Categories > Celebrities > My Chemical Romance > Fly Away, Dance on the Milky Way
Chapter 77: Visitors
Somewhere in the house, Bandit screamed for food or new diapers or something, and it went on for a while. Gia groaned and pulled a pillow to cover her head in order to muffle out the noise.
“Oh come on,” Hazel laughed, removing the pillow from her friend’s face. “Babies scream. And you’ll be hearing a lot more of it, so you better get used to it.”
“I want to move,” Gia complained. “Last night I slept like two hours. I swear, Bandit is going to kill me.”
“By the way, how did they come up with the name? Bandit isn’t really on the top ten popular baby names, is it?”
Gia sighed. “No idea. They’re weird like that. But she is adorable though.”
“I wanna see her,” Hazel whined. “Let’s go!”
“No! Not until she stops crying!”
“Fine,” Hazel frowned. She grabbed the bag of chips from the floor and popped one into her mouth. They had been up in Gia’s room since school ended, so for about two hours, just talking, listening to music, and trying to do homework. Well, Gia was trying to write her essay, but Hazel wasn’t the least bit interested in it at the moment so Gia gave up on it as well.
“By the way,” Hazel started. “I saw Lucas today at school but he was all weird. Like he wouldn’t even talk to me. What’s up with him?”
Gia didn’t answer right away.
Lucas.
She had tried not to think about him for the past few days. Ever since they had that little incident on the night of Bandit’s birth, he hadn’t done as much as said ‘hello’. Not one single phone call or text message. At school, he avoided her best he could, like she didn’t even exist.
Gia couldn’t help but wonder if her dad had been right. All boys want is to get into your pants, and after that they don’t care about you.
“Now that I think about it, you’ve been acting really strange as well,” Hazel said, getting suspicious. “Did you guys break up?”
Gia shrugged. “I don’t really know.”
“What happened?”
She couldn’t help it. Gia’s cheeks got a little red, and she shrugged again. “Nothing.”
But the subtle hint hadn’t missed Hazel. She got a huge smile on her face and she said: “Oh no, you didn’t!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You did! Oh my god, you had sex with Lucas!”
“Well don’t say it out loud!” Gia shushed her. “Dad might hear you.”
“Over this screaming? Please. Now, tell me all the details. How did it happen and when?”
Gia leaned back on one of the beanbag chairs that were scattered around her room, and sighed. “It was a few weeks ago, on the night when Bandit was born, but… I don’t remember much of it. We had drunk quite a bit, and… Well, alcohol results in poor judgment, you know.”
“Ah, tough luck,” Hazel said. “Was it at least fun?”
“Like I said, I don’t remember. I do remember that it hurt, though. I think we both passed out after it, and I woke up, and just left, left him sleeping. We haven’t talked since. I don’t know if he’s too embarrassed or if he just got what he wanted, but… I still kind of miss him. I feel kind of used, even though I know it was mostly my own fault.”
“Do you want me to kick him on the balls?” Hazel asked, and Gia laughed even though the expression on Hazel’s face was completely serious.
“No, that won’t be necessary,” she assured.
“Oh, I can’t believe he would do that to you. I mean, Lucas is so nice. You’d never think that he’d be such a bag of douche.”
Gia had to agree with her. She didn’t know what exactly Lucas was thinking, and she was kind of bent on thinking that it was all just a misunderstanding, because she liked Lucas. But Gia had tried talking to him. Lucas was the one who was doing the avoiding. She had tried, now it was his turn. But it didn’t seem like he was going to.
“Well, I’m still going to be very mean to him,” Hazel announced.
“Please do,” Gia laughed.
Suddenly the house got very quiet when the distant cry stopped, and Hazel’s head shot up. “Baby time now?” she asked excitedly, and Gia couldn’t say no. They left her room, and found Lindsey and Bandit in the nursery.
Lindsey was sitting in an arm chair, sleeping. She awoke with a start when they entered the room.
“Sorry, we just came to see Bandit,” Gia apologized with a quiet voice.
“It’s fine,” Lindsey yawned. “Just be quiet, okay? I just got her to sleep.”
“You can go sleep too if you want, we’ll stay here and watch her.”
Lindsey hadn’t gotten much sleep over the few days they had been home, so the break was much needed. She left the two girls into the room that was silent as a grave.
