Paper Lanterns

You woke up the next day around 1 o'clock in the afternoon. You felt two arms wrapped around your wait and you weren't sure why they were there. You opened your eyes and saw Billie Joe still asleep in your bed. Yes, it was his arms wrapped around you. All the same, you checked to make sure there wasn't a third, unaccounted for person in your bed. Billie Joe stirred a little and then opened his eyes.

"Did you have any of those dreams?" He asked right away.

You didn't really dream about anything last night. "Nope."

"That's good." Billie said. He looked at you for a minute. "What's the matter?" Your eyes shifted towards his arms which were still wrapped around your waist. He let go of you and blushed. "Oh. Sorry."

"Hey, you're blushing! Hahahaha! You started laughing. Billie Joe, still blushing, pouted. "Oh it's okay, Billie. It'll be our little secret." You winked at him and started laughing some more causing you to fall out of the bed. "Ow!!"

"Are you okay?" Billie said looking over the bed and at you on the floor.

You glared at him. "You asswhole. You shouldn't have let go of me! I hope you know this means war." You jumped up, and grabbed your pillow which you started hitting Billie Joe with. He grabbed the one he sleeping on last night and attempted to hit you back, but failed.

After five minutes of failed hits, he threw the pillow back on the bed. "Screw that." And then he started chasing you around your room and eventually throughout the entire house, which was empty since Ollie had gone to work, as usual. He had gotten you backed into a corner of the living room. "It's payback time."

"Oh really? Now explain to me how you plan on doing that." You said boldly. You weren't afraid of him considering the worst revenge he's gotten on you was when he tied you to the tree in the backyard. Last time you checked, there weren't any trees in the living room.

A smirk appeared across his face. You didn't like the looks of that smirk either. "By doing this." And as soon as he said that it happened. Billie Joe Armstrong just kissed you. Then he left you with a shocked look on your face.

Did that just happen, or am I just dreaming??, you thought. You went to find Billie. You finally found him in the kitchen and his back was to you. You snuck up behind him and pinched him.

"What the hell was that for?!" He yelped in pain. You had pinched him kinda hard.

You had the expression of an innocent child on your face. "B-b-but I was just trying to see if what happened really happened so I pinched you." You made your bottom lip quiver as if you were about to cry, but he ignored it.

Billie Joe laughed. "You're supposed to pinch yourself, stupid."

"Oh, I get it now. You kiss me then you call me stupid, eh? Gee thanksssss." You roll your eyes. "And I'm not stupid."

"I know." Billie said smiling. You raised an eyebrow. "But it's cute when you get mad." He leaned in to kiss you, but you put your hand over your mouth.

"Ah, ah, ah. Only one kiss per day, plus you injured my lip last night." You shook your finger in front of his face like a parent scolding their child would, and then pointed to your cut lip.

"Well, I could kiss it for you and make it all better." Billie smirked.

You thought about what he said before answering. "Ha. You almost had me there. The keyword being "almost". You smiled and ran back into the living room and sat down on the couch.

"Oh come on, Maria. You know you can't resist me. You want me, and you know it." Billie said sitting down next to you on the couch.

"You're so full of it, Billie." You threw the pillow on the other side of you at him, but he caught it.

"Are we playing this again, Maria? Remember how it ended last time. I won."

"You'd like that, now wouldn't you?" You said right before Mike and John walked in. "Hey guys!"

"What happened to your lip, Maria?" Mike asked, concerned.

"I fell and something hit my lip is all." You said reassuringly hoping the lie worked on Mike since they never do. "Nothing to worry about."

"What brings you guys here?" Billie asked just realizing that Mike and John were in the living room.

John was stunned. "You don't remember?? And you call yourself the frontman of the band. Puhleaseee. We have practice today remember??"

"Oh. Yeah, I kinda forgot." Billie Joe said, then he turned to me. "You gonna come?"

"Nah, I got things to do." You told them before heading upstairs. You had just sat at your desk when you heard someone knock on your door. Who could it be now?, you thought.

"Maria. It's Mike." the voice said. You got up and opened the door.

"May I help you?" You asked.

"Yes, you can. You can tell me the truth." Mike said sternly. "Why'd you lie about what happened to your lip? Did Billie hit you?" He started to get mad.

"Mike calm down. Yes he did, but I was pushing his buttons." You said quickly. "He had gotten caught and I went to talk to him and he said that I was just jealous of all those girls he's been with. I threw a reality check at him and he hit me. He came and he apologized to me and yeah. Please, Mike. Don't be mad at him."

"Fine. If you can forgive him for what he did to you, I guess I can try to not be mad at him." Mike said calming down. "But if he ever hits you again..."

"You'll be the first to know." You reassured him. "Now GO. You have practice."

"Right. Bye." And with that, Mike walked downstairs and met up with Billie Joe and John in the garage where they were practicing.

You sat back down at your desk and noticed a piece of paper with words scribbled on it. It wasn't in your handwriting, but in Billie Joe's. Hmm...to read, or not to read, that is the question, you laughed to yourself. You looked at the paper which said:

I wish I could tell you
But the words would come out wrong
Oh if you only knew
The way I felt for so long
I know that we're worlds apart
But I just don't seem to care

There wasn't a chorus or anything, just another verse after that:

I hope that when time goes by
You will think the same about me
Many nights awake I lie
I only wish that you could see
I know that we're only friends
I hope this feeling never ends
If I could only hold you
That's the only thing I want to do

You were shocked. Do my eyes decieve me, or did Billie Joe write me a song? It may be unfinished, but it was still a song. You walked out of your room in case Billie came back for the lyrics he left out in the open on your desk. You didn't want him to know you read it, 'cause you weren't sure if it were for you or 'the whore'.

