It's Not a Question, but a Lesson Learned in Time (Green Day Fanfiction)

Chapter 3 - There's no doubt, I figured out I love you...

As I took in her beautiful face one more time before leaving, I noticed her mascara was smeared. I hadn't noticed it until now. It faintly ran down both sides of her cheeks, almost looked like she had been crying at some point.

"Maybe she smeared it when she put her face in her hands. Silly girl," I thought to myself, smiling even bigger.

"Hey, if you're not too busy with work this week, maybe we can hang again?" I suggested hopefully, finally managing to break out of the fantasy world she had pulled me into.

"Yeah, that sounds perfect! I'll be around," she said with another smile. "I'm off by 3pm most days. Just remember, next Sunday my mom and I are supposed to have dinner together."

"Yep, got it! Don't worry, I won't bug you on your girls' day," I said over dramatically, sending us both into laughter. "You guys are gonna have a great time together. You can get caught up on all the dirty gossip from the hair salon," I smiled, making us giggle again.

Hearing her laugh was sobering and my head was starting to become a little bit clearer.

"Goodnight, Billie Joe," she smiled softly, wrapping me in one last hug. "Thank you for an amazing dinner, and for getting me home safely in one piece. It looks like we made it back just in time," she said, peering out her living room window and noticing that the snow was falling pretty heavily now. "Do you think you'll be able to make it back to your hotel alright? You're welcome to stay here if you'd like, I can totally sleep on the couch and you can have my bed tonight..."

Her offer sounded amazing, but I didn't trust myself not to do something completely fucking stupid if I stayed the night with her.

"I'll be ok, Steph," I assured her with the most genuine smile I could summon. "You have a good night. Oh, and a little white powder never hurt anyone." I winked at her and she shot back at me with an unimpressed raised eyebrow.

"More like white danger powder!" she exclaimed. Of course, we both started laughing again. I was hypnotized by her sweet, genuine laugh; I just wanted to let it consume me and never look back.

"I hope you sleep well, stay warm," I said, smiling and finally turning away towards the door.

"You, too," she whispered, and I turned to look back at her once last time. I took in her sweet face, her dazzling smile, her warm aura - I studied everything about her one more time before I left that night. She was so incredibly beautiful. Everything about her was just exquisite.

I heard her apartment door shut softly behind me as I made my way down the stairs to my car. As I carefully drove to the hotel I was staying at, memories flashed in the back of my mind to when Steph and I first met. It was the first day of 6th grade. We were in the same science class, and we were assigned to sit at the same table. We sat directly across from one another. She was looking as cute as ever in her dark purple dress and pigtails, and I was looking like something that the cat drug in. My father had passed two years prior and my mother was struggling to get me and my five siblings by, so us having nice clothes wasn't a priority.

Of course, I noticed her right away and she completely ignored me like I was a piece of gum stuck underneath the desk. So, to get her attention, I started playing footsie with her - which, to my surprise as a clueless 12-year-old, she found very unwanted and uninviting. Without warning, she unleashed her feet from mine in the tangled mess I had created underneath the table and gave me a double kick smack in the center of my balls. I let out a cry and ended up being sent to the principal's office for being disruptive in class on my first day of middle school. I never had the nerve to tell anyone why I cried out to begin with. Maybe it's because I didn't want to get into more trouble than I already was for admitting that I started the whole thing and that it was my own fault for getting kicked in the nuts. Maybe it's because I actually loved the little smirk Steph flashed to me as I was being hauled away to the principal's office by our science teacher. Maybe a little bit of both. Either way, I learned from that day on that she was a little hurricane of love, grace, perseverance and sass. And I wanted to be her friend. Thankfully, she let me. We warmed up to one another a few days later in a group project and ended up apologizing to each other for the little "incident" and we still laugh about it to this day. I'm pretty sure I'm the only man alive who can say that getting kicked in the balls was the best thing that ever happened to him. Honestly, for me, it was. Her friendship has changed my life for the better.

As soon as I got back to the hotel I was staying at, I tossed my keys onto the table, brushed my teeth, stripped down to just my boxers and threw myself onto my bed. The sweet buzz of alcohol continued to linger in my head along with all of the fond memories that Steph and I had shared. I couldn't stop thinking about how beautiful she looked tonight, the smell of her sweet perfume resting behind her ears and on her neck as I hugged her tightly.

Fuck. My hard-on was coming back and begging to be released from the death grip my boxers now had on it.

I stretched and glanced over at the wall clock by the closet as a small groan escaped me. 10:30 pm. Even though I had closed the curtains, the Manhattan lights crept through the hotel window like a thief. All I could think about was how horny I was. For a moment I thought about rubbing one out. I knew it wouldn't take me long because I was already so worked up. However, the desire in me to create was even stronger than my raging hormones. I had been playing around with some lyrics in my head earlier that day and I wanted to hear how they sounded with chords. So instead, I rolled over to the other side of the bed where my acoustic guitar was sitting up on its stand, looking lonely. "That makes two of us," I thought. I gently lifted it off the stand and grabbed the guitar pick I had left laying on the nightstand. I cleared my throat and started to strum.

All I want is you to understand

That when I take your hand, it's 'cause I want to

We are all born in a world of doubt

But there's no doubt

I've figured out I love you

Satisfied with how it sounded, I reached for my writing journal and pen on the nightstand and paired the chords with their designated lines. Setting my guitar back on its stand, I rolled over and laid my journal and pen back on the nightstand. I burrowed under the covers and prayed to whomever was listening that I could get a decent night's sleep.

I couldn't stop thinking about her.