FicWad

By the time we got home it was almost eight o'clock. Bob said he was going to go with Gerard to the rave tonight. He said they'd meet us at the diner at ten.. Us... meaning me and Lia... Argh! Lia! Just the sound of her name was driving me nuts. I took a quick shower and got dressed fast. I ran up the block in the dark as quickly as I could. My hair was still kind of wet. It was so cold out it kinda froze into like dreadlocks! I could see Lia's light on in her room upstairs. I knocked on the door softly. I didn't know if her mom or even Grandma Rose were up... or if they were even home. A few second later the door opened, it was Lia. She looked surprised to see me.

"Aren't we meeting at the diner?" she asked softly.

"I wanted to talk to you first." I said loudly.

"Shhh, Grandma Rose is sleeping" she whispered. "Come on up." she said holding the door open. I went in and followed her upstairs into her room. As she shut her door she turned to me and said "Oooh nice shirt Elle!"

"Yeah I got it in the city a little while ago." I said plainly. She nodded approvingly. I looked around her room. She had stuff scattered all over the floor. Typical Lia. The was something taped to her mirror. I couldn't quite make out what it was. But it looked familiar... I walked towards it. Lia was always taping shit to her walls and her mirrors and such. I think she only did it cause it pissed her mom off. As I got closer to her vanity set I almost collapsed looking at it.

I ran my fingers along the page. It was a page from Gerard's notebook. It wasn't here before... I've never seen this picture before. It was of Lia... A smokey profile of her... no date.... no signature... but it was Gerard's... I just knew it...

"Isn't it a good picture?" Lia's voice rang out. My jaw just dropped. I was speechless. She had her back to me as she went through her drawers. "Gerard made it for me." She said turning and facing me.

"What?" I gasped.

"You know you should ask him to make you a picture Elle!" She exclaimed..."You know he's really good!" She laughed. I almost jumped up and choked the life out her. But I remembered Grandma Rose asleep in the next room. I just bit down on my lip... hard...

"What's wrong Ellie?" She said tilting her head at me innocently.

"I told you... I was with Bob today right?" I said roughly.

Her face dropped. "Bob?" She said. I nodded. "You uh weren't uh 'with' Bob were you?" She asked worriedly. What the fuck Lia... Like I'm fucking Bob now! I shook my head no.

"No I went to the city with him Lia." I said standing up. "And uh we had a really interesting conversation." I said crossing my arms. Lia just looked at me. "Do you want to guess what we talked about?" I said.

Lia looked nervous. Good. She should be....

"Ok Elle I can explain." She said sitting down on her bed.

"No Lia... you cant!" I said waving my arms in the air. "How could you do that?" I hissed at her.

"You don't understand!" she said throwing herself back onto her pillows. I wanted to just scream at her. But I didn't. I just looked at her and shook my head in disgust. I don't want to understand... I don't want to know... There was nothing she could've said that would've made it okay...

"There's something seriously wrong with you!" I told her. "I thought we were friends!" I said picking up my bag to leave.

"We are Elle..." She started to sob. "I just... you have to believe me... this is not like all those times before... I really like him..." She cried. I couldn't stand to hear anymore...Then as I reached out for the doorknob she said the most unbelievable thing...

I dropped my hand and froze in disbelief when she said it...

"I cant believe Bob told you that we're sleeping together." She sobbed. Whoa! They're sleeping together!!!

"My Gerard!" I yelled out. I didn't care if Grandma Rose woke up anymore...

"Wait Gerard told you?" she said outraged. "It wasn't Bob?" She said shaking her head in confusion."Damn him he fucking promised me... I knew once you guys got together he was gonna fucking tell you..." she said jumping up. What the fuck is she talking about?

"Lia are you sleeping with Gerard?" I demanded

She shook her head no... "No Elle... I've been sleeping with Bob..." she said softly...

BOB AND LIA?? Lia's been cheating on Ray with Bob?!? And Gerard knows! Oh god I think my heads gonna explode....

"What do you mean you've been sleeping with Bob?" I asked totally dumbfounded. Lia looked as confused as I was.

"You just said Gerard told you." Lia asked more like a question then a statement.

"No" I said. "No he didn't." I went and sat down on the bed.

