Social Suicide

With a half-smile on his lips, Billie pushed his chair back and put his feet up on the edge of his desk, resting one ankle over the other so that he had a place to lean the files in his hand against his thighs to view the pages. If he'd been at home in California his mother would have killed him for putting his feet on the furniture.

Red pen in hand, he was readied himself to amend and revise the contract that was now resting comfortably on his lap. He'd been putting off the revisions since before Christmas, but knew that it was time to get down to business. With Willa back up in New York and a feeling of great euphoria left over from her visit, he could finally focus on the task at hand.

Wiggling around, shifting his weight from one side of his body to the other, Billie patted the armrest of the leather reclining chair. He'd bought the seat a few months before, but this was the first time he was really getting to use the thing since he'd been gone for so long.

"Good choice Billie, good choice."

He let out a laugh when he realized that he was talking to himself. He'd been doing it all day, he suspected because he missed talking to Willa. She'd been gone for only several hours, but he was already missing her immensely. He didn't know how to explain it, but he was really thinking that he was falling in love. He'd said those words before to girls, but this time there was an intense meaning behind what he felt for Willa.

When the sound of the phone ringing filled the room he leaned forwards and hit the tiny red speakerphone button. In a quick thought of laziness he almost wished he had a remote control so he wouldn't have to move.

"This is Billie. Speak to me."

He tried not to laugh at himself as he waited for the person on the other end of the line to answer his greeting. It would be yet another thing that his mother would yell at him for if she knew about it. He knew better than to be that arrogant on the phone, especially if he didn't know who was calling.

A cough came from the tiny speaker then the low rumble of a voice came out at him. "It's Spanky." The tone was serious and Billie stared at the phone for a moment tense as he waited for the rest of the message to come to him. He knew that it was probably something fairly important if Spanky had called him, because normally he was the one who called Spanky.

"What's up?" Billie asked when the ceiling didn't fall on his head as he almost expected it to. His pen ran over the sentences on the page in front of him. He automatically and subconsciously, scratched out a few words and replacing them with the words that would guarantee his new band's family the right to be at every public and private event that they would be attending that next year.

"Billie your girl needs you up here in New York," Spanky said, "A-S-A-P."

His tone sounded half-serious and half not. He smiled imagining Willa in one of her moods again. She could picture her having him running all around like a chicken with his head cut off since she was nervous about the whole Amy and Brennan thing. He too was worried about the situation, but he'd told himself that Spanky wouldn't let anything happen to her.

"What's going on?" He asked trying to stay calm just in case it was something more. "Is she beating you up?"

"No Billie." Spanky inhaled and the sound of his breath being forced into and out of his lungs echoed a thousand miles away in Billie's Orlando office. "Her apartment got trashed--"

Somehow Billie's feet slipped off the edge of the desk hitting the hardwood floor with a thud and he almost bit his tongue with the force that rocked his body. The precious paperwork that a moment before had been the sole focus of his attention fell and slid underneath his chair and desk with a swooshing noise, complimented by the sound of the pen hitting the floor and rolling underneath the edge of the desk.

Spanky must have heard the noise because he paused to ask, "What was that?"
Finding it hard to express the worry on his mind, Billie stared at the phone then reached and picked up the receiver and pushed it at his ear as his anger boiled over.

"What the hell happened?" he demanded.

"Calm down."

"Calm down?" He asked raising his voice he slid his chair forward and heard a crunching noise so he stopped. "You just said--"

"Willa is fine. Don't you think I'd have called you sooner if she hadn't been."

Billie leaned down and began to collect the paperwork that was being run over by the wheels on his chair. He threw them carelessly onto the desk and stared at the television screen across the room. He could see his reflection in the glass of the silent appliance and he didn't like the worried look he saw in his own eyes.

"Where is she?"

Silence greeted him. He listened to the silence for a moment, drumming his fingers against the tabletop in a random pattern.

"Where is she?" he repeated. His fist automatically hit the desktop.

"She's--"

"Where the hell is she?" Billie could feel the phone digging into his ear, but he didn't care. If he could have jumped through the phone he would have. "Get her on the fucking phone."

"She's in the middle of a photo shoot right now which is why I'm calling." He spoke in a soft voice as if he didn't want anyone to hear the conversation.

Billie took a deep breath and sat back in the chair trying to calm his breathing and relax the tension out of his neck and back that had formed when he'd heard the news of Willa's adventure in New York. "What happened?"

"We came back last night and the place was trashed."

"It got broken into?" His heart rate went through the roof. He'd always been the over-protective type

"Everything in the place was turned over and all of her things were strewn around... nothing seemed to really be broken, just moved out of its normal place."

Billie pressed the heel of his hand into his right eye socket trying to suppress the headache that was forming above his eye. "Was the door kicked in or something?"

"No, the door was locked when we got there."

Billie moved his hand to his forehead and closed his eyes for a moment letting out a long breath. "Locked?"

"Someone must have had the key because I checked the door and it didn't look like the lock had been picked."

"They key? The fucking key!" Billie stood up and his legs automatically pushed his chair back. It hit the wall with a thud as he switched on the speakerphone again, dropping the receiver onto the desk top he began to pace around his desk staring all the while at the phone.

"Someone has the fucking key to her house."

