I Left My Heart in San Diego

"Billie?" I called as I entered his garage. I peeked my head around a corner of his garage door, and saw him sitting quietly on one of the concrete benches with an acoustic guitar, singing a song I hadn't heard before. He was wearing earplugs, so he didn't hear me calling his name. I walked over to him and sat down next to him, his attention on some pages of sheet music in front of him.

"Summer has come and passed, the innocent can never last. Wake me up when September ends. Like my father's come to pass, twenty years has gone so fast. Wake me up when September ends." Billie's hands rested on his guitar, one on the body and one on the neck, the one on the neck wrapping around and squeezing. I looked to his face and saw his cheeks were wet with tears. Maybe I should knock first next time...

Billie wiped his eyes with his sleeves and lifted his guitar over his neck, standing up and placing it on the stand next to the bench. He sat back down, taking out his earplugs, placing them on the bench next to him, and laying his head in his hands. His body shook with silent sobs, and I couldn't help myself from quietly placing my hand on his back.

Billie shot up and looked over at me. "Oh, Arizona," he sniffled, wiping his face with his sleeves again. "It's just you." He leaned forward on his knees. "This is so fucking embarrassing."

I laughed. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone you were crying, Mr. Armstrong," I said, my hand still on his back, rubbing it slightly.

Billie smiled, sitting up. "What are you doing here?" he asked, leaning against the cold concrete wall, his head turned toward me.

"My mom and her new boyfriend kicked me out of the house for a little while, and this was the first place I could think of to come," I explained, shrugging.

"Kicked you out?" Billie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Temporarily. They needed to talk."

Billie nodded slowly, then shrugged. "Whatever. It's not like you're not welcome here."

I leaned back against the concrete wall with him. "Cool. So where are Tre and Mike?" I asked.

"I don't know. Probably off doing whatever Tre and Mike do when we're not practicing," Billie said.

I laughed. "So it's just the two of us?"

"In the garage. Holly, Anna, and David are inside. Holly's supposed to be watching us while Marcy is over at her boyfriend's house and Alan and my mom are at work, but all I ever do is just sit out here in the garage any play with my guitar anyway," Billie said.

"Holly, Anna, and David? I'm assuming that they're more of your siblings?" I asked, squinting.

Billie smiled. "Yeah." He then took my face in his guitar-roughened hands and quickly kissed me.

I smiled. "What was that for?"

"Do I have to have a reason to kiss you?"

"For now," I said, smirking.

"Just one?" Billie asked.

I smiled. "Yes, just one."

Billie smiled and cocked his head to the side, looking for a good one. "You're beautiful. You're accepting. You're probably the girl that Tre and Mike were talking about. Do any of those reasons suffice?"

I laughed. "All are perfectly acceptable," I said, leaning in and kissing him again.

"Billie Joe Armstrong!" a girl's voice yelled from the door into the house.

We pulled apart and Billie sighed, turning around to face the girl standing in the doorway behind him. "What, Holly?"

Then she noticed me sitting behind him. "Oh, hi! I'm Holly Armstrong, Billie Joe's sister," she exclaimed, walking over to me and sticking out her hand.

I shook it with a cautious smile and said, "Hi. I'm Arizona Willows."

"So how do you know my brother?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest. The garage door into the house was still open, and half of a body poked out.

"Holly?" the boy asked. "Are you coming back inside? It's your turn," he said, jabbing a finger back at what was inside.

Holly smiled. "Yeah, just a minute, Dave," she said, sighing. She walked back to the door into the house, but stopped just before entering. "Have fun, you two. Try not to make too much noise, and Billie?"

"Yes?"

"Always remember to use a condom."

"Oh fuck off, Holly!" he yelled, glaring at her as she laughed and shut the door behind her. He turned back around to look at me. "Do you wanna go upstairs?"

I nodded. "Yeah." I took his hand and he led me through his house to his bedroom upstairs, leaving his guitar and sheet music all over the bench we were sitting on. When we got to his room, he plopped down on his bed, making an audible squeak. I laughed and started looking around his room.

It was fucking amazing. There were random lyrics scribbled around his black-and-red walls and ceiling, both his and those of what I assumed were his favorite bands. "Billie," I breathed, a huge grin plastered on my face.

"You like it?" he asked, looking over at me.

"Billie, it's fucking amazing! I love it!" I exclaimed, tearing my eyes away from the ceiling and walls.

"I'm glad you do. I think you're the first girl who's had such an extreme reaction upon seeing my room," he said. He slid over closer to the blind-covered window and patted the spot he had made on the bed next to him. "Come sit."

I did the same as he did, running and jumping onto the bed, making another audible squeak. Billie was laughing when the squeak subsided, and I smiled, wiggling back and forth on the knees of mine that I was sitting on. Billie just continued to laugh and pulled me down on top of him, kissing me much more passionately than he ever had before.

I broke off, looking down at him and smiling. "Hi," I said, giggling.

He smiled, reaching up and entwining his arms around my back, locking his hands together. His head came up off his pillow to kiss me again. I smiled behind the kiss, and Billie's hands separated, resting one on each side of my waist. He broke off this time, licking his lips and just staring at me. I smiled at him, kissed him one more time, and then rolled off, laying on my back against his bedsheets, staring up at his lyric-covered ceiling.

After a few minutes, I heard Billie roll onto his side, and then he tugged at my sleeve. I turned my head to look at him. "What are you doing?" he asked, tucking a stray piece of hair behind my ear.

I looked back up at the ceiling. "Just reading the lyrics on your ceiling. There's so many!"

"Seven years of scribbles," Billie mused.

I rolled over onto my side as well, watching Billie as he got lost in his thoughts of his lyrics on his ceiling. A few minutes later, he looked down at me, smiling. "What?"

"You're cute when you're lost in thought."

He kissed me gently. "Thanks."

We spent the rest of the afternoon just laying on his bed, talking, kissing, talking some more, listening to his music, kissing some more, and he even played his guitar for me. It was an afternoon of bliss...