An Old Friend, A New Love, chapter 3
Mike lifted his head up from the pillow and played with Katherine's long, dark brown hair. He moved the hair away from her face and kissed her forehead. Slowly, her eyes began opening, and she blinked, and saw Mike looking at her. She smiled.
"G'morning." She laughed a little, and stretched.
Mike laid his head back down on the pillow, and stared at the ceiling. He looked over to her, and brought his face close to her ear and whispered, "I love you." For the very first time. She let out a little giggle.
"No shit, you do." Katherine smiled sweetly and said, "I love you too." She stared at him and smiled. Mike jumped out of bed, put on a new set of clothes and went to the bathroom. Katherine lay in bed, thinking about last night. She just met him. After a long period of being away from each other. Did she love him all along?
Katherine jumped out of bed and put on some tight black capris and a white tank top. She again put on her light black sweater. She sat down at her bureau and began combing her hair. The bathroom door creaked open, and Mike came back into the bedroom. He walked over to Katherine and rubbed her back, he bent down and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
He stood up again and asked, "Do you want something to eat? I want to go get some coffee."
She put her comb down and stood up. "It's okay, hun. I'm not a breakfast person. She put her arms at his waist, and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Are you sure, babe, 'cuz I can get you a bagel, or something." He looked at her with a warm, reassuring face.
"I'm sure, Mike." She smiled. They both walked down stairs. Katherine gave Mike a hug and Mike opened the door. Then suddenly, his cell phone started ringing. He stopped himself from walking out the door, took a step back, and answered his phone.
"Hello?" Mike said into the phone, as he walked towards the couch. Katherine followed. She heard a voice screaming, but she couldn't make out who it was or what the person was saying. "Relax, man. I'm okay. Yeah I know I wasn't at my house. I'm sorry I didn't call you."
Her eyes widened. "Hun, who is that?" She shook Mike a little bit so she can get his attention. He smiled at her and kissed her forehead.
"Okay. I'll be there in a couple of minutes. Lemme just get some coffee... .. Okay. I'll see you soon. I'm going to bring someone special." Katherine heard a little mumbling in the phone. "Okay. Yeah. Okay. Tell the dipshit to stop ruining your house. Bye Billie." Katherine snapped her head to face Mike.
"Billie Joe? Armstrong?" She smiled weakly. "Am I... " Katherine pointed to herself. "Are we... " Mike nodded.
"We're going to head over to his house. We were going to talk about a new album." Mike got up, and started heading for the front door. Katherine sat at the couch, thinking about what was happening. She was going to see Billie Joe. "Well, are you coming or not?" Mike smiled. She walked over to him, and snaked her fingers between his.
She opened the front door, to see Larissa walk into the door without saying hi, and just saying, "Hey, Kat. Do you wanna do anything today 'cuz I'm fr-" she turns to see Katherine and Mike linking fingers. Her draw drops open, and starts pointing at Katherine, then Mike, then back to Katherine, and them Mike again.
"Hi, Mike!" Larissa said with a smile. Mike waved.
"Was Mike here last night?" Larissa asked, with surprise. Katherine nodded.
Larissa took Katherine by the hand and dragged away from Mike's earshot. "Kat! Did you... "
Katherine began cracking up. "Oh shut up Riss! He just... stayed for the night." She gave a sly smile.
Katherine walked back over to Mike. "Uh, can Riss come with us to meet Billie?" She whispered in his ear. Mike looked over to Larissa.
"Sure! Sure, of course." He smiled and put his hands by Katherine's waist.
"Hey Riss, Mike's going to get some coffee, and we're gonna go somewhere. Would you like to come?" Katherine said with a smile on her face.
"Depends. Where is somewhere?"
"It's a surprise." Katherine smiled and headed out the door with Mike. Larissa followed.
*
"Hold on one moment, please." A lady said from the intercom.
"Mmhmm." Mike turned to Katherine and asked, "Are you sure you don't want anything? At all?"
Katherine let out a little laugh. "I'm fine! It's okay, I don't really eat breakfast."
