Mistakes Worth Making, chapter 2
Chad takes the lead and quickly walks to the front desk of the hotel that we decided to stay in for the night. I am exhausted from the long trip and I feel like I could sleep for the next week. I sluggishly follow him into the elevator.
I suddenly jolt awake when I feel someone pulling on my arm. I had fallen asleep in the few short minutes we were in the elevator. I trail along behind him down the hall that seems to go on forever. Finally, he stops and slips the card in the door opening it.
I step into the room and head for the nearest bed. The air conditioning is on full blast and the room is freezing... not the best way to sleep in my opinion. I put my bag down by the bed and pull the covers back. I don't even bother changing into my pajamas before crawling into the bed and turning off the light.
Thirty minutes later, I hear Chad snoring in the neighboring bed. I had figured I would be out as soon as my head hit the pillow, but I was wrong. I have been tossing and turning since I had laid down. I don't want to lay here all night and be miserable so I get up.
I slip my black flip-flops on my feet before heading towards the door. I figure I will walk around the hotel for a little while to make myself sleepy. The heavy door closes behind me as I start to walk towards the elevator we had been in earlier.
I am almost to the elevator when I decide to go back and get my iPod out of my room. I soon realize that I didn't bother to grab the key off of the nightstand before I left. Damn it. I feel very irritated at this point because I know that I will have to go to the lobby now because Chad will never wake up if I knock on the door.
I finally get to the main floor of the hotel and walk over to the front desk. I tell them that I had locked myself out of my room and I needed another key. I also hadn't taken the time to look at the number on the door of our room either. Luckily, it doesn't take long for them to look me up in the computer and figure out which room I was staying in. They give me another card and I am on my way.
As I am walking back towards the bank of elevators, I see a sign that points in the direction of the hotel's bar. I decide that a drink or two will probably help me fall asleep faster and head in that direction.
As I enter, I survey the room. There are a few people here and there, but one person in particular catches my eye. The guy is sitting at the bar with a half-full glass in his hand talking to the bartender. His black hair and his attractive mannerisms seem very familiar to me. I wonder for a split second if it is Billie. I then quickly change my mind because it is not very likely that they would stay in a hotel when they are so close to their home and they can sleep in their own beds.
I decide against the drink and I turn to walk out of the bar. From across the room I hear someone call out my name and I immediately turn around to see who it is.
"Sam," the voice says. "Come over here."
And sure enough, it was Billie. I was utterly surprised that they were actually staying at the same hotel we had picked. I walk over to where he is sitting and take a seat next to him.
"How come you didn't just go home?" I ask curiously before ordering a drink. "So you could be with your family and stuff?"
"We needed some sleep," he tells me before downing the rest of the liquid in his glass.
"But you're not asleep," I say. "At least you don't appear to be anyway," I laugh.
"Well, it wasn't my idea to stop... I have plenty of experience with insomnia," he laughs. "And why are you here?"
"Couldn't fall asleep," I say. "And that is really frustrating because I am absolutely exhausted after flying all day."
We have several drinks and talk for a long time. I check my watch that I finally set to California's time and see that it is already five. Billie decides that he needs to go up to his room and go to bed because they were planning on leaving by eight that morning. He pays for our drinks as I get up.
After swearing up and down that he is sober enough to make it up to his room, he stands up and proves that he is anything but that. He almost falls, but luckily he catches himself on the barstool. I laugh and he asks me to take him to his room. He puts his arm around me to stabilize himself enough so that he can walk as we head toward the elevators.
We stop outside of his room and he takes they key out of his pocket. He tries to unlock the door but makes three failed attempts before handing the card to me. The door opens on the first try and I help him inside.
He sits down on the bed closest to the window and clumsily takes off his shoes. After he takes them off, he lays back across the bed. I turn on the lamp and sit down on the bed next to him. He has the most beautiful green eyes that I have ever seen. It's not like Of course, I had seen those gorgeous eyes a million times before on television and in posters, but to have them staring up at me was something completely different.
"You are going to be so hung over," I laugh.
He nods and says that he probably had a little too much to drink. I'd say that's an understatement. I decide that I am almost too tired... not to mention drunk... to function and I get up and walk towards the door.
"Wait," he sits up and says as I near the door of his room.
"Yeah," I reply as I turn back towards him.
