Lots of Love, Mike

Hey Mike

This will be my last letter before we will be in California. I can't wait. All the arrangements are made. We land at midday in California. Thank you for offering to pick us up. I hope you have room for all our suitcases, especially Jessie's, its huge. I have my photography exam tomorrow and then I'm free. Free to work and do what I want. I can't wait to see you Mike. Yeah. See you at the airport.

Lots of Love

From

Stellax

"What time they getting here?" said Billie so anxious and not believing that he will be seeing Jess again in less than a week.

"Midday. I said we'd collect them from the airport" said Mike

"Cool." Said Billie. "You ready for this gig then?" he said.

"Yeah. Hey you OK man, you're looking tired today"

"Yeah I didn't sleep well last night," said Billie. "I keep having this weird dream that I'm going to get married"

"Oh, to Jessie I presume," said Mike.

"Well actually in the dream its someone else" said Billie. "It's a girl with long black hair and dark, dark eyes. Real pretty but not Jess, real weird"

"Oh right" said Mike. "It's just a dream; dreams can be weird" said Mike.

"Yeah I know," said Billie. There was no way he was going to marry anyone other than his Jessie. "Yeah dreams sure are weird sometimes aren't they" he said.

May 3rd 1989
At the airport

The airport was so noisy with planes taking off and landing. The sun was bright and Billie and Mike stood by their car with their shades on looking so cool. Girls that walked passed looked twice at the two guys standing there but the guys didn't seem interested at all. They were watching the airport doors, anxiously waiting the girl's arrival.

"Oh come on," said Billie. "What's taking them so long"? He said impatiently.

"The plane must have been delayed," said Mike.

"Wait. There's Jess," said Billie. Then he was off, running across the road, dodging traffic to get to his Jess.

Mike just stood where he was by the car. No point in both of us running off making fools of ourselves. He looked and saw Jessie, her long blonde hair blowing about her face. She was thinner than he remembered but still very pretty. She had a huge grin on her face watching Billie approach her. Mike watched Billie wrap his arms about her.

Stella felt the warmth of the sun hit her as she emerged from the airport. Wow. Jess is right; the sky is bright blue and that sun. Yeah I could get used to this she thought. Then she saw a familiar face from the photographs come running towards them. Billie. But he wasn't looking at her at all; he only had eyes for Jess. She watched them as they hugged each other.

Billie and Jess stood there for ages just hugging tight. Billie snuggled his face into Jessie's hair and squeezed. He had her back, he had his Jess back and it felt wonderful. God he loved her so much.

Jess held onto Billie's firm body as if she did she would lose him again. He was squeezing her so tight he was hurting her a little but she didn't care. She was with him again and that was all that mattered.

They finally pulled apart and Jess introduced them.

"Billie, this is Stella"

"Hi Stella. About time" said Billie giving her a hug

"Yeah I know. It is about time but we're finally here" she said. "Good to see you Billie"

"Come over and meet Mike," said Billie pointing over to a tall guy standing by a car.

Fucking hell thinks Stella, her stomach lurching. Mike looks well cool with those sunglasses on.

Billie takes their luggage trolley from them and pushes it over to the car where Mike is. "Come on Mikey, give us a hand," shouts Billie.

Mike comes wandering over to help with the trolley. Suddenly he feels very nervous, he can hardly look at Stella, what's wrong with him? Why was he suddenly so shy? He knew everything there was to know about her.

"Mike this is Stella at last" said Billie

Mike looked up and fuck, was she beautiful or what. She had glossy brown hair that hung down her back and these beautiful eyes and a smiley face. She was slim and her figure.. well it was perfect.

"Hi Stella" said Mike in that familiar deep voice that she'd heard on the phone

"Hi Mike" said Stella all shyly. Why the fuck was I acting like this? I knew everything about Mike and now I've gone all stupid and shy. What must he think?

Mike came and kissed her on the cheek. He had to bend down, he was quite tall.

"Hey you're taller than I thought you'd be," she said.

"And actually you're shorter" Mike said.

"Isn't this a weird situation" said Stella

"Real weird" said Mike

"I know everything there is to know about you," said Stella

"And I now more than there is to know about you" said Mike. "How's your rash by the way?"

"Oh that. Its all cleared up" said Stella.

"What rash?" said Jess

"Oh that rash I had on the back of my neck" said Stella

"I didn't know you had a rash," Jess said

"I did," said Mike

"You would," said Jess. "You're right, you do know too much" and they all laughed

Mike drove the car back to Billie's. Billie and Jess were in the back holding hands and Stella was looking at everything out of the window.

"I can't believe I'm here," said Stella suddenly.

"Neither can we, huh Billie?" said Mike but it seemed that Billie and Jess were whispering about something in the back and didn't take any notice of what Mike had to say.

"Look at the two lovebirds in the back" said Mike glancing in his rear-view.

"They've got it bad" whispered Stella and laughing at the two in the back seat who couldn't take their eyes off of each other.

"Real bad" said Mike.

"Are you having that party?" said Stella

"We sure are" said Mike. "We've got loads of people coming around tomorrow night. We've got some new friends from the Gilman, there is this guy there called Tre who is coming, he's so funny he'll have you laughing all night long"

"Tre" that's a weird name

"He's a weird guy," said Mike "but he's a fucking awesome drum player," he said.

