Social Suicide
Chapter 13
"Are you ready to go?"
Willa looked up from where she was leaned over searching for her shoe. She sat back up, a triumphant smile on her face as she watched him adjust his backpack on his back. "Almost."
Billie looked at the doorway and swung the other strap over his arm. "The guys are going to be here in a second."
"I know," she said and shoved her shoe back onto her foot and ground her foot around in for a moment before looking up at him to nod to him that she was all set.
"So that plan is for you to go and get your stuff and bring it back here while we're at TRL and taping those commercials for Live 8."
She nodded and avoiding making eye contact with him.
"Fred?"
Willa stopped and looked at him. She was scared. For the first time she was scared and she didn't know what to do. In the past she'd been able to put up a good enough front so that people would think that she was okay, but this time she wasn't so sure that she could pull off that routine. It was hard enough trying to convince Billie that she was okay, how was she going to trick the rest of the world? Thank God he'd understood when she'd declined to join him for the tapings and things earlier when he'd asked.
Billie's voice was soft in the quiet room as he looked over his shoulder at her.
"It's going to be okay."
Willa ran her hands through her hair and straightened her shirt a little. Her nap had taken its toll on the wrinkle-free clothes and on her moody. She felt groggy.
"I know."
Billie held out a hand out to her and pulled her into a hug. He kissed her forehead. "Good."
There was a knock on the door and Tre's voice came through to them. "Time to go."
"We're coming!" Billie called.
"Come on man...get off her and let's get going."
Willa stopped him as he tried to pull away. "Wait."
"What?" he asked looking at her when she didn't explain why she'd stopped him.
Bringing her hands to his cheeks, Willa pulled him in for a kiss.
"I love you," she said. She hated the desperate tone that came out with her words, but it couldn't be helped. She was desperate. Desperate to hold onto a profession that she loved and the only man who seemed to understand and accept every part of her.
"I love you too," he said. He kissed her; one more quick kiss then looked at the door. "We should go."
"I know," she said. She took his hand and the two of them exited the bedroom and joined the others in the living room.
Wes pulled the door open and the group exited the room and walked down towards the elevator. To Willa it seemed like they were an Army marching to war, except on the lobby level she'd be going off to collect her things and Billie would be the one to go into battle considering that he was going to be interviewed that afternoon.
"How've you been Willa?" Tre asked in a fairly soft voice as they walked, "I haven't talked to you in forever.
"Yeah, it was just last week," Willa said trying to force herself to be normal. She smiled crazily at him trying her hardest to be the person he'd met a few months ago who'd taken on Billie in a yelling match and who'd fought just for the sake of fighting.
"Oh...wait...that was you?"
"Yep," she said, "You were probably drunk off your ass, but I remember it."
"Was I good?" he asked with an evil grin.
"Hey!" Billie protested. They piled into the elevator, the bodyguards shielding the other passengers from where the doors would open once they reached the lobby.
There was an odd tension that hung in the air when they split into their separate groups in the lobby. She'd stood next to Billie in the elevator, cherishing those last moments before they were to be separated by leaning against his shoulder. Tre, Loni, Billie and Wes would be heading to TRL and Willa and Spanky would make the short trip to her apartment. To Willa the division of the group seemed like it would bring miles between them instead of a few city blocks.
"I love you Fred," Billie said as he let go of her hand. He leaned to kiss her, but was stopped by Tre.
When they both turned and looked at him, he leaned towards them, he smiled and said, in an overly dramatic voice while wiping a fake tear from his eyes, "I love you too Willa."
Willa leaned and kissed Billie then leaned and kissed Tre's cheek. "Have fun boys."
Tre's fake announcement of his love to her caused a smile, but she was still worried as she watched them climb into the limo with the others. Billie stopped as he climbed in and gave her a wink then disappeared into the car.
"You ready hon?" Spanky said breaking into her thoughts. She looked over at him, finding him holding the door of a taxi open for her.
"Yeah," she said and climbed into the car, scooting over so that Spanky could share the back seat with her. She'd grown accustom to dealing with Spanky around. At first it had been a battle, but now that they'd become a little team she couldn't imagine doing anything without him.
*****
Twenty minutes later, Willa took a breath and threw her keys onto the counter after pushing the door open. She let her hand linger on the doorknob and waited until she felt the weight of the door being taken over by Spanky's hand before she let herself fully step into the room. This time she was glad to see that everything was in the same place as she'd left it. She'd worried all morning about coming home to another mess since she'd been gone all day. The whole break-in thing had caused her to be a little overcautious now when it came to locking the doors and making sure that everything was secure before she left.
"Hey Spanky?"
"Yes hon?" He asked with a smile following her into the room. He closed the door and gravitated towards the living room as she moved towards her room. He'd slept on the couch the night before, but you would have never known it from the way the room looked. The only remains of his sleepover were the folded blankets on the end of the couch and the pillow that was thrown over it.
Knowing that she didn't have that much time, Willa headed for her room, but called over her shoulder, "Turn on TRL while I pack up my stuff."
"You can't be away from that guy for even a minute can you?" Spanky's laugh filled the silent room.
"I can," she said, "I just want to see who is on the countdown today."
"Yeah right!" he mumbled, but Willa heard him.
"I heard that! Just turn it on," she said with a sigh. "I just want to see what the bastard is saying about me when I'm not around."
"That sounds more like the Willa I know and love," he said with a laugh and a few moments later Willa could hear the television broadcast throughout the apartment.
They went through the normal chatting and joking then the videos were announced for the day. Willa could picture it all as she folded her clothes and stuffed them into the rolling suitcase that she'd just unpacked a few days before after returning.
"Up next, a new bit of news on our guys Green Day," Carson said as they went to the commercial break just after the number four song. Willa saw the guys making faces into the camera as they pulled away to commercial.
Thinking that it had to do with the movie deal, Willa didn't think twice about it and kept packing. She already had three casual outfits packed and was trying to get a fourth one into the tiny suitcase without completely wrinkling it, which at the time seemed way more important than to watch the television screen. She figured that maybe that MTV was going to break the news to the public about the press conference that had been scheduled for the end of the week.
"Willa!"
"What?" She yelled.
Spanky's voice boomed through the room. "You might want to get in here!"
When Spanky yelled for her that she dropped what she was doing and rushed to the television set. He'd never sounded so concerned and she knew it must be something important.
"What?" She asked.
"They just showed a clip of that guy Brennan. I don't know what's going on, but I don't think this is going to be good." He looked at her for a moment then reached out a hand and pulled her so that she was sitting next to him on the couch.
Willa's eyes were glued to the television set as Bryan McFaden delivered the news of the day. Tiny pictures of her, Billie, Brennan, and Amy were behind him on the green screen shot that served as his background.
"In recent weeks the guys of Green Day have been very busy. After having record sales of 2.4 million in the first week with their US album No American Idiot, and rumors flying around about their adventures into the world of movies, you'd think that they would have gotten enough of the spotlight. Well it seems as if the successes and downfalls of their personal lives are now bringing them into our living rooms. This morning a press release from Willa Marviani's ex-boy-toy, model Brennan, showed up on MTV's doorstep. The release accuses Willa's current boyfriend, Billie Joe Armstrong, of Green Day fame, of not only starting a fight at an Orlando New Years party, but also accuses the Punk Rocker of keeping Brennan's unborn child from him."
"No!" She didn't ever think that she would ever find herself truly screaming at the television, but a moment later a yell came out of her mouth that would have broken glass if it had been at a higher pitch.
As Spanky reached over and tried to calm her down, Willa searched wildly for her phone and immediately dialed Billie's number.
[ MTV Studios ]
At the sound of the news report all the guys groaned out loud as if they all could tell that it was a scam and that it wasn't anything to get upset about. Just another rumor to dispel. It was getting kind of old. Billie took a deep breath and shoved his hands into his pockets. At first he wasn't sure if he'd heard Bryan correctly. Willa had told him about the report, but the true details of the entire thing had never been revealed to him.
Grounding his teeth together in frustration he prayed that he'd keep his cool. He was pissed off beyond belief that they would read the statement in front of him without asking him about it before hand. It was one thing to hear that the thing had been released, but for MTV to go on air without clearing or even warning Billie of the news was unthinkable.
"Wow," Carson said when Bryan had finished his report. He looked over at the guys, as if to see what their reaction to the news was before he gave an opinion on the situation. He caught eye contact with Billie then looked away quickly.
"You've got quite the little scandal going on there don't you?"
The anger of the moment welled up in his chest and if Billie would have guessed he would have thought he was having a heart attack. Breathing hard, he took a step back and whispered into Mike's ear, "Get me the fuck out of here before I slam my hand in that guy's mouth. I know they didn't clear this with Kelly or Chris or Rob. What the hell are they thinking?"
"Calm down," Mike muttered and put a hand in front of Billie, shoving him back into position.
This wasn't the time or the place to settle this matter. Billie knew enough about dealing with the press that he knew he had to take whatever comments came his way. He wasn't at all going to let this slide off his back, but he was going to act civil until the camera's went off, then he was going to have a few choice words not only with Bryan himself, but with the producer that let him read that statement on the air.
"What are you doing Mike?" Carson asked with a joking tone as Billie fought against his arm. "Is this guy getting too much publicity lately?"
"Uh, yeah, I just don't want him to get a big ego," Mike said, "They've already started to call him Hollywood. We have to keep him grounded."
As if on cue Tre jumped into action and distracted everyone by hamming it up in front of the camera. "Look at me...I'm a monkey!"
"Okay Davy Jones," Mike said with a laugh.
"Not that kind of monkey," He said, "A Monkee...here we come, walking down the street!" He kicked his leg out like a miniature Rockettes routine and the crowd cheered.
"Whatever Nutcase!" Mike said and pushed him out of the way trying to get in front of the camera.
"Okay, well let's give this some time to sink in, here is the number three song of the day, from Kelly Clarkson..."
Billie let the voices around him fade away as his anger focused on Bryan. The guy's back was to him and he planned quickly a way that he could easily jump him from behind.
"Don't you even think about it," Mike said in a low voice as the screams of the crowd went up as the video played on the screen behind them. With his face only inches from Billie, and their chests bumped up against each other he grabbed Billie's balled up fist and pulled his fingers from their clenched position.