"Don't over dramatize it," Spanky said taking a breath, "I stayed with her last night and I plan to stay tonight and I've got a call into a buddy of mine to get a security system in. She'll be fine for another night, but I think that you need to talk to her about this when you get up here."

Automatically his finger found its way into his mouth and he began to chew nervously on his ring-finger fingernail as he stared at the ring on his finger that his grandfather had given him for his high school graduation. He'd thought that he'd conquered this bad habit, but every once in a while, usually in times of stress he found himself biting his nails again.

"Did you call the cops?" Billie asked nervously. He would have called in the FBI if he'd been there. It was one thing for a normal person to have their place broken into, but in his line of work a break in could mean a whole array of things.

Stalking immediately came to mind.

"She didn't want to." Spanky sighed and lowered his voice again. "She didn't want news of this to get out."

Billie paused for a moment and looked around his office. He tried to think clearly but the thought of Willa being up there in New York without him in this kind of a mess was a little hard to get passed. What would she have that someone would want to steal? He'd seen the place and as much as he loved her, Willa's apartment was lacking many of the finer things in life. It was definitely far from an electronic Mecca.

"Was anything stolen?"

"From what I can tell nothing was taken. I don't think it was a theft. I think it was just to scare her." Spanky took another deep breath. "It really did the trick. She's got her eye on me right now... " He suddenly sounded like he was in a tunnel and Billie guessed that he was covering the phone so that Willa wouldn't try to read his lips or something. "Now I know what it's like to be watched all the time... anyway she hasn't let me out of her sight since we left her apartment this morning."

"She hasn't?"

"Nope," he said, "I told her I wouldn't call you, but I thought you'd want to know about all of this." There was a sound in the background and Billie could hear Willa's voice.

"Who are you talking to big guy?" Willa asked.

"Just my friend Jay from back home," Spanky said

"Hi Jay!" she said loudly.

"Are you taking a break?" He heard Spanky ask.

"Yeah. We're almost done." Billie could hear her voice being interrupted by some noise. He figured she probably was eating or something. "I want to get out of here."

"I know what you mean hon," Spanky said with a caring voice.

"I haven't heard from Billie today and I want to call him before he gets busy."

"That guy seems pretty busy."

"He is, but he loves me so it's okay."

Billie smiled at the thought of her thinking about him. It wasn't every day that a person got to hear such love in someone's voice when they didn't know the other person was listening. It gave him a little sense of peace knowing that she knew he wouldn't let anything bad happen to her while he wasn't there.

"Anyway, I should give him a call sooner or later. I'm sure he has some kind of meeting tonight since they're going to be New York again." Her voice sounded tired, yet the excitement of talking to him couldn't be masked.

"Well let me finish up with this call and we're going to get out of here. You need to get some sleep before your man gets here."

Billie normally wouldn't have liked to be eavesdropping on the conversation, but at this point he was glad to hear that she was still in a joking mood with Spanky. It gave him hope that she was going to be okay while he wasn't with her.

"Hey, you still there?"

"Yeah," He said and took his seat again.

"Look. I'll take care of things up here... just get your ass up here as soon as you can."

"I'm going to book Willa a spot at the hotel for the week that I'm in New York. Can you get that security system put in during the week that she's out of the apartment?"

"Yeah I'll make the plans for it and get those guys in and out before she'll get back into the apartment."

"And tomorrow you'll bring her up to TRL?"

"Of course. She has a meeting in the morning, but it's downtown so I'll bring her over after that."

"Thanks Spanky," Billie said.

"No trouble."

Not letting the silence fill the room after they hung up, Billie immediately dialed the number to get Willa booked into a room with him.

"Hey Tally," He said into the phone with a smile.

"Don't call me that sweetheart."

"Whatever," he said with a laugh thinking about how Sally had automatically become Tally when the movie "Up Close And Personal" had come out. He loved to tease her about it, almost as much as he liked to tease Willa about being named Wilfred. "Anyway can you book an extra person at the hotel in New York for me?"

"So what's the name of the person?" she asked.

Billie took a breath and prayed that Sally wouldn't give him a hard time about booking his girlfriend a room. "Willa Marviani, but book it under the name Fred."

"Oh, honey I'm so glad you're going to spend time with your girlfriend."

"Thanks," he said with a laugh. It was funny. He'd never really met the travel agent that worked with the group, but she knew more about his life that he probably did. She did all the travel arrangements for everyone, which meant that she knew who all was where and what they were doing.

"I'll make sure everything is set. I'll have security passes waiting and transportation for the day will be bumped up so that Fred can go with you."

"Thanks," Billie said then paused. "Make sure that you book something for her bodyguard."

"No trouble."

"Oh, and can you book her in to go to the spa with Sarah and Kelly in a few days?"

"Sure can," she said with a bubbly tone.

"Thanks a lot," he said and hung up the phone.

Turning to face the silent television Billie stared at his reflection again. He looked tired and stressed all of a sudden and the thought of trying to get the contracts together for this new band was making him feel strained.

When the phone rang again Billie jumped a little then pushed the speakerphone button and sat back in his chair. He put his hands over his face. "Yes?"

"Billie?" He sat up straight when he heard her voice come through the speaker. "Billie, take me off speakerphone."

"Okay," He said. He rubbed his face for a minute then picked up the receiver. "Sorry about that, I was working."

"You must have been working hard," she said, "You sound tired."

"I am."

"Well you better rest up. I'm sure that you're not going to get much rest when you come up to New York."

