Goodbye Harry?

Life is great, Billie thought as he stared back at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. Green eyed, black haired, sharply dressed punk. He smiled thoughtfully. The album was going great. The trio’s friendship was as strong as ever. And Adrienne had promised to come and see him in a weeks time before going back to her parents. Just one problem, interrupted the nagging voice from the back of his brain. Harry.
A sharp, loud knock on the door made him jump.
“Hurry up Armstrong!” Mike shouted. “Give the mirror a break!”
“Screw you! And wait your turn!” Billie yelled back. He eventually unlocked the door to see Mike tapping his foot impatiently and crossing his arms in a joking way. Billie laughed sarcastically.
“Finally!”
As Mike went in, the phone rang and Billie ran downstairs to answer it.
“Hello?”
“Hey Billie.” Billie closed his eyes, taking a silent deep breath. Harry. Act normal, he told himself.
“Hey Harry. You alright?”
“Yeah thanks. I was wondering if Tre was there cos his phone’s switched off.”
“Erm,” Billie tried to get his mind to stop thinking about what a nice voice she had and think of the answer. “Well he said he had to go out and meet a couple of friends today and he won’t be back ‘til this evening.” He looked at the clock on the wall which told him that it was just gone 12 in the afternoon.
Her sigh sounded frustrated.
“Anything wrong?”
“No, not really.” She paused. “Is he always this damn forgetful?” Her voice was slightly annoyed.
“Well, this is Tre we’re talking about,” he said trying to lighten the mood. “Can barely remember anything unless it’s music or alcohol related. Anything I can do?”
“You’re probably busy, I’ll just-”
“Hey, it’s alright. I’m not doing anything so you’ll be doing me a favour.”
“Would you mind taking me to the garage on Mains Street to pick up my car? It’s been there for almost a week and the greedy bastards are charging me every hour I leave it.”
“Yeah, no problem. What’s your address and I’ll come pick you up.” He made a mental note of it as she relayed it to him. “Alright, I’ll see you in about fifteen minutes.”
“Great. And thanks Billie, I really appreciate it.”
He was glad she couldn’t see the smile on his face. “No problem.”
Putting down the phone, he shouted up to Mike. “I’m going out, alright? I’ll be back later!”
Mike came to the top of the stairs, “Yeah me to, so I’ll probably be gone by the time you get back.”
Billie left, and got to Harry’s within ten minutes. Walking up the driveway of her small but pretty house, he felt like a love-struck teenager about to knock on the door of a new girlfriend for the first time. He tried to shake himself out of his stupid thoughts as he knocked on the door and put his hands in his pockets.
Opening the door, she smiled. “You ok?” Beautiful as ever.
“Yeah thanks.” He walked in to the hallway, feeling a little shy.
“Just got to grab my purse.” She left him for a few minutes as she went in to a side room.
“Nice place.” He said as she came back out.
“Thanks, it was one of my parents. They had them all over the country,” she replied in answer to his questioning look. “Ready?”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes.
“So do you not live here then?” He asked, glancing at her.
“No, I live in California. My parents were in to the whole property thing so there’s houses all over the place. Tre asked me to come down while he was here.”
“Nice.” They stopped at a red light. “I thought your band were pretty damn good last night y’know. How long have you been together?”
“About 2 years now but we mostly do our own stuff. It’s just a side thing.”
“Do you play anything else?”
“Most things.” She smiled.
“Examples?” He asked raising his eyebrows turning to her before driving again.
“Ok then. Guitar; acoustic, electric, bass. Drums, obviously. Piano.” She paused, trying to think. “Oh and the violin, saxophone… and flute, but I don’t know why, I hardly use them. I’m sure there are others but I can’t think.”
“I’m impressed.” Billie laughed.
They reached the garage and after twenty minutes she had got her car back., an impressive black BMW convertible.
“Thanks for the ride.”
“No problem. You doing anything for the rest of the day?”
She paused, thinking. “Erm… Not really. I thought I’d be with Tre for the rest of the day but it doesn’t look like it.”
He looked at his watch. “It’s only one o’clock. Tre won’t be out too long. Wanna kill some time?” He hoped his voice was normal, friendly. After all that’s all they were – friends, right?
“Erm, yeah sure.” She shrugged. “Where are we going?”
“Coffee?” He asked.
“Starbucks it is then.” She opened the door to her car. “You lead and I’ll follow.”
