Green Day Saves the Day

“No, no, no—your index finger’s on the wrong string,” Billie sighed. For over two weeks he had been attempting to teach Matt how to play the guitar and the progress was slow, too slow for the impatient man on a mission. He rubbed his hair and groaned; he’d just have to bear through this if he really wanted music to be saved. Meanwhile, Stevie and Tré seemed to be having much more fun. The younger of the two already had 14 years of drum-playing experience under his belt, so there wasn’t much for Tré to teach him. They messed around on Stevie’s drum kit while Mike and Alex practiced bass licks.

“You’re doing great,” Mike said sincerely. He was thrilled to see his 19-year old student so enthusiastic about fine-tuning her bass-playing skills. “Thanks,” she replied. Stray strands of hair that had been recently dyed purple concealed her flushed cheeks. “So Mike,” she said. “How much longer do I—do we have to keep you and Billie and Tré secret?”

Mike smiled. “Just until the world is okay with the idea of dead guys producing music,” he said.

“I’m assuming you mean ‘never’,” said a discouraged Alex.

“Ah, don’t be so pessimistic. Just give the world another…40 years or so, and see if they don’t come around.”

“Gee, thanks for the insight.” The young woman’s face brightened. “What if I just told my sister?”

“I didn’t even know you had a sister.”

Alex pulled a thin, light blue leather wallet from her seat pocket. “I’ve got a brother, too,” she said proudly. She showed Mike her family portrait while conveniently covering a picture of her boyfriend.

Mike’s eyebrows drew together as he examined the photo. “Your sister, she looks familiar.”

“You’ve probably seen her on TV,” Alex shrugged. “On the tabloid shows? She’s with that hot bassist from The New.”

Mike restrained an amused laugh. “Hot bassist? I know you’re not talking about Minty.”

Alex’s cheeks blossomed into two red roses. “Yeah, I am,” she mumbled. “Anyway, they’ve been dating for a couple of weeks now.”

“Oh yes, I know all about Joan,” Mike grinned. “I’m just surprised she doesn’t know about us—about Green Day—already.”

Alex cocked her head ever-so-slightly and a devilish spark lit up her eyes. “I never told you her name. You know something! What are you not telling me?”

“Minty’s band is the band we worked with before you guys,” Mike explained. “We started working with them back in June.”

Alex’s eyes widened. “Really. Well, telling Jo should be pretty interesting.”

_________________________________ ***

The wooden legs of the chair squeaked on the tile floor as Robb pushed himself away from the table and stood. “I don’t have to sit here and listen to you lecture me about curfews,” he said to Minty in an icy tone with an equally cold look in his eyes. “I’m out of here.”

“The hell you are,” Minty growled. He stood between Robb and the living room with his feet rooted to the ground. The two friends locked eyes, and in that moment they became enemies.

“Get out of the way, Danny,” Robb said, his voice low. He looked up at the man before him with gray-green eyes that screamed murder.

“No,” Minty said steadily. “You’re not going anywhere until we figure out how we’re going to keep this band together.”

Robb stared back evenly, his eyes never breaking away from Minty’s. “There’s nothing to figure out. I’m going to ask you one more time to move.”

“What’ll you do if I don’t? Tackle me? Try to choke me?”

Memories of a hot summer night in a cramped club flashed through Robb’s mind, and he felt his blood turn to lava in his veins. “You son of a bitch--!” Every muscle in his body tensed instantly as adrenaline flowed throughout him.

In that instance, Dré appeared by Minty’s side. His gaze bore into both of his friends’ eyes with a look of disappointment and disbelief. “Mint, if he doesn’t want to be here, don’t try and stop him,” he said with his eyes settled on Robb. “Just let him go.”

Robb glared at him, then at Minty, and said, “I don’t need either of you. I can do this by my goddamn self.” With that said, he brushed past them and walked out the front door without another word. In his state of indignant anger, he failed to realize precisely what he had just done.