Billie smiled and tried to play along like nothing was wrong. Thinking that her last comment could have been taken with a sexual tone he laughed. "I'm not going to get much rest when I come to visit? Should I be taking that as a bad thing?"

"Oh stop," she said and let out a giggle. "You know I love you, but I wasn't talking about that."

"Sure you weren't," he said. He gathered the papers on his desk together and stacked them into numerical order. After he got off the phone with her he intended to get his work done.

"Oh my gosh, Billie. Should I call your mother and tell her how nasty you're being. I've only been gone a few hours and I feel like you've turned into a pervert on me."

"Whatever, Fred."

He tried to keep his mind off of the fact that he wanted to ask her if she was okay. He knew she was putting on a good front, but he knew that this had to be eating her up inside.

"Hold on a second honey. I'm going to put you on speakerphone and I have to run into the kitchen for a minute."

"Okay," she said.

Billie pushed the button again. "I'll be right back."

"Okay." She laughed and if he didn't know her better he might have guessed that she had been drinking or something. "I'm going to sing to you." She started to hum.

"For real?" He stared at the machine for a minute. She was sure in a mood. Not one of her normal bitchy self-protective moods, but one that made him think that she'd just given up and didn't care about anything anymore. If he didn't know better he would have guessed she was drunk.

"I don't think I've heard you sing before."

"There is a good reason for that," she said with a laugh. "I know not to go up against the professional."

Billie laughed. "Oh. Are you talking about me?"

"Yes silly."

He ran into the living room and came back with the cordless. He wanted to be able to walk around the house so he wanted the cordless. He figured it would be better to pace with the phone with him instead of keeping her on speakerphone.
She was just finishing up a verse of some song he didn't recognize when he got back to the office.

He clicked on the cordless phone and flipped off the regular phone.

"Hello?" he said into the cordless phone.

"Hey honey," she said in a whispery voice.

"Now who's being the pervert?" he asked.

"Me?" she laughed. "Never."

"Let me guess? You're an angel." He spoke softly.

"Of course," she said.

"And I bet you're making a halo over your head at the moment."

"Of course," she said with a giggle.

Billie smiled at himself in the reflection across the room. "Well I'm glad to hear that you're in a better mood."

"Why wouldn't I be in a good mood?" she asked suddenly.

Billie's stomach flip-flopped. He thought quickly knowing that he didn't want her to know that he'd talked to Spanky since Spanky had told him about everything confidentially. "It's just that you seemed a little upset when you left Florida."

"Oh," she said. He could almost hear a sigh of relief in not being caught in a lie.

"Hey, Fred, do you want to come and stay at the hotel with me when I get to New York?"

"Yeah!" she said in a loud voice that made him cringe away from the telephone receiver.

"Whoa there turbo. You miss me that much?"

"No, but if I don't stay with you I won't be able to see you while you're here."

"You didn't miss me?" he asked.

"Of course I do," she said. He could hear it in her voice with that one that she wasn't as strong as she was acting. Her voice wavered so slightly that the normal person wouldn't be able to tell that something was wrong, but he'd heard the difference in her voice before and it didn't slip past him.

"How's work?" It was an excuse to ask her how she was without asking her how she was.

"Tiring." She sighed. Again he heard that things were a hundred percent with her.

"Well I booked you into the hotel with me in the city so you can go to the spa and hang out all day if you want."

"Go to the spa?" she asked.

"Yeah. I think Kelly, Sarah and my friend Fisher are going to go to the spa. I'm sure you can go too."

"He?"

"Yeah, he and Kelly are like brother and sister and God knows why, but they like to bond over going to the spa. Don't ask me... that's just their thing."

"Oh."

"So do you want me to call and set that up for you?"

"That does sound good, but I want to spend time with you."

"You will. All night," he let a smile form on his face. "While I'm out earning the money you can get all relaxed and all beautiful so we can spend the night together."

"Oh really? Are you planning to spoil me then take advantage of me?"

"Something like that," he said playing along.

"Really?"

"Believe me. I'm going to be in town for a week... that means five nights of going to sleep with you in my arms and five mornings of waking up with you."

She was smiling. He could tell by the tone of her voice. "That sounds like heaven."

"Doesn't it though?" he said.

"So are you going to be busy all day when you get up here?"

"For most of the days I'm there I'm going to be working. We have two afternoons off and our nights off, but I'm sure we can figure something out on how to spend time together."

"Just as long as we spend some time together things should be good."

"Good."

Billie checked his watch. If he didn't get off the phone he wasn't going to get his work done in time to pack and get to the meeting at the compound that night.
"Hon, I hate to cut you off, but I have to get some work done. Can I call you later on tonight?"

"Sure," she said.

"Why don't you go home and take a nap?" he suggested. "You sound like you could use one."

"I could, and I think I will."

When Billie hung up the phone a few moments later, after a quick and painless goodbye, he had a smile on his face. In only a day he'd be with her again and at the moment, with the moods they were both in, he knew the reunion was going to be a sweet one.

*****

"Wait up girl!"

Turning her head at the sound of the request, Willa threw a wide smile back at Spanky. He was lower on the steps than her, watching her from inside the hood of his jacket. She had never really had him mad at her, but this was as close as she wanted to be. He had a scowl on his face, watching her with narrowed eyes as if he was really upset with her.

