Drunk in Paris

The next few days were rather brilliant; Billie had shown me around all his usual haunts in the Bay Area. I had helped Joe with his French homework which basically meant that I was in his good books for a while. And today, Billie had taken me to the studio to show me, as he put it, 'the master at work'.
It was late afternoon and I was currently sitting in a huge leather chair behind a very complicated looking desk, when I jumped as the door slammed followed by the screeching of,
“BILLIE…BILLIE DON’T YA LOOSE MY NUMBER COZ I DON’T…oh”

I swung around to see Tre standing there, a smile spread on his face when I came into view.
“Bonjour Ava”
I giggled, “Hello Tre”
He chuckled, “At least someone was here to listen to my brilliant Phil Collins rendition.”
“How have you been?” he asked me seriously, walking over to the desk.
“I’m good.”
He nodded, “Billie told me your living in Paris now.”
I nodded. It felt strange seeing Tre again, especially after me opening up to him so spectacularly the morning after the dreaded party.
“Speaking of which, where is Billie?”
I smiled, “I’m not sure, something about he needed to get some supplies…”
Tre nodded, “That’s code for beer and chips…is Mike here?”
I shook my head as he took the vacant seat next to me.
“I’m not surprised… How is he?”
“Billie?” I asked
He nodded, cracking a beer that lay in his palm.
“Err…he’s fine.”
Tre’s eyes blinked confusedly then nodded at my answer before swallowing a mouthful of beer, to ask...
“When did you get here?”
“About two days ago” I answered, watching him fiddle around with the buttons on the desk.
He nodded at my words, his peacock like hair not moving an inch.
“I knew you’d come back, so how’s life been treating ya then Frenchie after…the yeah...huge mess?”
He leaned back into the leather chair, resting his feet against the desk. I shuddered at the awful memory of me nearly loosing Billie from my life.
“I’m okay Tre what about you?”
He smiled and sipped the beer, “I’m good… life’s always good when you’re Tre Cool. Oh…wanna beer?”
I shook my head, smiling, “No thank you Tre.”
He grinned at me and rocked his head from side to side, producing an almighty splinter noise that made me flinch.
“You crack me up Ava”
I turned to him, “I do, as much as your poor neck?”
Tre laughed, “Yeah, you’re too posh to be hanging with us, me and my knackered neck in particular.”
I giggled, “I’m not Tre, and anyway, I enjoy slumming it with you guys and you’re- ahem- necks.”
He cackled harder, “I enjoy you hanging around with us too; you’re easy on the eyes.”
I smirked, making a mental note to never, ever, tell Tre about the Lady Winchester title. Tre was a nice guy underneath all the jokes and crude innuendoes. It shone through his twinkling blue eyes and no matter how naked he got or how suggestive the drummer became he couldn't hide it. I liked that about him, it was something I liked about all of Billie's friends, they were loud and funny but loyal and kind, something very unusual in this day and age.
Suddenly there was a huge crash against the closed door, myself and Tre’s heads whipping around quick as a shot.
“What the fuck was that?”
Tre yelled standing up and making for the handle when two people came bursting through in a tirade of yells.
“I don’t understand what you want from me?”
I stared, eyes as wide as a goldfish as Billie squared up against a very skinny blonde girl as she screamed back.
“I just want to talk to you! You’ve been avoiding my calls!”
Her eyes were terrifyingly stern, her long blonde hair hanging loosely around her black shirt which portrayed a band of sorts.
She was younger than myself; she wore jeans that were as tight as Billie’s while her arms were decorated in hundreds of small bracelets. This girl was a definite contrast to me, the type of girl you’d expect Billie to have on his arm.

I shifted my glance sideways to see Tre, standing in a similar shock to mine, except he was smirking.
The room fell silent and I suddenly glanced back at the girl who was staring at me with something close to hatred. This wasn’t an unusual circumstance for me, there has been many an occasion were I’ve been out with a client only to bump into their partner’s female friend or, even worse, their partner. But her glare, her look of pure abhorrence made me shiver and I shifted on my feet.
This was Sarah then.
“Who’s she?” she spat, turning to Billie Joe who had taken two steps back in a failing attempt to block my path.
“What has it got to do with you? Why are you here disturbing me at the studio Sarah?”
Yes definitely Sarah.
I swallowed as Billie folded his arms in the same way he did whilst telling off his sons.
Tre swallowed a gulp from his beer, watching the scene like it was some kind of bad soap opera rather than his two friends fighting.
“YOU NEVER RING ME ANYMORE!”
“WE’VE SPOKEN ABOUT THIS BEFORE SARAH FOR GOD’S SAKE”
My heart hammered in my chest, this was an awful situation it really was, but for a moment my stomach churned in glee, Billie told me the truth back in Paris, he did finish with this girl after all.
Speaking of, she fell silent at Billie’s vociferous statement, producing a hurt look on her face and causing any kind of good feeling in me to turn into complete pathos for her.
She slowly looked up through the curtain of hair, her eyes making a line from my shoes until they fell at my eyes. She swallowed, turning to look at Tre who had suddenly wiped that smirk from his lips.
“I’m sick of this, I really am…I just don’t get it…you’re picking her? That hooker who is hiding behind all that make-up? The girl who lied to you? Who obviously has NOTHING in common with you?”
I squirmed under her words. Billie took a step back again, left arm moving from his torso, covering me ever so slightly.
But that didn’t help, she was right, her words hurt more than anything else she could have done.

