You Give Love a Bad Name

"Hey, kiddo, can you do me a favor?"

I almost choked on my apple as I wheeled around towards the direction of the voice, my eyes trying to adjust to the dim lighting of the kitchen. "Don't do that!"

Gerard shrugged innocently, coming over to take a banana off the counter, a sly grin settling itself on his face. "Do what?"

I shot him a patronizing look. "You know what."

"No I don't," Gerard shook his head, his whole attention focused on peeling of the yellow fruit.

"Don't sneak up on me like that, you creep!"

"Ahhh, watch the name-calling, Lennie-poo," Gerard showed the peeled banana in his mouth, chewing it slowly. "You're a bit too young for such foul language, don't you think?"

I made a face and turned away. "That's right, deep-throat that thing, GerBear."

Now it was his turn to choke.

I couldn't help but laugh a little as I watched my oldest brother sprint towards the sink, spitting out the pale, mushy substance from his mouth.

"You're a sick, sick, little girl," he hissed finally, straightening up and wiping his mouth against the sleeve of his Batman pyjamas. "Sick and twisted."

I shrugged and bit into my apple one again. "What are you doing up so early, anyway? It's usually a miracle to see you roaming around the house in the wee hours of the morning. And it's winter break, too."

Gerard rolled his eyes. "Wee hours? It's seven past ten."

"Unnatural," I confirmed, biting back a grin.

"Anyway," Gerard hopped on the counter, crossing his arms against his chest, and focused his eyes on me, looking serious, "like I said, I have a favor to ask you."

"Look," I started to back up, "I love you and all, but if you want me to tell Mom that you're coming out of the closet, then -"

"Will you shut up? I. Am. Not. Gay!" he growled, almost throwing the banana peel at me in frustration. "Now are you going to listen, or what?"

"Ugh, you're getting old and bitter," I sighed, looking at the clock above the refrigerator. "What do you need? And make it quick - Cara is supposed to pick me up any minute now. We're going Christmas shopping."

"Jeez, pushy much?"

"Gerard, time is an issue here."

"Fine," he looked somewhat uncomfortable. "Can you model for me?"

I could feel my mouth open slightly. "Um..."

Upon seeing my horrified expression and wide eyes, Gerard hopped off the counter, coming to stand beside me. "Lena -"

"No -"

" - it's not what you think -"

"- get away from me -"

"Can you please get your mind out of the gutter for a minute?" Gerard grabbed my wrists and made me look into his honey eyes. "I need to submit a sketch of 'Winter Wonderland' for a school project. It's due the first day we come back from break, and I've been thinking that I can draw you and Mikey sitting around in the park or something. To do that, I need to take a few Polaroids of you guys first. Mikey already agreed, so now I need to know if you can do it too."

"Aw, Gerard, don't do this to me," I groaned, pushing him away, "you know how much I hate the spotlight. I'd feel retarded the whole time I'd 'model'."

"Mikey'll be there too."

"Can't you ask that girl...Tracy? Yeah, Tracy," I tried to reason with him, "I bet she would do it."

"Um," Gerard looked uncomfortable, reaching with his hand to scratch the back of his neck, "we're not exactly...extremely close, nowdays."

"Oh," I felt somewhat sheepish, "well -"

"Without you the whole idea is kinda pointless, anyway," he informed me, his messy black hair falling all over his face in long strands. "I was gonna go with a 'brother and sister' theme."

I sighed, biting my lip ring. "Oh, I dunno, Gee..."

"Please?" Gerard was sticking out his bottom lip, trying to sway me. It was working. His puppy-dog face was just too cute. Even if he was a whale in my eyes. "For your favorite brother?"

I narrowed my eyes. "What does Mikey have to do with this?"

"Lena..."

"Okay, okay, fine," I sighed, knowing defeat when I saw one. "When?"

"I knew you'd say yes," Gerard shot me a victorious smile. "I'm thinking next Thursday."

"The thirtieth?"

Gerard looked confused. "Yeah. Why? You have other plans?"

"No, but that's the day before New Year's Eve."

"...And?"

Rolling my eyes, I threw my hands heavenwards. "You said you wanted to shoot the whole thing in a park, right? Are families strolling around before the upcoming festivities not a factor to you? Or do you want some stranger in your sketch?"

"Oh, well," Gerard smirked, almost like he was enjoying some private joke. "That's why we're going to get there in the 'wee hours of the morning'. I want to catch the sunrise on the freshly fallen snow. It's kinda poetic. Poetic enough to get me an A."

I stared at him, the apple almost falling out of my hands in horror. "Are you kidding me?"

Was he serious? He knew how much I hated waking up earlier then necessary, especially during winter break - one of the few occasions when I could sleep past noon.

"Aw, don't bail on me now, Lennie-poo," Gerard patted my head, like I was some kind of a dog. "You did promise."