"Can't keep up old man?" She asked as they merged with the automatic spinning door of the hotel as they walked into the lobby.

There had been a few people on the street milling around, which Willa had skillfully rushed passed after the taxi had dropped them off, but she'd momentarily forgotten that Spanky was with her. It was something she hadn't done in a while, but the thought of seeing Billie that day was making everything else seem insignificant.

Luckily Spanky seemed to understand her rush, or at least he had before they'd left the apartment that morning. When she'd practically pushed him out of the door that morning he'd only laughed at her and told her to "Go get your man."

"I'm sorry," she said impatiently, "I just want to get there fast."

"I know, I know," Spanky chuckled. He put a hand out and pushed her so that the door didn't hit them. "You're too much."

"Nope," she said leaning towards him with a laugh, "Just wait until you hang out with the guys for more than five minutes. I'm definitely not the most hyper of the group."

"I bet those guys are tired after this morning," Spanky commented as they pushed through into the lobby.

"Yeah," she said looking back again, "Billie was supposed to call me, but I think they got too busy. The rounds at the morning shows are always hard and I'm sure they threw in a million different things for them to do in between shows. You should have seen when the Sports Illustrated Edition I was in came out. A bunch of the models from that did the rounds together. Got to love six models at four in the morning. I've never seen so much make up in my life."

"I'm sure that they were all excited."

"Yeah, right. Fun isn't the word to describe it. Wait until you have to go with me to do press stuff. Elena said I have to do some in the next month. You'll hate it."

Spanky made a face that made him look like he'd eaten something sour. "And like I don't already hate being with you?" He'd been teasing her a lot in the last few days since the break-in. She'd cherished those moments. She and Spanky weren't exactly what someone would consider friends, since he did work for her, but at the same time they got along well enough to be pleasant to each other and entertain each other.

Willa was in the process of slipping out of her black pea-coat while balancing her purse in one hand when she heard his comment. Her free arm snaked out and hit at him playfully before he could get away. She covered up the quick action by smoothing down the fluffy fabric of the red cashmier sweater she'd chosen to wear that day. She'd chosen to dress fairly nicely that day knowing that the press would be around. It wasn't anything fancy, just jeans and a sweater, but she looked nice enough to have her picture taken and put in the magazines or newspapers. She'd become more conscious of that since the reporters had started to follow her around more.

"Okay, okay," he said, "I'm sure you'll make it completely enjoyable."

Willa hit at him again when she saw him roll his eyes. "I try," she said with a smile.

Once inside the lobby Willa dug through her backpack-looking purse to find her phone. She flipped two buttons and found Billie's pre-programmed number then hit the "send" button to call him. She knew that hotel security was tight and even though she knew that she had reservations to stay with him that night, she thought that she should call him and get escorted to their room instead of trying to deal with the hotel staff. It wasn't their fault, but she figured after being bugged for so long by fans trying to sneak up to the guys' floor it would just be easier to get Billie down to the lobby then her up into the upper floors of the hotel.

"Hey Fred," he said when he picked up. She could hear noise in the background and wondered what was going on in the background. From the sound of it a WWF wrestling match could have been going on behind him, although he didn't seem to be affected by it.

Willa smiled at Spanky who was distracting himself by flipping buttons on his own cell phone while digging in the pocket of his heavy winter overcoat for something. It made her wonder what he did all day long while she was working. He'd been with her almost twenty four hours a day for the last few days and she hadn't really paid much attention to what he did while she worked. Hopefully he wasn't too bored waiting around for her.

"Got to love caller ID," she said with a laugh making herself pay attention to Billie again.

"Where are you?" He asked. She love the way his voice made him sound like he missed her. She'd never really heard that from Brennan. He'd always asked where she was, but Billie had a way of saying it so that she felt like he'd been wondering where she was when she wasn't with him.

"I'm down in the lobby. I tried to call you earlier, but I kept getting your voicemail."

"Oh, yeah," he said, "I had to turn off my phone while I was in an interview. You should be glad you caught me. I was about to turn off my phone again."

"That's okay," she looked around for a minute, "I know that I'm allowed to just come up and see you, but can you come and get me or send someone? I don't want to get into a discussion with the staff over me going upstairs. There aren't that many people here, but I still don't want to--" She tried to make it sound like she wasn't being all girly and helpless, but in a situation like that it was hard not to sound that way.

Billie coughed and turned his head away from the phone. Willa heard him say something into the room he was in then he turned back to the phone. "I'm sending Wes down to get you. I've got to sign some papers and do another interview in about five minutes, but he'll bring you up to the room."

"Okay," she said with a sigh. She looked at Spanky as he wiped his nose with a tissue and suddenly wondered if Billie was getting sick. She knew how traveling around could take its toll on a person and she wondered if he'd caught something on the flight up from Florida.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said and coughed again, "I just have a tickle in my throat."

"A tickle?" She asked with a laugh.

"Hold on a sec." He coughed again. She then thought she heard him drinking something. "Yeah. It happens when I get interviewed a lot. My mouth gets all dry and my throat starts to get raw from talking."

Willa looked around the lobby. She thought she recognized a few people from the last time she'd hung out with the whole group, but she wasn't sure so she didn't make eye contact. "So are you going to be busy all day?"

"Not all day, but most of it. After the interview I have in a minute we can grab lunch in the room, okay? I'll have to check the schedule for this afternoon, but I made sure that I had lunch completely free. The afternoon line-up has been changing all day and it might have changed again since I last checked."

