FicWad

Soon after Olivia went back up to bed, Donna helped Gerard sort out Mikey's old room. They quickly put some new bed clothes on the bed and the Donna said good night to her son. Gerard shucked his jeans and pulled off his t-shirt. He looked at himself in the full length mirror, wishing he could tear the images out of his head. All the images, not just the ones of this ugly body but of Audrey. She was crying all the way through the evening, explaining over and over that it was just something she had to do. She was never going to grow as a person in the relationship, she had to move on. Gerard knew it was true. He had to let her. Gerard grabbed his hair, begging for the courage to pull it out. He wanted to feel something, pain, anger, happines but no emotion came to him. He felt numb. Except when he thought of Olivia. He was just suspicious of her. He felt like she had a hidden agenda. Gerard growled under his breath and climbed into Mikey's old lumpy bed. He tossed and turned before, sleep came to him just as the sun was coming up, over the trees in the back yard.

Olivia woke up after she heard Donna leave to do some early grocery shopping. Olivia groaned from lack of sleep and rolled out of bed. She grabbed her toiletries bag and scurried to the bathroom to take a shower. She showered quickly, she didn't want to take too long in case Gerard needed to use the bathroom. She wrapped a towel sercurely around her body and scurried back to her room. She dressed quickly in some plain jeans and a powder blue t-shirt. She pulled on some fluffly socks and then picked up some bits of dirty laundry from the floor. Took the clothes downstairs to the laundry room but as she put the clothes in the washer, she realised she didn't have enough to start a wash, so she took the laundry basket and went upstairs to empty Donna's laundry basket. As she walked past the closed bedroom door, where Gerard was sleeping she wondered if she should pick up his laundry as well. He was still sleeping, so she wouldn't want to disturb him but she didn't see him arrive with any bags so he was bound to need what clothes he had with him to be clean. She knocked on the door but got no answer. She opened the door a crack and saw him sound asleep, sprawled out on the bed. The duvet was only covering his bottom half, so his chest was showing. Olivia studied his sleeping face, and found that he looked a bit like an angel when he slept.

She smiled and picked up the old jeans that had been tossed on the floor. Just as she bent down to pick up his t-shirt, she found herself almost eye living with his very perked up nipples. It was quite chilly in the room and the duvet was covering him completely but those excuses weren't enough to get her out feeling the way she felt in her downstairs region. Gerard groaned and opened his eyes. He saw Olivia staring at him, while holding his t-shirt in one had and screamed. He pulled the duvet up to his neck, his heart was racing.

"What are you doing in here?!" He demanded.

"Sorry...I just...uh...thought I would do some laundry." Olivia said, showing him the laundry basket.

"Are those my mother's underwear?" Gerard asked, seeing almost the entire contents of the basket.

"Sorry...." Olivia replied. "I'm just helping out. "I'll leave."

"Yes, please do!" Gerard half yelled at her. Olivia, still holding his t-shirt in one hand and the basket in the other. She closed the door and tried not to giggle. Gerard was very sexy man when he was naked. She continued doing the laundry, almost absently. Her head filled with the images of Gerard's body and it was very difficult to concentrate on anything else.

The guy just broke up with his girlfriend last night, give him a break. She told herself. He hates you anyway, you stole his bedroom. She laughed to herself as she left the laundry room. While she waited for the washer to clean the full load of laundry, she went into the kitchen and found a full pot of coffee, warming on the coffee maker. She poured herself a mug but hesitated to drink it. Instead she found a breakfast tray and set out a bowl of cereal, toast, the mug of coffee and a jug of milk on the tray. She brought it upstairs and knocked firmly on the bedroom door.

"Yes?" Gerard asked, frustrated at all the disturbances. He had found an old t-shirt in one of the drawers of the room that belonged to him in high school. It was a little tight but at least she would be able to see his body again. Olivia, with some difficulty, balanced the tray with one hand and opened the door. Once inside she gripped breakfast tray with two hands and brought it over to Gerard. He gave her a confused look.

"I thought you might be hungry." She said. Gerard sat up in the bed and smiled as she set the tray on his lap.

