When He Came Around, chapter 3
It had been not even two weeks since the last show in Canada and Tre was already restless. Although most of his time was taken up with Christmas coming around the corner and his two children, not to mention his two godchildren, Tre Cool still missed one thing.
Although Billie Joe had willingly given him Mercedes' phoned number, Tre had still to call her. The number sat by the phone in his bedroom and untouched.
* * *
"Hello?"
"Hello my dear. How are you?"
"I'm fine Billie, how are you?"
"Great. Christmas was pretty much a success over here. Another year gone by and no questions from the kids asking about whether Santa is real or not."
"Tsk tsk. Lying to your children and that's a success?"
"Well what do you tell your two boys Mercedes?"
"That Santa brings the toys," she laughed.
Billie Joe placed the phone in between his ear and shoulder and took a seat on the couch and pulling up his guitar on his lap. "Say Mercedes, have you ever been to California?"
"Never actually. Why do you ask?"
"Well... I know Adrienne wants to meet you, and we we're probably throw some kind of New Year's party here or something, and I wanted to know if you and the boys wanted to take a little vacation up here? You can stay with us, or if you don't want to, even Mike said you and the boys can crash at his home... which is five minutes from mine."
"Really, that would be alright?"
Billie Joe smiled at the excitement in her voice. "Sure, we would love to have you down."
There was a small pause and Billie Joe waited for Mercedes to answer him. When she didn't, he spoke up. "Unless you don't want to... "
"No no, it's not that. It's just that I think someone from the studio was throwing a party for us."
"Us?"
"The co-workers and everything. But I didn't really want to go... the guy is kind of a jerk."
"Who is he?"
"He's one of the audio engineers... his name is David. He's just such an asshole sometimes."
"Well you own the studio, so fire him," Billie Joe said quickly.
Mercedes shook her head. "Under what circumstances? I can't just fire him."
"Under jerk circumstances," Billie said on the other side of the telephone.
"I only wish those actually existed," Mercedes answered.
"Well it's not written anywhere that you have to go, besides, a party at the Armstrong house is superior to all others. So come down."
"No doubt... um, you do realize that New Years' Eve is in three days."
"Of course... so get packing. Besides, the band would love to talk to you about the studio... I know I only saw a bit of it, but it seriously looks real good... and the instruments that you have in there... I could get an erection just thinking about it."
"That's really nice Armstrong," Mercedes laughed. "All right, I'll um, call to pick up some tickets and call you back I guess."
"Good, I can't wait. Adrienne's going to be happy too... as will Tre of course."
"Oh, of course... say, has Tre said anything about me?"
Billie Joe smiled, hoping that the conversation would steer in this direction. "Depends... would that be a bad thing?"
"No... but I mean... nothing. Okay, I'll call you back in a sec alright."
Smiling, knowing his work was done, Billie nodded. "I'll be waiting."
* * *
Mercedes was scheduled to come down to California on the twenty-eight and Billie Joe volunteered to go and pick her up from the airport. Adrienne decided to make pasta for dinner and kissed her husband good-bye as he left to go pick up this 'mystery studio owner'. "If she's good looking Billie Joe, I'm going to be very angry," she teased.
Billie rolled his eyes and stepped into the car, and driving off to the airport. Billie Joe got there in record time and waited at the main gates, watching people all boarding flights to exotic locations and so forth. He was so preoccupied with hiding himself and watching people pass, that he didn't notice someone walking up to him and tapping his shoulder. "You're good at hiding, but not that good."
Knowing whom the voice belonged to, he turned around and scooped Mercedes in his arms, hugging her and welcoming the family to California. Although they had only met each other two weeks prior, they had spoken every day since the concert and had become quite the friends. As Billie Joe helped take Joey from running off, Mercedes finished putting their bags in the back of the car and settling the kids in. Billie Joe hopped into the driver seat and started the vehicle.
