Changes

"Jay! Would you slow the fuck down?"
"Billie, when the cops come to call, we need to be elsewhere. Fast."

For the first time since Billie had met him, Jay wasn't in control of his emotions. That in itself was slightly frightening.

"Got a cell phone?" Jay asked. Billie handed Tony's to him.

"Good." He dialed the number so quickly his fingers blurred.

Billie sighed and stroked Tony's hair. She murmured something incomprehensible in her sleep.

"Allen? It's me...shh, not so loud. Yes, something is wrong...Andy...Listen, if anyone asks, you'll back me up? This is why I fuck you, Allen...you're like the fucking mafia, you know that?...Alright, I love you too...no, I'm gonna be out of town for a little while...taking Joe back home, meeting his family...shut up...I'll call you later...thanks...bye."

He handed the phone back to Billie.

"Allen's gonna cover for us. We've got an alibi. As for Tony, as far as anyone knows, she was a few lines away from an overdose. People will just assume she died and Andy got rid of her body."
"What about you?"

Jay closed his eyes, which gave Billie an urge to grab the steering wheel out of his hands.

"I don't know. I guess I'll take you guys back..."

His voice trailed off and Jay scratched his head uncertainly. Billie bit his lip, looking at Jay's face. His face had the look of a man who had lost everything. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel.

"You can stay with us."
"I don't want charity, Billie. I'll...I'll find somewhere else to live."

Billie shook his head. Jay needed a place where music flourished. He needed a place where people came in many different shapes and sizes. Jay needed a city, Jay needed a place like New York, and now, thanks to him, New York was closed to Jay.

"Jay, you helped me. You helped Tony. Come on tour with us. By the time tours over, things will have calmed down."

Jay sighed.

"I hate this. It's not that I regret helping you, because I don't. But Billie, New York...there's no other city like it...my friends, my life...it's there. And if I can't go back..."

His voice trailed off and he blasted the horn at a group of kids on the sidewalk. Billie turned around to look at them as the car shot past them. The group looked at them oddly. Those were strangely familiar strangers....

"HEY! That's my band! And Tony's band!"

Jay twisted the steering wheel and whipped the car around. Billie cursed.

"JAY! Are you TRYING to kill us?"
"Relax Bill. This is New York. If there isn't a cop around, anything's legal." But the statement was bitter, angry as opposed to the light-hearted air these comments usually held.

Billie reached forward and put a hand on Jay's shoulder.

"You could perform...You could be a closing act...anything you want. Just please let me help."

Jay sighed.

"Fine. But I'm EARNING my keep."

~~~

"Jesus, Billie. You know how to pick 'em." Tre whispered. Billie sighed.
"Guys, this is Jay. Jay, Green Day and the Dolls."

Jay waved his hand luxuriously.

"I'm Jay. Homeless, musician, murderer...pleased to meet you."

And not surprisingly, the car was silent for the entire way home.