Cherry Lips And Tattoos

On the golf course...

"Good shot" said Mike to Tre. "You played good today man, best I've seen you play in ages" said Mike.

"Yeah. It's good to be home. I feel more relaxed on this course than the ones on tour" said Tre.

"How about a drink in the bar before we head off?" said Tre to his old friend.

Mike checked his watch. He should really be getting back to Jen but he knew his friend Tre was a very lonely guy so he thought fuck it, what the heck.

"Yeah why not" said Mike. They gathered their golf trolleys and headed off to the clubhouse.

Walking across the green Tre was deep in thought. Thinking of Sammi yet again. She was constantly in his head. Well why wouldn't she be? She had been the love of his life. After she had died he had nearly gone insane with grief. He kept looking for her everywhere. He thought he saw her whilst driving the car, out on the street he thought everyone looked like her it was utter madness. Every woman he met he compared them to her. How their eyes weren't quite as sparkly as Sammis how there teeth weren't as straight and how they didn't laugh at his stupid jokes like she had. He wasn't going to settle for second best so he didn't get involved with anyone. Just kept it to the odd one night stand.

They entered the clubhouse but there was hardly anyone there. Bob, an old regular came over to greet them.

"Hi guys," said Bob shaking both their hands madly. Bob was 65, snowy white haired and one of the friendliest guys on the planet.

"Bob" said Tre. "How many times. Its cooler to hi-five than shake hands" joked Tre. Putting his hand up for Bob to slap it. Bob did, laughing.

"You've been gone ages this time" said Bob. "but I hear that the tour went well. Saw you guys a couple of times on the TV. I hear you've been nominated for Best Album again. We'll definitely be watching the Grammy's," said Bob. "How you doing?" said Bob to Tre with concern in his voice.

"Well.. you know" said Tre.

"I know," said Bob. "Come on over to the bar and I'll buy you both a beer. Come and meet Susan, she's our new barmaid."

He took them over to the bar and he introduced the guys to Susan.

Tre stopped dead in his tracks. Susan was beautiful. She had ich dark brown glossy shoulder length hair and dark brown eyes with olive skin. She was around about his age with a perfect body to boot.

Mike noticed Tre watching Susan and he could sense an old sparkle come to light in his old friend's eyes. It was a glimpse of the old Tre and Mike hadn't seen it for years. He hoped this meant that the old Tre was back.

***

Franky at home...

I was just putting on my cherry lip gloss when I glanced out of the window and saw Billie pull up in his BMW. He honked the horn twice.

I grabbed my bag and went out to the car, opened the door and got in. The car smelt of his aftershave.

"Hi Billie" I said casually "Thanks for doing this"

"No problem" said Billie Joe pulling off the drive. "What you thinking about having done" he said

"I'm having the same tattoo that mum had. Did you ever get to see it when she was in her bikini, the three stars on her hip? Red, Yellow and Blue."

"Yeah I remember. Cool" he said looking at the road.

"What about you?" I ask

"Oh I'm going to get another skull done on my hand and a surprise for Adi. May be a little red heart on my ankle"

"How sweet. How painful will it be?" I say. My stomach was starting to get nervous.

"Fairly painful but I've got some painkillers in my pocket to take straight after. You'll be fine," he said reassuring me.

We parked outside the tattoo parlour and there was this huge heavily tattooed guy at the door.

"Brian my man" said Billie going over to him and shaking his hand.

"This is Tre's daughter Francesca," he said introducing me. I shook Brian's hand. It was covered in tattoos and I couldn't see any natural colour skin at all.

"Hi" I said looking up at him. "He had loads of piercings all over and tattoos all around his neck. He looked pretty scary but he had kind eyes. He shook my hand and surprisingly his handshake was quite weak.

"You OK?" he said kindly.

"I think so. May be a little nervous," I answer.

"Come on in and tell me what you want done," he said.

I told him exactly and he knew.

"Your Dads got the same one hasn't he? I did it for him not long before your mum died." Said Brian.

"Yeah that's right"

"He had a couple more done after that. It killed him he hated having them done really and I've not seen him since."

"I'm not surprised. He hates needles. He did them for mum really" I said.

"Right, get up on the bed and you have to lay quite still. Where do you want these stars then" said Brian

"On my hip"

"OK, so you'll have to take off your jeans" said Brian.

I stood up and took my jeans off not daring to look at Billie. I was only wearing a little black thong with red hearts and was quite conscious of it but I was so nervous I just wanted Brian to get on with it.

Billie Joe sat on a chair next to the bed while Brian cleaned the spot where the tattoo was to go.

"You OK?" Billie said to me kindly

"Mmmm. Yeah. Think so." I said nervously.

The Brian began and I fucking nearly jumped out of my skin the pain was that bad. Billie took my hand.

