Making the Album

It was getting boring, waiting for Robert to reappear. Tre was obviously still talking to the singer. Barry, Mike and Jay had gone for some food, while Tom and Blondie had discovered that Mariah Carrey was somewhere in the building. The pair had taken off without saying what their actual intentions were, although Tony suspected they were less than pure.

Tony lay on her stomach, fidgeting with her necklace. Billie sat on the rug next to her pretending to read a magazine. There was an awkward silence that neither of them knew how to break.

"Billie?"
"Yeah?" He tossed the magazine away and looked at her.
"We need to talk."

Those four words. Billie had never thought he'd hear them again. But there they were, hanging in the air like a grenade. He swallowed his gum.

"What about?"
"I... I think there's something you should know about."

Tony's voice was trembling. Billie felt his stomach twist into a knot. Tony stood up, put her hand on the wall to steady herself. She looked so small, so frail. Just a wisp of a girl who'd seen more than anyone should see. And just that fact that she even loooked weak worried him. He jumped to his feet and put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"What's wrong? You can tell me." He said, trying to be comforting.

His words had the opposite effect. A tear rolled down Tony's cheek and she pulled away from him.

"Please don't do that, Billie. I don't deserve it."
"Tony, just tell me what happened."

She took a shakey breath and turned to face him.

"Don't be upset, please."
"Just tell me!" Billie pleaded, stepping closer to her. She moved away, refusing to meet his yes.
"I-I kissed Barry."

Billie felt the world drop out from under his feet. He closed his eyes, feeling explosions shake him, fragments of memories rush past him. Tony was crying quietly and he hated it.

"You did what?" He asked, his voice deadly calm.
"K-kissed him. And I'm sorry, Billie. It d-d-didn't mean anything-"
"You fucking KISSED him, Tony! How the hell doesn't that mean anything?"
"Because I love you!"

Those words. Why, why, why did she have to say them now? It wasn't supposed to be like this. Wasn't supposed to happen this way. She wasn't supposed to be crying and shaking and telling him she'd cheated. They were supposed to be somewhere, anywhere else. Together. Alone. Not here. Not like this.

And the whole situation just made Billie angrier. He was furious, at Tony, at Barry. And something needed to be done.

Which is why it was so unfortunate that Barry walked in the door at that exact moment.

Time stopped. Tony's eyes were huge, mouth open. She knew exactly what Billie was going to do. Barry sensed it, frowning.

But he had no time to react.

"YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!" Billie screamed, and punched the producer in the face.

Barry went down, blood streaming from his nose, sunglasses crooked. Tony screamed.

"What the fuck is going on?" Tre's voice demanded from the hallway.
"Who screamed?" Asked Jay.
"Sounded like Tony." Tre told him. Mike cursed.

But they were outside the room, just disembodied voices that couldn't stop what was happening.

"YOU FUCKING KISSED HER! YOU KNEW WE WERE TOGETHER!"
"It was an accident." Barry said in a low voice. "At least, it was the first time-"
"FIRST TIME? HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN GOING ON?"

And all of a sudden, Billie just didn't care. He jumped on the producer, who cursed and tried to shove the singer off of him. But Billie was a man on a mission. It didn't matter that he was smaller than Barry, didn't matter that he was older. Tony had betrayed him. And he couldn't hit Tony, wouldn't be able to live with himself if he did. So he settled for beating the shit out of Barry.

Barry took the first few hits like a man, then started struggling, trying to avoid hitting Billie back. Which just made Billie angrier.

"HIT ME BACK, GODDAMN IT! FIGHT ME!"

But Tre and Mike had finally shoved their way into the room, Blondie, Jay and Tom on their heels. A confused Robert trailed in last, carrying a pizza box and chinese take-out.

Tre and Blondie hauled Billie off the producer. Barry looked terrible. He had what promised to be a beautiful black eye, a broken nose and a split lip. Barry licked the blood off his lips, glaring.

Billie shook Tre off him.

"I'm leaving. Fuck this. Fuck all of it."

And he stormed out of the studio, with no idea where to go, leaving Tony sobbing and Barry cursing, and their respective bandmates confused as hell.

But he really just didn't care anymore.