Status: Active
Globes & Maps
Life is waiting to begin.
If you drive about ten minutes east of Belleville, and into the marshlands, you will come across a tiny little cafe called Tyler’s in the middle of nowhere. It’s very hard to find unless you know where it is, but it is really beautiful. The marshlands themselves are visible from the south-facing windows of the cafe but where I was sat, facing north, all I could see for miles and miles were vibrant leaves and the odd sparrow bouncing around. Every now and then a fishing enthusiast would wander up the concrete path, heading towards the cafe for a break and a cup of coffee before heading back out rejuvenated and motivated to finally make that big catch.
I had been to Tyler’s before, back when Jake and I were young and we still had the Accord. We’d driven out for a picnic on one of the benches outside the cafe, but as soon as we’d parked the car there was a clap of thunder and a suddenly both ourselves and our sandwiches were soaked through, and we’d had to seek shelter inside the cafe. We didn’t let it spoil our day. If anything, while we were chatting and shivering and steaming up the windows inside the cafe, our day turned out better than we could possibly have imagined. It was one of those days that you remember as definitive when you look back at your relationship.
But that was a lifetime ago now.
It was 1.24pm and Gerard was still nowhere to be seen. Sighing, I twisted my wedding band around my finger and gazed down at the shiny surface of the table. The same waiter had asked me three times now if I was ready to order and every time I told him no, I am waiting for somebody, and every time he gave me that sympathetic smile that seemed to say I’m sorry dear but I don’t think he’s coming.
I tucked a lock of golden hair behind one ear and sucked on my bottom lip. Warily, I cast another glance at my watch. 1.27 now. I’d wait three more minutes for him and then I would go. Yes yes yes. What a plan, Tessa.
He strode into the cafe at 1.28 like he owned the place. He was wearing dark sunglasses and leather pants and a tight white t-shirt. I saw every single person in the room turn towards him, women gawping and fawning themselves, and men glaring with intent at the handsome stranger. He just waltzed straight past them like he never even noticed, and then he took the seat opposite me with a smirk as he pushed his aviator sunglasses on top of his head.
“You’re late,” I said, quite impressed with myself for retaining the power of speech in the face of such irresistibility. Because what I really wanted to do was push the table aside and jump Gerard Way right there in the middle of the cafe. But I had to keep my composure. And I could feel everybody’s eyes on us. I wanted that waiter to come back so I could bask in smugness and maybe flip him off, but like I said, composure is key.
He grinned and shook his head. “Oh, Tessa,” he sighed, like I was being quite exasperating. “You’re so predictable. Thank god you met me just in time.” I wasn’t sure what this meant so I stayed quiet, cutting my eyes at him in the hope that he would find this intimidating. Evidently he didn’t because he continued on.
“You see, Tess,” he said, glancing over my shoulder and holding up two fingers as he nodded, presumably at one of the waiters, “that’s the thing with you. You’re reliable.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” I said cautiously, raising one eyebrow.
He let out a small laugh as he turned back to me. “It’s not,” he shrugged. “But the problem is that it becomes mundane, am I right? You get bored of it, yeah? You long for adventure, don’t you?” His voice was silky smooth like he was trying to seduce me with his words. I found myself almost entranced by him.
I shuffled nervously on the booth seat. “Maybe,” I replied, still fingering my wedding ring. Gerard glanced down at it, took my hand in his, and removed the gold band, placing it onto the salt shaker.
“You see, Tessa,” he continued as I stared in horror at my bare finger, “you’re bored. You’re bored of being predictable and reliable and on time, aren’t you?” He raised my hand to his lips and kissed it so softly I thought I had dreamed it. “And that’s where I come in.”
As I glared at the salt shaker now adorned with my wedding ring, I began to doubt my decision to even meet Gerard in the first place. It was stupid and it was wrong. I had a cushy life and a rich husband and a wonderful son and I wasn’t going to risk it on some whim for this ridiculously handsome, but apparently insane (and frankly a little scary) man. I was going to say no thank you, and then I was going to walk back out to my Audi TT, drive back to my large house in the suburbs and pretend none of this had ever happened.
I pulled my hand away from his grasp and picked up my wedding ring, dropping it into my handbag. For some reason I couldn’t bring myself to put it back on my finger in front of him. “I’m flattered, Mr Way,” I said with what I like to think was dignity and poise. “But I’m afraid I’ll have to pass. I’m a happily married woman.”
Gerard laughed and shook his head. I glared at him. “No, Tessa,” he said. “You’re not. If you were a happily married woman do you really think you would even be here right now?”
He had a point but I didn’t like to admit it. I rolled my eyes and sighed because he was right. This seemed to satisfy him. He knew I wasn’t going anywhere. My curiosity was getting the better of me.