"Don't you even think about punching that guy. I know how you feel, really I do, but you are not going to attack an MTV VJ."
Billie smiled, "I'm fine. I'm just going to give that guy a piece of my mind."
He stepped forward, but Mike pushed him back. "I think right now you're going to give him more than that."
"And like he doesn't deserve it?" Billie asked finally making eye contact with him.
"Of course the guys deserves it, but..." Mike gave him a serious, but sympathetic look. "Not now, and definitely not in front of the fans."
"Hey, what's up guys?" Carson asked coming over to them. He moved his way into the huddle almost knowing that the conversation was a private one that the fans a few feet away might be able to hear.
"Make sure that fucker Bryan sticks around. I've got a few words for that asshole," Billie said loudly. "I'll be in the green room."
As he pushed through the small studio crowd Wes fell into step with him. He didn't know if Wes knew how upset he was about the whole thing, but when he saw a production assistant try to step towards him probably to stop him from leaving the set, Wes instantly held the person.
"I think Billie needs a little space right now."
To Wes that was just about as bad as telling someone to fuck off. H knew that early on Wes had learned how to persuade someone to step back rather than pushing them out of the way.
Once in the quiet of the green room Billie turned on his phone and immediately checked his voice mail. He knew that Willa would leave him a message. It was inevitable that she would have seen or at least heard about the announcement. It had only happened a moment before, but if he knew her, either she'd seen it herself or Elena had already been on the phone with her.
"Billie, it's me. I'm on my way over to the hotel in a minute. Give me a call on my cell."
"Shit," He breathed out. When Wes entered the green room Billie looked up at him.
"Willa left you a message?"
"Yeah, she and Spanky are heading back to the hotel."
"You want to ditch?"
"I'm suddenly feeling like I'm getting a cold," Billie said with sarcasm. He coughed loudly then walked out into the hallway, Wes at his feet.
"I'll call the car and get us a ride."
"Call a cab instead," He said, "The car will never make it back to get them if I take it. I may be ditching those guys, but there's no way I'm going to leave them high and dry without a ride."
"If you say so."
"So down to the service entrance?"
"But of course," Wes said. He quickly dialed the number of the taxi service that they used when in the city. He ordered a car to meet them at the back entrance.
In the meantime Billie pulled out his two-way pager and paged all the guys telling them that he was going back to the hotel to talk to Willa. He then two way paged Kelly and Rob and explained that he wasn't feeling well and needed the afternoon off if he was going to last out the rest of the week. He knew that he would hear about ditching the press, but he didn't car. He needed out of there and he needed out of there now.
*****
Willa stepped into the quiet hotel bedroom and shut the door. Spanky had told her that he'd watch TV or something until Billie arrived so as she slid into the room alone she pulled out a set of sweatpants and a T-shirt, her pajamas for the night and slid into them. Her shoulders and neck ached from the tension from the situation and while all she could think of doing was to go and get into bed, she knew that she should wait for Billie. So after crawling into her pajamas she grabbed a pillow off the bed and pushed the door open of the bedroom and went to find a seat next to Spanky on the couch.
"You okay?" he asked.
"I'm a little stressed out. I feel all sore, like I ran a marathon or something."
"Really?"
"Yeah," she said and rubbed her neck as she curled her feet under her and placed her pillow in her lap.
"I know this will sound strange coming from me, but why don't you go take a bath or something? I'm sure you could use the relaxation. I'll leave when Billie gets here."
"As good as that sounds I think I'll wait for him to get here before I do anything...and you don't have to leave." Tears welled up in her eyes. "What would I do without you?"
"Probably kill someone."
"No, seriously," Willa pushed her hair out of her face "I am being serious."
"It's all good."
"Don't say it's just your job. You know that it's more than that."
"Really Willa, it's not that big of a deal."
"Yes it is," she said, "Are you going to go home tonight?"
"Wes mentioned to me earlier that I should sleep on the couch in his room tonight. I know you're going to be with the guys for the next few days and you don't need the extra protection, but I think I'll stick around."
"Thank you Spanky," she said and a yawn escaped her mouth.
"Dang girl. It's only about two in the afternoon."
"I know, I know," she yawned again. "I just need a little nap."
"Well go on and get to sleep then. Billie will probably kill you if you don't relax a little. I'm certain he'll kill me if you don't chill out."
She laughed and covered her mouth with the onslaught of another yawn. "Sorry."
"Don't worry about it. Just go get some rest. I'm sure that when he gets here you're going to have some talking to do. That'll take a lot out of you."
Willa nodded and pushed herself out of the chair. "If I ever forget to thank you Spanky, just remember, I love you for taking care of me."
"No troubles," he said giving her a reassuring smile.
"Tell Billie to wake me up when he gets here."
"Sure thing," he said.
Willa leaned and kissed his cheek then made her way over to the bedroom door. She stopped and turned in the doorway, "I'll see yah Spanky. Thank you."
*****
Billie was on his way out of the studio when Kelly caught sight of him. He was feeling pretty good since Wes had kept everyone from asking where he was going, but at the sight of her watching him he got a little nervous. He tried to avoid making eye contact with her, thinking that maybe he could just slip out without a confrontation with her, but it was too late. She had her radar locked onto him and she pulled him in before he could side step her and escape to the stairway or the elevator.
She quickly cornered him in the hallway, She pushed him so that his back was against the wall and she grabbed a hold of his arm to lock him into position.
When Wes started to approach to help him out, she threw a glare at him and he backed away.
"You aren't scared of her are you?" Billie asked with a laugh.
Crossing his arms across his chest, Wes shook his head, but didn't move from his position. "They don't call her the Bulldog for nothing."
"Where are you two going?" Kelly asked.
"To the hotel," Billie stared at her hand on his arm then looked her in the eyes then looked back at her hand.
"Oh really?"
Billie smiled. "Yes really."
"And why would that bed?"
When she didn't get the hint and move it he carefully pulled her fingers from their clamped position on his arm and dropped her hand dramatically from his arm. If he'd been in a better mood he would find all of this babysitting act funny, but at the moment he only wanted to get to the hotel and to get to Willa.
"Willa's waiting for me."
"I'm sure she can wait," Kelly said. She took a deep breath. "I'm only going to ask this once and I want a straight answer from you. You just walked out on a nationally televised appearance and I'm sure your reason is justified, but you have to tell me what's going on Billie. This isn't just you showing up late or leaving early...you walked out on an interview and you know that something like that can do a lot of damage if you do it to the wrong person. Do you know what kind of press this is going to get you?"
"You tell me," he said with a sigh. He angrily pointed back at the studio and raised his voice. "What the hell was that back there? How could you let them make that announcement without telling me first? Bryan Mc-FUCKING-Faden just got on national television and told the world that my girlfriend is a whore and that...and that I'm..." He took a deep breath, "That I'm an abusive son of a bitch!"
"It's MTV Billie...they can say what they want and we can't do anything about it. We're their guests, you know? They invited us? Remember? It's called Freedom of Speech."
"I just can't believe that they didn't you know...FUCKING MENTION THAT THEY WERE GOING TO...TO...FUCK ME OVER LIKE THAT WHEN I WAS IN THE FUCKING ROOM!"
A few people turned their heads and Billie threw them the finger without thinking twice about it. This was war and he wasn't going to take it sitting down.
"Calm down Billie, you're making a scene."
"Calm down." He looked down the hall then back at Kelly, "I'LL SHOW YOU CALM. I'LL BE DEAD CALM WHEN I MARCH BACK IN THERE AND SLAM MCFADEN IN THE FACE! NOW, ARE YOU GOING TO LET ME OF THIS FUCKING BUILDING OR AM I GOING TO MOVE YOUR FUCKING ASS OUT OF MY WAY?"
"Billie!" Wes said in a loud voice. He stepped forward and pushed him up against the wall. "Quit it BJ or--"
Billie took a breath and looked at Kelly. He could see that she'd understood his anger, but she didn't seem to be too sympathetic at the moment, especially after he'd yelled at her for no reason. "I'm sorry, but this is--"
She gave him a nervous laugh. "I know its bad, but you can't fly off the handle like this. It's not professional and it's not you." He thought that maybe it was because he never acted like this and she wasn't sure how to handle it. He has a reputation for doing this type of action but she had never gotten herself involved.
Billie took another breath and squeezed the bridge of his nose as a headache began to form across his forehead.
"Please..." He stopped and tried to keep his voice from sounding like he was pleading with her, but it didn't work too well.
"Please just tell me that you didn't know about that before they announced it." Billie shifted his weight from one foot to the other and tapped his foot as he waited for an answer from her.
After avoiding his eyes for a moment Kelly shifted her backpack into a different position on her back then looked at him only for a moment. "I heard..." Her voice came out as a mumble and she didn't seem like she wanted to reveal the news to him, "...I heard a rumor about it being released."
"What the hell? And you didn't tell me?" he whined.
"I didn't think it needed to be addressed. Besides, I thought I'd have more time to try to figure out how I was going to explain it to you."
"Explain what to me?" His eyes widened in anticipation of her news.
Kelly reached and dug into her backpack for a moment, pushing a few things around before she withdrew two heavy manila envelopes from the bag. "The papers arrived this morning. They wanted to serve you and Willa with a summons to court, but I knew that you didn't need that this morning. They came to the compound at four and I signed for the papers and told them that I would make sure that they knew I would deliver them."
"A summons?" Billie said. He stared at the envelope. Not again. Hadn't he done his court time for his life? Didn't that somehow make him exempt from ever going to court again?
"Yes," she explained.
Billie frowned and looked around. "He's really suing me?"
"He claims that you punched him and that Willa is keeping his kid from him."
He grabbed the envelope from Kelly's hand and ripped the one open that his name on it. He flipped a page to where the claims were listed. "That's totally not true! I may have wanted to ring the guy's neck, but I swear that I never touched him. And Willa isn't pregnant or if she is she never has told me that."
"I know that. You know that, but for some reason someone out there seems to think that the idea needs to be proven in court."
"When's the court date?" He flipped the pages of the stapled packet and found that they were to be in court by the end of the month.
Kelly handed him the other envelope. "Give this to Willa for me."