"We're having pasta tonight, just so you know. And not macaroni and cheese... much to my and my sons disappointment," Billie announced.
It didn't take long to get back to Billie Joe's enormous, but cozy home. "It's so weird... back home there's all the snow and cold wind, yet here... I'm boiling."
"Again, welcome to California."
As they stepped out of the car and walked up to the house, Billie Joe opened the door first, letting Mercedes and the boys walk in first. Looking around, Mercedes was definitely in awe. "For a punk rocker, your house is pretty elegant and tidy."
"That'd be her doing," Billie Joe said, as he pointed down the hall.
Mercedes turned and saw a very pretty woman with dark hair walking towards them and followed by two boys, both older than Joey and Liam. "Oh Billie, I am furious," Adrienne joked.
Mercedes didn't know what to say and Adrienne laughed as she explained, "I told him that if he was going to bring back some beautiful woman then I'd be very angry... but now I'm furious."
Mercedes blushed at the compliment and Adrienne pulled her into a hug. "It's nice to finally meet you. Billie Joe has been talking about you a lot since he got back."
"Well I guess I could say the same, except my boys have been doing the talking. In fact, they've boycotted the barbershop or any pair of scissors because they want their hair like your husband's," Mercedes said.
"Oh no... make sure they don't do that. I don't want more people trying to be like my husband."
"Ha ha... you two are so hilarious," Billie Joe pouted.
The Armstrong children, Joey and Jacob stood together beside Adrienne and looked at the new family entering their house. "She's pretty," they heard Jacob whisper to Joey. "Joey, Jacob," Billie Joe started, "this is Mercedes and her boys, Joey and Liam," he finished, making sure everyone was aware at which twin was which.
"Well, Mercedes, Billie and the boys can help you with your bags, if you want to help me in the kitchen?" Adrienne asked.
Mercedes nodded, "Sure."
All the 'men' of the house went upstairs, Billie Joe showing the two Delisle boys where they were going to be sleeping with their mom while Adrienne and Mercedes went into the kitchen. "Can you just take care of the salad," Adrienne asked politely.
"Sure," Mercedes answered. "Do you want me to set the table too after?"
Adrienne looked back at Mercedes, relieved. "Could you?"
When Mercedes nodded, Adrienne sighed. "Thanks a million. I don't know how you do it, but at least my children take a lot out of me at the end of the day. Well, only when Billie's gone, which can sometimes be a lot."
Mercedes nodded in understanding. "I know what you mean. I was twenty when the boys came into my life and let me tell you, it was really hard. I mean, at first I had... well, minimal help, but later on, it was hard. However, since they're twins, I combine them together and act sometimes that it's one kid," she responded.
After sharing a laugh, the boys came back in and Mercedes noticed a table set outside. "How many people are coming tonight?" she asked.
Adrienne turned. "Oh... the usual. Mike, Estelle, Tre, Frankito, your family, and mine. Well, I say the usual, but you know what I mean. The kids are eating outside. They agreed on hotdogs so Billie's using the barbeque."
"Barbeque in December... that just seems odd to me."
At that moment, the front door opened and more laughter could be heard. Mercedes watched as a young girl and a young boy ran through the kitchen and into the backyard where Billie and the other children were. It took only a total of ten seconds before Mike and Tre walked into the kitchen; both shocked at the sight of Mercedes. "What are you doing here?" Mike asked with a huge smile plastered on his face.
"Billie and Adrienne invited me and the boys over for New Years. He came to pick me up at the airport only about a half hour ago."
Mike pulled her into a hug and kissed her cheek. Tre lingered behind for a moment. He felt kind of guilty for not calling her, but when she looked at him, it was as if she didn't seem to mind. "Are you just going to stand there man?" Mike asked Tre.
Tre looked at Mike and frowned. "No... I'm just waiting till you move out of the way you behemoth."
