PULLING TEETH {Billie Joe Armstrong)

🖤 Thirteen 🖤

It was almost the end of summer, and that meant school was creeping up on me again, so I figured I might as well make the most of the last few days of freedom I had.

I knocked on Billie's door. Whether or not he'd be mad at me, I had no idea. But I figured it would be best to just explain the whole thing.

Tre's p.o.v

"Wow, BJ, I've never seen you run so fast!" I laughed as Billie ran from the kitchen to the front door.

I heard the door creak open, a few moments of silence, then "Oh, Courtney, you're okay!! Oh, babe, I'm so glad you're okay! I was so worried!".

I slowly made my way into the living room to see what was going on. Billie had his arms wrapped tightly around this girl with purple hair. She was wearing a leather skirt, and looked like she was about 16 or 17. Then it clicked. It was his neighbor, the one who made him horny.

"I'm so sorry, Billie!" she cried, her head on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry! My best friend died because of drunk driving, and I was in the car with him, and I was gonna jump off a bridge, and I'm so sorry! I'm so fucking sorry!".

"Don't be sorry. It's okay. You're still alive, and I'm happy that you are.".

Well, I could already see where this was going, and how it could end up, too. This girl obviously trusted Billie, and Billie was obviously falling in love with her.

Once the girl had finally calmed down she let go of Billie, and noticed me.

"Holy fuck, are you Tre Cool!?" she asked.

"Yes, I am." I replied.

"How long have you been standing there?".

"A while.".

"Tre, this is Courtney." Billie said, putting his arm around the girl.

"Nice to meet you, Courtney." I said to her.

"She's an awesome bassist.".

"Are you?" I asked her.

She smiled. "I'm not that great." she said, looking at Billie and rolling her eyes.

"C'mon, why don't you play with us?" Billie said.

"Yeah, then I can judge how good you are. But I bet you are good." I said.

"Alright." Courtney agreed. "But I don't wanna use that blue bass again.".

We started walking down to the basement. "Is it 'cause it's ugly?" Billie asked.

"Yeah.". Courtney smiled at Billie, and he smiled back. I could tell there was a lot of emotion between the two of them, like, a lot of emotion.

Over the afternoon, it became even more clear. Billie would look over at Courtney from time to time, and she would look over at him, too. But just the way that they looked at each other, there was undoubtedly something there.

We spent a few hours playing music. Although, as the afternoon went on, I noticed that Billie started to get kind of emotional.

Eventually, we went upstairs for a diet Coke. Then Billie kind of disappeared.

Courtney's p.o.v

"Tre, where'd Billie go?" I asked Tre.

"I don't know." he replied.

I let out a sigh and sat down on the couch. "Did you notice how he was getting kind of emotional? Especially with some of those Kerplunk songs?" I asked, taking a sip of my Coke.

Tre nodded.

We just sat there for a few moments, until Tre got up and told me he was gonna look for Billie. He headed up the stairs, and  I could hear talking from up there. Then I heard sobbing, and I knew it was Billie.

I got up off the couch and stood at the bottom of the stairs, trying to make out what Billie and Tre were saying.

All of a sudden, Tre came rushing down the stairs.

"Is he okay?" I asked.

"Well," Tre sighed. "He'll be okay.".

"But what's wrong?".

Tre sighed. "Well, Billie has triggers, and singing Green Day songs brings back memories for him, obviously.".

"Oh, fuck." I said, feeling bad.

"He'll be okay, though.".

"Are you sure he will?".

"Yes.".

Tre left and said goodbye to me, and I could still hear Billie sobbing from upstairs.

I stood at the bottom of the stairs for a few minutes, debating whether or not to go up. Billie had seen my cry, but me seeing him cry would be different.

After a long debate with myself, I decided to just go up. Slowly, I climbed the stairs. The bedroom door was open, calling me to it.

Here goes nothing. I thought as I walked down the hall. I went into the bedroom and saw Billie crying on his bed, a nearly empty bottle of whiskey in hand, and photos strewn across the bed.

As I got closer, I noticed the photos were of him and… a woman?

"Billie?" I asked.

He didn't answer, just kept sobbing.

I picked up one of the photos. The woman had a pretty smile, brown eyes, and dark brown dreadlocks tied up in a messy ponytail. I couldn't tell for sure, but the photo looked like it was from about ten or eight years ago, judging from Billie's appearance.

Another photo caught my eye, so I picked it up and looked at it. It was Billie and the same woman, and this photo looked older than the other one. Billie had bleached hair, and they both looked young. I noticed the woman was wearing a wedding dress.

"Billie, what the fuck!?" I shouted. "You're married!? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!?".

Billie just looked up at me, his lip quivering, saying nothing. He drank the rest of his whiskey in one sip and dropped the bottle on the floor, it smashing to pieces just like my heart.

He slowly stood up and walked out the door, stumbling down the hall. Then I heard him fall down the stairs.

I sniffled and wiped my eyes, then I walked down the hall and down the stairs.

"Fuck you, Billie Joe, you fucking liar!" I screamed as I walked past him. He was on the floor in a heap at the bottom of the stairs.

"Courtney… help… me." he said.

I stood by the front door, slipping on my shoes. "No." I said to him. I turned around and stepped out the door, running home.

I ran up to my room, took out my blade and took off my sweater. I spent the rest of my night cutting myself and bawling my eyes out. I couldn't believe that Billie had lied to me. I was just devastated.