"Just squeeze my hand if it hurts" he said his green eyes looking at me. I was aware of him concentrating on what Brian was doing. I suddenly got a little embarrassed as he was sitting down at the end of the bed where Brian was. I hoped I shaved properly down there I thought and haven't got any stray pubes poking out. How embarrassing would that be?

It seemed to take ages and I felt hot and sweaty and kept on squeezing Billie's hand.

"All done" said Brian eventually. "Want to take a look?"

I sat up feeling slightly queasy. Billie handed me a bottle of water and I took a look at the tattoo. It was awesome. It was red and swollen around it but I was so pleased with it my expression must have shown it.

"I love it," I said to Brian. "Thanks so much it's exactly what I wanted. It's the same as mums"

After Brian had put a pad over it, Billie helped me off the bed so that I could get my jeans back on and then he handed me the painkillers. I took one straightaway then went off to the waiting room while Billie had his done.

I must have looked a bit pale when he came out.

"You OK?" he asked quite concerned.

"Not too bad. I uust want to get home," I said

"Come on then," said Billie "lets get you home"

We got into his car and he put the air conditioning on full blast, which made me feel a little better.

"Don't your new tattoos hurt?" I asked.

"Nah. I'm used to it. Its quite a nice pain really"

I looked over at him and he caught my eye.

"Your nuts" I said laughing. He laughed too then we pulled up outside my house.

"There you go Titch," he said. "Hey you haven't even taken a look at my new tattoo," he said. Rolling up his sleeve. "A skull here" he said "look"

"Oh yeah, awesome. Did you have that heart thing done on your ankle?" I asked.

"No I changed my mind about that one," said Billie.

"The skull looks good though," I said unclipping my belt. "Thanks again Billie" I said.

"You're welcome," he said. "Remember to keep taking the painkillers for a while"

"I will. See you soon."

"Bye babe" he replied and then I closed the door and he drove off.

***

The next day...

I knocked at Hannah's house and Hannah's mum answered.

I liked Susan, she was about the same age as my mum would have been and I always liked to think that they were quite similar and would have been friends if she were still alive. She had a lot of similarities about her and she always made me feel welcome.

"Hi sweetheart" she said. "How are you? I hear you got Hannah singing one of your songs and it was awesome," she says.

"Oh I don't know about that. Hannah's voice is awesome though," I say entering the house. "How's Ellie by the way?"

Ellie was Hannah younger sister. At 15 she was such a lovely girl, real pretty, cute and kind but totally unaware of it. She had recently had a bad dose of the flu and had been in bed for nearly two weeks.

"She's much better thanks Franky, hopefully she'll be back at school in a couple of days"

"That's good," I say. "She really did look ill"

"Hi Franky" said James. My stomach leapt. Oh my god.

"Hi James" I replied.

"I'll see you a little later Franky I've just got a joint in the oven and need to check it"

"Yeah see you later Susan," I say watching her go off to the kitchen.

"You look good" James said looking me up and down

"Oh thanks" I blushed and looked down. Why did I always blush, it really pissed me off. I was 17 ½ and still blushing at boys. I wasn't very experienced at all with boys. I'd only kissed one and that was Charlie.

I loved Charlie but he was a life long friend and I didn't really have any other feelings for him other than great friendship. I could tell him anything and dad despaired as he lived in England and we spoke loads on the phone. He always wondered what we were talking about for so long.

Loads of girls at school said they were no longer virgins but I was never sure whether to believe them or not. I didn't trust many people. Hannah had told me she'd been with a boy. She told me she'd actually slept with two different boys and she lost her virginity at 16 to a boy at her old school. She said they'd been going out for 8 months before anything happened and she said it just felt right. After they split up she said she had a one-night stand but hated it and would never let that happen again. My god I'm so inexperienced I thought.

Mum always said when you meet the right guy you'd know. He'll tick all your boxes she said. I never knew what she meant. May be one day I'll find out.

"Hannah is upstairs," James said "go on up"

As I walked upstairs I could sense his eyes on me. My heart was almost bursting out of my chest.

I knocked on Hannah' door.

"Come in" she shouted

"Hi Hannah" I say entering the room "you OK?"

"I'm fine," she said. "I'm still on a high from yesterday. Wasn't that awesome. I can't believe that your dad thinks we've got something. Do you think we have?" she asked

"Yeah I do" I replied. "We've got to decide what we're going to do though. We need a bass player and a guitarist, we need a name too"

"Yeah I know. James plays guitar and his friend Ed plays bass, what do you think?"
My heart skipped a beat.

"That would be cool. Ask them what they think?" I say. "Oh I forgot, I've got something to show you and I pulled down my jeans to show her the tattoo.

"Hey that's gorgeous," said Hannah. "I wish I could have a tattoo but I'm not brave enough. That really suits you. I'm surprised you didn't get a purple star seeing as it's your favourite colour."

