I Was Only Dreaming

"Hello." I respond to Billie in a quiet voice. It was so quiet that you felt like you had to whisper.
"Its a nice night out. I like comin' here, especially at night. Always so pretty and peaceful. I mean, in the day Rodeo is a shithole but at night its so, so..."
"Serene?" I cut in.
Billie looks over at me and smiles. Its a kind of a sad smile, but also has a hint of happiness. How is that? I'm sure Billie is happy that Ollie is dating someone and moving on-"
I get interrupted from my thoughts. "My dad died when I was ten. He got cancer, and, um yeah...he was my best friend. He taught me guitar, and he promised he'd always be there for me. I was only ten, so you can kinda imagine what that was like. He said he'd always be there, and then he dies."
I am silent for a moment. I know exactly how it felt. "I know exactly how that feels." Billie looks over at me. "Mom died when I was nine."
"I'm sorry. I thought that Patricia was your mom," Billie says, laughing a bit. He brings a cigarette up to his lips, take a long drag, then blows out the smoke. He glaces at me for a second, then offers the cigarette to me. I take it. Hmm... different flavor.
"Yeah, it was a car accident. She was takin' a walk, like she always did after dinner, and this drunk driver hit her. He pinned her against a tree. When we got there, the medic said that she was paralyzed. She couldn't feel anything, there was no pain at all. They figured it was best to just let her slip away. My dad talked to her and stuff, and then they let me see her. She said, 'Don't ever think things will stay the same, because when you finally settle in, it'll all change.' Then she said she loved me, and to take care of Dad as best as I could..." I felt a lump form in my throat. I have only ever told one person about this, and I bawled like crazy. "And then, sh-she just," I couldn't do it. I took the cigarette from Billie and took a quick drag. My eyes were getting blurry and wiped away tears on the sleeve of my jacket. I took a couple of deep breaths. Count to ten. Blank my mind. Okay, I'm good.
Billie scooched, rather awkwardly, closer to me and put an arm around my shoulders. I automatically placed my head on his shoulder. We sat like this for a long time. Billie suddenly gets up. He offers me his hand, and he helps me stand up. He throws the fifth cigarette butt on patch of dirt and steps on it. Then he takes my wrist and guides me back the way we came.
We get back into Rodeo, and its still very dark out. It's probably around 4 in the morning. We spend the nest two hours just wandering around the city, drinking from a bottle of something Billie brought. He showed me record stores, bars, diners, all sorts of places. We talked, telling each other about ourselves. By the time we walked into a diner at 6, I felt as if I'd known Billie longer than I've known Mike.
Billie bought me pancakes and bacon, and we sat in the diner for an hour, still talking. We didn't get home until about 11. When we came up to the driveway, Ollie's car was gone, but Mike's was still parked. Oh...yeah, I didn't really tell Mike where I was going.
We came through the front door and I heard Mike on the phone. "No, no, they just walked in, thanks, Mr. Cool." Then I heard him hang up the phone in the kitchen and walk over to us. He was still in the Ramones shirt and black jeans he wore the day before. Mike saw me and immediately hugged me.
"Where did you go? I've been worried sick," He said in a voice that was muffled by my hair.
"I follow-" I began, but Billie but me off.
"I, uh, got mad at Mom, and she heard what happened, so she followed me. Y'know, kinda talked some sense into me, I guess," Billie said to his taller friend. "Sorry bout that, I didn't even think what would happen."
Mike was now helping me out of my jacket. He got a weird look on his face and smelled the sleeve. "What were you smoking?" He asked me.
"Um... I honestly don't know. Was pretty good, I'll have to admit," I say.
Mike looks over at Billie, giving him a death glare.
"What?" Billie asks.
"You got her high, didn't ya?" Mike asked, er, rather, said,
I hide a smile as Billie starts to sweat a little. I didn't get high, I don't think. But, yeah, you never know.
"No, she just had like one, it's me who's gonna get lung cancer and die," Billie said.
"Whatever," Mike says. "I'm just glad you two didn't end up head-first in a dumpster."
Mike rubs his right temple. "There's food in the kitchen if you want anything, Jessie."
I take it as my cue to leave, so I head to the basement. Tre, of course, was there, and he dropped his drumsticks to give me a huge bear hug. He goes on about how Billie runs off all the time, and when he comes back, never says where he went and blah blah blah.
I tune Tre out and pick up Mike's bass. I try to remember the little ditty Billie asked me to play yesterday. How did it go again? I fiddle with it for a second before getting it right. I start to mumble the words.

She
She screams in silence
A sullen riot penetrating through her mind...

It makes me wonder who this song is about. I mean, Billie couldn't have just made this up out of thin air.

*Billie's POV*

"Why don't ya just give this guy a chance?"
I told Mike about my little fight with Mom last night.
"Just get to know him, he could be a great guy."
And Mike's trying to get me to give Mr. Douche a chance. He's probably right. He could turn out great. But on the other hand...
"So what's the deal with you running off like that? And dragging her along with you?" Mike asks me, looking me dead in the eye.
"I didn't drag her," I say. "She just followed me."
She
She screams in silence...
"Are you still okay on what we agreed?" Mike asks.
I sigh. I hadn't felt any different about Jessie. If anything, I felt more for her since last night.
"Yeah. I'm good," I say, even though my mind was screaming No! No!