"Um," a voice said from the back of the car. "I'll get a Strawberry Coolatta, a bagel with eggs, ham, and cheese, and a bottled water."
Katherine turned around to Larissa. "Riss!"
"Fine," Riss said, pouting. "I'll take the Coolatta." Katherine again turned around with a face saying, geez, Riss!
"It's okay, Babe." Mike smiled over to Katherine. "I'll get her a Coolatta."
Larissa smiled. "Yay!"
Katherine laughed. "Okay then."
*
"Where the hell are we?" Larissa asked, slurping on the last bit of her drink.
They pulled up to a house bigger than Katherine's. It was big, but it wasn't like a mansion. "What the hell? It's like we're at some big celebrity's house, or something."
"Well," Mike said. "I wouldn't call him a celebrity." Larissa looked at Mike with a confused face. They stepped out of the car, and walked towards the house. Mike knocked on the door, and stood there for a moment until a lady opened the door and smiled to Mike.
"Hey!" she hugged him. She was wearing a plain grey t-shirt, and some black sweatpants. She had curly hair that was tied up into a messy bun that showed touches of blond on them. She looked over to Katherine and Larissa. "You guys must be the surprise." She gave a sweet smile. "Hi." She held out her hand. "I'm Adrienne. You can call me Adie." She held out her hand.
Katherine gave her a smile and she shook her hand. She still didn't know who Adie was and how she was related to Billie. "Hi. I'm Katherine. This is my friend Larissa."
"Hi!" Larissa said with a grin on her face. Adie walked in the big house and Mike followed. "Who's that?" Larissa whispered in Katherine's ear but still looking towards the inside of the house. "I don't remember an Adie. I don't even know whose house this is!" Larissa walked in the house and Katherine followed, with an uncomfortable feeling.
They stood by the front door, and waited for more people to show. It was a very big roomy entrance. To one side you saw what was the living room, and the left side led to the kitchen.
"Lemme get Billie and everyone else from downstairs." Mike and I nodded, and Larissa looked over to Katherine.
"Billie?! This is BILLIE JOE'S HOUSE?!?!!" Larissa's eyes grew big. "Woah! This place is amazing. Wait a second, Adie said everyone. What does that mean?" Katherine shrugged.
"Wow. I would love to live in a place like this," Katherine said as she walked over to Mike. Mike wrapped his arms around her shoulders, hugging her. Katherine's hand held onto Mike's, and they stood there, waiting for Billie to show. Katherine had a worried look on her face.
"Babe? Are you okay?" Mike said, kissing Katherine on the cheek.
"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." Katherine said putting a fake smile on her face.
"Y'know, we were best friends before. Just because we went separate ways during our lives doesn't mean that I don't remember when you're telling me a lie or not, Miss Katherine Anne Strassman." She gave Mike a wry smile, and kissed his cheek.
"Well then, Mister Michael Ryan Pritchard," she smiled and looked into his ocean blue eyes. "Then what do you think I'm worried about?"
"Hmm," he said, beginning to think. "Let's see. Well, you haven't seen Billie in a while, so maybe you're a little nervous. Or maybe it's because... " He stopped and looked over to Katherine. His face showed a little worry, but was barely visible because he had such a comforting smile. "Because... he broke your heart?"
She looked at him with a shine in her eyes. She gave him a worried smile. "Eh... " She hugged Mike, tight.
"I'm worried about what he'll think of me when he sees me again." She looked up to him, and gave him a reassuring kiss. "It's just been a long time since I have last seen him." Mike kissed her forehead.
Katherine heard footsteps coming up the stairs that lead to Billie's basement. Out from the doorway came Adie, followed by a man with light blond hair spiked up. He was wearing a black shirt that read "I love Satan." He had a muscular body, and he held a beer in his hand. Behind him, came a guy with khaki shorts and a white t-shirt and messy black hair. Right away, Katherine knew who it was, from memories from so long ago. It was Billie.
Then coming from the curious looking man, came a familiar voice. "Kat?" She looked at the man, and recognized who he was. She gave him a sweet smile. "Kat!!!" He ran up to her and gave her a thousand kisses on the cheek.
