The Innocent Can Never Last

Christie Road

Emma's POV

"So where are we going?" I asked Billie, as the two of us headed down the hallway towards the back exit.

"It's a surprise," Billie replied, giving me a mysterious smile.

"Aw...come on, you can't do this to me!" I exclaimed, punching him playfully in the shoulder.

"Yes, I can, and I will," Billie said, leading me out into the parking lot and over to his car.

Billie slid into the driver's seat, as I walked around to the other side of the vehicle and climbed in on the passenger's side. "You really need to get rid of this hunk of tin," I said, as the two of us buckled our seatbelts.

"She didn't mean that, baby..." Billie said, glaring at me as he began tenderly rubbing the dusty dashboard.

"You're such a geek," I said, with a smile.

"What can I say? I love this 'hunk of tin,' as you put it. I'll never sell it," Billie stated proudly.

"We'll see about that," I replied sarcastically, rolling my eyes a bit.

Billie stuck his tongue out at me, before putting the car into gear and driving out of the parking lot. "Where are we going?" I asked impatiently.

"You'll see," Billie said.

"Have I been there before?" I asked.

"Yes."

"How long ago?"

"Um...it's been a year or so," Billie answered.

I stopped to think for a moment, but when my mind just kept drawing up blanks, I slumped back in the seat and said, "I have no idea where we're going. And you're not going to tell me, are you?"

"Nope," Billie answered.

I sighed, just as Billie turned his car onto a familiar highway, heading north.
"Wait..." I said, sitting up to look at some of the street signs. "We're going north."

"I'm glad you finally learned your directions," Billie said.

"Shut up, smart-ass, that's not what I meant. We're going north, meaning that we have to be going to Rodeo," I answered.

"What makes you say that?" Billie asked.

"Because Rodeo's the only place north of Berkeley that I remember going in the past year..." I said slowly.

Billie just grinned. "Are we going to Rodeo?" I asked.

"I'm not going to tell you, beotch, so you might as well just shut up about it," Billie replied, with fake annoyance.

I pouted a bit, and settled back down into my seat. There were several minutes of silence, before I finally spoke. "That song you guys played tonight, 'Going to Pasalacqua'...it was about you and me, wasn't it?" I asked suddenly.

Billie didn't reply for a moment. "Yeah, it was..." he finally answered.

"About that day when we accidentally kissed in the basement of the studio, right?" I asked.

"Why do you say it was an accident?" Billie inquired.

"Well...it...I don't know," I said, with some difficulty.

Billie smiled, and said, "Relax, I was kidding."

"Oh. Okay."

"But yes, you were right. The song was about that day. When we kissed...I guess I realized that I still had feelings for you, but I knew we couldn't be together because I was still dating Ruby. That's why in the song I'm kind of wondering how things would end up if we both just...ran away together..." Billie explained.