*Jessie's POV*

Get it and jump!
Jump!
Go ahead and jump!
Jump!

I swung my guitar as I played the final chord to Van Halen's 'Jump', and I heard Tre's drumsticks fall to the ground. I began to laugh at how fun that was. We had just played a nine-minute version (we made it up as we went along) of that song.
Tre grinned at me, obviously enjoying himself, too. I set down the guitar, and I heard squeaky brakes in the driveway. Ollie was home.
We both crept into the living room, Billie and Mike nowhere to be seen. Tre turned on MTV and started dancing and singing off-key to Madonna, with me laughing my ass off. The front door opened, and Ollie was indeed home. She saw Tre and immediately cracked a smile. Tre Cool, uniting the world since 1972.
The song ended, and Ollie laughed a little. "Frank, don't ever lose your sense of humor. I don't know where I'd be without it."
Tre laughed, "What sense of humor? You mean this one?" Tre crosses his eyes, tilts his head and sticks out his tongue. Good Lord. Tre then bunny-hops into the kitchen.
Ollie looked over at me, and a sad expression came over her face. "Is Billie okay?"
"Yeah," I say, actually believing it. He seemed at ease last night. "He's okay. I just had to talk some sense into him."
Ollie sighs with relief. "That's good. I would like to bring Brad over for dinner tonight, but I'm not sure how he will handle that."
"I'll tell him," I say, before even realize what I said. Shit, Jessie, think before you speak!
"Oh, thank you, darling. I'm not sure I want to talk to Billie right now," Ollie said, sadly.
"I'll tell him now," I say. Again, I had no idea what was coming outta my mouth.
So, I walk upstairs, to Billie's room. I knock on his door, and I hear a "Come in" from inside. I twist the doorknob and enter Billie's messy room. He is sitting on his bed, writing something with a pen on his hand, his guitar in his lap.
Billie looks up at me and grins. "Hi."
"Hey, what's going on?" I ask, still standing awkwardly in the doorway.
"Just figuring stuff out. Realizing I just wrote a song that's shit, y'know, stuff like that."
I smile, then come in and sit at the edge of his bed.
"What's up?" He asks.
"Um, Ollie came home. She, uh, said that she's bringing Brad over for dinner tonight."
A look of hurt crosses Billie's face. "Oh. Okay, well thanks for telling me."
He goes back to his guitar and strums two strings in a little pattern, then starts humming. He left his notebook lying open and face-down on the bed. Hesitantly, I pick it up and look at what's been written. Just a few lines scribbled on a page.
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up, when September ends

I look up at Billie, who smiles at me. He wanted me to read it.
"This doesn't seem like shit, it looks really good. Is there more?"
Billie shrugged his shoulders. He plays a new chords, then sings, very softly, barely audible:
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up, when September ends

Like my father's come to pass
Seven years has gone so fast
Wake me up, when September ends

"Kinda just came up with it. The melody was stuck in my head all last night." Billie played with his guitar pick. He seemed very preoccupied. Either that or he was uncomfortable with my being here.
"Are you okay?" I ask. I didn't expect Billie to give me a straight answer. But he did.
"No. I'm not okay."
Then he leans his guitar against the nightstand, moves over towards me, and, of all things, hugs me. Why, I'll never know. It wasn't even that much of a hug anyway, he just had both arms encircling my shoulders, his head resting on one of them. It was kind of a, "Hey bro, what's happening" kind of hug. Just more gentle.
Billie lets go of me, stands up, grabs his guitar and notebook, and walks out without a word. Strange man.
I get off of his bed and go down to the kitchen where I find Mike on the phone. He has a calender in front of him.
"Mkay, that'll be awesome. We'll be there. Thanks, man." He hangs up the phone and circles down September 13, three days from now. Mike sees me and grins. He puts down his pen and gives me a bear hug. Not as suffocating as Tre's are, but still.
"Guess what," Mike says.
"There's life on Mars?" I ask.
Mike laughs. "Nope, even better. I booked us a gig."
I fail to see how that's big news. I mean, yeah, I know that Billie, Mike, and Tre's band Sweet Children is a big deal, but them getting some random gig is not that big.
"Guess where it is."
I sigh, not in the mood for this. "Is it at Madison Square Garden, or something?"
"Nope, its at City Hall, for the mayor's daughter's birthday this Saturday. And we. Are. Getting. Paid. Five. Hundred. Bucks."
HOLY CRAP.
I squeal and throw my arms around Mike's neck. This is big!

*Billie's POV*
I sit on Tight Wad Hill, smoking a joint, scribbling useless stuff in my journal. I am trying hard, I guess, to get Jessie out of my head, but I just can't. It is so fucking impossible when I live in the same house with her. And she didn't help any by following me last night. Oh, what the hell. Maybe I'll at least try and find out if she's interested in me. She probably isn't. If she isn't then I'll drop it.
As for now, it's 3:00 and I should probably go make up with Mom. And give this Brad dude a try.