"Okay," she said with another sigh.

"You alright?" He asked.

"Yeah," she said in a soft voice. "I just hate having press people around. I feel like I have to act differently around you. I mean first it was that I had to pretend to like you and now it seems like I have to pretend not to like you too much."

"Don't worry, a half hour of public time for me then you and I will send Spanky and Wes to get their own lunches and we'll hang out for..." He paused for a moment and she wondered if he was looking at his watch, "We'll have about an hour or so." He sounded like some spy planning an attack on an unsuspecting thief, not a guy trying to get some free time with his girlfriend.

"That sounds good," she said with a laugh.

"I can't promise you great food, but at least the company will be good," he said.

"I don't care about the food. I just want at you," she said with a smile.

"As dangerous as it might be, I think I might like to be attacked by a fan like you," Billie said.

"Oh really?" She asked sensing the sexual tension that was heating up between them.

She heard someone in the background laughing. She figured that it was one of the guys or Kelly or someone. "Don't get me started," he said, "I've got to go, Kelly is waving for me to get off the phone. Wes is already on his way down to get you."

"Okay," she said with a smile, "I'll talk to you in a minute then."

"Bye Fred. I love you."

"I love you too," she said and then stuck out her tongue at Spanky who was rolling his eyes at her.

"This trip is going to make me sick to my stomach," Spanky said sarcastically as she hung up. "You two are way too in love with each other. Who would have known that a few months ago."

"Oh shut up you," Willa teased, "You aren't supposed to be paying attention anyway."

"It's hard not to notice..." Spanky paused for a moment then began to mock the tone she'd used with Billie on the phone, "I love you..." Spanky made a kissing face.

Willa laughed and looked around the lobby for Wes. It was a big room. She imagined that this one lower room covered an entire city block's worth of area and she wondered if he'd be able to find her.

"There's Wes," Spanky said a moment later.

Willa watched carefully as Wes approached them. He was working. She could tell not only because he was wearing his staff polo shirt, but also from the look on his face. His eyes were narrowed and he looked on alert as if he was lying in wait for something to happen. She wondered if Spanky ever had that expression on his face. She'd seen him being attentive and cautious of their surroundings, but there was something in Wes's intense gaze that scared her almost as bad as the break-in had. She didn't know if this guy was going to mug her or protect her from the look on his face.

"Hey you two," Wes said. His face broke into a smile for a moment as if he knew he had to reassure them that he wasn't going to bite their heads off.

"Ready to go on up?" Willa nodded.

"Aren't you going to stay with us tonight?" Wes asked Willa. He looked around her then at her hands as if he was looking for bags or something.

Willa avoided making eye contact with him. She wasn't sure how this was all going to work. Being at his house in Orlando had been one thing. She'd been visiting him, but this time it was different. She was in her home town, but she wasn't staying at home. She stuck her hand into her pocket and nervously grasped the quarter that she found there. "Yeah."

Unexpectedly Willa saw Wes with a huge smile on his face. "Praise Jesus! Finally, someone in the group who has a woman who packs lightly!"

Spanky laughed along with Wes as they took in the comment.

"Not quite." She stifled a laugh. "I'm probably going to be the worse of all of them. I'm a model, remember? Clothes are my life." She pointed over her shoulder at her backpack. "This is just my purse. I'm going to go get my bags when you all go to tape TRL this afternoon."

"Just don't expect me to be carrying the bags for you."

"Never," she said with an innocent smile. If she was more of a comedian she would have put her hand over her mouth and let out a giggle to show that she wasn't being serious with him, "Wouldn't want you to strain a muscle or anything."

"Of course not," Spanky said.

As if they knew through ESP, both men curled their arms up and flexed, making a manly grunting noise as they posed for her.

"Fine, fine. Let's get on the road," she said, "You're big and strong. I never said you weren't."

"Say it Willa."

"Say what?"

"Say: My, what big muscles you have."

Willa looked at them for a moment then thought quickly for her response, "My, what big egos you have."

Wes cracked up with that comment. "Girl, are you sure you're dating Billie? That was a Tre comment if I've ever heard one."

"No. I went out one night with Tre once. It wasn't pretty. We're too goofy for each other."

"Too goofy?" Spanky said.

"And like Hollywood is more grounded?" Wes asked.

"Hollywood?" She asked.

"Billie's new nickname. He's kissing babies and shaking hands all over the place. That's really a grounded guy you've got there." Wes joked, letting a laugh out.

"Whatever," she said, "Can we just go?"

"Are you in need Willa?" Wes asked with a smile.

"In need of what?" She asked.

"A little lovin'?" Wes asked with a funny accent.

"I think you're the one in need," she said half angrily-half jokingly, "In need of an ego check."

"Okay, okay," he said, "I'll stop."

"Can we go now?"

"Yes."

After pointing the way, the two bodyguards escorted Willa to the elevator. She almost laughed aloud when she caught their reflection in the shiny inner walls of the elevator doors. She felt like an oreo cookie between the two men as they guarded her from the left and right.

"So did you guys have a fun morning?" Willa asked Wes. She hated the quiet of the elevator. The two men were definitely intimidating when they just stood and stared straight ahead.