"You've got my key," he says pointing at my hand. "And I wanted to tell you thanks for helping me up to my room... I lied back there, I never would have been able to find it." He laughs.
"Oh, you're welcome," I say as I put the key down beside him on the bed. "Goodnight."
"Night," he says. "Maybe I'll see you around... like maybe tomorrow."
"Bye, Billie," I say as I let the door to his room close behind me.
I finally get back to my room and fall asleep pretty quickly. What seems like just minutes later, I am being abruptly awakened from my deep sleep. I look up to see my slightly irritated brother standing over my bed.
"What?" I ask scornfully. "I let you sleep peacefully, why can't you let me?"
"It's almost ten... you've had at least 8 hours," he says.
"I have not... I didn't get back until like five this morning," I tell him with a bit of an attitude. "I went down to the bar and had a few drinks."
"Well I can tell," he says rudely. "Go take a shower we are leaving at eleven."
I finally get up and get moving after having very little sleep and a hang over. I spend half an hour leaning up against the shower wall before getting out so I can get dressed. I decide just to put my hair up in a ponytail and skip on the makeup... besides we are only changing hotels and I can just fix myself up there.
When we arrive at the hotel that we will be permanently staying at during our stay, I order some food and then sleep for a few more hours. When I wake up the room is just as I left it, only Chad seems to have disappeared.
I shrug it off because the way he had acted earlier that morning, I really don't want to hang out with him anyway. I take another shower before blow-drying and straightening my hair. As I am putting on my eyeliner, I hear something fall in the other room which nearly makes me stab myself in the eye.
I slowly open the bathroom door and peek around it. I am relieved when I see that it is only Chad and shut the door. I finish putting on my make-up and brush my teeth before picking something out of my bag to wear for the night.
I decide on some low-rise blue jeans, a black tank top, and flip flops. I turn off the bathroom light and put my bag on the bed I had been sleeping in. Chad, who is already fully dressed and ready to go, offers me some food but I decline since I had just brushed my teeth.
At eight o'clock we find ourselves looking for the address on the piece of paper that Billie had given me. I had to spend awhile trying to convince Chad to go to this particular place with me... some friends of his back home had told him some good clubs to check out. After about thirty minutes of searching, we find our destination.
Once inside, I look around for awhile and see no sign of Billie or anyone that I had seen him with previously. I am a little disappointed but I plan on having a good time. So I pull Chad over to the bar and we start our night out with some drinks.
It is getting pretty late and I've had a lot to drink... but not so much that I wouldn't be able to tell someone my name if they asked. Regrettably, I somehow had lost Chad earlier in the night so I start to look around for him.
I had seen him at the bar talking to a girl earlier, but that could have been hours ago. I decide to check anyway since it is a pretty big place that we are at. Unfortunately, I don't see my brother anywhere at the bar... I do, however, spot Billie Joe sipping on his drink and talking to Mike.
From a distance, I see Mike start to walk off so I decide to go over and say hi.
"We can't keep meeting like this," I say as I sit down on the stool next to his.
"Oh, hey," he says turning in my direction. "Did you just get here?"
"No," I say before ordering a drink. "I've been here since around eight... and I need to leave before I am too drunk to find my way back to the hotel."
"Are you here by yourself?" he questions before ordering both of us another drink.
"No, I came with Chad... I just can't seem to find him," I say scanning the dance floor. "Who'd you bring?" I ask as I turn back towards him.
"A lot of people... Adrienne, Tré, Mike, Jason, Sarah, and some people I don't know, but they all left except for Mike and he is leaving in a minute," he says.
Just as I open my mouth to say something else, my phone rings. I move my drink to the other hand and pull my phone out of my back pocket. Chad's name is lit up on the screen and I flip it open.
"Where the hell are you at?" I ask him with an aggravated tone. "You fucking left me here to go to some girl's house?"
After listening to his excuses for a few minutes I roll my eyes in disbelief. I did expect for him to leave me here for any reason. I mean, come on... we are not even in our home state.
"Asshole," I say before flipping my phone shut, hanging up on him.
"Need a ride?" Billie asks as he stands up. "We can drop you off."
"Oh, like I'm letting your drunk ass drive me anywhere," I say sarcastically as I get up to follow him outside.
