A Different Perspective, chapter 6
What was supposed to be me staying for one day turned out to be a few weeks. It wasn't that I had forgotten about her or that I didn't care, it's just things kept coming up and before either of us knew it, October was coming to an end. Whenever Billie and I would plan on going to the apartment, Tre would call and want us to do something with him or Billie had to head down to the studio and would ask me to go with him, so it got to the point where we'd spend all day doing something other than what we had been meaning to do. Days quickly turned into weeks, which was hastily turning into a month and Billie and I had been so preoccupied with Halloween, that it was a mere three days before that I finally realized how long it had been since I had last talked to Jessica.
"I feel bad.." I said to Billie, who was mindless tying his necktie at the kitchen
table while we ate breakfast.
"I know you do, but it wasn't entirely your fault," He said, looking down at the knot in his tie and sighing.
"No, it was all my fault. If I hadn't of snapped at her, then none of this would've happened," I muttered, bitterly taking a bite of cereal.
"It was going to come out sooner or later.." He continued to fidget with his tie until he finally ripped it off of himself and threw it on the table. "Useless piece of shit. I'm going to go change."
"You can wear the shirt without the tie," I suggested, looking up at him and he just shook his head, heading up stairs to change his clothes. I got up and put my bowl and spoon in the dishwasher, not bothering to rinse it off before and plopped down on the couch, deep in thought, mostly about Jessica and how to fix things.
"Is this better?" Billie's voice startled me and my head snapped up from the T.v. to see he had changed into a plain white shirt. Not much of a change, if you asked me.
"You looked fine before," I said, scratching my nose. He looked at me with a, "Not-The-Answer-I-Was-Looking-For," kind of look and I quickly added, "But, this looks good, too. You look good in practically anything." His face lit up.
"It's just 'cause I'm cute."
"OKAY, you think that."
"You don't think I'm cute?"
"I didn't sa-"
"You think I'm fucking ugly!" He teased and I rolled my eyes.
"I think you have possibly the largest ego for such a little man."
"Hey! I'm taller than you."
"True, but then again, who isn't?"
"True.." He agreed and then tossed a pillow at me, hitting me in the face.
"Don't push it, Armstrong." He threw another pillow at me and I caught it, giving him three seconds to start running before I got up. He ran down the hallway and I took after him, bound and determined I was going to catch him and.. Well, I don't know what, but I was going to do SOMETHING to prove a point. So, I chased him until he finally tripped onto the couch and I fell onto him, both of us shaking from laughing so hard. "You.. are.. so.. lucky.. I.. am.. out.. of.. breath.." I panted and he only laughed harder. We laid there for a few minutes as I tried to catch my breath when Billie leaned up and put his lips against mine. It was the first time we had kissed since my art review in September, and it was as though an electrical current was being passed between us as we lay there on the couch, kissing.
"Hey, Billie, man-" I heard Mike's voice, but I couldn't bring myself to pull away. If anything, the kiss was getting deeper.. That's when I saw Mike and Tre standing there, jaws dropped and eyes wide. They both had obnoxious grins on their face as though they had been let in on this huge secret.
"I KNEW IT!" Tre yelled, bouncing around. "I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! I KNEEEEEEEEEEEEEW IT!" We both immediately got to our feet and straightend out our stuff. "I KNEEEEEEEW IT!"
"Tre, shut up!" Billie yelled and Tre shook his head.
"Nah, man. I've been waiting too fucking long. Ever since you fucking looked at her, you were all like, 'Hayleigh this,' and 'Hayleigh that.' I'm gonna fucking gloat all I want that since I-"
"We," Mike corrected.
"Uh.. Right. WE caught you. We caught you! We caught you, we caught you..." He sang and Billie looked like he was going to implode upon himself, if he hadn't done so already. I just sort of stood there, silent because I didn't know what to say. I mean, yeah, I guess they had caught us, but it wasn't as though we were dating. My mind drifted off to a memory of Jess and me...
Jessica pulled her hair up into a messy ponytail as I opened the door to the apartment complex. The musty smell in there had been enough to almost puke up my left lung, but as the fresh air hit my face, I couldn't help but smile. It smelled of pumpkins and rain, the perfect combination. I looked down at Jessica, who was rambling on about Billie Joe - like usual. When didn't she talk about him anymore?
"And so anyway, he's my boyfriend, he just doesn't know it yet," She simply said, with the most innocent of smiles that I couldn't help but smile.
"He's married," I reminded her and she shook her head as we climbed into her car. My car was in the shop since the accident..
"He's not married anymore remember.. Hey? Maybe we'll run into him in Berkeley?" She suggested and I shook my head.
"The possibilities of that are like pigs flying in a frozen Hell.." I muttered and she merely laughed...
"Right Hayleigh?" Billie's voice pulled me out of my flashback.
"Huh?" I asked. I seemed to say this a lot anymore..
"Halloween party.. it's going to be kick ass," Billie said, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, yeah. Right," I said, nodding. Tre was still eyeing us suspiciously, which made it hard to look up from the floor in fear of eye contact.
