Tre's Angel

It all began for him the day we met and it all began for me the day before we met.

Yes, it happened before I’d even met him, this kind of knot in my stomach and all because of a photograph of him and the fact my brother knew him.

I hadn’t wanted it to happen, I couldn’t really afford for it to happen.

It just happened.

**

“This is it then sweetheart,” said Tre looking at Frankito. He was all ready to go and Frankito had been in a mood with him all morning. Claudia was holding him in her arms and he was hiding his face from Tre. This happened every single time, like a ritual. He would hardly talk to Tre just before he left to go on tour and then all of a sudden he would come round, just as Tre was getting his coat on. Frankito got down from Claudia’s arms and ran into his father. Hugging at his legs as if that action would be able to stop him from going.

“I love you daddy,” said the tiny brown haired, brown-eyed boy.

“And I love you too.” Tre bent down to his little son’s level.

“It’s for about six weeks this time and you’ll be busy with school and when school’s out, you’ll have me for months and months on end, I promise.”

Then Frankito looked at him, tears forming in his brown eyes.

“But… what if you find someone and fall in love with her and then you stay in another country and you have another little boy? Then… then I’ll never see you.”

“Oh sweetheart,” he said hugging into his boy, if I meet a lady and fall in love with her, I’ll just have to bring her home here first to meet you, then I’ll bring her here to live with us and we can all be one big happy family. OK?”

Frankito just nodded.

“I love you daddy.” He said once again.

“I know you do and I love you very much, now make sure you get your Mom to put the web cam on and you can wave at me, you hear?”

Frankito nodded again and Tre’s heart tore in two.

This was the worst of it, leaving his son. He hated this moment but this was his life, this was all he knew.

A car horn sounded then and it was that moment, the moment that they both dreaded.

They hugged tightly and kissed each other then Tre turned, pecked Claudia on the cheek, collected his bag and closed the door quietly behind him.

He sighed and looked up to the sky, shook his head and smiled a small smile. As if he was going to fall in love.

The things Frankito came out with.

**

“Angela, what am I going to do without you?” said my boss of five years, Kevin, “Who is going to put up with my ideas and ways about doing things.” He said hands on his hips and… yeah he was looking sort of sad.

“What, like getting you fifty cups of coffee before 11am and buying anniversary gifts for your wife.” I said mockingly. “I suppose you will miss that Kevin because not every PA would put up with doing all those things for you.” I said laughingly.

“Yes, I know we’re all seriously going to miss you and… well it’s a shame that it all had to come to this.” He said.

“So am I really, you may not think it but I’ve actually quite enjoyed working here, I’ll miss it too.” And I would. Kevin had been a good boss to me over the years, accommodating all my personal appointments around work. I was glad that he had been my boss, there were many in this company that wouldn’t have understood. I suppose, even though I’d hate to admit it, I suppose, yeah I would miss Kevin too.

“So you decided not to go out after work for a drink.” He said. “I was quite looking forward to socialising with you for the evening, buying you one last drink to say thanks.”

“No I can’t quite cope with evenings out at the moment, but I’m having cakes and coffee mid afternoon. There’ll be krispy kreme donuts,” I said raising my eyebrows at him, knowing that they were his favourites.

“How can I resist those?” he said rubbing at his stomach and walking away, laughing.

I watched him go back into his office and I turned to the computer to finish off typing a memo for him. It would probably be my last one and I would miss him and the girls but I had made my decision and that was that.

I was taking a year out of work to decide what I wanted to do with my life.

For god sake I was 25 years old, you’d think by now that I’d know what I wanted to do wouldn’t you? But I didn’t, never had done really, getting into office work was like a stopgap that I never got out of. There was more to life than this and I knew it, I just had to find out what.

