Waiting, chapter 5

"What is it that drives me mad?
Girls like you that I never had
What is it about you that I adore?
What makes me feel so much pain?
That makes me go so insane
What is it about you that I adore?"

At three thirty, Tré and I left his house and headed towards Billie's, our spirits high and our smiles big. I had since forgiven Tré completely, and we had spent the day hanging out, playing video games, and pranking random people that walked by Tré's house. Overall it had been a good day for ditching school. Of course, the rest of the guys had all been at school, which I'm sure wasn't very enjoyable. We planned to meet them as they reached Billie's house.
"Hey guys, umm, they aren't home yet," Ollie, Billie's mom, greeted us as we reached his house. "But feel free to come in, and make yourselves comfortable. I'm sure they won't be long."
We slipped our shoes off and walked inside, looking around at the surprisingly clean house. Ollie had been known to go on cleaning rampages after Billie had friends over, and today was no exception. It was a million times cleaner than it had been the night before.
Tré and I sat down on the couch beside each other, where the TV. was on and ready for us. The channel was on MTV, of course; Ollie had some odd choices in TV shows.
"D'you think the guys will be pissed that we skipped without them?" I asked Tré, smirking at the thought of Billie having a hissy fit.
Tré just laughed, grabbing a bag of chips that was hiding under the couch and stuffing a handful of them into his mouth, and then offering the moldy Doritos to me with a grin. After our "snack", and a few minutes of torturous MTV watching, we got up and headed into Billie's room, where we found that the two separate single beds that Caitlyn and Billie slept in had been pushed together.

Tré and I exchanged curious glances, smirking at the idea of what Billie and Caitlyn had been up to the day before. We were still in a sort of shock that they were together; it's unusual for best friends to fall in love, or at least, that's what I had always believed. Out of nowhere Tré grabbed me and threw me onto the bed, continuing to jump on me and start yet another tickle fight that I knew I couldn't win. After trying to beat him off of me for a few moments, I finally was able to kick him off of the bed, sending him crashing to the floor and whamming his head into Billie's dresser.

"Ah, sorry Tré! Are you alright?" I asked worriedly, trying to suppress a giggle as he rubbed his head in pain. He waved me off, his interest suddenly drawn to something hidden under the dresser. He shoved his arm under it, and pulled out what looked to be a very pink, fuzzy diary with a gold lock on it.

"Hey, the lock is open! I bet this is Caitlyn's diary," Tré said with a smirk, opening the small book and flipping to the first page.

"'Today we raided 7-11. It was really fun, Caitlyn and I made out for a long time. The other guys were doing... something, I dunno, but who cares. I fuckin' made out with Caitlyn! Then Tré and Erin left... probably to steal a car or something retarded, and Mike left because he was horny. Or that's what I thought he said. I wasn't really paying any attention to anyone, since I was so fuckin' lucky to have Caitlyn in my lap,'"
Tré read aloud from the diary, making my eyes widen with surprise to learn that it was actually Billie's diary. "
'So then we went back to my place, and I was all nice to Caitlyn and I said her hair was nice, and then she started kissing me, then we went into my room and made out on my bed. It was really cool. But my mom came home, so we stopped. While nobody was looking we pushed the beds together! I felt all naughty and dirty and shit, I guess that's what Tré feels like all the time—'
Hey! Jesus, Billie... I'm not like that all the time... " Tré interrupted his reading, looking at me like a whiney eight year-old.
"Aw shut up, we all know you're constantly in a state of extreme horniness. Now keep reading! This is getting interesting!" I told Tré, looking at him expectantly as he reluctantly continued reading.
"' My mom left to go to her other job, so we took the chance to get closer to each other. We sat on the bed, and I got on top of Caitlyn, and she told me I looked really sexy, and then she started to unbutton my shirt. I got all hot and sweaty feeling, I was really nervous for some reason. Then she looked down at my jeans, and undid my belt. She looked up at me with a really hot look on her face. Then she started unzipping—'"
"What the FUCK do you think you're doing?" Billie snapped, making both Tré and me swing around to face the doorway, where Billie, Caitlyn, and Mike were all standing, staring at us, or in Billie's case, looking at us as if he was ready to shove a knife down each of our throats. "You fucking ass wipe! Where the hell did you find that?!"
