After Everything's Said and Done

Gerard didn’t immediately respond. I probably caught him off guard, but I soon felt him kissing me back. He pushed me onto my back on his couch, getting on top of me without breaking the kiss. He had just slipped his tongue into my mouth when there was a knock on the apartment door. Gerard immediately stopped kissing me and looked at the door.

“Damn people,” he muttered.

“I’ll get it,” I said. Whoever was waiting for us to let them in knocked again. “Just a second! Gerard get off of me.”

“Fine,” he said, getting off of me. “If I must.”

I smoothed my now messy hair as I headed toward the door. When I got to the door, I opened it and started to say, “Sorry to keep—Frank?”

Standing in front of me was someone I didn’t expect to see. I mean, sure, he is Gerard’s friend, but I didn’t think Gerard would invite him because of me. I guess I was wrong.

I noticed Frank was carrying a large case of beer in one hand, and in his other hand was another hand, which belonged to a red haired girl who looked to be about my age. Frank didn’t say anything so I decided I would.

“C-Come in,” I said, stepping back and letting them enter. After they were in I closed the door. I didn’t follow them but stayed where I was, staring at the floor.

“Hey Frank,” I heard Gerard say. “Hello Missy.”

I assumed that was the girl’s name.

“Where do you want the beer?” I heard Frank say.

“Just put it in the fridge,” said Gerard.

I didn’t know what to do. I just stayed where I was. I heard someone coming towards mea and I quickly wiped away the few tears that had slipped out.

“Hey,” said Gerard quietly. He put his hand on my shoulder and turned me around. I looked at him and I could see the concern on his face. “You ok?”

I just nodded, and another tear slipped out from my eye. Gerard wiped the tear away with his thumb before he pulled me closer and hugged me. “Just forget he’s here. Tonight’s for you and you should be happy, ok?”

“Ok,” I whispered. I pulled out of his embrace and looked at Gerard’s face and gave him a small smile.

“It’ll be ok,” he said before leaning toward me and kissing me softly. There was another knock on the door and I could hear people talking. “Well, time to greet your guests.”

Gerard turned and went back to check on Frank and Missy. I opened the door and smiled.

“Hey Mikey!” I said.

“Claire! Happy birthday!” he exclaimed. He came in and hugged me. Bob and Ray were right behind Mikey. After receiving two more hugs and ‘Happy birthday’s’ I closed the door and joined everyone in the living room.

Gerard and Mikey were sitting on the couch and everyone else was sitting on chairs Gerard had brought into the living room.

“Come sit here, Claire,” said Gerard, indicating the empty space between him and Mikey on the couch. I walked over and sat down. Gerard then handed me a can of beer he had already opened for me. I immediately drank some of it.

“So Claire?” said Mikey. “What brings you to New York City?”

“I’m looking for a job,” I said. “And a place to live.”

There was suddenly a ringing sound coming from Gerard’s room.

“What’s that?” asked Bob. It took me a second to recognize the sound as my cell phone ringing.

“Oh!” I said, jumping up. “It’s my cell phone.”

I ran into Gerard’s room and grabbed it, then answered it.

“Hello?” I said.

“Claire, it’s mom,” said my mother on the other end.

“Hey mom,” I said. “What’s up?”

“I just called to say happy birthday and tell you everything here is good,” she
said. “How’s the job search going?”

“Eh. Still looking,” I said.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll find something,” she said. “Sam wants to talk to you.”

“Ok,” I said, smiling. “Put her on.”

I heard my mom hand the phone to my daughter.

“Mommy!” said Sam.

“Hello Sam,” I said, smiling at the sound of her voice. “Are you being good for grandma?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Ok,” I said. I looked at the clock and saw it was about 8:30. “I think it’s about
time you go to bed. I’ll talk to you later, ok sweetie?”

“Ok,” she said. “Bye!”

“Bye Sam,” I said. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she said.

I hung up the phone. I went back out into the living room. Someone had turned the radio on because there was now music playing softly. I sat back down next to Gerard who handed me my beer, which I had quickly handed him when I went to answer my cell phone.

“Who called?” asked Gerard.

“My mom and Sam,” I said.

“Who’s Sam?” asked Mikey. “Is that your boyfriend or something?”

“No, Sam’s my daughter,” I said. I knew Frank was looking at me now, but I didn’t look at him. “Her name’s Samantha, but I call her Sam for short.”

“Wow,” said Mikey. “How old is she?”

“4,” I said. “Her birthday was on the first of this month.”

“Who’s the father? Do we know him?” asked Mikey.

“Doesn’t matter,” I said, finishing my beer. “He didn’t want anything to do with her. I’m going to get another beer.”

I got up quickly and went to the kitchen. I opened the fridge and grabbed another beer, remembering the night I had drunk with Gerard and him telling me it would help forget for a little while. Right now I wanted to forget.

~A Few Hours Later~

I was coming back into the living room with another beer. I lost count of how many I had drunk. I was almost to the couch when I stumbled over my own feet and fell on top of Gerard. Everyone laughed at me, including myself.

“I’m sorry Gee!” I said, giggling drunkenly. Gerard helped me up as best he could, then he pulled me onto his lap.

“I don’t mind you falling on me,” he said, wrapping his arms around my waist. He smiled at me. “Especially someone as pretty as you.”

“You’re so sweet and adorable,” I said. I brought my face close to his and started kissing him, not caring that everyone could see us. Gerard eagerly kissed back, sliding his tongue into my mouth. After a minute, I suddenly pulled away.

“Ugh,” I said. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”

I got off of Gerard clumsily and stepped towards the bathroom, resulting in me tripping and falling again. Unfortunately for me, I fell on Frank.

“I’ll help her to the bathroom,” I heard Missy say, as I stayed where I was, too drunk to try and get off of Frank. She came over to me and started to help me up.

“I’m sorry, Frank,” I whispered.

Missy finally got me up and into the bathroom where I rushed to the toilet, where I immediately started throwing up the contents of my stomach. I felt Missy pull my hair back from my face.

When I was done, my throat burned and my mouth had the taste of vomit in it. Missy found some mouthwash and gave me some to rinse my mouth out with. I stumbled back to the couch after and sat on Gerard’s lap, resting my head on Gerard’s shoulder. I noticed Mikey, Ray and Bob were gone.

“We’re going to go now,” I heard Frank say.

“Ok,” said Gerard. “See you tomorrow.”

“Bye,” Missy said.

I heard the apartment door open and then close.

Gerard got up, picking me up at the same time. He carried me to his bed and put me on it. I grabbed the blankets and pulled them over me. The last thing I remember before passing out was Gerard pushing some of my hair out of my face.