Whatsername

"I'm sorry." Billie's apologetic smile was sickeningly sweet, and I had to roll my eyes to the side to keep from caving in.

"Yeah, I know. How long are we going to have be here, though?" I glanced around the playground from my park bench and resisted the urge to shudder. "I really don't like it...."

"Not long, I promise. I actually should be punishing the butthead, but it's better for us if we let him run out some of his energy before we go home so he doesn't end up like Frankito," he explained as he watched Jakob play.

"Do you always have to deal with hyper children?" I asked.

"Pretty much. I mean, when your drummer's Tre Cool, you have to deal with this a lot of the time."

I nodded slowly as I thought about Billie and Mike trying to keep Tre from jumping off buildings and such. "I feel sorry for you."

He looked over and grinned. "Aww, you're so sweet."

I rolled my eyes and turned away. "Whatever."

"I wonder why Jakob wanted to come here so badly," he said curiously.

"He's looking for that stupid dog." I slid closer to Billie as a little girl ran by with a huge mud pie, globs of it dripping onto the sidewalk in front of me. "He told me that he saw it here yesterday, and now he wants to count its teeth."

Billie's eyes widened at that, and he quickly ran away to find his son, who was now missing from his spot on the swings.

"Kids," I groaned, resting my head in my hands, but before my face was covered, a bright light came from my right. I lifted my head and glanced around the park. All I saw was a woman with a baby, a guy with an odd haircut, and that girl with the mud pie again. Oh, and I also saw a man with a camera. Another bright light flashed in my eyes. "Uh-oh."

I covered my face and stood up, quickly walking across the playground in search of Billie. After walking for what seemed like forever and trying to outrun the crazy man, I finally found Billie standing next to a tree, trying to drag Jakob out of it by his ankles.

"Come on! Get out of the fucking tree!"

"Billie! Billie! Billie!" I squealed, running towards him. "Camera! Camera!"

He stared at me and blinked. "What?"

"A guy with a camera is chasing me," I panted. He looked behind me and groaned. Jakob finally let go of the branch he was holding, and Billie pulled him out of the tree. Throwing him over his shoulder, Billie took my hand, and we hurried to the car.

"Is he still following us?" Billie whispered in my ear. I glanced back and saw the idiot running to catch up and nodded to Billie. "Fuck."

"You know, I still didn't get to see the dog," Jakob pointed out as we got into the car.

"Fuck the dog."

______________________________________ ---

"And you guys ran from him...?" The amusement in Mike's voice was making me want to reach through the telephone and bitch slap him.

"Mhm."

"Was that before or after you ran from a bunch of teenies?"

"After...."

He giggled. "That's hilarious!"

I pouted. "No, it's not. I don't like people chasing me with cameras and taking my picture."

"Well, you'll have to get used to it if you're going to be around us, sweetie."

I sighed as I wrapped the phone cord around my finger. "Well then, you guys suck...."

He laughed. "They're going to be worse than usual now because of the divorce... and everyone's curious to see who the fuck you are. If only they knew we were trying to figure that out, too."

"Yeah," I sighed, and from somewhere in the background of his phone, I could hear a girl screaming, "Don't touch that, Tre!"

"Is Tre at your house?" I asked slowly.

"Yes," he grumbled. "That's why I called, actually. Did you guys send him over here to mess with me?"

"No... but thanks for the idea, Mike," I said, grinning. "I'll keep that in mind next time he's trying to build a fort on my bed-- while I'm still sleeping in it."

"Funny," he said dryly. "Oh no-- Henderson! Don't let him do that! It took me three hours to get him out last time!"

I raised my eyebrows as I heard them struggle to keep Tre away from the fireplace. "Sounds like you're busy. Maybe I should let you go, Mike. I'll tell Billie you called once he gets out of the shower."

"O-okay! It was ni-- Tre! You fucker! Sorry, it was nice talking to you, Kate-- bye!"