"What are you two going as?" Mike asked, keeping Tre from creating another outburst.
"Billie's going as Bush, which is no big surprise to anyone," I said, smiling a little. "And I'm going as Alice, from Alice in Wonderland.. Just 'cause I want to." Mike smiled.
"Hey, whoa. I just got an idea!" Tre suddenly said.
"This is a first.." Mike muttered and Tre elbowed him.
"Why don't you invite Jessica to the Halloween party? As sort of a, 'I'm sorry and hopefully partying with the best band EVER will make it up to you,' thing." For once, Tre actually made sense.
"That.. could actually work."
"See? SEE? I AM SMART!"
I dialed Jessica's number, actually hoping she wouldn't pick up, so I wouldn't have to deal with what I had put off for too long. Unfortunately, today wasn't my day.
"Hello?" I heard her voice ring through clearly into the phone.
"Uh, Hi, Jess?" I asked, even though I knew perfectly well who it was.
"Hays?"
"Yeah.."
"Hey! How are you?" She asked and we went into conversation as though we
hadn't ever had a fight to begin with. It was wonderful as I talked about Billie and what was going on over here and how things in her life were doing. We had been on the phone for over three hours when Billie looked at me and I remembered we had to go into the studio. I bit my lip.
"Hey Jess?" I asked.
"Yeah?" Why was it so hard to invite your best friend to a party?
"Do you.. Do you want to come to a Halloween party over here?" She was silent
for a moment, and I knew she was trying to process what I had just asked. Three.. Two.. One- I thought and right on cue, I held the phone away from my ear as she let out a glass shattering scream. "I take that as a yes then?"
"YES! HELL YES!" I smiled and looked over at Billie again, who was growing impatient.
"Okay, well I gotta go, so I'll see you soon then?"
"YES!"
"Okay, Bye man.. Talk to you soon." With that, I hung up and smiled to myself.
Yeah, so we hadn't really began to make up, but Jessica was more of the forgive and forget kind of person and now that the fighting was behind us, we could move forward..
.. Wait. The fighting was behind us, which meant I no longer had to stay with Billie. How was this at all fair?
"Are you finally off that damn thing?" He complained and I nodded, wondering what was going to happen to us afterwards. I mean, in the little time that I had been here I had gotten used to Billie and Billie's need to every night crawl next to me or near me and how it was the comforting feeling of him being in the room that I fell asleep to each night. What was I going to do without that? "Are things between you two okay now?"
"Yeah, we're slowly getting everything together. I think the Halloween party'll help." He looked down at the ground and sniffed.
"Oh," he said, rubbing his arm. "You're more than welcome to stay here as long as you want, you know, even if you guys are okay.."
"Really?" I asked, my eyes lighting up. He looked at me and smiled, nodding.
"Yeah.." He said, and we both smiled, not really needing to say much more.
"I feel bad.." I said to Billie, who was mindless tying his necktie at the kitchen
table while we ate breakfast.
"I know you do, but it wasn't entirely your fault," He said, looking down at the knot in his tie and sighing.
"No, it was all my fault. If I hadn't of snapped at her, then none of this would've happened," I muttered, bitterly taking a bite of cereal.
"It was going to come out sooner or later.." He continued to fidget with his tie until he finally ripped it off of himself and threw it on the table. "Useless piece of shit. I'm going to go change."
"You can wear the shirt without the tie," I suggested, looking up at him and he just shook his head, heading up stairs to change his clothes. I got up and put my bowl and spoon in the dishwasher, not bothering to rinse it off before and plopped down on the couch, deep in thought, mostly about Jessica and how to fix things.
"Is this better?" Billie's voice startled me and my head snapped up from the T.v. to see he had changed into a plain white shirt. Not much of a change, if you asked me.
"You looked fine before," I said, scratching my nose. He looked at me with a, "Not-The-Answer-I-Was-Looking-For," kind of look and I quickly added, "But, this looks good, too. You look good in practically anything." His face lit up.
"It's just 'cause I'm cute."
"OKAY, you think that."
"You don't think I'm cute?"
"I didn't sa-"
"You think I'm fucking ugly!" He teased and I rolled my eyes.
"I think you have possibly the largest ego for such a little man."
"Hey! I'm taller than you."
"True, but then again, who isn't?"
"True.." He agreed and then tossed a pillow at me, hitting me in the face.
"Don't push it, Armstrong." He threw another pillow at me and I caught it, giving him three seconds to start running before I got up. He ran down the hallway and I took after him, bound and determined I was going to catch him and.. Well, I don't know what, but I was going to do SOMETHING to prove a point. So, I chased him until he finally tripped onto the couch and I fell onto him, both of us shaking from laughing so hard. "You.. are.. so.. lucky.. I.. am.. out.. of.. breath.." I panted and he only laughed harder. We laid there for a few minutes as I tried to catch my breath when Billie leaned up and put his lips against mine. It was the first time we had kissed since my art review in September, and it was as though an electrical current was being passed between us as we lay there on the couch, kissing.