Katherine laughed. "Nice to see you Tre! I missed you!" After waiting for Tre to release his bear-like grip, she took in a deep breath, and prayed to god that Billie would be okay with her being here. "Hey, Billie." She gave him a smile.
He gave her a weak smile, took in a deep breath, and then gave her a bigger smile, and went to hug her. "Hey Kat!!!" She was so thankful he was happy. She hugged back.
"How've you been, BJ?" She asked him still with a big smile on her face.
"I've been good! Yeah, the band's been doing well... "
"I can tell! I heard you on the radio. You guys are amazing!"
"Why, thank you." Tre butted in. Katherine laughed. It brought back the good memories she had with these three. She was extremely glad to see them again.
"Yep." Billie said. Balancing on his heels, then his toes. Then Adie came up to Billie and wrapped her arms around Billie. Katherine's jaw dropped.
"I'm going to go pick up the kids, okay Babe?" She smiled and kissed him on the lips. Billie nodded. As Adie walked towards the front door, Katherine had looked at Billie, silent. Then she snapped out of it. She had to remember that he was no longer hers.
"Billie Joe Armstrong... " Katherine said with a sarcastically disappointed look. "You married?! You know, it wouldn't hurt to call a girl or at least send a letter!" Billie laughed. "AND YOU HAVE KIDS!!! Sheesh, Billie Joe!" Katherine laughed.
"Yeah. We have two. The oldest one is Joey, and the youngest is Jakob. Or Jake." Katherine nodded. "And, I see you've found Mike." Billie said pointing his hand towards Mike who was talking to Tre. Who were still in earshot.
"Yeah. He wasn't that far from me." Mike's face turned a little red, and he smiled.
"AWWW!!! MIKEY HAS A GIRLFRIEND!!!" Tre said in his girly voice, and started chanting 'Mikey has a girlfriend' while running around Mike.
"Oh shut up, Tre." He said, with his face even more red. He clenched his fist, and slowly relaxed and let go.
Katherine began laughing. "You've never changed, Tre." she said while watching the 5 year old in a 33 year old body dance around her boyfriend.
"Yup," Billie began. "Tre is still a little boy! Right, baby Tre? Kissy kissy boo-boo!" Billie puckered up his lips at Tre.
"KISHY KISHY BILLIE!!!" Tre put his hands around Billie and kissed him.
"WHAT THE FUCK TRE?? GET OFF OF ME!!!" Billie pushed Tre to the ground. "God," Billie said wiping his mouth. Mike walked over and put his arm around Katherine, and they both began cracking up. Larissa turned around from looking around the beautiful house, and began cracking up.
"Ew! Mommy!" They heard a voice say from the doorway. "Uncle Tre kissed Dad again." A little boy came into the house, and took off his shoes. Behind him came a boy older than him, taking his shoes off, and walking towards Billie.
Adie walked in and closed the front door shut. Adie rolled her eyes and laughed at Tre. "Tre, stop trying to steal my husband." She then walked towards Billie, and he puts his arm over her shoulder. The kids stood in front of the whole talking group and stared at the unknown people in their house.
"Who the hell are you?!" said the smallest boy. He looked over to Larissa and Katherine. They began to laugh a little bit. Billie walked over to the small boy and knelt down to his height.
"Jake, these are old friends of Uncle Tre, Uncle Mike, and me. Their names are Riss," Billie pointed to the girl with a small smile on her face and light brown hair. She was wearing a light blue shirt that fit her just right, which made her hair look almost as dark as Katherine's. "And that one is Katherine." he smiled and pointed over to Katherine, with a very caring smile and darker hair. Katherine wore one of Mike's black zipper hoodies, that was just a little too big for her. It made her hair look almost black, even though her hair was dark brown.
"Hi!" the littlest boy said. He waved to them and smiled. "My name's Jake."
"Hey," said the older one with a welcoming smile on his face. "I'm Joey."
They stood there in silence for a moment, and then the littlest boy went over to his mother and whined, "I want food. I'm hungry." He tugged on her grey shirt until he got her attention.