"I'm not too wasted," he assures me. "See, look... I don't even need you to help me walk this time," he laughs.
Once we are outside, I climb into the back seat of Mike's car and buckle my seatbelt. I put my phone down between myself and Billie and close my eyes. Mike gets in the car and asks what hotel I am staying at. I tell him and he starts the car.
After about ten minutes of riding in the car, I open my eyes because I feel very sick. To my relief, we are pulling up in front of my hotel. This way, I can hold off on throwing up in Mike's car and hopefully make it up to my room.
Billie opens the door on his side and helps me out of the car. He hands me my cell phone from out of the seat. I thank them for making sure that I got back okay and tell them goodbye. They start to drive off and I walk towards the hotel entrance.
The next afternoon, I am in the bathroom being reminded of all the fun I had the night before. I remember the alcohol I had early that morning tasting a lot better going in the other direction. My head, along with the rest of my body, aches and I swear to myself that I am never drinking again.
After emptying everything out of my stomach, I decide to take a shower. As I am getting back out of the shower, I hear the door to the hotel open. I wrap my towel around me and exit the bathroom to see who it is. When I see that it is Chad, I immediately want to go over and drop kick his ass for doing what he did the night before... although, I did enjoy Billie and Mike dropping me off.
I choose not to say anything to him because I feel like shit and I don't want to deal with him at all. I shut the curtain that is by my bed and curl up under my covers. I intend to not stay out drinking tonight... I actually decide not to leave my bed for the night.
The rest of our stay in California goes by rather quickly. Unfortunately, I don't get to see Billie or any other Green Day guys for the remainder of our visit. Our flight back to New York leaves in the morning at eleven... it is definitely a flight I dread. After the flight, that has no fun to be had at the other end of it, it will be back to work for me.
I am a little excited that I will get to see my boyfriend for two days before he goes on another lame business trip. Then it will be a week before I get to see him again. I guess that's just life.
That night, me and Chad stay up late and watch movies instead of packing. The next morning we pay for it... we oversleep, we haven't packed a thing, and our flight leaves in less than two hours.
Luckily, we make our flight and we head back to Manhattan right on time. Although I am very happy about getting back home and getting back to my normal routine, I feel pretty blue as I wonder if I will ever see or talk to Billie again.
I suddenly jolt awake when I feel someone pulling on my arm. I had fallen asleep in the few short minutes we were in the elevator. I trail along behind him down the hall that seems to go on forever. Finally, he stops and slips the card in the door opening it.
I step into the room and head for the nearest bed. The air conditioning is on full blast and the room is freezing... not the best way to sleep in my opinion. I put my bag down by the bed and pull the covers back. I don't even bother changing into my pajamas before crawling into the bed and turning off the light.
Thirty minutes later, I hear Chad snoring in the neighboring bed. I had figured I would be out as soon as my head hit the pillow, but I was wrong. I have been tossing and turning since I had laid down. I don't want to lay here all night and be miserable so I get up.
I slip my black flip-flops on my feet before heading towards the door. I figure I will walk around the hotel for a little while to make myself sleepy. The heavy door closes behind me as I start to walk towards the elevator we had been in earlier.
I am almost to the elevator when I decide to go back and get my iPod out of my room. I soon realize that I didn't bother to grab the key off of the nightstand before I left. Damn it. I feel very irritated at this point because I know that I will have to go to the lobby now because Chad will never wake up if I knock on the door.
I finally get to the main floor of the hotel and walk over to the front desk. I tell them that I had locked myself out of my room and I needed another key. I also hadn't taken the time to look at the number on the door of our room either. Luckily, it doesn't take long for them to look me up in the computer and figure out which room I was staying in. They give me another card and I am on my way.
As I am walking back towards the bank of elevators, I see a sign that points in the direction of the hotel's bar. I decide that a drink or two will probably help me fall asleep faster and head in that direction.
As I enter, I survey the room. There are a few people here and there, but one person in particular catches my eye. The guy is sitting at the bar with a half-full glass in his hand talking to the bartender. His black hair and his attractive mannerisms seem very familiar to me. I wonder for a split second if it is Billie. I then quickly change my mind because it is not very likely that they would stay in a hotel when they are so close to their home and they can sleep in their own beds.
