing again, this time fast-paced: "St. Jimmy's coming down across the alleyway, up on the boulevard like a zip gun on parade. Lights on the silhouette, he's insubordinate, coming at you on the count of one, two-"

"One, two, three, four!" Tre yelled, sinking into a mad drumming frenzy along with Billie and the other guitarist strumming chords like there was no tomorrow.

"My name is Jimmy and you better not wear it out. Suicide commando that your mama talked about. King of the forty thieves, and I'm here to represent the needle in the vein of the establishment. I'm the patron saint of the denial, with an angel face and a taste for suicidal," Billie sang.

I smiled, noticing how fucking awesome of a singer Billie was. If these guys had released an album, they must be pretty big shit around here. And who knows, maybe they had fans elsewhere they don't even know about.

At the end of that little combo song, Billie turned to me again, an expectant look on his face. He raised his eyebrows, panting a little and stretching his fingers. I was giggling. "I liked the lyrics to the second part of that song. They were funny," I commented. "But don't worry, you guys sound pretty good."

"Thanks," Billie said, his face breaking out into a smile. "And, in case you were wondering, because I was an ass and didn't introduce you, this is Mike Dirnt, our bassist-" Mike waved "-and Tre Cool, our drummer." Tre waved frantically, a drumstick in his hand and a creepy smile on his face.

"Does he always look like that?" I asked Billie.

"Who, Tre? Yeah. He's just a general perv, so I wouldn't leave your purse or clothes unattended." I laughed as Tre bugged out his eyes and stuck out his tongue. "Not to mention he's fucking insane," Billie added. I smiled, looking back at Billie. Damn, he was really hot. But he probably had a girlfriend or something. Lead singers in bands like this one usually had really pretty girlfriends or something.

"So if those were all off your most recent album -- which is fucking cool, by the way -- what are some songs that people don't know?" I asked.

"I feel that I don't know you well enough to divulge any of those to you," Billie answered, sticking his nose up in the air pompously. I laughed, and he turned his head back toward me, smiling a really cute smile.

"I find that hard to believe," I countered, settling back against the cold cement of the garage wall with a triumphant smile on my face.

Billie looked at me. "Whatever do you mean?" he asked innocently.

I chuckled and walked up to him, leaning in so his face was inches from mine, our noses a hair's width from touching. "You know exactly what I mean, dip-shit."

Billie stood there in front of me for a second, then blew a breath in my face, straightening up. I crinkled my nose at the scent of his breath: mostly pot, but I detected a hint of chocolate or something else sweet. It was the most interesting combination.

Standing back up, I didn't move, just crossed my arms, and stood there, watching Billie Joe stare back at me. He narrowed his eyes after a moment, the lesser space illuminating his bright yellow-green eyes, bringing out the green in them. "Your eyes are really cool," I said, breaking the silence.

Billie smiled a cute, knowing smile, lifting his guitar from his neck and putting it down in a previously unseen stand right in front of Tre's drum set. Free of his guitar, he resumed his spot and took a step closer to me, re-closing the space between our faces.

I smirked, staring straight into Billie Joe's yellow-green eyes, making note of the flecks of jade green and golden yellow. I had a feeling that this boy's eyes would become a big subject of my drawings, which was big. I hadn't drawn anyone's eyes, let alone a guy's, since my last boyfriend, James, broke up with me. He had the most beautiful brown eyes, and I used to draw them all the time, marking my obsession. Oh, shit, this was bad...

"Your eyes are absolutely beautiful," Billie whispered, jumping the minuscule gap between our noses, having them now touching. I don't know why, perhaps it was some strange instinct, but I pulled back from Billie's nose, rubbing mine.

Billie stood up, taken aback. "What? Did I do something wrong?" he asked, concerned, his yellow-green eyes doing nothing to hide the vulnerable look on his face.

"No," I said, shaking my head, my hand still on the tip of my nose. "I was just surprised." I took my hand from my nose, revealing a small smile.

Billie's face relaxed. "I should have warned you," he said.

I laughed. "Of what?" I asked.

"His impulses," Mike answered. Billie shot him a look and I giggled. I caught a glimpse of Tre's smile as he watched Billie over his drum set.

"Well, now you have been warned. I can be quite an impulsive guy," Billie said, taking a step toward me.

I smiled cutely, taking a step forward, too. "At least when it comes to girls," I heard Mike mutter not-so-quietly.

Tre laughed. "Especially when it comes to girls. Mike, are you thirsty?"

"Very, Tre, let's go," Mike answered, setting down his bass and heading inside with Tre, closing the garage door behind him.

Billie let out a sigh of relief. "I thought they would never leave," he said, rolling his eyes.

I blushed, grinning. "I find my blushing extremely embarrassing."

"Why?" Billie asked, cocking his head.

"Because that was an extremely cheesy line," I said, laughing.

Billie smirked. "Yeah, I'll admit to that, but I hope you haven't pinned me as a cheesy guy."

"No, of course not. You could never be cheesy. I don't know how I'm able to say this to you, but you're really cute," I said, blushing and staring at my feet like a naive middle school girl talking to her crush.

Billie laughed and closed the gap between us again, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "Just cute? That's it?" he asked, sounding concerned. "You don't have to hold back. I won't."

