She Manages My Heart

Chapter Eight

Chapter 8
Alison's P.O.V

“Ok so I’ll send to money to pay the bills. I will call you when I can. Make sure you don’t destroy my apartment because I will be coming home to check everything is ok regularly. Oh and the guys said I could fly out friends when ever I wanted so I guess I’ll see you pretty soon” I said, fiddling with my plane ticket.

“Yes, yes I know. We have been going over this since you said you would go with them, and that was a whole week ago” Alex told me, taking another sip of her starbucks coffee.

I just gave her a grin. “I’ll miss you annoying the shit out of me” I said, feeling an emotional goodbye verging nearer.

“Yeah well I’m going to miss making your life a living hell. Oh well, you’re going to be spending all of your time with three grown men, who happen to act very childlike, so I’m sure one or more of them will piss you off. As long as someone is there to make fun of you then I’m happy” she replied, earning a playful punch from me.

“I better get going, the guys are already on the plane. Oh god, I’m going to be on a flight with Tre for an enormous amount of time” I groaned as the realization of the hours to come hit me like a tone of bricks.

“Your problem,” Alex shrugged, clearly not giving a rat’s ass.

“Thanks” I said, glaring at her coldly. “Well, good bye then” I said, the coldness in my voice melting away as I spoke.

“Good bye” she said, wrapping her arms around me in a loving hug. “I’ll see you soon. I’ll look forward to it” her voice slightly muffled as her face was pressed against my shoulder.

I nodded in response as we let go of each other. I then picked up my luggage and walked to the gate, handing in my ticket as I went. I took one last look at her before I left, waving at her as I went.

_____________________________________________________________________

The stewardess walked me down the isle of 1st class towards my seat. “There you are ma’am” the stewardess said, urging me to sit down in my appointed seat. I was sitting next to Billie as both Mike and Tre where sitting behind us. I gave Billie my shoulder bag to hold as I sat down, he took it from me and put it in his lap and then returned it to me once I was seated. “Can I get you anything, perhaps a snack or something from the bar ma’am” the kind stewardess questioned me.

“I want peanuts!” Tre yelled from behind me. “Is he going to be like this the whole flight?” I whispered to Billie. “Oh yeah” he replied with a smirk. I turned my focus back to the stewardess. “I’ll have a scotch on the rocks with a twist, thanks” I said, sounding rather desperate.

She returned only minutes later with my cold, acholic drink in hand. I gratefully took the drink from her and let the cool liquid run down my throat. I heard Billie chuckle next to me, obviously amused by my sudden hunger for anything that had alcohol in it. “What? A long flight with Tre is not a fun one” I stated, lying back into my seat, trying to get as comfortable as I could.

He only nodded in agreement and then turned back to looking out the window. After a moment of silence Billie reached down to his bag and pulled it up to his lap unzipping it and pulling out what looked like a notepad and a pen. “What are you doing?” I asked, curiosity washing over me. “I like to write on long flights. It gives me time to think about new songs, get ideas and shit, you know?” “Yeah I get what you’re saying; it’s a good idea actually. I might as well do the same thing” I said, grabbing my bag from off the floor and pulling it towards me. I opened it and pulled out my black writing pad, a few coloured pencils and my Ipod. “What’s with the coloured pencils and the Ipod” Billie asked me, eyeing the object I held on my lap. “Well, I’m coming up with ideas for ‘American Idiot’ merchandise. The coloured pencils help me get more of a vibe on how the final product is going to look, and the music helps me think, plus I happen to be listening to ‘American Idiot’, so that helps me get ideas.” I said to him as I opened the writing pad and inspected my previous work. “It’s good to see you’re getting involved in your work already” “Yeah I know, but I want to get the clothing line started before you guys go on the Japan Tour” I said, turning my Ipod on. He only gave me a smile in reply, as he knew that if he did speak I wouldn’t be able to hear what he was saying.

*Seven Hours Later*

I turned around in my seat to see how Mike and Tre where doing. I peered over the top of my seat to see Mike asleep; snoring softly with his head resting against a pillow. I then tore my gaze away from him to see Tre; he had a pair of headphones on as he was watching episodes of ‘Family Guy’ on the portable DVD player he had brought along with him. He looked up from the screen and gave me a smile before I turned around to face the seat in front of me again. I had gotten dark outside and I could see that we where now flying over the ocean, on our way to America. I wasn’t really sure what we where going to do once we got there but I was in desperate need of a good coffee once we landed.

