FicWad

Saturday night and Kelly was sitting in her room staring at the walls. The same walls she had been staring at all day. She missed talking to her friends and she definitely missed her computer. This sucked royally. She got up off the bed and decided to go downstairs to find something in the fridge. She hadn’t come downstairs when Mom had told her dinner was ready and now she was regretting the decision as her stomach rumbled again.
Monica looked up from the kitchen table where she was making a grocery list. “Hungry?”
Kelly shrugged, “Kind of.”
“Dinner was beef stew. It’s in the fridge.”
Kelly got it out and warmed herself a bowl. Monica continued to work on her list. She wasn’t going to ask Kelly any questions. She just hoped that eventually she would open up about what happened.
“Has anyone called for me?” Kelly asked as she sat down at the table with her bowl of stew.
“Mike called earlier today.” Monica said looking up.
“What did he say?”
“Just wanted to talk to you. I told him you were grounded from the phone and computer.”
Kelly looked down at her stew, “Bet he laughed about that.”
“Why? Because you’re grounded?”
“Mom, grounding me is so lame. I know what I did was wrong but I don’t understand what taking the phone and computer away from me is all about.”
Monica’s eyes narrowed, “You don’t understand the concept of punishment? You really don’t understand that there has to be some kind of consequence for your actions?”
“I’m just saying I think what you’re doing is stupid. I need to talk to Mike about what happened and I can’t.” She swirled her spoon in the stew absentmindedly.
“Why do you need to talk to him?” Monica asked
Kelly shrugged, “I just do. He’s probably mad at me.”
Monica was trying very hard not to lose her temper. “He’s mad at you? Why?”
Kelly stood up from the table. “You don’t understand.” She ran from the room.
Monica was about to follow her when Gerard called.
“How are you doing?” He asked.
Monica glanced at the kitchen clock and did the mental math for the time difference between Calgary and Jersey. “Shouldn’t you be at the Meet & Greet?”
“In a few minutes. We’re running late. We just got done with the soundcheck and I had a few minutes.” He sounded tired. “Kell wouldn’t tell me anything when I talked to her.”
Monica hadn’t thought she would. She had run back up to her room as soon as she had talked to him. “Gee, welcome to the world of parenting. You are officially a dad now.”
“But she’s always talked to me before. I really thought she’d tell me what happened. I mean she talked to me about Mike and his drinking before.”
“Don’t take it so hard. She loves you but I can tell she’s confused.”
“But we were so close before.” He said sadly.
“Gee, Honey stop and think about it. You’re her Dad not her friend. That’s what you have to be. Most of the time that doesn’t make you a very popular guy in her world.”
As she was talking Kelly walked back into the kitchen. “Are you talking to Dad?”
Monica nodded.
“Can I talk to him?” Kelly asked
“Gee, Kelly wants to talk to you.” She handed the phone over.
“Dad, do you think it’s right that Mom took away my cell phone and computer?”
Her tone was full of self-righteous indignation.
Gerard wasn’t expecting the question. “Uh, well Kell it’s your punishment.”
“Yeah, but do you think it’s right? I mean I need to talk to my friends. I don’t want them to think it’s my fault that Mike’s in trouble.”
Monica was frowning at her daughter. In her mind she was trying to imagine Gerard’s responses. Damn man better back her up on this one.
“Kell, I’m sure you’ll talk to your friends at school on Monday.”
“I thought you’d understand.” She handed the phone back to Monica and ran up the back stairs.
“Once again, welcome to the world of parenting. That was one of the oldest tricks in the book. Try to get one parent to override what the other parent said.” Monica laughed sadly.
“Man, I wasn’t expecting that. I backed up your decision. That was right, wasn’t it?’
He sounded so confused Monica smiled. “Yeah, you did good. See, you’re a good Dad. Sucks don’t it?”
“For sure, it does. I hate that she’s mad at me now.”
“She’s mad but you have to remember she loves you.”
“I’m sorry I’m not there. I still can’t get it out of my mind that she got into a car with him after he’d been drinking. Fuck, what if he’d been behind the wheel?”
Monica shook her head, “I’m still not convinced he wasn’t. There is definitely something she’s not telling us. Just because she was driving when the police stopped them doesn’t mean she was driving the whole time.”
Gerard shook his head, “Shit, I hope that’s not true.”
He looked up to see Frank signaling to him. “Hey, I gotta go. I’ll call after the concert unless you want me to wait and call in the morning. It’ll be pretty late for you.”
“Gee, you better call me after the concert. I won’t be able to sleep unless I hear your voice.”
“I miss you so much.” Gerard said walking towards Frank.
“I miss you too,” Frank yelled.
Monica laughed, “Tell Frankie I miss him. Put on a good show and I’ll talk to you later.”

Liv had a tight hold on Elle’s hand as they walked back from the Laundromat. The last load in the dryer had taken longer then expected and darkness was descending much quicker than she wanted.
“Mommy, too tight.” Elle said trying to pull her hand out of Liv’s grip.
“Come on baby, we gotta pick up the pace.” She spotted a group of young guys loitering up ahead. She quickly steered Elle to the curb where they waited until traffic cleared and they could cross. Liv shifted the laundry bag to her other hand and moved Elle to the other side of her body.
“Me’s tyrod.” Elle whined.
“Me too” Liv smiled “But we’re almost home.”
They walked in silence for a few minutes. Suddenly Elle started singing. Liv looked down at her daughter and smiled. If only Gerard could hear her, she thought. Elle voice was so sweet. “I am not fraid to keep on livin”.
The words suddenly struck a chord in Liv. What had Gee been thinking when he wrote them? How much had the man she knew years ago changed? If only she could talk to him, get to know him all over again.” She remembered his smile, his laugh.
“I’m tyrod.” Elle had stopped singing.
“Almost there, baby.” Liv said with a forced smile. “We’re almost home.”

“I’m totally bored.” Alicia said throwing herself down on the sofa.
Jamia looked up from the baby care book she was reading. “Why don’t you go out tonight?”
“Don’t feel like it.” Alicia replies grumpily. ‘I miss Mikey.”
“I miss Frankie, too. They should be just about to go on stage. Hope Frank stays on the stage tonight.”
“Wonder how thing are over at Case de Way? Mikey said Gerard was freaking out last night when the police showed up while he was talking to Monica.”
“Frank said the same thing. I kinda want to call Monica and see what’s going on but I don’t want to be nosey.”
“So how about if we don’t call? We could just stop by while we’re in the neighborhood.”
Jamia laughed, “In the neighborhood? Yeah, she’ll totally believe that one.”
“She did say we could come over any time. Besides I have to return Kara’s sweater I borrowed.”
An hour later they pulled into Monica and Gee’s driveway. Alicia walked around and helped Jamia out of the car. “Man, I feel like an invalid.”
“Hey, it’s dark out here. I just want to make sure you don’t trip.” Alicia said as they started walking towards the front door. Suddenly both women heard a strange noise from the side yard.
“You hear that?” Alicia whispered to Jamia.
Jamia nodded. “What was it?”
Alicia always fearless told Jamia to stay put and she would investigate. Several seconds passed and Jamia was getting more and more nervous standing in the darkness. Should she continue up to the door or go around the side of the house to see if Alicia was okay.
Suddenly she heard a scream followed by a barrage of cursing. Jamia saw the front door fly open and Monica step out.
“Jamia?” Monica said as her eyes spotted the pregnant woman standing on her front lawn. “What is going on?”
Jamia was about to answer when another scream pierced the darkness.