Careful not to make any sound, the two girls approached the crib. Bandit was sleeping in it, making this cute sniffling sound. Her cheeks were a pink rosy color, but other than that her skin was pale, just like her parents’.
Gia reached in to lift the yellow blanket with pictures of clowns and balloons to cover the baby, knowing very well that it was no use. In a few minutes the blanket would be kicked off. Bandit had really taken after her mother, moving all the time, and had lots of energy, whereas Gerard and Gia were like dead fish when they slept. No movement what so ever.
“She’s so cute,” Hazel whispered. “I feel like just pinching her cheeks and taking her home with me.”
“Don’t, dad and Linds would have a fit and they’d blame me.”
“I just can’t believe how someone can be so cute,” Hazel said. “I mean, she’s so cute that I could just… There are no words.”
Gia had to admit, she couldn’t describe it either if she had to. Somehow Gia’s feelings for the baby got stronger every day. The screaming she could live without, but she couldn’t get enough of her when she was asleep (and quiet). But at the same time as she loved the baby, she also wished that Bandit hadn’t been born.
That made her feel like the worst person in the world. Now all everyone talked about was Bandit. Gia understood that her father’s attention had to be on the baby, but she couldn’t help but feel a bit abandoned. Gia hated being so selfish, but she also hated being lonely.
______________________
When Hazel left, Gia once again felt alone. The house was deadly quiet for once, as Bandit was still asleep, and Lindsey was getting some shut eye as well.
For a moment Gia was considering going upstairs to stare at the sleeping baby, then she considered homework, but before she could decide, her father stepped into the house. He was carrying a new jumbo-bag of diapers and some other baby equipment which Gia was still blissfully unaware of. Thank god.
Since Bandit’s birth, Gia and Gerard hadn’t had a lot of time together. But that wasn’t the only reason. She figured, and she was right, that he avoided her because he knew that something had happened between her and Lucas. Why else would she have had a hickey on her neck?
In Gerard’s mind, nothing had happened as long as he didn’t know anything.
“Hey,” he said when he noticed her. “I thought you had company.”
“Hazel just left,” she explained.
“Are you okay?” he asked. He hadn’t realized it before, mainly because he avoided looking at her lately, but something was clearly bothering her. She looked sad. Alone.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about it,” Gia assured. He had enough troubles on his mind, he didn’t need to be bothered by her petty problems too.
“You wanna talk?”
For a moment, Gia considered just telling him everything. But then she sighed. “No. You look tired, why don’t you go rest while the baby is quiet for once.”
“Okay,” Gerard nodded. Sleep did sound good. Between the new album that was in the making, and taking care of a baby, Gerard hardly had time to shower or eat, let alone sleep. But when he was already on his way upstairs, he looked back and saw his first-born daughter looking like a lost sheep. All of a sudden she was that small 4-year-old girl again, who had just lost her mother.
“Gia?” he said, going back to her. “Let’s talk.”
About five minutes later, Gia got a cup of hot tea in front of her, and the coffee maker was making a gurgling sound on the counter. That poor coffee maker had been in way too much use lately, as Gerard and Lindsey both drank way too much of that poison in order to keep up with their newborn daughter’s needs.
“So,” Gerard started. “What’s up?”
“Nothing.”
As it clearly was not ‘nothing’, Gerard sighed. “Is this about your mom?”
“No. I haven’t really thought about her at all…”
“Then what is it?” When he got no reply, he made his conclusions. “Look, I know I haven’t really paid attention to you lately, but I just don’t have as much time as I used to. With Bandit, and work… I really try, okay?”
“It’s not that. I understand all that, so don’t worry about it.”
“Then… What is the problem?”
Gia hesitated. Tell him? Lie? Run?
“It’s Lucas, isn’t it?”
She wondered how he had known. Then she got panicked. Exactly how much did he know?
“Gia, you can tell me. I’m not going to get mad. God, I don’t even have enough energy to frown right now, so you’re safe. I’ll just have to kill you later once I’ve gotten my dose of coffee.”
“That’s not really encouraging, you know,” she smiled, but decided to tell him. Not everything, because there are certain things that you just don’t share with your overprotective, temperamental, sleep deprived father. Things like losing your virginity at the age of 15 as a result of a lot of alcohol and depression.
Gerard waited patiently as she collected her thoughts.
