Demolition Lovers

Annabelle woke up to voices coming from the other room. Slowly opening her eyes to pitch black darkness, she noticed it was now night time. She groaned quietly and rolled over, grabbing her phone off the nightstand that sat next to the bed. Her hand slapped onto the counter top of the table a few times in search for her phone, eventually finding it. She pulled up the screen, checking the time, “10 pm? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me…” she mumbled, dropping the phone back on the night stand. She slept majority of the day. She figured it was probably stress related.

Sluggishly getting out of the bed, she turned on the lamp on the night stand, and bent down, digging into her duffel bag to find some clothes. She settled on a Sum 41 shirt and a pair of black sweat pants, since she figured she wouldn’t be going anywhere. She slipped into the fresh new clothing, and let out a sad sigh.

Annabelle still heard the voices from the other room, and decided to check it out. She opened the creaky door, and walked down the hallway, to see that the rest of the guys were here at Gerard’s apartment. As she appeared into the living room, everyone’s eyes averted to her. She was so quiet, she didn’t know how they all had noticed her presence, but they sure did. Smiling slightly, she waved awkwardly at the boys.

“Belle! You’re finally up!” Frankie squeaked, jumping up from the couch, and engulfing Annabelle into a bone crushing hug. She hugged him back and mumbled a ‘mmhmm’. Frank let her go after a couple seconds, and she scanned the rest of the boys.

“What are y’all doing?” She questioned, crossing her arms to feel less awkward.

“’Bout to watch some movies. Want to join?” Ray asked politely with that prize winning smile on his face. There was no way Annabelle could say no to that smile. She nodded slightly, smiling herself, and plopped down on the couch in between Bob and Gerard. Frank, Mikey, and Ray were sitting comfortably on the floor, surrounded by pillows.

“What are we gonna watch?” She asked no one in particular, but ended up turning her attention towards Gerard. He smiled at her, “Paranormal Activity 2, ‘cause we want to scare Bob” he laughed. Annabelle giggled and turned to her left, “Is that true, Bob? Are these assholes trying to scare you?”

“They know I don’t fuck with ghosts. Ghosts are like bees, man, they’re scary as fuck. These fuckers want me to have nightmares tonight” Bob complained, crossing his arms, and slumping into the couch. Annabelle couldn’t help but burst out laughing, which just made Bob slump into the couch even more.

After a little bit of chit chat, they turned off all the lights and began the horror movie. Annabelle kept jumping in her seat from the awfully loud noises in the movie, screaming a little every now and then, and clutching onto Gerard’s arm.

“NO, NO, NO, NO. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!” Frank yelled as the girl in the movie had been attacked by the ghost. Mikey and Ray started rolling on the floor in fits of laughter in response to Frank.

***

“That was… interesting” Mikey commented as the credits rolled down the screen. Everyone nodded in agreement, and Bob jumped up screaming “NO, NO, NO!!! LIKE, OH MY GOD, NO!” imitating Frank and laughing.

“Bro, don’t make fun of me! Did you not see that scene? DID YOU NOT SEE THAT!?” Frank yelled in defense. They had a tiny argument about the movie for about a minute or so, before dropping it and starting up a new conversation.

“Shall we watch another movie, or are y’all up for something else?” Annabelle asked the boys, still sitting on the couch with Gerard who was very silent at the moment.
“There really isn’t anything else to do, and I’m not watching another damn movie.” Bob complained from the kitchen, ‘causing Annabelle to chuckle. He seemed to make her laugh quite a bit.

“We could go to the bar” Ray suggested, plopping himself onto the couch next to Annabelle where Bob previously sat.

“Let’s do it. It’s not like we have anything better to do.” Gerard finally spoke, standing up.

***

“Uh, Annabelle… I think you’ve had enough to drink.” Ray said, clutching Annabelle’s arm, keeping her stable. She shook her head violently and smiled up at Ray, “Noooooooo” she extended the word, “I’ve barely had anything tonight.” she laughed hysterically. “But Ray, pssst. Come here. I have a secret!” she said stifling a laugh.