I decide against the drink and I turn to walk out of the bar. From across the room I hear someone call out my name and I immediately turn around to see who it is.
"Sam," the voice says. "Come over here."
And sure enough, it was Billie. I was utterly surprised that they were actually staying at the same hotel we had picked. I walk over to where he is sitting and take a seat next to him.
"How come you didn't just go home?" I ask curiously before ordering a drink. "So you could be with your family and stuff?"
"We needed some sleep," he tells me before downing the rest of the liquid in his glass.
"But you're not asleep," I say. "At least you don't appear to be anyway," I laugh.
"Well, it wasn't my idea to stop... I have plenty of experience with insomnia," he laughs. "And why are you here?"
"Couldn't fall asleep," I say. "And that is really frustrating because I am absolutely exhausted after flying all day."
We have several drinks and talk for a long time. I check my watch that I finally set to California's time and see that it is already five. Billie decides that he needs to go up to his room and go to bed because they were planning on leaving by eight that morning. He pays for our drinks as I get up.
After swearing up and down that he is sober enough to make it up to his room, he stands up and proves that he is anything but that. He almost falls, but luckily he catches himself on the barstool. I laugh and he asks me to take him to his room. He puts his arm around me to stabilize himself enough so that he can walk as we head toward the elevators.
We stop outside of his room and he takes they key out of his pocket. He tries to unlock the door but makes three failed attempts before handing the card to me. The door opens on the first try and I help him inside.
He sits down on the bed closest to the window and clumsily takes off his shoes. After he takes them off, he lays back across the bed. I turn on the lamp and sit down on the bed next to him. He has the most beautiful green eyes that I have ever seen. It's not like Of course, I had seen those gorgeous eyes a million times before on television and in posters, but to have them staring up at me was something completely different.
"You are going to be so hung over," I laugh.
He nods and says that he probably had a little too much to drink. I'd say that's an understatement. I decide that I am almost too tired... not to mention drunk... to function and I get up and walk towards the door.
"Wait," he sits up and says as I near the door of his room.
"Yeah," I reply as I turn back towards him.
"You've got my key," he says pointing at my hand. "And I wanted to tell you thanks for helping me up to my room... I lied back there, I never would have been able to find it." He laughs.
"Oh, you're welcome," I say as I put the key down beside him on the bed. "Goodnight."
"Night," he says. "Maybe I'll see you around... like maybe tomorrow."
"Bye, Billie," I say as I let the door to his room close behind me.
I finally get back to my room and fall asleep pretty quickly. What seems like just minutes later, I am being abruptly awakened from my deep sleep. I look up to see my slightly irritated brother standing over my bed.
"What?" I ask scornfully. "I let you sleep peacefully, why can't you let me?"
"It's almost ten... you've had at least 8 hours," he says.
"I have not... I didn't get back until like five this morning," I tell him with a bit of an attitude. "I went down to the bar and had a few drinks."
"Well I can tell," he says rudely. "Go take a shower we are leaving at eleven."
I finally get up and get moving after having very little sleep and a hang over. I spend half an hour leaning up against the shower wall before getting out so I can get dressed. I decide just to put my hair up in a ponytail and skip on the makeup... besides we are only changing hotels and I can just fix myself up there.
When we arrive at the hotel that we will be permanently staying at during our stay, I order some food and then sleep for a few more hours. When I wake up the room is just as I left it, only Chad seems to have disappeared.
I shrug it off because the way he had acted earlier that morning, I really don't want to hang out with him anyway. I take another shower before blow-drying and straightening my hair. As I am putting on my eyeliner, I hear something fall in the other room which nearly makes me stab myself in the eye.
I slowly open the bathroom door and peek around it. I am relieved when I see that it is only Chad and shut the door. I finish putting on my make-up and brush my teeth before picking something out of my bag to wear for the night.
I decide on some low-rise blue jeans, a black tank top, and flip flops. I turn off the bathroom light and put my bag on the bed I had been sleeping in. Chad, who is already fully dressed and ready to go, offers me some food but I decline since I had just brushed my teeth.
At eight o'clock we find ourselves looking for the address on the piece of paper that Billie had given me. I had to spend awhile trying to convince Chad to go to this particular place with me... some friends of his back home had told him some good clubs to check out. After about thirty minutes of searching, we find our destination.
