‹ Prequel: The Fire
Sequel: Feed the Fire

Fallen Embers

Well Tonight's the Heartaches on Me

After the VMAs were over with everyone was at MTV's 'official' after party celebrating Sabrina's wild ride sweeping all her categories of the night. The party was winding down and Mike was enjoying this other side of Beth that had been present all night. She was not the bitchy PMSing woman that had been around for the last couple of months, but rather a pleasant woman who was receptive to his attentions and flirtations. She laughed at him at the right times and kept glancing up at him like he was the only one in the room. 'Maybe it has something to do with all the champagne she has had to drink,' he thought, 'but I'll take it when I can get it.' She currently was grinding up against him as they danced to some thumping hip-hop song that DJ AM was spinning at the MTV after party. He gritted his teeth to stop his body's reaction to her body making friction against him.

He glanced at Tre and Sabrina dancing in a similar fashion and frowned at the fact that Tre was probably gonna 'get him some' that night, while he, Mike Dirnt was gonna get blue-balled. The song changed to a slow number and Beth had now turned around to face him.

"You gonna dance with me?" she purred. He didn't answer but pulled her into him. Her eyes went wide as she came in contact with his pelvic region which was showing the effect she had on him. She smiled and got an evil gleam in her eye. She leaned up and kissed him on the mouth as she ground her pelvis into his.

Mike groaned as he felt her lips on his. "Jesus Beth, I'm not going to be able to stop if you continue this." he said into her mouth.

She pulled back to look at him, "Who says I want you to stop?" A surprised look came across Mike's face as he digested the information. She pulled him out one of the doorways of the ballroom, and down a hallway which lead into the bowels of the hotel, where only the staff went. She started trying doors at random until one finally opened. She pulled Mike inside and she quickly closed the door and locked it behind them.

He stood and looked around the small room, which looked like someone's office or small meeting room. He looked around until his gaze landed on Beth, who was looking at him like he was a treat she MUST devour. She walked up to him and he backed up until his back hit the wall behind him. She upturned her face to his as he lowered his. Their lips met in a flurry of passion.

It was like a dam had broken inside of them and the flooding of emotions couldn't be stopped. He grabbed her shoulders and spun her around till her back was to the wall. He grabbed her knee and brought it up to his waist level which opened up her in order for him lean into her. A moan escaped her lips as she felt his weight against her.

When everything was said and done and things came to a stand still, she looked at the man who had taken her to a new place, which she had never been before. She kissed him as he moved away from her to clean up and re-arrange his clothes. She took the time to also rearrange her own outfit and with a smile they left the room hand in hand.

Tre thought he had died and gone to heaven. He and Sabrina were almost as tight as they were when they were married. She doted on him and he returned the favor. They had been drinking after the show was over and currently were dancing to some top forty songs that were being spun by DJ AM. The drummer felt his ex wife move her lean body into his and his breath quicken.

He reflected to earlier that night, the reaction from everyone as they arrived together. The fans screaming, the paparazzi clamoring for the best angles for pictures, the TV interviewers asking questions; everyone seemed happy for them to be together. Tre thought about what that meant about Jill, the woman he was casually dating since June. He pushed the thought out of his mind and concentrated on being with Sabrina in the present. When she suggested that they leave early and go home; all thoughts of Jill were gone.

The pair left the party and had the doorman of the hotel hail them a cab. Within ten minutes they were arriving at Sabrina penthouse and fumbling with each other's clothes as they entered the living room. Somehow they made it to her bedroom and once again came together one last time in shadows of the night.

When the rest of the gang arrived home they were met with the sight of clothes strewn all over the place. A jacket here, a pair of men's shoes there; a complete hodgepodge of items that together made up most of Sabrina and Tre's outfits that night. Billie and Adie just smiled as they made their way to their room. Bill and Toby just grunted and ignored the clothes to go to their own rooms. Beth and Mike smiled and started to pick up the items separating them and placing them outside Sabrina's door. When they finished Beth announced with a stretch. "I'm going to go to bed."

