Sequel: Upwards ›
Frontwards
Going unnoticed.
Frank admitted that he felt a little emasculated that I technically proposed to him, so to make him feel better I let him buy me a beautiful engagement ring. Aren’t I just so kind?
He bought it then and there. Less than an hour after we left the beach, we were heading back towards the hotel and my left hand was adorned with the most beautiful diamond ring in the whole world.
Now don’t get me wrong here: Frank isn’t particularly rich. Obviously he’s making steady money but artists get a smaller wage than you might expect because most money from sales and tours go to the producers, the managers, the record labels, whatever. The actual people in the bands; the ones singing and playing and writing, get about 10 percent. Divide this by the five members of My Chemical Romance, and you can see what I mean. Frank has enough money to be comfortable. He has enough money to be able to support me and, when it’s born, the baby. But he isn’t absolutely loaded.
“You can have any ring you want, Daisy,” he had said. “Don’t think about the money. Just pick whichever ring you want.”
But, Daisy being Daisy, I didn’t like the most expensive rings. I didn’t like the over-the-top extravagant ones. One of those would just look plain ridiculous on my finger because they don’t represent me. I wanted a plain white gold band with a modest diamond. That’s all.
As soon as I saw it, I knew it was the one. I spotted it beneath that glass cabinet and I just flushed. “That one,” I said to Frank.
He grinned as he was waving the store assistant over. It was one of those snooty guys with a big nose and silver hair and a face like a slapped arse. He fiddled around and got it out of the cabinet and Frank slipped it onto my finger and it just felt perfect.
“Yep,” Frank grinned, looking a little emotional if I’m honest. “That’s the one.”
I love it. I can’t stop staring at it. Every time I look down it catches my eye and I’m drawn to it and I can spend several minutes just marvelling at it. Marvelling at the fact that I’m fucking engaged. I’m getting married. Me, Daisy Montague. It’s amazing. It really is.
I’m not the only one who thinks so, either.
We got back to the suite at around 4, where we found everyone slumped in front of the TV watching Bridezillas and eating Doritos.
“Hey, we’re back,” I said as we walked into the room.
I received a chorus of uninterested “Hey”s as a response. Nobody turned to look at me or the hand that I was waving purposefully. Typical. The one time I need them to pay me attention and they’re too engrossed in shitty TV.
Frank sighed and took my left hand, concealing the ring as we stepped in front of the TV set. This, of course, did not go unnoticed.
“Hey, man, we were watching that!” Ray whined, craning his neck to try and see around us. Really. And I’m sure you people think that it’s all crazy parties and banging models and all that glamour. But in fact, what rock stars really do on their days off, is absolutely fuck all.
“Guys, we have an announcement to make,” Frank said, turning to press the off switch on top of the TV. “And it’s pretty important so we’d like your full attention.”
“Oh my God, are you pregnant?” Mikey gasped at me, earning himself a whack around the head from his girlfriend and a ‘you’re a fucking moron’ from his brother.
The five of them stared at us for a couple of seconds. I turned to Frank. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be telling them or what.
“Come on then, you fuck,” Gerard sighed.
“I was building tension,” Frank explained. Ray threw a pillow at his face, which missed and skimmed over the top of my head and disappeared behind the TV. “For fuck sake, Toro. Okay, everyone.” Frank paused to add more tension. Everybody leaned in just a little bit closer. Frank raised my hand in the air. “We’re getting married.”
The response that this announcement sparked was really quite amazing and I’m having trouble explaining it so I think the best thing is to go clockwise around the room.
Bob was blinking in what appeared to be disbelief or catatonic stupor, and not really doing much else. Alice was screaming and laughing next to a frightened-looking Mikey, who was having the life crushed out of him by his excitable girlfriend. Gerard, quite flabbergasted, gave a very eloquent, ‘no fucking way’ but he was giving us an encouraging smile at the same time. And finally Ray, dear sweet Ray, came straight over to us and initiated the biggest (and only) group hug I have ever been a part of, until there were seven bodies all crushed together in one hot mess, with Frank and I gasping for breath in the very centre.
Immediately came talks of flowers and tiaras and big white dresses from Alice, and Frank was being baited about who would get to be his best man. It’s extremely overwhelming, believe me, to suddenly be thrown into this sort of a situation where everybody is standing too close to you and asking you a thousand questions all at the same time. Especially when you are me.
Luckily, my fiancé (FIANCE!) is much more socially adept than I, and stepped in to resolve the issues being raised.
“Guys!” he called above the tangle of flesh, and eventually everybody simmered to a silence and took a step back from us. I finally exhaled. “Guys, we’re doing this small,” he said firmly. “That means us, you, our families and a minister. Nobody else.”
There was a round of solemn nodding. I could see that Alice was a little disappointed about being cheated out of a big party, but what did she expect? It’s not like I even had any other friends. Even if I could invite everybody in the world I could ever wish to, it would still essentially be the people in this room, and Kate. Oh, and maybe the Queen, though I doubt she’d be able to come anyway. She’s pretty busy doing royal type stuff, I guess.
“I’m going to call Tony and arrange a meeting with Kristy tomorrow,” Frank added.
I frowned. I had never heard of Kristy but quite frankly I already didn’t like her because, apparently just like every other female in this godforsaken country, she had a stupid name. It’s as if her parents forgot how to spell ‘Kirsty’ when they were filling out her birth certificate. Fucking Kristy.
