The Rights Of Cali: What Are You Going To Do, Billie?...Kill Me?, chapter 4
A few days had gone by, then a few weeks. Those few weeks were spent just lazying around, there was nothing to do. And it was getting to Cali. That one night of letting go and giving in, turned into something she would do every night.
Billie felt like he was losing touch with Cali, it felt she was just pulling away from everyone. She wouldn't speak for days, he knew she was having trouble keeping herself out of the hole she was in, but she wouldn't let him help her. And that was effecting everything, even Billie was going crazy from not speaking to her.
But all she really needs was just for one good thing to happen to her, make her get back up onto her feet.
And today might have something good...
Billie woke up, it being Saturday ran through his mind. Weekends never feel the same anymore, being in school made the weekends feel like the best days.
He rolled out of bed a stumbled across the floor, his bare feet dragging him to the bathroom. Once he got there he went straight to the toilet and let his urge to piss go. Once he was finished he went to the bathroom mirror, he turned on the tap at and washed his hands, then his face, then he brushed his teeth. He felt empty, like today was just going to be another day, with nothing to do.
But there was one reason he woke up early today, Tre was going to come and pick both Mike and himself to go back to the little studio, with all the low quality PA systems and recording stuff. They were going to look at what the album cover was going to look like for Kerplunk!...
He looked at himself in the mirror, he looked at the reflection that reminded of the days when he first met Cali. He looked tired, confused, dumb and bored.
He looked to his bare chest, not really in shape, just pale and thin. The blonde in his hair now fading away as the brown roots started to come back at the top of his head.
He went back to his bedroom and put some clothes on, just the usual...Some old shirt and worn out jeans and his converses, that were almost fallen apart.
He walked out of his bedroom and down the hall. He could see the house being lit up by the late morning sun, filling the house with a cold kinda warmth. As he walked down he looked into Cali's room. And there she was, lying in the bed with the sheets everywhere, laid out like a star fish, a hungover star fish by the looks of it.
He couldn't help but to keep staring as the bright sun hit her body as she slept, making shadows appear. He took a few steps into her bedroom, wanting to just go near her without being told to go away. He sat on her bed next to her, not wanting to wake her up. A piece of her hair had fallen in front of her closed eye so he quietly moved closer and gently pushed it back behind her ear. He kissed her forehead and made the sheets on her bed a bit more comfortable for her, then as he turned away from her to walk out he looked down to the floor. Noticing something that was empty.
He picked up the empty bottle and looked at the label.
Vodka
He clenched onto the bottle so tight, it almost broke. He just felt this sudden burst of rage flash through him, she knew that she had him if she was having problems.
There was any fucking reason to pick up vodka and rink the whole bottle!
"Cali..." He called for her to wake up, she just moved her postion in the bed and made some noise. "Cali!" He yelled out.
"What?!...What?!" She screamed out, quickly getting up, thinking there was something bad going on. Her eyes were bluring but she quickly wiped them and saw Billie standing at her bed holding the bottle of vodka she had drank over the past week.
"What's going on?" He asked, staying calm.
"Nothing..." She said, sitting up. Keeping her eyes away from him, feeling ashamed...
"Don't give me that bullshit Cali!...I have fucking been here for you the whole fucking time and all you can do is get off your face with vodka!" He yelled, letting it out. She rolled her eyes and looked up at him...
"Don't fucking come in here and yell at me after I just wake up Billie Joe...And don't jump to conclusions," She said camly.
"Oh come on!...I find this in your room and you expect me to not say anything!?" He yelled, she got out of bed and looked at him.
"Don't start shit with me!...I am fucking trying Billie Joe!...I am fucking trying!" She yelled back.
"I can't belive you are doing this!...How long have you been getting drunk for?!...Please tell me this bottle was just once!" He said, basically screaming at her, like a married couple having a fight. She looked down and sighed...
"It's been hard for me!...I don't know what to fucking do!" She yelled back, avoiding the question he had asked her.
"Anwser me Cali!...How long have you been doing this?!"
"None of your fucking business!" He sighed and dropped the bottle on the bed.
"Cali...You don't know how much this is killing me!...I know it's fucking hard for you, but it's hard for me too, and I wanna look out for you, but you won't fucking let me!...And I come in here to find a WHOLE FUCKING BOTTLE OF VODKA lying on your bedroom floor...What am I s'pose to think?!...I'm not going to let you ruin your life by you getting wasted alone!" He screamed at her, feeling this rage that was building up from the past few days just come out.
"I'm not ruining my life!...I just need time to get myself together!"
"That's what you having been saying for the past fucking month!"
"What the hell is going on?!" They both quickly turned around to see Mike standing at the door looking at both of them death stare each other. He had some idea of what was going on from what he heard. But he wasn't expecting them to fight...
"Nothing Mike, Billie is just being an ass..."
"Oh what fucking ever...I am trying to help you here!"
"Well help me by leaving me alone!"
"Wow wow wow!...Both of you calm down!" Mike yelled out, standing in between them. Cali just felt all her anger rush through her. She didn't want to accept what Billie was saying to her, and she didn't want to talk about it or deal with it.
Cali looked down at the floor when silence fell over them, she looked at her bare feet, but then she realized.
"My leg!" She suddenly burst out. "My leg!...I can move it!" She screamed out, moving her leg that hadn't been moving in a few weeks.
"Holy shit, would you look at that..." Mike said, grinning as he watched her walk, Billie looked at her, he sighed. That was the first time in days he had seen her smile, it made the rage just go away.
"Mike...Can me and Cali just talk for a second?...I'll be out in a second." Mike nodded and left the room after he closed the door, Cali looked at Billie. Feeling the smile fade away, he sat on the bed and so did she.
"Billie, there's nothing to worry about okay?...I just got a bit stressed and needed time out, and drinking helped it a bit. But-"
"You didn't have to drink Cali...I was here for you." She looked at his face, every bit of truth he had was shown just by the look he gave her. She looked into his eyes, it seemed like forever since she had saw them.
"I won't do it again, I know it was stupid..."
"Promise?...'Cause I don't wanna have to come into your room one day and see you passed out on the floor..." She nodded, she picked up the bottle of the bed and walked over to the small trash can. She let go of the bottle and let it fall into the bin.
"I promise," She said. He got up and walked over to her, he rubbed his thumb on her cheek.
"And I don't wanna fight like that with you either." She nodded and kissed his lips, he felt how warm her lips were. She let her hand touch his cheek, feeling how soft his skin was.
"Me neither," She said as she pulled away. He smiled at her and looked at the desk behind her. He saw a familiar CD on it.
"You bought our album?!" She laughed and nodded.
"My first Green Day CD!" He laughed and hugged her, they both kissed again. But this time Cali felt Billie's tongue slip in to meet hers. His hand ran down her back and then they let go, with one more kiss.
"You wanna come to the studio?...To see the new CD?" He asked.
"Hell yes!"
"Hey!" They both quickly turned again, but this time to see Tre crashing through the door like some kind of crazy monkey.
"Do you know how to knock?"
"Gez guys...Smells like sex in here," Tre said. Cali laughed and rolled her eyes.
"Well, come on!...We gotta get to Oakland soon!"
The trip to Oaklnad went fast, Tre never seemed to shut up. Mike was driving the big book mobile while Cali and Billie had to stand Tre has he played I Spy with himself because no one else wanted to play. Cali did at first, but then she stopped because Tre kept on making things up, those things generally being something about sex.
They got to the studio, as Cali walked in with her hand laced in with Billie's. She took a look around, Mike and Tre went to go talk to Larry, they were both excited to see the new album cover and to hear the songs being played back to them.
"Pretty poor, but it's good enough..." Billie said showing Cali around. Cali laughed.
They both went over to where everyone was.
"Hey Bill...Here it is," Larry said, handing him the first ever copy of Kerplunk!
Billie looked at it and grinned to Mike and Tre. Cali saw it from Billie's hand and quickly snatched it off Billie, seeing something she noticed about the picture on the cover.
"You bastards!" They all laughed.
"What?!" Billie yelled out, acting like he had nothing to do with it.
"I fucking painted this!...I should get paid for it!" She yelled out, looking at how great it looked, after all, she did paint the picture. She felt proud, the Kerplunk girl and the flower, and it just looked fucking awesome!
"Oh! Larry this is Cali...And Cali this is Larry, owner of Lookout," Billie introduced. Cali shook Larry's hand.
"So you're the girl whose got Billie's heart," He joked. She went red and looked at Tre who was grinning. She looked at Mike, who was doing the same, then she looked at Billie, he was sweetly smiling at her.
"I see you have been talking about me..." She said with a laugh as she yet again looked at the cover of Kerplunk.
After awhile, Cali was sitting down at a drum set as Tre tried to teach her how to play.
And Mike was with Billie as they both spoke to Larry.
"No, no, no...You hit this one, then that one," Tre said. Cali laughed as she yet again tried to play the beat he was trying to teach her.
"You wouldn't be a very good drum teacher, with an attitude like that," She said with a laugh. He grinned...
"I ain't going to be no drum teacher..." She laughed and tried it again.
She gave up and watched Tre play. She was amazed at how fucking great he was, she couldn't understand how he could play like that, and it seemed like he had the perfect personality to go with being a drummer. And she loved that about Tre.
He stopped, she looked at him. She could tell he was thinking about something because of the confused look on his face.
"Don't stop!...It was getting to the exciting part!"
"Cali?...Can I ask you something?" He asked, getting up from the drum set. She nodded and wondered about what he had to ask. He stood in front of her.
"What is it?"
"Mike told me about the fight you had with BJ this morning..." She sighed. And looked down..."Are you okay?...Like with everything...You're not having problems of anything?...'Cause if you are, we are here to help you, I know it sounds girly...But with the shit that has happened to you, I wouldn't blame you if you were in trouble."
"Everything's okay Tre...I just gotta, y'know...Get myself together. It'll take awhile...And I know everyone is here for me, and I love you for that too Tre, you're one of the coolest guys ever," She said, being flattered at how genuine he was.
"Well, good to hear...After all, I am the best person in town," He said, she laughed.
"Hey guys!" Mike said, coming over to them both.
"Yes, Mr Pritchard...I am here," Tre said. Billie then came over as well. Billie stood next to Tre, Mike turned around and picked up his bass. Tre looked over and saw gum stuck on Mike's pants, right on his ass. And it was just another chance for Tre to say something. "Hey Mike, you have something on your ass."
Mike turned to look at his ass and saw the gum. Cali went into a fit of laughter, trying to hold it in, the stupidest things made her laugh.
"It's just gum..."
"What flavor is it?...Big juicy cock!?" Billie and Cali both burst out in laughter at the rude joke Tre had said.
"Shut up!...Why are you always thinking about me sleeping with guys?!...That was just fucking gross!" Mike yelled out.
"Okay...This is getting weird, smoke...Wanna come Cali?" Billie asked. Cali laughed and nodded as she followed Billie, leaving both Mike and Tre to argue.
They both walked outside and they sat on the steps. Billie lit up a smoke and looked over at Cali, her arms rested on her knees as she looked at him. He kept a slight smile on his face as he looked around while he smoked.
"Having fun looking at how sexy I am?" He asked, sarcastically. She laughed and lifted her head.
"Hm...You're so sexy, my eyes melt," She joked. He laughed and handed her the smoke. She took at drag and gave it back to him.
There was silence for awhile...She nudged him with her shoulder to get him to look at her. She lifted her hand and brushed his hair with her fingers, she took her hand away and smiled at him, he smiled back. He had to tell her something...But he kinda didn't want to.
He sighed and put out the smoke...
"We're going on tour..."
Billie felt like he was losing touch with Cali, it felt she was just pulling away from everyone. She wouldn't speak for days, he knew she was having trouble keeping herself out of the hole she was in, but she wouldn't let him help her. And that was effecting everything, even Billie was going crazy from not speaking to her.
But all she really needs was just for one good thing to happen to her, make her get back up onto her feet.
And today might have something good...
Billie woke up, it being Saturday ran through his mind. Weekends never feel the same anymore, being in school made the weekends feel like the best days.
He rolled out of bed a stumbled across the floor, his bare feet dragging him to the bathroom. Once he got there he went straight to the toilet and let his urge to piss go. Once he was finished he went to the bathroom mirror, he turned on the tap at and washed his hands, then his face, then he brushed his teeth. He felt empty, like today was just going to be another day, with nothing to do.
But there was one reason he woke up early today, Tre was going to come and pick both Mike and himself to go back to the little studio, with all the low quality PA systems and recording stuff. They were going to look at what the album cover was going to look like for Kerplunk!...
He looked at himself in the mirror, he looked at the reflection that reminded of the days when he first met Cali. He looked tired, confused, dumb and bored.
He looked to his bare chest, not really in shape, just pale and thin. The blonde in his hair now fading away as the brown roots started to come back at the top of his head.
He went back to his bedroom and put some clothes on, just the usual...Some old shirt and worn out jeans and his converses, that were almost fallen apart.
He walked out of his bedroom and down the hall. He could see the house being lit up by the late morning sun, filling the house with a cold kinda warmth. As he walked down he looked into Cali's room. And there she was, lying in the bed with the sheets everywhere, laid out like a star fish, a hungover star fish by the looks of it.
He couldn't help but to keep staring as the bright sun hit her body as she slept, making shadows appear. He took a few steps into her bedroom, wanting to just go near her without being told to go away. He sat on her bed next to her, not wanting to wake her up. A piece of her hair had fallen in front of her closed eye so he quietly moved closer and gently pushed it back behind her ear. He kissed her forehead and made the sheets on her bed a bit more comfortable for her, then as he turned away from her to walk out he looked down to the floor. Noticing something that was empty.
He picked up the empty bottle and looked at the label.
Vodka
He clenched onto the bottle so tight, it almost broke. He just felt this sudden burst of rage flash through him, she knew that she had him if she was having problems.
There was any fucking reason to pick up vodka and rink the whole bottle!
"Cali..." He called for her to wake up, she just moved her postion in the bed and made some noise. "Cali!" He yelled out.
"What?!...What?!" She screamed out, quickly getting up, thinking there was something bad going on. Her eyes were bluring but she quickly wiped them and saw Billie standing at her bed holding the bottle of vodka she had drank over the past week.
"What's going on?" He asked, staying calm.
"Nothing..." She said, sitting up. Keeping her eyes away from him, feeling ashamed...
"Don't give me that bullshit Cali!...I have fucking been here for you the whole fucking time and all you can do is get off your face with vodka!" He yelled, letting it out. She rolled her eyes and looked up at him...
"Don't fucking come in here and yell at me after I just wake up Billie Joe...And don't jump to conclusions," She said camly.
"Oh come on!...I find this in your room and you expect me to not say anything!?" He yelled, she got out of bed and looked at him.
"Don't start shit with me!...I am fucking trying Billie Joe!...I am fucking trying!" She yelled back.
"I can't belive you are doing this!...How long have you been getting drunk for?!...Please tell me this bottle was just once!" He said, basically screaming at her, like a married couple having a fight. She looked down and sighed...
"It's been hard for me!...I don't know what to fucking do!" She yelled back, avoiding the question he had asked her.
"Anwser me Cali!...How long have you been doing this?!"
"None of your fucking business!" He sighed and dropped the bottle on the bed.
"Cali...You don't know how much this is killing me!...I know it's fucking hard for you, but it's hard for me too, and I wanna look out for you, but you won't fucking let me!...And I come in here to find a WHOLE FUCKING BOTTLE OF VODKA lying on your bedroom floor...What am I s'pose to think?!...I'm not going to let you ruin your life by you getting wasted alone!" He screamed at her, feeling this rage that was building up from the past few days just come out.
"I'm not ruining my life!...I just need time to get myself together!"
"That's what you having been saying for the past fucking month!"
"What the hell is going on?!" They both quickly turned around to see Mike standing at the door looking at both of them death stare each other. He had some idea of what was going on from what he heard. But he wasn't expecting them to fight...
"Nothing Mike, Billie is just being an ass..."
"Oh what fucking ever...I am trying to help you here!"
"Well help me by leaving me alone!"
"Wow wow wow!...Both of you calm down!" Mike yelled out, standing in between them. Cali just felt all her anger rush through her. She didn't want to accept what Billie was saying to her, and she didn't want to talk about it or deal with it.
Cali looked down at the floor when silence fell over them, she looked at her bare feet, but then she realized.
"My leg!" She suddenly burst out. "My leg!...I can move it!" She screamed out, moving her leg that hadn't been moving in a few weeks.
"Holy shit, would you look at that..." Mike said, grinning as he watched her walk, Billie looked at her, he sighed. That was the first time in days he had seen her smile, it made the rage just go away.
"Mike...Can me and Cali just talk for a second?...I'll be out in a second." Mike nodded and left the room after he closed the door, Cali looked at Billie. Feeling the smile fade away, he sat on the bed and so did she.
"Billie, there's nothing to worry about okay?...I just got a bit stressed and needed time out, and drinking helped it a bit. But-"
"You didn't have to drink Cali...I was here for you." She looked at his face, every bit of truth he had was shown just by the look he gave her. She looked into his eyes, it seemed like forever since she had saw them.
"I won't do it again, I know it was stupid..."
"Promise?...'Cause I don't wanna have to come into your room one day and see you passed out on the floor..." She nodded, she picked up the bottle of the bed and walked over to the small trash can. She let go of the bottle and let it fall into the bin.
"I promise," She said. He got up and walked over to her, he rubbed his thumb on her cheek.
"And I don't wanna fight like that with you either." She nodded and kissed his lips, he felt how warm her lips were. She let her hand touch his cheek, feeling how soft his skin was.
"Me neither," She said as she pulled away. He smiled at her and looked at the desk behind her. He saw a familiar CD on it.
"You bought our album?!" She laughed and nodded.
"My first Green Day CD!" He laughed and hugged her, they both kissed again. But this time Cali felt Billie's tongue slip in to meet hers. His hand ran down her back and then they let go, with one more kiss.
"You wanna come to the studio?...To see the new CD?" He asked.
"Hell yes!"
"Hey!" They both quickly turned again, but this time to see Tre crashing through the door like some kind of crazy monkey.
"Do you know how to knock?"
"Gez guys...Smells like sex in here," Tre said. Cali laughed and rolled her eyes.
"Well, come on!...We gotta get to Oakland soon!"
The trip to Oaklnad went fast, Tre never seemed to shut up. Mike was driving the big book mobile while Cali and Billie had to stand Tre has he played I Spy with himself because no one else wanted to play. Cali did at first, but then she stopped because Tre kept on making things up, those things generally being something about sex.
They got to the studio, as Cali walked in with her hand laced in with Billie's. She took a look around, Mike and Tre went to go talk to Larry, they were both excited to see the new album cover and to hear the songs being played back to them.
"Pretty poor, but it's good enough..." Billie said showing Cali around. Cali laughed.
They both went over to where everyone was.
"Hey Bill...Here it is," Larry said, handing him the first ever copy of Kerplunk!
Billie looked at it and grinned to Mike and Tre. Cali saw it from Billie's hand and quickly snatched it off Billie, seeing something she noticed about the picture on the cover.
"You bastards!" They all laughed.
"What?!" Billie yelled out, acting like he had nothing to do with it.
"I fucking painted this!...I should get paid for it!" She yelled out, looking at how great it looked, after all, she did paint the picture. She felt proud, the Kerplunk girl and the flower, and it just looked fucking awesome!
"Oh! Larry this is Cali...And Cali this is Larry, owner of Lookout," Billie introduced. Cali shook Larry's hand.
"So you're the girl whose got Billie's heart," He joked. She went red and looked at Tre who was grinning. She looked at Mike, who was doing the same, then she looked at Billie, he was sweetly smiling at her.
"I see you have been talking about me..." She said with a laugh as she yet again looked at the cover of Kerplunk.
After awhile, Cali was sitting down at a drum set as Tre tried to teach her how to play.
And Mike was with Billie as they both spoke to Larry.
"No, no, no...You hit this one, then that one," Tre said. Cali laughed as she yet again tried to play the beat he was trying to teach her.
"You wouldn't be a very good drum teacher, with an attitude like that," She said with a laugh. He grinned...
"I ain't going to be no drum teacher..." She laughed and tried it again.
She gave up and watched Tre play. She was amazed at how fucking great he was, she couldn't understand how he could play like that, and it seemed like he had the perfect personality to go with being a drummer. And she loved that about Tre.
He stopped, she looked at him. She could tell he was thinking about something because of the confused look on his face.
"Don't stop!...It was getting to the exciting part!"
"Cali?...Can I ask you something?" He asked, getting up from the drum set. She nodded and wondered about what he had to ask. He stood in front of her.
"What is it?"
"Mike told me about the fight you had with BJ this morning..." She sighed. And looked down..."Are you okay?...Like with everything...You're not having problems of anything?...'Cause if you are, we are here to help you, I know it sounds girly...But with the shit that has happened to you, I wouldn't blame you if you were in trouble."
"Everything's okay Tre...I just gotta, y'know...Get myself together. It'll take awhile...And I know everyone is here for me, and I love you for that too Tre, you're one of the coolest guys ever," She said, being flattered at how genuine he was.
"Well, good to hear...After all, I am the best person in town," He said, she laughed.
"Hey guys!" Mike said, coming over to them both.
"Yes, Mr Pritchard...I am here," Tre said. Billie then came over as well. Billie stood next to Tre, Mike turned around and picked up his bass. Tre looked over and saw gum stuck on Mike's pants, right on his ass. And it was just another chance for Tre to say something. "Hey Mike, you have something on your ass."
Mike turned to look at his ass and saw the gum. Cali went into a fit of laughter, trying to hold it in, the stupidest things made her laugh.
"It's just gum..."
"What flavor is it?...Big juicy cock!?" Billie and Cali both burst out in laughter at the rude joke Tre had said.
"Shut up!...Why are you always thinking about me sleeping with guys?!...That was just fucking gross!" Mike yelled out.
"Okay...This is getting weird, smoke...Wanna come Cali?" Billie asked. Cali laughed and nodded as she followed Billie, leaving both Mike and Tre to argue.
They both walked outside and they sat on the steps. Billie lit up a smoke and looked over at Cali, her arms rested on her knees as she looked at him. He kept a slight smile on his face as he looked around while he smoked.
"Having fun looking at how sexy I am?" He asked, sarcastically. She laughed and lifted her head.
"Hm...You're so sexy, my eyes melt," She joked. He laughed and handed her the smoke. She took at drag and gave it back to him.
There was silence for awhile...She nudged him with her shoulder to get him to look at her. She lifted her hand and brushed his hair with her fingers, she took her hand away and smiled at him, he smiled back. He had to tell her something...But he kinda didn't want to.
He sighed and put out the smoke...
"We're going on tour..."