They went to the bar shortly after the movie was over, and they all, excluding Annabelle, agreed it was a giant mistake. Annabelle got drunk way to fast. She was downing shots of vodka the second they entered the bar. Gerard knew it was a bad idea taking her to a bar, and this was the exact reason why he kept her from drinking earlier, but he wanted to get out for the night. And it wasn’t like he could’ve just shunned Annabelle, telling her she couldn’t tag along with him and the guys. You see, Gerard knew about Annabelle’s alcohol abuse, he’s known since he met her, and wants to help her. Yes, he drank alcohol too, but it never did anything to him. He wasn’t like Annabelle - he didn’t abuse it.

Ray leaned closer to Annabelle, smelling the alcohol on her breath, and cringed a bit. “Gerard doesn’t like me drinking” she slurred, hanging onto Ray’s arm to hold herself up.

“Yeah, I see why” he frowned at her. She frowned back, and pushed Ray away, stumbling towards the bar tender. She slapped her hands down on the wooden bar top and smiled a cheesy grin at the guy. “Hey cutie, can I have another dri-” she was cut off before she could even finish the sentence though. Strong hands clutched onto both of her arms, and she was dragged outside of the bar and into the chilly air. She stumbled to the ground outside, scraping her palms slightly on the concrete. She flinched slightly, and looked up at the person who had dragged her out there.

Gerard stood looking down at her, a horrifying look in eyes. Annabelle slowly stood up and crossed her arms, trying to be intimidating.

“Are you fucking stupid?” He said, venom dripping from his words.

Annabelle was appalled at his tone, and her eyebrows pulled together tightly. “What are you talking about?” She slurred her words slightly, but not as badly as earlier.

“You drinking. You have a fucking problem. I’ve never seen a human being in my life that drinks as much alcohol as you do, and you’re only what, 19? You’re not even of legal drinking age. You know alcohol could kill you, right?” his words were full of anger, and they felt like knives to Annabelle.

“You drink just as much as I do, Gerard! & you’re not my fucking mother, you can’t tell me what to do all of the time!” She shouted, staggering towards Gerard, getting in his face. He placed his hands tightly on her shoulders to stop her from getting any closer, and to help with her balance.

“I don’t drink nearly as much as you do, darlin’, no one does.” he hissed.

She shook out of his grip and screamed a blood curdling scream. Not because she was in pain, but because of how angry she was at him right now. She fell to her knees, her blonde hair falling into her face, and she screamed again. She pounded her palms against the concrete, breaking skin slightly.

Annabelle was a very emotional drunk, she couldn’t help it. She never even remembered it when she was sobered up in the morning with a head wrenching hangover.

After a couple seconds, she stopped, and got back up. Tears were freely streaming down her face, and she looked Gerard in his eyes, that were full of worry and anger. “I want to go home” she mumbled. He just nodded, grabbing her hand, and walking back into the bar, letting the rest of the guys know he was gonna take her back to the apartment.

Gerard kept a tight grip on Annabelle’s cold hand, and opened the passenger door to the car for her, and helped her inside. He leaned over to buckle the seatbelt and could feel Annabelle’s eyes boring into him. He buckled the seat belt, and stopped. He placed his left hand next to her leg by the door, and his right on the middle compartment of the car, and looked up at Annabelle. Silence lingered between the two. Annabelle placed her hand on Gerard’s pale face, stroking his cheek gently, tears still streaming down her face.

Gerard wiped away the mascara that had ran down her cheeks along with her tears, his eyes still locked with hers. And that’s when Annabelle closed the space between them, her lips on his. He kissed back instantly. The kiss was gently, and Gerard’s lips were so soft against hers.

Gerard pulled away, and avoided her eyes. He closed the passenger door, and made his way around to the driver’s seat, hopping in, starting the car, and driving them home. Annabelle quickly fell asleep in the car, leaving Gerard to his thoughts in silence.