"Fun isn't the word I'd use. Actually fun isn't ever the word I'd use," Wes said rolling his eyes, "But yeah, nothing major happened so at least it wasn't too hectic. We had a few hundred people meet us at the airport then there was a huge crowd at the Today show looking through the windows, but since we've gotten to the hotel all has been quiet."

"Knock on wood," Spanky added.

With smiles on their faces, they both reached and knocked on the wooden siding that lined the elevator walls.

She took a breath. Maybe this trip would be quiet. She and Billie could just enjoy themselves instead of worrying about fans. "That's good."

"What about you?" Wes asked, "Billie said that you were doing some huge photo shoot or something a few days ago?"

"Yeah," she said, "I was shooting some print ads for a designer. Modeling is really boring."

"I bet that was a riot," Wes said, "At least the pay is good."

"That's definitely not the word I'd use," she said, "But yeah, it pays the bills."
"And I'm sure the phone company thanks you. It seems like you and Billie have become attacked at the cellphones. I've never seen anyone talk on the phone so much."

"Whatever. I tell him to stop calling me, but he keeps on with it," she said trying to act as if the phone calls she'd gotten from him were a bother, even though that was about as far from the truth as it could be.

"You're the worst liar," Spanky said. "You should see her face when that damn thing rings. She lights up like a Christmas tree and chats about a million miles a minute before she gets off the phone then calls him back and does the whole thing over."

"You're just jealous because Wes is the only one who calls you."

"Hey!" Wes said with a frown, "That's no way to make friends and influence people."

"I wasn't trying," she said with a laugh.

"See what I have to put up with? One of these days I'm going to let one of those teeny-bopper chicks have their way with you." Spanky reached out and playfully hit her arm.

"Yeah right, Billie would shoot you if you did that."

"No he wouldn't," Wes said defending Spanky.

When the elevator got to the floor that they wanted Wes stepped out before them then stopped a few feet into the hallway. "Oh," he said turning around. He handed them two laminated passes. "Security passes for you. You lose them and Billie definitely will shoot you."

"Thanks," Willa said and slipped her pass around her neck. She watched as Spanky did the same thing.

"He is down in room eleven-fifteen, but he told me to have you wait for him in his room down at the end of the hall. He's going to be in that interview for a while and figures that you don't want to get involved with the whole thing so staying out of sight is a good thing."

Willa nodded, "That sounds good to me. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I'd have to hide from publicity. That seems so backwards, yet so right at the same time."

They walked down the hotel hallway and Willa noticed how almost every room had its door open. She caught site of the guys in separate rooms doing interviews. She waved and caught a smile from Mike, but the others were too busy to notice.
When she passed room eleven-fifteen she paused for a moment. She saw the back of Billie's head as he faced a reporter and spoke. She watched only for a second afraid that the reporter might see her and draw her into the room. As much as she wanted to see Billie, she didn't want her welcome back to involve some reporter watching them.

"So what's this trip for?" Willa asked.

"Just the normal press stuff. The guys are going to announce later on in the trip that they're going to try to get a movie deal together. They keep hinting about it with the reporters here, but they aren't really going to announce the whole plan until Friday. They have a big press conference planned."

Willa turned and looked at Wes. She didn't really know the guys that well and since Billie hadn't mentioned it to her, this was all a surprise to hear. "A movie?"

"Yeah," Wes explained as he pulled the room key out for her. He unlocked the door.

"Some storyline of American Idiot."

"He didn't tell me that!" Willa said as she followed him into the room.

"They haven't really told anyone about it."

"Oh."

"I'm sure he'll tell you about it," Wes stopped in the middle of the room, "This is it"

The room was humungous, way bigger than anything she'd ever stayed in. She had good taste when it came to travel arrangements, but this was really more than one person could take advantage of on their own.

"This is Billie's room?"

"Well it's the living room for them. Wes pointed to the open double-doors of the room on the right, "Billie's room is over there."

Willa looked around for a minute then took her jacket and the small backpack she was using for her purse and set them down on the couch.

Wes's pager went off and he grabbed it off of his waste-band. "I've got to head out. Have fun."

Willa waved, "Thanks Wes."

"No trouble." He looked at his watch. "Billie should be back in here in about twenty minutes."

Willa smiled and wondered for a moment if she should tip the guy. She hated situations like that. She always felt that she was doing the wrong thing even when she was doing the right thing. "Thanks."

Her phone rang just as Wes was turning the corner back into the hallway.

*****

When Billie reached the door almost out of breath after practically running away from the reporter after the interview. He'd shook hands with the reporter and had done all the things that were expected of him, but he'd rushed out of the room as soon as he possibly could have. Now, trying to catch his breath, he cracked the door open and tried to look for Willa. He wanted to sneak in and surprise her, but all he found was Spanky sitting on the couch staring at the television.

A moment later, instead of being greeted by Willa's smiling face, he was met by a harsh voice, one that he almost didn't recognize as hers. It made him wince even before he was totally in the room. He took a breath, hand still on the doorknob, and tried to figure out what was going on. He could hear the stress in her voice as it boomed through the room, but couldn't see her and for a moment he wasn't sure if she was talking to someone in the room or someone on the phone.

"I don't give a flying fuck who released the information Elena! No, I never said I thought it was you...Why would you think that? No, I KNOW exactly who released it....Yes that would be just like Brennan to do that. He's just a spotlight whore that he can't stand that I've gotten popular without him being at my side...That doesn't matter. I just... Yeah... No... You need to get a rebuttal or something out to the press now!"