“So,” I said warily. “What now?”
A smiling, dark-haired waitress placed two cups of hot coffee down on the table in front of us. Gerard thanked her without once taking his eyes off of me. I stared him back, absent-mindedly shaking sugar packets and dumping them into my cup, stirring my coffee quite autonomously.
“Now,” he grinned, breaking eye contact to pour a spot of milk into his drink. “Now, my dear, we begin. Are you ready?”
He was being weird but I quite liked that. It occurred to me that he could well be a psychopath and he could well murder me today and throw my body into the marsh and I would never be found. But it didn’t really bother me. If anything, I quite liked the thrill of it. It was dangerous and exciting and new. And of course stupid. Very, very stupid.
I leant forwards onto my elbows. “Ready for what, exactly?” I took a sip of my coffee and tried to pretend like I hadn’t just burned away a layer of the skin from my mouth.
Gerard took my hand again. “Ready to change your world, Tessa. Ready to take risks and be free. It’s not going to be easy and people may get hurt.” He took a mouthful of coffee but I don’t think he scalded himself on his somehow. Maybe he was magic or something. There was certainly something about him. Something that differentiated him from ordinary people like me. Something that made him exceptional. “I just want to make sure you know what you’re doing and you’re ready to handle the consequences.”
I could feel my palm sweating in his. This was my last chance to get out of this and go home and carry on with my boring life. But that wasn’t an option. Because every single day I would wonder ‘what if’ and I would kick myself for giving up on this. So I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and said, “I’m ready.” When I opened my eyes, Gerard was grinning at me and stroking his thumb over my hand.
“Good,” he said firmly. He then leant over the table and gave me a long, slow, hard kiss that left me absolutely speechless. In fact, I was incapable of most functions as I felt his lips on mine and his tongue in my mouth and everybody staring at us. But it was exhilarating. Exciting. Fun. I never wanted it to end. I wanted to carry on kissing Gerard forever as if it were just he and I in the whole world and nothing else mattered.
When he eventually pulled away, he kept a hand on my cheek and he was smiling with one side of his mouth and it was all I could do not to dribble at how damn sexy he was.
“It’s going to be fun,” he grinned, sipping again at his coffee. He then glanced up at the clock above the kitchen door. “Oh, look at that,” he said, raising his eyebrows. He pulled a ten dollar bill from the pocket of his leather trousers (though god alone knows how) and got to his feet, using his grasp on my hand to also pull me up. “We simply must be going, dear.”
It was just after quarter to 2 and I had no idea why we were in a rush, but I followed Gerard towards the exit anyway, leaving my coffee still very much hot and practically untouched on the table as we headed hand-in-hand into our adventure.
I had been to Tyler’s before, back when Jake and I were young and we still had the Accord. We’d driven out for a picnic on one of the benches outside the cafe, but as soon as we’d parked the car there was a clap of thunder and a suddenly both ourselves and our sandwiches were soaked through, and we’d had to seek shelter inside the cafe. We didn’t let it spoil our day. If anything, while we were chatting and shivering and steaming up the windows inside the cafe, our day turned out better than we could possibly have imagined. It was one of those days that you remember as definitive when you look back at your relationship.
But that was a lifetime ago now.
It was 1.24pm and Gerard was still nowhere to be seen. Sighing, I twisted my wedding band around my finger and gazed down at the shiny surface of the table. The same waiter had asked me three times now if I was ready to order and every time I told him no, I am waiting for somebody, and every time he gave me that sympathetic smile that seemed to say I’m sorry dear but I don’t think he’s coming.
I tucked a lock of golden hair behind one ear and sucked on my bottom lip. Warily, I cast another glance at my watch. 1.27 now. I’d wait three more minutes for him and then I would go. Yes yes yes. What a plan, Tessa.
He strode into the cafe at 1.28 like he owned the place. He was wearing dark sunglasses and leather pants and a tight white t-shirt. I saw every single person in the room turn towards him, women gawping and fawning themselves, and men glaring with intent at the handsome stranger. He just waltzed straight past them like he never even noticed, and then he took the seat opposite me with a smirk as he pushed his aviator sunglasses on top of his head.
“You’re late,” I said, quite impressed with myself for retaining the power of speech in the face of such irresistibility. Because what I really wanted to do was push the table aside and jump Gerard Way right there in the middle of the cafe. But I had to keep my composure. And I could feel everybody’s eyes on us. I wanted that waiter to come back so I could bask in smugness and maybe flip him off, but like I said, composure is key.
He grinned and shook his head. “Oh, Tessa,” he sighed, like I was being quite exasperating. “You’re so predictable. Thank god you met me just in time.” I wasn’t sure what this meant so I stayed quiet, cutting my eyes at him in the hope that he would find this intimidating. Evidently he didn’t because he continued on.
