Cheaters = Losers

I felt myself freeze and my eyes go wide. Billie stared at me, blinking expectantly.

"V-VIP?" I chocked out eventually. My head was spinning. I already saw their show, why would he invite me again? And why - no how on Earth did I qualify as a VIP guest? I'd known Billie less than 24 hours and I'd already agreed to move in with him. Wow, thinking about it I was so shallow.
"Lily!" A hand was waving in front of my face, my eyes trailed up the arm connected to the hand and up to Billie's face.
"Hey there, you blanked out for a minute." He spoke softly, as if he was a little scared of startling me, in fact I was so overwhelmed I couldn't actually speak. I nodded slowly at him, my mind working double time to comprehend the offer. "Lil?" Billie asked again, gently grabbing me by my shoulders and steering me to his bed. "Lily are you okay?"
"I-yeah, sorry." I mumbled. "Just, VIP?" Billie grinned playfully at me.
"Yeah, VIP. Y'know, where you come and watch from the best spot and then chill backstage with us? Y'know, saying as I know you personally now, it'd be rude not to invite you,"
"But I just saw you guys play last night?" I felt like my brain was in slow motion, I just couldn't comprehend everything that had gone on. I had gone from being stable and happy, if not slightly safe to meeting the frontman of my favourite band, staying with him, almost sleeping with him and now being offered to watch the best band in the history of music in the VIP sector.

Out of nowhere soft and fast becoming familiar lips pressed onto my own, shortly and sweetly before pulling away. Billie was looking at me, giving me that slightly dopey smile that I was fast growing to adore. His smile was soft and far away, something new clouding his eyes.
"So? I'm playing again, come see me and then you can really get to know my life. And don't even bullshit me we're your favourite band and you can't believe your luck right now." His smile turned troublesome and there was no way I could not react. I lunged at him, pushing my lips against his cheek, or at least aiming to, until he turned his head, capturing my lips with a smirk. I pulled away laughing. "You cheeky bugger!" He pulled away laughing, before helping me up.

"Just put something nice on," a hot mouth found my ear, lips fumbling at the sensitive flesh there, sending shivers down my spine as arms encircled my waist. "Except maybe not those shorts, huh? Those legs are mine," feeling his hands travel down to my ass, I pulled away slightly, teasing him.

"You don't own me Billie, I can wear what I want to," I teased, my voice all but serious his face cracked into a grin.
"I know, I know. But, just because, y'know, I don't want to, y'know, have to have you up on that damn stage. That, definitely is for my eyes only." I found my face flushing at the thought of earlier and I didn't realise that my hands had come up to cover my burning face until my hands were removed gently and there were green eyes and a big smirk right in front of my face. "Okay, not the shorts. Got it," Billie Joe just pushed his lips against mine again. We kissed an awful lot for a couple who weren't dating. He pressed something into my hand and disappeared off to the other bus.

It was a backstage pass.

There was no way I was missing this opportunity so I began rummaging through my backpack to find something to wear. I felt like I owned nothing and was quickly becoming irritated. Why was I being so stressy about this? Billie Joe already made it more than clear that he liked what I wore and I'd already met Mike and Tré who approved or at least didn't care. I ended up in my best pair of black ripped skinnies and my favourite Green Day shirt. It was a lose fitting grey crop top that just showed my belly button if I stretched slightly with little faded comics of the songs on Dookie. I put my black leather jacket over the top of it and fished out my red converse to add some colour. I decided to be lazy and left my hair in its natural half wavy state, just fastening it back with a black flower crown. I touched up my eye makeup from earlier and applied a little more foundation, after much cursing at my lack of skill with makeup I was ready to go.

I had just sat down, rummaging through my book box until I found my dog-eared copy of Harry Potter and the The Goblet Of Fire which was my all time favourite novel ever and a good way to forget time, when there was a knock at the door. I opened it, about to start telling Billie that it was his room and he didn't have to knock when I was taken aback. The guy at the door was not, in fact, Billie.

This guy was roughly the same height, maybe a little taller, but with squared shoulders and a strong, stocky figure. He had fading green hair that was gelled messily on top of his head, or at least had once been neatly until he'd run around and ruined it. He had on a black and white striped shirt with a red and white striped tie, schoolboy shorts and what looked like bowling shoes with red stockings. Tré grinned at me.

"Mi' lady," he said in the worst English accent I'd ever heard. I dissolved into fits of laughter to which Tré grinned proudly. "I've come to escort you," he offered me his arm in an over-pronounced gesture that matched his voice. I looped my arm through his and he led me through the bus and across the car park.
"Where's Billie?" I asked. Tré laughed, "Don't worry your boyfriend's waiting for you inside. He sent me, his expendable peasant, to fetch you because clearly I'm a less valuable life and can therefore get mobbed by savages to protect you," I laughed at his over exaggerated speech and continued my half jog to keep in time with Tré's bouncy step. "And he doesn't like anyone to talk to him before a show. He even freezes me and Mike out," Tré added casually, and pulled a stupid face.

Tré was a great ball of energy and it took us an age to get across the car park. I always thought Green Day got mobbed by fans, but every time Tré spotted some fans he was the one that went shrieking like an eleven-year-old girl as he sprinted over to them, yelling something about "My fans! My adoring fans!" as he hugged and took photos and autographs. There was something about him that made it impossible not to like him, it would be like disliking a hyperactive puppy. Wrong on all levels. Once Tré's attention was back on me he fell into step with my paces, grinning at a security guard as he skipped past him, dragging me with him before I could show him my pass.

