FicWad

I woke up in my bedroom, the sunlight streaming through the broken slats of the blinds hanging at my window. All was silent, and for a moment I felt almost relieved at thinking everything had been a dream.
“It’s going to take a while for him to get over her,” I heard a voice say. I slowly emerged from my bed and pressed my ear against the door. “They were inseparable.”
It was my father. They’d obviously been called after everything happened at the ‘Lot.
“Hm, yes, well. I can’t take time off of work at the moment - it was hard enough getting away just today. Can you?”
I felt sick again. I slumped down my door and huddled into my knees. She isn’t gone, she isn’t gone, she isn’t gone. I tried to calm myself, to tell myself everything was okay - but I couldn’t. A huge, loud sob erupted from my body and I began to cry. The sobs wracked my aching chest and my limbs felt heavier than lead. I curled into a ball on the floor and sobbed until I eventually fell asleep.

~~~

“Honey? There’s someone here to see you.”
“Who is it?”
I heard some whispering. “It’s Gerard for you, dear. Be a good sport and open the door, hmm?”
I reluctantly and slowly opened my door. He smiled awkwardly at me and came in. My mother had a suitcase and a weekend bag slung over her shoulder.
“Now, Frank dear. There’s plenty of money for food. If you need anything, just call, okay? I’m sorry honey, but I can’t have more time off than this week that I’ve had - I only had to because your father has more work than I right now it seems!”
She kissed me on each cheek, hugged me and smiled. “Feel better, Frank. I love you. I’ll be back soon, or your father will. Nice to meet you, Gerard. Bye!”

I turned to find Gerard sat on my bed.
“Hey.”
“What do you want?”
I didn’t mean for it to come out so sharply, but it did. He swallowed hard, though didn’t seem phased.
“I just… Well I kinda just wanted to see if you were okay.”
I sat next to him. “Oh, yeah - the love of my life, the girl of my dreams, my girlfriend of two years has just died and you ask how I am? How am I?” I laughed hysterically as Gerard’s eyes widened.
“I’m fucking dandy! I’m so fucking happy I could just burst into song and dance right now! I FEEL GREAT!”
A deafening silence fell around us. He looked down into his lap and looked genuinely hurt. It was only then I realised that the friends and family who’d visited me this past week - and even my mother and father - hadn’t asked me that one simple question: how are you? No one had bothered to see or make sure I was okay, to ask how I am even if they felt they had to or if they meant it. Yet here Gerard was, he’d come all this way to see how I was coping and I’d thrown it all in his face.
I sat next to him.

“I’m sorry… I don’t mean to be such an asshole.” I bit my lip. “I’m… coping. I’m not the best I can be, but I’m coping. Thanks for asking…” He looked up and my eyes met his. They were a strange kind of brown, a hazel brown, mixed with deep greens. He smiled.
“I’m sorry too. Maybe it was wrong of me to ask such a stupid question.”
“Not really. No one else had bothered to ask me.”
An awkward silence happened yet again, yet he held his gaze. Suddenly, the most bizarre thing happened… He pulled me close to him and hugged me. He just, held me. Tightly. And without me even able to control it, I began to cry hard against his chest. I don’t know how long we were like that for, but it felt like hours I laid in his arms, sobbing and crying and clinging to him. He was a friend, someone I knew pretty well but not well enough, and here he was giving more fucks than my own parents did. And here I was, letting him see me in my most vulnerable state…

I pulled away and looked up at him. “You wanna stay over…? I could really use a friendly face around here. Someone to take my mind off all of this - and maybe someone to cry on too.” I laughed shakily and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand.
“I’d love to. Let me just go home and get some stuff. I’ll be back in half hour or so.” He slid off my bed and walked out of my bedroom.
“Oh, Frank?”
“Yeah?”
“I’ll always be here for you. You can count on me.”
I didn’t say anything. He waited a few seconds, then I heard his foot steps go down the stairs.

“You can count on me.”