You made your way into the kitchen and fixed yourself something to eat because you realized at that moment that you haven't eaten anything. It was also at that moment that you noticed a piece of paper on the counter. It was from Ollie:

Billie Joe & Maria:

I am going to be visiting with the family for the week. I won't be back until Friday evening. Please, do not host any parties while I am gone and Billie, just because I am gone doesn't mean that the girl who was here last night or any girl for that matter beside Maria can be in this house at any time. And trust me, I will find out if either one of those things happen.

Love Always,
Ollie

Okay so we have the house to ourselves for the whole week. This should be interesting, you think to yourself. You finish making your sandwich and sit down at the table. You can hear them practicing even though they're in the garage. You wonder if Billie had read the note from his mom yet. You decide to walk out to the garage since you can't really think because they're so loud. It wouldn't really make a difference. You grab the note on your way out.

You walk into the garage and they abruptly stop. "Ah, don't stop just 'cause I walk in."

"We were done anyway." Billie says putting his guitar away and then eyeing the paper in your hand. "Whatcha got there?"

"Riiight. Um, it's a note from your mom." You start to say. You're not sure of telling him with Mike and John, well John, there. "Nothing important."

"Oh okay." Billie says not really believing you.

"Hey, I got an awesome idea." John says suddenly. You all look at him, unsure as to what his idea is. Most, well all, of his ideas end up involving booze. "Let's get drunk tonight." See, told ya so.

"Count me in." Billie says jumping up from his sitting position next to his beloved guitar. He looked at you and Mike.

Mike shrugs. "Eh, why not? How about you, Maria."

"Uh...I don't know. I mean, I don't think Ollie's gonna want to come home to find her son, her friend's daughter, and their two friends drunk." You said sounding all authority-like.

"Oh come off it, Maria." John said. "We know she ain't gonna be home until Friday. Billie told us." You glared at Billie Joe, who glared at John. "What? Was it something I said?"

"Billie, can I talk to you for a minute?" You asked. He just looked at you. "NOW."

"Fine." Billie said as he followed you out of the garage. "What do you want?"

"What the hell were you thinking telling Mike and John that your mom wasn't going to be home until Friday?" You said angrily. "I'm not in the mood to get in trouble for any of the shit you guys plan on doing."

"Alls we want to do is just have a couple beers tonight and that's it." Billie said calmly which surprised you since you were basically yelling at him. "It's not like I'm going to do anything she told us, well me, not to."

You glared at him again. "I swear, Armstrong, if you do anything that'll get me in trouble too I will never forgive you."

"Okay, okay. I got it." Billie Joe said raising his arms in the air like he was being arrested. He put them back down and the two of you walked back into the garage.

"So...you in, Maria?" John asked impatiently.

"Fine." You said coldly. "But I'm warning you...all of you, I will hate you for all eternity if you do anything that'll get me in trouble. And you all know you don't want to get on my bad side. I might have to call in the family, like Uncle Mike."

Mike met "Uncle Mike" before and so has Billie. John hasn't so you didn't know if he believed you, but you sure as hell scared the crap out of him enough to make him shut up.

Later that night, John and Mike came over with the booze. Lots of it. You were shocked as to how much was there. "Do you want to get drunk or do you want to get buried 6 feet under?" You said laughing as you watched them carry all the beer in. "I can't believe I agreed to this." You mentally kicked yourself.

"Here you go" John said handing you a beer. You just looked at it.

"What's the matter?" Billie said.

"Nothing. I'm just wondering how many it took my mom to get drunk." You said sullenly. "Or her many boyfriends, as she called them."

"You know you don't have to drink any if you don't want to" Mike said reassuringly.

Opening his beer and taking a swig from it John said, "Yeah..more for us three then." Billie Joe kicked him. "Ow!!"

"That's what you get for being an ass" he glared at John.

"No. I'm fine. I'll drink it. I just won't drink too many." You said giving them a weak smile. You opened the bottle.

After a few hours and a lot more bottles later, Mike and John were out cold. Mike on the couch, John on the floor. You were a little bit coherent still but you weren't so sure about Billie.

"Maria." Billie Joe whispered ever so softly in your ear. "Maria, I love you."

You knew deep down that it was the alcohol talking, but you told him anyway. "I love you too" you whispered back.

"Come upstairs with me, but be very very quiet." Billie said taking your hand as he started to go upstairs. You weren't thinking clearly anymore because you followed him without hesitation. However, you heard signals going off in your brain screaming that this was all wrong but you ignored them. You were drunk, after all.

"Billie...." You whined as you got to the top of the stairs. He put his finger on your lips to quiet you. Strangely enough, it worked. The not drunk part of you was wondering what else was in that beer. Billie guided you to his room. He told you to wait outside for a minute. He came back out, took your hand and brought you to your room.

Once he shut the door behind you he started kissing you. It wasn't like the kiss from earlier either. It was a full-on, tongue included, kiss. "I want you" He said when he pulled away. Billie kissed you again. You weren't sure if it was a lustful kiss or a passionate kiss. Maybe it was both. "I want you so bad."

"I want you too" You said wrapping your arms around his neck as he placed his hands on your hips. He began kissing you again with such force. A few minutes later, you both pulled away and Billie took your hand and walked over to your bed. He pushed you onto it and climbed on top of you when he started kissing you and this time you knew it was lustfully. It was when Billie started unbuttoning your shirt that you came to your senses. "Billie..." you whined, not moaned, again.

He kissed you and said "It's okay, I've got protection." (Me: Well I'll leave you to your imagination to decipher as to what happened because I do not feel like writing it.)