"Billie, I swear—I mean, I'm sorry! Please—" but Tré was cut off when Billie full-out tackled him, sending them both crashing into the wall beside the dresser. Tré was about to protest, but was silenced by Billie beating the shit out of him, grabbing his shirt collar and shaking the poor guy violently by the neck.
"Whoa, Billie boy! Calm down!" Mike interjected, rushing over and grabbing Billie by the sides and trying to pull him off of a very terrified Tré. Arms flailing wildly in the air, Billie was pried off of Tré by Mike, and Caitlyn helped to keep him still while Tré sat up from his position on the floor. A few small tears rolled down Tré's cheeks, but he wiped them away quickly as he slowly got up, with my help of course. Billie could be a real ass sometimes.
"What the hell, dude? That really hurt!" Tré growled, glaring at Billie as he rubbed his neck in pain.
"Where the hell did you find that?" Billie demanded, his face totally stock-serious, looking like he was ready to shoot somebody if he wasn't answered.
"It was under the dresser! We thought it was Caitlyn's, so we decided to read it. No offence, Caitlyn," I added, looking at Caitlyn apologetically. "We didn't know it was yours. I mean... why the hell would you have a pink diary?"
Billie opened his mouth to say something, but stopped, and looked at his feet sheepishly in embarrassment. Mike smacked him over the head, looking at Caitlyn in exasperation.
"When will he ever learn... Caitlyn, you need to train your boyfriend better!" Mike said, pulling at least a little giggle out of everyone, excluding Billie of course. Billie walked over to Tré and grabbed the diary out of his hand, glaring at him one last time before leaving the room and heading towards his mother's room.
After all four of us exchanged bemused glances, we followed Mike into the garage attached to the house, which was now Mike's "home away from home". Inside was the bedroom part of Mike's home, and the rest appeared to be a makeshift recording studio/band practice room. There was one drum kit set up, with a bass and two guitars next to it, and various amps scattered around the garage. Various band posters were pinned up on the walls, and on Mike's bedside table, there was a small, framed photo of his mother and sister, smiling at the camera sweetly.
Mike graciously flopped down onto his bed, stretching out on his back and crossing his arms behind his head, gesturing for all of us to sit down. Tré immediately grabbed a beanbag that was laying on the floor, and Caitlyn ran over to one of Mike's guitars, picking it up and randomly strumming some notes. I casually sat on the floor beside Mike's bed, resting my head against Mike's legs and sighing with content.
"So tell me again, why the hell did you guys decide so skip, and then not tell us? I wasted an entire day of my life being bored out of my skull, because you two weren't there to do something funny that would amuse me. Sick bastards, you are!" Mike said jokingly, nudging me in the head with his knee. I smirked at Tré, but stopped as I saw Tré looking at me with a very serious, almost scared look on his face, somehow implying for me to be quiet. Then it hit me; he thought I was going to talk about what had happened between us the night before.
"Umm, I dunno, we both slept in since we had... hangovers. And... " I started, looking at Tré for help as I tried to think up a plausible excuse, instead of telling Mike about what had really happened. "Well we decided to play video games. We kind of forgot about school."
Mike nodded, an eyebrow raised curiously, but he didn't press the issue. Just then Billie walked into the garage, looking at his feet as he closed the door behind him and made his way across the room to sit on the beanbag chair next to the drum kit. He didn't look at any of us, but I could still tell he was feeling very embarrassed and sorry.
"Aw Bill, you can sit over here. I forgive you, I guess... " Tré said, trailing off at the end so that Billie couldn't hear his last two words. "C'mon. Drag your sad ass over here so I can give you a Tré hug!"
Billie looked up, a frown still plastered to his face, and reluctantly dragged his beanbag over next to Tré, who immediately threw his arms around him and leaped into his lap, smothering him with kisses and licking his face. Billie shoved him off, wiping at his face frantically and groaning in disgust.
