Sweet Children Come Out And Play

Delphine walked out of the bathroom after washing her face to find him still in bed of course, and it took a rather long pillow fight to get him up. She hadn’t meant to stop at do that. And then she hadn’t meant to give in when he threw her pink bunny stuffed animal at her. And then when he pushed her back down onto the soft still warm sheets, touching her thigh in a way that made her flinch – in a nice way. Finally, that and fifteen minutes later, they made it across the street to the old apartment house. Delphine laughed. Their new house was really just an extension of the old one. They still both had a key and invited themselves in. Delphine stepped into the kitchen first to find Brites, Richelle and Mike all up watching Bugs Bunny. They all looked up, still in pajamas. “Hi!” Richelle waved and ran over to them. Brites and Mike were being more lazy. They were sitting together and just turned around on the couch.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” Mike said.

“The sky!” Brites yelled for them.

“I was not asking you. Really, what’s up?”

“Actually, this time we do have something that’s up,” Delphine said shyly.

The Mike looked more interested. “Really? Usually the answer to ‘what’s up’ is ‘nothing.’” And that would be about where Tre starts making stupid noises or something of the sort. Wait.

“Where’s Tre?”

“He’s sleeping,” Richelle rolled her eyes.

“Can you go get him?”

“Sure,” Richelle said slowly. Then she ran off quickly. She was dying to know what was going on all of a sudden. She had to go all the way up the stairs now. Tre and Richelle had taken over Billie and Delphine’s old room as a replacement for the couch.

Billie Joe sat silently the whole time while Mike and Brites tried to get Delphine to say whatever she had to say. “No, just wait for Tre to get here. I want to say it all at the same time.”

“Is it bad?”

“No. I don’t think I would look like this if it was bad.” Billie followed her over to the other couch and they sat down together. Then, suddenly, Tre came rampaging through the house so it felt like an earthquake. When he reached the kitchen, he went straight for the refrigerator and grabbed the nearest thing. Chocolate syrup, mustard and cornflakes (which were also in the refrigerator). Richelle came running back through the house calling “Tre! Tre get back here!” but by the time she got there, he already had a full mouth of cereal, chocolate and mustard.

“Wow,” Billie finally spoke, “I guess I have had plenty of practice with Tre so when you start eating strange like that I’ll be used to it,” he teased. Brites cocked an eyebrow and Mike just looked at them confused while Richelle struggled to take the chocolate away. Too much sugar this early in the morning for Tre is…well, bad.

“Tre get over here!” Brites yelled. “Billie and Delphine have to tell us something important, and I want to know already.”

“Here Richelle! Have some!” Tre went to pour the cereal on Richelle who screamed and ran behind the couch.

“Tre did you hear me?!”

“I’ll just be right there!”

“I would like to know sometime today!”

“Tre, sit down,” Richelle ordered.

“Fine!” he slumped down in the chair, covered in the morning breakfast.

“Ok, Delphine has something to say.” Finally, a moment to get a word in edgewise. “What is it?” Richelle asked calmly.

Delphine turned to look at Billie for a second who nodded. Now that the airway was clear, she almost lost the nerve. “All right. Here it is. I’m pregnant.” A silence hit the room harder than Tre’s screaming. Billie had buried his face behind her. But after they all picked their jaws up off the floor, the room erupted into a shower of, “What?! Delphine! That’s so wonderful! Really? I can’t believe it! That’s awesome!” and a million hugs and kisses. Delphine had never felt so relived, except maybe after her wedding. There, they all knew. First Brites and Richelle jumped on Delphine and then on Billie when he was not expecting it. Then there were the realizations of, “You two are in so much trouble!” but “I can’t wait.” Now all that was left was her parents. She would tell her mother first. Yes. Everything would work out great. Delphine just had to keep telling herself that.

This was a good feeling. Good especially after so much doubt lately. She’d always wanted kids, but was this all happening way too soon? Damn, would she stand a chance.
~
Delphine walked back through the door of the big apartment. It was funny how even though she and Billie had their own place now, they still hung out at the old place more than their own, at least when they were not all out doing something together. Come to think of it, Delphine might as well be married to all five of them. When she skipped into the kitchen, she could not believe her eyes. The entire kitchen, living room and hallway were covered from wall to wall in toilet paper. “Uh, guys? Anyone home?”

Then Tre sprung up from behind the couch and tackled her from behind. Delphine screamed and the rest of them popped up. “Tre! Get off her!” Billie yelled at him. He was lying right on top of her.

“Why should I?”

“She’s pregnant, Tre,” Richelle said seriously with her arms folded.

“Fine,” and he sprang on Richelle.

“Never mind them,” Billie said. “Did you see your mom?”

“I did.”

Billie looked nervous, “Did you tell her?”

“I was going to…but I- I just couldn’t,” she bowed her head. “I got nervous and I couldn’t. I know we’re married but I just don’t think she would expect it. I don’t know.”

