Gravity Don't Mean Too Much to Me

Bandit was very excited for her friends to come round. She couldn’t wait to see them all; it had been so long since they had last seen each other. Her father had announced that he would be giving her the present he had in store for her once Ross, Elena, James, Cherry and Lily had arrived. She smiled, remembering back to the earlier conversation she had had with her father.
She had spotted the big brown box underneath the table in the kitchen, and when she had asked her father what it was, he had begun to chuckle, and had pulled the box onto his lap to show it to her.

“This” he said, pointed towards the box in between his knees; “is your present, Lady B.”

At that moment Bandit’s smile had grown so big that the ends of each side of her mouth could have been touching her eyes, and Gerard had mirrored his daughter’s smile, seeing how happy he had made her just at the mention of the present he held.

“I forgot all about it!” The small girl gasped, running over to her father to take a closer look. She scanned the box for any writing that might give a clue to what was inside, but all she could find was a barcode printed at the bottom. Bandit sighed. “What it is dad? It looks so big!” She puzzled, looking at the size of the box, she had no clue as to what it might be. This was certainly too big to be a prop and she grew more impatient to see what was inside with every object that came to mind.

Gerard laughed. Bandit’s eyes were glued to the box, and any second now he feared she would tear the box apart to see what was inside. He knew she was going to love it. “I can’t tell you what it is, can I?” He teased.

Bandit giggled and began picking at the tape holding the box together. Her father grabbed her small hand and pushed it away, pulling the box away from her and placing it back under the table.

“You’ll have to wait and see.” He winked, and Bandit pouted. He chuckled and pulled the small girl onto his lap. “You can open it later, once the others are here.”

Bandit considered this. She did not like the idea of having to wait to open the present. Now that she had seen the box she had to know what was inside. “Why?” She questioned him.

“Because I said so” When Bandit did not look satisfied with his answer, he gave her another one. “And, because Ross and James will be able to help you with it. I think you should wait until they get here so that they can help you to...” he hesitated, trying not to give away anything. “To set it up and use it. Besides, it’ll be much better to see you open it in front of everyone.”

Bandit remembered how she had not liked that. She didn’t like being the centre of attention, and she had told her father that. But he had taken it as a joke, and had laughed off her excuse.
Now, Bandit sat patiently in the living room watching television to pass the time. The others would arrive at around one o’clock, Frank arriving first with the twins.

One o’clock came pretty quickly for Bandit, and soon enough, Frank stood at the door beaming, with his two little girls by his side.

“Uncle Frank!” Exclaimed Bandit, giving him a hug before allowing him to enter the living room. He laughed and greeted her, calling her “Lady Sunshine” and Bandit laughed, leading them to the couch.

Cherry and Lily sat down, whilst Frank went to the kitchen to find her father. She beamed at the two little girls before her.

“Do you guys want anything to drink or eat?” Offered Bandit, picking up the bowl of cookies her mother had left on the table.

“No, thank you. We’ve already eaten.” Cherry and Lily replied together, and Bandit giggled. She loved it when they spoke in unison.

“When will Elena be here?” Lily asked politely. She liked to play with Elena; she had taken a liking to her the last time they had been together. Elena was only five years old, and the three older girls acted as older sisters towards her. Usually, when they were all together, Ross and James would go and play together, and the three girls would separate into their own little group. However, Bandit loved to spend time with the boys just as much.

“She should be here soon. Uncle Mikey will be bringing them around at about half one.”

Once half one had arrived, Mikey arrived just on time. He hugged his niece and went to join the other two men in the kitchen. Lindsey had gone out shopping to buy snacks. When Elena entered the room, the twin’s faces lit up with enthusiasm, and they all ran to greet her.

“Hey Elena!” Chanted the twins, whilst Bandit greeted James.

Bandit found James rather fun to be around, and she hugged him. Once she had greeted James she moved onto Elena, who was so tiny that she only just reached the top of Bandit’s knees in height.