Adie laughed. She sighed. "You're just like your dad." she smiled. "Okay, I'll get you some food. C'mon... " she motioned Jake to follow her. The two of them left. It became silent again.
"Hey you guys... " Tre said calling everyone's attention. Everybody looked over to him. "It's been, let's say, two hours?" He looked at his wrist, which was bare without a watch. "We came here to talk about our next CD... and I haven't heard any ideas spitting out of your mouths." Everyone began laughing. Billie wrapped his right arm around Tre's neck, almost as if he was choking him.
"C'mon you dipshit. Let's go." Him and Tre began walking down stairs into Billie's basement. Everyone else followed. Forgetting that Joey was still there in their presence, he just shrugged, and walked upstairs to his room.
The five of them walked downstairs. Billie, Mike, and Tre walked into the basement like it was just a regular room, but the two girls stood at the bottom staircase, looking around the room in awe. There were a few guitars lying around, both electric and acoustic, and there was a single bass guitar, and a set of drums. The walls were wood, and it made the room look dim, but not too dim. It made it look dim enough that it felt homey. There were a few chairs around, and so they all grabbed one chair and put them around each other, so they could just sit and relax while talking to one another. They all sat down, and relaxed. After a moment, Billie got up and got his acoustic guitar. It had a natural wood color, with black covering the outsides of the wood. Billie played a few notes from a song that Katherine and Larissa didn't know, and then stopped and looked up at everyone talking. All except for Katherine. She was watching Billie play the whole time. She looked at the guitar, in amazement, like it was doing the whole thing. Like Billie was being led by the guitar, instead of him leading it. She loved the sound of the song, and could only imagine what the words to that song were. He looked at Katherine and smiled. He let out a small cough, and snapped her out of her thought. She blinked and looked to Billie, with her cheeks slightly red. She chuckled, then turned to listen to Mike, Tre, and Larissa's conversation. She began conversing with them too.
"... So I was like, 'What the hell just go into the water and get the golf ball!'" Tre said with a loud voice. He was always the comic out of those three musketeers. Larissa began laughing.
"Okay, and what did you say, Mike?" Larissa asked. Katherine didn't know what they were talking about, so she just assumed that Mike and Tre went golfing and something happened.
"I didn't say anything. I was laughing at the guy. He was afraid to step into the water! It wasn't like there was sharks in there or something. It was a friggin' pond!" Larissa smiled at Mike's remark.
Billie watched as he looked at the four having their conversation, laughing, and having a good time. Wow. he thought. I haven't seen us together in ages. He smiled, and then stood up.
"Um," Billie began. "I'm gonna go outside for a smoke. Anybody wanna join?" He looked the laughing group, with the girls faced almost beet red.
"No thanks." Mike said. I'll just go upstairs and get a beer. "Anyone want one?" Mike offered.
"Mikey, sweetie, make me a Cheech?" Tre said with a pleading voice. Tre clasped his hands together and begged Mike.
"Not when the kids are here, Tre." Billie said. He was very responsible when it came to the kids.
Mike looked over to Larissa. She shook her head. He looked over to Katherine and she also shook her head. Katherine bit her bottom lip and looked up to Billie Joe. "I'll go light one up with you, BJ." She stood up.
"Riss, wanna come?" Billie asked her, as he took out a packet of cigarettes. She shook her head.
"I don't smoke anymore. Not since I had kids."
Billie nodded. "Well, then. Katherine and I will go light up a smoke." They walked up the stairs and out the front door, and sat down on the top step. Billie handed Katherine a cigarette, and she smiled which meant 'thank you'. He smiled, and took out his own cigarette, and lit up. Katherine put hers in her mouth, and Billie lit it up for her. They sat in silence, for quite a while. Just in thought.
Billie coughed and began to speak up. "So, you and Mikey are dating, huh?" He looked at her, and then looked out into his front lawn.
"Mmhmm." Katherine nodded and exhaled the smoke that she had inside that filled her lungs.