Mike snickered and kissed Adrienne on her cheek before walking outside and greeting Billie Joe and the other children. Tre came over and Mercedes wrapped her arms around him, kissing him platonically. "How've you been?" she asked.
Tre backed away. "Fine fine... and yourself? Geeze, this is a surprise."
"A good one I hope?" she asked quietly.
"Of course," he answered like it was some sort of no-brainer question.
* * *
It wasn't long before everyone was called for dinner. The children were seated outside in the sun, and even if the adults had made place for them at the table inside, they would not want to come in anyway. Joey and Estelle immediately took responsibility as the ones in charge of the table and no one had any objections. Mercedes sat in between Billie Joe and Mike, but right across from Tre.
"So Mercedes, have you always lived in Vancouver?" Adrienne asked in the middle of dinner.
Mercedes swallowed the food in her mouth and shook her head. "I was born and raised in Montreal actually, I'm part French. I only moved to Vancouver for school."
"So you speak French?" Mike asked.
Mercedes nodded. "Perfectly bilingual."
"How old were you when you moved, if you don't mind me asking?" Adrienne continued.
"I was nineteen at the time actually. The school only accepted me if I was nineteen or older."
"But your family stayed in Montreal?"
"What was left of them, yeah," Mercedes replied.
There was a pause and Adrienne tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Mercedes set her glass down and looked at Adrienne. "My sister, Joey and Liam's mother, had moved away when I was sixteen. My brother was studying to be a doctor and my father was all around the world, traveling with his work."
"And your mother," Tre asked.
"My mother killed herself when I was twelve," she stated simply. Knowing the effect a statement like that had on people, Mercedes quickly spoke again. "So I got a scholarship and moved out there for school."
"Well, your dad and family must be really proud of you now. I mean, you own the studio which I heard was not doing do bad at all," Mike added.
"Yeah," Mercedes said cheerily. "They definitely would have been."
"Would?" Billie Joe asked.
Mercedes looked at the Green Day singer. "Well you know what happened to my sister. And my brother and father died in a car accident."
"Oh, shit, I'm sorry," he replied quickly, placing his hand on Mercedes' arm, gently squeezing it for comfort.
"It's fine... I've had my time already to get over it. Really, everything's fine now."
Billie Joe nodded and fiddled with his food before looking back up at Mercedes. "I'm guessing that the names on your arm... "
Mercedes lifted her arm in acknowledgement and for the first time, Tre, Adrienne, and Mike noticed the tattoo on her arm of three names. "Yeah, that's them. I had it done after my father and brother's funeral."
"Well, there's nothing better than getting a nice tattoo," Mike said to lighten the mood. He turned and looked out the window to see that the children were all laughing and getting along quite well. Mike shook his head with a wide smirk. "Mercedes, I don't know how you did it or continue to do it, but your boys are the best behaved at the table."
Mercedes blushed and pushed her food around on her plate. "Thanks, but you make it sound like the other kids are animals out there."
"Well... Frankito is there... " Billie Joe commented.
Tre finally tore his gaze away from Mercedes for what seemed to be the first time that evening and looked at Billie Joe, throwing a piece of tomato at him. "I can see where he gets his manners from," Billie continued.
"Say Mercedes, before the men came in, you told me that you had some help in the beginning with Joey and Liam," Adrienne remembered.
Mercedes nodded and set her fork down and took her glass of water. "At the time, I was actually going to get married... "
At that word, everyone turned back and looked at Mercedes, especially Tre who silently prayed that he heard her wrong. "Married?" he asked faintly.
Mercedes smiled sadly and continued. "I was actually planning the wedding when I got the call to drive down to Alberta to pick the boys up. But when I came back, he stuck around for about a week, maybe two, before leaving and calling everything off."
"Why?" Tre asked.
Mercedes shrugged. "The boys. He didn't want children... ever. I didn't know that but he was really angry when I first walked into my apartment with Joey and Liam in my arms. He told me to give them up for adoption and that I was too young to take care of kids. Ah well, I showed him."