He could only hear her half of the conversation, but some of it made sense. She was stressed over something that he was sure Elena had called her to tell her about, probably some new rumor that was out and running around in the press. Stuff like that was like wildfire.

Billie had played the gossip game 'telephone' when he was little and the media scene seemed to be just a bigger version of the game. Someone would make a comment, then the next person would repeat it and add something to it, and soon the one little comment turned into a controversy that fans took as the gospel instead of gossip. He'd had it happen to him in the past and he knew he'd face it in the future. There was no way to keep yourself out of the game when you were as famous as Green Day was.

"I never said that... no there was something that happened at New Years... It was Billie, Me, Amy and Brennan...no..." There was a long pause. "He never did that! No, of course I'm not! I'd tell you first if I was...or at least you'd be the second to know if something like that happened...I don't believe this shit! Where do they come up with this crap?"

"What's going on?"

Billie jumped at the sound of the voice behind him. He turned to find Wes standing behind him looking in the doorway.

"She isn't in there beating the crap out of Spanky?" Wes asked putting a hand on his shoulder to get him to move out of the way so that he could see into the room.

"No," He said with a laugh. "I'll figure it out. I'm sure it's nothing huge."

"You sure?"

"It's probably some model thing. You know...where's my latte and all that?"

Billie turned his head back just as she appeared from the bedroom that he had taken for the trip. She was pacing, holding the phone in one hand against her ear, while rubbing the back of her neck with her other hand. She looked gorgeous in her outfit, it was just jeans and a sweatshirt, like he was in, but he hadn't seen her in a few days and he suspected that she'd look good in just about anything at that point.

"No, I want you to release a statement that explains the situation. None of what was released is true."

The sour and almost pained look on her face and the way she was pacing nervously, showed that there was a lot on her mind. Billie began to worry when she flopped down in a chair then a moment later was up and pacing again. He'd never seen her this angry before.

She'd gotten angry with him a million times in the past over little things and he'd thought that her attitude was bad then, but this was worse than anything he'd ever seen. Her hands were shaking and it was as if she let herself sit still that she'd go crazy. Whatever it was, it was big and it wasn't going to be able to be taken care of quickly.

"Yes, I'm staying calm..." Billie heard her hit something. He hoped that it wasn't something breakable or that she didn't hurt herself doing it. "Yes Elena THIS IS CALM!" Spanky's spontaneous laughing filled the otherwise silent room.

"No, he's not here yet...I don't know...He's probably still in some interviews. No, I don't know if he knows. I doubt it or he would have mentioned it to me. He's been in those interviews all morning and I'm sure if this had gone public earlier they would have been asking him about it and he would have asked me about it."

Billie pushed the door all the way open with his elbow and let himself quietly into the room while he tried to figure out what was going on. He didn't want to interrupt her call, but he wanted to know what was going on.

"Elena called with some bad news," Spanky said looking over.

"I can tell," He said with heavy sarcasm coating his response.

"From what I can tell that Brennan guy and that Amy girl are giving her hell," Spanky said, "Someone released something to the press that involves the four of you. Did you all get into a fight on New Years?"

Before Billie could answer Spanky's question Willa's voice filled the air again.

"Damn it Elena!"

He looked over to where she had her back to him. "How long as she been on the phone like this?"

Spanky sighed. "Since we got here. I'm surprised she hasn't lost her voice yet. She's been yelling like that for almost fifteen minutes."

Willa turned, he guessed at the sound of the other voices in the room, and stared at Billie for a moment. Everything in the room wound down into slow motion. He watched her blink three times before she really seemed to recognize him. He could see the tiredness and the slight fear and sadness in her eyes and it formed a lump in his throat and send his stomach spinning. Willa was normally a tough girl, but she looked to be at her wits end with this one. Whatever had happened, it was serious.

As soon as they made eye contact, he saw tears well up in her eyes. He wished that he could make it go away. She didn't deserve this and he felt a little like it was his fault that she was going through this. If he hadn't made that comment on TRL a few months ago she wouldn't have to have gone through any of this mess. He'd been selfish to do it and he was starting to feel even worse than he had a few weeks ago about the mess of his life and her life were becoming.

She walked towards him and as soon as she was close enough to him she took the phone from her ear and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face against his shoulder.

"I hate this Billie," she mumbled, "I hate it. Just when I think things are getting under control the whole world blows up under my feet."

Billie hugged her as her body shook from her tears. He reached his arms around her, pulling her tightly against him and holding her there trying to show his support for her. He took a breath and for an instant things felt okay, but then he heard her sniff and once again was reminded of her pain.

"Willa, what's going on?"

After holding herself in his arms for a few moments, Willa leaned back from him a little to put the phone back to her ear. She sniffed hard and wiped her face a little, "Elena? Yeah, he just got here..." She turned to Billie, "Elena says hi."
"Hi Elena," He said loudly.

"Yeah, I'll tell him. I'm going to tell him about it right now. Can you please release something? No, I'm not going to ignore this...I know that I should ignore it, but I can't...No...I don't want to hear anymore about this...I'll call you in a little while."

When she'd hung up her phone she threw it angrily onto the couch where Spanky was. Spanky moved out of the way, even though her throw wasn't at all near him.

"Hey!"

