FicWad

The first person I tried to call was Frank but as usual his and his ‘baby momma’ couldn’t be away from each other for more than two damn minutes. His cell was engaged. I went straight through to answering machine. The message shocked me. It was scary sweet.

‘Hey this is Taylor..’ The first female voice cooed

‘Frank’ The male voice introduced himself

‘And bump!’ They called together

‘If you’re calling for me’ Frank hooted, ‘This is my cell so give me a call a little later and I’m sure I’ll answer’

‘If you’re calling for me’ Taylor started, ‘Call my cell.. I’m always available. If you’re calling for bump you’ll have to wait another five months!’

I shudder, not believing that Frank could possibly be that cheesy. I hung up, not bothering to leave a message on the happy little answering machine of cheerful wonderment. The next on my list was Patrick, he was probably worried. It didn’t even ring once before he answered. I couldn’t even understand him, he was talking way too fast.

‘Oh MY GOD! ARE YOU ALRIGHT? WHERE ARE YOU? IS GERARD WITH YOU? OH MY GOD!’ Patrick literally yelled in my ear, ‘Oh MY GOD! ARE YOU ALRIGHT? WHERE ARE YOU? IS GERARD WITH YOU? OH MY GOD!’

After the paniced yelping had finished I rubbed my temples, feeling a headache striking.

‘Shhhh’ I stopped him, lightly trying to keep him calm, ‘I’m okay.’

‘Gerard?’ Patrick asked, still slurring but a little less than earlier, sobering up by the shock

‘He’s going to hospital’ I said as calmly as possible

‘OH MY GOD!’ He yelped again

‘Shhhh’ I silenced him again, ‘Chill, he’s fine.’

‘Then why’s he going to hospital?’ He caught me, I didn’t know how to answer

What was I supposed to say to that? Oh, don’t worry about it Patrick. He’s going to hospital because while drink driving down a road far passed the speed limit he attempted to nudge Alex’s car, with Rebecca still screaming in the back, off of the road, his car span a little before hitting into a lamppost. He then proceeded to get out of his car, with two broken ribs, hobble over to Alex’s car and drag him out then beat the living shit out of him. Rebecca’s pretty pissed off with him. No, I think I’ll go with a lighter approach maybe.

‘They’re just worried about him’ I mumbled, scratching my head

See, I never lie. I don’t. I just don’t entirely say the truth. Sure, the doctors were worried about him because they could not figure out how he’d managed to drag himself out of the car and walk around for over a half hour with two broken ribs. Hell, I don’t know how he did that.

‘Okay…’ Patrick answered, quieter than he usually is

‘Listen…’ I sighed, looking down at the ugly tiled floor of the ward that I’d got to know so well, ‘Is there any chance you can stay with Joe tonight? I would’ve loved to be there with you but I want to look after Gerard, okay?’

‘Yeah’ Patrick didn’t sound too disappointed but there was an air of concern in his voice, ‘That’s okay… You look after him… I’ll be fine’

‘I’m sorry this ruined your birthday’ I groaned, wishing I wasn’t here right now, ‘That totally blows’

‘It’s cool’ I could hear Patrick’s smile in his voice, ‘Actually, besides all the drama… This was the best birthday I’ve ever had’

‘Glad to hear it’ I laughed, shuffling my feet, ‘I’m not actually supposed to be on my cell so…’

‘Yeah, okay’ He retorted, ‘See you tomorrow?’

‘As soon as possible’ I nodded, ‘Bye Trick’

‘Bye Pete’ Patrick finished, yawning a little, ‘Love you’

I stopped, feeling my chest tweek. He said he loves me. Sure, he’s drunk and in shock and I’m not sure he knows what he’s saying but.. still.

‘Love you too’ I reply, casual, not showing how happy I actually was on hearing two little words, ‘Get some sleep’

‘Kay’ And that was it, he hung up.

Gerard was playing with his bed, cranking it up and down. He giggled as he pressed the buttons on the controls. The back adjusted, up all the way then all the way down. He looked far too cheerful for a man in his condition. I put it down to the drink.

‘Gerard’ I huffed, snatching the remote, ‘What were you thinking?’

‘When beating that guy to a shitty little pulp?’ He snorted, ‘Something along the lines of: That asshole! That asshole!’

I laughed, unintentionally pushing the buttons myself now. Gerard shouted ‘Weeeeeee’ each time. Everyone started watching him but he didn’t care. Putting his hand on top of mine to get my attention he connected eyes with mine. He pointed at a bed on the opposite side of the ward. The curtain was drawn and the patient hidden.

‘Guess who’s there’ He chuckled, rubbing his knuckle in his palm

‘No way!’ They put Alex on the same ward as the guy who kicked his ass?

‘Dude’ Gerard snickered, ‘He’s telling everyone he got his injuries in the crash.’

‘Jesus’ I shook my head, seeing Rebecca swarming around her husband’s bed, ‘How can she stay with him?’

‘Stockholm Syndrome’ He shrugged, ‘I don’t know, man. Love just sucks like that. Know what hurts?’

‘What?’ I hooted, ‘Your ribs?’

‘I mean internally, jackass’ He hit out at me, making me feel sorry for Alex cause Gerard has one hell of a punch

‘Okay, what hurts?’ I ask, playing along, kind of intrigued

‘How typical is this of my unbelievable misfortune?’ Gerard twiddled his thumbs, ‘I meet a girl three hours ago and now she won’t talk to me cause I tried to kill her husband’

‘It was pretty justified though’ I look over at her, she was still avoiding eye contact

‘Tell it to the nurse’ Gerard stared at his knees, then picked up the assistance button from the side of his bed, pushing it quickly

Instantly Rebecca’s head snapped in our direction in one agrivated move. She looked seriously pissed off. Her ridiculous work shoes clacked on the ward floor and her arms swung from side to side. That scowl on her face was vicious and for a second I swear she looked scarier than Ash.

‘Can I help you Mr. Way?’ She growled, arms folded

‘Yeah,’ He coughed, clutching his chest, ‘Thing is, the rope I hung myself with earlier’s getting pretty tight and your grip on my heart isn’t helping either’

‘Mr. Way’ She sighed, ‘If you are in pain and need assistance it is my duty as a nurse to help you. If you choose to distract me from people who I can actually help then I will be forced to move you out of my ward.’

She span on her heel, not wanting to talk anymore but Gerard’s face screwed up in a deep angry expression. His fist thudded down on his tray. She stopped.

‘Leave him’ Gerard hissed, ‘Surely, he’s not worth all that shit’

Her shoulder’s slumped as she turned back around. Coming right up to us she leaned over Gerard so she could talk into his ear, away from the rest of the staff and patients.

‘How the fuck do you know?’ She snarled, ‘Have you ever felt so fucking alone that you can’t stand your own company? Have you ever felt so unwanted that you didn’t even want yourself? He wants me. He is my company. I am not giving that up and going back to depending on myself because I can’t be fucking alone again.’

She straightened up and looked at me. I couldn’t believe that she could feel like that. Feel like I felt. I wanted to grab her and hold her close. Tell her things will get better and Alex would stop. I wanted to fill her with all the false hope I held in my heart but I couldn’t. It wasn’t real. It wouldn’t get better cause life wasn’t a fairytale. It was cold and harsh. It was unfair and sometimes the asshole got the girl that the good guy would really care for. As she scuttled back to the side of her Prince less than Charming. Gerard mumbled to himself.

‘It should be me…’