FicWad

‘Okay baby, I’ll see you tonight? Yeah I thought we could- oh... What, again?! But you’re always round there, can’t you just- Yeah but- Oh fine, whatever, you know what, just forget it.’ The man sighed, snapping his black cell shut and shoving it in his jacket pocket. Great. Another night he’d planned with her, to hopefully rekindle something out of their marriage, and she’s busy. Again. And don’t we all know who with.
He looked down at the empty cup of coffee sitting on the table and closed his eyes for a moment, pushing the shiny gold band up and down his ring finger. He opened his eyes at the quiet clatter of it rolling off his finger and onto the cold metal table, taunting him as it rested near the cup. He still questioned himself why he even wore it, she didn’t, and whenever he just slipped it off, he felt a little burst of freedom breaking out and fluttering away with him for a moment. But then he put it back on, and he was back in the cage. Back in the cruel cycle he’d been living in for the past six years.
It was almost a routine. It.. It was his routine. He’d go to work, chat with his colleagues, wistfully gaze across the canteen at th-
Okay aside from that, he’d continue his day until he wound up here, sat in Starbucks at his usual table by the window, black Americano in hand, wedding ring on the table. This was the only time he could really get away from it all. At work, there were mutual friends of his and hers, always harping on about their lives, and when they were ‘all going to catch up sometime, we haven’t seen Linds in ages!’ He knew they hadn’t. And he knew why.
Yeah, he knew what was going on. He wasn’t a stupid man. So... Why did he push it aside? Why does he just block it out of his mind, and continue this mundane routine, convincing himself every day that he is in love, and not just living a lie? He didn’t know. He came to Starbucks every day to try and figure that out.
He’d been coming here for four and a half years.
‘Gerard?’ The name brought him out of his train of thought, and he looked up, smiling at the man walking over to him to sit down. His name’s Brian, but everyone at work calls him Syn, an old name from his high school that just sort of stuck, apparently. ‘You’re not busy are you?’ He asked, sitting down at the confirming shake of Gerard’s head. He was never really busy any more, any new activity was considered a change in his routine, and change was the last thing he needed. Brian sat opposite, removing his black sunglasses and smiling at him round the cup as he sipped it. On his head, he wore a black fedora, as always, his black straight hair hanging below. Gerard looked at him, making polite conversation about how he was, what was new at work... The kind of stuff they normally talked about whilst Gerard coolly avoided his personal life. Brian and him were friends, not a mutual like Zacky or Frank, he didn’t even know Lindsay, and Gerard wanted to keep it that way. Whilst they talked, Brian was racking his brains of how to bring it up. He could see Gerard was not okay, he’d always been a quiet man but for a while now he’d just seemed... different. ‘Gee...’ he sighed softly, resting a hand gently on Gerard’s, stopping him as he spoke. ‘Where’s your ring?’ He asked, looking at his bare finger. The other man looked down and bit his lip, looking back up at him,
‘Oh I er... it um... it’s here,’ He said, motioning to the ring on the table, ‘I er.. um..’ He couldn’t think of anything convincing to say and just rambled about how he didn’t want to drop it in his coffee, going into how he did that once and couldn’t get it out until he’d drunk the whole cup, how he nearly swallowed it.
Brian nodded, completely unconvinced. He knew something had been troubling his friend for a long time, and it wasn’t until he saw him today without his ring on that the pieces fitted together. He never mentioned his wife to him anymore, in fact he barely spoke about her to anyone. He always used to be on top of things, talking how he and Lindsay were such a team, now he’s just above average at work, and that’s with Frank’s help. All this time he thought it’d all just blow over, but now he saw what was really going on, and for the first time, was at a complete loss of what to do.
As Gerard tried to convince him that this coffee theory was real, Brian still sat there, picking holes in it, questioning him and testing him as if he were on trial almost. But he needed to get it out of him. The conformation from Gerard was what he wanted.
‘But Gerard how does that even work? You don’t even drink with that hand.’
‘Just look would you, it does work okay? See?’ He asked, lifting up his cup, ring on, and ‘accidently’ dropping the ring in there. ‘I don’t want that to happen again.’
‘Oh come on Gerard as if you’re ever gonna do that, look at what you did there!’
‘Syn it’s the truth okay?! People make mistakes, just because your life’s so bloody perfect!’ He snapped, yanking the ring off his finger and slamming it on the table. Brian took a short breath in and rested a hand back on his, looking apologetically at him.
‘Gee... Gerard I’m sorry I didn’t mean t-’ But the sound of Gerard’s phone ringing in his pocket silenced him, and Gerard got up, shaking his head to imply it forgotten. He opened his phone and, brushing a hand over Brian’s shoulder, left Starbucks, the ring still shining on the table as he walked out into the pouring rain. It was her again, asking for something else no doubt. As he walked down the road, he spoke to her, already pissed off from having Brian just remind him of his problems. But it’s okay, he didn’t know... He should have been more careful...
‘Why?! Gerard, why can’t you do this one little thing for me! Fuck, you never do anything, can’t you at least try and make an effort to us?!’ She squealed in her trashy spoilt brat tone. At those words, Gerard sighed, shaking his head. It was always the same. She was just about to cue his giving up, when he snapped again, and started to fight back.
‘You want me to make an effort?! When all I’ve done is wait on you hand and bloody foot whilst you prance around like some trollop?!’ He snapped, shouting down the phone, his other fist clenched with white knuckles. As they argued, Gerard kept walking, where he was going he wasn’t really sure, and soon found himself wandering down a road he’d never heard of. ‘You know what you’ve done! What you’re probably doing now!’ He shouted, shaking his head as he felt footsteps behind him. Oh God, they must’ve heard everything... He sighed, and lowered his voice a little, continuing to walk down the pavement. As he looked around, Gerard felt the cool rain beating down on his shoulders and in his hair, only making the scene more miserable. He counted three houses in the road, and raised an eyebrow, barely listening to the abuse flying down the other line. ‘Look, I don’t need your shit okay? I’ve got enough going on.’ He said, stopping by a lamppost and hearing the footsteps stopping behind him.
‘You’ve got a lot on?! Scuse me, you’re not the one who’s always working late, who does optional over time to actually bring some money in here!’ She balled, and Gerard turned round, about to tell her that she only worked optional over time to get some ass from her boss before a hard, wooden baseball bat collided with his head. He was totally shocked, and dropped to the floor, laying cold out on the pavement whilst the rain lapped over his pale skin, his eyelids hammering shut. His arm lay out to one side, weakly holding the screaming phone as ‘Gerard?! GERARD are you even LISTENING?!’ screeched out of the tiny speaker. He felt another beat to his head, and at that, he dropped the cell, a small trail of blood escaping from the back of his head and down his neck as he was hauled into the arms of another figure, carrying him swiftly away out of sight.