"Thank you." Gerard replied. "Coffee? You're my new best friend, Olivia." He mumbled, and then yawned as he poured a splash of milk to the coffee.

"Well, Donna made the coffe, I just poured it." Olivia confessed. "I'm also, really sorry about your break up. If there's anything I can do, y'know if you need a shoulder to cry on or if you just wanna get drunk and do something stupid..." Gerard raised an eyebrow. "No, I didn't mean it like that, but, I just meant if you need a drinking partner to give you the courage to get a stupid tattoo or piercing...Um...I'm gonna go now." Olivia scurried out of the room, blushing a deep shade of red.

**

Gerard emerged an hour later from the bedroom, wearing his boxers and the old t-shirt. He took the tray down to the kitchen, with the intention of cleaning them himself. If he was going to live here for a while, he was determined not to get lazy and let his mother do everything for him. Looking at his watch, he found that it was only half past nine in the morning. He rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands and wandered into the living room. He found Olivia, on the couch with a laptop on her lap and her feet on the table. She had some ear phones in her ears and plugged into the laptop. She bopped her head along with whatever music she was listening to. Gerard went at sat in the arm chair and grabbed the T.V remote from the coffee table. He turned on the T.V and flipped the channels until he found some morning cartoons.

Olivia barely noticed he was there. She was emailing her friends from Pittsburgh. When she was finished, she turned off the music and pulled the ear phones out of her ears. She closed the laptop lid and set it aside on the couch. Gerard watched her out of the corner of his eye.

"What were you listening to?" He asked as an attempt to get to know her and to understand why he was suspicious of her.

"Just had a playlist on shuffle." Olivia replied with a shrug. "Bit of this and a bit of that. Pop, rock, metal, jazz. Everything." Gerard smiled at her. "Cartoons, huh?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm just a big kid." Gerard replied. He shifted his hair out of his face and tried to concentrate on the T.V. Olivia watched him for a moment and then watched the T.V.

Donna came home with bags full of groceries and Olivia jumped up and went through to the kitchen to help Donna put them away. Gerard followed to greet his mother and to help out where he could.

"I'm going to make your favourite tonight, Gerard." Donna annouced. "And Mikey and Alicia are coming over, I think maybe its time they met Olivia too."

"You mean, that no one knew she was living here?" Gerard asked. Donna shook her head.

"Well you were always away on tour, there was never a right time." Donna replied. "And Olivia doesn't like to be the center of attention. Olivia smiled sheepishly at Gerard as she put cartons of orange juice in the fridge. Gerard muttered something about taking a nap and went upstairs. He almost went into Olivia's room but then remembered that Mikey's room was now his room. He lay down the bed, on top of the messed bed clothes. He closed his eyes and fell asleep almost instantly into a dreamless sleep.

He woke up with the sound of music from downstairs. Someone was singing along a CD but Gerard knew it wasn't his mom so it must have been Olivia. Gerard sometimes wished for the courage to sing without there being a reason. He was never caught singing unless it was for a show, radio, T.V or in the recording studio. He couldn't quite figure out why that was. Gerard sighed and noticed his clothes from last night, sitting on the dresser. They were folded neatly and sitting near the edge. He dressed quickly in the freshly clean jeans and t-shirt, ran his hands through his dark hair, knowing that he woud need to shower soon. He slowly went back downstairs and found his mom and Olivia cooking dinner in the kitchen. It was five o'clock and it was definitely who had been singing, but she wasn't just singing. The CD that was in the small CD player was a Shakira album, so Olivia had been doing her take on belly dancing as well. She didn't notice Gerard come into the room. He stared at her as her hips moved in time with the music. Donna cleared her throat and stifled a giggled. Olivia turned and saw Gerard.

"Oh hey!" Olivia said as she blushed the same shade of red as her hair. "You found your clothes."

"Yeah, thanks for cleaning them." Gerard replied. "Dinner smells good."

"Gerard dear, why don't you go into the dining room and set the table." Donna replied with a smile. Olivia giggled when Gerard left the room and then took a few deep breaths. "I know that look, Olivia." Donna said.