“Bee!” Elena squealed, pushing her hands out to reach for her. Bandit giggled and gently picked her up, and Elena began playing with her hair. “I mished you.” The little girl was still
learning to talk properly, and still spoke like a young baby. Bandit found it cute.

“I missed you too.” She replied, carefully placing the girl on the couch. She turned to face James, who was grinning at her. She wondered what he was grinning at, when she saw him looking at her action figures which had been thrown untidily to the side of the room.

“Can we play?” He asked eagerly, picking up her Spider Man doll. “I want to be Spider Man. Is that okay?” She nodded and he grinned at her, sitting down on his knees at the table, ready to play with her action figures.

“Can I pway?” A small voice asked from behind her, and she saw the little toddler walking towards her. She picked up one of her figures and began chewing on it’s head.

They all rushed forwards to pull the doll out of the girl’s mouth, and James took it from her, making her cry. They had to keep an eye on her, she was only five after all, and she could have choked. Bandit felt guilty as Elena began to cry even louder, attracting her father’s attention from the kitchen.

“Is she being a nuisance?” Asked Mikey, peering his head round the corner to look at Elena. She was now sobbing even harder.

“No, Uncle Mikey, she was just chewing on one of my figures, so we took it away.” Bandit explained. He nodded his head understandably, and picked the small girl up in his arms.

“James, you keep an eye on your sister. You know she likes to chew on anything she can get her hands on.” James was about to protest, but then the doorbell rang a third time. Gerard came from the kitchen to open the door, and there stood Ray and little Ross.

Bandit couldn’t help smiling at the small boy, she was glad to see him. Not only because she could now open her present, but because she was genuinely happy that he had arrived. He turned to look at her, and he returned her smile. Her stomach turned as she felt the butterflies arising, and she had to focus her eyes on Cherry and Lily, who were now arguing over her figures, to stop herself from blushing.

“Give it back, it’s mine!” Cried Cherry pulling the figure from Lily’s grasp. In doing so Lily fell backwards, hitting her head against the table, making her wail in pain. Frank flew from the kitchen, running to help his little girl up.

“Stop it, the both of you!” He warned the twins. “Play nicely, or not at all.” He gave them both a look of disapproval, before turning to face his friend. “Toro! We were wondering when you were gonna show up.” He looked down at Ross and ruffled his hair. “Have you been a good boy for your father? No waking him up late at night playing your guitar?” He laughed, and Ross grinned.

“No, I haven’t played my guitar for a little while. But I brought it with me, because Gerard said that I should...” Ross cut off, and Bandit saw that her father was signalling for Ross to be quite. She raised her eyebrows in confusion. Why would her father ask Ross to bring his guitar?

“Yeah, well, I’d better be off.” Ray cut in, leading his son into the living room, to sit on the couch next to Lily and Cherry. “The wife will be expecting me home.” He laughed, and Gerard frowned.

“The wife? I don’t think Christa would be happy with you referring to her like that.” For a moment it looked as though Gerard was serious, but then he lightened his expression and laughed. He got up and led Ray towards the door, and Ray turned around to face Bandit.

“Ah, Lady B, I forgot to say hello to you!” He pretended to look shocked, and Bandit giggled. “Ross here will help you with your..” Her father began coughing and interrupted him. Ray smiled at Bandit and looked at Gerard apologetically. “Have fun Lady B, I hope you like your dad’s present.”

“You know what it is too?” Complained Bandit playfully. “Why is it everyone knows what it is except me?” She could hear her three Uncles chuckling along with her father.

“Don’t worry B, it’s worth it. Your gonna love it.” And with that Ray left, waving goodbye to his son and warning him to behave.

“I probably should be off too.” Mikey announced, kissing Elena and James’ foreheads. “You behave for Uncle Gerard. Remember your manners, please and thank you.” He reminded them.

“Don’t worry I’m sure they’ll behave, won’t you kids?” Frank directed this at all of them, and they all nodded in agreement. Mikey turned around and Frank began pulling faces behind his back that made all the children laugh, making Mikey turn around, confused.