"Asshole," Billie called out as he leaned against his chair.
Tre sat there, watching as Mercedes finished the little bit of her meal. He just wondered if he would ever get a moment alone with her to talk to her. So far, she's either been with Adrienne or Billie Joe, or with her kids. It wasn't a bad thing, but Tre wondered the last time that she had a proper relationship. He wondered when the last time it was that someone slept beside her and told her how special she was. He frowned at the thought of her putting her life on hold, even if it was for the boys.
After dinner, Adrienne ushered everyone outside so she could clean, but Mercedes instead ushered Adrienne outside with the men. "If I'm staying at your house, I can at least do my share of chores."
Adrienne tried to argue, but upon seeing the amused look on the woman's face, she gave up, grabbed her drink and joined the crowd outside.
When Tre saw Adrienne walk outside instead of Mercedes, he immediately looked at Adrienne. "Where's Mercedes?" he asked.
"Inside," she began. "She refused to let me lift another finger. Great girl."
Billie Joe looked from his wife to Tre. "She's alone Tre. Go in there."
Adrienne looked from Billie Joe to Tre, and then to Mike, who just offered her a shrug. Tre nodded and stood up.
What was he going to say to her? Well, he knew he liked her, a lot. He just didn't know how to tell her. And was it too fast? This was only the second time that he'd seen her and he was ready to tell her that he wanted possibly something more than just a simple friendship. Maybe he should go in there and ask her if she was free tomorrow night to take her out, just him and her. Maybe then he could tell her that he felt something for her. Shaking his head and he stepped back into the house, he watched Mercedes' small frame wiping the table. Smiling to himself, he stood there for a moment, leaning against the wall, watching her from behind as she stretched to wipe the table clean.
"Do you ever stop working?" he asked.
Mercedes turned around and smiled instantly. "Hey... do you always sneak up on people?"
"Not really."
Alright... just say something. "Listen, I just want to apologize for not keeping my word... you know, for not calling you."
There. He said it, and now no one can say that he didn't apologize for being a little bit of a jerk. When he looked back at Mercedes though, he noticed that there was a bit of a shocked look on her face. "I didn't expect to hear that," she said truthfully.
"Really?" he asked.
Mercedes nodded. "Well yeah. I mean, I could have just as easily asked Mike or Billie for your number and called out myself, but I didn't. So don't beat yourself up."
"Well, to make it up to you, I was wondering if I could take you out tomorrow night... or anytime. Just me and you and a night on the town," he said in a goofy accent.
Mercedes chuckled and started to wash the dishes. Tre instinctively moved to her side and started to dry the dishes. "So what do you say?" he asked again.
Mercedes, a smile creeping up on her pink lips, "What do you have in mind?"
Tre placed the dried dish down and smiled. "Well with just me and you, the sky's the limit."
Mercedes turned her face up to look at him and realized how close they were to each other. Tre could feel her cool breath against his lips and could smell a soft scent of vanilla that was no doubt coming from the green-eyed beauty with the crown of golden-brown hair that shone perfectly against the setting California sun from outside. "I'd love to."
Tre felt the little bit of weight on his shoulders loosen and fall away and leaned back. He had to think of something quick before he could no longer control himself and just decide to take advantage of Mercedes in the Armstrong kitchen. "Say... how often did you speak to the guys?"
Mercedes closed her eyes to reflect and opened them after a short pause. "Billie I spoke to everyday, and Mike called me a few times... five or six."
Tre once again felt a little guilty for not calling, but again, she made it clear that she could have just as well called him. Maybe he was making a big deal out of nothing. "You'd think that they'd tell me that they spoke to you. I mean, they knew I liked you so the least they could do was tell me how you were doing."
Before he realized it, Tre closed his eyes. "Shit," he whispered to himself. He hadn't meant that to slip out. He opened his eyes and looked at Mercedes, who was staring at Tre with a blank expression on her face. And in that moment, he cursed the gods for not making him possess the ability to read people.