"Yeah" pipes up Billie from the back seat "much better than John"

"Don't tell John that" said Mike

"Well John pisses me off," said Billie

"John's always pissed you off," said Mike

"Yeah I know. I wish he would just piss right off then we could take on Tre." Said Billie.

"Tre wouldn't want to play for us," said Mike

"Yeah he's too fucking cool," said Billie.

"Actually that's his second name did you know Billie?" Said Mike

"What's his second name?" Said Billie

"Cool"

"Tre Cool. Mmmm that's a fucking rock star name if ever I heard one." Said Billie.

"That means VERY cool in French" said Stella

"Ooooh listen to the girl who knows French," said Billie from the back of the car

"Fuck off" said Stella. "I thought every one knew that"

"We did," said everyone at the same time.

They all laughed together on the way back to Billie's.

"Hey" said Billie to Jess. "Why not ask your cousin to come over to the party. She was fun, Mike and me have bumped in to her loads of times since your last visit, and in fact we saw her at the Gilman last week. She was watching Tre's band," said Billie.

"Actually I think she was watching Tre" said Mike

"Yeah. Everyone watches Tre," said Billie.

Billie's mum was at the door when they arrived.

"Stella! She said. It's about time we met you" and she gave Stella a welcoming hug.

"And Jess" said Mrs Armstrong looking her up and down. "Hey you've lost weight since you were last here" she said

"I thought that too" said Billie looking at his Jess. He suddenly felt as thought everything fitted. He felt a lot calmer than he had for ages it was because Jess was here with him where she was meant to be. He felt that everything was all right with the world.

The girls were to share the bedroom that Jess and Rachel had that night they both stayed over.

"Wow how gorgeous" said Stella.

"Isn't it" said Jess looking at the beds.

"That was where I had my first kiss with Billie" she said pointing at one of the beds.

"Oh Jess, shut up. You'll be taking me down to the summerhouse next and telling me that's where you and Billie... "

"What's that about me?" said Billie coming into the room

"Nothing, just that your mum is lovely and really welcoming" said Stella slightly embarrassed.

"Yeah that's my mom for you," said Billie still not able to draw his eyes away from Jess. He couldn't wait to be alone with her. Stella sensed this.

"I'll just go and see where Mike has got to," said Stella.

"Yeah he's in the basement waiting for you," said Billie not even looking away from Jess.

Stella laughed to herself as she left the room. Those two!

"At last" said Jess. "Come here" she said to Billie holding out her arms. Billie came forward and they hugged one another. "God its good to feel you in my arms again" said Billie.

"I know what you mean," said Jess. "Sometimes I was going mad at home, sometimes I forgot what the feeling was like, and then I'd think that you could easily just find someone else. It made me ill with worry some nights just thinking about it."

"Oh Jess there's never going to be anyone else" said Billie looking at her. "For god sake kiss me will you" he said and they did then they fell onto the bed still kissing and stayed there for ages just lying next to each other, looking into each others eyes, kissing and stroking hair. They would probably have stayed there forever if they could have.

In the basement

"Oh my god it's huge," said Stella walking into the basement.

"Do you say that to every guy you meet?" said Mike laughing

"Only the ones I know real well but I think I know you better than most other guys," she said

"Are there any other guys?" Said Mike "I mean really."

"No. None. The boys around my way are immature and all they are interested in is football."

"Well.. all we are interested in is music" said Mike

"Yeah but .. well.. that's different you can play music real well. The guys round our way think they can play football but they're just... crap. Hey is this your bass?" said Stella going over to a guitar on a stand.

"Yep."

"Would you play for me," she said

"OK" said Mike who so loved playing his bass he picked it up at every opportunity.

Stella just watched the tall muscular guy pick up the bass guitar and play something on it. She watched his hands work up and down the guitar and his fingers plucking at the strings and she felt tingly inside. I'm going to so enjoy this trip she thought.

"You play so well," said Stella

"Thanks" said Mike "but you want to hear us when we play together. Actually after dinner we've got a set at the Gilman. We've got you and Jess tickets so you'll get to see the real thing onstage."

"No way" said Stella getting all excited.

"Yep. I think Billie's mum is making her best chicken casserole and then we're all heading off. If you come with us you can get in early and get right up near the front."

"Oh my god I can't wait. I've waited so long to hear you play."

"And I've waited so long for you to watch us play" said Mike.

I feel so comfortable with you thinks Stella. It feels just so natural sitting here chatting and laughing with you and really I've only just met you, what a bizarre situation she thought. I wonder what will develop between us in the month that we're here. I'm going to have to be careful though as you might not want anything other than to be close friends. We shall see I don't want to spoil what we have got though I would love to take things a little further but may be it would be best to remain friends.

Mike looked over at the beautiful girl with the glossy hair falling about her shoulders and he suddenly felt the urge to touch it. He felt so good when Stella was in the room it was like a missing piece of puzzle, like something he'd been waiting for all his life. Could she feel the same or did she just want to remain close friends? Who knew? He didn't want to frighten her off by jumping on her on the first night and then spoiling the rest of their time together. May be she wouldn't want him at all. I'm going to have to be careful here thought Mike. It may spoil everything, may be it would be best to remain friends...