"He didn't tell you?" She asked sitting down next to me. I shook my head no. "You didn't know?" She said softly. I shook my head harder. Bob and Lia? How? Why? "Then what the fuck where you talking about 'Bob told me something'." She mocked me and laughed a little. I didn't. I remembered what Bob told me and I was suddenly very angry again.

"He said you told Gerard I was just fucking around with him." I said forcefully. Lia rolled her eyes at me and smiled.

"That's not true!" she smirked.

"Lia come on!" I groaned at her. What the fuck? "How are you gonna sit here and tell me he's lying?" I yelled.

"No" she insisted. "If that's what he said then yeah he's fucking lying." She said getting up. I just stared at her as she walked across the room. She laughed a little. "I told BOB that you were just fucking messing around.- not Gerard." She corrected me. Like that was any fucking better! She went on. "I told Gerard that you were... " She paused and looked at me. "Well I just told him how you are." She said shrugging.

"What's that suppose to mean!" I yelled at her. She went over and turned her radio up a little to drown out our voices.

"Come on Elle." She said opening her drawers again. She started looking through them for something to change into." You were never really gonna leave Paul." She said plainly.

"What?" I gasped at her." You never even liked Paul!" I yelled at her. "What does he have to do with this!"

"Exactly." She said as I shook my head in disgust. I pulled out a cigarette and lit it up as she talked." Paul was an asshole Elle." She said while changing her shirt." But the more I said it the more you fucking defended him." She laughed. "Don't you remember all the times you sat right here being like 'Stop it Lia- I really love him'." She laughed again. I just looked at her. What the fuck is wrong with her? Paul? She wants to bring my relationship with Paul into this now?

"So what." I said.

"So that's what I told him." She said brushing her hair. " I told Gerard that uh ... you weren't gonna leave him." She said sighing.

"You had no right to do that." I said getting up.

"Oh get over it Elle." She moaned. "God everything is always about you." She said inspecting herself in the mirror. I just gave her a nasty look. "Aw, come on Elle." She sighed. "You were never gonna leave Paul!" She said loudly.

"You didn't know that!" I yelled back. "And you never even told me that he asked about me." I said as Lia twisted her hair up and put a clip in it.

"Oh I did to." She said with her back to me.

"When?" I yelled.

"Shhh." She hissed turning the radio up some more. "Jesus Christ Elle!" She hissed. "I fucking asked you like a hundred times to ditch Paul and you always refused."

I just looked at her. "What does that have to do with Gerard?" I asked. "I mean you never said Oh Elle ditch Paul and get with Gerard did you?" I yelled at her. She put on her coat and picked up her bag.

"You just don't get it." She said looking down at me. Her voice was softer now. She sat down next to me on the bed and wrapped her arm around me. "Elle." She said softly. "Gerard really liked you.." I nodded. "No I mean really liked you... the way he'd go on about you... he really liked you" She said again. "and you..."She paused. I looked at her. She wanted to say something.

"I what Lia." I said softly.

"You don't deserve him." She said bluntly. I jumped up off the bed in anger.

"What?" I yelled.

"I'm sorry Elle, but its true." She said getting up. How dare she?! "I told him that too." She said shutting off her radio. "You just..." she shook her head. "if you knew how much he really wanted to be with you- you would've done the same thing to him that you do to everyone else." She said folding her arms.

"What's that Lia?" I demanded.

Lia looked over at the clock. It was almost 10. "Fine Elle." She said putting her bag down. "You want me to spell it out for you." She snickered. "You're a bitch... a cold hearted bitch." She said looking right into my eyes. "We both know you knew Gerard liked you and you what go and fucking kiss Frankie!" she said seriously. I shook my head no. That’s now how it happened and she knows it. “You kiss Frankie and for what?? Cause you can, that’s what you do- Come on Elle. Tell the truth for once!" she laughed.

"Me?" I gasped. "tell the truth?!" I yelled. That was so funny coming from Lia. Her whole relationship with Ray was one big lie...

"That's just how you are Elle." She sighed. "You love guys falling all over you. Like you don’t have enough. You use your tits and your pretty little face to get guys and then once you have them wrapped around your finger you just take what you want and then play around with them until they snap." She said frowning. I didn't know what to say... “And then you come crying to me. Oh poor poor Elle. How did this happen?” She snickered. "That's what you would've done to Gerard...and he deserves better." She sighed. I just looked at her. Some of what she said was true... I felt sick. I suddenly remembered all the times she was talking about....I think she might be right...I had to get out of here. I needed a fix... bad... I reached for the door. "where are you going?" She called out. "Aren't you coming with us?"