He bought it then and there. Less than an hour after we left the beach, we were heading back towards the hotel and my left hand was adorned with the most beautiful diamond ring in the whole world.
Now don’t get me wrong here: Frank isn’t particularly rich. Obviously he’s making steady money but artists get a smaller wage than you might expect because most money from sales and tours go to the producers, the managers, the record labels, whatever. The actual people in the bands; the ones singing and playing and writing, get about 10 percent. Divide this by the five members of My Chemical Romance, and you can see what I mean. Frank has enough money to be comfortable. He has enough money to be able to support me and, when it’s born, the baby. But he isn’t absolutely loaded.
“You can have any ring you want, Daisy,” he had said. “Don’t think about the money. Just pick whichever ring you want.”
But, Daisy being Daisy, I didn’t like the most expensive rings. I didn’t like the over-the-top extravagant ones. One of those would just look plain ridiculous on my finger because they don’t represent me. I wanted a plain white gold band with a modest diamond. That’s all.
As soon as I saw it, I knew it was the one. I spotted it beneath that glass cabinet and I just flushed. “That one,” I said to Frank.
He grinned as he was waving the store assistant over. It was one of those snooty guys with a big nose and silver hair and a face like a slapped arse. He fiddled around and got it out of the cabinet and Frank slipped it onto my finger and it just felt perfect.
“Yep,” Frank grinned, looking a little emotional if I’m honest. “That’s the one.”
I love it. I can’t stop staring at it. Every time I look down it catches my eye and I’m drawn to it and I can spend several minutes just marvelling at it. Marvelling at the fact that I’m fucking engaged. I’m getting married. Me, Daisy Montague. It’s amazing. It really is.
I’m not the only one who thinks so, either.
We got back to the suite at around 4, where we found everyone slumped in front of the TV watching Bridezillas and eating Doritos.
“Hey, we’re back,” I said as we walked into the room.
I received a chorus of uninterested “Hey”s as a response. Nobody turned to look at me or the hand that I was waving purposefully. Typical. The one time I need them to pay me attention and they’re too engrossed in shitty TV.
Frank sighed and took my left hand, concealing the ring as we stepped in front of the TV set. This, of course, did not go unnoticed.
“Hey, man, we were watching that!” Ray whined, craning his neck to try and see around us. Really. And I’m sure you people think that it’s all crazy parties and banging models and all that glamour. But in fact, what rock stars really do on their days off, is absolutely fuck all.
“Guys, we have an announcement to make,” Frank said, turning to press the off switch on top of the TV. “And it’s pretty important so we’d like your full attention.”
“Oh my God, are you pregnant?” Mikey gasped at me, earning himself a whack around the head from his girlfriend and a ‘you’re a fucking moron’ from his brother.
The five of them stared at us for a couple of seconds. I turned to Frank. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be telling them or what.
“Come on then, you fuck,” Gerard sighed.
“I was building tension,” Frank explained. Ray threw a pillow at his face, which missed and skimmed over the top of my head and disappeared behind the TV. “For fuck sake, Toro. Okay, everyone.” Frank paused to add more tension. Everybody leaned in just a little bit closer. Frank raised my hand in the air. “We’re getting married.”
The response that this announcement sparked was really quite amazing and I’m having trouble explaining it so I think the best thing is to go clockwise around the room.
Bob was blinking in what appeared to be disbelief or catatonic stupor, and not really doing much else. Alice was screaming and laughing next to a frightened-looking Mikey, who was having the life crushed out of him by his excitable girlfriend. Gerard, quite flabbergasted, gave a very eloquent, ‘no fucking way’ but he was giving us an encouraging smile at the same time. And finally Ray, dear sweet Ray, came straight over to us and initiated the biggest (and only) group hug I have ever been a part of, until there were seven bodies all crushed together in one hot mess, with Frank and I gasping for breath in the very centre.
Immediately came talks of flowers and tiaras and big white dresses from Alice, and Frank was being baited about who would get to be his best man. It’s extremely overwhelming, believe me, to suddenly be thrown into this sort of a situation where everybody is standing too close to you and asking you a thousand questions all at the same time. Especially when you are me.
Luckily, my fiancé (FIANCE!) is much more socially adept than I, and stepped in to resolve the issues being raised.
“Guys!” he called above the tangle of flesh, and eventually everybody simmered to a silence and took a step back from us. I finally exhaled. “Guys, we’re doing this small,” he said firmly. “That means us, you, our families and a minister. Nobody else.”
There was a round of solemn nodding. I could see that Alice was a little disappointed about being cheated out of a big party, but what did she expect? It’s not like I even had any other friends. Even if I could invite everybody in the world I could ever wish to, it would still essentially be the people in this room, and Kate. Oh, and maybe the Queen, though I doubt she’d be able to come anyway. She’s pretty busy doing royal type stuff, I guess.
“I’m going to call Tony and arrange a meeting with Kristy tomorrow,” Frank added.
I frowned. I had never heard of Kristy but quite frankly I already didn’t like her because, apparently just like every other female in this godforsaken country, she had a stupid name. It’s as if her parents forgot how to spell ‘Kirsty’ when they were filling out her birth certificate. Fucking Kristy.