"Bye," I said, trying to hold back my laughter as I hung up the phone. Poor, poor Mike. If only Tre had an off button. That would come in very handy, since the next day his daughter would be going back home, and we would have him bugging us again. Glancing around the kitchen, I sighed, wondering what to do. I could either cook, watch Jakob swim, cook, or cook.

"Kate?!" Or I could go see why Billie was calling me. I made my way up the stairs and into Billie's room where he was now on his hands and knees, a towel wrapped around his waist as he searched his bedroom floor. Odd....

"Yes...?"

"I lost my wedding ring," he mumbled, lifting the bed skirt. His wedding ring....

"Y-your wedding ring?"

"Yeah, do you see it anywhere?"

I blinked, wondering why he had lost it. He didn't wear one, so why was he looking for it-- and why was it suddenly missing? "How'd you lose it?"

"I had it out for a minute, and my fingers were still a little wet, I guess. It slipped." He looked up and gave me a lopsided grin.

"Oh," I said quietly. I felt like throwing up. He had just kissed his ex-wife, and then after we had gotten home, he had suddenly decided to try on his wedding ring-- and to top it all off, now he was having me help him look for it.

I tried to ignore the awful feeling in the pit of my stomach and joined Billie on the floor.

"It fell somewhere around here," he said, patting the carpet by the foot of the bed.

"Okay." I felt around the rug, trying not to look at Billie. I wanted to cry, but that would have been stupid. It wasn't like he was with me or anything. I was just someone to distract him from Adrienne until they got back together-- I was just someone he was stuck with until he found where I belonged. I was like a lost puppy that you feel sorry for, so you keep it until you find its owner. He was putting up with me because he felt guilty. That was all.

"Hey, your roots are lighter." I felt his hands go into my hair and froze slightly. I wasn't really paying attention until then; I was busy trying to keep my lunch down. "You must have dyed your hair. I didn't know that.... It looked pretty natural to me." It was news to me too.

"What? You stare at my hair all the time?" I looked up at him and raised an amused eyebrow, trying to cover up how miserable I felt.

He grinned. "Yeah, I do. It's pretty."

I blushed and went back to look for his stupid-ass ring. Seconds later, his hands were back in my hair, ruffling and tangling it wildly. "What-- what are you doing?" I asked as he continued to run his hands through my wavy curls, making muted moaning noises while doing so.

"It's soft, too. Mmmm, I love your hair."

I pulled back as his nose buried itself in the tangled mess, and I squealed slightly as the hair that was stuck in his fist was yanked. "You are so weird!" I laughed.

He grinned. "What? It's nice to be able to run your hands through someone's hair. I couldn't really do that with dreads..." he trailed off, sticking his head underneath his bed. I stared at his towel-covered ass stuck up in the air as he rummaged through what sounded like an entire closet-full of crap.

I grabbed a piece of my hair, which was now incredibly tangled, and examined it. "I don't see anything special about it."

"Everything about you is special." I barely heard it, but it made me smile. I glanced to my left, and something on the floor sparkled; the sun shined through the window when a branch from a tree outside moved out of the way, and that damn ring was lying there, gleaming-- almost mockingly.

"I found it." It came out as a raspy whisper. His head popped back out and he looked relieved.

"Good, where is it?" I pointed, and he grabbed the ring, wiping it off on his towel, revealing a little more of him as it was lifted up. After he was done polishing his precious ring, he looked at me. My face was turned away so I didn't see anything-- like the good girl I am. He started giggling after he realized what he had done. "Oops, my bad."

I rolled my eyes and stood up. "Well, I'll leave you to get dressed, then. Better go make sure Jake didn't drown in the pool."

He grabbed my arm as I started walking out of the room. "Thanks for helping me find that thing."

"You're welcome," I said quietly as I turned to leave.

"Oh, Kate? Are you sure you want me to get dressed?" I shook my head and left as he reached for the towel on his waist. "Aw, come on! You know you love it!"