“It’s all right.” Billie gave her a hug, but that just made Delphine start laughing. He was completely wrapped in toilet paper like a mummy just like Tre. She leaned over and kissed his soft lips lightly instead. Mike and Brites were still lying together on the floor.

“You guys HELP ME!” Richelle screamed to them running past.

“We can’t,” Brites wined, “We’re stuck!”

“You wrapped yourselves together?” Delphine said sarcastically.

“Why not?” Mike said happily.

“All right, let me out!” Then Delphine pulled the camera out of the drawer. “No! Delphine put that away!” Brites cried. She took a picture anyway…or five or six, and of Tre and Richelle…and Billie too. “Stop that Delphine!” Brites yelled trying to wiggle away as Mike would not let her. “You’re using up the film!”

“Oh no, this is digital,” she laughed as Richelle grabbed the camera away on the run and started taking picture of Tre. He promptly dived behind the counter, ran to the refrigerator and pulled out his new favorite condiment, the hot chicken sauce. Richelle screamed and began running after him.

“You want to get out of here?” Billie asked.

“Sure, just take off that dress.”

“Fine.”

“And the lipstick too.”

“But…fine.”

When the two stepped outside the house of chaos, Billie said, “So, what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know. Let’s just walk and decide. We can go find coffee?”

“Ok. Umm, do you want me to come with you to tell your mom?” Billie really did not want to ask, but he felt he owed it to her. He was the one who got her pregnant after all. And at the moment, he was also feeling quite relieved that he was not the one who actually had to be pregnant.

“Really? I would.”

Billie shook his head, “All right. We can whenever you want to.”

“Oh, thank you Billie,” she gave him a hug. Neither said another word about it. They kept walking and eventually made it to Starbucks. Delphine got a mocha and Billie got a plain cappuccino. They play argued over how Delphine claimed hers was way better than his, and how his really kicks hers’s ass and so on. As they were walking back to see how the toilet paper house was doing, Delphine stopped, “Billie, can we just go tell my mom now?”

“You want to? Now?” he said unsure and a little scared all of a sudden.

“I’ll feel a million times better if we just go do it now.”

He gulped silently. “Ok then, let’s just go.” They walked past the house and started towards Delphine’s parents’ house.
~
Billie Joe opened the door to the apartment house and stepped back for Delphine to walk through. Then they both crashed on the couch. Finally, it was done. When they told Mary, she first looked stunned. She of course mentioned how young they both were and seemed concerned, but what’s done is done and a second later she was ecstatic. There was the whole ‘I’m going to be a grandmother’ realization. Then she looked horribly like she was going to cry and started with the ‘my baby’s growing up thing.’ Billie Joe really did not do anything except sit behind Delphine and agree with whatever she said. She didn’t blame him, and she somehow felt a lot better just to have him there sitting next to her, or behind her hiding, it made no difference. Delphine thought it went really well actually, and her mom would tell her dad. She really did not want to be there for that.

And that was it. Her mother would call everyone – out of habit really – so she did not even mention it; she practically volunteered to tell the whole world about it. Everyone would know now. And she was happy. If they did not like it, fuck them. She loved her whole family of relatives really, and she could not think of anyone who would not say congratulations. They all were happy for the wedding anyway.

The only person who would have a heart attack is her father. But he was never quite pleased with anything, and if he was jolted into a happy mood by one of his kids, it was not for very long.

Billie Joe had phoned his mom yesterday after they told the guys. He simply said she was happy for them. Delphine knew a lot more went on in that conversation because the whole thing took at least twenty minutes which Billie Joe spent making faces at her on the other end of the line because his mother couldn’t see. He was blushing half the time though. But the bottom line is, Ollie was happy. That was good. Delphine really liked Ollie. So all his family would know. It was a scary thought though. Well, there would be no hiding it in nine months anyway. Wow, nine months had always seemed like a long time but now it was not long enough. They had to get ready. Damn.

“So Billie, what’s up next.”

“Well, tomorrow we are going in to the studio to record a few of more songs like I said. We’re pretty sure it’s going to be called Slappy.”

“Oh my gosh, I almost forgot with…with all the baby stuff. I’m sorry sweetie,” she gave him a kiss. “I can’t wait to hear.” Delphine knew that recording time was the boys’ time. As seniors, just before Billie’s birthday in February last year, they had recorded their first EP, 1000 Hours. Then Sweet Children the EP came next. They were under a label called Lookout! Records. Tre used to play with a band called The Lookouts from age twelve to sophomore year when the band broke up and Tre met Billie Joe and Mike. Now they were Green Day and that was about it.

“And then we go on tour more?”

“Fuck yeah!” Billie said excited. They really loved doing concerts. Right now was sort of an unplaned break where the guys had nothing much to do unless they could find another gig between now and later in the month. They were so goddamn lucky to have the gigs that were booked.

“So I have two days to pack. We can’t forget everything like the toothpaste this time.”

“I even wrote it down.”

“And the toothbrush…and underwear.”

“I told you last time I do not need underwear. I never wear it anyway.”

“Billie, put on your underwear. It’s only hot when I do it.”

“Fine.”