FicWad

The evening breeze had turned much cooler as Monica and Gerard sat out on the deck. “Wanna go in now?” he asked noticing she was pulling her zip hoodie around her body tightly.
Monica sighed, “Not yet.” She put down the pad of paper she had been using. They had sat for the last hour compiling a list of guests for the wedding.
Gerard moved his chair next to hers as closely as possible. He put her arm around her and pulled her to his warmth. “This is so fucking nice.” He said dropping a kiss on the top of her head.
She leaned her head back against his arm. “Yeah, prefect.”
“So how many people total do we have on our list?” He asked glancing over at the paper.
“Well our small wedding is gonna have around eighty people.” She tried to hide her frown by looking away from him.
He caught the look, “Too many? We can cut the list honey. If you think that’s too many people just say so.”
Monica looked over at him. “It’s okay, Gee. You know a lot of people. I understand that.”
“So what’s wrong?” He took his fingertips and placed them under her chin so that he could lift her face to his. “Tell me” he urged softly.
“Almost all of them are your friends. People I don’t know, that I’ve never met. I’m gonna feel like a stranger at my own wedding.” She blinked back tears.
Gerard felt like a fool that he hadn’t realized this. He shook his head, “Fuck, I’m sorry. I just got so caught up in the idea of the wedding I went crazy.” She had glanced away again and he reached out and pulled her onto his lap. “Look at me honey.” She turned her tear filled eye to him. “I don’t care if we cut the list to ten. As long as the guys are here, mom and dad and you and the girls that’s all that’s important.” He tried to lighten her mood, “Oh hell go ahead and cut Frank from the list. He’ll just cause trouble anyway.”
Monica giggled, “That’s so not nice.”
He hugged her tightly. “I love you so much. Whatever makes you happy makes me happy. I’ll take the list with me and do some cutting. Then I’ll e-mail it back so you can get the invitations ordered, okay?’
“Gee you really don’t have to cut the list.”
“Yeah, I do. I want our wedding to be perfect. It’s gonna be a beautiful mild September day. Our gazebo will be done.” He frowned a moment and looked out across at the half-done structure. “It will be done’ he said this time with conviction. “And everything will go just right.”
Monica looked at him, “Uh, Gee. This is us you’re talking about. We haven’t had exactly the smoothest relationship since we met. Kinda think you’re putting a lot of faith in or wedding going exactly as planned.”
He smiled, “Well it never hurts to dream. Look as long as our friends and family are here and I get to slip that ring on your finger, it’s all good.”
She nuzzled his neck, “I love you.” She whispered.
“I love you too. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
Monica shivered again. Now the temperature was really starting to drop. “Take me in and warm me up?” she asked kissing his neck.
“Oh yeah, think I can do that.” He answered before capturing her lips.
A few minutes later when the walked into the house Monica went on up to take her shower. Gerard played with Frank a few minutes then started upstairs. He stopped at Kelly’s door. “Come in.” She called out when he knocked. He was surprised to see that she had been crying. “Kell what’s wrong?’
“I tried to break up with Mike.” She said looking over at him.
He walked into the room and took a seat on her bed. “Tried?”
Kelly sat up and leaned back against the headboard. “Yeah, I told him I didn’t think we were happy together anymore.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “And he started crying.”
Gerard frowned. It was hard not questioning Mike’s sincerity. “Kelly, if you really think breaking up is the right thing to do then even if it upsets him you should do it.”
“But he said he’s sorry.”
“Sorry for what?” Gerard asked his eyes narrowing slightly.
Kelly explained, “Sorry about the way he’s been acting towards me. He’s been kinda distant. He spends a lot of his time with his friends and not me.” She looked down, “That is when he’s not grounded for being a dumb ass.”
“Kell what aren’t you telling me?” He watched her face closely. She didn’t meet his gaze. “He’s not been pressuring you about sex has he?”
Kelly shook her head, “No, it’s not that.” She took a deep breath, “It’s just that he’s been drinking a lot lately. At first I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, you know? But now it’s more and more.” She added with a whisper, “He’s not a very nice person when he drinks.”
Gerard sighed. Karma was biting him in the ass once again. He knew what it was like not to be a very nice person when drinking. He had been there. In his mind he thought of all the people his drinking had hurt. “Look Kell, please listen to me. Don’t let yourself be hurt by his drinking. This is his problem and until he decides to do something about it you can’t change him.”
“But I want to. I want to help him but he just laughs and says that there isn’t a problem. He says that I’m just being bitchy.”
“Do his parents know about his drinking?”
She nodded, “They are starting to find out about it more and more. The other night he went home so drunk that he couldn’t make it upstairs to his bedroom.” Her tears started to fall again. “He laughed when he told me about it like it was some big joke.”
Gerard was at a loss as to what to say to make her feel better. Her welfare was his biggest concern. “Promise me you will be careful. Promise you will never get in a car with him behind the wheel if he’s been drinking.”
“I promise,” she said softly. She wanted so badly to tell him more. She wanted to tell him how last time she had been with Mike he had been drinking. She wanted to tell him how Mike had gotten angry with her over something stupid and had grabbed her arm so roughly that he had left bruises. Instead she smiled, “Thanks for listening to me.”
He looked at her and smiled, “Of course I’ll always listen to you. Just remember when I’m gone you can call me anytime. Okay?”
Kelly nodded and scooted back down under her covers.
Gerard got off the bed and started for the door. Half way there he stopped and turned back around. “Kell I love you, you know that right?”
She looked surprised by the question, ‘Yeah, I know.”
“And even tho I have to leave, I’ll always come back to my family.” He didn’t want to come out and directly tell her that Monica had repeated her fears.
Kelly smiled, “Mom told you. I figured she would.”
He nodded, “Why don’t you think I’ll come back, honey?”
“It was just a stupid feeling. I get them all the time. We were just having such a great time at the restaurant that suddenly I was afraid that something bad would happen and things would change.”
“Oh” he said frowning.
Kelly didn’t want to upset him. “It was silly. I’m okay now.”
He smiled, “See you in the morning.” He said as he reached again for the light switch.
“Dad?” Kelly’s voice stopped him.
He turned “Yeah?”
Kelly sat up but instead of looking at him she looked down at her hands, “Can I ask you a question?’
“Sure, what?”
“It’s kinda strange and none of my business.”
He walked back over towards the bed, “What is it Kell?”
“It’s about Elle’s mom, Liv.” She said softly.
Gerard was shocked but tired not to show it. “What about her?”
“That day in the park, I met her.”
Gerard nodded.
“Was she your girlfriend for very long?”
He had no idea where this was going. “Several years.” He answered slowly.
“Does she have any family? You know like brothers and sisters. Are her mom and dad still alive?”
Gerard was shocked by the questions. “Why are you asking?”
Kelly shook her head, “I’m sorry I shouldn’t have asked.”
“No, it’s okay. I’m just curious as to why you want to know.”
“I’m not sure, really. Just trying to figure things out in my mind, I guess.”
Gerard waited to see if she would explain any further but she didn’t. He sighed sadly, “As long as she and I were together I never really knew much about her. She wouldn’t talk about her past.” He was saddened to realize that the drugs and alcohol played such a big part in their messed up relationship.
Kelly slipped back down into the covers and closed her eyes; “I’ll see you in the morning.”
He smiled to himself realizing that obviously he was being dismissed. “Love you, Kell.” He said flipping off the light.
“Love you, too.” She said as the door closed. The tears silently rolled down her cheeks. They weren’t just because of Mike.