"But -"

Gerard silenced me by waving his index finger next to my face, making that annoying 'tsk, tsk, tsk' sound. "See you then."

And then he walked out of the kitchen, leaving me with a sudden impulse to throw my half-eaten apple at his retreating back.

"Got everything?"

"I better have," I groaned, struggling to lift up the heavy bags off the ground, my hands straining against the pressure."If not, I'm totally screwed. I'm officially broke as of today."

Cara grinned, the last rays of the evening sun bouncing off her sunglasses as she sucked on a lollipop. "Sounds like someone is in a major need of a job."

"I am," I agreed, surprised that she picked up on the directions of my thoughts. "Birthday and Christmas money isn't exactly a steady income."

"Well, you know," Cara's blue eyes turned thoughtful, "I can hook you up at a diner that one of my relatives owns, if you want." She made a face. "I think he's my twice-removed uncle, or something."

I grinned and shook my head. "Thanks, but no thanks. Maybe later. I'll start my actual hard-core job-hunting after New Year's."

"One of your resolutions?"

"Yeah."

"I never keep those," she informed me, smiling a little. "I dunno if either it is because I'm too lazy, or if it's because my actual resolutions are too stupid to follow through."

I shrugged, trying to keep amusement from showing on my face. "Both?"

Cara nudged me with her hip a bit, making the bags with my endless purchases sway like an ocean on a stormy night. "Well, if my resolutions aren't to your taste, tell me a couple of yours instead."

"Um," I felt warm despite the cool atmosphere in the mall. "They're not that good."

"Well, I bet at least one of them is better than 'buy posted notes every other month'."

I gave her a weird look. "Huh?"

"Uh, that was one of mine, last year," she explained, looking somewhat embarrassed. "I told you; lame."

"No wonder you don't stick to them," I snorted, a full-blown grin settling on my face. "I wouldn't either."

"Like I said," Cara nudged me again, playfully, "lets see what you've got."

I cleared my throat. "Um, well, one of my resolutions is to eat healthier -"

"Healthier?" Cara interrupted me with wide eyes. "Healthier? You're a freaking vegetarian, how can you get healthier than that?"

"Vegan," I stuck my tongue out at her. "No, but seriously, I do eat chips, candy, and stuff like that, so I'm gonna go easy with that, next year."

Cara nodded. "Makes sense. Another?"

"I'm not going to tease Gerard as much," I smirked, imagining my favorite pastime vividly in my head, "and go easy on the gay jokes."

Cara started laughing loudly, almost tripping next to Claire's, as we walked past that store. "Yeah, right. Now tell me one resolution that you will actually stick to."

"Well," I hesitated - this one was extremely personal, but then I went ahead anyway, wanting to achieve the closeness I used to have with Cara that was slowly slipping away. "I want to spend time with my dad more, not just once a week. After school ends, I think I'll spend the summer at his place."

"Oh," Cara looked at me closely, no doubt trying to figure out how touchy the subject was for me. "Didn't he come to pick out a tree with you guys, two days ago?"

"Yes," I gave her a small smile, trying to reassure her that I could talk about my dad with my emotions in check. "Yes, he did."

Cara's eyes were gentle. "And how did that go?"

"Pretty good, actually," I said honestly, thinking back to Wednesday. "Gerard and Mikey were in heaven - they miss Dad more than they let on. It was just like old times. Minus, well, you know, the whole 'old-times' factor."

"And your Mom?" Cara asked me softly, almost in a whisper.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I guess she was okay with spending the day with him - they were polite, friendly, and somewhat awkward around each other, but at least they weren't fighting."

"Yeah," Cara tilted her head to one side, studying my face carefully. "It's good that your parents are on friendly terms with each other - most families aren't that lucky."

I shrugged and looked away, thinking of my family, or at least what it used to be.

Cara and I didn't talk for a while, both of us lost in our own thoughts and memories, but the silence between us wasn't uncomfortable at the least, in fact, it was nice and peaceful - the kind where you don't have to say or do anything to be at ease.

After a couple of minutes of silent walking, when wen we were almost out of the mall's vast building, Cara grinned and tried to look inside one of my bags. "What did you get Bob for his eighteenth?"

"Oh no you don't," laughing, I gently pushed her away with my shoulder. "You didn't show me what you got him."

"So?"

"So, no."

"Ugh, you suck," Cara rolled her eyes, opening the door for me, seeing as she had fewer bags to carry. "Give me a hint, then."

I shook my head, feeling extremely silly. "Nooooo."

"Not even a little one?"

"You wish."

Laughing and joking, Cara and I went to her car, with me absolutely glowing from spending a whole day with a friend that I rarely got to see anymore.

Today, life was as close to perfect as it was going to get, I concluded happily with a swelling heart.