I sit up; the walls around me not looking like my bedroom at all. I groan and arch my back a little, there’s a dull aching pain right at the bottom of my spine and I can’t understand why. I try stretching again to get it to go away, but there’s a small clicking noise and my mouth spills a noise of pain. It’s not too loud, kind of like a whimper. I then become aware of a weight beside me and I glance down, finding a sleeping Bandit snuggled up with a fluffy toy, but not the one she had gone to sleep with. This one is a purple bunny. Okay... that’s weird, how did she get that? The memories of last night come flooding back – the storm and the stranger coming in and kissing both me and Bandit. It must have been Gerard, but why did he come? Yesterday he had stressed how much he trusted me yet he had come to check up on me in the middle of the night? And how did he even get in? I shake away my thoughts and try to get off the couch without waking Bandit up. It’s a little more difficult than I expected, but I manage to achieve it, getting off the couch limb by limb.
I walk to the kitchen, hopefully being able to find out the time and get some coffee. The clock on the wall there tells me it’s half nine in the morning. Why is Bandit still sleeping? Aren’t kids meant to be up at like the ass crack of dawn? I know my kids always are, or were when they were still living with me. I sigh and turn on the kettle, hoping the noise won’t wake up the child sleeping in my front room, and eventually get my coffee. As soon as the coffee burns my taste buds it’s like all my senses come alive and I can finally think straight. There’s a loud knock on the door and I want to scream at them for being so loud and probably waking Bandit up, but it’s probably Gerard coming to pick her up. I walk towards the front door, glancing into the front room on my way to see that Bandit was still asleep, just a little more spread across the couch. I open the door and see Gerard standing there in the sun, sunglasses on, hair styled neatly and a huge grin on his face. So, he’s either grinning because he got a night of sleep finally, or he got laid - I’m not sure which.
“Hey, come in,” I say, stepping away from the door way and more behind the door, “But you might wanna keep it down, Bandit’s asleep on the couch.”
“I smell coffee – can I have some? I haven’t had any today,” He asks and I grimace, because smiling without coffee? He so got laid last night, I don’t care how much sleep he got. I haven’t been laid in so long, but right now, I don’t even care. Being laid means relationships, and I’m just seriously not ready for them. I don’t want to bond with other people; I just wanna stay on my own and have nothing to do with others. But then, I have this strong bond with Gerard that will never break. But I’d never do that with Gerard - that would be so weird. Can you imagine? It would just cause so much drama for everyone, and I don’t need that. But then, all those times we’d kissed on stage nobody had cared. But it would still be weird. I’m pulled from my thoughts by a hand waving in my face.
“Hey man, are you okay? You like zoned out and you were making grossed out face, it was pretty weird.” Oh God, he thinks I’m weird. Well… I am, but I shouldn’t be zoning out like that. Damn it.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’ll get you a coffee now.”
As I’m about to walk back to the kitchen to finish my own coffee and make Gerard his, we hear a gasp. “Daddy Frank? Daddy Gerard? Where are you?” Bandit shouts and I flush red. She called us both “daddy” in front of each other. Sure it’s adorable, but maybe Gerard might be offended? I wouldn’t really like it if my kids started calling another man daddy. Gerard just lets out a chuckle; I guess he wasn’t that offended then.
“We’re coming B,” Gerard smiled and then looked at me seriously, “I guess I should have told you about that huh? She’s um, taken to calling you Daddy Frank. I mean I don’t understand why, and Lindsey was a little weirded out when it first happened, so I told B to stop, but I guess she doesn’t want to.”