“Okay… A few weeks ago,” she started, “me and Lucas… We kind of… became… A couple, in a way. As in a dating sense. And I didn’t want to tell you anything because I knew you’d get mad, and Lucas agreed so we kept it a secret. We were eventually going to tell you of course, we were just scared. But lately… He’s been ignoring me. Like I don’t even exist. And he doesn’t seem to want to be with me anymore.”
The utterly miserable look on her face made his heart break into two pieces. This was why he didn’t want her to grow up and start dating. Every father wants to protect their daughters from a broken heart.
“You really like him, don’t you?”
She only nodded.
Gerard hadn’t seen Gia cry that many times, but every time he did, he felt completely useless. This was exactly like that. He wasn’t sure what to do when she used her sleeve to wipe away the tears from her eyes, and her voice got shaky. His initial reaction was to murder the cause of her pain, but in the end, he just got up, went around the table, and hugged her. Her frail arms instantly wrapped around him tightly for support, and her whole body began to shake as she cried, leaving a big wet splotch on his shirt.
Gia didn’t even understand it herself, but she just cried. Not just about Lucas, but about her mom, about the conflicted feelings about Bandit’s arrival. In the end she didn’t even know why she was crying anymore, it just felt good to let it all out. It felt good to for once have her dad only to herself. Even if for a moment.
_______________________
A few days later, Gia was sitting in her room, waiting for that familiar ‘ding’ sound to inform her that she had an instant message.
Gia stared at the gray ‘offline’ text next to Lucas’ username on the computer screen. For the past few weeks the offline status had been mocking her, reminding her of the fact that Lucas kept acting like she didn’t exist.
Sure, Gia had gotten closer with Hazel, but she still missed Lucas. He was supposed to be her boyfriend, but now she just wasn’t sure.
Frustrated, Gia closed the lid on her laptop and left her desk. All she wanted was a simple ‘hello’, was that too much to ask?
The doorbell rang downstairs, and Gia was about to yell at someone to get it when she remembered that everyone else was out. Gerard was working again and Lindsey had taken Bandit to see some relatives who Gia didn’t know.
Hoping that by some magical miracle the person behind the door would be Lucas, Gia went downstairs and opened the door.
Her initial reaction was that the person was definitely not Lucas. At first she didn’t recognize the woman at all, mostly because she hadn’t expected to see her. Upon getting over the shock, Gia felt like fainting.
“Mom?”
Somewhere in the house, Bandit screamed for food or new diapers or something, and it went on for a while. Gia groaned and pulled a pillow to cover her head in order to muffle out the noise.
“Oh come on,” Hazel laughed, removing the pillow from her friend’s face. “Babies scream. And you’ll be hearing a lot more of it, so you better get used to it.”
“I want to move,” Gia complained. “Last night I slept like two hours. I swear, Bandit is going to kill me.”
“By the way, how did they come up with the name? Bandit isn’t really on the top ten popular baby names, is it?”
Gia sighed. “No idea. They’re weird like that. But she is adorable though.”
“I wanna see her,” Hazel whined. “Let’s go!”
“No! Not until she stops crying!”
“Fine,” Hazel frowned. She grabbed the bag of chips from the floor and popped one into her mouth. They had been up in Gia’s room since school ended, so for about two hours, just talking, listening to music, and trying to do homework. Well, Gia was trying to write her essay, but Hazel wasn’t the least bit interested in it at the moment so Gia gave up on it as well.
“By the way,” Hazel started. “I saw Lucas today at school but he was all weird. Like he wouldn’t even talk to me. What’s up with him?”
Gia didn’t answer right away.
Lucas.
She had tried not to think about him for the past few days. Ever since they had that little incident on the night of Bandit’s birth, he hadn’t done as much as said ‘hello’. Not one single phone call or text message. At school, he avoided her best he could, like she didn’t even exist.
Gia couldn’t help but wonder if her dad had been right. All boys want is to get into your pants, and after that they don’t care about you.
“Now that I think about it, you’ve been acting really strange as well,” Hazel said, getting suspicious. “Did you guys break up?”
Gia shrugged. “I don’t really know.”
“What happened?”
She couldn’t help it. Gia’s cheeks got a little red, and she shrugged again. “Nothing.”
But the subtle hint hadn’t missed Hazel. She got a huge smile on her face and she said: “Oh no, you didn’t!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You did! Oh my god, you had sex with Lucas!”
“Well don’t say it out loud!” Gia shushed her. “Dad might hear you.”
“Over this screaming? Please. Now, tell me all the details. How did it happen and when?”