"Sorry," she said then curled back into Billie's embrace. "This is horrible."

"Willa, tell me what's going on," he prompted as he held her close.

Willa took a deep breath and reached and wiped her eyes more. "Elena said that someone released some crazy information to the press about us. There was a report about an incident that happened at New Years."

"Amy and Brennan?" He asked.

"I think that's who did it." She sighed, "I'm guessing that's who did it. I can't think of anyone else who would have even known what went on during our little conversation that night."

Billie tried to stay calm, but he was losing his patience. First the break-in and now this? It just seemed like they didn't want her to get comfortable. Even though she didn't know that he'd heard about the break-in, she looked horrible. The worry had gotten to her. Normally she had a twinkle in her eyes when he saw her, but today she looked tired, dead tired.

"What'd they release?"

"Not only did they tell everyone that we had been faking our relationship for a few months, they said that I'm pregnant with Brennan's kid and that at the New Years Party he was trying to talk to me and you decked him because you were jealous."

"What the hell?" Billie said, "I never touched that son of a bitch."

Slipping her hand into his, Willa walked over, pulling Billie behind her, and plopped down onto the couch, "Elena said that the word on the street is that Brennan is going to go to court over it all."

"But you aren't even pregnant..." He looked at her closely, "Are you?"

"No. Of course not." Willa leaned against him, "Why can't they just leave me alone?"

"I don't know Fred," he said rubbing her back, "Don't worry though, we'll take care of this." He looked at Spanky with a worried look. Spanky had warned him about her losing it and that she needed him, but this was more than he'd expected from her. She was shaky and crying. This wasn't his Willa.

Spanky pushed himself up from the couch and came over to where they were standing. "I'll leave you two alone for lunch, just give me a call when you have to leave, okay?"

"Yeah," Billie said over Willa's shoulder. She'd clamped onto him and he wasn't sure that she was going to let go anytime soon. "Okay."

Willa looked over at Spanky, "Have a good lunch."

"Calm down Willa," Spanky said, "For my sake as well as your own. I don't like to see you this worried."

"I'll try," she said.

With Spanky gone, Billie pulled back from Willa. He looked her in the eyes, then moved her hair from her face. "Are you okay? I mean other than being pissed off, are you okay?"

She nodded, "I'm just glad that you're here."

"Well I'm glad that you're here too," he said. He looked around for a minute. "I hate to do this to you, but I need to grab lunch. Let me order room service then we can talk."

She nodded. When Billie got off the couch to go get the phone Willa followed him. "I'm going to go lay down. If Tre or Mike come in here I don't want to have to explain my--"

"Don't worry about it," he said. He leaned and kissed her. She turned the kiss into a deep one, wrapping her arms around him tightly, "I'll be in there in a minute."

She nodded and disappeared into the bedroom, closing the door slightly. Billie had just picked up the phone when Tre came into the room with Mike in tow.

"Hey, where's your girl?" He asked.

Billie moved his mouth away from the phone, "She's laying down."

"She okay?" Mike asked.

"Yeah, it's just been a long day for her," Billie said. He pointed at the phone, "You want anything?"

"Get me a burger, fries and a coke." Tre said.

"Okay," Billie said, "Only if you answer the door."

"Sounds good to me."

A moment later he had lunch ordered. He ordered veggie lasagna for himself and Tre's order. He also threw in a sandwich for Willa. He wasn't sure if she would eat it, but he thought she'd probably pick at it if he got it for her.

Mike was sitting on the couch in front of the television with his shoes off watching some basketball game. "I'm going to go and sit with Willa."

"I'll call you when the food gets here."

"Is Sarah coming over?"

"Not until tonight. Her flight up from home doesn't get in until four or so. She'll be here before we go and do the Letterman show."

"Okay," he said.

Billie made his way into the bedroom and found Willa with her shoes off lying on her side curled up with a pillow. She looked calmer, but he could tell that things weren't over for her. This was just the beginning of a long battle for her. He knew that he was just as involved in the situation, but he was a veteran at dealing with the press. He just hoped that he could keep her from getting too upset about it.
He kicked off his shoes and crawled across the bed to where she was laying. Without a word to her he curled up behind her resting so that her back was against his chest and his arms were holding her.

"I ordered you a sandwich," he said softly.

"Thank you," she replied.

"Are you okay?" he asked kissing her exposed neck.

"Uh huh," she said sleepily, "I just hate that they won't leave me alone."

Billie's mind went into overdrive. He needed to ask her about the break-in. He needed her to know that he understood why she was so upset. "What are you talking about? Leaving you alone? This is the first thing they've done...right?"

"Well," she said softly.

"Willa, tell me," he said. He squeezed her against him. "Tell me."

"Spanky called you and told you about the break-in...didn't he?" she said.

Billie sighed, "Yeah. That's why I wanted you to stay in the hotel with me this week and why Spanky spent the night at your place."

"I wanted to tell you," she said. He could feel her start to shake a little, "I just wasn't sure--"

"It's okay," he held her close, "I'm not mad. I just wish that you would tell me about this stuff."

"I didn't mean to--"

"Look it doesn't matter now," Billie said sitting up. "Just next time tell me about stuff like that."

"Okay," she said.

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"Good, now cuddle up. I've missed you and I only have... " he looked at his watch, "... forty more minutes until I have to leave."

She gave him a smile and momentarily he thought she might be okay.