"Cool." He nodded. It felt awkward for both Billie and Katherine. They haven't seen or spoke to each other until him and her had broken up. They had lots of catching up to do.
"G'morning." She laughed a little, and stretched.
Mike laid his head back down on the pillow, and stared at the ceiling. He looked over to her, and brought his face close to her ear and whispered, "I love you." For the very first time. She let out a little giggle.
"No shit, you do." Katherine smiled sweetly and said, "I love you too." She stared at him and smiled. Mike jumped out of bed, put on a new set of clothes and went to the bathroom. Katherine lay in bed, thinking about last night. She just met him. After a long period of being away from each other. Did she love him all along?
Katherine jumped out of bed and put on some tight black capris and a white tank top. She again put on her light black sweater. She sat down at her bureau and began combing her hair. The bathroom door creaked open, and Mike came back into the bedroom. He walked over to Katherine and rubbed her back, he bent down and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
He stood up again and asked, "Do you want something to eat? I want to go get some coffee."
She put her comb down and stood up. "It's okay, hun. I'm not a breakfast person. She put her arms at his waist, and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Are you sure, babe, 'cuz I can get you a bagel, or something." He looked at her with a warm, reassuring face.
"I'm sure, Mike." She smiled. They both walked down stairs. Katherine gave Mike a hug and Mike opened the door. Then suddenly, his cell phone started ringing. He stopped himself from walking out the door, took a step back, and answered his phone.
"Hello?" Mike said into the phone, as he walked towards the couch. Katherine followed. She heard a voice screaming, but she couldn't make out who it was or what the person was saying. "Relax, man. I'm okay. Yeah I know I wasn't at my house. I'm sorry I didn't call you."
Her eyes widened. "Hun, who is that?" She shook Mike a little bit so she can get his attention. He smiled at her and kissed her forehead.
"Okay. I'll be there in a couple of minutes. Lemme just get some coffee... .. Okay. I'll see you soon. I'm going to bring someone special." Katherine heard a little mumbling in the phone. "Okay. Yeah. Okay. Tell the dipshit to stop ruining your house. Bye Billie." Katherine snapped her head to face Mike.
"Billie Joe? Armstrong?" She smiled weakly. "Am I... " Katherine pointed to herself. "Are we... " Mike nodded.
"We're going to head over to his house. We were going to talk about a new album." Mike got up, and started heading for the front door. Katherine sat at the couch, thinking about what was happening. She was going to see Billie Joe. "Well, are you coming or not?" Mike smiled. She walked over to him, and snaked her fingers between his.
She opened the front door, to see Larissa walk into the door without saying hi, and just saying, "Hey, Kat. Do you wanna do anything today 'cuz I'm fr-" she turns to see Katherine and Mike linking fingers. Her draw drops open, and starts pointing at Katherine, then Mike, then back to Katherine, and them Mike again.
"Hi, Mike!" Larissa said with a smile. Mike waved.
"Was Mike here last night?" Larissa asked, with surprise. Katherine nodded.
Larissa took Katherine by the hand and dragged away from Mike's earshot. "Kat! Did you... "
Katherine began cracking up. "Oh shut up Riss! He just... stayed for the night." She gave a sly smile.
Katherine walked back over to Mike. "Uh, can Riss come with us to meet Billie?" She whispered in his ear. Mike looked over to Larissa.
"Sure! Sure, of course." He smiled and put his hands by Katherine's waist.
"Hey Riss, Mike's going to get some coffee, and we're gonna go somewhere. Would you like to come?" Katherine said with a smile on her face.
"Depends. Where is somewhere?"
"It's a surprise." Katherine smiled and headed out the door with Mike. Larissa followed.
*
"Hold on one moment, please." A lady said from the intercom.
"Mmhmm." Mike turned to Katherine and asked, "Are you sure you don't want anything? At all?"
Katherine let out a little laugh. "I'm fine! It's okay, I don't really eat breakfast."
"Um," a voice said from the back of the car. "I'll get a Strawberry Coolatta, a bagel with eggs, ham, and cheese, and a bottled water."