Although Billie Joe had willingly given him Mercedes' phoned number, Tre had still to call her. The number sat by the phone in his bedroom and untouched.
* * *
"Hello?"
"Hello my dear. How are you?"
"I'm fine Billie, how are you?"
"Great. Christmas was pretty much a success over here. Another year gone by and no questions from the kids asking about whether Santa is real or not."
"Tsk tsk. Lying to your children and that's a success?"
"Well what do you tell your two boys Mercedes?"
"That Santa brings the toys," she laughed.
Billie Joe placed the phone in between his ear and shoulder and took a seat on the couch and pulling up his guitar on his lap. "Say Mercedes, have you ever been to California?"
"Never actually. Why do you ask?"
"Well... I know Adrienne wants to meet you, and we we're probably throw some kind of New Year's party here or something, and I wanted to know if you and the boys wanted to take a little vacation up here? You can stay with us, or if you don't want to, even Mike said you and the boys can crash at his home... which is five minutes from mine."
"Really, that would be alright?"
Billie Joe smiled at the excitement in her voice. "Sure, we would love to have you down."
There was a small pause and Billie Joe waited for Mercedes to answer him. When she didn't, he spoke up. "Unless you don't want to... "
"No no, it's not that. It's just that I think someone from the studio was throwing a party for us."
"Us?"
"The co-workers and everything. But I didn't really want to go... the guy is kind of a jerk."
"Who is he?"
"He's one of the audio engineers... his name is David. He's just such an asshole sometimes."
"Well you own the studio, so fire him," Billie Joe said quickly.
Mercedes shook her head. "Under what circumstances? I can't just fire him."
"Under jerk circumstances," Billie said on the other side of the telephone.
"I only wish those actually existed," Mercedes answered.
"Well it's not written anywhere that you have to go, besides, a party at the Armstrong house is superior to all others. So come down."
"No doubt... um, you do realize that New Years' Eve is in three days."
"Of course... so get packing. Besides, the band would love to talk to you about the studio... I know I only saw a bit of it, but it seriously looks real good... and the instruments that you have in there... I could get an erection just thinking about it."
"That's really nice Armstrong," Mercedes laughed. "All right, I'll um, call to pick up some tickets and call you back I guess."
"Good, I can't wait. Adrienne's going to be happy too... as will Tre of course."
"Oh, of course... say, has Tre said anything about me?"
Billie Joe smiled, hoping that the conversation would steer in this direction. "Depends... would that be a bad thing?"
"No... but I mean... nothing. Okay, I'll call you back in a sec alright."
Smiling, knowing his work was done, Billie nodded. "I'll be waiting."
* * *
Mercedes was scheduled to come down to California on the twenty-eight and Billie Joe volunteered to go and pick her up from the airport. Adrienne decided to make pasta for dinner and kissed her husband good-bye as he left to go pick up this 'mystery studio owner'. "If she's good looking Billie Joe, I'm going to be very angry," she teased.
Billie rolled his eyes and stepped into the car, and driving off to the airport. Billie Joe got there in record time and waited at the main gates, watching people all boarding flights to exotic locations and so forth. He was so preoccupied with hiding himself and watching people pass, that he didn't notice someone walking up to him and tapping his shoulder. "You're good at hiding, but not that good."
Knowing whom the voice belonged to, he turned around and scooped Mercedes in his arms, hugging her and welcoming the family to California. Although they had only met each other two weeks prior, they had spoken every day since the concert and had become quite the friends. As Billie Joe helped take Joey from running off, Mercedes finished putting their bags in the back of the car and settling the kids in. Billie Joe hopped into the driver seat and started the vehicle.
"We're having pasta tonight, just so you know. And not macaroni and cheese... much to my and my sons disappointment," Billie announced.
