Time of Your Life - Green Day

Tall Children

Still Rodeo, still May 1988

Constance's POV

I spent most of the next day with Billie and Mike. The morning was a little awkward since Mike slept in until 11, leaving me awake for several hours not knowing what to do and being too nervous to wake him up.

That lead to a very awkward interaction in which (not quite yet) famous bass player, Mike Dirnt, woke up to the sight of me staring at him like an unpredictable cat. I was worried he was going to scream or something but instead, he blinked a few times and simply stared back. We were stuck in a stalemate since neither of us wanted to back down until Billie came down and physically forced us to stop staring at each other.

I got a little bit worried for my stomach when the first thing we did was leave the house since I was starving but Billie quickly reassured me that we were going to get breakfast burritos.

This both relieved me and also made me more nervous. I didn't have any money on me, period, let alone American money. And if I were to get something that would fill me up for the day, it would probably cost way too much for me to ask one of the boys to pay for it.

These thoughts were plaguing my head as Billie and Mike had their burritos. In my tornadoing thoughts that nearly led to me crying again (yes I get teary when I'm hungry) after once was already enough, I didn't notice Billie and Mike glancing worriedly at each other until Billie spoke up.

"Hey, Con, these burritos are kinda huge. Do you want the rest of this?"

This single act of possibly unintentional kindness filled me with so much happiness and gratitude.

I glanced between Billie and the half-eaten burrito a few times before timidly nodding. He then handed it to me before I began chowing down.

I'd never had a breakfast burrito in my life but in that moment, I was certain I'd never taste such glory again in my life.

As I was nearly in tears again through gratitude, Mike said, "So I was thinking we could go check up on John, see if the warden will let him out for band practice. After all, we do have a new fan on our hands."

Mike turned to me but I was too invested in the sustenance to truly process what he was saying.

Billie nodded, "Sounds like a great plan."

I finished my mouthful, caught up mentally and replied with a smile, "I've got nothing better to do."

...

We came to a similar looking house to Billie's. I started heading up to the front door however Billie and Mike went around the back. I guess this is just how teens see their friends in the 80s. We jumped over the admittedly rather short chain link fence and went through an open door with a bug net on it.

I followed them into a kitchen/dining room where there was a tall dark brown haired guy hunched over a desk with an open book and empty cereal bowl. He looked dead to say the least.

Billie caught his attention first by saying, "Why, youthful scholar, you wouldn't happen to know where a band of mistfits like us could find Al Sobrante."

The guy let out a tired chuckle as he turned to face us, "Sorry, sir. You'll have to look in some other prison," he then noticed I was a plus-one, "Who's this?"

"This is Constance, she's cool," Mike spoke up, "Billie nearly hit her when he tried skateboarding and she asked him what year it is so she's staying with us now. Oh, and she's British."

"Nice to meet you, Constance. Sorry about these two nimrods, hope they don't almost kill you again," he smiled at me before turning to Mike and Billie, "And skateboarding? God, you guys really are boring without me."