How We Got Here

Disclaimer: It's the same as always, people.

Fast forward to the year 2000. Billie's 28, Mike's 27, Joey is 7, Jakob and Stella are both 3.

Mike's Point of View

How We Got Here (or Time of Your Life)
Chapter Six: All Sorts of Sick

So take the photographs
And still frames in your mind

"School pictures got in." Billie says when he comes in with the mail. He's got an idiotic smile on his face as he opens up the envelope. We both know school photographs suck, but Joey likes to get them done, so Billie sends a fifty dollar check to the school every September.

Jakob comes running down the hallway and wraps his arms around Billie's legs. "Ice cream!"

Billie shakes his head and holds out the pictures for me to see. "Cerel." he tells the dark-haired three year old.

"No, ice cream."

"No ice cream. It's morning. Eat cereal."

Jakob stomps his feet and then looks at me. "Mike, I want ice cream."

I smile at the look on Billie's face. "Manipulative little thing, isn't he?" Jakob beams as if I meant this as a compliment. I laugh and pull the picture frame that holds Joey's first grade picture off the wall.

When Jakob realized that I'm not getting him ice cream either, he punches Billie inthe knee. "Ice cream!"

"No." Billie's in serious 'daddy mode' now. He picks Jakob up and sets him down on the couch. "Time out. No hitting."

By the time Jakob's done screaming and crying and gives hs dad a kiss and says he's sorry, I've replaced Joey's old picture with the new one and made a pot of coffee.

Billie's carrying Jakob on his hip and pouring a bowl of cereal. "Lucky Carms!" Jakob can't say his 'th's or 'ch's yet.

Billie smiles at me as he sets Jakob down on the counter to eat his breakfast. (Not the best place in the world, but Billie lets his kids get away with murder. Not ice cream, though.)

"Have I told you I love you yet?"

"Three times today." I say, laughing.

"Oh. Well, one more time won't hurt, will it?" He grabs my wrist and yanks me down for a kiss. "Love you."

"Love you, too."

Jakob makes a face. "Kissy. Yuck."

Billie picks his son up off the counter and tickles him. "Kisses are gross, huh?" He's tickling the kid and kissing all over his face and ruffling his hair. "Kisses are gross?"

Then there's a knock on the door.

He sets Jakob down and the boy immediately runs and hides behind me. Billie smiles and goes to answer the door. I hear Addie's voice.

"Something came up with Mom." she said. "I know it's short notice, but can you keep them until next Saturday?"

The exchange pleasantires, extra phone numbers, kisses on the cheek. Jakob runs to the front door to hug his mom. Addie and I exchange hellos.

It could be worse. Billie says it all the time. Addie could be a bitch about Billie's time with the kids. She could throw our 'relationship' in his face. We all know it's caused a few fights with Joey at school. ("Daddy, what's a fag?")

"Call me if anything comes up." Billie tells his ex-wife. "And give her my love."

Addie smiles and hands him the duffel bag. "Oh, shit, I almost forgot." Jakob giggles when his mother swears. "Joey has a parent-teacher conference Friday at noon. Can you make it?"

Billie nods. "Don't worry, Addie. It'll be fine. Now go, or you'll miss your flight."

After she had gone and Jakob was watching TV, Billie looked at me. "Aren't we picking up Stella, tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Full house then." he smiled. "We should go out to dinner."

"Don't we every nght?" I ask, sliding the back door open so I can smoke.

"Not last night." Billie said.

"Delivery pizza." I recall. "I can cook, you know."

Billie rolled his eyes. "I know, I know."

When I come back in, Jakob's sitting on Billie's lap watching TV, sucking his thumb. "What wrong wif Grandma?"

Billie turns Jakob around to look at him. "Grandma's sick. She has to take medicine, but the medicine's makeing her sick, too."

"Why?"

"It's gross medicine." Chemotherapy. He looks at me.

"Why's she got to take it if it's gross?"

"To get better."

"Oh." Jakob looks confused for a moment, then turns around to watch some show about superheroes as a kids.

Billie picks his son up and sets him down on the couch, then comes over to me. "Do we have cough medicine? Jakob's starting to get one."

I shrug and we both end up going through the medicine and chest and bathroom cupboards. When Jakob finds us, Billie's on the bathroom counter, legs around my waist and lips against my neck.

We hear a giggle and footsteps. He ran back to the living room.

"We should stop." I say.

"Don't use four-letter words, Mike." Billie says, then tugs at my bottom lip with his teeth. "We're fine. He's watching Cartoon Network."

---

We decide to pick Joey up from school. We needed to get cough syrup anyway. "Any homework?" Billie asks after we pull out of the school parking lot. Several of the oler middle schoolers were doing double takes as we left.

"No."

Billie looked at me. I looked at Billie. We both looked at Joey who was red in the face from lying. "Do you have any homework?" Billie asked again, looing at his son in the rearview mirror.

"I can't do it." Joey said. We had pulled into the parking lot of a Target by this time.

I got out and opened the back door, unhooking Jakob from his carseat. "Meet you inside."

"You mean you don't understand it?" Billie asked, turning around in his seat.

Joey shook his head as tears started to fall down his cheeks. "Someone ripped it and threw it in the trash. Am I gonna get in trouble?"

Billie Joe reached back and grabbed his son's hand. "Of course n--"

Joey wrenched the car door open and took off running throught he parking lot. Jakob said something and pointed, so I turned around to look. I've never seen Billie Joe run so fast in his life.

Billie Joe grabbed his son by the waist despite Joey's struggle against him. "Don't you ever do that again." he hissed. "You could have gotten hit by a car." Billie Joe squatted so he was Joey's height. "What is it?"

"Th-They say you're going to hell." Joey said, bawling. "They say you're going to hell and I'm going to hell and Mike and . . . and Jakob and Mommy. And they say I'm going to catch it."

"You can't catch being gay." Billie said. He looked toward the front of the store and saw me there, staring with Jakob in my arms. "You need to go to a different school." he told his son. "You aren't going to hell. I'm not either. Mike's not, Jakob's not, and neither's your mom. They're just stupid people saying stupid things to scare you."

"What's AIDS?"

Billie Joe does a double take. "You can get sick with AIDS."

"They said only gay guys get AIDS."

"They're lying." Billie Joe said again. "The first person to get AIDS in America was gay. But not only gay guys get it now."

"Do you have it?"

"No."

Joey wiped his eyes on his jacket. "Do I really get to switch schools?"

"I'm calling your mom tonight." Billie promised him. "We'll get it worked out."

Billie's holding Joey's hand and I've still got Jakob balanced on my hip when we walk into the store. Slowly, Billie links his hand with mine.

When 50 percent of Americans end up divorced, why do they get so mad when two people fall in love?

---

Okay, so I had to put the family thing in there. It's going to do a bit less skipping for awhile. I really want to do the time that Billie and Mike have with the kids.