"What look?" Olivia asked innocently.

"Do you have a crush on my son?" Donna asked.

"No." Olivia replied. Donna raised her eyebrow. "Okay, a little bit. But thats only because I saw him half naked this morning when I snuck into his room to find dirty laundry. It was an accident and anyway, he and his girlfriend just broke up. He's not going to be okay to date for a long time. And I think he hates me."

"Oh Olivia, you didn't see his face there when you were dancing." Donna replied. "It may seem like he dislikes you right now, but thats only because he's afraid to show his true feelings to anyone. Even me sometimes. Just give him time, he'll get over that Audrey."

"You didn't like her?" Olivia asked.

"Oh I did, she was a sweet girl and she made my boy happy." Donna sighed. "Its just, if she really loved him then she would have been patient enough to wait for him to come off tour. I think the touring thing was just an excuse to make it easier on him, instead of "I don't love you anymore, Gerard." Of course, it makes it easier on her too."

"Do you think I could make him happy again?" Olivia asked. "Even if it was just as friends"

"I think so, he needs a good friend right now." Donna replied. "Maybe it'll turn into something more."

"Maybe." Olivia replied, kind of dazed.

"Here's hoping." Donna replied. She heard tyre tracks come up the drive way. "Mikey and Alicia are here!" She exclaimed and went to the door. Olivia contined with grating cheese for the top of the lasagne and put it in the oven to bake. She turned the music way down and then Gerard came back into the kitchen after setting the table for five in the dining room.

"You're a good dancer." Gerard said to her. Olivia stood up straight, against the counter.

"Thanks." Olivia replied. "I used to take dance classes when I was in high school, but I gave up after..." She stopped talking abruptly. "...after...um...my mom passed away."

"Oh I'm sorry..." Gerard replied.

"Thats okay, it was a five years ago" Olivia replied. "I'm over it."

"How can you be over it?" Gerard asked, bewildered. "Its your mom."

"Just drop it, Gerard." Olivia replied firmly. "I don't wanna get into it with someone I barely know."

"But its okay watch someone you barely know, sleep?" Gerard asked. "who was half naked!" He added as an afterthought. Olivia blushed.

"I'm 21 years old, I have needs." Olivia replied. Before Gerard could comment on her age, Donna came into the kitchen with Mikey Way and his wife, Alicia. Mikey's hair was dark like his brother's and his eyes were the same too. Their features were similar apart from the fact that Mikey was slightly skinnier. Gerard's face was more rounder. Alicia was a tiny woman with black hair and a nose piercing. Her make-up was done to perfection and she made Olivia feel slightly insecure with her looks. She wished she were able to have perfect hair and make-up.

"Mikey, Alicia" Donna began. "This is Olivia."

"Hi" Olivia waved nervously.

"You're staying in Gerard's old room?" Mikey asked.

"Yeah," Olivia replied.

"And you're still alive?" Mikey joked. Olivia chuckled and Gerard glared at everyone. Soon everyone was sitting around the dinner table. Gerard was made to sit next to Olivia while Donna took the head of the table. Mikey and Alicia sat across from Gerard and Olivia. Everyone bombarded Olivia with questions of her past and how she ended up living with Donna.

"Well, had just arrived to New Jersey and I saw an ad in a paper about a room for rent," Olivia explained. "So I called the number and Donna gave me the room. At first it was bit weird for me because I had never lived anywhere except Pittsburgh."

"And you're only 21." Gerard replied. "Probably your first time away from home. Alone." Gerard put extra emphasis on the word 'Alone'.

"No, I've been on my own for a long time." Olivia replied, remembering her terrible childhood.

"How come?" Alicia asked.

"Well, my dad left when I was nine years old and my mom died with I was sixteen." Olivia replied. "I had a step dad but he's in prison now."

"What for?" Gerard asked.

"Who's for dessert!?" Donna suddenly asked, seeing how distressed Olivia was getting. She shot Donna a look with thankful eyes and stood up to take everyones empty dinner plates. She helped Donna out with the dessert and the subject changed to Gerard's break up.