My Everything

Chapter Eleven: I’m Only Me When I’m With You

Last night Billie, Emi, and I stayed up late watching movies, acting stupid and just hanging out. I ended up really getting to know Billie a lot better. Before we went to bed he mentioned that his two boys might be coming over the next day, he just wasn’t sure exactly when Adrienne was going to bring them over. I couldn’t wait but I was nervous about meeting them. I mean I wasn’t even really dating Billie at least I don’t think so. Anyway Emi says that I’m great with kids but I’m not so sure. I think I’m always the one that makes the babies cry. I fell asleep with these thoughts.

I opened my eyes slowly the next morning only to see two green eyes right next to my face and they did not belong to me. Realizing this I screamed bloody murder.

“AHHHHHHH! AHHHHHH!” As I screamed I sat up fast causing me to fall of the other side of the bed. I stood up quickly to see the offending party was a mini Billie Joe. All I could do was stand there and stare at him. He stood on the other side of the bed and stared right back at me, that is until the bedroom door opened. Both of us looked up to see Billie Joe in the doorway.

“JAKE!” I heard him say. I had returned my attention back to the kid with my hand over my heart, breathing hard. It took me a few minutes for my breathing to return to normal. “I told you to stay out of the guest rooms.”

Friday night beneath the stars,
in a field behind your yard,
you and I are paintin' pictures in the sky.
And sometimes we don't say a thing;
just listen to the crickets sing.
Everything I need is right here by my side.
And I know everything about you
I don't wanna live without you.

Billie turned his attention to me when I moved to sit on the bed.

“You okay Princess?” He asked. I shook my head before answering him.

“Yeah, I’m okay! He just scared the crap outta me. I haven’t been scared like that in a while.” I said looking over at Jake. Before Billie could say anything I raised my hand and spoke to Jake. “Good job Buddy! High-five!”

He shyly came over and gave me a high-five before walking back over to his dad smiling. I smiled back at him and glanced up at Billie Joe, who just shook his head. I looked back at Jake getting his attention and spoke to him.

“Jake do you want to help me with something?” He shook his head excitedly. I kinda wondered how old he was. I knew he wasn’t any younger than seven but no older than ten. I was guessing closer to ten. “Okay, can you go and get me a glass of water and meet me outside the other guest room?” Jake shook his head once more and headed out the door towards the kitchen.

“Princess?” Billie asked sitting on the bed next to me.

“Yeah?” I responded leaning into him.

“Am I going to have to keep you away from my children?” He asked. I pulled away giving him a confused look.

“NO! Why?” I asked before I overreacted to him teasing me or something simple like that.

“You’re teaching my youngest how to pull pranks. Good pranks. I’ll end up being his guinea pig. Tre is usually the one trying to teach him pranks.” I giggled and leaned back into him.

I'm only up when you're not down.
Don't wanna fly if you're still on the ground.
It's like no matter what I do.
Well you drive me crazy half the time;
the other half I’m only trying to let you know that what I feel is true.
And I'm only me when I'm with you.

“Well think of it this way. If its not them it will most likely be me and Emi and probably Tre as well. Or…….all three of us together plus, the boys. You know we’ll get them in on anything we do. Maybe Mike as well. He can be fun once in a while.” My eyes sparkled. The look on his face was priceless.

“Man, this week is going to be crazy isn’t it. Especially if you guys have Tre around thrown into the mix.” I winked at Billie and walked out the door. I saw Jake walking toward me carefully carrying a full glass of water down the hall.

“Okay buddy! I want you to sneak into this room!” I took the glass of water from him, “and I want you to stare at the girl in the exact same way you stared at me, okay. I’ll do the rest.” I heard Billie come up behind me while Jake disappeared into the room.

“You know that you’re gonna regret this later.” He stated. I turned and smiled at him.

“Probably, but right now it’s fun.” I turned back and walked into the room that Jake had just entered. I heard Billie walk back down the hall and go down the stairs. I turned my attention to Jake and Emi. Emi was sprawled out over the bed, with the pillows and blankets on the floor or hanging off the bed.

~At least this will be easier now that she’s not covered up.~ I thought. Jake continued to stare at her for a few minutes before she began to stir a little bit.

“Jewels, stop staring at me. You know I don’t like it.” She said and moved a little bit more kicking the last pillow off the bed. That was my queue. I lifted the glass over her and slowly began to pour it all over her. She jumped up quickly yelling.

“OH SHIT THAT’S COLD! COLD, COLD WATER! OH GOD THAT’S COLD, SO COLD!” Jake giggled and ran out of the room seeming to sense trouble. I was blind for a second.

“TRAITOR!” I yelled after him laughing playfully.

Just a small town boy and girl
livin' in a crazy world.
Tryin' to figure out what is and isn't true.
And I don't try to hide my tears.
The secrets, my deepest fears.
Through it all nobody gets me like you do.
And you know everything about me.
You say you can't live without me.

Emi had been jumping up and down frantically flailing her arms until I spoke. She stopped. I immediately stopped laughing.

“Shit!” I said and took off running. Emi was chasing closely behind me.

