FicWad

The next morning I was dreading Bobby picking us up… Mostly cause I had talked to him already. I mean when we got up and Gerard got in the shower I had quickly called him to tell him we were up and that he could pick us up in maybe an hour or so. And I told him how he was wrong about Gerard selling that shit to Oliver and he really didn’t say anything just that we’d 'talk' later... I hate that phrase...fucking story of my life man…

And as we waited for him to come pick us up, I told Gerard how I had told Bob that he was wrong and I was met with the same response from him. I just had this awful feeling. Like today was only gonna go one of two ways…

Either they’d do that whole nod and shrug thing that guys seem to do which makes everything instantly better, which is what I was hoping for. Or they do a nod and shrug thing to just pacify me when they were secretly still at odds. And I was so worried that I wasn’t gonna be able to tell which was which…

Just as I had predicted Bob had pulled up and Gerard flicked his cigarette to the ground as we walked over to him. And they did that whole nod-shrug-scoff-look at the floor cause I'm too manly to say how I feel routine and I had no clue if either one of them were sincere.

But regardless we had gotten into Bobs car and we we're heading down to the shore. And as Bob drove he and Gerard were discussing their ‘plan’. It was the most ridiculous thing in the world if you ask me but neither one of them did so I kept my mouth shut…

It wasn’t until we were halfway there that I just had to interrupt. I mean they were talking about blending into the crowd or what not and I just had to laugh.

“It’s the middle of winter!” I sorta cried out. “The beach is gonna be deserted and the boardwalk is gonna be deserted. I don't know what the fuck you two are talking about!” I tell them both as I shifted in my seat.

“Aw shit she's right.” Gerard says and I sorta scoffed under my breath a little. Of course I was right. Regardless of popular opinion I wasn’t stupid…

“Is the aquarium gonna be open?” Bob asks and I nodded as I leant forward eagerly.

“Oh yeah they're open all year.” I tell him and he nodded.

“Then I’ll keep her over there.” He says to Gerard and I scrunched my face a little. He wasn’t talking about me was he? “May not be crowded but at least they’ll be people around.” He says and Gerard nodded. Holy shit! They were talking about me.

“Wait you're not coming in Gerard?” I asked him and he wouldn’t look at me when he answered. I knew why too. Cause I was on the verge of tears and he knew if he looked at me he wouldn’t be able to tell me no.

“You go with Bob, I'm gonna hang back.” He says and I shook my head no.

“I don't think that’s a good idea.” I tell him and he sighed a little.

“Look Elle, We don't even know if he's gonna show.” He says shrugging slightly like that was suppose to make me feel better.

“I still don't like it.” I tell him and he didn’t say anything but I knew what he was thinking. He didn’t really care if I didn’t like it. He and Bob had already decided on the plan and even if I argued back they’d still out vote me when it came down to it…

“Look just don't worry about it Elle.” He finally says and I took a deep breath as I looked at him.

“So wait, I don't get it. I'm suppose to talk to this guy while you all what? watch?” I tell him and he spun around in his seat quickly to face me.

“You are not gonna talk to him.” He says firmly and I frowned. “You are not gonna get with in a foot of him Elle, you understand me.” He says and I shifted my eyes from him. “You just stay with Bob okay.” He says and I shrugged. “Elle, you promise me you stay with Bob.” He says and I nodded weakly.

I mean it was kinda good in a way. I guess they really did make amends before, well at least it seemed like Gerard did, that he was trusting me to Bob. But still… I didn’t like the thought of him being alone; of me not being able to see him and it was like he was reading my mind cause he sighed once more.

“Look Elle, there’s a big window in the front right?” He says and I kinda shrugged. “Looks out in to the parking lot right?” He insists so I nodded in agreement. “You wait by the window with Bob and I'm gonna wait here. He don't know Bobs car so when he comes I’ll-“ He starts to say and drops off mid-sentence.

“You’ll what Gerard?” I say trying not to get hysterical… Fuck we were almost there and I was just panicking. He didn’t have a plan! This was just turning into one big mess… “If you see him you’ll what?” I ask raising my voice up slightly.

“I’ll take down his plate.” He says with a straight face too no less and I just smiled at the ridiculousness of what he just said. I mean he must really think I'm stupid.