"Sure." Billie folded up his copy of the summons and shoved it back into its envelope. He stood for a moment stared at the papers in his hand. He couldn't believe it. The guy was truly nuts. Saying things and slandering people was one thing, but pulling them into court was a whole other story.
He glanced at Kelly then shoved the papers inside his backpack. "Can I go now?"
"Make sure you call the lawyer today," She said.
"I will," he mumbled.
"I mean it Billie. I put a call into him, but I'm sure he'll be wanting to discuss this with you. You'll have to give a deposition to him."
Billie looked down the hallway and found some people still watching him. His foot tapped nervously on the ground. "I know."
"Billie!" Melinda said and waved in front of his face.
"I KNOW." he stated firmly. He looked over at Wes, "Are we out of here?"
Wes nodded and they continued on their way down the hall. Billie let his mind wander and he tried to go over that night in his mind. He'd been drinking that night, having a good time, but not drunk off his ass, and he'd been out of control when Brennan had insulted Willa, but he never would have hit him. He never would have even thought to do that. He'd pushed into him a little, but wasn't that what any person would have done in his position? He needed the intimidation factor that came along with the action of pushing him.
*****
Willa turned her head to the side and looked out from where her cheek had sunken into the pillow. She had almost gotten fully asleep when she heard her cell phone ring. She was at the point in her sleep pattern where she felt like her body weighed about three times her real weight which made it hard for her to move to even look for the phone, let alone actually go and get it.
Swearing at her carelessness of leaving it across the room she threw the covers off the bed and grabbed for her bag where she'd left her phone. She wanted to catch the call before it clicked over to voicemail thinking that it might be Billie calling to check up on her. She needed to hear his voice if she was going to get through the day. He might have said that he was coming back to the hotel, but knowing his hectic schedule he might have gotten caught up.
"Hello?" she said into the phone.
There was no answer for a moment. The sound of silence scared her a little so she took a breath and tried to calm her nerves by walking over to the window. She looked down at the street below and concentrated on watching people getting in and out of taxis for a moment to try to get her mind off her troubles. Usually, at home, it worked, but today it just reminded her of how long the silence on the phone had been there.
"Hello?" she asked again.
Finally, just before she thought she might hang up there was a low laugh then she heard the voice, "Having fun with him Willa?"
"Who is this?"
"Like you don't know?"
Willa thought for a moment. She took a guess at who it was and of course he had perfect timing. "Brennan?"
There was another laugh. "Good guess honey. I guess you haven't forgotten me."
A shiver ran through her as his slimy voice can through the line.
"Brennan what the hell are you doing calling me?"
"I thought you might need a friend right about now," he said, "You know, with all the drama that Billie has brought to your life."
"A friend?" she asked in astonishment, "A friend? What the hell are you smoking you prick? This is all your fault!"
"Down girl, down," he said with a laugh. "You wouldn't want to hurt the baby."
"BABY?" she said angrily. "You know that you'll be in trouble when they found out that you filed false accusations against me. You seem to forget that I have one thing on my side Brennan. A good legal team, one that will go the distance for me...unlike you."
"Whatever," Brennan said.
"Why do you even think that I'd be having a kid in the first place?"
"Because I know how you like it. I may have lost you, but I remember how it was. I'm sure you can't leave your hands off Billie. It makes me sick to think that you're doing it, but your libido is too out of control to keep yourself too pure for too long."
"FUCK YOU!"
The door of the room flew all the way open and the door made a banging noise as it hit against the wall. "What the hell is going on?"
"It's Brennan," Willa said to Spanky as he watched her with a worried look.
"Give me the phone," Spanky said angrily.
"He can't save you Willa," Brennan said into her ear through the phone. "I may not be able to rough you up in the way that Billie roughed me up--"
Willa wanted to spit in his face. She would have smacked him across the face if he'd been there in front of her. "Billie never touched you! He might have wanted to beat the shit out of you, but unlike you Brennan; He actually has some class. He's not a thug and would never start a fight in a club."
His laugh filled the phone line. "That's not what the doctor said when I showed him my black eye."
"BLACK EYE?" For an instant she felt lightheaded so she moved to sit down. "BLACK EYE, MY ASS!"
Spanky moved towards her, stepping across the room to her in what seemed like only two steps. "Give me the phone Willa," he demanded. He held his hand out and moved his fingers trying to encourage her to hand over the cell.
"There's one thing that I know about you that Billie probably doesn't even know..." Brennan's voice came out sounding sinister. She groaned at the sound of it. This was all too Hollywood for her. The whole think stunk like a bad movie plot.
"What's that?" she asked. She was curious about how he suddenly considered himself an expert on her considering that a few weeks ago she was sure that he wouldn't have been able to even tell someone her full name.
"I know your weaknesses and I know your faults and I know how to get under your skin. Billie may be the bruiser in the family, but words can cut deeper than any physical punch I could throw at you. Don't forget...it was me who you cried to when you had that...well lets say that eating problem a few months ago...and it was me who took you to Haven House."
"GIVE ME THE PHONE!" Spanky pulled the phone from her hand and put it to his ear. "Get this straight Brennan," Spanky spoke slowly. "I know you may think that its fun to torment Willa, but I swear you'd better stay on the other side of the street if we ever see you because I swear I'll kill--no wait...that'd be too easy. I swear that I'll make your life a living hell if you get near her."
Willa sat down on the bed, wrapping her arms around her as she watched Spanky pacing back and forth. She was scared to death and there wasn't a thing she could do about it. It was true. Brennan knew her faults and she had no way of stopping him from going to the press about it.
"FUCK YOU BRENNAN!" Spanky shouted. The voice made her jump a little. Thank God he was on her side, because if she ever had to go up against hi she knew that she'd lose.
As he passed her Spanky made eye contact with her for an instant then slowly let his hand, the free hand, came to rest on her shoulder and he massaged her shoulder a little as he listened.
"Want to bet?" Spanky growled into the phone. "Want to know what it's like to pee blood, because if you even think of getting near her I'll beat you senseless."
Willa winced at the sound of truth that she heard in his voice. She didn't want this. She didn't want any of this. All she wanted...all she'd ever wanted was to be with Billie and to be happy.
"Hello?" Spanky suddenly said, "Hello?"
A moment later he clicked off the phone. "Damn."
"What?" she asked.
Spanky stared at the phone for a minute then hit the end button and handed her the phone. "He hung up."
"What am I going to do Spanky?" she asked.
"You're going to stay calm and keep your wits about you."
Spanky angrily stalked out of the room. "I have to make some calls."
Willa watched him leave the room and felt a chill run through her. This was serious. If Spanky was getting involved in her phone calls she knew that her battle was just beginning and from Brennan's attitude on the phone the battle wasn't going to be a pretty one.
*****
Billie pushed the door open to the suite without knocking. It wasn't his normal MO, but after this morning's announcement, then seeing Spanky standing in the hallway yelling into his phone, it seemed acceptable that all the manners he learned when he was little could be thrown out the window. Something was wrong and he was about to find out what happened.
When he made it to their bedroom he stopped short and found Willa laying in bed, curled up to a pillow half asleep. He quickly shut the door and locked it behind him. For a moment that day he needed to lock out the rest of the world and concentrate on the two of them.
"Billie?"
"Hey Fred," he said in a soft voice. He sighed a sigh of relief finding that she was okay. She looked a bit stressed, but looked no worse than she had that morning.
For a minute out in a hallway, when he'd heard Spanky yelling, he'd thought something had gone seriously wrong, but it looked fairly normal from where he stood in the doorway. Her bags were next to his on the other bed in the room and she was there. Nothing could be that wrong if she was still there waiting for him.
She sleepily raised her head and blinked at him a few times trying to keep her eyes open.
She looked around, dazed a little bit then asked, "What time is it?"
He kicked off his shoes and scrambled across the bed and curled up to her. He spooned up against her, moving her hair from her neck and placed a kiss near her ear. "It's still really early...go back to sleep. I got your message and I came over."
"Brennan called," she said sleepily and turned so that she could curl up against him. She found a spot against his chest, pressed her cheek tightly to him and hugged him before she moved to place a kiss on his chin.
Billie's mouth dropped open as he processed the information. "What?"
"Don't stress out," She said, "Spanky yelled at him already. He basically said what he said on the TV report, just had to deliver the message in person."
"Fred, why did you even talk to him?" He didn't mean to sound that way, but he was very disappointed in her. He'd thought he'd done enough to keep her away from Brennan and when he'd been gone Brennan had managed to get to her.
"I don't know." She sighed and squeezed him, "I should have just hung up on him. I just--"
"Well it doesn't matter now," He said stopping her. He was even more stressed than he'd been on the way over to see her and he needed to stop an argument before he started one. "Don't worry about it...everything is going to be okay."
"You keep saying that," she said looking up at him. Her voice shook with emotion, "How can you be so sure?"
"I'm not at all sure," he said and squeezed her closer to her. He moved so that she was more comfortable against him then reached with his free hand to grab up the covers. He threw the comforter over her and tucked her in around her. "I don't know at all what is going to happen"
"What about the band?" she asked. She sat up a little and rested her hand on his chest so that she could look at him comfortably. "I mean you ditched them today...are they going to be mad?"
"They'll get over it," Billie said praying that he was right about that. He moved her hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. He placed a kiss on his finger then placed it to her lips. "Whatever decisions I make that have to do with them won't affect us. They know that."
He was sure that he'd hear something about it, but he knew that the guys wouldn't get totally over excited about it. His rage in front of Kelly would probably get him in more trouble than anything and the finger he threw at the people in the hallway wouldn't go unnoticed, but for the most part he'd probably get a slap on the hand for his behavior.
"Are you sure?" she asked, "I mean its one thing for me to do things...What I do affects me, Elena, and you, but what you do effects a whole group of people that I'm not sure I want to even think about. I just hope that they aren't going to be disappointed."
"Disappointed?" he moved his head to look at her from where he had been laying, "No one is going to be disappointed."
Her sigh was heavy before she spoke, "I just hope that all this trouble is worth it."
"It is," he said and squeezed her against him. "I started this whole press thing and I intend to not let it get to us. It was stupid for me to even start things off between us like that. I should have known how much of a pain in the ass it was going to be."
