The Jesus of Suburbia

American Idiots

Waking up has always confused me.

Somehow my body just decides to pull itself out of an unconscious state just so I can stand up and do stupid things with my pitiful mortal life.

These were my thoughts this morning as red light streamed through my eyelids. I was probably right in a sunbeam or something.

Dammit.

I open one eye and close it immediately.

Nope.

Instead of getting up I turn over onto my stomach and pull a pillow over my eyes.

There is no way.

After staying there for a few minutes without falling asleep I decided that I was probably awake already and should just get up.

So, I reach out blindly for my phone and check the time with one eye.

12:04, it reads.

"Too early." I mumble while opening my other eye. Yep, I'm right in a sunbeam.

Ouch.

Squinting, I push the blankets that are tangled around me off the bed.

The room is exactly the way I left it last night, thankfully.

I wasn't exactly surprised but I knew that even if a giant party had happened in my room last night, I probably wouldn't have woken up.

After a lot of will, even more hair gel, a shirt and some jeans, I go downstairs and into the kitchen.

Adrienne isn't there, but Billie is. Joey is next to him, helping to wash out a pan or something.

And next to him is another boy that looks strangely like Billie.

It dawns on me.

"You made another one?" I ask in a surprised tone. It probably sounded really rude, but I didn't know he had another son.

Billie turns around and grins a little, looking down at his spawn.

"Yeah. You were asleep for eleven years."

I roll my eyes and step forward to lean my elbows on the counter.

"No, really. You didn't tell me you had another son."

"He was at a summer camp." Billie shrugs it off, like it's not a big deal. Not like he just randomly forgot to tell me he had another son. "By the way, I need to talk to you about school soon."

Oh no. School. Shit.

"Who's he?" The boy asks, looking up at me.

Billie looks between us somewhat awkwardly before answering, "He's the kid your mom and I were talking about adopting."

"He's not a kid." Joey says as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. I smile a little and nod. "Exactly."

Then my smile drops as I look back at the mystery kid. He just looks up at me with that awe sort of expression and then goes back to eating his pancakes.

Billie watches him for a moment. "His name is Jakob Danger Armstrong."

Danger.

I like the sound of that.

"That's a great name. Where's your wife?" I stress the words 'your wife' which actually makes him laugh instead of the expected glare.

"In the shower." He replies as he reaches into the fridge and takes out a plate and hands it to me. There are four or five pancakes on it.

"Thanks."

I smile a bit and put them in the microwave to heat up. Some odd force of nature made me so agreeable this morning. As vulnerable as it is, I really like the feeling that there is a heart inside my chest instead of a grenade.

After breakfast is done Billie follows me out of the kitchen.

"So," He begins, "Have you put a video on YouTube yet?"

"Oh, I'd almost forgotten about that." I stop walking and face him. "Yeah, I have one uploaded. It's called "Dead or Alive" by Red Dexter."

"How's it doing?" He actually seems pretty excited about it. It's only an amateur video, whereas he gets huge film sets and crews to do his videos.

I shrug. "I haven't checked. It's only been up since yesterday morning, so I imagine nothing yet. Oh, and I made the song in like two hours so it's probably shit."

He makes a face like 'really?' and then rolls his eyes. "It can't be shit. I heard you writing it. It's a good song."

My eyes widen and I find myself gripping the banister. Billie heard it? How embarrassing.

"W-wait, really?" I stutter as my cheeks heat up.

He looks around as if he wasn't sure I was talking to him. Once he'd affirmed that I was talking to him he nodded. "Yeah.."

"Great." I sigh and quickly flick my eyebrows up sarcastically.

Another laugh comes from Billie and he starts to walk away. "I'll check the video later." He calls back without turning around.