FicWad

It was difficult not to think of Bob tonight, I guess it was always on my mind. Seeing someone that was once so strong quake with an unbearable agony is difficult not to think of, and I really tried to ignore it. I didn’t tell Beth what had happened, I mean, I’m not really allowed to am I? Patient confidentiality. I just needed to get away from everything, the usual escapism for someone who’s not quite happy with their life.

Beth was there for me, comforting me. I explained to her that if I actually told her what was wrong that I could lose my job, she was forgiving and understood. There was no pressure to tell her anything and I was thankful for that. So when she reminded me that we were going to Becca’s this evening it came as a welcome release. It was near enough five o’clock by now, and I decided that it was a good time to leave.

I pulled into the car park that was pretty near Café Sanjeré. There was a buzz in the air, there was so many cars filling the car park, a lot more than normal. People were piling into the small town café. We headed towards the growing crowd, and as we got closer I noticed something odd about the café, something out of the ordinary. Instead of the café being full of empty chairs and tables it was half full of tables and chairs that were full of people. The other half of the café was being occupied by a stage.

A band of about four teens were setting themselves up. The drummer, hair covering his face was practising right at the back of the stage. There was a boy, maybe twenty years old, trying to sort out the strings on his base guitar. This left the other two, both maybe twenty/twenty-two, gossiping at the front of the stage, messing about with their instruments.

The apparent lead singer took to the front of the stage, setting up a microphone, doing a sound check and generally making sure that everything was working properly.

‘Guys? Hey guys!’ He hollered, ‘Becca will be here soon, can one of you make sure Molly’s near, please?’

‘Molly?’ I turned to Beth, hoping for an explanation.

‘Becca’s daughter’ She said with a ‘Well, duh’ tone of voice, I would have said something along the lines of ‘Oh no you didn’t’ but the lead singer had spotted Beth and was beckoning her closer, ‘That’s Brendon by the way’

‘Oh, cool’ I added, quickly and closely following behind.

‘Beth, hi, can you hold Molly for me? Please? I want her to be with someone she knows, she might get scared if there a lot of noise’ He seemed really concerned, nice guy.

‘Sure, where is she?’ Beth asked, being directed by Brendon to a little girl that was sat quietly in the corner of the room on the lap of a woman that looked distinctly like Brendon’s mother.

‘Heeeeey Nanny Urie’ Beth almost cat-called across room, what a dork.
Molly became a little antsy, trying to escape the clutches of a very loving grandmother. She’d clocked Beth and had wanted to go to her instead, obviously preferring to be with someone she saw more often.

‘Hey Mollycakes, how’re you baby?’ She cooed, apparently and obviously completely smitten with this little girl. My heart grew two sizes, I couldn’t help it, I just imagined myself in about two years time. Picking up my (possibly) son, putting his little hat onto his gold hair and asking him if he wants to play football with daddy. Then I imagined Kate, telling me to play nicely with him, and oddly, I imagined her pregnant again, and strangely, it made me happy.

I’d been freaking out until now, but I realise, having a baby would only make me a better person. I’d have to care for someone apart from myself and what’s more, I’d love to do it. I couldn’t wait to be there when my baby was born, holding Kate’s hand telling her it’s ok, sneakily taking some gas and air myself. You know, that kind of thing. I guess Bob made me think like that; he was so desperate to be a father and look what he’s ended up going through. To be honest, I never want to be left at Pete’s mercy because I’m not sure that he has any.
‘Patrick, meet Molly’ She introduced me to the little girl that was so obviously Becca’s. She had brunette little ringlets and a light tan, deep hazel eyes and was pretty like her mother, ‘Molly, this is Patrick’

‘Pattick’ She giggled like the small little girl that she is, Beth tried to correct it didn’t work, the best she came out with was an, ‘Hola Rick’

‘I know!’ I gasped, ‘Molly, can you say Trick?’

‘Si, Trick’ She giggled once again, ‘Mi llamo Molly’

‘Uh, does she speak English?’ I asked Beth, wondering how I was communicating with this kid.

‘Yeah, but she hardly ever replies in English, blame the Latino mother’ She laughed, saying something to Molly in Spanish, making sure I didn’t understand.

‘Si’ Molly twittered, looking in my direction and blushing, I didn’t know that Beth could speak Spanish, but then again, I do remember seeing something on her CV about it.

‘Where’s mommy?’ She asked, completely throwing me off balance, having gotten used to her speaking Spanish already.

‘That kid is confusing, very smart, but very confusing,’ I laughed, picking Molly up out of Beth’s arms, thankful that she didn’t kick off because she was being held by an almost stranger.

‘Trick, Trick’ She squealed with her little Latino accent, ‘Me gusta Trick, Trick es bueno’

‘Aww’ Beth smiled, not telling me what she had said, just melting into a heap of melty stuff on the floor.

‘Uh, what did she say?’ I questioned.

‘She said she likes you, and that you’re good.’ That made me smile, I guess I might not completely suck at this whole ‘Dad’ thing after all.

‘Guys … Yo … Hey! Look at me! Over here … No, not there, by the stage … Now you’re just trying to piss me off, aren’t you?’ Brendon was trying to grab our attention from over by the stage, he had an announcement or something to tell us, ‘She’ll be here in two minutes … So someone flick the lights’

The whole room dimmed, a silence seemed to shroud the entire populace of the café, except for little Molly. Beth had been telling me about Becca’s daughter, she wasn’t actually Brendon’s child but he’d been the one to stick around and was even there for Molly’s birth. Everyone from both sides of Molly’s family had now accepted the fact that Brendon was Daddy numero uno and is more important than the biological father.