"Tré wait, I didn't show him my pass!" I called as Tré skipped on. He turned to me with a giggle,
"What's life without a little risk?" He laughed and literally bounced off a wall. He quickly came running back to me, almost bowling me over in his excitement. He waggled his eyebrows at me. "So, how's Billie?"
"I don't know, he's your bandmate," I responded. Tré looked at me with narrowed eyes, before nodding like he was some detective that had just caught a clue.
"Oh you wanna play innocent? You and I both know I don't mean like that," I cocked an eyebrow at him, I knew exactly what he meant and two could play at that game.
"Well I don't know what you mean," I teased back in the same voice, "I have no idea how Billie is, he's not my boyfriend." Tré snorted at me. He muttered,
"That's what you think, Billie!" His voice rose as he ran into his bandmate. Billie moved easily with Tré's momentum, clearly running into people was something Tré did a lot. He disappeared skipping off singing for Mike and Billie's eyes found me. I noticed his gaze sweeping over me. He was wearing the same as the other night, the black-shirt-red-tie combo from American Idiot with his sliver studded belt and black jeans, these ones had a rip in the knee and his beat up black chucks.

"You look great," I hardly heard his voice as he came over, his arm wrapped around my waist and squeezed me gently into his side. I leaned into him, feeling the welcome crackle of electricity and relishing the way my body moulded into his taller frame perfectly. "Well I can't say the same about you," I teased, he feigned a hurt look and I pushed him gently as he led me through to their green room. "I'm damn sexy, I know," he laughed but I went quiet, feeling my cheeks heat up. "You took the words right out of my mouth," I muttered and heard his laugh echo richly in response, his arm tightening around me before letting go.

"Okay, so this is the green room. Now, y'know, not even the VIPs get to see in here, so be prepared for, um, anything," he grinned and pushed the door open.

The first thing I heard was an animalistic shriek as the human canonball came thundering past me. Mike was sat in a corner, giggling at Tré who was behaving like a five-year-old who had too much energy, absentmindedly strumming a guitar and shouting occasional words of encouragement to his friend. I saw a pair of drumsticks in the hands of the blur that was Tré and I realised that he was using the room as a drumkit, ignoring the one set up in the corner for him as he tapped, well more like smashed, on anything he could reach. Billie told me to help myself to whatever I felt like before jumping in with the chaos. He grabbed a guitar and began to play something random. Mike joined in, singing something in a drunken, deliberately slurred voice that I couldn't make out.

The energy in the room grew to a point where I felt like I was going to explode and I was just watching. There was something captivating about their warm up. They closed ranks in a tight circle, bouncing up and down as they constantly rotated, Billie's guitar keeping rhythm. Their vocals started off semi-sensible with Billie and Mike warbling through octaves and scales and hitting notes, but was quickly dissolving into random shouts and noises and, you guessed it, moans. Which of course had them laughing like a bunch of immature teenagers.

They separated again to Billie shouting, "Are you fucking ready!?" And them hollering in response. The security guy tapped me on the shoulder and I turned reluctantly to be escorted out to the front of the stage.
"Wait!" Billie cried running to me. He stopped in front of me and I could see his body vibrating with excitement. My eyebrows quirked upwards in question as he held out a small pencil to me with a grin.
"Billie, what?" He pushed the pencil into my hand.
"I forgot to do it earlier and now I'm shaking, can you?" Tré whistled loudly off to the side. I found myself laughing as Billie ducked down in front of me.
"Okay, look up," I murmured, trying to ignore the intensity of Billie's stare as I dragged the eyeliner thickly under his eyes. "Look down," my voice was barely audible, but it didn't matter because the familiar hum in Billie's throat said he heard.
"Done," he stood up, back to his full height so he was looking down on me, eyes now intensely lined. He shot me a small smile.
"Enjoy the show,"

~~~~~

The buzz this time was so much bigger, when I wasn't worrying about where I'd sleep and what Josh did. Knowing that the guy up there knew me, that Billie was my, um, friend. The lights dimmed down as my pulse began to race and three balls of energy exploded on stage. The performance started as it did last night, except I noticed Billie was looking in my direction a lot more than last night. The show changed for me when Billie jumped into the crowd.

His eyes flicked left to right and I noticed them land on me. Immediately he was in the crowd, dancing badly with me, one hand on the microphone as he belted out the lyrics to 8th Avenue Serenade, twirling me into him as he sang,
"Meet me at the bathroom stall.
Meet me at the whispering wall," kissing me on the cheek as he left back on stage, leaving me in shock and the girls around me screaming with jealousy.

Watching Billie Joe play, it was mesmerising. The effort he put into everything he did, from his music to his ridiculous dancing and his enormous love for fans. He created a rhythm that was hypnotic and I couldn't tear my eyes away. Every look, every smile and glance and wink sent that bolting feeling through my stomach, setting my nerves on fire. Setting everything alight. I'd felt that feeling before. That feeling of the world shifting into focus, sharpening around him. That feeling that everything he did became the best thing in the world.

The last time I felt that was when I realised I had fallen in love with Josh.