It didn't take long to get back to Billie Joe's enormous, but cozy home. "It's so weird... back home there's all the snow and cold wind, yet here... I'm boiling."
"Again, welcome to California."
As they stepped out of the car and walked up to the house, Billie Joe opened the door first, letting Mercedes and the boys walk in first. Looking around, Mercedes was definitely in awe. "For a punk rocker, your house is pretty elegant and tidy."
"That'd be her doing," Billie Joe said, as he pointed down the hall.
Mercedes turned and saw a very pretty woman with dark hair walking towards them and followed by two boys, both older than Joey and Liam. "Oh Billie, I am furious," Adrienne joked.
Mercedes didn't know what to say and Adrienne laughed as she explained, "I told him that if he was going to bring back some beautiful woman then I'd be very angry... but now I'm furious."
Mercedes blushed at the compliment and Adrienne pulled her into a hug. "It's nice to finally meet you. Billie Joe has been talking about you a lot since he got back."
"Well I guess I could say the same, except my boys have been doing the talking. In fact, they've boycotted the barbershop or any pair of scissors because they want their hair like your husband's," Mercedes said.
"Oh no... make sure they don't do that. I don't want more people trying to be like my husband."
"Ha ha... you two are so hilarious," Billie Joe pouted.
The Armstrong children, Joey and Jacob stood together beside Adrienne and looked at the new family entering their house. "She's pretty," they heard Jacob whisper to Joey. "Joey, Jacob," Billie Joe started, "this is Mercedes and her boys, Joey and Liam," he finished, making sure everyone was aware at which twin was which.
"Well, Mercedes, Billie and the boys can help you with your bags, if you want to help me in the kitchen?" Adrienne asked.
Mercedes nodded, "Sure."
All the 'men' of the house went upstairs, Billie Joe showing the two Delisle boys where they were going to be sleeping with their mom while Adrienne and Mercedes went into the kitchen. "Can you just take care of the salad," Adrienne asked politely.
"Sure," Mercedes answered. "Do you want me to set the table too after?"
Adrienne looked back at Mercedes, relieved. "Could you?"
When Mercedes nodded, Adrienne sighed. "Thanks a million. I don't know how you do it, but at least my children take a lot out of me at the end of the day. Well, only when Billie's gone, which can sometimes be a lot."
Mercedes nodded in understanding. "I know what you mean. I was twenty when the boys came into my life and let me tell you, it was really hard. I mean, at first I had... well, minimal help, but later on, it was hard. However, since they're twins, I combine them together and act sometimes that it's one kid," she responded.
After sharing a laugh, the boys came back in and Mercedes noticed a table set outside. "How many people are coming tonight?" she asked.
Adrienne turned. "Oh... the usual. Mike, Estelle, Tre, Frankito, your family, and mine. Well, I say the usual, but you know what I mean. The kids are eating outside. They agreed on hotdogs so Billie's using the barbeque."
"Barbeque in December... that just seems odd to me."
At that moment, the front door opened and more laughter could be heard. Mercedes watched as a young girl and a young boy ran through the kitchen and into the backyard where Billie and the other children were. It took only a total of ten seconds before Mike and Tre walked into the kitchen; both shocked at the sight of Mercedes. "What are you doing here?" Mike asked with a huge smile plastered on his face.
"Billie and Adrienne invited me and the boys over for New Years. He came to pick me up at the airport only about a half hour ago."
Mike pulled her into a hug and kissed her cheek. Tre lingered behind for a moment. He felt kind of guilty for not calling her, but when she looked at him, it was as if she didn't seem to mind. "Are you just going to stand there man?" Mike asked Tre.
Tre looked at Mike and frowned. "No... I'm just waiting till you move out of the way you behemoth."
Mike snickered and kissed Adrienne on her cheek before walking outside and greeting Billie Joe and the other children. Tre came over and Mercedes wrapped her arms around him, kissing him platonically. "How've you been?" she asked.