I was going to take a small break and spend it with the family. My brother was a musician and was touring with some band or other. He was very talented and I was going to meet up with him tomorrow. I couldn’t wait to see Ronnie again; even though he was 7 years older than me, we were very close. He’d been the typical older brother, stepping in and taking stock of situations right from when I was small. Sometimes I thought he forgot that I was 25 and had a mind of my own. Yeah… it would be good to see him.

**
Bringing in the box of cakes I could hear the girls laughing at something, something they were looking at, gathered around Shelley’s desk.

“Oooh, I could show him a thing or two.” Said Shelley

Shelley was loud and brassy but we adored her. She was like our mother figure.

“But he’s half your age.” Said the virginal Natalie. Natalie had never had a boyfriend. She was older than me at 29 and just lived her life for animals, after she left work of an evening she went to the vet’s surgery for two hours to help out with the animals there, all voluntary of course.

“All the better,” leered Shelley who was actually happily married to Bob and had three gorgeous grown up children of her own.

Natalie just rolled her eyes at me.

“What on earth are you looking at?” I said placing the cake box down onto the desk.

Rosie was just behind me bringing in the coffees.

“Oh Angel, feast your eyes on this lot.” Said Shelley pointing at a couple of magazines on the desk.

“Oh yes I do like him.” Said Rosie coming to have a look too. “That’s that Pete Wentz from Fall Out boy.”

“Pete who from who?” I said intrigued.

They immediately laughed at me. I knew nothing about music even though my family were musical. Ronnie had been given all the musical genes that ran through our family. I wasn’t even interested and Dad despaired of me. He’d been a drummer in a band in the 70s. They’d had one hit but I couldn’t for the life of me remember it. The only thing I remember was the photographs of him from that time with his handlebar moustache and platform shoes.

“Oh. Yes I suppose he’s OK.” I said glancing over Rosie’s shoulder.

“Any of Jake Gyllenhaal or Matt Damon?” I asked hopefully.

“Oh Angel this is a music magazine, not a movie magazine. Music. M.U.S.I.C.” said Rosie.

“OK,” I said glancing at the magazine. “Hey their name rings a bell,” I said pointing at three guys with the name Green Day on the drum kit, “and I actually recognise that drum kit, Dad has one just like it at home.”

“Hhhmmmm what I could do with that bass player,” said Shelley ogling the tallest of the guys. Natalie always kept quiet when things like this were going on.

“No I prefer him, Billie Joe the lead singer. Now I definitely could show him a thing or too,” Rosie said then laughing.

“I know where I’ve heard that name from now,” I said, “I think Ronnie is touring with them at the moment. Green Day, yeah I’m sure it’s them, let me take a closer look,” I said as the others went off to get their cakes.

I checked out the picture an there was a guy standing there on the left with black spiky hair, and black eyeliner. He had on black trousers, black shirt and a red tie. Not bad looking but what’s with the make up? Alongside him was a taller guy with bleached hair who looked as though he could do with his roots doing, he had on a vest top with his bare arms showing quite a few tattoos and there in the back was the third guy.

“Hey Angel,” said Rosie, “you were kidding right about your brother playing with Green Day?” She said, stuffing her face with donut.

I looked up at her. “I’m not sure but their name seems familiar,” I said glancing back at the picture.

“What’s your brother’s name then?” asked Shelley.

“It’s Ronnie, she just mentioned that,” said Rosie.

“So his surname must be Blake like yours. Ronnie Blake, never heard of him,” said Shelley.

“Me neither,” said Rosie.

“Well he’s not famous,” I said looking back at the picture, at one of the three guys in particular. I spoke as I stared at the guy. “You know I think this is the band he is playing with and I’m probably going to meet them tomorrow.”

As I looked up the girls were standing there eating their donuts and shaking their heads at me.

“What?” I said wondering why they were so amused. The girls turned then to get their coffees and I just had to have one last look at the guy in the picture sitting at the drum kit, the one that had caught my eye. He had brown hair that was sticking up mohican style and these wonderful blue eyes that were looking back at me. Yes. They were definitely looking back, at me.