"You know," she said, "If it ever gets to be too much, I mean I'll understand if you and I--"
"Oh no!" Billie sat up. "Oh hell no girl. You're not backing out on me now...I'm not letting that happen."
"But Billie, all that's gone on since we started seeing each other has been drama. Are you sure you want to keep this up?"
"Fred, I'm not giving up," he said, "I've worked too hard on this. First I had to convince you to love me and I'm not going to let that work go to waste."
"It wasn't that much work," she said with a smile.
"Maybe not to you, but to me it was," he said.
"I'm sorry for making you working so hard. I loved you all along," she said softly.
"Sure you did," he said with a laugh, "I'm sure that you slapped me that one time just for fun then?"
"No," she said, "No that day I really hated you."
"Well I'm glad you changed your mind after that day."
"I am too," she said, "I just want to keep this going well. No regrets."
"No regrets," he squeezed her. "No regrets ever."
"Eva, eva?" she said with a cute kiddy voice.
"Never."
*****
The pounding noise of someone knocking on the door woke him from his nap. He looked around for a moment then found where the noise was. "Billie! Phone!"
Billie pushed himself off the bed where he'd been curled up to Willa and went to the door, stretching his arms and cracking his back as he went. He pulled the door open.
"What?"
Tre grimaced at him. "Sorry man. There's a call for you."
"Who is it?" He asked knowing that anyone important would call his cell phone.
"Do you know a guy named Kenneth Clope?"
Billie thought for a moment, running through his mind all the business contacts he could think of. "No?"
"Well he's on the phone and he needs to talk to you."
Billie looked back and made sure that Willa was still asleep then left the room. "Okay?" He said and walked across the room to where the hotel phone on the desk was laying off the hook.
He settled himself in a seat. "Hello?"
"Billie, Kenneth Clope. Do you remember me?"
"No?" he said, "Should I?"
"I met you in the Orlando Airport a few weeks ago. You were waiting for your girlfriend and I was waiting for my wife."
After a moment the guy's face appeared in his head. "Oh...yeah I remember," he said, "How'd you get this number?"
"It took some doing, but I got the number through your management company."
"What can I do for you?" Billie asked.
"Well actually it's what I can do for you. A friend of mine is a lawyer in New York and came down to visit me the other day. You remember how I told you that my daughter has a picture of you and your group on her wall?"
"Vaguely," he said.
"Well my lawyer friend, Rudgar O'Mear, saw the picture of you and started telling me about how he had someone come into his office a few weeks ago and try to set up some papers that would prove a pregnancy. They asked about you."
"What?"
"I know it's a big coincidence that I'd met you in the airport, and I'm sure my friend will lose his license for me telling you this, but they are planning something and I thought you should know. My daughter was in tears over it when Rudgar told us the story so I thought I'd better track you down. It's taken me a while to finally get through."
"Thanks Kenneth."
"Look. I know that you're a busy guy, my daughter was telling me that you're up in New York for a week of press stuff, but I'm flying up to New York tomorrow on business and I thought we could meet up. Rudgar ended up not taking the case for those people, but he spent an afternoon with them and has paperwork that I think you should see."
"Thanks," Billie said. He thought for a moment. "I don't know how much this means to me. I mean this whole thing has been in the news."
"I saw. Trust my daughter to get me involved in something like this. She clued me in, basically told me everything about you, and although I can't do anything really myself, I'm no lawyer, I thought you should know."
Billie smiled. Never again would he say another bad thing about a fan. If this little girl could save his relationship with Willa she'd have free tickets for a lifetime to any concert she wanted to see. "Is your daughter in school this week?"
"Yeah."
"Is she there right now?"
"Yes," he said, "Why?"
"If you say its okay I can get her passes for a press conference we're having on Friday. You can come by, deliver the papers and have lunch with us. I'm sure your daughter would love it. If your friend is in town I'd love to meet with him."
"I'm sure I could set something up like that," Kenneth said.
"Well then I'll see you on Friday? You know where we're staying so why don't we meet around nine in the morning?"
"Sounds good to me."
"I'll see you then," Billie said.
After hanging up the phone Billie slapped the table and everyone looked at him.
"What the hell is going on?" Tre asked.
"Have you seen Kelly?"
"I think she went to take a nap," He said.
"Which room is she in?" he asked.
"Next door, two down on the right."
"Great."
"What's going on?" Willa asked coming out of the bedroom with a sleepy look in her eyes.
"I'm going to kick some ass, that's what's going on!" Willa appeared in the doorway.
"Huh?" She said.
Billie went to her side, hugged her in a huge hug and whispered into the side of her head as he hugged her, "I told you that I was going to fix this and I'm going to keep that promise to you."
*****
Friday came too soon for Willa. After a few days of running around in circles, trying to keep track of her schedule and Billie's she was dead tired. It was bad enough when they were in different cities, but trying to coordinate seeing each other when they were in the same city and working was a whole new and backbreaking ordeal. She couldn't remember when she'd made more calls on her cell phone than during that week.
When she pushed her way into the bathroom that morning after waking up, alone, she found Billie standing, just out of the shower, brushing his teeth. She smiled at the way they'd become so domestic with each other. Every morning that week they'd woken up, showered (sometimes together-sometimes not depending on how much time they had), and had shared the bathroom as they were getting ready for the day.
She didn't know at first how much that little time with him each morning would become precious to her, but by lunchtime she was thinking back on those moments. Those boring little moments together, with him brushing his teeth and getting dressed hoping that they would have more calm moments like that together.
It had been a long week. With the worry over the whole court mess, her schedule of three print shoots and an interview with a new designer, and Billie's busy schedule of press events, it seemed as if they barely saw each other during the day. From the time they woke up in the morning until the time they went to sleep at night there seemed to be something scheduled. It wasn't at all the perfect schedule for either of them, but at least they weren't talking to each other over the phone. They had those few minutes before they went to sleep at night and those early morning moments before the alarm went off, that seemed to keep them going.
"Hey," Billie said with a mouthful of toothpaste as he brushed his teeth, "What are you doing today?"
"This morning I have to go to see Elena, get my schedule and stuff, then I have to meet with a new photographer." She moved to the counter next to him and as she passed she placed a kiss on his bare neck where it met with his shoulder. Settling herself on the edge of the counter she picked up her brush and began to pull it through her hair.
"I'm going to meet you and that Kenneth guy for lunch."
"Good," he said and spit.
Willa had made a face at that action the first morning that he'd spit in front of her, but now she knew his drill and knew that it wasn't because he wanted to be gross.
He rinsed his mouth out then looked at her with a smile. "All better."
Taking the hint Willa leaned and kissed him quickly. "What about you?" she asked.
"I have a radio thing in about twenty minutes," he turned to the mirror and began to work on his hair. "Then I have a press thing at FAO Swartz, which I'm sure will run over. I need to do some shopping, but I'm sure they'll make us pose with those damn dolls for extra long. Then I'm going to head to lunch while the guys go to Planet Hollywood."
"I still can't believe that my boyfriend has his own Barbie doll. I better not catch you cheating on me with Barbie or Skipper." She laughed.
"It's not a damn Barbie doll. It's an ACTION FIGURE." He reached out and pinched her side teasing her.
"What'd they say about your lunch?" she asked. She turned to the mirror and began to pull her hair back into a ponytail. She'd washed it the night before and it would get washed again when the shoot started so she thought she'd only slip into the shower and get clean before she left.
"What? The guys?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"They know that it's important and me missing lunch with them isn't at all something that would piss them off. Rob knows what's going on and Kelly even offered to go with me to lunch. She made sure that the lawyer gets a ride into the city. He's going to show up and eat with us." He didn't look at her while he fixed his hair then he turned and smiled at her. "Look okay?"
Willa moved her hand to his forehead and wiped away some gel that had gotten accidentally put there and laughed a little, "You really are spoiled, you know that, don't you?"
"The only reason I'm spoiled is because I got to spend the week with you," he said.
"Yeah, like we even spent that much time together." She sighed. If she counted up the time they spent together it probably wasn't much, but at least they were there in the same room.
"That's not the point. It was the fact that I got to go through my day thinking about how many hours instead of how many days it would be until I saw you that got me through."
She turned her head and looked at him. She smiled, "You know what?"
"Hmmm," he said as he leaned and moved her robe away from her neck and placed a kiss on the skin that was now bare.
"You really are the mushiest guy I know."
"Mushiest?" he asked with a smile, "Is that even a word?"
"Of course it is," she said with a nod. She leaned her head a little towards him as he kissed her cheek.
"Just making sure," he said. He pulled away from her.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"Unless you want me to go out in public in this towel, I think I should get dressed," he said, "If we were back home I'm sure I'd stay in this all day, but it's kind of cold out there."
"Oh...yeah," she said.
"And young lady, you should put something on too if you don't want to get assaulted on the streets," he said. He smacked at her bottom playfully and left her in the bathroom.
Willa finished doing her hair, pulling it out of the way then jumped in the shower and quickly washed off. She returned to her robe again and made her way out to their room. Billie was already dressed and was collecting up his things to leave. She found him digging through the rumpled covers on the bed.
"Have you seen my watch?" he asked.
"It's on the nightstand," she said. He looked up and immediately retrieved it.
"So I'll meet you back here at eleven then?" she asked.
"Yep, Kenneth and his daughter are going to meet us at twelve thirty downstairs for lunch and the lawyer should be checked in and waiting for us here."
"Okay. Call me if you change your plans." She knew he would probably call anyway since he had every other day, but she wanted to remind him to talk to her while she was out and about.
"Have fun with Elena today. Tell her that I wish I could come to visit, but duty calls."
"Duty, yeah right."
"It's hard being me."
"Yeah right." She let out a laugh.
"Just tell her I said hi then," he said.
"Will do," she said and leaned towards him. It was that type of kiss that seemed comfortable and expected, as if their day couldn't continue unless they kissed each other good-bye. Willa loved that about him. He was very traditional and very non-traditional at the same time and although she was an independent woman, kissing her "hubby" on his way out the door to work always seemed to leave her in a good mood for the rest of the day.
"I'll see yah."
"Stay calm," he said then opened the door. "I love you Fred."
