FicWad

“Monica wake up.”
Monica rolled over and opened her eyes. Gerard was kneeling by the bedside. “Gee, what’s wrong?”
He reached out and brushed the hair out of her eyes, “Nothing.”
“What time is it?”
“I just got back from driving Kell to school.”
Monica shot up. “I overslept? Did the alarm go off?”
He smiled, “I turned it off so you could sleep in.”
“Why?”
He stood and sat down on the bed, “I wanted to do something nice for you after last night.”
Monica frowned remembering last night. She and Gerard hadn’t spoken to each other most of the evening after Bert left. Gerard had disappeared down into his lair and she had watched TV until she had gotten tired of waiting for him to reappear.
“I came up around midnight but you had already gone to bed.” He said looking down.
“I got tired of waiting for you to get over being pissed.” She answered honestly.
“I wasn’t pissed.”
“Really? So tell me then, why were you avoiding me?”
He looked uncomfortable, “I wasn’t avoiding you.”
Monica shook her head and pushed back the covers, “Whatever.” His hand shot out to stop her.
“I was jealous.”
Monica stared at him. “Of Bert?”
“Yeah, of Bert. Shit, I walked in and he was hugging you.”
“Actually I was hugging him. He’s a good friend. He worries about me.”
He worked on controlling his temper. “Yeah, he’s worried about you because of me. He’s just sure I’m gonna hurt you. How do you think that makes me feel?”
“Are you?” She asked locking eyes with him.
“Fuck, how can you ask me that?”
“Gee, I don’t want to fight with you. But it’s stupid to say you are jealous of Bert. That’s not true. You aren’t worried about losing me. You’re just pissed at him because of what he thinks. You’re pissed at him because of Liv.”
Gerard took a deep breath, “I leave for Europe in two days. Is this how we are gonna spend the time we have together?”
“It’s not how I want to spend it.” Monica whispered.
“Me either.” He took her hand in his, “Lets get away for the day. Just get in the car and go. Spend hours just being together.”
Monica smiled slightly, “That sounds nice.”
“Yeah, it sounds fucking perfect. We just need to get away from everything and be together.”
Monica hoped it would be a chance for them to really talk, “I’ll text Kelly and make sure Kara can give her a ride home.”
“I’ll do that. You get dressed.” He stood and pulled out his phone.
“Gee?”
He looked up from his phone, “I love you.”
“I love you. Now hurry up, woman.”

“Ray.” Christa yelled outside the bathroom door.
He stuck his head outside the shower curtain, “What?”
“They got the paperwork pushed through. We can sigh the papers on the house tomorrow morning.”
“Can’t hear you.” Ray yelled. “Come in and say that again.”
Christa rolled her eyes and opened he bathroom door. She walked up to the shower curtain. “I said they…”
Ray threw back the curtain and pulled her fully clothed into the shower stall.
“Ray” she screamed. He laughed as he pulled off her glasses. He reached out and sat them on the back of the toilet then turned back to her.
“You were saying?”
Christa stood with the water soaking her clothes, “I’m dressed.” She sputtered.
“Oh good point.” He began to pull her hoodies over her head. Once it was dropped to the floor of the shower he unclasped her bra, dropped it and went to work on her jeans. Christa stood shaking her head.
“There” he said when she stood before him naked. “That’s better. So we get to sign the papers tomorrow. Excellent.”
“You heard me?”
“Well, yeah. I was just luring you in here.” He grabbed her arms and pulled her close. “I thought a shower together sounded like a good idea.”
“Maybe you could have said so sooner. You know let me take my clothes off first?”
“I guess I could have. Mad at me?”
Christa laughed, “No, I’m not mad just surprised.”
“I’m a man full of surprises.” He reached around her and turned off the water.
“We’re done showering?”
He stepped out of the shower then put out his hand. Once she had stepped out onto the rug he lifted her up into his arms. “Ray” she screamed, “What’s gotten into you?” We’re getting water all over the place.”
Quickly he carried her out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. He deposited her on the bed and lowered his body down next to her, “Happiness is what’s gotten into me. In a minute you’re gonna know what’s gotten into you.” He said leaning down to kiss her neck. As he rolled over her Christa smiled.
“Wow, we should have bought a house sooner.” Christa said breathlessly as his knee parted her legs. “Yeah, definitely sooner.”

Frank’s voice drifted out of the kitchen. Jamia put the TV on mute so she could listen.
I've met some people along the way,
Some of them split some of them stay,
Some of them walk some walk on by,
I've got a few friends I'll love till I die
From all of these people I try to learn,
Some of them shine some of them burn,
Some of them rise some of them fall,
For good or bad I've known them all

We live our life in our own way,
Never really listened to what they say,
The kind of faith that doesn't fade away
We are the true believers
We are the true believers

