Gravity Don't Mean Too Much to Me

Lindsey awoke to find that her husband had left from her side. Scanning around the room to see where he was she found a small piece of paper at the end of the bed. His hand writing was scrolled across the paper messily, and the note informed her of his whereabouts. He had gone to Ray’s house, probably to mess around on his many guitars that he owned.

Lindsey sighed. She wanted Gerard to be here with her, she always got so lonely when he left, even just for a few hours. Gerard had only been back for a month, and she wanted to spend every second with him. Bandit had been inviting Ross around quite a lot over the last month, even more so than she invited Cherry, Lily and Elena. Lindsey thought that her daughter would much rather hang around with girls than to hang around with Ross, but considering he was teaching her to play her new guitar, it made sense.

Lindsey pulled herself out of bed, although without her husband she just wanted to lay there until he came home. She pulled on her dressing gown and made her way downstairs, into the kitchen. She could smell something delicious; it was making her mouth water. She scanned the room in a panic, what if Bandit was cooking by herself? However, there was no sign of any food being cooked, and Bandit seemed to still be upstairs, sleeping.

That was odd. What was it that smelt so good?

Lindsey searched through every cupboard until she came across what had smelt so tasty. Her forehead creased in confusion and worry at what she had been so attracted to. She had actually wanted to eat this?

Before her eyes was a bottle of ketchup. It was true that she liked ketchup, yes, but she had never wanted to grab the bottle and squeeze the liquid into her mouth, draining the entire bottle. As this image came into her mind she found herself drooling at the thought, and she tried to fight the temptation to actually do this. She lost the fight however, and she began drinking from the bottle, until she had finally drunk half of it.

Lindsey whipped her face, and looked at the bottle in confusion and worry. Why would she crave something so weird? Granted, she had more than an average amount of ketchup when it came to dipping her fries into it, but never before had she drank the stuff. Right now, it smelt glorious, and this time she stopped herself from drinking it all. Shoving the bottle back into the cupboard, she pulled out her cell phone.

She would need to let Gerard know to buy some more from the store later on. Before sending the message she realised that he might find it odd for her to just request he make a trip to the store just for some ketchup. She scanned the cupboards one more time and found a few more items they made need at shopping. She pressed send.

She was so deep in thought that she hadn’t heard Bandit enter the room.

“Mom?” The older woman jumped and swivelled round to face her daughter. She was wearing her clothes that Lindsey had ironed for her already, and something told Lindsey that she was eager to see Ross again
.
“Ross will be round soon; Uncle Ray said he’d drop him off.” Lindsey held back a giggle. So her daughter was eager to see him. That’s why she had got dressed so quickly. Usually she had to tell her daughter more than once to get dressed.

“Have you brushed your teeth?” She asked as Bandit made her way towards the cereal cupboard. The little girl nodded, and grabbed a box. She turned to smile at her mother, but then her expression changed.

“Mom? Why do you have ketchup round your mouth?” Lindsey quickly brushed her lips, making sure it was all gone. How could she explain this? Looking at the clock she realised it was only eight in the morning, why would she be eating ketchup at this time? She thought about her answer carefully.

“Mommy just got a little bit hungry. I had some fries for breakfast.” She tried to change the subject. “So you’re dressed already huh? You must be eager to play that guitar of yours.”
She could see her daughter blush as she answered her. “Yeah, Ross has been really helpful. I’ve learnt so much from him.”

“How have the lessons been with Ray, Mikey and Frank? They haven’t been overworking you have they?”

“No, not at all.”

“I’m just a little worried that you practise far too much, B. You’ve done really well, I think you should take a break for today.” Bandit was about to protest. “How about this? I make you and Ross a lovely picnic with lots of candy and yummy food? And you two can have a picnic in the garden. I’ll put the tent up for you if you’d like.” She could see her daughter’s face brighten at this. But the she saw a small flush of red hit her cheeks.

“Okay, that sounds great mom. Thank you.” She hugged her mother gratefully. Although she was grateful, she couldn’t help but feel nervous about having a picnic with Ross. They hadn’t spoken to each other about anything other than guitar in a while, and she didn’t want today to be awkward. “Where’s dad?”