“Hey” Billie whispered, giving me a slight nudge to grab my attention. “Hey” I replied, unsure about what he wanted to talk about. “Since this flight is so long we might as well spend time getting to know each other, anyway, by the looks of it you’re not to big on sleeping in planes” “Yeah that’s true, we might as well then” I replied in agreement, I silently turned to face him, turning not to kick the seat in front of me and awake the person sitting in it.

“So what are we going to do once we land?” I asked, tucking a fallen strand of blonde hair behind my ear.

“Well we are going to go to a hotel to get a good night sleep and then we are going to go to where we are filming the ‘American Idiot’ video clip, and yes you are coming with us. We already know what we are doing because that was all sorted out before we met you, but there are some things you could help us improve on, or even give some more ideas” He said, starting to fiddle with the hem of his black t-shirt.

“Wow that sounds great. I can’t wait to see what I have to work with, I’m sure I could give you guys some ideas when I see the set. Who the director anyway?” my spirits where suddenly lifted as I realized this was really happening to me and I would have been a complete idiot to say no to an opportunity like this.

“Well Sam Bayer has agreed to direct ‘American Idiot’ and all the future songs we decide to release on this album” Billie informed me, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Really? Wow, I love his work. I’ve always wanted to work with him”

“This should be really great for you then” he said, giving me a small smile.

“This whole experience is going to be amazing for me. I never really thought I would be here”

There was a moment of silence before anyone spoke again. “You have a few tattoo’s don’t you?”

“Okay, wow I wasn’t expecting that” he laughed. “But yes I do have a few tattoo’s and I might as well show you before you ask me” I said sitting up and leaning over towards him more. I lifted my leg up awkwardly and rolled up my jeans, I then rolled down my long, stripy sock, earning a laugh from Billie as I went. I finally rolled down my sock and after a fair bit of movement I managed to get hold of my ankle. He leaned over and peered at the coloured design that was on my ankle; It the outline of a heart grenade. I then put my leg down, stood up and slightly rolled up my t-shirt. He scanned over the Nimrod tattoo that was just to the right of my bellybutton and he then scanned over that other tattoo’s on my lower back once I turned around for him to look. I had a small love heart with a treble clef inside tattooed on my lover back, I felt him trace a shaking finger over it. When I was sure he was done I sat back down and showed him the small red star on my hand.

“It’s just like mine” he said, putting his hand near mine so I could see his star tattoo.

“Yeah I know, Mikes got one to” I said, before pulling the sleeves of my jacket over my hands to cover them.

“I’m thinking about getting a few more while I’m out here”

“Like what?”

“Maybe another Green Day one, I can never have too many of those. I should get one in remembrance of this experience; even if it doesn’t work out. Oh and I’m going to get a ‘The Living End’ one somewhere.” I announced.

“Like The Living End?” he questioned me, I could see that he was curious to find out what music I liked other then Green Day.

“Yeah I love them. I have heaps of favourite bands; but Green Day will always be my favourite.” I assured him.

“Well that’s good to know” he said with a grin, before looking away from me, turning his gaze to the chair in front of him.

I playfully slapped him on the arms. “Hey what was that for?” he asked, rubbing the place where I hit him. “I’m not an idiot in know what you’re thinking” I said with a smirk. “What am I thinking then?” “You’re being full of yourself, admiring and being proud of what you have accomplished.” I said, resisting the urge to laugh.

He only pouted. “You know me to well” he said shoving a hand in my face to have me push it away moments later.

“Yeah. You really are a true Green Day fan” Billie added.

“Yeah I sure am” I said proudly.

“When did you first hear about us?” he asked, turning to me once again.

“Well I think I was 17 or something, anyway, at that time I was working in a music store with Alex as a part time job; so I could put away money to put me through university. We had just gotten this new shipment in of CD’S and I was looking through them, until I picked up ‘Kerplunk’ and I’m sure the first words out of my mouth after that were ‘Who the fuck is Green Day?’” I said as me and Billie started to laugh. “I listened to it, and I really liked it. But I wasn’t really hooked until ‘Dookie’ came out” I informed him.

