Someone out There Loves You

Frankenstein was about to cut something.
Pete turned out not to be Gloria’s boyfriend at all, but her half brother. And motherfuck he was annoying.
“Anyone else in the world,” Frank mumbled to me. “I’d rather ride with anyone else in the world than this guy. That crazy dude from Texas Chainsaw Masssacre, Ed Gein, or fucking Russell Brand for all I care. Any other asshole over this one.”
The thing is, Pete didn’t stop talking. Ever. Some people spoke in paragraphs, where as Pete talked in one huge sentence. I’ll bet his lungs had already shriveled up considering he never gave himself the chance to breathe. On top of that he talked fast; we heard his life story in about five minutes.
Gloria and Molly hit it off pretty well, though. Gloria was sixteen, too, but you would never know it because she looked about twenty.
“Technically I don’t have a license yet,” she said, “But I doubt there are any cops in the middle of the desert.” We didn’t really care, we were just happy that Pete was quiet while she talked.
Eventually I think Gloria was pretty pissed too, so she gave Pete the wheel and came into the back of the pickup with us. She also talked Pete into thinking he was a bad driver that needed to focus in order to stay alive, allowing the window to be closed and Pete unable to talk.
“I don’t mean to be rude,” Gerard said, “But Pete’s kind of a...”
“Cunt waffle?”
“Yes.” Frank was awed that someone else besides us agreed.
Gloria laughed. “I know. How my mom ever got dumb enough to screw his dad I’ll never know. But he does have a good heart. He’s just really been hyper this entire tour, and it’s starting to worry me. Guess how stressed I’ve been.”
Suddenly a thought came to me. “Holy shit! I haven’t called my parents in weeks.”
“That,” Molly said, “Was so freaking random.”
I ignored her and grabbed my cell from my pocket, dialing my home phone. But I changed my mind—I’d missed my dad last time and I didn’t want to again, so I called his office phone. The desert wind whipped past so quickly that I had to put my phone on speaker so the mic would actually pick up my voice.
He picked up on the third ring. “Doctor Shier.”
“Hi Dad!”
“Clayah!” Oh God, I could hear his smile, I missed it. “Aw, kiddo, I’ve missed you.”
“Dad,” I said flatly.
“Sorry, sorry, I know you hate it when I call you that. But how are you?”
“Sunburned and hungry. We got stranded in the desert and picked up by strangers.”
“…You’re not in Texas, though, right?” Frank gave me a “I’m so psychic” look that made me laugh.
“Now, we’re about at the Four Corners. Say hi to everybody though!”
Brief introductions all around, but something confused my dad. “Wait, why are you telling me who they are?”
“Uh, because they’re my friends? And you don’t know them?”
“Well, yeah, most of them.”
“You lost me, Dad.”
“In fact I’m even shocked you called me! Even more so that you’re not screaming or crying.”
“Dad, what the hell are you—“
“Wait, hold on one sec, Clayah.” I heard him talk to a nurse in the background. “Honey, I gotta go.”
“What? Why?”
“I’m on ER duty. But we’ll finish this later, promise. I’ll call you. And please don’t get mad again before we talk, alright?”
“What do you mean ‘get mad’?”
“I love you lots, Clayah, have fun.” And he hung up.

Again with this?
The rest of the truck ride was a bit awkward. Clayah sat and stared at her phone, now only mad at Todd because she didn’t get an answer from him. The rest of us felt totally awkward—Frank shifted not knowing what to do, Gerard and I started sweating with fear, and Mollers was absolutely pissed for obvious reasons and because she knew we were still in our time limit. The only person completely oblivious was Gloria.
“My dad doesn’t keep secrets from me,” Clayah said, hurt. Molly turned crimson with anger.

After the show that night we all had to stay in a hotel. Rush And Ruin (now fully equipped with their bassist, who finally woke up) were rather annoyed by this because of their whole “live it up on the bus” plan and stunned at the prices, so Gerard and I offered to share a room with them. We had an inkling Clayah would either need a talk or a broken cell phone.
Since no one had their luggage back yet, Rush And Ruin ran to buy necessities from the drug store down the street. Because they felt indebted to us I guess. Clayah stayed behind to wait for Todd’s call and we stayed with her.
“Never ever hang up on Bandit like that,” Clayah said to Gerard. “It’s fucking annoying.”
Gerard grinned. “When she starts to speak real English I’ll keep that in mind.” This drew a smile from Clayah.
“I just don’t know what could be taking him so long,” she said. “I mean it’s been like six hours. He only goes on ER duty for about three.”
“Maybe he was tired.”
She shook her head. “Still, my dad’s not like that. We’re close. He wouldn’t just fall asleep without calling me.”
“Or it was a really BIG emergency.”
Clayah sighed. “I just don’t know.” She reached for her phone to click the center button and check for Todd, like she’d been doing all afternoon. But the screen stayed dark.
“Dammit,” she growled. “Battery must’ve died. Aw, fuck, and I don’t have my charger…”
“I’ll text Levi to grab you one.” Yeah, Mikey, support your death, why don’t you.
“Thanks.”
A knock came on our door. I answered it to find Molly, staring coldly at me.
“Can I talk to you and Gerard for a second?”
We left Clayah alone in the hotel room and stepped into the hall with Molly. There was a long moment of silence while she stared us down. And Mollers isn’t that tall.
“You,” she snarled at us, “Have four days to go.”
“Yeah, we do.” I said it to make a point that, yes, we knew that, and that we were still justified those four days.
“After what almost happened today I’m pretty damn convinced that you should tell her now.”
“Isn’t that our decision still?” Gerard said.
“That girl—“ Molly pointed to the door of our room, “—means a lot to me. I do not want to see her be hurt by this. She’ll be shocked by the news, that’s for sure, but she’ll be more excited than ever. Clayah idolizes you two, for Christ’s sake. She could never be mad. I know I wasn’t!”
“But,” Gerard said, “Do you remember how your dad felt?”
“That’s different. Neither of us knew about each other. You two have known about Clayah since she was conceived. Frank wasn’t mad, not at me. My bio mom, maybe, but not me.” Molly shook her head at us, disappointed. “I really don’t understand how you sleep at night. You should be dying of guilt right now.”
“YOU THINK WE’RE NOT?” Gerard tried to breathe in his yell. “Molly, we love Clayah, too. We don’t want to see her hurt, either. Do you understand how hard it is to risk breaking her in half?”
“You haven’t even tried to tell her!”
“Untrue.” Molly and I looked at him. “I almost told her,” Gerard explained. “Last week when we stayed with her for the night. You were still asleep, Mikey. She and I talked a bit. I almost told her.”
“Pff,” Molly said, “And why didn’t you?”
“It’s not like I was going to do something Mikey and I are supposed to do together. I realized that and held it back.”
“Okay, fine, that’s excusable—“
“Thank you, it is,” Gerard cut in. “Now I think it’s time we all went to bed, don’t you? It’s been quite the day.”
Molly didn’t even say goodnight as she stormed down the hall to her room.
“Thanks,” I grumbled.
“What for?”
“For not telling Clayah without me.”
“Hey, bro.” Gerard patted my back. “I would never do that without you. I feel stupid for even considering it. We’re family. Both—all three of us. And it’s supposed to be you and I that make that clear.”
I nodded. “Unless Todd beats us to it.”
“I don’t think that’ll happen.” I looked at him questioningly, and he reached into the pocket of his Party Poison jacket. He withdrew a Motorolla battery.