"I love you too," she said and watched him disappear.
Willa looked up from where she was leaned over searching for her shoe. She sat back up, a triumphant smile on her face as she watched him adjust his backpack on his back. "Almost."
Billie looked at the doorway and swung the other strap over his arm. "The guys are going to be here in a second."
"I know," she said and shoved her shoe back onto her foot and ground her foot around in for a moment before looking up at him to nod to him that she was all set.
"So that plan is for you to go and get your stuff and bring it back here while we're at TRL and taping those commercials for Live 8."
She nodded and avoiding making eye contact with him.
"Fred?"
Willa stopped and looked at him. She was scared. For the first time she was scared and she didn't know what to do. In the past she'd been able to put up a good enough front so that people would think that she was okay, but this time she wasn't so sure that she could pull off that routine. It was hard enough trying to convince Billie that she was okay, how was she going to trick the rest of the world? Thank God he'd understood when she'd declined to join him for the tapings and things earlier when he'd asked.
Billie's voice was soft in the quiet room as he looked over his shoulder at her.
"It's going to be okay."
Willa ran her hands through her hair and straightened her shirt a little. Her nap had taken its toll on the wrinkle-free clothes and on her moody. She felt groggy.
"I know."
Billie held out a hand out to her and pulled her into a hug. He kissed her forehead. "Good."
There was a knock on the door and Tre's voice came through to them. "Time to go."
"We're coming!" Billie called.
"Come on man...get off her and let's get going."
Willa stopped him as he tried to pull away. "Wait."
"What?" he asked looking at her when she didn't explain why she'd stopped him.
Bringing her hands to his cheeks, Willa pulled him in for a kiss.
"I love you," she said. She hated the desperate tone that came out with her words, but it couldn't be helped. She was desperate. Desperate to hold onto a profession that she loved and the only man who seemed to understand and accept every part of her.
"I love you too," he said. He kissed her; one more quick kiss then looked at the door. "We should go."
"I know," she said. She took his hand and the two of them exited the bedroom and joined the others in the living room.
Wes pulled the door open and the group exited the room and walked down towards the elevator. To Willa it seemed like they were an Army marching to war, except on the lobby level she'd be going off to collect her things and Billie would be the one to go into battle considering that he was going to be interviewed that afternoon.
"How've you been Willa?" Tre asked in a fairly soft voice as they walked, "I haven't talked to you in forever.
"Yeah, it was just last week," Willa said trying to force herself to be normal. She smiled crazily at him trying her hardest to be the person he'd met a few months ago who'd taken on Billie in a yelling match and who'd fought just for the sake of fighting.
"Oh...wait...that was you?"
"Yep," she said, "You were probably drunk off your ass, but I remember it."
"Was I good?" he asked with an evil grin.
"Hey!" Billie protested. They piled into the elevator, the bodyguards shielding the other passengers from where the doors would open once they reached the lobby.
There was an odd tension that hung in the air when they split into their separate groups in the lobby. She'd stood next to Billie in the elevator, cherishing those last moments before they were to be separated by leaning against his shoulder. Tre, Loni, Billie and Wes would be heading to TRL and Willa and Spanky would make the short trip to her apartment. To Willa the division of the group seemed like it would bring miles between them instead of a few city blocks.
"I love you Fred," Billie said as he let go of her hand. He leaned to kiss her, but was stopped by Tre.
When they both turned and looked at him, he leaned towards them, he smiled and said, in an overly dramatic voice while wiping a fake tear from his eyes, "I love you too Willa."
Willa leaned and kissed Billie then leaned and kissed Tre's cheek. "Have fun boys."
Tre's fake announcement of his love to her caused a smile, but she was still worried as she watched them climb into the limo with the others. Billie stopped as he climbed in and gave her a wink then disappeared into the car.
"You ready hon?" Spanky said breaking into her thoughts. She looked over at him, finding him holding the door of a taxi open for her.
"Yeah," she said and climbed into the car, scooting over so that Spanky could share the back seat with her. She'd grown accustom to dealing with Spanky around. At first it had been a battle, but now that they'd become a little team she couldn't imagine doing anything without him.
*****
Twenty minutes later, Willa took a breath and threw her keys onto the counter after pushing the door open. She let her hand linger on the doorknob and waited until she felt the weight of the door being taken over by Spanky's hand before she let herself fully step into the room. This time she was glad to see that everything was in the same place as she'd left it. She'd worried all morning about coming home to another mess since she'd been gone all day. The whole break-in thing had caused her to be a little overcautious now when it came to locking the doors and making sure that everything was secure before she left.
"Hey Spanky?"
"Yes hon?" He asked with a smile following her into the room. He closed the door and gravitated towards the living room as she moved towards her room. He'd slept on the couch the night before, but you would have never known it from the way the room looked. The only remains of his sleepover were the folded blankets on the end of the couch and the pillow that was thrown over it.
Knowing that she didn't have that much time, Willa headed for her room, but called over her shoulder, "Turn on TRL while I pack up my stuff."
"You can't be away from that guy for even a minute can you?" Spanky's laugh filled the silent room.
"I can," she said, "I just want to see who is on the countdown today."
"Yeah right!" he mumbled, but Willa heard him.
"I heard that! Just turn it on," she said with a sigh. "I just want to see what the bastard is saying about me when I'm not around."
"That sounds more like the Willa I know and love," he said with a laugh and a few moments later Willa could hear the television broadcast throughout the apartment.
They went through the normal chatting and joking then the videos were announced for the day. Willa could picture it all as she folded her clothes and stuffed them into the rolling suitcase that she'd just unpacked a few days before after returning.
"Up next, a new bit of news on our guys Green Day," Carson said as they went to the commercial break just after the number four song. Willa saw the guys making faces into the camera as they pulled away to commercial.
Thinking that it had to do with the movie deal, Willa didn't think twice about it and kept packing. She already had three casual outfits packed and was trying to get a fourth one into the tiny suitcase without completely wrinkling it, which at the time seemed way more important than to watch the television screen. She figured that maybe that MTV was going to break the news to the public about the press conference that had been scheduled for the end of the week.
"Willa!"
"What?" She yelled.
Spanky's voice boomed through the room. "You might want to get in here!"
When Spanky yelled for her that she dropped what she was doing and rushed to the television set. He'd never sounded so concerned and she knew it must be something important.
"What?" She asked.
"They just showed a clip of that guy Brennan. I don't know what's going on, but I don't think this is going to be good." He looked at her for a moment then reached out a hand and pulled her so that she was sitting next to him on the couch.
Willa's eyes were glued to the television set as Bryan McFaden delivered the news of the day. Tiny pictures of her, Billie, Brennan, and Amy were behind him on the green screen shot that served as his background.
"In recent weeks the guys of Green Day have been very busy. After having record sales of 2.4 million in the first week with their US album No American Idiot, and rumors flying around about their adventures into the world of movies, you'd think that they would have gotten enough of the spotlight. Well it seems as if the successes and downfalls of their personal lives are now bringing them into our living rooms. This morning a press release from Willa Marviani's ex-boy-toy, model Brennan, showed up on MTV's doorstep. The release accuses Willa's current boyfriend, Billie Joe Armstrong, of Green Day fame, of not only starting a fight at an Orlando New Years party, but also accuses the Punk Rocker of keeping Brennan's unborn child from him."
"No!" She didn't ever think that she would ever find herself truly screaming at the television, but a moment later a yell came out of her mouth that would have broken glass if it had been at a higher pitch.
As Spanky reached over and tried to calm her down, Willa searched wildly for her phone and immediately dialed Billie's number.
[ MTV Studios ]
At the sound of the news report all the guys groaned out loud as if they all could tell that it was a scam and that it wasn't anything to get upset about. Just another rumor to dispel. It was getting kind of old. Billie took a deep breath and shoved his hands into his pockets. At first he wasn't sure if he'd heard Bryan correctly. Willa had told him about the report, but the true details of the entire thing had never been revealed to him.
Grounding his teeth together in frustration he prayed that he'd keep his cool. He was pissed off beyond belief that they would read the statement in front of him without asking him about it before hand. It was one thing to hear that the thing had been released, but for MTV to go on air without clearing or even warning Billie of the news was unthinkable.
"Wow," Carson said when Bryan had finished his report. He looked over at the guys, as if to see what their reaction to the news was before he gave an opinion on the situation. He caught eye contact with Billie then looked away quickly.
"You've got quite the little scandal going on there don't you?"
The anger of the moment welled up in his chest and if Billie would have guessed he would have thought he was having a heart attack. Breathing hard, he took a step back and whispered into Mike's ear, "Get me the fuck out of here before I slam my hand in that guy's mouth. I know they didn't clear this with Kelly or Chris or Rob. What the hell are they thinking?"
"Calm down," Mike muttered and put a hand in front of Billie, shoving him back into position.
This wasn't the time or the place to settle this matter. Billie knew enough about dealing with the press that he knew he had to take whatever comments came his way. He wasn't at all going to let this slide off his back, but he was going to act civil until the camera's went off, then he was going to have a few choice words not only with Bryan himself, but with the producer that let him read that statement on the air.
"What are you doing Mike?" Carson asked with a joking tone as Billie fought against his arm. "Is this guy getting too much publicity lately?"
"Uh, yeah, I just don't want him to get a big ego," Mike said, "They've already started to call him Hollywood. We have to keep him grounded."
As if on cue Tre jumped into action and distracted everyone by hamming it up in front of the camera. "Look at me...I'm a monkey!"
"Okay Davy Jones," Mike said with a laugh.
"Not that kind of monkey," He said, "A Monkee...here we come, walking down the street!" He kicked his leg out like a miniature Rockettes routine and the crowd cheered.
"Whatever Nutcase!" Mike said and pushed him out of the way trying to get in front of the camera.
"Okay, well let's give this some time to sink in, here is the number three song of the day, from Kelly Clarkson..."
Billie let the voices around him fade away as his anger focused on Bryan. The guy's back was to him and he planned quickly a way that he could easily jump him from behind.
"Don't you even think about it," Mike said in a low voice as the screams of the crowd went up as the video played on the screen behind them. With his face only inches from Billie, and their chests bumped up against each other he grabbed Billie's balled up fist and pulled his fingers from their clenched position.