"Maaaan! Tré, what the fuck dude... " Billie complained, cleaning his face with his sleeves.
"That's a Tré hug for yah!" Mike said with a grin, joining me simultaneously in laughing at Billie as he pawed at his face madly. Caitlyn was still apparently transfixed by the guitar she had been strumming, but suddenly stopped playing and joined in with our laughter, walking over to Billie and giving him a comforting hug.
"It's okay that you have a pink diary. Don't worry, I'm sure Tré and Mike do too," Caitlyn reassured him, giving Tré and Mike implying glares.
"O-oh yeah, I do too, don't worry Billie, it's cool," Mike said, trying his hardest to suppress his laughter. Tré couldn't respond, he had stuffed his face in a pillow trying to keep himself quiet. Caitlyn sighed dejectedly, patting Billie on the back one last time before getting up and returning to the guitar that she had been strumming earlier. Billie watched her leave him, his eyes wishing she would stay, but he eventually gave up and just sat there, staring at his shoes like a pouty little kid.
"Well this is boring. Either we go out and do something, or I'm kicking all of you out of my room so I can practice bass," Mike broke the silence, staring at the ceiling with boredom. "Anyone have a suggestion?"
"What's there to do in Rodeo?" I asked, racking my mind for an idea of something fun to do. Really, Rodeo was pretty boring. Other than hanging out or going to Gilman at night, there wasn't much to do for a bunch of lazy teenagers like us. I looked at Tré, but he was just as dry for ideas as I was.
"Why don't we go see a movie or something?" Billie suggested hopefully, looking at us all with pleading eyes.
"Hell no. You would just use that as a chance to make out with your 'girlfriend' over there," Tré said, looking at Billie in a killjoy sort of way. "Why don't we go see if Laurie wants to do something?"
"You think he'd want to entertain us? He probably has a bunch of talent scouts from Gilman over all the time... and I know you guys aren't ready to see anyone yet, so that wouldn't really work," Caitlyn said, putting the guitar down, walking over in our direction and sitting down on the foot of Mike's bed.
"Why don't we just go skateboarding somewhere. I know we always have fun doing that, and it doesn't really matter where we go. And I left my board here anyway, so I might as well take it with me wherever we go," I finally said after a long silence, and after everyone thought my idea over a few times, they all nodded their agreement. Mike kicked Caitlyn off of his bed and got up, walking over to the corner of the garage near the garage door, where five skateboards were randomly piled up, one on top of another. The rest of us all followed Mike's lead and got up from our seats, each grabbing a skateboard and heading out of Mike's room and out the front door. I hopped on my board shakily, propelling myself forward with one foot while trying to balance myself with the other. I had once been a pretty good skateboarder, but that was a long time ago, and I had since forgotten the basics of boarding. I continued on, but was soon trailing behind the other guys, who were all far ahead of me, going fast and looking cool. I, on the other hand, had my arms stretched out at my sides, trying to stay balanced, leaning forward and shifting my foot several times to try to keep from falling. My board soon drifted off towards the boulevard, so I had to stop and turn it in a more straight direction again, which left me even farther behind from everyone else, who were already at the end of the street.
"Fuck... " I mumbled to myself, trying my best to catch up by pushing my foot hard and fast against the pavement. However, I wasn't really paying attention, and my board head on collided with a huge crack in the pavement, sending me flipping forwards off of my board, and landing flat on my face. I continued tumbling for several moments, doing a complete back flip and ending up on the street curb with my face squished painfully against the concrete of the road. I lay there, motionless, trying to keep myself calm as I felt my body go numb. But I just had to lift up my arms, which resulted in my body being flooded with searing pain as I realized how harsh my fall had been. I looked down to see blood soaking the knees of my jeans, and that my elbows were scratched up to some pretty extreme levels. Tears welling in my eyes, I slowly dragged my hands up to my face, where I saw they had gravel shoved into the many cuts and tears in my skin, along with a really long twig that was sticking out of my palm in a painful position.
