FicWad

A half a gallon of oil and two sticks of butter later Frankie was free. His arm was bruised and I’m guessing really sore. But he was free. And I didn’t have to call the fire department.

He got his precious movie back from the living room. He was babbling something about it being a rental and due back today. I stopped listening after he said he spoke to Gerard this morning. He asked him to bring him over here to get the movie back and Gerard told him he was busy today....busy? I guess thats why he hasn’t called...At least I hope so.

"yeah, yeah, yeah" I told Frankie as I pushed him out the door. Well I could be busy too. I looked around. Ah fuck it. I called the lady from the salvation army and arranged for her to pick up the rest of my stuff this afternoon.

Then I went to the furniture store. I knew exactly what to pick. I don’t know if it was the acid or not but the furniture was like calling out to me. "oh pick me Elle. I’ll look so good in your house!" It was freaky. The guy said they could deliver it tomorrow. So now here I am.

The salvation army picked up all my stuff and the new stuff wont be here until tomorrow. Fuck. I should’ve planned this better. I dig through the piles of clothes in my now furniture less room and find the phone. I dial Lia’s number. it rings...ah pick up...

"Hello?" Lia said groggily.

"Can I come stay over tonight?" I ask

"Uh if you want to..my moms home" Lia groans. She must’ve been napping. It was only like 6 o’clock. "and my grandmas here" she yawned.

"No that’s ok..I'll be right over." I said hanging up. Oooh Grandma Rose. I forgot she comes up from Florida every Christmas. I adore Lia’s Grandma Rose. Honestly I kinda like her mom too. I know Lia thinks her mom is a snobby materialistic bitch and truth be told she is but when you have no mom....

"Hi Jeri!" I say cheerfully as Lia’s mom opens the door. Lia says I suck up to her mom. Which I do. I don’t care. It wouldn’t kill Lia to try to make her mom happy. Sometimes I think Lia and I should just switch lives.

"Elle come on in were having coffee in the kitchen come sit." She said holding open the door. Grandma Rose was sitting at the table smoking a cigarette. Lia was nowhere to be found. I sat down next to Jeri and she poured me a cup of coffee in her precious china cups. She handed me a sterling silver spoon and a linen napkin. She had a tray of thirty dollar biscotti on the table. Ok..so she is a snob. But it reminded of when I use to play tea party with my mom.
Only this was real and I loved it.

"Uh where’s Lia?" I asked

"She’s taking a nap" Jeri said sarcastically "That kid drives me nuts ma." she said to Grandma Rose. "Shes nothing but trouble." Grandma Rose just shook her head. I took a sip of my coffee. Jeri went on. "oh you should see who she’s hanging around with these days."

"who’s that?" Grandma Rose asked.

"Ah trash ma." Jeri said lighting a cigarette. "You should see this kid, his hairs out to here." Jeri said waving her arms over her head. Grandma Rose frowned. "oh and that other one." Jeri groaned "Wears nail polish ma."

Grandma Rose put her cigarette out. "A boy?" she scowled

"Mmm hmm black nail polish!" Jeri exclaimed. "And makeup too? right?" she said turning to me. Grandma Rose looked at me. I took another gulp of my coffee and shrugged.

"tsk tsk" Grandma Rose said frowning. "You hang around with these boys too?" She asked me. Before I could answer Jeri interrupted.

"Oh no ma..you should see Elle’s boyfriend..perfect gentlemen." She nodded. I tried not to laugh. "He’s on the football team." Jeri went on "Nice clean cut kid."

Grandma Rose nodded approvingly. Lia appeared in the doorway. "Leave her the fuck alone ma."

"Hey watch your mouth!" Jeri snapped back. Lia rolled her eyes.

"Come on Elle" She said grabbing a biscotti from the table. She started to walk away and I stood up.

"Lia you’re making crumbs! use a god damn plate!" Jeri said shaking her head at Grandma Rose. Lia ignored her.

"Just sit Lia and eat it." I said softly. Lia moaned and shoved the whole thing into her mouth.

"there.” She mumbled with her mouth full. "no plate."

Grandma Rose and Jeri looked at her disapprovingly

"Sorry" I said quietly as I followed her up the stairs.

I could hear Jeri telling Grandma Rose 'see what I mean.'

Lia shut her door and turned on the radio. Loud. Her mom hated that. I lowered it a little. "Lia come on why do you have to try to piss her off all the time." I asked sitting on her bed.

"Elle I told you...you want her you can have her. Moms are just a pain in the ass..you would know if--" Lia started "Oh my god I’m so sorry." Lia said covering her mouth.

"Its ok." I said laying back on her bed. It wasn’t the first time we had this talk. I wasn’t gonna get through to her.

"What was that with you and Gee before we went in to hunka bunka ?" She asked folding her arms. Huh? Oh the kiss. I shrugged. I was not in the mood for this. "Elle?" she insisted. "are you fucking him?" she asked very seriously as she sat down in front of the mirror.

