Good Riddance

It was Friday night. I was alone in my bedroom getting ready to go out tonight. Jess was picking me up in about an hour and taking me to the unknown location for the unknown event that was happening tonight. Jess was borrowing her mum’s car for the evening so she could pick me up, my mum had already met Jess when she drove me home from school in my mini the other night.

Confused? I was too. Sort of. Billie knows that I can’t risk my parents finding out about him so after I stayed at his the other night, he called Jess in the morning and told her to come to his house. Jess then drove us to school, because obviously I couldn’t drive due to my shoulder, and then after school Jess drove me back to my house and Billie had to walk home. So that was how my mum met Jess and she passed the test as well, the is-this-girl-normal-and-surburban-enough-to-associate-with-my-daughter test.

So now here I was stood in front of my dark wood door to my closet trying to decide what was I was going to wear tonight. I wanted to look nice but Kiera had told me not to wear anything too posh. I opened the double doors to my walk in closet and stepped into the room. On my left was a load of casual clothes, on the right were more dressy clothes. I stepped towards these and tried to find a skirt that would be acceptable to wear. There were loads of skirts hanging up but I rarely wore them, I never wore them to school because I didn’t want to fuel the rumours of me only having only got Billie because I was sleeping with him.

I haven’t by the way. Nothing other than kissing and some very careful upper body fondling (careful because at the time my shoulder was in agony – I already had my top off, why put it back on?). God I feel embarrassed telling you that never mind anything else. Billie was perfectly alright to take everything physical at my pace, he knew I wasn’t like the other girls who he used to pick up, who dropped their knickers when he clicked his fingers.

I eventually picked out a black t-shirt dress which was very flimsy and then knelt down to get a long sleeved white t-shirt out of the draw under it. I put this on first and then put the dress on over the top. I pulled on a pair of flesh coloured tights and turned to decide what shoes I would put on. The dress came down to just above mid thigh so it was quite short but it showed no cleavage so I was allowed. My mum was quite strict as to what she would let me out of the house in; on a school day it was sensible clothes, on a day out or a night out I would have to choose between one or the other (if the situation was appropriate) legs or cleavage; you couldn’t do both because then that’s just slutty. According to mum.

I chose a pair of silver heels to wear, they were a Mary Jane type shoe and they were really comfortable for a pair of four inch heels. I wasn’t allowed to buy any shoes higher than that. I put them aside to put on later because although they were comfortable enough I didn’t want to put my feet through any unneeded stress. I went back into my bedroom and to the my dresser in the corner. I loved my dresser it was made of polished mahogany wood and it had a gilt mirror above it. I sat down in front of it and started to decide what I was going to do with my hair, I had just washed it so it had waves and some curls in it. I didn’t want to leave it loose so I got a band to tie it up with it and simply put it in a messy bun at the base of my head, some wisps and strands were falling loose and I had a long lock of hair at the front of my head falling down the side of my face to frame it. I stuck with simple make up, only some pink lipstick and some blue eyeliner under my eyes to accent them. I stood up and examined myself. Something was missing.

So I went into my jewellery box and got a pair of dark blue earrings that matched my eyes and the corresponding choker necklace. There. I looked presentable now. I wondered what the others would think, I had never been out with them before in the sense of the word “out”. Sure I had been round to their houses and such like but that was usually in casual stuff or dance workout clothes. Most of all I wondered what Billie would think. Would he like the change? Or would he think I was selling it out? I looked down at my long legs that were being showed off by the tights and there was a slight shadow of doubt but then I decided that most boys liked girls to show off their legs, right? And I didn’t look tarty so I guessed that was okay.

I returned to the closet and put on the silver heels on, I picked up my bag from the small table and turned to go. I shut my bedroom door and went down the stairs. It was ten to eight now and Jess was picking me up at eight or there abouts.

“You look lovely dear” said my mum as I came down the stairs and walked into the kitchen.

“Thanks” I said with a smile and sat down.