Once inside, I look around for awhile and see no sign of Billie or anyone that I had seen him with previously. I am a little disappointed but I plan on having a good time. So I pull Chad over to the bar and we start our night out with some drinks.
It is getting pretty late and I've had a lot to drink... but not so much that I wouldn't be able to tell someone my name if they asked. Regrettably, I somehow had lost Chad earlier in the night so I start to look around for him.
I had seen him at the bar talking to a girl earlier, but that could have been hours ago. I decide to check anyway since it is a pretty big place that we are at. Unfortunately, I don't see my brother anywhere at the bar... I do, however, spot Billie Joe sipping on his drink and talking to Mike.
From a distance, I see Mike start to walk off so I decide to go over and say hi.
"We can't keep meeting like this," I say as I sit down on the stool next to his.
"Oh, hey," he says turning in my direction. "Did you just get here?"
"No," I say before ordering a drink. "I've been here since around eight... and I need to leave before I am too drunk to find my way back to the hotel."
"Are you here by yourself?" he questions before ordering both of us another drink.
"No, I came with Chad... I just can't seem to find him," I say scanning the dance floor. "Who'd you bring?" I ask as I turn back towards him.
"A lot of people... Adrienne, Tré, Mike, Jason, Sarah, and some people I don't know, but they all left except for Mike and he is leaving in a minute," he says.
Just as I open my mouth to say something else, my phone rings. I move my drink to the other hand and pull my phone out of my back pocket. Chad's name is lit up on the screen and I flip it open.
"Where the hell are you at?" I ask him with an aggravated tone. "You fucking left me here to go to some girl's house?"
After listening to his excuses for a few minutes I roll my eyes in disbelief. I did expect for him to leave me here for any reason. I mean, come on... we are not even in our home state.
"Asshole," I say before flipping my phone shut, hanging up on him.
"Need a ride?" Billie asks as he stands up. "We can drop you off."
"Oh, like I'm letting your drunk ass drive me anywhere," I say sarcastically as I get up to follow him outside.
"I'm not too wasted," he assures me. "See, look... I don't even need you to help me walk this time," he laughs.
Once we are outside, I climb into the back seat of Mike's car and buckle my seatbelt. I put my phone down between myself and Billie and close my eyes. Mike gets in the car and asks what hotel I am staying at. I tell him and he starts the car.
After about ten minutes of riding in the car, I open my eyes because I feel very sick. To my relief, we are pulling up in front of my hotel. This way, I can hold off on throwing up in Mike's car and hopefully make it up to my room.
Billie opens the door on his side and helps me out of the car. He hands me my cell phone from out of the seat. I thank them for making sure that I got back okay and tell them goodbye. They start to drive off and I walk towards the hotel entrance.
The next afternoon, I am in the bathroom being reminded of all the fun I had the night before. I remember the alcohol I had early that morning tasting a lot better going in the other direction. My head, along with the rest of my body, aches and I swear to myself that I am never drinking again.
After emptying everything out of my stomach, I decide to take a shower. As I am getting back out of the shower, I hear the door to the hotel open. I wrap my towel around me and exit the bathroom to see who it is. When I see that it is Chad, I immediately want to go over and drop kick his ass for doing what he did the night before... although, I did enjoy Billie and Mike dropping me off.
I choose not to say anything to him because I feel like shit and I don't want to deal with him at all. I shut the curtain that is by my bed and curl up under my covers. I intend to not stay out drinking tonight... I actually decide not to leave my bed for the night.
The rest of our stay in California goes by rather quickly. Unfortunately, I don't get to see Billie or any other Green Day guys for the remainder of our visit. Our flight back to New York leaves in the morning at eleven... it is definitely a flight I dread. After the flight, that has no fun to be had at the other end of it, it will be back to work for me.
I am a little excited that I will get to see my boyfriend for two days before he goes on another lame business trip. Then it will be a week before I get to see him again. I guess that's just life.
That night, me and Chad stay up late and watch movies instead of packing. The next morning we pay for it... we oversleep, we haven't packed a thing, and our flight leaves in less than two hours.
Luckily, we make our flight and we head back to Manhattan right on time. Although I am very happy about getting back home and getting back to my normal routine, I feel pretty blue as I wonder if I will ever see or talk to Billie again.
