FicWad

“Look what I brought” Kara said as she walked in, “We can take Frank to the Park and teach him to catch.” The Frisbee she held up clearly confused Elle.
“Thanks for watching her for me.” Monica said closing the door behind Kara. “I might be gone several hours.”
“No problem. I’m outta school and I’ve got nothing to do.”
Monica smiled, “I can’t believe you graduate in two days. Where did the time go?" She reminisced.
Kara laughed, “Might have gone fast for you but to me this last year in school seemed like an eternity. I’ll be glad to walk across the stage, get that piece of paper, and be done with it.”
“”Go to pwrk?” Elle was getting impatient. So was Frank who was circling her little legs.
“Let’s wait till Mom leaves, okay?” She said patiently.
Elle looked unhappy but went back to watch TV.
“Mom, do you really think he will take her?” Kara whispered as she watched Elle settle down on the sofa.
Monica was watching Elle too. She understood that to everyone else it would seem logical that Gee would want his daughter. In reality she didn’t know how he felt about Elle. “I don’t know.” Monica answered softly.
“So what are you doing today?” Kara asked. Monica had been vague when she’d asked her to watch Elle saying only she had things she needed to take care of.
Monica really didn’t want to talk about the things she needed to do. It was too easy to fall back into the depression that threatened to overwhelm her. “Just errands.”
Kara knew this meant she wasn’t going to say. “I talked to Bob. We’re gonna go home to Chicago as soon as the tour ends.” She added quickly, “Unless you need me to stay here and help out. Bob already said it would be fine.”
Just hearing the word ‘tour’ hurt. Anything connected with Gerard hurt. Monica made herself smile, “You and your husband have a life to start together in your home.”
Kara wondered if she was doing the right thing by not telling her Mom how Bob had said Gerard was miserable. She didn’t know if he was miserable because of the choice he’d made or something else. That was why she didn’t tell her. “Mom, I hate to say this but have you tried to talk to him again? Maybe you should.”
Monica was surprised, “You think I should talk to him?”
“No.” Kara said quickly but then relented, “Shit, I don’t know. I just don’t know what to say about any of this.”
“It’s okay, Kara. I’m not going to call him and that decision is mine. It would be too painful. He’s made his decision, end of story.”
“But it’s not really.” Kara said unhappily, “Because of Elle you can’t just completely break ties with him. And then there’s Donna. I love her.” Kara said being totally honest. “She called me this morning and she and Don are coming to my graduation.” Kara paused, “She said no matter what I’ll always be her granddaughter.”
Monica felt a fresh stab of pain. Donna was like a mother to her. She was Elle’s grandma. How difficult the whole situation was becoming. Once more Monica had to fight to hold back tears. “I‘ve got to go.” She couldn’t talk about any of this right now. There were things she had to do and she had to be strong.

Gerard had been almost completely silent all day. He had answered a few pre-screened questions earlier during a magazine interview but that was it. Ray had been the one to insist the band see the questions they were to be asked before agreeing to the interview. Too many things could not be discussed right now. He’d been surprised and pleased when Gerard had quietly thanked him for handling the situation. Now as the band headed back to their hotel Ray looked over at his friend and saw that he had his eyes closed.
“You asleep?” He asked softly.
“No” Gerard answered with his eyes still closed.
“You know there’s never been anything we couldn’t talk about.” Ray said. He and Gerard were alone in the van with only the driver. The others had decided to grab a bite to eat. He had chosen to go back to the hotel hoping to talk to Gee alone.
“There’s nothing to talk about.” Gerard answered in a voice without emotion.
“Gee, talk to me. I want to understand what happened. How can you let Monica get away? I know you love her.”
Gerard spoke from his heart, “I fucked up. Not just with Monica but with everyone in my life.”
“Because of Liv? Does this all have to do with her?” Ray asked struggling to understand.
“I wonder how different my life would be if I’d never met her.” Gerard said sitting up.
The statement surprised Ray, “I think things happen for a reason. You wouldn’t be the person you are today if you hadn’t met her. You wouldn’t have Elle.” He said hoping to remind Gee that even though Liv had put him through hell he still had a beautiful little girl.
“The man I am today?” Gerard scoffed, “Fuck, then I should have never met her cause I’m a screwed up fucker.”

Now that the seniors were gone the lunchroom was much less crowded. Kelly and Luke sat eating their lunches in a comfortable silence. Finally Luke spoke.
“Kara excited about graduating?”
Kelly shrugged, “I don’t know. She says she just want to get it over with.”
Luke was concerned about Kelly. Since she found out about the breakup she’d been so quiet and withdrawn. He stared to ask her a question when she suddenly blurted out her thoughts.
“I’m just so stupid. I really thought he’d call me. I made myself believe he’s care about that text I sent him.” Her eyes filled with tears, “I thought he’s say that it would all be okay, that he still loved us.” She lowered her head.
“Oh fuck, Sunshine.” Luke said feeling helpless. “I wish there was something I could do, something I could say to make this better.”
“Hey Kelly. Heard about your mom and Gerard breaking up. Guess you won’t have a famous DAD after all.”
Luke swung around in his seat to see two of Kelly’s old friends laughing. “Shut the fuck up.” He growled.
The girls decided not to push it any further. They turned and walked off. Luke looked back over at Kelly.
“It’s no big deal. I was fucking stupid to ever think Gerard was really my dad.” She said wiping her eyes, “Fucking stupid.”

“Hold on a sec. Someone’s at the door.” Christa said as she moved across the room. She smiled when she saw it was Monica. “Hey, come on in.”
Monica closed the door behind her.
“Hey, Monica’s here.” Christa said into the phone.
“Tell Monica I said hello.” Ray answered. He noticed Gerard looked over at him when he said Monica’s name.
“Ray says hello.” Christa relayed the message. Monica returned the greeting, which was relayed by Christa. She then told Ray she would call him later as she wanted to visit with Monica.
“So would you like some coffee? I can make a fresh pot.” Christa offered as they sat down on the sofa to talk.
“Actually I can’t stay long. Kara is watching Elle for me and I’ve got so many things to get done. I came over to ask you a favor.”
“Sure, anything.” Christa said. She hated the haunted look in Monica’s eyes.
“The wedding invitations.” Monica said quickly, “People have to be told the wedding is off.” She took a deep breath, “I just can’t. Would you please handle it for me?”

They were about ten minutes from taking the stage when Christa called Ray. She explained to him why Monica had stopped by. Ray listened as Christa told him how terrible she felt for her friend. He understood and felt the same way.
“Christa, I’ll call you later.” Ray had to raise his voice to be heard. He had moved closer to the stage to make sure everything was ready and the crowd was getting loud and restless. After he disconnected he turned to see Gerard standing behind him.
“How’s Christa?” He asked.
“She’s good.”
Gerard looked down, “And Monica?”
Ray didn’t want to tell him why Monica had been to see Christa, not this close to going on stage but he didn’t see anyway around it. “She asked Christa to make sure that everyone who got an invitation knew that the wedding was off.”
Gerard looked up at him. Ray saw the pain in his eyes, “Oh” He said before turning and walking towards the stage.

AUTHORS NOTE: HEY GUYS I HAVE SOME STUFF THAT I HAVE TO DEAL WITH SO I WON’T BE POSTING A NEW CHAPTER UNTIL MONDAY. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO CONTINUE TO READ THIS STORY. LOVE YOU ALL - SANDEE XOXO