I gave up on my dad when it was ten o’clock Chicago time. Meaning midnight for me. My phone was being a shit and refusing to charge anyway.
I needed to get out of our room. After three hours I’d gotten kind of claustrophobic. I was tired as hell but I knew I couldn’t ever fall asleep with this weight on my mind. So quietly as I could as not to wake anyone, I grabbed the plastic room key from the table and snuck out the door.
I didn’t exactly know where to head from there. I felt a little less cramped up in the hall but not by much. I strolled to the elevator for a guide of destinations and decided on the outdoor pool. Even though a relaxing swim was out of the question I could at least stare at the sky.
When I got there, even the night air was warm. And humid. But it was better than the dryness of our room, and the blue shining up from the pool lights made me feel a bit less alone. Which, I quickly learned, I wasn’t.
“Boo.” Even though it wasn’t meant to scare me, it sort of did. Mollers smiled at me from her pool chair. “Can’t sleep?”
“Didn’t try.” I pulled up a chair next to her and leaned back all the way, like her.
“Same here. Did your dad ever get back to you?”
I shook my head. “I don’t get why… he probably had a long day or something. He’ll call in the morning.”
“I’m sorry.”
I shrugged. “It’s cool.” I pointed up. “You know, he was the one who taught me about the night sky and that kind of thing. Part of why I came out here.”
“Really?”
I nodded. “My dad was going to be an astronomer, but he chose to be a doctor instead. He spontaneously decided to propose to my mom when they walked out of a restaurant one night and the first thing he spotted in the sky was Saturn. He saw it as a sign or something.”
Molly laughed. “Did he have a ring or anything?”
“That’s the best part. He got down on one knee and said, ‘A diamond can only be seen by the people it’s in front of. But the entire world can look up and see the planets. I want to give you Saturn’s rings, and ask you to marry me.’”
“…Damn.”
“I know. Some people think it’s kind of cheesy but, come on, for a spur of the moment that’s pretty good.”
“For sure, no wonder she said yes.”
“I know right?” I laughed. “They got married right after my dad finished med school. Then when they had me I absolutely had to have a name relating to astronomy somehow.”
“How did ‘Clayah’ come out of that?”
“Well, not my first name, because my mom was in love with the name Clayah. My dad was the one who picked my middle name—Callisto.”
“Like the bear?”
“Yep, and that’s why. He said he could tell I was going to ‘attack the world.’ Like a bear. Guess they were right.”
“Clayah Callisto Shier… I like it.”
“So did they.”
Molly turned her head and looked at me for a minute. “You really miss your family, huh?”
My eyes welled up. “Yeah, I really do. I always wanted out of Barrington… well, I don’t miss that. Just my parents.”
“So you guys are close?”
“My parents and I are like friends. They’re still kids, in a way. I dunno. It just sucks being without them.”
“I can’t really relate there, since I’m on the road with my dad.”
“Appreciate that you’ve got family with you, dude. We’re all LIKE family, I know, but I miss having real family.”
We stopped talking and I could practically hear Mollers thinking. “Hey, sorry I’ve been bitching, I didn’t even ask what’s up with you.”
She shrugged. “Stressed.” Pause. “Clayah?”
“Hmm?”
“If you miss your family,” Molly said, “You should talk to Gerard and Mikey.”
“Oh…kay?”
“I know, sounds kind of random, but you really should.”
“It’s not so much random,” I said, “As I’m just kind of wondering where you got that relation.”
“Talk to them. You’ll see.”
“Secrets secrets are no fun.”
“Yeah. I know.”
We let a somewhat awkward silence hang for a moment. Then I grinned and looked up in the sky. “Ha!” I pointed. “See that group of stars?”
“Yeah?”
“That’s Callisto.”
I didn’t really know in that moment that it was a sign.