Katherine turned around to Larissa. "Riss!"
"Fine," Riss said, pouting. "I'll take the Coolatta." Katherine again turned around with a face saying, geez, Riss!
"It's okay, Babe." Mike smiled over to Katherine. "I'll get her a Coolatta."
Larissa smiled. "Yay!"
Katherine laughed. "Okay then."
*
"Where the hell are we?" Larissa asked, slurping on the last bit of her drink.
They pulled up to a house bigger than Katherine's. It was big, but it wasn't like a mansion. "What the hell? It's like we're at some big celebrity's house, or something."
"Well," Mike said. "I wouldn't call him a celebrity." Larissa looked at Mike with a confused face. They stepped out of the car, and walked towards the house. Mike knocked on the door, and stood there for a moment until a lady opened the door and smiled to Mike.
"Hey!" she hugged him. She was wearing a plain grey t-shirt, and some black sweatpants. She had curly hair that was tied up into a messy bun that showed touches of blond on them. She looked over to Katherine and Larissa. "You guys must be the surprise." She gave a sweet smile. "Hi." She held out her hand. "I'm Adrienne. You can call me Adie." She held out her hand.
Katherine gave her a smile and she shook her hand. She still didn't know who Adie was and how she was related to Billie. "Hi. I'm Katherine. This is my friend Larissa."
"Hi!" Larissa said with a grin on her face. Adie walked in the big house and Mike followed. "Who's that?" Larissa whispered in Katherine's ear but still looking towards the inside of the house. "I don't remember an Adie. I don't even know whose house this is!" Larissa walked in the house and Katherine followed, with an uncomfortable feeling.
They stood by the front door, and waited for more people to show. It was a very big roomy entrance. To one side you saw what was the living room, and the left side led to the kitchen.
"Lemme get Billie and everyone else from downstairs." Mike and I nodded, and Larissa looked over to Katherine.
"Billie?! This is BILLIE JOE'S HOUSE?!?!!" Larissa's eyes grew big. "Woah! This place is amazing. Wait a second, Adie said everyone. What does that mean?" Katherine shrugged.
"Wow. I would love to live in a place like this," Katherine said as she walked over to Mike. Mike wrapped his arms around her shoulders, hugging her. Katherine's hand held onto Mike's, and they stood there, waiting for Billie to show. Katherine had a worried look on her face.
"Babe? Are you okay?" Mike said, kissing Katherine on the cheek.
"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." Katherine said putting a fake smile on her face.
"Y'know, we were best friends before. Just because we went separate ways during our lives doesn't mean that I don't remember when you're telling me a lie or not, Miss Katherine Anne Strassman." She gave Mike a wry smile, and kissed his cheek.
"Well then, Mister Michael Ryan Pritchard," she smiled and looked into his ocean blue eyes. "Then what do you think I'm worried about?"
"Hmm," he said, beginning to think. "Let's see. Well, you haven't seen Billie in a while, so maybe you're a little nervous. Or maybe it's because... " He stopped and looked over to Katherine. His face showed a little worry, but was barely visible because he had such a comforting smile. "Because... he broke your heart?"
She looked at him with a shine in her eyes. She gave him a worried smile. "Eh... " She hugged Mike, tight.
"I'm worried about what he'll think of me when he sees me again." She looked up to him, and gave him a reassuring kiss. "It's just been a long time since I have last seen him." Mike kissed her forehead.
Katherine heard footsteps coming up the stairs that lead to Billie's basement. Out from the doorway came Adie, followed by a man with light blond hair spiked up. He was wearing a black shirt that read "I love Satan." He had a muscular body, and he held a beer in his hand. Behind him, came a guy with khaki shorts and a white t-shirt and messy black hair. Right away, Katherine knew who it was, from memories from so long ago. It was Billie.
Then coming from the curious looking man, came a familiar voice. "Kat?" She looked at the man, and recognized who he was. She gave him a sweet smile. "Kat!!!" He ran up to her and gave her a thousand kisses on the cheek.