"No!" I gasped and blushed a little.

"Oh my god! you did! you fucked him!" She cried out. Damn her. She always knew what I was thinking. I looked away. "Its ok Elle. Its cool. I mean his is really cute! Id fuck him too." she said fixing her hair in the mirror. I went and stood behind her looking at our reflections.

"Doesn’t matter Li.. I think he hates me now. It wasn’t even like that. he was so drunk last night" I said picking up the lip-gloss.

"last night?" She asked putting the hair brush back down.

"I don’t want to talk about it." I said running the gloss along my lips.
Lia got up and opened her bag and started pulling shit out. "All right I'll talk to him. Okay?" she said running her hands through my hair. I shrugged.

"No just leave it alone." I said. Lia nodded. She pulled out the vile and held it up swirling the insides around.

"Hey you wanna help me?" she asked. I looked over she had some blotter sheets in her hands.

"Fuck Lia..come on" I shook my head no.

"please!" she begged. "

"Whatever Lia..just be careful with that." I said. She smiled and jumped up. Fuck being careful was not exactly one of Lia’s strong qualities."Wait..I'll help you." I called out and followed her into the bathroom. I helped Lia meticulously put a drop on each square. Her paper was cute. little grateful dead bears dancing and shit.

"What do you think?" She said holding a paper up to the light. It was thoroughly soaked. I nodded and we brought them back to her room and hung them with bobby pins on hangers in her closet. "You think I should double them up?" She asked. I shrugged.

"How strong do you think that shit is?" I asked. Lia looked at what she had left in the vile. It was a lot, but we had no more paper. I felt guilty being up in Lia’s room making acid hits with Grandma Rose downstairs. It didn’t seem to bother Lia though. We gave each other a pedicure and curled up in bed.

"So you really like him huh?" Lia whispered in the dark.

"Who?" I whispered back

"Who?! Fred Flintstone!" She hissed.” Gerard duh?!" She said poking me.

"Doesn’t matter now." I said rolling over.

"mmm I'll always love you Elle" Lia said snuggling up to me.

And we fell asleep.

I woke up Sunday morning with my head on Lia’s stomach. She was running hands through my hair softly. I squinted my eyes open a little and looked up at her. The sunlight was streaming in her window right into my eyes. I couldn’t focus on her face clearly but it looked she smiled at me."Mmm what time is it?" I grumbled.

Lia stretched her neck back and looked at her clock radio. "Almost 10." She read.

Aw fuck. 10 am? I groaned and lifted my head off her. "Sorry." I mumbled. I was curled up on top of her. I yawned and stretched my arms over my head. I felt great. I hadn’t slept that well since...well since the last time I slept in a bed with Lia. I wasn’t sleeping well at all since papa died. It felt so good to be just next to someone. I stood up and continued stretching my muscles out.

"Sorry for what?" Lia asked stretching out into the empty space on the bed.

"For being all on top of ya all night!" I said digging through my bag. Fuck I think I forgot my toothbrush.

"Oh you know you'll always be welcome in my bed." Lia said seriously as she pulled a cigarette from her nightstand. I raised my eyebrows at her and turned to her. "What?" she said as innocently as she could. Then she laughed. I picked up a stuffed dog from her floor and chucked it at her.

"I gotta go." I told her as I dressed quickly. They were suppose to be delivering my stuff between 10 and 2. I ran home. I got there just as the truck was pulling up Everything was perfect. Later in the afternoon I went with Lia, Jeri and Grandma Rose to the mall for some Christmas shopping. I bought a whole bunch of things for my new 'home'.

Lia’s mom had really good taste. We stopped and ate at a diner on the way home. So now here I am sitting in my perfect living room in my perfect house just soaking it all in. Things were gonna be different now. I just know it. Gerard still hasn’t called all day but I did have the phone unplugged for a while as I moved things around. No matter.

Tomorrow all this will be straightened out. I was determined to put things back together with him just like I did with my house. I mean it couldn’t be that hard. Gerard was just a guy. I just fixed a whole fucking house. Well everything except that motherfucking doorknob. Shit.

Monday morning I got up extra early. There was only three days of school this week. Thursday night was the rave and Friday was Christmas eve. Jeri invited me to spend it with them. I told her I'd let her know. Holidays at Lia’s house don’t usually go smoothly. Mainly cause Lia seems to make it her life’s mission to piss her mom off.

I twisted my hair up into a clip and started getting dressed. I decided on a pair of dark jeans and a light gray thermal top. I let my hair down and secured it behind my ears with some bobby pins. I was kind of nervous to go to school. I just wanted things to work out with Gerard so badly.

Absentmindedly I picked up the altoids tin and opened it. I stared down at the pills. Fuck. I really need to focus today...My stomach felt like it was doing back-flips...okay maybe just one...I took some speed. I figured it would keep me in a good mood and calm my nerves.