_________________________________ ***

The weeks inched by and soon the brutal rays of late summer gave way to October’s mild warmth. The few trees that could be found in and around Hollywood slowly began to change color in anticipation for a cloudy autumn. It was a time for change, and the seasons were not the only things undergoing a transformation. In just a few weeks, the bond between Robb and Minty and Dré had gone from unflinching to strained to broken. Robb continued to disappear for days at a time, and rarely did he speak to either of his band mates. Whenever they crossed paths, looks of disgust and resentment were fired from hard eyes. However, Green Day was absolutely oblivious to this sudden rift within the band; they were far too busy turning the Polarities tribute band into original musicians who called themselves Take It Higher.

On an unusually chilly day in mid-October, Billie Joe appeared at The New’s front door with a smile on his face. Dré, who had opened the door, didn’t return the gesture. “Come in,” he said flatly.

“I see your arm’s gotten better,” Billie said, still smiling.

“Yeah, I should be able to play the drums normally in a week or two,” Dré said, his tone warmer and his expression softer. “So what brings you to our humble abode?”

“I’ve got big news. Well, it’s not so much news as it is an idea, but…you’ll see. Just get the guys in here, will you?”

Not sure how to tell Billie that his distant relative hadn’t been home in two days, Dré simply nodded and left to collect Minty from his room. He found his friend sound asleep on the bed; he shook him awake. “Minty,” he said in an urgent whisper. “Billie Joe’s here and he wants us to meet—all of us. What are we supposed to tell him about Robb?!”

Minty rubbed his eyes and sat up. “We don’t tell him anything. He worked his ass off to get us where we are now. We can’t just go and throw this in his face. ‘Oh yeah, hi Billie, nice to see you. It’s been a while hasn’t it? By the way, your great great great grandson has become an arrogant bastard and thanks to him our band’s falling apart.’ We’ll just say Robb’s out…doing charity work.”

“Billie would never believe that.”

“You’re right. Let’s just say he’s at the gym then.”

“Fine.”

The pair walked into the living room to find that Billie had company. Tré and Mike had joined him on the couch and the two of them greeted Dré and Minty with cheerful hello’s.

Billie, however, only wanted to know one thing: “Where’s Robb?”

“At the gym,” Dré said quickly.

“Working out,” Minty said simultaneously.

Billie looked at them suspiciously, but decided not to confront their nervous behavior. “Anyway, the reason we wanted to talk to you guys is--“

He was interrupted by the sound of the front door sliding open. Robb froze in the doorway, and all eyes were on him. He forced a smile. “Hey Billie, long time no see. Mike, Tré, hi.”

“How was your workout?” Billie inquired.

Robb frowned and glanced over at his band mates who dared him to say he hadn’t just come from the gym. “Great,” he instantly replaced his frown with an unnatural grin. “Just great. Why are you all here?”

“Me and the guys were talking and we were thinking it would be a good idea—“ Billie drew out every word and was cut off by Tré.

“We want you to start touring!” the drummer said, exasperated. “Why do you have to make everything so dramatic?”

Billie frowned and mumbled, “Excuse me for wanting to savor the moment.”

“You want us…to tour.” What was meant to pass as a question slipped out of Robb’s lips as a statement of disbelief.

“You can’t really have a career if all you do is sit in a recording studio and spit out albums. You’ve got to start touring,” Mike stated plainly. “It’s all part of the rock star package.”

A smile was plastered on Robb’s face but in his eyes remained a spark of aggravation mixed with dread for what the next months would bring once the band began touring. “You’re right. Well I think it’s a great idea, don’t you guys?” As Robb’s eyes darted over to Minty and Dré, his artificial smile just barely managed to stay glued to his face.

“Such a great idea,” said Minty flatly.

“It’ll be fun.” Dré made more of an effort to go along with the lie than his resentful friend. “When do we start?”

“Normally when a band goes on a headline tour there’s a whole team of people that are involved in putting it together—“ Once again, Billie was interrupted by Tré.

“Long story short, your first show is three weeks from today.” He mocked the insulted expression Billie made at him and said, “Seriously, man, come on.”

“Three weeks.” Robb nodded absentmindedly. “That’s…soon,” he mumbled. Too soon.