“He’s gone out with Uncle Ray.” Bandit was disappointed; she hated it when her father was gone, even for a little while. “He’ll be back in no time, B.”

It was now nearing one o’clock and Bandit and Ross sat in the tent together, waiting for her mother to bring out the food.

“So are we gonna play some guitar after this? I had a whole new bunch of chords for you to try out; I think you could play them really well with my help.” Ross asked eagerly, and Bandit didn’t want to disappoint him.

“My mom says we should take a break for today, we have been playing a lot recently.” She replied. He looked disappointed. “But at least we can have some fun. I think my mom’s gonna cook us some bacon, I love bacon.” She smiled, and his face lit up.

“Yeah, bacon is the best. You’re right. We can have fun without playing guitar.” He gave her a playful wink, and her stomach turned as she playfully shoved him back.

Her mother later brought out all the food, including the bacon. She smiled at Ross and saw that he was grinning as he reached towards it. They both thanked her mother, but suddenly she began holding her stomach as if in pain.

“Mom?” Bandit stood up immediately to help, but Lindsey waved her down. She ran from the tent, Ross and Bandit followed behind her worriedly. Her mother began being violently sick on the grass, and Bandit squealed in shock, running to her mother’s side. She brushed her mother’s blonde long hair behind her back, and Ross grabbed a napkin from the tent and handed it to her.

Lindsey took the napkin from him thankfully and cleaned her face. She stood up shakily, leaning on Bandit for support. Her daughter had tears in her eyes, and Lindsey regained her balance. She tried to smile at her, but then she found her stomach lurching again. That smell was disgusting.

“What is that?” She asked through gritted teeth, trying not to vomit again. Bandit and Ross looked confused. “What’s that horrid smell?” When they didn’t answer her, she realised what it was. It was the bacon she had just brought out. She felt even more sick in her mouth as she looked at it, and she couldn’t stop herself vomiting this time.

“Bandit, honey, could you please zip the tent up for me?” She instructed croakily, and Bandit obeyed.

“Are you okay Mrs Way?” Ross asked, and Lindsey saw Bandit zip the tent up. The smell drifted away, and she felt much better.

She sighed with relief. “I’m okay honey.” She patted his back. “Thank you for helping me, you’re a good boy.”

Bandit came to her mother’s side, looking worried. “Why did you need me to close the tent?” She asked, and Lindsey smiled and hugged her.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine. The smell of the bacon...” She felt her stomach lurch as she remembered. “It was just horrible. I don’t know why I reacted that way.”

Bandit looked from Ross to her mother looking extremely confused. “You love bacon mom. Unless it wasn’t cooked properly. Do you want me to throw it away?”

“No, it’s fine. I checked the date, its fine to eat until next month. I checked it was cooked, it should be fine.” She could tell Ross and Bandit didn’t believe her. “Go back to your picnic and enjoy it, I’ll be inside. I’m fine, honestly.” It took them a while to be persuaded enough to go back to the tent, but they finally went back after Lindsey went back to the kitchen.

Bandit picked up the bacon and inspected it. It smelt fine to her, in fact, it smelt gorgeous. She shoved a piece in her mouth without thinking, and suddenly Ross had knocked her over, landing on top of her. She gasped in shock and spat it out on the floor, and he realised her.
She blushed frantically, as he pulled her up, holding her hands. “That could be poisoned.” He scoffed at her, and she began laughing.

“Its fine, my mom is just sick. Here, I’ll prove it.” She grabbed a slice of bacon and began playfully trying to shove it into his mouth. He tried to keep his mouth shut as she tickled him, and he squeaked with laughter, allowing her to put it into his mouth. She held his lips shut as he struggled, and she giggled. “Swallow!” She felt him swallow and she let go of him, he began gasping with laughter and he playfully pushed her away.

“Okay, you win! The bacon isn’t poison!” He laughed, picking up a slice and pushing it into her laughing open mouth. “See?”

She choked with laughter and swallowed it, playfully hitting Ross. He grabbed her hands and pulled her into a hug. She stopped laughing and looked up at him nervously, and his face was close to hers. He had stopped laughing too, and was just looking at her. They were still holding hands, and she felt him kiss her cheek. “See? You didn’t die, there wasn’t any poison.”