FicWad

I went outside and lit a cigarette and waited for Bob by the gate. He appeared a few minutes later.

"Well?" I say to him and he shrugs.

"He said he'll uh meet us around 8." Bob says yawning a little as we started walking. "Hey what the fuck you wearing this for?" He says smirking at my coat.

I told him what happened last night with Lia and how I ran out half dressed. And then what Gerard and Ray said about her. He didn't say anything for a while, he just listened. As we approached my house you could see Lia still wasn't back yet.

"Aw Elle." He sighed a little as I opened the door. "They shouldn't have told you that." he said following me in.

"Is it not true?" I say a little confused.

"No its true but fuck.." he mumbled. "She should've told you herself." He says following me into my room. I kicked my shoes off and climbed on to my bed. Bob just stood frozen by the door.

"Oh, uh I better go." He says as I crawl under the covers.

"Why?" I ask him and he just looks at me. "No come sit." I tell him patting the bed. "I wanted to talk to you." I whine a little and he rolls his eyes and sits hesitantly.

"About what Elle?" He says as I fluff my pillow a little.

"About Lia." I sigh leaning back and shutting my eyes. "I mean I want to know what she said." I sigh.

Bob and I started talking. About Lia and Gerard and Paul and rrgh, even Jessica's name came up. Eventually Bob took off his shoes and leaned back a little stretching his legs out on the bed. He seemed to think that I should just ignore her. Jessica that is. That I was being foolish. Imagining things that weren't really there. He says he didn't see anything funny going on at Gerard's locker before. Maybe he was right... I mean I did kinda freak out with Mr. S too. I was gonna tell him about that too but I was just so tired... He'd probably tell me I was over reacting anyway... The last thing I remember was snuggling up next to him and telling him I was glad he was my husband as I fell asleep.

I slept for a few hours. It was the best sleep I had in a long time. Well since the last time I slept next to Gerard at least. I just sleep better when I'm lying next to someone else I guess... I hear some faint footsteps and wake up a little. I open my eyes and see Lia standing over the bed holding something.

"Aw, wakey wakey Mr. and Mrs. Bryar." I hear her laugh and the splash! She throws a pot of cold water on us. I scream and jump up.

"Lia what the fuck is wrong is with you!" I scream at her and she just kept laughing.

Bob was laughing too. Probably cause most of the water landed on me.

"See this-" She says pointing to Bob laying in my bed." This would've really pissed me off if we were still together Bob." She tells him and he shakes his head a little.

"We were just taking a nap Lia!" I say wiping the water from my face.

"Whatever." She shrugs smiling at us.

"Really Lia." Bob says getting up off the bed.

"Hey don't tell me." She laughs a little. I grab a shirt from my closet and look up at the clock.

"Lia is the clock broken?" I say looking up at it. Both of the hands were hanging straight down.

She looks over. "Um no why?" She says making a face.

"The hands are just hanging." I say reaching up and tapping on the glass.

"Uh that's cause its 6:30 Elle." Lia says like I'm stupid.

"No its not." I say banging on the glass harder.

"Yeah it is." Bob says yawning a little.

"Aw fuck!" I yell. "I told Marie I'd pick her up at 7!" I cry out grabbing my shoes.

"Well go then." Lia tells me. I make a face. "No really Elle. Bob and I will set everything up." She says and now he makes a face.

"Set up like what?" He asks her.

"Uh yeah like what Lia?" I chime in.

"I bought some food... and um...stuff..with um your bankcard." Lia says taking a step back towards the door.

"What kinda stuff?" I say stepping towards her.

"Just party stuff." She shrugs.

"I swear to God Lia." I say grabbing my keys and waving them at her. "If this turns out to be anything like your 'infamous' night after the day after St. Patrick's day party you threw two years ago I'm gonna kick your ass!" I tell her and Bob gives us a funny look.

"I told you it would grow back and it did!" She pouts.