Gia leaned back on one of the beanbag chairs that were scattered around her room, and sighed. “It was a few weeks ago, on the night when Bandit was born, but… I don’t remember much of it. We had drunk quite a bit, and… Well, alcohol results in poor judgment, you know.”
“Ah, tough luck,” Hazel said. “Was it at least fun?”
“Like I said, I don’t remember. I do remember that it hurt, though. I think we both passed out after it, and I woke up, and just left, left him sleeping. We haven’t talked since. I don’t know if he’s too embarrassed or if he just got what he wanted, but… I still kind of miss him. I feel kind of used, even though I know it was mostly my own fault.”
“Do you want me to kick him on the balls?” Hazel asked, and Gia laughed even though the expression on Hazel’s face was completely serious.
“No, that won’t be necessary,” she assured.
“Oh, I can’t believe he would do that to you. I mean, Lucas is so nice. You’d never think that he’d be such a bag of douche.”
Gia had to agree with her. She didn’t know what exactly Lucas was thinking, and she was kind of bent on thinking that it was all just a misunderstanding, because she liked Lucas. But Gia had tried talking to him. Lucas was the one who was doing the avoiding. She had tried, now it was his turn. But it didn’t seem like he was going to.
“Well, I’m still going to be very mean to him,” Hazel announced.
“Please do,” Gia laughed.
Suddenly the house got very quiet when the distant cry stopped, and Hazel’s head shot up. “Baby time now?” she asked excitedly, and Gia couldn’t say no. They left her room, and found Lindsey and Bandit in the nursery.
Lindsey was sitting in an arm chair, sleeping. She awoke with a start when they entered the room.
“Sorry, we just came to see Bandit,” Gia apologized with a quiet voice.
“It’s fine,” Lindsey yawned. “Just be quiet, okay? I just got her to sleep.”
“You can go sleep too if you want, we’ll stay here and watch her.”
Lindsey hadn’t gotten much sleep over the few days they had been home, so the break was much needed. She left the two girls into the room that was silent as a grave.
Careful not to make any sound, the two girls approached the crib. Bandit was sleeping in it, making this cute sniffling sound. Her cheeks were a pink rosy color, but other than that her skin was pale, just like her parents’.
Gia reached in to lift the yellow blanket with pictures of clowns and balloons to cover the baby, knowing very well that it was no use. In a few minutes the blanket would be kicked off. Bandit had really taken after her mother, moving all the time, and had lots of energy, whereas Gerard and Gia were like dead fish when they slept. No movement what so ever.
“She’s so cute,” Hazel whispered. “I feel like just pinching her cheeks and taking her home with me.”
“Don’t, dad and Linds would have a fit and they’d blame me.”
“I just can’t believe how someone can be so cute,” Hazel said. “I mean, she’s so cute that I could just… There are no words.”
Gia had to admit, she couldn’t describe it either if she had to. Somehow Gia’s feelings for the baby got stronger every day. The screaming she could live without, but she couldn’t get enough of her when she was asleep (and quiet). But at the same time as she loved the baby, she also wished that Bandit hadn’t been born.
That made her feel like the worst person in the world. Now all everyone talked about was Bandit. Gia understood that her father’s attention had to be on the baby, but she couldn’t help but feel a bit abandoned. Gia hated being so selfish, but she also hated being lonely.
______________________
When Hazel left, Gia once again felt alone. The house was deadly quiet for once, as Bandit was still asleep, and Lindsey was getting some shut eye as well.
For a moment Gia was considering going upstairs to stare at the sleeping baby, then she considered homework, but before she could decide, her father stepped into the house. He was carrying a new jumbo-bag of diapers and some other baby equipment which Gia was still blissfully unaware of. Thank god.
Since Bandit’s birth, Gia and Gerard hadn’t had a lot of time together. But that wasn’t the only reason. She figured, and she was right, that he avoided her because he knew that something had happened between her and Lucas. Why else would she have had a hickey on her neck?
In Gerard’s mind, nothing had happened as long as he didn’t know anything.
“Hey,” he said when he noticed her. “I thought you had company.”
“Hazel just left,” she explained.
“Are you okay?” he asked. He hadn’t realized it before, mainly because he avoided looking at her lately, but something was clearly bothering her. She looked sad. Alone.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about it,” Gia assured. He had enough troubles on his mind, he didn’t need to be bothered by her petty problems too.