“Now you just be careful with your shoulder tonight” Mum said, “Don’t want you damaging it permanently”

“I’ll be careful” I said, “I can’t move properly yet so it’s not like I’m going to be swinging it around”

“Don’t be cheeky” my mum said.

“Sorry” I replied and cast my eyes down as an uncomfortable silence drifted over the kitchen. I was saved the issue of having to make awkward conversation by the doorbell ringing. I leapt up and kissing my mum on the cheek, I hurried to the door.

I opened it and saw Jess stood there. She was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans but a halter top that plunged almost to her naval, she was doing it the other way round; lots of cleavage and legs covered. It was nice to see we obeyed the same rules. And also apparently Tre was a fan of boobs, I had been informed of this about a week ago when I was lounging around in his bedroom with the others.

“Wow Scar, you look good!” said Jess taking in my appearance.

“I don’t look to whorish do I?” I asked anxiously.

“Not a bit, now get in” she said gesturing behind her.

“I want you back by eleven tomorrow morning!” Mum shouted after me as we left the house. She had less qualms about me leaving the house because she knew that Jess had just turned eighteen this week so she thought she was a responsible adult. I got in the car Jess was driving, it was an Audi TT and was very nice.

“So you excited about tonight?” Jess asked.

“A little nervous” I said, “Billie still hasn’t told me what it is except there’s going to be lots of people there and it’s going to be loud”

“It’ll be good practice for the party next Friday” said Jess, “Get you used to crowds”

“Yeah” I said, “How many people are going to Billie’s next Friday?”

“At the moment the guest list stands at about a hundred and ninety people but that’s just people we’ve invited, we’ve told them to bring friends so it probably be at least double that.” Jess said. I tried to imagine that many people in Billie’s house and failed. I knew his house was big but I couldn’t imagine where everybody would fit.

We arrived at the place we were supposed to be and Jess simply parked up in front of it.

“Are you allowed to park here?” I asked. She smiled at me and dived in the pocket next to her seat and got out something that looked like a permit before putting it in the window so any passing nasties could see it.

“Ready?” she asked.

I nodded readily and got out of the car.

“Is Billie meeting us in there?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Jess said, “Kiera’s already here though”

“How do you know?” I asked.

“Her car’s a bit back there” said Jess with a giggle as we walked up to the stairs. It was nearly half eight now and there was a man stationed on the door already. Jess smiled and winked at him in a very un-Jessish manner and he let us through. I went down the steps and followed Jess through the doors.
The first thing that hit me was the dark. It was really dark inside and all I could hear was throbbing bass and drum music. There was a couple of hundred people here already dancing to the beat. The music then changed to something I recognised as thrashing punk, it sounded a little like the sound of Billie’s band.

“Where will he be?!” I yelled to Jess even though she was stood just beside me.

“He’ll come and find us” said Jess, “Don’t worry”

“I wasn’t” I said absently looking around the club we were in. There was people dancing in every corner and a mess of people in the middle of the floor. The bar was well stocked with drink and with people, the queue never seemed to go down to buy the alcohol.

“Scar!” My head moved away from the bar and I looked in front of me to see Billie fighting his way through the crowd. He stopped in front of me and looked down at me appreciatively.

“You look.... incredible” he said his eyes still wandering up and down.

“Thank you” I said to him, “You don’t look so bad yourself”

He was wearing black skinny jeans and a white shirt that was big on him and he had the first few buttons open so I could see the top of his chest.

“You just look so different” he said putting his warm hands on my waist.

“That was the effect I was going for” I said smiling, “Not the usual sweet Scar”

“No a fucking sexy Scarlett” he said under his breath so I could just hear him.

“I’m staying at yours tonight right?” I asked him.

“No, I was actually going to get you to sleep in the garden...” said Billie with a grin. I stuck my tongue out at him.

“So why here in particular?” I said, “What’s happening here?”