"Don't you even think about punching that guy. I know how you feel, really I do, but you are not going to attack an MTV VJ."
Billie smiled, "I'm fine. I'm just going to give that guy a piece of my mind."
He stepped forward, but Mike pushed him back. "I think right now you're going to give him more than that."
"And like he doesn't deserve it?" Billie asked finally making eye contact with him.
"Of course the guys deserves it, but..." Mike gave him a serious, but sympathetic look. "Not now, and definitely not in front of the fans."
"Hey, what's up guys?" Carson asked coming over to them. He moved his way into the huddle almost knowing that the conversation was a private one that the fans a few feet away might be able to hear.
"Make sure that fucker Bryan sticks around. I've got a few words for that asshole," Billie said loudly. "I'll be in the green room."
As he pushed through the small studio crowd Wes fell into step with him. He didn't know if Wes knew how upset he was about the whole thing, but when he saw a production assistant try to step towards him probably to stop him from leaving the set, Wes instantly held the person.
"I think Billie needs a little space right now."
To Wes that was just about as bad as telling someone to fuck off. H knew that early on Wes had learned how to persuade someone to step back rather than pushing them out of the way.
Once in the quiet of the green room Billie turned on his phone and immediately checked his voice mail. He knew that Willa would leave him a message. It was inevitable that she would have seen or at least heard about the announcement. It had only happened a moment before, but if he knew her, either she'd seen it herself or Elena had already been on the phone with her.
"Billie, it's me. I'm on my way over to the hotel in a minute. Give me a call on my cell."
"Shit," He breathed out. When Wes entered the green room Billie looked up at him.
"Willa left you a message?"
"Yeah, she and Spanky are heading back to the hotel."
"You want to ditch?"
"I'm suddenly feeling like I'm getting a cold," Billie said with sarcasm. He coughed loudly then walked out into the hallway, Wes at his feet.
"I'll call the car and get us a ride."
"Call a cab instead," He said, "The car will never make it back to get them if I take it. I may be ditching those guys, but there's no way I'm going to leave them high and dry without a ride."
"If you say so."
"So down to the service entrance?"
"But of course," Wes said. He quickly dialed the number of the taxi service that they used when in the city. He ordered a car to meet them at the back entrance.
In the meantime Billie pulled out his two-way pager and paged all the guys telling them that he was going back to the hotel to talk to Willa. He then two way paged Kelly and Rob and explained that he wasn't feeling well and needed the afternoon off if he was going to last out the rest of the week. He knew that he would hear about ditching the press, but he didn't car. He needed out of there and he needed out of there now.
*****
Willa stepped into the quiet hotel bedroom and shut the door. Spanky had told her that he'd watch TV or something until Billie arrived so as she slid into the room alone she pulled out a set of sweatpants and a T-shirt, her pajamas for the night and slid into them. Her shoulders and neck ached from the tension from the situation and while all she could think of doing was to go and get into bed, she knew that she should wait for Billie. So after crawling into her pajamas she grabbed a pillow off the bed and pushed the door open of the bedroom and went to find a seat next to Spanky on the couch.
"You okay?" he asked.
"I'm a little stressed out. I feel all sore, like I ran a marathon or something."
"Really?"
"Yeah," she said and rubbed her neck as she curled her feet under her and placed her pillow in her lap.
"I know this will sound strange coming from me, but why don't you go take a bath or something? I'm sure you could use the relaxation. I'll leave when Billie gets here."
"As good as that sounds I think I'll wait for him to get here before I do anything...and you don't have to leave." Tears welled up in her eyes. "What would I do without you?"
"Probably kill someone."
"No, seriously," Willa pushed her hair out of her face "I am being serious."
"It's all good."
"Don't say it's just your job. You know that it's more than that."
"Really Willa, it's not that big of a deal."
"Yes it is," she said, "Are you going to go home tonight?"
"Wes mentioned to me earlier that I should sleep on the couch in his room tonight. I know you're going to be with the guys for the next few days and you don't need the extra protection, but I think I'll stick around."
"Thank you Spanky," she said and a yawn escaped her mouth.
"Dang girl. It's only about two in the afternoon."
"I know, I know," she yawned again. "I just need a little nap."
"Well go on and get to sleep then. Billie will probably kill you if you don't relax a little. I'm certain he'll kill me if you don't chill out."
She laughed and covered her mouth with the onslaught of another yawn. "Sorry."
"Don't worry about it. Just go get some rest. I'm sure that when he gets here you're going to have some talking to do. That'll take a lot out of you."
Willa nodded and pushed herself out of the chair. "If I ever forget to thank you Spanky, just remember, I love you for taking care of me."
"No troubles," he said giving her a reassuring smile.
"Tell Billie to wake me up when he gets here."
"Sure thing," he said.
Willa leaned and kissed his cheek then made her way over to the bedroom door. She stopped and turned in the doorway, "I'll see yah Spanky. Thank you."
*****
Billie was on his way out of the studio when Kelly caught sight of him. He was feeling pretty good since Wes had kept everyone from asking where he was going, but at the sight of her watching him he got a little nervous. He tried to avoid making eye contact with her, thinking that maybe he could just slip out without a confrontation with her, but it was too late. She had her radar locked onto him and she pulled him in before he could side step her and escape to the stairway or the elevator.
She quickly cornered him in the hallway, She pushed him so that his back was against the wall and she grabbed a hold of his arm to lock him into position.
When Wes started to approach to help him out, she threw a glare at him and he backed away.
"You aren't scared of her are you?" Billie asked with a laugh.
Crossing his arms across his chest, Wes shook his head, but didn't move from his position. "They don't call her the Bulldog for nothing."
"Where are you two going?" Kelly asked.
"To the hotel," Billie stared at her hand on his arm then looked her in the eyes then looked back at her hand.
"Oh really?"
Billie smiled. "Yes really."
"And why would that bed?"
When she didn't get the hint and move it he carefully pulled her fingers from their clamped position on his arm and dropped her hand dramatically from his arm. If he'd been in a better mood he would find all of this babysitting act funny, but at the moment he only wanted to get to the hotel and to get to Willa.
"Willa's waiting for me."
"I'm sure she can wait," Kelly said. She took a deep breath. "I'm only going to ask this once and I want a straight answer from you. You just walked out on a nationally televised appearance and I'm sure your reason is justified, but you have to tell me what's going on Billie. This isn't just you showing up late or leaving early...you walked out on an interview and you know that something like that can do a lot of damage if you do it to the wrong person. Do you know what kind of press this is going to get you?"
"You tell me," he said with a sigh. He angrily pointed back at the studio and raised his voice. "What the hell was that back there? How could you let them make that announcement without telling me first? Bryan Mc-FUCKING-Faden just got on national television and told the world that my girlfriend is a whore and that...and that I'm..." He took a deep breath, "That I'm an abusive son of a bitch!"
"It's MTV Billie...they can say what they want and we can't do anything about it. We're their guests, you know? They invited us? Remember? It's called Freedom of Speech."
"I just can't believe that they didn't you know...FUCKING MENTION THAT THEY WERE GOING TO...TO...FUCK ME OVER LIKE THAT WHEN I WAS IN THE FUCKING ROOM!"
A few people turned their heads and Billie threw them the finger without thinking twice about it. This was war and he wasn't going to take it sitting down.
"Calm down Billie, you're making a scene."
"Calm down." He looked down the hall then back at Kelly, "I'LL SHOW YOU CALM. I'LL BE DEAD CALM WHEN I MARCH BACK IN THERE AND SLAM MCFADEN IN THE FACE! NOW, ARE YOU GOING TO LET ME OF THIS FUCKING BUILDING OR AM I GOING TO MOVE YOUR FUCKING ASS OUT OF MY WAY?"
"Billie!" Wes said in a loud voice. He stepped forward and pushed him up against the wall. "Quit it BJ or--"
Billie took a breath and looked at Kelly. He could see that she'd understood his anger, but she didn't seem to be too sympathetic at the moment, especially after he'd yelled at her for no reason. "I'm sorry, but this is--"
She gave him a nervous laugh. "I know its bad, but you can't fly off the handle like this. It's not professional and it's not you." He thought that maybe it was because he never acted like this and she wasn't sure how to handle it. He has a reputation for doing this type of action but she had never gotten herself involved.
Billie took another breath and squeezed the bridge of his nose as a headache began to form across his forehead.
"Please..." He stopped and tried to keep his voice from sounding like he was pleading with her, but it didn't work too well.
"Please just tell me that you didn't know about that before they announced it." Billie shifted his weight from one foot to the other and tapped his foot as he waited for an answer from her.
After avoiding his eyes for a moment Kelly shifted her backpack into a different position on her back then looked at him only for a moment. "I heard..." Her voice came out as a mumble and she didn't seem like she wanted to reveal the news to him, "...I heard a rumor about it being released."
"What the hell? And you didn't tell me?" he whined.
"I didn't think it needed to be addressed. Besides, I thought I'd have more time to try to figure out how I was going to explain it to you."
"Explain what to me?" His eyes widened in anticipation of her news.
Kelly reached and dug into her backpack for a moment, pushing a few things around before she withdrew two heavy manila envelopes from the bag. "The papers arrived this morning. They wanted to serve you and Willa with a summons to court, but I knew that you didn't need that this morning. They came to the compound at four and I signed for the papers and told them that I would make sure that they knew I would deliver them."
"A summons?" Billie said. He stared at the envelope. Not again. Hadn't he done his court time for his life? Didn't that somehow make him exempt from ever going to court again?
"Yes," she explained.
Billie frowned and looked around. "He's really suing me?"
"He claims that you punched him and that Willa is keeping his kid from him."
He grabbed the envelope from Kelly's hand and ripped the one open that his name on it. He flipped a page to where the claims were listed. "That's totally not true! I may have wanted to ring the guy's neck, but I swear that I never touched him. And Willa isn't pregnant or if she is she never has told me that."
"I know that. You know that, but for some reason someone out there seems to think that the idea needs to be proven in court."
"When's the court date?" He flipped the pages of the stapled packet and found that they were to be in court by the end of the month.
Kelly handed him the other envelope. "Give this to Willa for me."
