Never Tear Us Apart

Gerard woke the next day, to the sound of rustling.

He slowly sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, his short blonde hair sticking up in all different directions.

“What are you doing?” Gerard yawned.

“Getting ready.” Anna mumbled as she sped past the bed and grabbed something before racing out of the room again.

“Getting ready for what?” Gerard asked sleepily.

“School.” Anna muttered as she quickly walked past the bedroom door.

“Have you seen my notebook?” Anna asked Gerard, poking her head into the room, grasping onto the door handle to keep her balance.

“No…” Gerard trailed off.

“Anna, why are you going to school?” Gerard asked slowly, watching Anna exhale loudly and walk back into their bedroom to tear it apart even more.

“Because I have school today.” Anna said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

“Anna, I don’t think going to school right now is a good idea.” Gerard hinted.

“Then what is a good idea Gerard?” Anna snapped, stopping her movements and staring ahead at Gerard.

They stared at each other, their eyes locked as an unexplainable tension filled the air.

Anna broke the glaze and walked out of the room.

She returned a couple of minutes later, grabbing a few more things and fixed her hair before she announced that she was leaving.

Gerard leant forward slightly and puckered his lips, expecting a goodbye kiss. But all he got was a muttered goodbye before he heard the front door slam shut and Anna’s car start, and drive off.

“Damn it! She’s doing it again!” Gerard muttered as he threw the covers off of him and stepped out of bed to make himself a cup of coffee.

Gerard waited for Anna to come home from school. He needed to talk to her. He needed to make her understand what she was doing.

And after two hours after school was expected to finish, Anna arrived home.

“Hey.” Anna mumbled as she walked in the door, set her bag down and walked into the kitchen.

“How was your day?” Gerard asked sweetly, following her with his eyes.

“Shit as always.” Anna muttered, grabbing an apple and taking a huge bite out of it.

“Would it have been shit because you went to school just after you’ve lost your father?” Gerard asked smartly.

“What the fuck is up with you?!” Anna snapped.

“Nothing is fucking up with me!” Gerard defended loudly.

“Well you’re sure fucking acting like it!” Anna shouted.

“Anna, you’re doing it all over again!” Gerard yelled.

Instantly, Anna knew what Gerard was talking about.

“Gerard, you need to fucking learn that people have different ways of dealing with things. I’m not like you were I just get up and get over it.” Anna screamed.

“I don’t just fucking get up and get over it!” Gerard defended.

“But you need to learn I deal with it in my own way! I take a while to get over things!” Anna screamed.

“That’s not my point Anna! Don’t you fucking remember what happened last time?! You were so close to depression it wasn’t funny!” Gerard roared.

“That’s got nothing to do with what I am doing now, and how I deal with things.” Anna said in a calming tone.

Anna walked out of the room and into the ‘music room’.

Gerard groaned in frustration and got up from the couch and walked to the room Anna had just walked into.

“You don’t understand that what happened last time was a result of not talking to anyone. Shutting people off. Pretending everything was fine and that nothing was happening…” Gerard said with a hint of plead in his voice.

“I don’t want to think, or talk about it because I don’t want to have to deal with the pain of losing someone so dear. If I just pretend that nothing’s wrong, then I won’t have to deal with it all… And if I pretend for long enough, sometimes it actually feels real, and that I don’t have to pretend anymore.” Anna whispered, her back turned to Gerard, staring at a white painted wall.

Gerard sighed and walked over towards his now sniffling fiancée.

“I want you to open up to me. I want you to talk to me. To cry to me. I want to comfort you and hold you in my arms. But I can’t do that if you just shut me out.” Gerard said softly as he placed a hand on Anna’s small shoulder.

“I don’t mean to shut you out, it just comes naturally for me. It’s like I’m on autopilot.” Anna whispered.

“That’s because you’ve been at it for so long that you don’t have to think about it, you just do it.” Gerard sighed.

“I’m not forcing you to tell me everything your feeling. But I at least want know when you need me. When you need comforting. And if you need to talk, I want you to talk to me. I don’t want you keeping it all inside you anymore.” Gerard said in a sweet and caring tone.

“I promise I’ll try my best to not shut you out as much. When I need to talk to someone, I’ll talk to you.” Anna said softly.

“That’s all I ask.” Gerard whispered, pulling Anna tightly into his arms and kissing her head.

“And when I need comforting, I expect one of your awesome warm hugs.” Anna said, looking up at the man she loved and smiled.

“Only for comforting?” Gerard whined.

“No, just, when I need a hug, I’ll see you.” Anna said.

“Good. Cause I don’t want no one else’s arms around my girl.” Gerard said.

“I wouldn’t dream of anyone else’s arms around me but yours.” Anna whispered as she closed her eyes and exhaled slowly.

Gerard smiled and kissed the top of her head again.

All she could do now was hope that she would be able to keep Gerard’s promise….