"Help... " I cried weakly. I was in too much pain to turn around and see if the guys were still there, but my cry was answered soon enough. Tré ran over to me as fast as he could, crouching down and picking me up by my sides, placing me on the grass in a much more comfortable position. Suddenly in my upright position, the blood rushed to my head, making me feel dizzy, and causing me to lose my vision for a moment as I started falling towards the grass. Tré caught me before hand, though, propping me up with his arms as I struggled to see. My glasses were far from gone, and I had no idea if they had been broken or not.
"Holy shit, Erin, are you okay?" Tré asked me worriedly, looking at me with concern in his icy blue eyes. I nodded, although obviously I wasn't really okay. I was bleeding in more than one place, I had probably broken a few bones, and my face felt like it was going to explode, but other than that, I guess I was alright.
"Jesus, Erin, you're gonna need to learn how to use that thing before you kill yourself!" Mike said, as I saw the rest of the guys had all run over and were all standing around me. I smiled weakly, trying to hold back the tears in my eyes. I wiped my face, and then looked down at my sleeves to see them covered in blood.
"I wish I had caught that on video!" Billie laughed, a huge, crooked grin plastered on his face as he made fun of me. Tré and Caitlyn slowly helped me up, and once I realized that I somehow managed to keep all of my bones intact, I put my weight on my feet and was able to stand without any help. I then punched Billie hard in the stomach, sending him a few steps backwards, clutching his belly as if he had been kicked in the wrong place to kick a guy.
"I used to know how to skateboard," I said, glaring playfully at Billie as he flipped me off, "but I guess I forgot how. Holy cow, that really hurt... "
"Well just take it slow, and maybe you won't totally decapitate yourself next time," Caitlyn laughed, handing me my glasses that I guess she found earlier. I cleaned them off and adjusted them on my face, looking around myself with relief since they, miraculously, weren't broken. Tré handed me my board, and the rest of the guys hopped back on, continuing down the sidewalk like nothing had ever happened. I sighed, hesitantly getting on my board and pushing off, going very slowly down the gravelly sidewalk. I thought I was going to have to do this alone again, when I felt a hand slide around my waist, and another hand grab my own bleeding fingers. It was Tré.
"Hey, thanks Tré! I could use some help... I don't want to fall again," I said, a wide grin on my face as Tré gratefully helped me balance on my board, his gentle hand keeping me aligned with the board, and his other hand ready to catch me if I fell.
"We don't want anymore gravel cutting up that pretty face of yours, do we?" Tré said, a little kiddy smile appearing on his face as he pushed me forward at an easy, slow pace. "Anyway, Mike took my board for some reason, so I might as well help you out, eh?"
I felt my face get hot, as if I was blushing slightly. But it was probably just my face bleeding, so I continued on, ignoring the odd feeling of butterflies in my stomach as we slowly gained a little bit of speed. Tré led me over every bump and hole in the sidewalk carefully, helping me stay tall and balanced whenever I was about to fall. I felt his grip tighten slightly on my waist, and his hand slid down from my waist to the back of my jeans, which helped a lot to keep me from wobbling. I felt my stomach flip suddenly, but I tried to ignore it so I wouldn't mess up and fall on my face again.
"Do... do you want to go faster?" Tré asked me softly, looking at me with a warm, reassuring smile as I nodded. He picked up his pace, now jogging along beside me, telling me when to push my foot on the sidewalk, and when to put it on the back of my board and steer. Of course, he was steering for me, but it was good practice either way.
I was finally getting control of my board, and I remembered how to steer it properly by the time we caught up with the rest of the guys, who were already across the street, and at the end of the next one.
"Fuck, you guys are slow," Billie whined, but was ignored as we all crossed the street together, this time skating off of the sidewalk and onto the road.
"You think you're ready for me to let go?" Tré asked, his face so close to mine that I could feel his warm breath on my cheek. I was about to say no, when I realized that I was, for the most part, now skating fine without much help from Tré.
"Oh... umm, yeah, I'm fine now. Thanks!" I said, my stomach suddenly pained with a twinge of regret. Nonetheless I pushed off, and Tré let go, watching me skate down the road all by myself. I have to say, boarding with Tré by my side was much more fun.