When I Came Around

Late night, come home
Work sucks, I know
She left me roses by the stairs,
Surprises, let me know she cares

I woke up at 8 the next morning, and found Billie at the kitchen table, reading the paper. He smiled when he saw me.

"Morning, I was just about to make breakfast."

I raise my eyebrows. "Doesn't Adie usually cook?"

"Yeah, she went over to her friend's house with Joey, so I kinda have to cook. Let me warn you though, and Jakob will confirm this, I kind of suck at it, y'know?" Billie stood up and went into the kitchen to dump his coffee in the sink.

I smirk and look through the fridge, finding eggs, bacon, and some pancake mix in the pantry. Since I basically had to take care of myself since I was 13, I knew a thing or two about food. I cooked the bacon, made scrambled eggs, and made enough pancakes to feed an army. Jakob came down at nine, and the three of us ate.

"How come you never cook this good, Daddy?" Jakob asked Billie and I grinned.

Billie rolled his eyes. "Well, women are just naturally better at cooking than men, I guess. Well, except Mike, but I've always wondered about him."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Well," Billie began, finishing his orange juice. "He can cook good enough to feed the president, he can do his own laundry, hell, he uses fabric softener! And not to mention the fact that his house is always spotless, I mean, you could have a New Year's party there and the next day it would look brand new!"

"I wonder if he's gay?" Jakob said.

"Jakob!" Billie and I both said at the same time, then looked at each other and laugh. Jakob just sat there with a confused look on his face.

After breakfast, I showered and got dressed, then Jakob asked if we could go down to the beach. I made lunch for the three of us, and Billie packed our stuff in the golf cart. It was about a twenty minute ride to the beach in the cart, but it was a lot more fun then driving a car. I dug through my still unpacked suitcase and found a dark green halter one-piece. I seriously needed a new swimsuit. Jakob sat between Billie and me, Billie drove, of course, and he drove us at top speed down to the beach.

The beach was absolutely beautiful. It was kept very clean, the water, for the most part, was calm, there were clean changing and bathrooms, and a small bar that served food. It was very cool, maybe in the upper 70s, too. There weren't too many people, just a few people that Billie introduced me too, mostly musicians, rich people, and others I have never even heard of. We set up our umbrella and chairs a little ways from the water, as Jakob raced down to play with one of his friends. Billie unpacked our food and began to scarf down his sandwich as though he had nothing for breakfast. We watched Jake as we ate. I watched Billie from the corner of my eye, and although he was wearing shades, I could see him looking at my wrists and the tops of my thighs where scars still remained. I wasn't too big on opening up to people, but I kind of wanted to with Billie. I really wanted to get to know him.

"Mom's husband, Jerry, hated me. Pure hatred, y'know? He would say the worst of things to me, call me a bitch, a slut, every name in the book. I couldn't handle it," I explained, running a hand over a scar on my left thigh. "I started with just a few cuts a week, but it grew to several times a day. I kept it up until I was almost 16, and I quit."

"What made you stop?" Billie asked me, tentatively.

"My friend gave me a stack of her old Blink 182 CDs for Christmas in 2003. I started spending my time listening to music instead of cutting. I started to listen to more punk music, then I opened up to classic rock, some metal, stuff like that. I heard 409 in Your Coffeemaker, and I kinda fell in love with Green Day."

I saw Billie blush a little. "Well I'm glad that music could help you. It's helped me a lot too, throughout the course of my life. Have you seen any shows?"

"Of course. I saw you guys in 2005, I saw Blink in '04, actually twice in 2004. And there's a little place where I used to live, it was a courtyard and bands would play there every weekend, so I went there a lot. I took my dad's old guitar when I was 16 and learned to play it, then I would play outside in the streets to earn enough for an electric and eventually a bass." I took some sunscreen out of my bag and started applying it to my face.

"That's really awesome. Ever played in a band?" Billie asked while we watched Jakob and his friend build a sandcastle.

"Not really, I played at the courtyard downtown, mostly solo, but sometimes I'd have a band back me up. I never had anything solid."

Billie stood up from his chair. "Wanna go for a swim?"

And the award for most random question goes to...

"I'm not too good with swimming... Jaws kinda scarred me for life," I shudder as I sit deeper in my chair.

"Aw, c'mon, it'll be fine!" Billie extends his hand to me.

"Um... I think I'll go play with Jake," I pass up on the offer as I jog over to Jakob and his sandcastle. Him and his friend, Blake, ask if they can bury me in the sand and I accept the offer. It takes almost an hour for us to dig a hole deep enough for me, then less than ten minutes to fill it up with me in it. It actually wasn't too warm, the sand was far enough away from the beach so that I wouldn't drown, but the sand was still damp. Billie took pictures, and then they helped me out. I was covered in sand, so I washed it off in the showers by the changing rooms. Billie had gotten a few beers at the bar, so I drove us home.

When we got home at around 6, Adie and Joey were already there.

"You went to the beach without us?" Adie asked, in shock.

Billie stood there, as Jakob slowly slipped away to his room. "Uh... well, y'know, we didn't have anything else to do..." Billie stuttered over his words.

"Um, Adie, I was wondering if I could go shopping this weekend, I kind of need a new swimming suit." I said, glancing at Billie who looked as if a giant weight was lifted from his chest.

Adie beamed at me. "Of course! And I'll go with you, I could use a new one too."

"Great! And maybe we could go to the beach on Sunday, or something, invite everyone, y'know?" I suggested. I peeked at Billie and his eyes were wide at how I was getting Adie's mind off today.

"That's an awesome idea, honey, I'll call Mike and Tre tomorrow!" Adie smiled as she went into the kitchen to finish dinner. Billie looked over at me, then shook his head and went upstairs. My negotiation skills are kick-ass.