“You’re outfit would be enough reason and also because something special is happening later and that’s why more and more people are arriving” he said with a grin glancing toward the door where seemingly more and more people were spilling through.

“Billie!”

I stopped staring into Billie’s eyes and turned to see Tre appear beside us.

“We’ve got to go now,” said Tre pointedly.

“Alright” said Billie, “I’ll see you in about twenty minutes Scar”

“Where are you –

“It’s a surprise” said Billie kissing me on the lips swiftly and turning into the crowd he disappeared.

Where was he going?

***

I stood in the throbbing noise with Jess and Kiera for a while. I was moving to the beat but I was more interested in where Billie had gone. I wanted him to come back and dance with me, dammit!

It was about twenty minutes before everyone started to get tense in the room and people started to gravitate towards a stage that had a curtain pulled in front of it.

“C’mon” said Jess, “We’re getting frontsies”

“Frontsies?” I asked with a giggle, “That could sound sexual”

“We’re the other half of the performers!” she said, “And since when did you gauge anything sexual!?”

It took me a moment to register what she was saying but then I clicked and I smiled broadly as I ignored the last part of her question.

“Are you serious?!” I asked her as we pushed our way through the people, some tried to stop us but most of them recognised Jess or Kiera and let us take our positions near the front. Now there was nothing to do but wait. I wondered what was going through Billie’s mind as he waited to come on, I mentally wished him good luck, not that that would do anything but it made me feel better for doing it.
Then eventually the music in the club stopped. I glanced at my watch it was nearly half nine. Then as an almost different man, Billie Joe stepped onto stage with Mike and Tre. They didn’t even introduce themselves, I had a feeling they didn’t have too with the people who were stood around us here, but they launched straight into a song and I recognised it as “1,000 hours” that Billie and I had messed about with in the tech room. The people behind me started jumping immediately and surged forward so I had to put my elbows on the stage as my ribs were crushed into the side of it.

Through the next five songs they played I jumped, danced and laughed with the rest of the crowd. They were amazing live, it was incredible, the amount of energy that was coming from them and the people behind me. I couldn’t really breathe properly and occasionally my shoulder was bumped into but I didn’t care. Billie smiled down at me many times and once I blew him a kiss and he planted it on his cheek.

The set ended in a hail of cheering and shouting from the people behind me. The show had only lasted half an hour but it was amazing, I loved it so much and it felt like my blood with singing through my veins with the amount of energy I had.

“Scar!”

I felt Jess pull on my wrist and she pulled me out of the crowds and round the back of the stage and down a dingy corridor with a bare light bulb swinging from the ceiling but it lead to a door at the end which someone had taped a piece of paper to saying “Green Day”. Jess didn’t even bother knocking she just opened the door and walked in, Kiera behind her. I followed them in and saw Billie standing there with his top off, drinking a cold can of what looked like coke.

“Scar” he said putting the can down, “What did you think?”

I walked up to him, “It was amazing”

“Glad you enjoyed it” he said, “I’m still buzzing!”

“Me too” I smiled as he put his arm around me and held me close to his still slightly sweaty body.

“You smell” I said crinkling up my nose.

“Thanks!” he said raising his eyebrows. I didn’t let go of him however and I stood on tiptoe to kiss him so he knew I wasn’t being that serious.

“Are you guys coming back?” asked Mike.

“Yeah in a minute” Billie said not taking his eyes away from my face.

“See you out there, looovvveer” sang Tre before leaving the room with Jess sitting on his shoulders. She had to duck to get under the door frame.

“Can I have some of your coke?” I asked Billie leaning down slightly to pick it up.

“Yeah sure” he said unthinkingly and I took a gulp. I swallowed it quickly in shock and nearly choked on the flaming hot taste that went down my throat.

“What the hell is in that?!” I asked Billie putting the coke down quickly. My eyes were watering slightly and I wiped them on the back of my hand.

“Coke” Billie said his eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights.