He jumped in and in no time had parked on a side street next to the surprisingly quiet coffee shop.
They walked in and ordered two coffees before sitting by the window where they could drink, talk and watch the world go by.
The more Billie got to know her, the more he was falling in love with her, he realised. She was smart, talented and funny and obviously very pretty. They must have talked for what seemed like hours and Billie was surprised to find himself talking to her like he’d known her all his life. She listened and laughed at his stories and he would catch himself staring a second too long. Many coffee’s later, she looked at the clock on the wall.
“Jesus! It’s half three already!”
“Time flies,” he smiled. He didn’t want to leave. He just wanted to sit there with her forever talking about anything else he could think of. He realised that with only with one other person had he felt the way he was feeling at that moment. And that was when he had first met Adrienne. Over the years, he’d lost that with her and he was sure she felt the same. Their relationship was begging to lack the original spark, the fire, it once had and he felt they loved each other more as friends than partners.
“Billie?” Harry’s voice woke him and he realised he’d been staring in to space.
“Sorry. All the coffee’s gone to my head,” he joked as she smiled and rolled her eyes. “Tre will probably be back by now, so come and say hi to him.”
“I should be going, it’s getting late.”
He raised an eyebrow. “That’s the lamest excuse I’ve ever heard.”
She sighed, smiling and shaking her head. “Oh what the hell, ok.”
It was four o’clock by the time they entered the house to find it empty and quiet.
“Hello?” Billie called out in to the silence and getting no reply. He turned to Harry, feeling a twang of guilt because a part of him was relieved. “He’ll be back soon. Come in and keep me company.”
“I thought you’d probably be sick of me by now,” she joked sitting down on the sofa.
“Are you trying to tell me something Harry?” He asked, faking a hurt tone.
“Maybe,” she laughed.
“I’d offer you something to drink but you’d probably had enough of that as well.” He stood with his hands in his pockets unsure what to do or say next. “Hey,” he said as an idea popped in to his head. “What say you play me a little something?”
She looked confused.
“Wait here.”
He went in to a side room and picked up an electric guitar and small amp.
She laughed as he brought them in to the room. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
“Nope,” he set them up. “Show me what ya got.” He grinned passing her the guitar.
She stood up and put the strap over her neck. “And play what?”
Billie shrugged. “Whatever’s in your head.”
“Erm,” she thought for a second before smiling. “Alright.”
She began playing, in time and perfectly, so the tune was immediately recognisable. She played the first verse and the chorus even singing the words; Billie was impressed by the sound of her voice, the playing and the timing – all of it.
“Wow,” he said as she finished playing. “That was pretty awesome.”
“Thanks,” she smiled. “Clichéd, I know, but it’s one of my all time favourites.”
“Welcome To Paradise is?”
She nodded.
“Wow,” he repeated, genuinely stunned.
She shrugged. “I can play a hell of a lot of Green Day songs on guitar and drums. Not so good on bass. A lot of your fans can probably do that.” She added in response to the surprised look on his face.
“Not all three,” he said.
“Guess I’m a bit of a loser then.” She said with a laugh.
“Ha, ha,” he said laughing. “That’s pretty amazing. And useful,” he added jokingly. Just when I thought she couldn’t be anymore perfect, he thought. Oh fuck, not good. “Play me something else,” he told her before she got freaked out at his staring in amazement.
“Alright, but you have to sing it this time, agreed?”
“Ok. Hit it.”
She began playing the first bit of “At The Library” with ease, even the difficult part before the singing. He smiled and sung the first two lines before she stopped.
He clapped. “Very good.”
She pretended to take a bow. “Thank you.” She took the guitar off and put it against the wall and dropped on to the sofa next to him. “Y’know, I’ve really enjoyed today.”
She put her head on his shoulder.
His heart skipped a beat. Was she suggesting something or just being friendly? “Me too.” What should he do? A voice in his head shouted at him to take the opportunity and forget everyone else. They may be happy but he wasn’t and anyway, why shouldn’t he be. He made up his mind. Fuck it.
Gently moving as if to get up, she took her head off his shoulder and sat up. He put a hand on her face. For a split second she looked confused but Billie moved closer and he saw her close his eyes before he kissed her.
It felt like hours before they pulled apart.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
They both jumped up from the sofa to see Mike’s shocked and angry expression from the doorway.