I got to school on time. It was weird. I don’t think I have ever been on time before. There were kids all over the hallways. I didn’t see Gerard anywhere. I headed towards my locker. He wasn’t there either. I felt my heart sink a little. I started twisting the combination lock. My mind went blank. What was my combo? Fuck...\

12-12-12? No. Damn it Elle. I bit my lip. Okay now I fucking know that I know this. 13-20-12? no...6-6-6? Fuck!!! Wait! I wrote it on a slip in my wallet. I dig through my bag. Here it is. Thank god!!! 13-26-12. I twist it. It doesn’t open. I bit my lip again. Fuck. Is it 13 left 26 right? or 13 right 26 left? No wait I think you have to go around twice..I bit my lip harder. Now I can taste .. what is that.. I lick my lips..blood?

Fuck I bit my lip so hard it’s bleeding. The bell is ringing now and the hall is empty. Fuck! I suck on my lip trying to make it stop on the way to photo lab. I ran my pinkie on my lip. It was dry, no blood ...good.. I walk in the class. Gerard is already in his seat. He has his head down on the table. Frankie is drawing on the chalkboard. He smiles at me. I wave. "Hey" I say to Gerard as I sat. He didn’t move. Not one inch.

Oh my God! I think he might be dead! My heart starts racing. I’m about to scream. I grab his arm. He flinched and sat up quickly. I let out a sigh. He wasn’t dead! He was just... oh fuck his eyes were bloodshot and real glossy "Hey" he mumbled back. He leant back in his chair and his hair fell in front of his eyes. 'hey'? is that all he just to me?! No sorry I didn’t call?...no there’s my girl....What the fuck.

Mr. Edwards starts talking. Apparently we are doing some sorta project. The class is just two semesters and its over in January so this is like our final exam. He starts passing out a paper. We need to partner up and take 5 shots of a person in different ways, develop them and mount them on some poster board. He wants a 2D shot, a silhouette and a symmetry shot. Fuck.

I should’ve paid more attention in class. I don’t know what the hell hes talking about. Everyone is getting up and heading to the indoor courtyard to start taking pictures. I’m still trying to read the paper when Frankie calls out "I pick Elle!" I look up at him.

"No I don’t think so." I tell him. He smiles. Gerard doesn’t move.

"I’ll be partners with Frankie." a voice calls out. I look to the right. It was Chrissy, that blonde sophomore chick. She would always stare at Frankie and now she’s practically throwing herself at him. Were the last four in the classroom.

Mr.Edwards is standing by the door waiting.

"I already picked Elle." Frankie said crossing his arms. Shit that would put Chrissy with Gerard. Hell no.

"So what? Go with Chrissy" I say standing up. Shit did one picture say to use a flash? I look at my paper again.
Frankie stomps his foot like a two year old.

"Thats not fair Elle" he whines. I walk to the counter that had the flash bulbs in a bucket under it and take one out.

"Leave her alone." Gerard grumbled grabbing his camera from his bag

"What do you care?" Frankie tells him.

"What’s that suppose to mean?" Gerard growled back

Frankie sighed then he whispered "you can’t even look at her..." I dont think he thought I heard him. Gerard was about to say something when Mr. Edwards voice boomed out.

"Thats it! All of you out..now.."

"Come on Elle" Frankie said. I folded my arms.

"No no no." Mr. Edwards said shaking his head. "Frankie you and Elle are not partnering up."

"So you’re gonna let her be with him?" Frankie exclaimed.

"No actually you'll be with him." Mr. Edwards said pointing to Gerard. "And Miss Waller and Miss Peterson will pair up." I rolled my eyes. Great I was partnered with Chrissy. Well it was better then her being with Gerard. Just the thought of her standing so close to him in the dark room made me nauseous.

I smiled politely at her and followed her outside. Damn she was a cheerful little bitch. She started taking her photos of me. Stand this way..move into the sun...lets try an action shot..blah blah blah. Finally she was satisfied. She wanted a silhouette shot and asked me to wear a black shirt tomorrow. I nodded.

I wasn’t listening. I was too busy watching Gerard. He wouldn’t look at me. He was too busy pretending to take pictures of Frankie. Frankie wanted to be an action shot. But not just any action shot. He was hanging upside down like a bat from the tree. Then he fell on his head.Chrissy ran over to help him. Serves him right.

I turned to Gerard and smiled. He was looking at my lip. Fuck was it bleeding again? I put my hand up to it. No ..it was dry. A little swollen but dry. Gerard turned away from me.

"Get the hell up." He said kicking Frankie. Frankie got up and they went to the other side of the courtyard.

This totally sucked. What the hell is wrong with him? Its like he doesn’t even wanna talk to me. But I'm gonna fucking talk to him. We have study hall next period.. I smiled. yes. that’s perfect... I laugh evilly under my breath. Chrissys looking at me funny. Fuck I’m suppose to be taking pictures of her now. I turn back to her.

"okay say cheese!" I tell her faking enthusiasm..

I’ll just corner him in study hall...