"I so don't want to talk about this now Lia." I say getting a little pissed again. "Just Bob- please honey." I tell him.

"Keep an eye on her okay?" I say and he nods as I leave.

I grab Pauls jacket and drive over to Marie's as fast as I can. There was sooo much traffic. I was so sure I was gonna be late. I pull up and it's only a few minutes after seven. She made me come in and meet her parents. She gave them some bullshit story about it being Heathers birthday and we were having a sleepover or some crap. I just nodded along. I felt bad about lying to her mom. I don't know why. I mean I don't know her mother I just felt bad...
When we got back in the car I asked her if she'd mind if we stopped at Pauls so I could return his jacket and she said she didn't care. I think she was real nervous about tonight and Mikey and all. I wanted to tell her that Gerard said he liked her back, but he actually never said that. He did say not to get involved so I decided not to say anything...

We pull up in front of Pauls house and Marie gets out too. I don't know why I was just gonna toss the coat back in his face and leave but whatever. I ring the bell and Pauls little stepbrother answers.

"Aw hey Bobby." I say to him nicely. "Is your brother home?" I ask and he nods. "Can we come in please?" I ask and he says yeah. Fucking Paul. I bet he's supposed to be watching them. They're just little fucking kids. They would've let anyone in the house as long as they said please... rrgh.. I'm gonna kill him.

"My names Maire." Marie says to Bobby holding her hand out. He waved at her. "How old are you honey?" She says to him. He hold up four fingers that were covered in peanut butter. "Oh your four!" She says nodding at him. "And how old is your brother?" She says sweetly to him. Bobby thinks for a moment. He hold up five fingers. "Five?!" Marie says.

"I'm six." Billy protests from across the room.

"Oh I see." Marie says sweetly as Bobby sat back down on the floor in front of the TV next to his brother. They were eating peanut butter and jelly. One had the peanut butter and the other had the jelly.

"What are you guys eating?" I ask Billy.

"mmm dinner." He says with his eyes fixated on the cartoon channel. He took the peanut butter from Bobby and passed him the jelly.

Marie looked over and smiled at me "At least they're sharing." She says weakly.

"I'm so gonna kill him." I mumble as we go upstairs. Pauls door is shut and it looks like the light is out. I try the knob and its locked. Nice...

I tap on the door lightly. There's no answer. I knock a little harder. I can hear him inside, coming towards the door.

"What the fuck do you want now Bobby." He says as he swings the door open. He sees me and his face drops. "Elle!" He stutters. He was all flushed. His hair was messed up and his shirt was wrinkled.

"I wanted to return your coat." I say and that's when I saw her. Jessica... she was lying on his bed. She was flushed too. She still had her jeans on and her shoes but her shirt was hiked up a little. She sat up and tugged on it a little.
She stood up and grabbed her bag from the floor. "Um I gotta go." She tells Paul without taking her eyes from me.

"What?! You're leaving!" He says making a face at her.

"Um maybe we can study another time." She tells him as she walks past me out the door. "Uh bye Elle." She says as she leaves.

"What the fuck!" I yell at Paul. I know she can still hear me. There's no way she made it down the steps and outside yet.

"What's the matter Elle- you jealous?" Paul says smirking at me.
"You're supposed to be watching your brothers." I tell him. "Not up here fucking some whore!" I yell and I hoped Jessica could still hear me.

"Well what the fuck am I supposed to do with them?" he says shrugging.

"They're eating peanut butter from a jar for dinner for Christ sake Paul!" I tell him.

"You use to come and watch them and make them dinner." He says. "Well order them dinner cause you can't cook for shit." He laughs... fuck he was right. I use to come and watch them with him on Fridays sometimes just until his parents got home and then we'd go out... and now... fuck...those poor kids...alone with Paul...I look over at Marie.