“Wait until I get you Jewels. You will die! I will get you, you know I will.” We both ran down the hallway. I slowed down a bit as we reached the top of the stairs when Emi caught me. I lost my footing and we both tumbled down the stairs.

“OWWWW! FUCK!!” We said together as we landed. I started laughing after I realized that I was uninjured. Everyone was crowded close to us. Emi at least had a soft landing. ME! I knew that I would be sore later from this fight.

Next thing I knew I had two young boys throwing themselves on top of Emi. I then heard the childish voice of Tre fucking Cool.

“Ohhhh YAY! A doggie pile!” I heard him clap excitedly before he joined the boys on top of the pile landing all his weight on all of us.

“Oh God Tre!” I gasp. “What did you eat this morning for breakfast? You’re going to break my ribs. And I can’t breathe.” I yelled the best I could from the bottom of the pile. Eventually Billie got Tre and the boys off of me. He grabbed my hand and helped me stand up to sit on the couch. That was when I realized we had a new member in the audience. I had never seen this girl that was sitting on the couch next to Mike. She was certainly pretty. A punk. Loving it already. I liked her. She was laughing, Mike looked happy. When did all this happen? I wondered.

__________________________________________________

Mike had told me all his friends were crazy. But this was great. I really didn’t believe him at first. I mean I knew the band of course but I didn’t think it would be this crazy. I believed him now. I looked at Mike when one girl with short black and purple hair finally noticed me. He cleared his throat.

“Jay, Emi. This is Takisha, she just moved in next door to me and she’s my friend.” He introduced me to the girls. I had met everyone else earlier.

“Everyone calls me T.K. You guys can if you want.” The girls just looked at me curiously until suddenly the girl with the black and purple hair came over and quickly gave me a hug.

“Welcome to our crazy little group. I can already tell the you will fit in quite nicely, perfectly actually. I mean you’re hanging out with Mike and you can stand him. So far so good.” I smiled at the girl and giggled. “I’m Jay by the way.” Mike finally caught up after this.

“Hey Jay no fair. I brought you a new friend and this is the thanks I get? I’ll never bring you any friends ever again.” Mike stood up and winked at me discreetly and walked into the kitchen. Jay stopped laughing and followed him. She missed the winking.

“But Mike I was kidding! Don’t be mad! I don’t like it when people get mad at me! You know that!” I could tell she was beginning to get upset until she realized that Mike was laughing. She smiled before yelling.

“YOU ASS! THAT’S NOT FUNNY!! I REALLY THOUGHT THAT YOU WERE MAD AT ME.” She punched him in the arm before he gave her a hug. I glanced over at everyone and noticed that Billie Joe had a strange look on his face. Mike let her go, taking my attention away from Billie I noticed she came back over and sat by me.

“My name is actually Juliet. You can call me Jewels or Jay. Either one but never ever call me Juliet. The only one who gets away with that is my mother.” She stopped and gave a look. “And Billie.” She finished.

“What’s that Princess?” Billie asked. His attention was quickly taken away again by his two boys who were now sitting with him.

I'm only up when you're not down.
Don't wanna fly if you're still on the ground.
It's like no matter what I do.
Well you drive me crazy half the time;
the other half I’m only trying to let you know that what I feel is true.
And I'm only me when I'm with you.

“Nothing Bill. Just talking bout you! Nothing good. I promise.” I smiled at the two. Billie looked up at her before answering.

“K, babe.” Jay just shook her head. I laughed. Mike came back into the living room and pointed to his watch.

“Oh right. Sorry to meet you and run but I need to finish unpacking boxes of stuff back at my house. So we’re gonna go.” I said. The girls were the only ones listening and they nodded.

“We might come by.” Jay said. Emi nodded before bringing her hand up and hitting Jay in the back of the head. “OW EMI!”

“We’ll be over later sometime.” Emi said smiling while Jay just rubbed the back of her head.

“Okay. Laters then!” Mike and I walked out the door. He looked at me and rolled his eyes.

“You realize if you let them help you that you’re things may get unpacked but you’re house will be a disaster. Jay, Emi and Tre together is not a good thing. You’ll have five kids with those three, Jake and Joey and maybe six if you include Billie. They will all be helping destroy you’re house.”

“Eh, that’s okay. I like them. They actually seem like they’ll be a lot of fun. I like the girls. I’m just glad I have so many friends right after moving here. Its nice.” I was buckling up and having to fight with the buckle. I struggled for a few more minutes before it finally clicked.

“You okay.” I nodded, so he continued, “I hope you know what your doing.” Mike said backing out of the drive. We headed back to my house I couldn’t wait for the others to get there.

When I'm with anybody else it's so hard to be myself.
Only you can tell.

“I do.” was my only reply.

That I'm only up when you're not down.
Don't wanna fly if you're still on the ground.
It's like no matter what I do.
Well you drive me crazy half the time;
the other half I’m only trying to let you know that what I feel is true.
And I'm only me
Who I wanna be
Well, I'm only me when I'm with you
With you
Uh huh
Yeah