"Tell Gerard I'll just meet you guys there." I said walking out with out looking back.

"Elle wait." She called out after me. I think I might have heard her say she was sorry... I couldn't hear her that well anymore... I ran down the stairs and out into the darkness of the street... I was running down the block holding back my tears. It was like Lia slapped me in the face and I wasn’t ready to wake up yet… It was still so cold outside and I didn't have my coat on... Fuck... I left it at Lia's... Well, I'm not going back there, not now at least. Maybe not ever... I just kept running choking on my tears...

As I stepped into the street I heard a car screech on its breaks...Fuck. I gasped as I looked over at it. It was stopped a few feet away from me. It almost hit me. I couldn’t decide if I was lucky or unlucky that it didn’t… I walked towards the drivers side window and gasped when I saw who it was...

"What are you doing here?" I asked the driver…

"You okay darling?" The voice boomed out from the car. It was Brutus. The guy from the liquor store. He didn’t answer my question so I repeated it.

"What are you doing here?" I repeated.

"I was uh heading home, you know after I closed up the shop." He said checking his watch. "You've been crying darling?" He asked me reaching his hand towards my face. I took a step back. It was just so surreal. Seeing Brutus out on the street. My street no less... I guess it made sense... The liquor store closes at 10 and it was only a few blocks away. It was almost a quarter after now. "You okay?" He asked me interrupting my thoughts. I looked over my shoulder. I could make out a girls figure down the road in the dark near Lia's house... It was Lia. It had to be. She seemed to be holding my coat and waved at me to come back.

"Uh yeah." I said to Brutus. He looked back at the figure in the road too.

"You and your girlfriend got in a fight?" He smiled a little as he said it.

"Something like that." I said softly.

"Come on darling." he said opening his passenger door. "I'll uh bring you home." He offered. Obviously he didn't know that I only lived a few houses away. I could see Lia getting into her car now. Her headlights turned on. I so did not want to talk to her anymore...

"Okay thanks." I said and I jumped into Brutus truck. He smiled at me as we pulled away.

"So where are ya headed?" He asked looking me over. I was wearing a pair of skin tight jeans and big black high heeled boots that came up to my knees. And that god damn blue halter top I bought earlier. I didn't have a coat on and it was like 30 degrees out. I was so fucking cold I was shaking a little. I pulled my purse on to my lap. Brutus turned up the heat a little.

"Thanks" I said leaning in towards the vents slightly.

"So which way darling?" He asked turning on to the highway. I suddenly felt very uncomfortable. I mean here I am in a pick up truck with some guy I don't even know... Stop it Elle... you're just being paranoid... its Brutus... you know him...

"Uhhh" I said looking out the window.."I don't really know where I'm going." I said turning back to him.

He laughed a little." All dressed up and no place to go." He said winking at me.

I laughed back. "No actually we were uh going to a rave tonight but ..." my voice trailed off... But what? How could I go anywhere with Lia... Bob was gonna be there too... I couldn't even imagine being around them... knowing what they were doing to Ray... And Gerard? how could he just stand by and watch that?... I sighed. Brutus made a few turns.

I opened my purse and saw a few bags of coke. What the fuck? Oh shit. This isn't even my purse... Its Lia's! I grabbed her bag by mistake... This must be all the shit was gonna sell tonight. I laughed to myself...She wasn’t coming after me to return my coat. No. She just wanted her purse…

We pulled up into an apartment complex near the library... "You know what I'm just gonna go walk for a while" I said as Brutus parked in a spot near a dark building. "you know- clear my head." I told him as I looked around.

Pauls moms house is only few blocks from here. I've been here so many times before. There's a gazebo behind the library. I figured no one would be there at this time of night and I could cut a few lines there in silence now... thanks to Lia's purse that is...

"Naw baby, come on in and hang out a while." Brutus smiled at me. I shook my head no. "At least come in and Ill get you a coat then darling." he said. I shrugged. Hell- I was cold- and I couldn't sit outside on the gazebo like this...I hesitantly followed him up the dark stairs.

As he held the door open for me a strange feeling came over me... this wasn't right...I don't know what it was... but something was wrong... I bit my lip slightly as I walked through the door... I could feel his eyes on me...it was creeping me out...then...

I heard him lock the door behind me...