Tre backed away. "Fine fine... and yourself? Geeze, this is a surprise."
"A good one I hope?" she asked quietly.
"Of course," he answered like it was some sort of no-brainer question.
* * *
It wasn't long before everyone was called for dinner. The children were seated outside in the sun, and even if the adults had made place for them at the table inside, they would not want to come in anyway. Joey and Estelle immediately took responsibility as the ones in charge of the table and no one had any objections. Mercedes sat in between Billie Joe and Mike, but right across from Tre.
"So Mercedes, have you always lived in Vancouver?" Adrienne asked in the middle of dinner.
Mercedes swallowed the food in her mouth and shook her head. "I was born and raised in Montreal actually, I'm part French. I only moved to Vancouver for school."
"So you speak French?" Mike asked.
Mercedes nodded. "Perfectly bilingual."
"How old were you when you moved, if you don't mind me asking?" Adrienne continued.
"I was nineteen at the time actually. The school only accepted me if I was nineteen or older."
"But your family stayed in Montreal?"
"What was left of them, yeah," Mercedes replied.
There was a pause and Adrienne tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Mercedes set her glass down and looked at Adrienne. "My sister, Joey and Liam's mother, had moved away when I was sixteen. My brother was studying to be a doctor and my father was all around the world, traveling with his work."
"And your mother," Tre asked.
"My mother killed herself when I was twelve," she stated simply. Knowing the effect a statement like that had on people, Mercedes quickly spoke again. "So I got a scholarship and moved out there for school."
"Well, your dad and family must be really proud of you now. I mean, you own the studio which I heard was not doing do bad at all," Mike added.
"Yeah," Mercedes said cheerily. "They definitely would have been."
"Would?" Billie Joe asked.
Mercedes looked at the Green Day singer. "Well you know what happened to my sister. And my brother and father died in a car accident."
"Oh, shit, I'm sorry," he replied quickly, placing his hand on Mercedes' arm, gently squeezing it for comfort.
"It's fine... I've had my time already to get over it. Really, everything's fine now."
Billie Joe nodded and fiddled with his food before looking back up at Mercedes. "I'm guessing that the names on your arm... "
Mercedes lifted her arm in acknowledgement and for the first time, Tre, Adrienne, and Mike noticed the tattoo on her arm of three names. "Yeah, that's them. I had it done after my father and brother's funeral."
"Well, there's nothing better than getting a nice tattoo," Mike said to lighten the mood. He turned and looked out the window to see that the children were all laughing and getting along quite well. Mike shook his head with a wide smirk. "Mercedes, I don't know how you did it or continue to do it, but your boys are the best behaved at the table."
Mercedes blushed and pushed her food around on her plate. "Thanks, but you make it sound like the other kids are animals out there."
"Well... Frankito is there... " Billie Joe commented.
Tre finally tore his gaze away from Mercedes for what seemed to be the first time that evening and looked at Billie Joe, throwing a piece of tomato at him. "I can see where he gets his manners from," Billie continued.
"Say Mercedes, before the men came in, you told me that you had some help in the beginning with Joey and Liam," Adrienne remembered.
Mercedes nodded and set her fork down and took her glass of water. "At the time, I was actually going to get married... "
At that word, everyone turned back and looked at Mercedes, especially Tre who silently prayed that he heard her wrong. "Married?" he asked faintly.
Mercedes smiled sadly and continued. "I was actually planning the wedding when I got the call to drive down to Alberta to pick the boys up. But when I came back, he stuck around for about a week, maybe two, before leaving and calling everything off."
"Why?" Tre asked.
Mercedes shrugged. "The boys. He didn't want children... ever. I didn't know that but he was really angry when I first walked into my apartment with Joey and Liam in my arms. He told me to give them up for adoption and that I was too young to take care of kids. Ah well, I showed him."
"Asshole," Billie called out as he leaned against his chair.