“take down his plate?” I muttered back to him. “bull.” I added loud enough for him to hear and he sorta smiled to himself but didn’t say anything…

All I could think of was how upset he was with everything that was going on. I mean I was only teasing him before about being a killer but I don't really know… Sometimes people are capable of things that you could never imagine, like Will…

But Will, Will was just a boy. Sinatra was a man… A pretty large man to be exact. I found myself wondering if any of this was fucking worth it? I wanted answers but at what cost? I guess Gerard could see the worry on my face as we pulled into the lot cause once more he tried to pacify me.

“Elle you’ll be able to see me.” He says nodding towards the window. “Whatever happens you’ll be able to see okay?” He says as we got out, Bob tossing him the keys…

I was so worried that Gerard was gonna end up confronting him and getting hurt that I wanted to tell them just forget it, lets go. But I didn’t... I looked over at the window and then over at the boardwalk. There was a really a good view of it. Gerard was right; I’d be able to see everything like this. But that just made me feel worse not better…

Cause that meant I’d have a front row seat for when he kills him…

But the plan was set. Although I wouldn’t quite call it a plan… A plan implies that you have an idea of what’s supposed to happen. That you have a course of action set up, and ready to go and we had neither. Not to mention Bobby parked in the fire lane. I mean what the fuck. The lot was practically empty. I guess he wanted to keep the car as close as possible incase something went wrong and we had to make a quick getaway.

“Guys this isn’t gonna work.” I tried to tell them as we got out but they didn’t want to hear it…

“Elle, just go wait inside- please.” Gerard tells me and I could tell his patience was wearing thin but I didn’t care. I was having second thoughts about the whole thing...

It just didn’t feel right, sorta like something was off… I had this awful feeling that if I went inside and left Gerard alone that I was never gonna see him again –and I couldn’t… I couldn’t make myself take a step away from him…

“No.” I tell him and he sorta frowned as he glanced around the lot. He obviously was not too happy that we were just standing in the middle of the lot in plain sight. “No, I don't wanna go in anymore- let’s just go home, this was a bad idea.” I sorta stammered and he sighed a little.

“Yeah but we’re already here.” Bob points out and I shrugged like I didn’t care. And I didn’t. I mean I made up my mind. We were leaving. I don't even know why the fuck we came anyway. Especially cause the note said that he would trade me some 'secret' information for what ever was in the box and I didn’t have the box! Not even a similar looking box that I could bullshit him with.

Besides, I didn’t even know what was in the box that he would’ve wanted. Certainly not Bow-Bow, and certainly not a list of numbers like Ray suspected. There had to have been a key. A real metal key in it too and if there was, Will had it now. it.

“So you're not gonna show me the penguins?” Bob tells me and I frowned. I can’t believe he played that card. I mean he knew how badly I wanted to see them! I turned to Gerard and he sorta shrugged.

“Go head in baby.” He nudges me and I narrowed my eyes and tried to focus.

‘No… No penguins Elle…Its not worth it….’ I told myself silently or maybe it wasn’t silent cause Gerard groaned a little at me.

“Are you trying to make me upset?” He says and my jaw dropped a little. I mean I wasn’t! But I could see why it looked that way… I did throw a whole big fit to come. I forced him to somewhat apologize to Bob. Then I dragged both their asses out here, and now that we’re here I'm like ‘lets go?!’ cause I have a sudden mood swing? Shit, I needed a better argument. And fast…

“He's not even gonna know we’re inside.” I exclaim suddenly and Gerard frowned. “I mean he never said ‘meet me in the aquarium.’ Just ‘at Point Pleasant’, which means like the boardwalk.” I point out and Gerard and Bob exchanged looks. Almost like once more they were amazed at my intellect…

Bob muttered something like ‘should we look?’ and I don't know what Gerard said back but he started walking towards the side of the building. I mean the building was on the beach. Well not on the beach but it overlooked the beach.


There was a railing overlooking the boardwalk and some steps heading down to it. No sooner then we approached the railing did I spot him. It was Frank Sinatra himself... I mean there was nobody else on the boardwalk but him. He was quite a ways down from us. I guess he must’ve parked on the next block or something cause theres a big parking lot over there.