Katherine laughed. "Nice to see you Tre! I missed you!" After waiting for Tre to release his bear-like grip, she took in a deep breath, and prayed to god that Billie would be okay with her being here. "Hey, Billie." She gave him a smile.
He gave her a weak smile, took in a deep breath, and then gave her a bigger smile, and went to hug her. "Hey Kat!!!" She was so thankful he was happy. She hugged back.
"How've you been, BJ?" She asked him still with a big smile on her face.
"I've been good! Yeah, the band's been doing well... "
"I can tell! I heard you on the radio. You guys are amazing!"
"Why, thank you." Tre butted in. Katherine laughed. It brought back the good memories she had with these three. She was extremely glad to see them again.
"Yep." Billie said. Balancing on his heels, then his toes. Then Adie came up to Billie and wrapped her arms around Billie. Katherine's jaw dropped.
"I'm going to go pick up the kids, okay Babe?" She smiled and kissed him on the lips. Billie nodded. As Adie walked towards the front door, Katherine had looked at Billie, silent. Then she snapped out of it. She had to remember that he was no longer hers.
"Billie Joe Armstrong... " Katherine said with a sarcastically disappointed look. "You married?! You know, it wouldn't hurt to call a girl or at least send a letter!" Billie laughed. "AND YOU HAVE KIDS!!! Sheesh, Billie Joe!" Katherine laughed.
"Yeah. We have two. The oldest one is Joey, and the youngest is Jakob. Or Jake." Katherine nodded. "And, I see you've found Mike." Billie said pointing his hand towards Mike who was talking to Tre. Who were still in earshot.
"Yeah. He wasn't that far from me." Mike's face turned a little red, and he smiled.
"AWWW!!! MIKEY HAS A GIRLFRIEND!!!" Tre said in his girly voice, and started chanting 'Mikey has a girlfriend' while running around Mike.
"Oh shut up, Tre." He said, with his face even more red. He clenched his fist, and slowly relaxed and let go.
Katherine began laughing. "You've never changed, Tre." she said while watching the 5 year old in a 33 year old body dance around her boyfriend.
"Yup," Billie began. "Tre is still a little boy! Right, baby Tre? Kissy kissy boo-boo!" Billie puckered up his lips at Tre.
"KISHY KISHY BILLIE!!!" Tre put his hands around Billie and kissed him.
"WHAT THE FUCK TRE?? GET OFF OF ME!!!" Billie pushed Tre to the ground. "God," Billie said wiping his mouth. Mike walked over and put his arm around Katherine, and they both began cracking up. Larissa turned around from looking around the beautiful house, and began cracking up.
"Ew! Mommy!" They heard a voice say from the doorway. "Uncle Tre kissed Dad again." A little boy came into the house, and took off his shoes. Behind him came a boy older than him, taking his shoes off, and walking towards Billie.
Adie walked in and closed the front door shut. Adie rolled her eyes and laughed at Tre. "Tre, stop trying to steal my husband." She then walked towards Billie, and he puts his arm over her shoulder. The kids stood in front of the whole talking group and stared at the unknown people in their house.
"Who the hell are you?!" said the smallest boy. He looked over to Larissa and Katherine. They began to laugh a little bit. Billie walked over to the small boy and knelt down to his height.
"Jake, these are old friends of Uncle Tre, Uncle Mike, and me. Their names are Riss," Billie pointed to the girl with a small smile on her face and light brown hair. She was wearing a light blue shirt that fit her just right, which made her hair look almost as dark as Katherine's. "And that one is Katherine." he smiled and pointed over to Katherine, with a very caring smile and darker hair. Katherine wore one of Mike's black zipper hoodies, that was just a little too big for her. It made her hair look almost black, even though her hair was dark brown.
"Hi!" the littlest boy said. He waved to them and smiled. "My name's Jake."
"Hey," said the older one with a welcoming smile on his face. "I'm Joey."
They stood there in silence for a moment, and then the littlest boy went over to his mother and whined, "I want food. I'm hungry." He tugged on her grey shirt until he got her attention.