Jamia smiled. Frankie loved the Bouncing Souls so much. She leaned back, closed her eyes and listened.
“Jamia?”
Her eyes popped open. She had drifted off to sleep while listening to him sing. “I’m awake.” She said quickly.
“Good thing. I would hate to have made lunch for you only to have to eat it all myself.” He sat down two bowls of pasta on the tray in front of her.
“I’m starved.” She admitted.
He smiled, “After lunch want to go see Ray’s new house? He called and said that he and Christa are headed over there. They get to sign the papers tomorrow morning.”
Jamia took a bite of pasta before answering, “Christa told me the place is huge. I’d love to see it.”
“Have you talked to Monica?”
Jamia shook her head, “No, I tried to call earlier but there was no answer at the house. I was gonna call her cell but..”
“But what?”
“I know it sounds terrible but I’m not sure I want to talk to her right now. Too much drama.” She frowned, “That makes me a terrible friend, doesn’t it?”
Frank understood, “No, not really. I know what you mean. She and Gee seem to be going through so much shit. Man, I still can’t believe she brought Liv back stage.”
“Alicia and I were talking about that. Alicia said that sometimes Monica is so nice she wants to smack her.”
Frank laughed, “Sounds like Alicia but I understand what she means.”
“I just wish Liv would stay out of their lives but I know because of Elle that’s not possible.”
“When I talked to Ray he told me that Bert called him.” Frank said deciding to share the conversation with her.
“Bert called Ray? Man, he’s gotta know Ray doesn’t like him.”
“That’s what I said.”
“So what did he want?”
“To talk to Ray about Gerard. I guess from what he told Ray he’s convinced Liv is trying to get back together with Gee.”
“Well no shit.” Jamia snorted. “But why tell Ray?”
“Ray said he told him because he doesn’t know what to do. He really likes Monica and he doesn’t want to see her get hurt.”
“So what did Ray tell him?”
“Ray told him he didn’t know what to do either. None of us want to see Gee and Liv back together but no one knows what to do.”
“See? That’s why I don’t want to call Monica. I’m afraid things are bad for her and I’ll just feel like there isn’t a thing I can do to help.”

Gerard rolled over and reached for his pack of cigarettes. He lit one then looked over at Monica. He was shocked to see tears in her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
Monica continued to stare at the ceiling.
He quickly snuffed out his cigarette. “Monica? Honey, talk to me.”
“It’s nothing.” She whispered.
“We just made love and now you’re crying? Shit, that doesn’t sound like nothings wrong.”
They had gotten in the car and drove until lunchtime. Finding a nice little out of the way restaurant they’d had lunch. Then Gerard has suggested stopping at a motel they passed. Monica had agreed. Now here they were in bed and Monica was crying.
He scooted down the bed to lay next to her. “Please, talk to me.”
“Gee, I don’t know how to explain.” She sobbed.
“Try. Just let the words start to flow.”
“Today has been really nice but..” Her voice wavered.
“But?”
“Gee, I just feel like the physical part of our relationship is the strongest part.”
He was shocked, “You don’t think that this is the only reason I love you, do you?”
“I didn’t say that but think about it. Whenever we have problems it just seems we always end up in bed.”
“We end up in bed because we love each other.”
“We end up having sex.” She closed her eyes.
“Monica, look at me.” He waited until her eyes opened. “You and I have a hell of a lot more then just a physical relationship. I love you.”
She didn’t speak. She just continued to stare at him.
Gerard thought a moment. “Okay listen. We have more in common than you realize.”
“Like what?”
“Love of Star Wars?” He said trying to lighten the mood.
She shook her head.
“But Monica it’s true. We like the same movies, music, and books. When we are together we never run out of things to talk about.”
Tears still fell from her eyes.
“I love you. I love almost everything about you.”
She picked up on the one word. “Almost?”
He smiled, “Almost. One thing though I don’t love about you is the doubt you have about us. At Bamboozle you wondered what people thought of us as a couple. See, doubt? I don’t doubt our relationship. I just know in my heart that it’s right. I know how you make me feel. When I not with you I keep reminding myself that it will be okay. That you will be waiting for me and that’s what keeps me going.” He looked into her eyes. “Don’t you feel the same way?”
“I do feel like that. But Gee, why have we has so much trouble lately?”
He moved over and laid his head on her shoulder. “All couples have trouble sometimes.” He refused to admit to himself the real reason.
“I guess.” She said softly.
“I wish I wasn’t leaving on Wednesday. I wish we had more time together.”
“I do too.”
“Monica nothing is going to break us up. We’re gonna get married and have our happily ever after.”
As his words filled her ears Monica tried to smile. She tried to believe. They laid together for several minutes. Suddenly Monica made a decision. Before she could change her mind she turned to him. “Gee, I want to get married.”
He blinked. “We are getting married.”
“I mean now. I want us to get married like Mikey and Alicia did.”
He sat up, “You mean fly to Vegas?”
She nodded.
Gerard couldn’t believe he heard her correctly. “You really want to fly to Vegas and get married? Now? Before I leave on tour?”
She misunderstood why he was questioning her idea. “Never mind that’s a stupid idea. Besides we’ve already sent out invitations for our wedding.”
“No, wait. It’s not a stupid idea. I love it.” He tried to get a handle on the emotions that were bombarding him. She had finally agreed to what he had said he wanted all along. He looked into her eyes and saw how unsure, how fragile she looked. “If I go home and pack for the tour and get all my shit done we could have tomorrow to fly to Vegas. We could ask Mikey and Alicia to go with us.”
Monica sat up suddenly feeling overwhelmed, “Wait, I’m not sure Alicia will feel comfortable with the idea of flying.”
Gerard was too excited to let anything stand in the way. This was what he had wanted for so long. “Okay, we’ll it will just be you and me unless you want to ask someone else.”
Monica thought a moment. “Actually I like the idea of just you and me. I don’t want anyone to know we’re married. We can still have our wedding in September and then no ones feelings will be hurt because we didn’t tell them.”
Gerard leaned over and kissed her deeply. “You have no idea how happy this makes me.”
“Me too.” She tried to silence the small voice in her head. The voice that was questioning about her true motives.
“Lets get home. I have so much shit to do to free up tomorrow. Oh and we’ve gotta get our tickets. Let’s get the earliest flight we can. No wait. Are we gonna tell Kell? I mean if so then we can get a flight really early in the morning. If not we’ll have to wait until she leaves for school. Fuck, we’re leaving for Europe early on Wednesday so we’ll have to fly back tomorrow night.” He kissed her again. “But you’ll be my wife.”
Monica listened to the words pouring out of his mouth. She couldn’t remember the last time he’s looked and sounded this happy. His happiness was all she needed. “And you’ll be my husband” she whispered.