She's frozen in the doorway. "Why don't you stay Elle?" Paul says to me softly. "Help me with them." He says giving me a small smile. "You know I can't do this babe." He says weakly taking my hand and rubbing it a little. "Just help me make them something to eat and get them to bed." He says stepping towards me more. He still had my hand in his. I look over at Marie she shrugged a little.. I was seriously considering helping him too. "And then." He leans over and whispers into my ear. "After they go to bed, me and you and Marie can come back up here and go to bed too." He says as a smile creeps across his face.

"Fuck you!" I tell him pulling my hand from his.

"Aw come on Elle. It'll be like old times!" He laughs. I swear Marie looked like she was gonna pass out.

"You're an asshole Paul." I tell him grabbing Marie's arm and pulling her towards the steps. "Come on Marie." I nod and she goes down them. Paul followed behind us.

"Elle come on." He whined. "Don't fucking be like this." He tells me as Marie and I head towards the door.

"Goodbye Paul." I say roughly opening the front door.

"Say goodbye to Elle Bobby." Paul calls out behind me.

"Paul my tummy hurts." I hear Bobby's little baby voice say behind me. I look over and he's rubbing his stomach with one hand. He's got the peanut butter jar in his other hand. He drops it on the floor and looks up at Paul. Mindy had gotten up and came over and was licking the peanut butter off his fingers.

"I don't know what to tell you kid." Paul says looking down at him.

"Don't do this!" I say walking back towards him. "Don't use these fucking kids like that Paul." I hiss at him.

"Elle. We cant just...." Marie says shutting the door and looking over at me. I know we can't just leave them like this...

Damn him...

I scoop Bobby up. "Come on I'll help you wash up before bed okay." I tell him and he nods. Marie picks up the peanut butter jar off the floor and goes into the kitchen with it.

"Will you read me a story before bed Elle?" Bobby says yawning a little. Fuck he should've been in bed like an hour ago...

"We'll see." I tell him. "Come on Billy." I say and he gets up and turns the TV off smearing jelly along the wall as he walked down the hall. I washed them up and they changed into their pajamas. I tucked them into their beds and was walking towards the door when Bobby calls my name.

"Elle you promised to tell us a story." Bobby said sniffling a little.

"Baby, I gotta go." I tell them shutting the light.

"Pleeeeaase." I hear him whine in the dark. I flip on the nightlight and sit at the edge of his bed. I can see Paul standing in the doorway. Marie is next to him waiting... Its fucking 8:30 now...

"Okay Bobby." I sigh. "There once was a beautiful princess..."

"Named Elle." He interrupts.

"Okay there once was a beautiful princess named Elle... And she lived in kingdom far far away." I tell him and he shuts his eyes. "And one day an evil ogre came."

"Named Paul." Bobby says.

"What?" I laugh.

"He was named Paul and he was stinky and mean." Bobby tells me opening his eyes.

"Okay Bobby close your eyes." I tell him trying not to smile.

"So where were we.. oh yeah and an evil stinky ogre named Paul came and kidnapped the beautiful princess." I say looking up at Pauls silhouette in the doorway. "he locked her away in a tower for almost two years." I say stroking Bobby's hair from his face.

"And did she escape?" Bobby mumbles as he was drifting off to sleep.

"Oh yes Bobby." I tell him. "One day her prince came and he saved her from the tower and they lived happily ever after."

"Who?" Bobby mumbles.

"Who what honey?" I ask.

"who saaavved her?" He whined.

"Well it was prince Gerard of course." I say getting up. "He was her true love you know." I say shutting the night-light. I hear Marie giggle softly in the doorway. "Goodnight now Bobby" I say leaning over and kissing his forehead lightly.

"Bitch." Paul says under his breath as I walk by him.

"Oh you didn't like the story?" I say shutting Bobby's door and smirking at Paul. Marie was trying not to laugh.

"Aw fuck you Elle." He says and I shrug and head back down the stairs. Its not even worth trying to come up with a come back anymore...

"lets go Marie." I say as I open the door.

She smiles at me. Yeah-you don't want to keep your prince waiting!..."