"Yeah but I wanted to get the exact one that mum had" I said pulling my jeans back up.

"Well its gorgeous" said Hannah

"Thanks. Oh I also forgot to mention that I've got to go to the Grammy's with Dad. He reckons I need to dress up a bit, so I've got to get out of my trainers and put on some stilettos! God I don't know where to start. Could you give me a hand on deciding what to wear?" I say.

"Sure" said Hannah. "When is it"?

"Oh about four weeks time, so we need to go out soon to choose something to wear and for me to practice walking in high heels," I laugh.

"Lets go in a couple of days," said Hannah. "I could do with some retail therapy after yesterday. That knocked me for six you know. Your dad's real nice," she said.

"Of course he is, what did you expect?" I asked.

"Well I didn't expect him to be so kind and cool and well.. he's handsome isn't he?"

"Of course he is. He's my dad and he's Tre Cool." I laugh.

"Does he have girlfriends?" she asked.

"No. He's never been with anyone since mum" I respond quickly

"You're kidding," she says. "But he's a man. He must have.. needs?"

"Well he hasn't needed anyone else. I know that for a fact" I said. "Anyway don't tell me you've got the hots for my dad?"

Hannah blushed.

"You have haven't you?" I say. " God I don't believe this," I said. "You're only 17."

"I know," said Hannah "I'm being silly. He wouldn't look at me anyway. It's just the initial reaction. He was so charismatic and gentlemanly. You don't get that with guys our age"

"I suppose" was all I could muster. I knew what she meant as I'd had the major hots for Billie Joe for years but hopefully that was all in the past. Hopefully I would get together with James and he would take my mind off Billie.

Later...

Diary entry of Hannah...

Now Franky knows I like her dad. Well sort of knows. I'm glad as I hate betraying her. If she ever found out that we moved to this area and I hunted her down just to get to know her to get close to Tre it would really hurt her. I love Franky she has become such a good friend to me. One day I shall have to tell her though as we have no other secrets between us. Now I have to think of a way to get a date with Tre. I'm shaking here just thinking of him...

Two days later...

Pammy was swimming up and down the pool at the Health Centre. I love this life she thought. Bribery was such a wonderful thing and with these rich LA types so much money was to be had. She was surprised at Adrienne Armstrong falling for it though. She'd heard that her and the punk rock guy were as close as anyone could get. Well I've proved that wrong she thought to herself doing her 25th length. I do so love this life...

***

Adrienne entered the Health Centre feeling sick. She couldn't believe what she had done. She hated coming here but she knew she had to otherwise Pam would tell Billie Joe about what happened when he was away. How fucking stupid could I have been she thought. She opened her locker door, put her bag inside and closed it when behind her came that awful voice that she had grown to hate...

"I thought you were going to fix me up on a date with Tre?," said Pammy interrupting her thoughts.

"I.. er.. I forgot," said Adrienne.

"Well you know the rules," said Pammy. "I have the photographs right here in my bag, if you'd like me to show Billie Joe well... ."

"OK. Look I'll get one date with Tre but after that it's up to you. When is this going to end?" Said Adrienne feeling sick.

"When we move on. May be another couple of months. I want that date soon."

"I'll see what I can do," said Adrienne as she handed over an envelope to Pam with $1000 dollars inside.

**

"Is something wrong Adi?" said Billie looking at his beautiful wife. "You've not been yourself since I got back off tour"

"Nothing's wrong Billie" said Adi. "Nothing at all" she hated lying.

"You seem different honey," he said. "Like you don't want to be around me and you're always off at the Health Club. Why do you go there so much now that I'm back? You could swim in our pool to keep fit"

"I love it there and like to keep fit. I have friends there and its good fun" she lied. She hated the place.

"But we've hardly spent any time together at all since I've got back" said Billie looking sad. "Please say that everything is alright between us Adi. I'm sure something's bothering you"

"Nothing is bothering me Billie," she snapped. "Sometimes its hard to adjust having you back" then she looked over at his sad face and regretted saying it.

"I don't mean it in that way but.. when you're not here I do certain things to keep me occupied and when you're back.. well I still like to do those things, why should I stop?"

"I know it must be difficult sometimes when I come back but it's never been a real problem up until now. We're still ok though aren't we Adi?"

Adi didn't answer straight away and this shocked Billie.

"Yeah Billie. We're still OK," she said after a while. "Listen, I've got to go collect the boys from soccer practice. I won't be long" and she grabbed her car keys and left the house.

Billie felt sick and sad. Something was desperately wrong and he didn't know what. He'd asked her. They'd never had secrets. Could there be somebody else? No. Adi wouldn't do that to him. What then? He wasn't sure. They hadn't even had sex since he had got back and that certainly wasn't like Adi. I don't like this. Whatever it is its alien and I don't like it at all thought Billie.