Baby Eyes

Prologue: Stray Heart

"I need a volunteer!" The crowd went wild, with 'pick me, pick me' and Billie had to laugh to himself. His fans were fucking maniacs, and he loved them for it. "Someone who can play the guitar, Jesus of Suburbia. You don't have to be perfect, just as long as you know the song,"

He scanned the audience to find the perfect person for tonight's show. He couldn't just give a guitar away to anyone. A few maybes, some definite no's - had some of these people volunteering even picked up a guitar before? "He knows it! She knows it! She definitely knows it!" He pointed at random members of the crowd, still unable to find  a the right someone.

But there was person who caught his eye, and that was because she was being carried over the heads of the audience right towards the front of the stage at the barricades.

"Hey, you! Yeah, you, being all but thrown up here. You know the song?"

The girl, still in the arms held high above they audience, nodded the best she could and have a thumbs up.

"How long have you played guitar for?"

The girl yelled back something he couldn't quite hear.

"Hey, set her down a second, I can't even see her face," The audience scrambled with her and plopped her upright on some guy's shoulders, "What did you say? How long?"

"Three years!" Came the reply.

"Three years?" Billie asked, and was rewarded with a nod from the girl who was grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Alright, get your ass up here!"

The crowd went wild again, and she was hoisted over the barriers and up onto the stage by one of the event security crew. She definitely looked the part, black skinnies, converse and what seemed to be a legitimate vintage Dookie tour shirt. She fixed her hair, which had been tossed around in the crowd surfing and all but sprinted to hug Billie. They always did. He laughed, and hugged her back for a brief second before she was off to hug Mike and Tré.

"Hey, get your ass back here, what's your name?" The girl returned to Billie, tears down her face and her smile glued on. He put an arm around her shoulders and stuck the mic in her face.

"Lea!" She did what seemed like the impossible and smiled even wider. The audience cheered for her and in return her arms flew up into the air, waving at them as she bounced on the balls of her feet.

Billie laughed again; they were always so full of energy. He turned his head to Mike, as if to say "How fucking nuts is this?" and received a very Mike smile and a shrug of the shoulders.

Turning back to his guest, he brought the mic back to himself. "And how old are you, Lea?"

"I'm 25 years old!" She wiped away her tears and pushed her hair out of her eyes.

"Alright, and you know Jesus of Suburbia?" She nodded. "Okay, great, so you take this," At this, he handed her the black guitar that was slung around him. "And, this." A guitar pick.

"You ready?" Another nod from Bea. "Alright, then let's get started!"

After a quick count in, she started the song. The energy on stage and in the crowd was phenomenal, and Billie didn't think he'd had someone on stage from the audience like this in a long time.

The performance went off without a hitch. Billie told her the guitar was hers, Lea was ushered off stage where a tech took the guitar to be prepped for after the show for I to be signed and handed over to her again. Another tech approached her to lead her back to the crowd, only pausing to listen to his cans.

"He wants what?" A pause while the tech waited for a response again. Lea found herself on edge. Had she done something wrong? Did he change his mind and want to keep the guitar now?