'I had nothing in common with him.'

The girl who had just flung that straight in my face for me to swallow must have read my mind. She smirked sickly back at me as my face notably fell.
Amongst my thoughts Billie had yelled something back at her, and then Tre’s voice echoed in my focused contemplation.
I blinked as she made for the door handle, turning on her heel and spitting venomously back at me, “YOUR WELCOME TO HIM…AND… BILLIE JOE... IF IT DOESN’T WORK OUT DON’T EVEN THINK OF KNOCKING ON MY DOOR YOU FUCKING SELFISH PRICK.”

That door slammed, her disappearance providing great relief and great doubt in my mind.
Tre shook his head and muttered something like, “crazy ass bitch” under his breath while Billie slowly turned to me.
His eyes furiously scanning my face as I smiled sadly at him,
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know she was gonna turn up…”
I shrugged as he brought me into a hug, words failing me completely.
“Come, on, we... let’s go eh?” He asked unsurely.
I nodded against his chest as he quickly left the room to fetch his things.
I turned to Tre who smiled forlornly at me,
“Ava darlin’ don’t listen to her, she’s an absolute nut job, trust me, she’s one of Brittany’s friends…says a lot if you ask me.”
I smiled at him gratefully, “Thanks Tre…”

“She’s such a bitch…to do something like that on today of all days…”

I frowned at him in confusion, ready to ask what he meant by that when Billie sprung back through the door causing us both to jump.
“Ready?” he asked me, changing my train of thoughts once again before turning to Tre, “Sorry about that. You gonna be okay by yourself man?”
The drummer sniggered, flapping his hands at us,
“Yeah, yeah, now get out the pair of you, before any crazy ass motherfuckers interrupt Tre the genius at work…”
Billie chuckled, “Okay, just…don’t get drunk and spill beer everywhere again.”
Tre saluted him as we both left the building for Billie’s car.

The drive back home was silent except for the radio playing a very violent set of songs. My mind couldn’t stop whirling, Sarah was right. What did Billie and I have in common?
The time we spent together seemed never to be enough, but thinking back, I don’t know how we filled it. Silence like this never normally happened between us, I never got bored around him; we were always joking and laughing…
But what if this thing holding us together suddenly vanished?

Soon we were pulling up into Billie’s drive; he stopped the car and turned to me.
“Ava…”
My eyes rolled to look at him, the streetlights sending glowing shadows across his startling features.
“Ava…I…I just want you to know that I love you.”
I swallowed, my gut wrenching at those words.
“Billie…I…I love you too.”
He smiled a small sad smile, bending his head to stare at his lap.
“I just thought that you should know, you should be told more often. I’m sorry about this afternoon; please…please don’t let her get to you, don’t listen to her.”
I smiled at him, reaching over softly and taking the hand that held his car keys.
I sighed as he shifted closer to me, the rich leather creaking at his movements.
"You always pull that face when you have something on your mind. What is it? Tell me."

I shifted closer to him, “I was thinking Sarah is right, we don’t have anything in common, she…she seems to enjoy the things you do. Bands and music and…tight jeans”
He snorted, thinking for a while before he responded.
“Maybe that’s why we get on so much, me and you I mean, we’re both really different, but…I don’t know, I think, well I’d like to think we are on the same page, we understand each other…I like that…”
I smiled at him as he inhaled to continue, “I mean, don’t people get bored if they are both the same? There’s no change, nothing new about the person, I mean, I have no idea what you are thinking sometimes, it scares me sometimes and sometimes I think you think too much.”
I giggled softly, “I do think too much, you’re right there.”
He smiled back, “Well then, perhaps its just one thing we shouldn’t think about and just enjoy.”
I nodded at him as his words dissolved into a whisper.
“…plus you’re Lady Ava now and that’s one heck of a kinky bonus…”
I giggled and leant forwards to kiss his cheek tenderly.
“Come on…let’s go in the house Lord Billie...it’s getting quite chilly”
He chuckled miserably at my pathetic joke and followed me out of the car.

Billie was quiet as we sat watching a film. He had flopped down dejectedly on the couch after tucking Joe and Jake in to sleep. I didn’t know what to say to him, he obviously was mulling over the whole Sarah situation. I was scared encase I worsened the whole thing with poor words of comfort.
The best I could do was kiss him tenderly in bed that night, tell him I love him dearly and wrap my arms tightly around his tattooed torso in a vain attempt to try and wash these troubled thoughts from his mind. This time it seemed, anyhow, he was the one thinking too much, I just hoped he wasn't thinking he had made the wrong choice.