Worlds Apart, chapter 4
I walked home along the Quayside, trying to come to terms with what had happened. I’d slept with Billie Joe Armstrong. And I was never going to see him again. I clutched my drumsticks in between both my hands in front of me as I walked, like they were this tiny piece of the night before that I could still hold on to…but it didn’t help.
When I got home, Ellen was in the kitchen making toast. She gasped excitedly as I walked in, took one look at my tear-stained face and said,
“Oh my God. What’s happened?�
I think that’s when I burst back into tears again, but I can’t really remember. My hangover was pretty killer and my emotional state wasn’t easing it. Next thing I know, I’m on the sofa wrapped in a blanket and Ellen’s supplying me with coffee and Nurofen. The number of times she’d come to my rescue in the past few weeks, I wondered what I’d do without her.
“Ok, fuck lectures.� She said, “I want to hear everything. Did you take photos?�
I nodded
“Great. So you have visual aides. I want no detail left out. Well, not that you can remember. I haven’t seen you in this state in a while, you’re actually shivering. How pissed were you?�
“Too pissed� I replied, “Ellen, you have no idea. I did something really stupid last night. Well…great but…shit, Ellen, everything’s just so messed up�
“Oh God. What did you do, Soph?�
“I got really drunk…and really stoned…and then I slept with Billie Joe�
The look on her face was priceless. The information seemed to take about five seconds to sink in, during which time she stared wildly at me with her mouth hanging open and some incomprehensible sounds coming out of it. And after I had revealed the events of the night before, she said,
“Oh…my God. I can’t believe this. This is huge�
“I know�
“So now what’s going to happen?�
“What? Nothing! That’s the problem�
“Wait a minute. You didn’t give him your number?�
“…No. It would have looked desperate�
“This is Billie Joe Armstrong we’re talking about. We are desperate�
“I just…I couldn’t. I mean, you’re not meant to give numbers to one night stands right? He didn’t offer his. We’ve no way of ever finding each other again. I mean, he’s a rock star. He isn’t in short supply of females so he’s not going to bother coming looking for me.�
We were quiet for a moment while she considered what I said. I could tell by the look on her face that she knew I was right.
“So what was it like?� she asked, wistfully.
“Amazing.� I said, smiling for the first time since I left the hotel.
“Really?�
“Really really. I can’t even. Just…amazing�
“So he can’t have been that drunk�
“He was pretty far gone. If that’s what he’s like after spending all night drinking whilst smoking his way through a tenth of skunk, I can’t even imagine what he’d be like sober.�
Ellen finally quit quizzing me so I could go to sleep. I crawled under the covers blocking out any signs of the outside world and tried to force my mind to go to sleep. Just as I was dropping off my phone rang. I groaned and answered it, only because the persitent ringing made me feel like someone was bashing me repeatedly over the head with a hammer.
“Soph! Oh my fucking God! I just heard! What happened, what happened!�
My 18yr old brother, Ben. Tom must have told him.
“Hi� I said, groggily.
“Are you still pissed?� he laughed,
"Just a little worse for wear� I replied, before telling him about being up on stage and going backstage to see the band. I left out details of where, and with whom, I had slept. If Ben had to think about me sleeping with anyone, famous rock star or not, he would need a pretty heavy dose of counselling. I managed to get him off the phone with promises of e-mailing him the photos I’d taken the night before so I could finally get some sleep.
I slept on and off for six hours. I didn’t feel like getting out of bed so I just lay there, drifting in and out of sleep, turning Tre’s drumsticks over in my hands. Ellen and Kirsty checked on me twice, but I pretended to be asleep both times. I didn’t feel like seeing anyone or doing anything. The second time, I could hear them outside my door talking.
“She is way to emotional to cope with this right now. Meeting him was probably overwhelming enough, but sleeping with him…I don’t know. I don’t know if she can cope with this. She isn’t a one-night-stand type of person. She gets attached�
I rolled my eyes. You could tell Kirsty was the psychology student.
Two weeks passed and not one day went by in which Billie Joe Armstrong didn’t dominate my thoughts. I pleaded with myself to get over him, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t think about anything else. On the plus side, it made getting over Tom much easier, but that just meant I felt guilty when he rang me up telling me how shit he was feeling and I realised I hadn’t given him a thought.
I did finally get my thesis written though, even though it was the biggest load of crap I’d ever read in my life. Why they make art students write essays, I’ll never know. On the last day of term before summer break, Kirsty and I went to hand it in.
When I got to the reception desk, the lady said,
“Sophie O’Neill?�
I nodded,
“We have a parcel for you�
“What?� I frowned.
I didn’t even know the department took parcels for students.
“I don’t know what it is� she continued, “But it arrived here yesterday. I was going to send an e-mail. It’s a bit strange�
I frowned at Kirsty in confusion. She just shrugged as the lady went to get the parcel. She returned with a small package and handed it to me. On the front it said,
SOPHIE O’NEILL. ART STUDENT. A UNIVERSITY IN NEWCASTLE.
Kirsty laughed,
“Could it be your brother?� she asked, “That’s probably all the iinformation he would think would be necessary�
"It already got sent to Northumbria University" said the receptionist, "But they didnt have a Sophie O'Neill at their art department, so they brought it here"
She looked a little pissed off. I had a feeling this parcel had been a bit of an inconvenience to a few people.
I sat down in the waiting area. Kirsty sat next to me and watched me unwrap it. I opened the box and tipped the contents into my lap. It was a packet of Skittles and a black eyeliner.
“What?!� exclaimed Kirsty in confusion. As I just sat there staring at the items in my lap, she sought to answer her own question by pulling a note out of the box and reading it aloud.