“You see, Tess,” he said, glancing over my shoulder and holding up two fingers as he nodded, presumably at one of the waiters, “that’s the thing with you. You’re reliable.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” I said cautiously, raising one eyebrow.
He let out a small laugh as he turned back to me. “It’s not,” he shrugged. “But the problem is that it becomes mundane, am I right? You get bored of it, yeah? You long for adventure, don’t you?” His voice was silky smooth like he was trying to seduce me with his words. I found myself almost entranced by him.
I shuffled nervously on the booth seat. “Maybe,” I replied, still fingering my wedding ring. Gerard glanced down at it, took my hand in his, and removed the gold band, placing it onto the salt shaker.
“You see, Tessa,” he continued as I stared in horror at my bare finger, “you’re bored. You’re bored of being predictable and reliable and on time, aren’t you?” He raised my hand to his lips and kissed it so softly I thought I had dreamed it. “And that’s where I come in.”
As I glared at the salt shaker now adorned with my wedding ring, I began to doubt my decision to even meet Gerard in the first place. It was stupid and it was wrong. I had a cushy life and a rich husband and a wonderful son and I wasn’t going to risk it on some whim for this ridiculously handsome, but apparently insane (and frankly a little scary) man. I was going to say no thank you, and then I was going to walk back out to my Audi TT, drive back to my large house in the suburbs and pretend none of this had ever happened.
I pulled my hand away from his grasp and picked up my wedding ring, dropping it into my handbag. For some reason I couldn’t bring myself to put it back on my finger in front of him. “I’m flattered, Mr Way,” I said with what I like to think was dignity and poise. “But I’m afraid I’ll have to pass. I’m a happily married woman.”
Gerard laughed and shook his head. I glared at him. “No, Tessa,” he said. “You’re not. If you were a happily married woman do you really think you would even be here right now?”
He had a point but I didn’t like to admit it. I rolled my eyes and sighed because he was right. This seemed to satisfy him. He knew I wasn’t going anywhere. My curiosity was getting the better of me.
“So,” I said warily. “What now?”
A smiling, dark-haired waitress placed two cups of hot coffee down on the table in front of us. Gerard thanked her without once taking his eyes off of me. I stared him back, absent-mindedly shaking sugar packets and dumping them into my cup, stirring my coffee quite autonomously.
“Now,” he grinned, breaking eye contact to pour a spot of milk into his drink. “Now, my dear, we begin. Are you ready?”
He was being weird but I quite liked that. It occurred to me that he could well be a psychopath and he could well murder me today and throw my body into the marsh and I would never be found. But it didn’t really bother me. If anything, I quite liked the thrill of it. It was dangerous and exciting and new. And of course stupid. Very, very stupid.
I leant forwards onto my elbows. “Ready for what, exactly?” I took a sip of my coffee and tried to pretend like I hadn’t just burned away a layer of the skin from my mouth.
Gerard took my hand again. “Ready to change your world, Tessa. Ready to take risks and be free. It’s not going to be easy and people may get hurt.” He took a mouthful of coffee but I don’t think he scalded himself on his somehow. Maybe he was magic or something. There was certainly something about him. Something that differentiated him from ordinary people like me. Something that made him exceptional. “I just want to make sure you know what you’re doing and you’re ready to handle the consequences.”
I could feel my palm sweating in his. This was my last chance to get out of this and go home and carry on with my boring life. But that wasn’t an option. Because every single day I would wonder ‘what if’ and I would kick myself for giving up on this. So I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and said, “I’m ready.” When I opened my eyes, Gerard was grinning at me and stroking his thumb over my hand.
“Good,” he said firmly. He then leant over the table and gave me a long, slow, hard kiss that left me absolutely speechless. In fact, I was incapable of most functions as I felt his lips on mine and his tongue in my mouth and everybody staring at us. But it was exhilarating. Exciting. Fun. I never wanted it to end. I wanted to carry on kissing Gerard forever as if it were just he and I in the whole world and nothing else mattered.
When he eventually pulled away, he kept a hand on my cheek and he was smiling with one side of his mouth and it was all I could do not to dribble at how damn sexy he was.
“It’s going to be fun,” he grinned, sipping again at his coffee. He then glanced up at the clock above the kitchen door. “Oh, look at that,” he said, raising his eyebrows. He pulled a ten dollar bill from the pocket of his leather trousers (though god alone knows how) and got to his feet, using his grasp on my hand to also pull me up. “We simply must be going, dear.”
It was just after quarter to 2 and I had no idea why we were in a rush, but I followed Gerard towards the exit anyway, leaving my coffee still very much hot and practically untouched on the table as we headed hand-in-hand into our adventure.