Mike moved over to her, "May I walk you to your room?"

She nodded and felt his hand on the small of her back. She tried to ignore the goose bumps that cropped up at the warmth of his touch. He walked with her toward the door which lead to her bedroom and stopped at the doorway. They stood there not speaking, and finally Beth leaned into him and rose to her tiptoes and gently brushed his lips with hers. "Good night" she said and quickly walked into the room and shut the door behind her.

Mike brought his hand to his mouth and savored the touch of her lips. His mind wandered and with a sigh he re-adjusted himself and walked over to his own room and went to bed.

Beth leaned into the door and felt her lips tingle from the contact with his. She smiled and started to think that may be he wasn't such a bad guy after all.

The next day Green Day once again left to head back to Oakland. The guys were almost finished with the new CD and needed to begin the promotional roller coaster for the CD drop. Sabrina and Tre parted with the promise to call each other when they found time, but they both knew in their hearts that it wouldn't happen. Beth acted skittish around Mike and avoided him like the plague not calming down until he had left.

Sabrina and the band embarked on a small venue tour for the month of September. They traveled in the two buses Sabrina owned but had been in the mothballs since 1987. She had them upgraded and overhauled with her and Beth in one and the boys in the other. Beth was getting her first real taste of a tour, albeit a small tour, but tour none the less. They started out in San Francisco on the 8th of September.

As Sabrina and band got ready five minutes before show time, Toby came running over and pulled Beth to the side. He whispered something in her ear and she threw a worried glance toward Sabrina. The younger woman had no time to say anything as Sabrina had moved towards the stage area. The band followed and without fanfare took the stage.

They played through a good set until Sabrina asked to raise the house lights. She liked seeing the crowd and detested when the lighting made it difficult to do so. After a minute, the house lights raised and the crowd could be seen by the woman. Sabrina scanned the crowd and her breath caught in her throat when her gaze settled on a table in the back. Sitting with another woman was her ex husband, Tre Cool. The woman who sat with him was clinging on him as if her life depended on it. She sat next to him, almost in his lap and had his hand firmly grasped in hers. The woman barely looked legal and it threw Sabrina for a complete loop. She knew in her heart they were over, but that still didn't prepare her for the shock of seeing him with another woman.

Sabrina turned toward the band and barked out a song request as she motioned for the lights to fall again. The baleful sound of a steel guitar sprung forth from Dan's keyboard as Sabrina started to sing a Dixie Chicks tune.

You could have heard a pin drop
When they walked through the door
Had to turn my eyes away
My heart fell to the floor
Someone whispered, 'Where's her halo?'
Cause she had an angel's face
He stood there smiling, holding one
To the one who took my place.

So...
Tonight the heartache's on me, on me
Let's drink a toast to the fool who couldn't see
Bartender pour the wine, 'cause the hurting all mine
Tonight the heartache's on me.

I wonder if he told her
She's the best he's ever known
The way he told me ev'ry night
When we were all alone
She'll find out when the new wears off
He'll find somebody new
She'll learn what heartache's all about
And what I'm going through.

But...
Tonight the heartache's on me, on me
Let's drink a toast to the fool who couldn't see
Bartender pour the wine, 'cause the hurting all mine
Tonight the heartache's on me.

But...
Tonight the heartache's on me, on me
Let's drink a toast to the fool who couldn't see
Bartender pour the wine, 'cause the hurting all mine
Tonight the heartache's on me.

Yes tonight, the heartache's on me.


The song ended and Tre knew that he had been seen. He didn't want to bring Jill here, but she so desperately wanted to see Sabrina play live, that he finally relented. He choose a table way in the back so Sabrina wouldn't see anything from the stage, and even when the house lights came up, he thought that he had gotten away with it. That she hadn't seen them, but as soon as the song began, he knew that she knew. 'The upcoming tour is gonna be rough' Tre thought before Jill distracted him by turning his head so she could kiss him and all thoughts of Sabrina left his mind.