"Sure." Billie folded up his copy of the summons and shoved it back into its envelope. He stood for a moment stared at the papers in his hand. He couldn't believe it. The guy was truly nuts. Saying things and slandering people was one thing, but pulling them into court was a whole other story.
He glanced at Kelly then shoved the papers inside his backpack. "Can I go now?"
"Make sure you call the lawyer today," She said.
"I will," he mumbled.
"I mean it Billie. I put a call into him, but I'm sure he'll be wanting to discuss this with you. You'll have to give a deposition to him."
Billie looked down the hallway and found some people still watching him. His foot tapped nervously on the ground. "I know."
"Billie!" Melinda said and waved in front of his face.
"I KNOW." he stated firmly. He looked over at Wes, "Are we out of here?"
Wes nodded and they continued on their way down the hall. Billie let his mind wander and he tried to go over that night in his mind. He'd been drinking that night, having a good time, but not drunk off his ass, and he'd been out of control when Brennan had insulted Willa, but he never would have hit him. He never would have even thought to do that. He'd pushed into him a little, but wasn't that what any person would have done in his position? He needed the intimidation factor that came along with the action of pushing him.
*****
Willa turned her head to the side and looked out from where her cheek had sunken into the pillow. She had almost gotten fully asleep when she heard her cell phone ring. She was at the point in her sleep pattern where she felt like her body weighed about three times her real weight which made it hard for her to move to even look for the phone, let alone actually go and get it.
Swearing at her carelessness of leaving it across the room she threw the covers off the bed and grabbed for her bag where she'd left her phone. She wanted to catch the call before it clicked over to voicemail thinking that it might be Billie calling to check up on her. She needed to hear his voice if she was going to get through the day. He might have said that he was coming back to the hotel, but knowing his hectic schedule he might have gotten caught up.
"Hello?" she said into the phone.
There was no answer for a moment. The sound of silence scared her a little so she took a breath and tried to calm her nerves by walking over to the window. She looked down at the street below and concentrated on watching people getting in and out of taxis for a moment to try to get her mind off her troubles. Usually, at home, it worked, but today it just reminded her of how long the silence on the phone had been there.
"Hello?" she asked again.
Finally, just before she thought she might hang up there was a low laugh then she heard the voice, "Having fun with him Willa?"
"Who is this?"
"Like you don't know?"
Willa thought for a moment. She took a guess at who it was and of course he had perfect timing. "Brennan?"
There was another laugh. "Good guess honey. I guess you haven't forgotten me."
A shiver ran through her as his slimy voice can through the line.
"Brennan what the hell are you doing calling me?"
"I thought you might need a friend right about now," he said, "You know, with all the drama that Billie has brought to your life."
"A friend?" she asked in astonishment, "A friend? What the hell are you smoking you prick? This is all your fault!"
"Down girl, down," he said with a laugh. "You wouldn't want to hurt the baby."
"BABY?" she said angrily. "You know that you'll be in trouble when they found out that you filed false accusations against me. You seem to forget that I have one thing on my side Brennan. A good legal team, one that will go the distance for me...unlike you."
"Whatever," Brennan said.
"Why do you even think that I'd be having a kid in the first place?"
"Because I know how you like it. I may have lost you, but I remember how it was. I'm sure you can't leave your hands off Billie. It makes me sick to think that you're doing it, but your libido is too out of control to keep yourself too pure for too long."
"FUCK YOU!"
The door of the room flew all the way open and the door made a banging noise as it hit against the wall. "What the hell is going on?"
"It's Brennan," Willa said to Spanky as he watched her with a worried look.
"Give me the phone," Spanky said angrily.
"He can't save you Willa," Brennan said into her ear through the phone. "I may not be able to rough you up in the way that Billie roughed me up--"
Willa wanted to spit in his face. She would have smacked him across the face if he'd been there in front of her. "Billie never touched you! He might have wanted to beat the shit out of you, but unlike you Brennan; He actually has some class. He's not a thug and would never start a fight in a club."
His laugh filled the phone line. "That's not what the doctor said when I showed him my black eye."
"BLACK EYE?" For an instant she felt lightheaded so she moved to sit down. "BLACK EYE, MY ASS!"
Spanky moved towards her, stepping across the room to her in what seemed like only two steps. "Give me the phone Willa," he demanded. He held his hand out and moved his fingers trying to encourage her to hand over the cell.
"There's one thing that I know about you that Billie probably doesn't even know..." Brennan's voice came out sounding sinister. She groaned at the sound of it. This was all too Hollywood for her. The whole think stunk like a bad movie plot.
"What's that?" she asked. She was curious about how he suddenly considered himself an expert on her considering that a few weeks ago she was sure that he wouldn't have been able to even tell someone her full name.
"I know your weaknesses and I know your faults and I know how to get under your skin. Billie may be the bruiser in the family, but words can cut deeper than any physical punch I could throw at you. Don't forget...it was me who you cried to when you had that...well lets say that eating problem a few months ago...and it was me who took you to Haven House."
"GIVE ME THE PHONE!" Spanky pulled the phone from her hand and put it to his ear. "Get this straight Brennan," Spanky spoke slowly. "I know you may think that its fun to torment Willa, but I swear you'd better stay on the other side of the street if we ever see you because I swear I'll kill--no wait...that'd be too easy. I swear that I'll make your life a living hell if you get near her."
Willa sat down on the bed, wrapping her arms around her as she watched Spanky pacing back and forth. She was scared to death and there wasn't a thing she could do about it. It was true. Brennan knew her faults and she had no way of stopping him from going to the press about it.
"FUCK YOU BRENNAN!" Spanky shouted. The voice made her jump a little. Thank God he was on her side, because if she ever had to go up against hi she knew that she'd lose.
As he passed her Spanky made eye contact with her for an instant then slowly let his hand, the free hand, came to rest on her shoulder and he massaged her shoulder a little as he listened.
"Want to bet?" Spanky growled into the phone. "Want to know what it's like to pee blood, because if you even think of getting near her I'll beat you senseless."
Willa winced at the sound of truth that she heard in his voice. She didn't want this. She didn't want any of this. All she wanted...all she'd ever wanted was to be with Billie and to be happy.
"Hello?" Spanky suddenly said, "Hello?"
A moment later he clicked off the phone. "Damn."
"What?" she asked.
Spanky stared at the phone for a minute then hit the end button and handed her the phone. "He hung up."
"What am I going to do Spanky?" she asked.
"You're going to stay calm and keep your wits about you."
Spanky angrily stalked out of the room. "I have to make some calls."
Willa watched him leave the room and felt a chill run through her. This was serious. If Spanky was getting involved in her phone calls she knew that her battle was just beginning and from Brennan's attitude on the phone the battle wasn't going to be a pretty one.
*****
Billie pushed the door open to the suite without knocking. It wasn't his normal MO, but after this morning's announcement, then seeing Spanky standing in the hallway yelling into his phone, it seemed acceptable that all the manners he learned when he was little could be thrown out the window. Something was wrong and he was about to find out what happened.
When he made it to their bedroom he stopped short and found Willa laying in bed, curled up to a pillow half asleep. He quickly shut the door and locked it behind him. For a moment that day he needed to lock out the rest of the world and concentrate on the two of them.
"Billie?"
"Hey Fred," he said in a soft voice. He sighed a sigh of relief finding that she was okay. She looked a bit stressed, but looked no worse than she had that morning.
For a minute out in a hallway, when he'd heard Spanky yelling, he'd thought something had gone seriously wrong, but it looked fairly normal from where he stood in the doorway. Her bags were next to his on the other bed in the room and she was there. Nothing could be that wrong if she was still there waiting for him.
She sleepily raised her head and blinked at him a few times trying to keep her eyes open.
She looked around, dazed a little bit then asked, "What time is it?"
He kicked off his shoes and scrambled across the bed and curled up to her. He spooned up against her, moving her hair from her neck and placed a kiss near her ear. "It's still really early...go back to sleep. I got your message and I came over."
"Brennan called," she said sleepily and turned so that she could curl up against him. She found a spot against his chest, pressed her cheek tightly to him and hugged him before she moved to place a kiss on his chin.
Billie's mouth dropped open as he processed the information. "What?"
"Don't stress out," She said, "Spanky yelled at him already. He basically said what he said on the TV report, just had to deliver the message in person."
"Fred, why did you even talk to him?" He didn't mean to sound that way, but he was very disappointed in her. He'd thought he'd done enough to keep her away from Brennan and when he'd been gone Brennan had managed to get to her.
"I don't know." She sighed and squeezed him, "I should have just hung up on him. I just--"
"Well it doesn't matter now," He said stopping her. He was even more stressed than he'd been on the way over to see her and he needed to stop an argument before he started one. "Don't worry about it...everything is going to be okay."
"You keep saying that," she said looking up at him. Her voice shook with emotion, "How can you be so sure?"
"I'm not at all sure," he said and squeezed her closer to her. He moved so that she was more comfortable against him then reached with his free hand to grab up the covers. He threw the comforter over her and tucked her in around her. "I don't know at all what is going to happen"
"What about the band?" she asked. She sat up a little and rested her hand on his chest so that she could look at him comfortably. "I mean you ditched them today...are they going to be mad?"
"They'll get over it," Billie said praying that he was right about that. He moved her hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. He placed a kiss on his finger then placed it to her lips. "Whatever decisions I make that have to do with them won't affect us. They know that."
He was sure that he'd hear something about it, but he knew that the guys wouldn't get totally over excited about it. His rage in front of Kelly would probably get him in more trouble than anything and the finger he threw at the people in the hallway wouldn't go unnoticed, but for the most part he'd probably get a slap on the hand for his behavior.
"Are you sure?" she asked, "I mean its one thing for me to do things...What I do affects me, Elena, and you, but what you do effects a whole group of people that I'm not sure I want to even think about. I just hope that they aren't going to be disappointed."
"Disappointed?" he moved his head to look at her from where he had been laying, "No one is going to be disappointed."
Her sigh was heavy before she spoke, "I just hope that all this trouble is worth it."
"It is," he said and squeezed her against him. "I started this whole press thing and I intend to not let it get to us. It was stupid for me to even start things off between us like that. I should have known how much of a pain in the ass it was going to be."