"Hey, Billie, man-" I heard Mike's voice, but I couldn't bring myself to pull away. If anything, the kiss was getting deeper.. That's when I saw Mike and Tre standing there, jaws dropped and eyes wide. They both had obnoxious grins on their face as though they had been let in on this huge secret.
"I KNEW IT!" Tre yelled, bouncing around. "I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! I KNEEEEEEEEEEEEEW IT!" We both immediately got to our feet and straightend out our stuff. "I KNEEEEEEEW IT!"
"Tre, shut up!" Billie yelled and Tre shook his head.
"Nah, man. I've been waiting too fucking long. Ever since you fucking looked at her, you were all like, 'Hayleigh this,' and 'Hayleigh that.' I'm gonna fucking gloat all I want that since I-"
"We," Mike corrected.
"Uh.. Right. WE caught you. We caught you! We caught you, we caught you..." He sang and Billie looked like he was going to implode upon himself, if he hadn't done so already. I just sort of stood there, silent because I didn't know what to say. I mean, yeah, I guess they had caught us, but it wasn't as though we were dating. My mind drifted off to a memory of Jess and me...
Jessica pulled her hair up into a messy ponytail as I opened the door to the apartment complex. The musty smell in there had been enough to almost puke up my left lung, but as the fresh air hit my face, I couldn't help but smile. It smelled of pumpkins and rain, the perfect combination. I looked down at Jessica, who was rambling on about Billie Joe - like usual. When didn't she talk about him anymore?
"And so anyway, he's my boyfriend, he just doesn't know it yet," She simply said, with the most innocent of smiles that I couldn't help but smile.
"He's married," I reminded her and she shook her head as we climbed into her car. My car was in the shop since the accident..
"He's not married anymore remember.. Hey? Maybe we'll run into him in Berkeley?" She suggested and I shook my head.
"The possibilities of that are like pigs flying in a frozen Hell.." I muttered and she merely laughed...
"Right Hayleigh?" Billie's voice pulled me out of my flashback.
"Huh?" I asked. I seemed to say this a lot anymore..
"Halloween party.. it's going to be kick ass," Billie said, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, yeah. Right," I said, nodding. Tre was still eyeing us suspiciously, which made it hard to look up from the floor in fear of eye contact.
"What are you two going as?" Mike asked, keeping Tre from creating another outburst.
"Billie's going as Bush, which is no big surprise to anyone," I said, smiling a little. "And I'm going as Alice, from Alice in Wonderland.. Just 'cause I want to." Mike smiled.
"Hey, whoa. I just got an idea!" Tre suddenly said.
"This is a first.." Mike muttered and Tre elbowed him.
"Why don't you invite Jessica to the Halloween party? As sort of a, 'I'm sorry and hopefully partying with the best band EVER will make it up to you,' thing." For once, Tre actually made sense.
"That.. could actually work."
"See? SEE? I AM SMART!"
I dialed Jessica's number, actually hoping she wouldn't pick up, so I wouldn't have to deal with what I had put off for too long. Unfortunately, today wasn't my day.
"Hello?" I heard her voice ring through clearly into the phone.
"Uh, Hi, Jess?" I asked, even though I knew perfectly well who it was.
"Hays?"
"Yeah.."
"Hey! How are you?" She asked and we went into conversation as though we
hadn't ever had a fight to begin with. It was wonderful as I talked about Billie and what was going on over here and how things in her life were doing. We had been on the phone for over three hours when Billie looked at me and I remembered we had to go into the studio. I bit my lip.
"Hey Jess?" I asked.
"Yeah?" Why was it so hard to invite your best friend to a party?
"Do you.. Do you want to come to a Halloween party over here?" She was silent
for a moment, and I knew she was trying to process what I had just asked. Three.. Two.. One- I thought and right on cue, I held the phone away from my ear as she let out a glass shattering scream. "I take that as a yes then?"
"YES! HELL YES!" I smiled and looked over at Billie again, who was growing impatient.
"Okay, well I gotta go, so I'll see you soon then?"
"YES!"
"Okay, Bye man.. Talk to you soon." With that, I hung up and smiled to myself.
Yeah, so we hadn't really began to make up, but Jessica was more of the forgive and forget kind of person and now that the fighting was behind us, we could move forward..
.. Wait. The fighting was behind us, which meant I no longer had to stay with Billie. How was this at all fair?
"Are you finally off that damn thing?" He complained and I nodded, wondering what was going to happen to us afterwards. I mean, in the little time that I had been here I had gotten used to Billie and Billie's need to every night crawl next to me or near me and how it was the comforting feeling of him being in the room that I fell asleep to each night. What was I going to do without that? "Are things between you two okay now?"
"Yeah, we're slowly getting everything together. I think the Halloween party'll help." He looked down at the ground and sniffed.
"Oh," he said, rubbing his arm. "You're more than welcome to stay here as long as you want, you know, even if you guys are okay.."
"Really?" I asked, my eyes lighting up. He looked at me and smiled, nodding.
"Yeah.." He said, and we both smiled, not really needing to say much more.