“Is Uncle Frank doing things behind my back again?” Mikey smirked, playfully pushing Frank away from him. He turned around to leave once more, and Frank pulled more faces, making little Elena laugh and she began pulling faces herself.

Mikey ignored him this time, and Gerard led his younger brother to the door, chuckling.
Ross came to sit next to Bandit, and she blushed when his arm brushed against hers. “Are we playing with your action figures?” He asked her, seeing Cherry, Lily and James holding one each in their hands.

“Yeah, you can be whoever you like.” She offered, and he picked up one of her favourites. She smiled. He had a good taste.

“Dad?” She called, and he entered the room grinning.

“Yes sweetheart?”

“Can I open my present now? Please?” She pleaded, and from the corner of her eye she saw Ross’ face light up. Her father nodded and she squealed with excitement, running into the kitchen after Frank and her father. Cherry, Lily, Ross, James and Elena followed closely behind.

The brown box had been moved to the centre of the room, and Bandit ran towards it, getting ready to tear the cardboard. Gerard laughed. “Be careful when opening it B, you don’t want to break what’s inside.” He warned, and with his approval, she began quickly removing the tape from the top of the box that was keeping it sealed. She unfolded the flaps at the top and looked inside, only seeing the dark inside.

“Lay it on its side, you’ll be able to get it out better.” Advised Frank, helping her lay the box gently on its side. She pushed up her hand through the box and grabbed hold of something very cold. She still had no idea what it was, and she pulled it out eagerly.

A guitar. Her father had actually brought her her own guitar! It was an electric guitar, pink and sparkly, reminding her of her Uncle Mikey’s sparkly silver guitar that he had once let her play. She gasped at how beautiful it was, and at the bottom of the box she could see an amp. She grinned and ran towards her father, almost knocking him backwards.

“Thank you, thank you!” She cried, squeezing him as hard as she could. “It’s so beautiful!”
He seemed relieved that she liked it, and Bandit couldn’t see how he could have doubted that she would. It was amazing! She had wanted a guitar for years, and he had promised he would get her one someday and would get Ray, Frank or Mikey to help teach her. She couldn’t believe he had actually gotten her a real guitar! She kept looking back at her guitar, expecting it to disappear, but it was still there. She had her own guitar.

“I can teach you how to play if you’d like. Unless you’d prefer Mikey or Ray teach you. I wouldn’t blame you, they’re both awesome guitarists.” Frank offered, and Bandit ran to hug him too.

“Of course I’d want you to teach me!” She saw her Uncle’s face light up. She turned to face her father. “Can Mikey and Ray teach me too sometime? And mom?” She hadn’t thought about her mother teaching her, and she smiled at the thought of it.

“Of course they can. But for today, little Ross was wondering if he could help you out.” Bandit turned to see Ross grinning, and she blushed. That was why he had brought his guitar. She was growing even more excited at the thought of playing guitar with Ross; the last time they had played together she had had so much fun. She couldn’t wait to use her own guitar this time.

Ross came towards her, and she could have sworn her heart skipped a beat. “Come on, let’s go.” He grabbed her hand and led her towards the living room, and she had to remind him that she needed her guitar, making him blush, and she picked up the guitar and followed him.

She hadn’t realised that James had been following them too. “Can I watch?” He asked, and when she said that he could, he sat down next to the both of them. Bandit couldn’t help wishing they could be alone to practice. She loved James, but she just wanted to practice with Ross for today. He had gone through the trouble of bringing his guitar to help her play, and she wanted to be alone with him to learn.

She heard her father suggest to the other children that they play upstairs, and they all raced to beat each other. Bandit giggled, and then she saw Frank getting up to leave. She stood up to say goodbye, she never let her Uncle Frank leave without giving him a hug.

“I’ll be back later to pick up the twins” He told her, and once he had left, her father came in the room to watch her practice on her new guitar.

She blushed in embarrassment. She didn’t like being centre of attention.