I chuckled, and turned my head to see his face, that adorable face with the sexy yellow-green eyes and adorable smile. "Okay then. You're absolutely fucking adorable."

"Well thanks. You're pretty fucking sexy yourself," Billie replied, our noses touching again. I pulled back again, but this time, I settled back, our noses touching and staying there.

"Thanks." I pulled my face back from Billie's to put his whole face in my perspective. "Why did you kiss me before you hopped out my window? And why did you scramble away so fast?? I didn't even have time to turn around before you were out my window!" I asked.

"Calm down, Arizona. It was an impulse. And I ran away because I didn't want you going all ape-shit on me because I know that even that little kiss was really fast, even for Billie Joe Armstrong," Billie explained, and I knew by the look in his eyes that he was telling the whole truth.

I smiled and put my nose back against Billie's. "Well, I thought it was cute, but left too much to be desired. It seemed like a awkward ending to an awkward morning," I said.

I didn't expect Billie's next move. Or lack of next move, rather. One would expect the guy in this situation to kiss the girl after that, but Billie didn't. He actually removed his face from mine and took his arm from around my shoulders, looking down at his feet. I was watching his face, looking for a sign of what he was going to do next, but I couldn't tell from the angle I was looking at his face.

A moment later, Billie looked back up at me, a creepy smile on his face. I raised an eyebrow, looking at him strangely, wondering what that creepy smile signified.

Suddenly, Billie swept me up off the ground and, holding me like a new bride, whisks me inside to the nearest couch, plopping me down upright and sitting down next to me, a big grin on his face. I squeaked when he lifted me, and continued to giggle as I was whisked inside his house and sat down on his couch.

Billie snaked an arm around my waist this time, making me skitz. Billie started to remove his arm, but I leaned back into the couch so he couldn't move it. A minute later, Billie tried to wriggle his arm, and I let him, as it snaked back around my waist. I settled into his arm, Billie squeezing me closer to him.

I looked up at Billie from his shoulder, and Billie looked down at me, smiling. I smiled back and lifted my head from his shoulder to get a better view. "You're really pretty," he whispered.

"Thanks."

"No, like, you're really pretty," Billie repeated. "I really hope Mike and Tre were wrong, but this is just proving them damn right," he said.

"What are you talking about, Billie?" I asked, giggling a little.

He sighed. "When you were in the bathroom, Mike said something about how you might be the girl that makes me turn over a new leaf. I asked him what he meant, and Tre said that he meant that you might be the girl that makes me break my random fucking spell. So this, us sitting on my couch cuddled up together, is proving them damn right."

I laughed. "And is that a bad thing?"

Billie smiled. "I don't know yet." He leaned in to gently kiss me. Ho. Ly. Fuck. That pot-and-something-sweet smell I had smelled in his breath, I tasted in his gentle kiss. It was fucking delicious, and I almost wish he hadn't pulled away, but I was kind of glad he did. I knew he wanted to gage my reaction.

"So?" he whispered.

I giggled at first and didn't say anything, biting my bottom lip. "You have a girlfriend, don't you?" I asked.

Billie looked a little angry at my question. "Why do you assume I have a girlfriend?"

"Because a guy that can kiss that well probably does," I told him, my fingers fussing about at their position on my stomach. Billie's angry expression turned to one of cocky triumph. "But don't be getting up on your high horse. That would just make me hate you," I added, Billie's face dissolving into a wide smile. His eyes connected with mine and he kissed me again.

I could really get used to this. And thinking about what he had said about a random fucking spell, it made me wonder if Billie had ever actually had a real girlfriend before. "Billie?"

"Arizona?"

"Have you ever actually had a real girlfriend?"

"Define real." I slapped him playfully on the shoulder. "Yeah. Once," he finally answered.

"Just once? Then they all turned into random whores?"

"Pretty much."

"But we're hoping you can change that," Tre inserted, sliding onto the couch right next to me. His silent approach scared the shit out of both Billie and I, making me jump a foot in the air and Billie shoot daggers at Tre. He just laughed as Mike sat in the couch across from us.

"You know, Billie, your bedroom is completely unoccupied," he said, taking a drag from the cigarette he was smoking.

"Shut up, Mike. The peanut gallery is closed for today," Billie shot back, squeezing me even closer. I smiled and started drawing circles on the hand he had placed over mine.

Tre sunk down to my face level. "As much as Billie may deny it, you're going to be the girl that changes him for the better," he muttered into my ear.

I laughed as I heard Billie sigh. "Tre, would you like to have the ability to have children anytime in the future?"

Tre chuckled. "Please, sir."

"Then shut the fuck up." I just smiled at the bond these three boys shared as I snuggled even deeper into Billie, taking in his scent and remembering the flecks of jade green and golden yellow in his eyes as he started gently stroking the end of my ponytail with the arm that had been around my waist.

I felt a piece of paper against the skin of my hand. I looked down and noticed a small strip of paper was sticking out from between Billie's fingers. I tapped at his hand, and he flipped the note so I could read it.

"I will never admit this to Tre and Mike, but Tre is probably going to be right," it said. I just smiled, turning his hand back down, drawing circles on it again, as Billie kissed the top of my head.