Adie laughed. She sighed. "You're just like your dad." she smiled. "Okay, I'll get you some food. C'mon... " she motioned Jake to follow her. The two of them left. It became silent again.
"Hey you guys... " Tre said calling everyone's attention. Everybody looked over to him. "It's been, let's say, two hours?" He looked at his wrist, which was bare without a watch. "We came here to talk about our next CD... and I haven't heard any ideas spitting out of your mouths." Everyone began laughing. Billie wrapped his right arm around Tre's neck, almost as if he was choking him.
"C'mon you dipshit. Let's go." Him and Tre began walking down stairs into Billie's basement. Everyone else followed. Forgetting that Joey was still there in their presence, he just shrugged, and walked upstairs to his room.
The five of them walked downstairs. Billie, Mike, and Tre walked into the basement like it was just a regular room, but the two girls stood at the bottom staircase, looking around the room in awe. There were a few guitars lying around, both electric and acoustic, and there was a single bass guitar, and a set of drums. The walls were wood, and it made the room look dim, but not too dim. It made it look dim enough that it felt homey. There were a few chairs around, and so they all grabbed one chair and put them around each other, so they could just sit and relax while talking to one another. They all sat down, and relaxed. After a moment, Billie got up and got his acoustic guitar. It had a natural wood color, with black covering the outsides of the wood. Billie played a few notes from a song that Katherine and Larissa didn't know, and then stopped and looked up at everyone talking. All except for Katherine. She was watching Billie play the whole time. She looked at the guitar, in amazement, like it was doing the whole thing. Like Billie was being led by the guitar, instead of him leading it. She loved the sound of the song, and could only imagine what the words to that song were. He looked at Katherine and smiled. He let out a small cough, and snapped her out of her thought. She blinked and looked to Billie, with her cheeks slightly red. She chuckled, then turned to listen to Mike, Tre, and Larissa's conversation. She began conversing with them too.
"... So I was like, 'What the hell just go into the water and get the golf ball!'" Tre said with a loud voice. He was always the comic out of those three musketeers. Larissa began laughing.
"Okay, and what did you say, Mike?" Larissa asked. Katherine didn't know what they were talking about, so she just assumed that Mike and Tre went golfing and something happened.
"I didn't say anything. I was laughing at the guy. He was afraid to step into the water! It wasn't like there was sharks in there or something. It was a friggin' pond!" Larissa smiled at Mike's remark.
Billie watched as he looked at the four having their conversation, laughing, and having a good time. Wow. he thought. I haven't seen us together in ages. He smiled, and then stood up.
"Um," Billie began. "I'm gonna go outside for a smoke. Anybody wanna join?" He looked the laughing group, with the girls faced almost beet red.
"No thanks." Mike said. I'll just go upstairs and get a beer. "Anyone want one?" Mike offered.
"Mikey, sweetie, make me a Cheech?" Tre said with a pleading voice. Tre clasped his hands together and begged Mike.
"Not when the kids are here, Tre." Billie said. He was very responsible when it came to the kids.
Mike looked over to Larissa. She shook her head. He looked over to Katherine and she also shook her head. Katherine bit her bottom lip and looked up to Billie Joe. "I'll go light one up with you, BJ." She stood up.
"Riss, wanna come?" Billie asked her, as he took out a packet of cigarettes. She shook her head.
"I don't smoke anymore. Not since I had kids."
Billie nodded. "Well, then. Katherine and I will go light up a smoke." They walked up the stairs and out the front door, and sat down on the top step. Billie handed Katherine a cigarette, and she smiled which meant 'thank you'. He smiled, and took out his own cigarette, and lit up. Katherine put hers in her mouth, and Billie lit it up for her. They sat in silence, for quite a while. Just in thought.
Billie coughed and began to speak up. "So, you and Mikey are dating, huh?" He looked at her, and then looked out into his front lawn.
"Mmhmm." Katherine nodded and exhaled the smoke that she had inside that filled her lungs.
"Cool." He nodded. It felt awkward for both Billie and Katherine. They haven't seen or spoke to each other until him and her had broken up. They had lots of catching up to do.