“Well I’m glad you were a fan from the start.”

“Yeah same, I hate people that only like your new stuff. I mean what is with that?” I yelled, completely forgetting about the people that were trying to get to sleep around me.

“Okay anyway, let my just ask you some questions and you answer them. I will help me get to know you better, faster”

“Okay”

“Favourite colour?”

“Black; even though it’s a shade. It just goes with everything”

“Family?”

“Mum and Dad were partners in real-estate so they we pretty much working all the time. I’ve got two little brothers; one is 24 and the other is 22, and one sister who only just turned 19, I just hope you don’t have to meet my family, my sister Kara and her friends would mob you because they’re all in love with you, my brother Daniel would probably try and get you to give him a record deal because he thinks he so good, my brother Mark would try and buy shit off you and then sell it on ebay as a get rich fast plan, and my parents would try and sell shit to you and make you buy property somewhere around in my home area. ”

“Childhood?”

“Boring, nothing fun really happened there. I was a social outcast.”

“Friends? Other then Alex or course”

“I have lots of friends, but Alex is the only one you have met yet, the others don’t practically live in my apartment like her, they know the meaning of personal space.”

“How did you meet them all, what are they like” Billie asked curiously.

“Why are you so interested to know?”

“I like learning about other people. Plus I’m judging whether they are worthy to be your friends” he answered with a smirk.

I gave a soft laugh. “Well there’s my friend Casey; I met her over the internet and we met up after a while and became really close, she’s an airhead, has great taste in music, plays bass and according to her I am HER bitch, and SHE owns me; she works at a music store in the middle of the city.” I said, making sure to emphasise on the words ‘her’ and ‘she’.

“Then there’s Erin; I met her when I went on vacation in America; she’s a bit of a slut, hates children, is a vegetarian, is the reason I do no longer eat beef, is a freak and has a strange obsession with cows; she works as a tattoo artist.” I said, taking a quick pause before I continued.

“Then we have Dave, he’s a physical trainer, he was the best friend of some guy I used to date and that’s how we ended up being friends, he’s pretty smart, he’s into reading and stuff like that, he’s an amazing guy and it’s almost as if he can reads a woman’s mind cause he always knows what wrong.”

“Okay, I like this guy already. He should write a book; “How to understand what women want” Billie said, waving his arms around dramatically.

I giggled and then continued. “Then there’s Adam, I also met him in America, he understands me; which is something that is very hard to do, he’s a joker and a freak; like the rest of us and he’s a web designer and he’s very good at it.”

“Then there’s Jason, he the official group gay, I met him at a bar about 5 years ago and we just got along great, he’s just fun to hang around with and he’s a pretty good guitar player and he works as a beautician. I have more friends then that, but they are just the main group I normally hang out with.”

“Wow, sounds like you have some pretty cool friends, we’ll have to meet them all one day” he said, before gesturing towards Mike and Tre behind us, earning a small nod of agreement from me.

“Home?” Billie said, returning to the subject at hand.

“I grew up in a town about an hour away from the city. I lived in a boring house, in a boring neighbourhood, I went to a boring primary school and then later on to an even more boring all girl, catholic high school. I graduated, did university, moved into the city and shared a small apartment with Alex, before I moved out into a place of my own” I said, basically summarizing my entire life in a few sentences.

“Teen years”

All of a sudden I went quite, I felt as if the walls where closing in around me and I was completely lost for words. My breathing started to quicken as memories started to flood back to me, I tired to disguise my discomfit but Billie took my silence as a sign to change the subject.

“Look I’m going to try and get some sleep before we land, okay?” I informed him, wrapping my jacket tighter around me; trying to avoid the awkward stare he was giving me.

“Yeah, sure” he whispered, before he turned his gaze back to his window before looking out into the ocean.

You could have cut the tension with a knife and it was killing me. We both stayed silent after that, so I rolled over and tried to get some sleep.

“Excuse me” I said, grabbling onto the stewardess’s arm as walked by. “Do you know when we will be landing?”

“Yes Miss, I was just informed a few minutes ago by the captain that we will be landing in 15minutes.” The stewardess said is nearly a whisper.

“Okay, thank you” I said, letting go of her arm and turning my gaze once again to the seat in front of me.