“Don’t treat me like an idiot” I said, “I know that’s not just coke”

“It’s Jack Daniels Whisky as well” he said, he looked fearful that I was about to yell at him.

“Well it was certainly different” I said with my eyebrows raised, “but it was quite nice. Just warn me if there’s a drink like that again”

“I will” he said with a smile now he realised he wasn’t going to get yelled at. He pecked me lightly, “Are we going back out?”

“Aren’t you going to put a shirt on?” I asked.

“Nah” he said, “Do you mind?”

“Not really” I said to him, tracing my finger from his collar down to the waistband of his jeans.

The next few hours were passed in dancing and laughter. I spent the whole evening dancing with Billie or with the girls. It was only when the club started to turf people out did I eventually calm down slightly. I had to drive back with Jess and she dropped me off at Billie’s. She was sleeping at Tre’s tonight so she was going to drop her car off and then he was going to take her to his. I had to wait on the cold driveway for a few minutes until Mike rolled up and turfed Billie out on the driveway.

“Heya” he said with a wide grin on his face as he used his key to let us into the dark house. His mother and step dad must be upstairs fast asleep. We crept to the basement door and then down the stairs to his room. He flicked his bedside lamp on and the room was illuminated in a soft glow.

“I got you something Scar” he said as I put my coat down on the chair by the bed. I walked around the double bed towards him and smiled up at him.

“You didn’t have to get me anything” I said to him, “I’ve had so much fun tonight, thank you”

“It’s not much” he said turning away from me and going to get a little box from his bedside drawer. It had a ribbon around it and I let it flutter to the floor as I opened the package. Inside was a silver bracelet with links on it, it was very delicate and attached to one of the links was a tiny blue guitar.

“Billie!” I said, “It’s gorgeous! Thank you so much”

I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly burying my face in his neck.

“Put it on?” he asked. I put the box down and fumbled with it for a moment.

“Help me?” I asked him and held out my wrist. He smiled and kissed my wrist gently before he put the bracelet on and did it up. I held it up so it glinted in the light.

“I’m glad you like it” Billie said. I kissed him lightly, “I love it”

I turned away from him then to start getting ready to go to bed. I took off my top layer quickly and threw it on the chair with my coat, he had already seen me in just my bra so it was no issue to me. I heard him busying himself behind me but I was conscious that he was probably looking at me from time to time.

What did I have to hide? I was taking this totally at my pace. I slowly took off my shoes and slid my tights down my body leaving me in just my pants. I went to the sink in the corner of his room that his mum had had installed and brushed my teeth before turning back to him. Billie had his naked back turned to me and was looking at something from a chest of drawers. I walked up to him and ran my hands up his back and to his shoulders, he looked down at me surprised and gauged what I was wearing, his eyes nearly popped out his head as he viewed my body.

“You’re staring” I whispered after a moment.

“There’s a lot to stare at” he murmured as I turned away from him and went to the bed. I didn’t mind sleeping with him because that’s all we were doing; sleeping. Billie got in beside me and his body warmth immediately made me move towards him. He was only wearing sleeping shorts and I hugged his chest.

“You’re so beautiful Scar”

I just shook my head at him and I leaned up on one elbow so I could kiss him hard on the lips, his hand came around the back of my neck and he deepened the kiss. I was quite content to keep this up for a while but eventually I lay back and looked up at the ceiling.

“Night Billie” I whispered to him and he interlaced his hand with mine. He turned the light off and rolled over, pulling me to his chest. I waited until his breathing was steady, even and slow. I knew he was asleep and I smiled as I listened to his breathing.

I had been going out with him for a maximum of a month and here I was, about to sleep soundly in his arms. There were many things I didn’t know about him yet and yet I found myself not really caring about what there was to learn. I liked the way his soft smile looked as he held my hand and the way his arms felt around my body as we danced tonight and now the way his breathing sounded as he slept.
I was sure he was fully asleep. I only needed to whisper it.

“I love you Billie Joe”