I scoffed, saying that Brendon did look a little too young for Becca; I mean she was twenty six or so, right? Wrong, apparently Becca was only twenty two – the same age as Brendon. I was also kindly asked not to ever mention to Becca that she looked closer to thirty than twenty. She’d had Molly when she was twenty but Molly wasn’t quite two yet, that would be on February 9th.

The door of the café opened, the sound of bags being put down was the only thing anyone could hear, not even Molly was talking now. The lights flicked on, and Becca gasped. She looked around the room at everything but took nothing in. She looked at old relatives, young relatives, me, Beth, Molly, Brendon, young relatives and that’s when it struck her, Brendon was up on stage, waiting for her.

‘He’s been in the army, she hasn’t seen him or heard from him in about a month, when he was last on leave, she doesn’t know he’s here’ Beth explained, filling me in on the couples history. I was quite looking forward to seeing what would happen. Becca didn’t know what to do, she just looked around. That was until music started up; the band had started to play.

First there was the sound of guitar stings being strummed, and then the gentle tinkling of a piano’s keyboard as Brendon moved away from centre stage. He took a seat and was playing, never looking down, eyes constantly on Becca.

‘She held the world upon a string,

But she didn’t ever hold me,

Spun the stars on her finger nails,

But it never made her happy,

Because she couldn’t ever have me,

She said she’d won the world, at a carnival,

But she couldn’t ever win me,

Because she couldn’t ever catch me,

I, I know why, because when I look in her eyes,

I just see the sky

When I look in her eyes, well I, just see the sky’

The tapping of the keys on the piano’s keyboard had quickened in pace, and for once, Brendon turned away from Becca and nodded to Ryan. Ryan, a small boy, left his position just out of the limelight and made his way to the front of the stage. He took hold of the microphone, almost caressing it as he began to sing, shocking everyone with the talent he had. Throughout his time in front of the mic, I noticed that he was constantly looking in my direction. Or rather, at someone near me.

‘I don’t love you, I’m just passing the time,

You could love me, if I knew how to lie,

But who could love me?

I am out of my mind,

Throwing a line out to sea,

To see if I can catch a dream’

What sounded like violins, guitars, pianos, an entire orchestra almost, hit the ears of the entire audience. Every onlooker, spectator, gasped. Brendon had hit a button on the piano, presumably a play button that would play something he’d recorded earlier, and he was on his feet and heading towards where Ryan had just been standing.

‘The sun was always in her eyes,

She didn’t ever see me,

But that girl had so much love,

She’d wanna kiss you all the time

Yeah, she’d wanna kiss you all the time’

By now, Brendon was not stood on the stage he was sat with his legs dangling over the edge of it. Becca had taken a few steps closer to him but had no idea what she should do. She was in awe, not only had she been surprised by her boyfriend returning home unexpectedly, without warning, but he was also on stage and serenading her.

‘She said she’d won the world, at a carnival,

But I’m sure I didn’t ruin her,

Just made her more interesting,

I’m sure I didn’t ruin her,

Just made her more interesting,

I, I know why, because when I look in her eyes,

I just see the sky.

When I look in her eyes, I just see the sky’

Ryan had accompanied Brendon down at the front of the stage. The two sat together, staring out into the vast audience that was being enchanted by their voices. Beth seemed especially pleased to hear Ryan’s voice and clapped every time he started to sing, like right now, for example. The two were harmonising together, gripping the audience with the musical poetry.

‘I don’t love you, I’m just passing the time,

You could love me, if I knew how to lie,

But who could love me?

I am out of my mind,

Throwing a line out to sea,

To see if I can catch a dream’

The music played them out; Brendon left the stage and walked over to
Becca. Everything was like a film, the music in the background, everyone hoping for some romantic event, the two lovers staring into each others eyes and then Brendon getting down onto one knee.

‘Becca, I love you, I wish you’d have known that I was on my way home but I guess that would have spoiled the surprise. By the way, I’ve left the army and I’m going to get work around here so that I can be with you and little Molly. I love you and I want to have more children with you, we’d be a family and I’m hoping that you’ll say yes to my question.
Becca, will you marry me?’ Brendon asked, not looking up, but reaching into his jacket pocket to bring out a small jewellery box. He opened it to reveal an engagement ring; the diamond was a sparkling clear jewel that had to little rubies on either side of it.

‘Brendon, when do you want more children?’ Becca asked, shocking the audience by not giving the cliché ‘Yes, ohmygod, I love you, yes’ they’d all expected. Truth be told, I’d expected it too.

‘As soon as possible, whenever you’re ready’ He replied, although he did seem a little disheartened without the yes he’d been anticipating.

‘Good, I’m glad. Yes, I’ll marry you’ She smiled, putting her left hand out, ready for him to place the ring on her finger. He took her hand in his own, placing the ring on her wedding finger, mouthing the words ‘I love you’ as he did so.

‘Oh, by the way, I’m pregnant’ She announced, making the entire crowd gasp. Brendon clutched his new fiancée, Beth cooed at the sound of a new baby in the Urie family. Generally, everyone seemed happy, that was until I looked over to Nana Urie who was shaking her head in disappointment. She didn’t seem too pleased at the prospect of a new grandchild. The general happiness of this evening cheered me up and allowed me to forget about Bob and everything I’d done to him … At least for a while.