"You know," she said, "If it ever gets to be too much, I mean I'll understand if you and I--"
"Oh no!" Billie sat up. "Oh hell no girl. You're not backing out on me now...I'm not letting that happen."
"But Billie, all that's gone on since we started seeing each other has been drama. Are you sure you want to keep this up?"
"Fred, I'm not giving up," he said, "I've worked too hard on this. First I had to convince you to love me and I'm not going to let that work go to waste."
"It wasn't that much work," she said with a smile.
"Maybe not to you, but to me it was," he said.
"I'm sorry for making you working so hard. I loved you all along," she said softly.
"Sure you did," he said with a laugh, "I'm sure that you slapped me that one time just for fun then?"
"No," she said, "No that day I really hated you."
"Well I'm glad you changed your mind after that day."
"I am too," she said, "I just want to keep this going well. No regrets."
"No regrets," he squeezed her. "No regrets ever."
"Eva, eva?" she said with a cute kiddy voice.
"Never."
*****
The pounding noise of someone knocking on the door woke him from his nap. He looked around for a moment then found where the noise was. "Billie! Phone!"
Billie pushed himself off the bed where he'd been curled up to Willa and went to the door, stretching his arms and cracking his back as he went. He pulled the door open.
"What?"
Tre grimaced at him. "Sorry man. There's a call for you."
"Who is it?" He asked knowing that anyone important would call his cell phone.
"Do you know a guy named Kenneth Clope?"
Billie thought for a moment, running through his mind all the business contacts he could think of. "No?"
"Well he's on the phone and he needs to talk to you."
Billie looked back and made sure that Willa was still asleep then left the room. "Okay?" He said and walked across the room to where the hotel phone on the desk was laying off the hook.
He settled himself in a seat. "Hello?"
"Billie, Kenneth Clope. Do you remember me?"
"No?" he said, "Should I?"
"I met you in the Orlando Airport a few weeks ago. You were waiting for your girlfriend and I was waiting for my wife."
After a moment the guy's face appeared in his head. "Oh...yeah I remember," he said, "How'd you get this number?"
"It took some doing, but I got the number through your management company."
"What can I do for you?" Billie asked.
"Well actually it's what I can do for you. A friend of mine is a lawyer in New York and came down to visit me the other day. You remember how I told you that my daughter has a picture of you and your group on her wall?"
"Vaguely," he said.
"Well my lawyer friend, Rudgar O'Mear, saw the picture of you and started telling me about how he had someone come into his office a few weeks ago and try to set up some papers that would prove a pregnancy. They asked about you."
"What?"
"I know it's a big coincidence that I'd met you in the airport, and I'm sure my friend will lose his license for me telling you this, but they are planning something and I thought you should know. My daughter was in tears over it when Rudgar told us the story so I thought I'd better track you down. It's taken me a while to finally get through."
"Thanks Kenneth."
"Look. I know that you're a busy guy, my daughter was telling me that you're up in New York for a week of press stuff, but I'm flying up to New York tomorrow on business and I thought we could meet up. Rudgar ended up not taking the case for those people, but he spent an afternoon with them and has paperwork that I think you should see."
"Thanks," Billie said. He thought for a moment. "I don't know how much this means to me. I mean this whole thing has been in the news."
"I saw. Trust my daughter to get me involved in something like this. She clued me in, basically told me everything about you, and although I can't do anything really myself, I'm no lawyer, I thought you should know."
Billie smiled. Never again would he say another bad thing about a fan. If this little girl could save his relationship with Willa she'd have free tickets for a lifetime to any concert she wanted to see. "Is your daughter in school this week?"
"Yeah."
"Is she there right now?"
"Yes," he said, "Why?"
"If you say its okay I can get her passes for a press conference we're having on Friday. You can come by, deliver the papers and have lunch with us. I'm sure your daughter would love it. If your friend is in town I'd love to meet with him."
"I'm sure I could set something up like that," Kenneth said.
"Well then I'll see you on Friday? You know where we're staying so why don't we meet around nine in the morning?"
"Sounds good to me."
"I'll see you then," Billie said.
After hanging up the phone Billie slapped the table and everyone looked at him.
"What the hell is going on?" Tre asked.
"Have you seen Kelly?"
"I think she went to take a nap," He said.
"Which room is she in?" he asked.
"Next door, two down on the right."
"Great."
"What's going on?" Willa asked coming out of the bedroom with a sleepy look in her eyes.
"I'm going to kick some ass, that's what's going on!" Willa appeared in the doorway.
"Huh?" She said.
Billie went to her side, hugged her in a huge hug and whispered into the side of her head as he hugged her, "I told you that I was going to fix this and I'm going to keep that promise to you."
*****
Friday came too soon for Willa. After a few days of running around in circles, trying to keep track of her schedule and Billie's she was dead tired. It was bad enough when they were in different cities, but trying to coordinate seeing each other when they were in the same city and working was a whole new and backbreaking ordeal. She couldn't remember when she'd made more calls on her cell phone than during that week.
When she pushed her way into the bathroom that morning after waking up, alone, she found Billie standing, just out of the shower, brushing his teeth. She smiled at the way they'd become so domestic with each other. Every morning that week they'd woken up, showered (sometimes together-sometimes not depending on how much time they had), and had shared the bathroom as they were getting ready for the day.
She didn't know at first how much that little time with him each morning would become precious to her, but by lunchtime she was thinking back on those moments. Those boring little moments together, with him brushing his teeth and getting dressed hoping that they would have more calm moments like that together.
It had been a long week. With the worry over the whole court mess, her schedule of three print shoots and an interview with a new designer, and Billie's busy schedule of press events, it seemed as if they barely saw each other during the day. From the time they woke up in the morning until the time they went to sleep at night there seemed to be something scheduled. It wasn't at all the perfect schedule for either of them, but at least they weren't talking to each other over the phone. They had those few minutes before they went to sleep at night and those early morning moments before the alarm went off, that seemed to keep them going.
"Hey," Billie said with a mouthful of toothpaste as he brushed his teeth, "What are you doing today?"
"This morning I have to go to see Elena, get my schedule and stuff, then I have to meet with a new photographer." She moved to the counter next to him and as she passed she placed a kiss on his bare neck where it met with his shoulder. Settling herself on the edge of the counter she picked up her brush and began to pull it through her hair.
"I'm going to meet you and that Kenneth guy for lunch."
"Good," he said and spit.
Willa had made a face at that action the first morning that he'd spit in front of her, but now she knew his drill and knew that it wasn't because he wanted to be gross.
He rinsed his mouth out then looked at her with a smile. "All better."
Taking the hint Willa leaned and kissed him quickly. "What about you?" she asked.
"I have a radio thing in about twenty minutes," he turned to the mirror and began to work on his hair. "Then I have a press thing at FAO Swartz, which I'm sure will run over. I need to do some shopping, but I'm sure they'll make us pose with those damn dolls for extra long. Then I'm going to head to lunch while the guys go to Planet Hollywood."
"I still can't believe that my boyfriend has his own Barbie doll. I better not catch you cheating on me with Barbie or Skipper." She laughed.
"It's not a damn Barbie doll. It's an ACTION FIGURE." He reached out and pinched her side teasing her.
"What'd they say about your lunch?" she asked. She turned to the mirror and began to pull her hair back into a ponytail. She'd washed it the night before and it would get washed again when the shoot started so she thought she'd only slip into the shower and get clean before she left.
"What? The guys?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"They know that it's important and me missing lunch with them isn't at all something that would piss them off. Rob knows what's going on and Kelly even offered to go with me to lunch. She made sure that the lawyer gets a ride into the city. He's going to show up and eat with us." He didn't look at her while he fixed his hair then he turned and smiled at her. "Look okay?"
Willa moved her hand to his forehead and wiped away some gel that had gotten accidentally put there and laughed a little, "You really are spoiled, you know that, don't you?"
"The only reason I'm spoiled is because I got to spend the week with you," he said.
"Yeah, like we even spent that much time together." She sighed. If she counted up the time they spent together it probably wasn't much, but at least they were there in the same room.
"That's not the point. It was the fact that I got to go through my day thinking about how many hours instead of how many days it would be until I saw you that got me through."
She turned her head and looked at him. She smiled, "You know what?"
"Hmmm," he said as he leaned and moved her robe away from her neck and placed a kiss on the skin that was now bare.
"You really are the mushiest guy I know."
"Mushiest?" he asked with a smile, "Is that even a word?"
"Of course it is," she said with a nod. She leaned her head a little towards him as he kissed her cheek.
"Just making sure," he said. He pulled away from her.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"Unless you want me to go out in public in this towel, I think I should get dressed," he said, "If we were back home I'm sure I'd stay in this all day, but it's kind of cold out there."
"Oh...yeah," she said.
"And young lady, you should put something on too if you don't want to get assaulted on the streets," he said. He smacked at her bottom playfully and left her in the bathroom.
Willa finished doing her hair, pulling it out of the way then jumped in the shower and quickly washed off. She returned to her robe again and made her way out to their room. Billie was already dressed and was collecting up his things to leave. She found him digging through the rumpled covers on the bed.
"Have you seen my watch?" he asked.
"It's on the nightstand," she said. He looked up and immediately retrieved it.
"So I'll meet you back here at eleven then?" she asked.
"Yep, Kenneth and his daughter are going to meet us at twelve thirty downstairs for lunch and the lawyer should be checked in and waiting for us here."
"Okay. Call me if you change your plans." She knew he would probably call anyway since he had every other day, but she wanted to remind him to talk to her while she was out and about.
"Have fun with Elena today. Tell her that I wish I could come to visit, but duty calls."
"Duty, yeah right."
"It's hard being me."
"Yeah right." She let out a laugh.
"Just tell her I said hi then," he said.
"Will do," she said and leaned towards him. It was that type of kiss that seemed comfortable and expected, as if their day couldn't continue unless they kissed each other good-bye. Willa loved that about him. He was very traditional and very non-traditional at the same time and although she was an independent woman, kissing her "hubby" on his way out the door to work always seemed to leave her in a good mood for the rest of the day.
"I'll see yah."
"Stay calm," he said then opened the door. "I love you Fred."
"I love you too," she said and watched him disappear.