FicWad

"Sit down, Rose."

I hesitated, lingering in the doorway, before I felt my feet begin taking the horrid, longing steps into the room. Each stride shorter than the next; slowing my graceful entrance.
There were a thousand reasons why I wanted to leave. A thousand reasons why I knew I should be running, bolting for the door. His eyes, his anger, his mouth, Mikey, Frank, Ray, Bob, their secrets and their teeth.

But for all those reasons... I wanted to stay.

As I sat down, I noticed his eyes never left me. They were almost tortured, in a way, as he smiled; at least tried to.

"Rose," he sighed, his lower lip jetting out a bit. "There are things here that you... there are things here we know..." He struggled to form his sentence as he ran a hand through his messy, dark hair. "Rose? Just promise me that you'll never go in that room again. Please, promise."

I blinked, glancing away from his golden orbs. "That's all you want? A promise?"

He nodded. "I want your word that you'll never endanger yourself like that again, Rose. Promise me."

"Why?"

"Please," He was nearly begging now, his hands clamped together. "I need to hear you say it, Rose. Just mean it. Please."

His voice cracked twice on the word please. I looked into his eyes again, not backing down this time. He wasn't smiling anymore. It didn't even look like he was breathing.
He just sat across from me, cupping his hands, and continued to wait for my answer. Unmoving.

I bit the inside of my cheek. "Alright, Gerard. I promise."

He groaned as he got up and walked to the door. "Thank you."

He pulled the door open to reveal a dishievled Bob. Bob grinned cheekily at me and gestured to his arm, hinting for me to take it. Gerard shut the door, loudly, behind us. I hooked my arm through Bob's and let him lead me away from Gerard's room.

I leaned into Bob's shoulder and laughed. "What's all this about?"

Bob grinned, his eyes playful. "It's our job to get you cleaned up. Special orders."

"Our?" I stopped. "Cleaned up? For what? I am clean."

He shook his head. "You can't go to dinner looking like that, Rose. You're in the clothes you were wearing two days ago."

"Well, I'm sorry. I didn't exactly have time to pack for this."

"No?" He joked, tugging me along. "I would've thought you were all ready, considering that you were so eager to live here."

"That's not my fault. If you hadn't kidnapped my father--"

"Hey, now." He glanced down at me, his mouth a tight line. "We didn't kidnap your dad. We didn't know he was coming."

"You still kept him."

He laughed this time, smiling again. "Yeah, that's Gerard's fault. For years now, everything that's come through those front doors, Gerard has called some moronic claim on. It could be a leaf blown in from the wind and he'd still keep it."

I giggled. "What about a bug? Like, a wasp."

"Oh, he loves those things. Calls them his minions. Don't ask, I don't know why."

I laughed louder. I could just picture Gerard standing on a mound with a swarm of wasps behind him. He would be like Aquaman, only a lot less cool. Waspman.
We stopped outside my room. The bedroom door was shut and, from the other side, we could hear hushed voices and laughing. And Frank's giggle.

Bob gripped the doorknob. "Now, let us do our job."

He pushed the door open and...

"Frank?" I asked, slowly stepping into the room. "Why are you in a dress?"

Frank shot a dirty look in Ray's direction before bounding down off the bed. He stopped in front of me and held out his arms. "Is this dress good enough for you? I didn't think you'd like ruffles."

"Uhm... sure, Frank. Thanks." In all honesty, the dress was stunning. On or off Frank. They had picked a royal blue strapless, floor-length gown for me to wear. If only I knew why dinner was such a special occasion.

Ray sighed, pulling my arm towards the bathroom. "Good. Now, let's get you cleaned up."

______________

I was a good guinea pig. I let them dress me, play with my hair, and put countless amounts of eyeshadow on me. But I refused to let them in the bathroom with me while I took a bath. That was just something way too personal for me to experience with anyone at the moment.
Although, halfway through, Frank did insist on jumping in to help scrub my back. He left five seconds later with soap and shampoo in his eyes. No one's going to see me naked any time soon.

As Mikey finished fastening the diamond pendant around my neck, which he spent a lot of time doing, he bent down and kissed my cheek. "Okay, Rose. Go on."

It took me a moment to realize that I was the only one in formal attire. All the boys were still in their casual wear. "Aren't you boys coming? You don't expect me to eat all by myself, do you?"

Mikey smiled, ushering me out the door. "You won't be alone. Just don't keep him waiting anymore than he already has."

It wasn't until I was pushed out the door that I realized -- I had a dinner date with Gerard.



A/N - Sorry to leave it on a cliffhanger. I wanted to put the whole dinner scene into one chapter alone. But, this is still good, right? Hope so. Next one will be out soon! Thank you so much for reading! Please, R&R for me. xoxo - Esther.