“I decided it looked better on you. Love BJ…�
Kirsty’s eyes widened as she turned it over,
“Oh my God� she said softly, “There’s a phone number on here�
When I got home, Ellen was in the kitchen making toast. She gasped excitedly as I walked in, took one look at my tear-stained face and said,
“Oh my God. What’s happened?�
I think that’s when I burst back into tears again, but I can’t really remember. My hangover was pretty killer and my emotional state wasn’t easing it. Next thing I know, I’m on the sofa wrapped in a blanket and Ellen’s supplying me with coffee and Nurofen. The number of times she’d come to my rescue in the past few weeks, I wondered what I’d do without her.
“Ok, fuck lectures.� She said, “I want to hear everything. Did you take photos?�
I nodded
“Great. So you have visual aides. I want no detail left out. Well, not that you can remember. I haven’t seen you in this state in a while, you’re actually shivering. How pissed were you?�
“Too pissed� I replied, “Ellen, you have no idea. I did something really stupid last night. Well…great but…shit, Ellen, everything’s just so messed up�
“Oh God. What did you do, Soph?�
“I got really drunk…and really stoned…and then I slept with Billie Joe�
The look on her face was priceless. The information seemed to take about five seconds to sink in, during which time she stared wildly at me with her mouth hanging open and some incomprehensible sounds coming out of it. And after I had revealed the events of the night before, she said,
“Oh…my God. I can’t believe this. This is huge�
“I know�
“So now what’s going to happen?�
“What? Nothing! That’s the problem�
“Wait a minute. You didn’t give him your number?�
“…No. It would have looked desperate�
“This is Billie Joe Armstrong we’re talking about. We are desperate�
“I just…I couldn’t. I mean, you’re not meant to give numbers to one night stands right? He didn’t offer his. We’ve no way of ever finding each other again. I mean, he’s a rock star. He isn’t in short supply of females so he’s not going to bother coming looking for me.�
We were quiet for a moment while she considered what I said. I could tell by the look on her face that she knew I was right.
“So what was it like?� she asked, wistfully.
“Amazing.� I said, smiling for the first time since I left the hotel.
“Really?�
“Really really. I can’t even. Just…amazing�
“So he can’t have been that drunk�
“He was pretty far gone. If that’s what he’s like after spending all night drinking whilst smoking his way through a tenth of skunk, I can’t even imagine what he’d be like sober.�
Ellen finally quit quizzing me so I could go to sleep. I crawled under the covers blocking out any signs of the outside world and tried to force my mind to go to sleep. Just as I was dropping off my phone rang. I groaned and answered it, only because the persitent ringing made me feel like someone was bashing me repeatedly over the head with a hammer.
“Soph! Oh my fucking God! I just heard! What happened, what happened!�
My 18yr old brother, Ben. Tom must have told him.
“Hi� I said, groggily.
“Are you still pissed?� he laughed,
"Just a little worse for wear� I replied, before telling him about being up on stage and going backstage to see the band. I left out details of where, and with whom, I had slept. If Ben had to think about me sleeping with anyone, famous rock star or not, he would need a pretty heavy dose of counselling. I managed to get him off the phone with promises of e-mailing him the photos I’d taken the night before so I could finally get some sleep.
I slept on and off for six hours. I didn’t feel like getting out of bed so I just lay there, drifting in and out of sleep, turning Tre’s drumsticks over in my hands. Ellen and Kirsty checked on me twice, but I pretended to be asleep both times. I didn’t feel like seeing anyone or doing anything. The second time, I could hear them outside my door talking.
“She is way to emotional to cope with this right now. Meeting him was probably overwhelming enough, but sleeping with him…I don’t know. I don’t know if she can cope with this. She isn’t a one-night-stand type of person. She gets attached�
I rolled my eyes. You could tell Kirsty was the psychology student.
Two weeks passed and not one day went by in which Billie Joe Armstrong didn’t dominate my thoughts. I pleaded with myself to get over him, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t think about anything else. On the plus side, it made getting over Tom much easier, but that just meant I felt guilty when he rang me up telling me how shit he was feeling and I realised I hadn’t given him a thought.
I did finally get my thesis written though, even though it was the biggest load of crap I’d ever read in my life. Why they make art students write essays, I’ll never know. On the last day of term before summer break, Kirsty and I went to hand it in.
When I got to the reception desk, the lady said,
“Sophie O’Neill?�
I nodded,
“We have a parcel for you�
“What?� I frowned.
I didn’t even know the department took parcels for students.
“I don’t know what it is� she continued, “But it arrived here yesterday. I was going to send an e-mail. It’s a bit strange�
I frowned at Kirsty in confusion. She just shrugged as the lady went to get the parcel. She returned with a small package and handed it to me. On the front it said,
SOPHIE O’NEILL. ART STUDENT. A UNIVERSITY IN NEWCASTLE.
Kirsty laughed,
“Could it be your brother?� she asked, “That’s probably all the iinformation he would think would be necessary�
"It already got sent to Northumbria University" said the receptionist, "But they didnt have a Sophie O'Neill at their art department, so they brought it here"
She looked a little pissed off. I had a feeling this parcel had been a bit of an inconvenience to a few people.
I sat down in the waiting area. Kirsty sat next to me and watched me unwrap it. I opened the box and tipped the contents into my lap. It was a packet of Skittles and a black eyeliner.
“What?!� exclaimed Kirsty in confusion. As I just sat there staring at the items in my lap, she sought to answer her own question by pulling a note out of the box and reading it aloud.
“I decided it looked better on you. Love BJ…�
Kirsty’s eyes widened as she turned it over,
“Oh my God� she said softly, “There’s a phone number on here�
