His Stray Heart

Chapter Ten

I reached into the glove compartment of Billies car and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. "What if my parents don't like you?" I asked him. "They'll like me don't worry. And since when do you smoke?" "Since I was nineteen, only on stressful occasions such as this though." I lit the end and took a long drag. "Lovely girl horrid habit." For a minute I thought I could hear a slight twinge of excitement in his usually sad voice. "Yeah, yeah thanks for the lecture DAD." I rolled my eyes and laughed at the thought of Billie Joe Armstrong teaching me the difference between wrong and right. I looked out of my aviator sunglasses at all of the trees passing by us and blew my smoke out of the crack in the window. "Driving awfully fast aren't you?" I asked him slightly concerned. Billie and I had been "seeing" each other or whatever you wanted to call it for nearly two weeks now. During these two weeks I noticed he had a tendency to well.. Speed as if we were in a Fast and Furious movie. "Fast? Baby you haven't seen fast yet." And at that he hit the gas pedal and we flew forward. "We get it. You're a bad ass, now slow the hell down before you kill us!" He laughed at the horrified expression on my face. I looked over at him, his hair grown out and tousled. I noticed for the first time all of his golden brown highlights visible from the autumn sun beaming down through the window. He was wearing his sunglasses and his expression was serious. He was dressed in a pair of light washed jeans and a navy blue pull over hoodie. "Take a picture it'll last longer." He laughed. "I would.. but I prefer the real thing." I lifted my sunglasses up and winked at him, god I was so cheesy. He held my hand and squeezed it tight, giving me a reassuring smile. "Oh it's the next house on the right." He nodded and pulled into my parents driveway. "Wow, nice place.." He sounded surprised. "Please Billie rock stars aren't the only people that have decent homes.." I said sarcastically. We walked hand in hand to the front door, it swung open and before I had a chance to open my mouth I was being pulled into a hug by Mason. "God I've missed you so much." He said. I could feel tears burning my eyes but I held them back. "I've missed you too Mase." He let go of me reluctantly and put his hand out to Billie. "Nice to meet you man." My brother sounded happy. "My pleasure Sergeant."A smile broke on Masons face like he was a little boy waiting for the ice cream truck again. He loved when others referred to him as Sergeant. He was only twenty five but had already accomplished so much during his career in the Military. He looked at me, "I like this guy Aria." We all laughed. I could hear my fathers voice growing closer. "Mason stop hogging my daughter. Get over here princess." He pulled me into a tight hug and then took a step back to examine me. "Where has the time gone..?" My dad was famous for his reminiscing of the past every time we were all under the same roof. I smiled at him, a smile that he knew all to well. Reassuring him that I was still his little girl. I decided to break the awkward silence. "Dad this is Billie.." They shook hands. "Good to meet you sir." Billie smiled. "Well it's good to meet you too Billie, ya know I had an uncle named Billie once, well not a blood uncle but.." He began to trail off as he usually did. Billie found this highly amusing and laughed to himself. "Dad where's mom?" I asked. "Oh she's in the kitchen you know how she gets when she starts cooking.." Some things never change. We walked into the kitchen to find my mother pulling a pie out of the oven. "Moms apple pie, oh how often I've dreamt of you.." All eyes were on me and everyone broke Into laughter, my face turned red. "I wasn't supposed to say that out loud.." My mom came running towards me. "Oh honey look at you. You're stunning just like me at that age." Jeez here we go. I cut her off quickly "mom this is Billie." She pulled him into a hug "Billie it's so nice to meet you." He hugged her back awkwardly. Damn it I should of warned him. "It's nice to meet you too Mrs. Morgan." "Oh please call me Anna, Mrs Morgan makes me sound so old." A new voice appeared from the stair well and I felt my heart sink. "You are old mom.." My twin sister Tessa sure knew how to make an entrance and this time was no different. "I am not old Tess!" My mother shouted. I watched Billies eyes avert from my sister back to me as if he had to do a double take to understand our resemblance. His eyes narrowed in on me I shrugged my shoulders and mouthed the word sorry to him. Being a twin especially Tessa's twin was not something I went around bragging about. "Any more siblings you forgot to mention?" Billie had a smile on his face but I could tell he was pissed. Tessa had moved from her place on the stairwell now and her eyes were fixed on Billie, her head tilted to one side as if she was trying to solve an age old mystery. "Mom, dad why is Billie Joe Armstrong standing in our kitchen..?" I opened my mouth but my mom spoke first. "Oh honey this is Arias new boyfriend." Her jaw dropped open. "You have got to be kidding me." Mason spoke up. "Well that would make a dumb joke..." "DUMB JOKE!? Are you people really oblivious as to who this is!?" All eyes were on Tess just the way she liked it. "This is Billie Joe Armstrong! This is the lead singer of Green day! He is a legend!" Billie cleared his throat "nice introduction.." He laughed and Tessa blushed. Mason stepped in "I knew you looked familiar.." My mom was next "why did you keep this from us Aria?" I wasn't sure how to answer this and Billie made no attempt to help me. "I just.. I thought it might of been a little much.. I was going to work into it, slowly.. Very slowly." I glared at Tess. "I'm happy for you Princess, for the both of you." My dad always came through for me. I couldn't think of a single time he didn't accept and encourage my choices. Dinner was quiet, a little too quiet for my family and I could sense something was off. After everyone finished Tess and I cleared the table while the others played twenty questions with Billie. I was scraping left over food into plastic containers when Tess cornered me. "He's married Aria, are you nuts? Have you finally gone off the deep end?" I was taken aback by her words. "I'm a big girl I can handle it myself." I seethed. "I don't think you can, listen I'm just trying to look out for you dating a married man is a whole new level of disaster.." I cut her off "look out for me? Since when do you look out for me Tessa? You're jealous you always have been." She looked as if I had slapped her across the face. "How could you say that? I've always looked out for you. If Billie makes you happy then so be it but please don't let your guard down." I couldn't believe how sincere she actually sounded. "Look, I'm not dumb I realize the situation I'm in. If you want to look out for me don't let mom and dad find out." I threw the left overs into the fridge and walked back into the kitchen. "Is everything okay honey? Are you and Tess arguing again? I swear they've been fighting since they were in the womb.. One time I.." "Mom I'm sorry to cut this short but we need to go. I'm really tired." It was a sad excuse but I couldn't stand this house any longer. "Well.. Okay but call me when you're home so I know you've made it back safely." "I'm not going home tonight, I'm going back to Billies house in New York." Everyone was staring at us now. We said our goodbyes after I promised to keep in touch with my parents more often. I closed the car door and sunk into the passenger seat. I let out a loud sigh. "Ah home is where the heart is huh?" Billie was being sarcastic now. I gave him a dirty look. He pulled out of the drive way." Wish you would of told me you were a twin.." He said. "Why? So you could of picked her before it was to late with me?" Billie looked hurt. "Do you really think that little of me Ar?" The truth was I didn't know what to think of him sometimes. Adrienne's words were still ringing in my head, you are a sad excuse for a husband Billie, I tried to shake the thoughts away. "No I guess not." My words fell flat. He pulled the car over and stormed out, my door swung open and his words were stern. "Get out of the car." What the hell.. "What are you talking about? No.. Get back in your seat." I felt his hand on my arm and he gently pulled me, urging me to get out. I knew he wasn't going to let this go. I rolled my eyes and got out, my feet sunk into the soft sand of the beach down the road from where my parents lived. The same beach I remembered walking on so many times as a child in the hot summer sun. It was time to face the facts, I wasn't a child anymore and I needed to stop acting like one. Billie held my hand and we walked further onto the beach towards the ocean I stared ahead at the orange and pink that painted the sky. "What are we doing?" I asked him. "I need to tell you something." He sounded serious. My stomach twisted into knots. "I love you Aria."