"So thats him?" Bob says but it wasnt really a question. It was more like he was sorta sizing him up from a distance. He kinda scoffed a little like he didnt think he was that scary and I didnt really blame him. He didnt look so scary leaning against the railing smoking what looked like a cigar.

"Well he looked a lot scarier in the dark." I tell him and suddenly Sinatra looked over at us... I mean he didnt hear me. He was to far away for that, I guess he was just looking around. But no sooner then he looked up a siren rung out. The red lights reflecting behind us, a cop car had pulled up.

Its freaking the dead season and a cops patrolling Jenkinsons parking lot. What the hell. I guess he saw Bobs car in the fire lane and decided to hassle us about it.

Sinatra seemed to freak at the sight of the cops. Just like Slim did that day. He didn’t take off running or anything. Just stepped back slowly like he was leaving casually but not so casually.

“Fuck!” Gerard cried out and he turned to run back to Bob’s car but he didn’t get very far. The cop was getting out of his car now. Gerard mumbled something apologetically to him about wait give him a second and he was moving it just dropping us off. The cop must’ve been having a good day cause usually that wouldn’t cut it. I mean normally they would detain us ask us hundreds of pointless questions. Maybe even give him a ticket but noooo not today. Today they were gonna let him slide.

“Gerard no wait. Where the hell are you going?!” I yelled at him as he went to get into Bobs car. I mean he still had Bob’s keys, he was actually starting the engine now.

“I'm gonna follow him!” He tells me like it was oh so obvious and it was. I mean that’s why I stopped him.

“Then I'm coming too.” I declared and he shook his head no. I went to go to get in and Bob grabbed me and pulled me back against him.

“Elle no.” Bob tells me and I instinctively began to struggle against him. I must’ve cried out like ‘ow’ or ‘ah’ or I don't know what, but I made somekinda sound and I guess Gerard didn’t like it cause he jumped back out and pulled me right out of Bobs arms.

“Don't fucking touch her.” He tells him and it was just silent for a second. It was weird, there was just so much tension and I didn’t know where it came from. I mean they were kinda staring at each other and I don't know. The cop once more blared his siren as a warning, like get the fuck moving already and Gerard turned his eyes back to me fiercely.

“Stay. Here.” He says and his tone left no room for argument… “I'm just gonna see where he goes.” He tells me and I sighed.

“He's probably long gone.” I tell him weakly, but I knew it wasn’t true…there was only one main road that led out of here and Gerard could catch up to him if he tried… “Just promise me you wont get out of the car.” I tell him and he kissed my lips lightly.

“Promise.” He says and with that he hopped in Bob’s car and sped off…

I watched him until he made a turn and then he was gone and I was left with this hollow feeling inside. It wasn’t quite as bad as that day in the woods with Frankie but still…

“He’ll be okay.” Bob says softly as he came up behind me, placing his hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah.” I sorta sighed a little in agreement but I don't think that Bob heard me.

“He can take of himself Elle… and he knows I keep a bat under the seat if he needs it.” He adds and I spun around and looked at him a little shocked.

I mean first cause I always thought Bobby was kidding about having a bat, but apparently he wasn’t. And secondly cause he was implying that Gerard would use it! Like that he was gonna get out.

I mean a bat wasn’t a weapon that you could use while in a car! Like when people say ‘drive-bys’ they mean that someone shot a gun from a car, but you couldn’t do a ‘bat-by’!

Well, I guess you could toss it from the window as you drove by, but what the hell? I mean what are the chances its actually gonna hurt some one? Although- I guess it would hurt to be hit by a bat that someone flung out the window as they drove by, but still...

It just didn’t seem logical…And I don't think that that's what Bob meant when he said it, at least I don't think he did... I shook my head a little, trying to clear the ridiculous thoughts that were now building up in it, as I looked up at Bob.

“No Gerard said he wouldn’t get out.” I tell him and he just looked at me like I was stupid if I believed that. “Didn't you hear him -he promised.” I say a little insistently.

“Yeah well, don't get pissed cause I'm saying this Elle.” Bob tells me and I frowned. I hated when people said that. I mean if you have to put a warning like that out there before you speak then it’s got to be bad.

“Saying what Bob?” I asked cautiously…

“It just uh, after all the lies he told, his word shouldn’t mean shit to you anymore…”