Tre sat there, watching as Mercedes finished the little bit of her meal. He just wondered if he would ever get a moment alone with her to talk to her. So far, she's either been with Adrienne or Billie Joe, or with her kids. It wasn't a bad thing, but Tre wondered the last time that she had a proper relationship. He wondered when the last time it was that someone slept beside her and told her how special she was. He frowned at the thought of her putting her life on hold, even if it was for the boys.
After dinner, Adrienne ushered everyone outside so she could clean, but Mercedes instead ushered Adrienne outside with the men. "If I'm staying at your house, I can at least do my share of chores."
Adrienne tried to argue, but upon seeing the amused look on the woman's face, she gave up, grabbed her drink and joined the crowd outside.
When Tre saw Adrienne walk outside instead of Mercedes, he immediately looked at Adrienne. "Where's Mercedes?" he asked.
"Inside," she began. "She refused to let me lift another finger. Great girl."
Billie Joe looked from his wife to Tre. "She's alone Tre. Go in there."
Adrienne looked from Billie Joe to Tre, and then to Mike, who just offered her a shrug. Tre nodded and stood up.
What was he going to say to her? Well, he knew he liked her, a lot. He just didn't know how to tell her. And was it too fast? This was only the second time that he'd seen her and he was ready to tell her that he wanted possibly something more than just a simple friendship. Maybe he should go in there and ask her if she was free tomorrow night to take her out, just him and her. Maybe then he could tell her that he felt something for her. Shaking his head and he stepped back into the house, he watched Mercedes' small frame wiping the table. Smiling to himself, he stood there for a moment, leaning against the wall, watching her from behind as she stretched to wipe the table clean.
"Do you ever stop working?" he asked.
Mercedes turned around and smiled instantly. "Hey... do you always sneak up on people?"
"Not really."
Alright... just say something. "Listen, I just want to apologize for not keeping my word... you know, for not calling you."
There. He said it, and now no one can say that he didn't apologize for being a little bit of a jerk. When he looked back at Mercedes though, he noticed that there was a bit of a shocked look on her face. "I didn't expect to hear that," she said truthfully.
"Really?" he asked.
Mercedes nodded. "Well yeah. I mean, I could have just as easily asked Mike or Billie for your number and called out myself, but I didn't. So don't beat yourself up."
"Well, to make it up to you, I was wondering if I could take you out tomorrow night... or anytime. Just me and you and a night on the town," he said in a goofy accent.
Mercedes chuckled and started to wash the dishes. Tre instinctively moved to her side and started to dry the dishes. "So what do you say?" he asked again.
Mercedes, a smile creeping up on her pink lips, "What do you have in mind?"
Tre placed the dried dish down and smiled. "Well with just me and you, the sky's the limit."
Mercedes turned her face up to look at him and realized how close they were to each other. Tre could feel her cool breath against his lips and could smell a soft scent of vanilla that was no doubt coming from the green-eyed beauty with the crown of golden-brown hair that shone perfectly against the setting California sun from outside. "I'd love to."
Tre felt the little bit of weight on his shoulders loosen and fall away and leaned back. He had to think of something quick before he could no longer control himself and just decide to take advantage of Mercedes in the Armstrong kitchen. "Say... how often did you speak to the guys?"
Mercedes closed her eyes to reflect and opened them after a short pause. "Billie I spoke to everyday, and Mike called me a few times... five or six."
Tre once again felt a little guilty for not calling, but again, she made it clear that she could have just as well called him. Maybe he was making a big deal out of nothing. "You'd think that they'd tell me that they spoke to you. I mean, they knew I liked you so the least they could do was tell me how you were doing."
Before he realized it, Tre closed his eyes. "Shit," he whispered to himself. He hadn't meant that to slip out. He opened his eyes and looked at Mercedes, who was staring at Tre with a blank expression on her face. And in that moment, he cursed the gods for not making him possess the ability to read people.
