Good Riddance || Billie Joe Armstrong

Letterbomb

Present

"Okay," Mary looked at me in bewilderment. It's probably hard for her to comprehend everything I'm saying. "So you lied to all of us, ran away with some guy to San Francisco, and then he was leaving you for tour?"

I nod slowly clasping my hands together, "Pretty much..."

"Does Matt know about any of this?" I feel horrible because she's my best friend, but I couldn't tell her. I wasn't even supposed to tell Matt."

"Matt found out about everything by himself though," I sigh and look down at the floor of my apartment. "I wasn't allowed to tell anyone..."

"You weren't allowed to, or you didn't want to?" She spat getting to her feet. "I feel like I don't even really know you Nicole!"

I got to my feet with those words and pulled on my dyed black hair, "There's more that you don't know about yet. You'll understand if you hear me out."

A knock on the door pulled our attention away from our argument, and then Matt stuck his head though the door, "Hey we're having a bonfire in the parking lot. You should join us."

Mary put a fake smile on her face and began walking towards the door, but I stood there silently debating if I should go or not. "I'll catch up." Matt nods in understanding before closing the door behind him.

So much has taken place today that I'm probably just going to head to bed. It's like my past is coming back to haunt me, and I can't take it emotionally.

I crossed the room to my fridge, pulling out a bottle of vodka, and popping the top. Might as well get shit faced while I can. Before I could take my first sip, there was another knock on the door causing me to groan in frustration.

"What do you want not Matt?" I felt my heart drop to my stomach when I realized it was none other than Mike Dirnt at my doorstep, "M-Mike?"

"Hey Lauren," He sent me a soft smile and I moved aside quickly to let him in before anyone noticed.

"Dude what are you doing here?" I asked slightly panicked. If he's here then that means Billie and Trè are also here.

His eyes scanned the room and fell on my bottle of vodka causing a frown to form on his face, "I came by since Billie ran in here earlier. I needed to make sure you were okay."

"Why wouldn't I be?" I asked taking a seat on my bar, "Billie would never hurt me Mike. You and I both know this."

He frowned slightly giving me a look, "He has before Lauren."

"It was my fault," I sighed shaking my head at the bad memory, "I knew better than to be around him when he's on drugs and I was anyways."

Mike picked up the bottle and put the lid back on it, "I'm just glad he stopped most of them when all the boys showed up." I almost forgot about Jakob and Joseph, "He's doing good by the way."

A small smile formed on my face at the thought of my own son, "You guys helped raise him right?" I sighed avoiding eye contact, "I'd feel like shit if Landon only had Billie to raise him."

"Actually," Mike started and jumped on the bar next to me, "We all did. Even Adrienne took him in when she and Billie got married."

"That's good," I said feeling slightly better, "You know I had to go right?"

"I know that if you stayed and everyone found out that your parents would've found a way to send Billie to jail." Mike responded pulling his phone out of his pocket, "You want to see a picture?"

"Yeah actually," I replied and watched patiently as he opened his photos and scrolled through looking for a specific photo.

Mike slid his phone into my hand and I felt my heart beat quicken at the sight of Billie with our son during what I assumed was a sound check. His hair was dirty blonde and wavy, it almost completely covered his eyes. From what I could tell he had his father's eyes, which I was glad for. Lastly he was wearing an Avenged Sevenfold shirt, black skinny jeans, and white high top converse. He seemed happy.

"I took this the last time we were in Europe," Mike said instantly smiling at the memory, "That kid changed all of our lives."

"You guys seem to have done well for him," I say lowly, handing the phone back.

Mike cleared his throat slightly while putting the phone back into his pocket, "He um... He knows about you Lauren."

I felt the color fade from my face with his words, "What do you mean he knows about me? Billie and I agreed that he wasn't going to know Mike."

"He found the old photograph that I took of you, Billie, and him in the hospital when he was born." Mike sighed, "Billie kept it hidden but he was snooping."

"I can't believe this," I ran my hand through my hair worriedly, "What am I going to do if people find out?"

"At this point I don't think it'll matter that much," Mike responded, "You're an adult. What happened when you were underage doesn't really matter as much."

"Is that why Billie came to talk to me earlier?" I asked feeling slightly bad now that I hid from him.

Mike shrugs looking up at the ceiling, "Who knows." He sighed and turned his attention back to me, "You know he's still in love with you right? Even Adrienne knows. He loves her, but it's just not the same as it was with you."

"At this point that doesn't matter either..." I sighed looking back at him, "He's married. There's nothing we can do about any of that now."

"I don't believe that."