“You wanna talk?”
For a moment, Gia considered just telling him everything. But then she sighed. “No. You look tired, why don’t you go rest while the baby is quiet for once.”
“Okay,” Gerard nodded. Sleep did sound good. Between the new album that was in the making, and taking care of a baby, Gerard hardly had time to shower or eat, let alone sleep. But when he was already on his way upstairs, he looked back and saw his first-born daughter looking like a lost sheep. All of a sudden she was that small 4-year-old girl again, who had just lost her mother.
“Gia?” he said, going back to her. “Let’s talk.”
About five minutes later, Gia got a cup of hot tea in front of her, and the coffee maker was making a gurgling sound on the counter. That poor coffee maker had been in way too much use lately, as Gerard and Lindsey both drank way too much of that poison in order to keep up with their newborn daughter’s needs.
“So,” Gerard started. “What’s up?”
“Nothing.”
As it clearly was not ‘nothing’, Gerard sighed. “Is this about your mom?”
“No. I haven’t really thought about her at all…”
“Then what is it?” When he got no reply, he made his conclusions. “Look, I know I haven’t really paid attention to you lately, but I just don’t have as much time as I used to. With Bandit, and work… I really try, okay?”
“It’s not that. I understand all that, so don’t worry about it.”
“Then… What is the problem?”
Gia hesitated. Tell him? Lie? Run?
“It’s Lucas, isn’t it?”
She wondered how he had known. Then she got panicked. Exactly how much did he know?
“Gia, you can tell me. I’m not going to get mad. God, I don’t even have enough energy to frown right now, so you’re safe. I’ll just have to kill you later once I’ve gotten my dose of coffee.”
“That’s not really encouraging, you know,” she smiled, but decided to tell him. Not everything, because there are certain things that you just don’t share with your overprotective, temperamental, sleep deprived father. Things like losing your virginity at the age of 15 as a result of a lot of alcohol and depression.
Gerard waited patiently as she collected her thoughts.
“Okay… A few weeks ago,” she started, “me and Lucas… We kind of… became… A couple, in a way. As in a dating sense. And I didn’t want to tell you anything because I knew you’d get mad, and Lucas agreed so we kept it a secret. We were eventually going to tell you of course, we were just scared. But lately… He’s been ignoring me. Like I don’t even exist. And he doesn’t seem to want to be with me anymore.”
The utterly miserable look on her face made his heart break into two pieces. This was why he didn’t want her to grow up and start dating. Every father wants to protect their daughters from a broken heart.
“You really like him, don’t you?”
She only nodded.
Gerard hadn’t seen Gia cry that many times, but every time he did, he felt completely useless. This was exactly like that. He wasn’t sure what to do when she used her sleeve to wipe away the tears from her eyes, and her voice got shaky. His initial reaction was to murder the cause of her pain, but in the end, he just got up, went around the table, and hugged her. Her frail arms instantly wrapped around him tightly for support, and her whole body began to shake as she cried, leaving a big wet splotch on his shirt.
Gia didn’t even understand it herself, but she just cried. Not just about Lucas, but about her mom, about the conflicted feelings about Bandit’s arrival. In the end she didn’t even know why she was crying anymore, it just felt good to let it all out. It felt good to for once have her dad only to herself. Even if for a moment.
_______________________
A few days later, Gia was sitting in her room, waiting for that familiar ‘ding’ sound to inform her that she had an instant message.
Gia stared at the gray ‘offline’ text next to Lucas’ username on the computer screen. For the past few weeks the offline status had been mocking her, reminding her of the fact that Lucas kept acting like she didn’t exist.
Sure, Gia had gotten closer with Hazel, but she still missed Lucas. He was supposed to be her boyfriend, but now she just wasn’t sure.
Frustrated, Gia closed the lid on her laptop and left her desk. All she wanted was a simple ‘hello’, was that too much to ask?
The doorbell rang downstairs, and Gia was about to yell at someone to get it when she remembered that everyone else was out. Gerard was working again and Lindsey had taken Bandit to see some relatives who Gia didn’t know.
Hoping that by some magical miracle the person behind the door would be Lucas, Gia went downstairs and opened the door.
Her initial reaction was that the person was definitely not Lucas. At first she didn’t recognize the woman at all, mostly because she hadn’t expected to see her. Upon getting over the shock, Gia felt like fainting.
“Mom?”
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