Three Cheers

Standing in front of me was Frank Iero.

He grinned at me, "It's nice to see you too, October."

"What're you doing here?" I asked again.

"I just came to see how you were." He shrugged, then looked down, "This your daughter?"

Busy smiled at him, "Hi!"

I nodded, "Yeah, this is Busy."

Frank leveled down to her, "Hi Busy, I'm Frank."

"Hi Frank." Busy giggled, "You're cute!"

I chuckled and went to open the door. I let Frank carry Busy in as I went to put the groceries away. Frank followed me, placing Busy on the counter; "Okay, really, what brings you here?" I asked.

"We're here doing some shows, y'know, and me and Mikey went shopping," I rolled my eyes as the mention of Mikey's name, "We saw your store."

"How did you find my address?"

"Yellow pages." He said matter-of-factly.

"Why did you come here?" I gave Busy a cookie.

"I wanted to see you and your daughter." He shrugged, "Gerard is clean now..."

"So?" I continued to put my groceries away.

"I think you should go see him."

I shook my head, "He said he didn't want anything to do with me or my baby. He told me to have fun alone; that's what I'm doing."

"He wasn't in his right mind, October."
 
"He wasn't drunk, so I'm sure he was thinking pretty clearly."

Frank sucked his teeth, "He almost killed himself, he wasn't thinking straight."

"I don't care, he made his decision, I'm doing what he asked. I've been taking care of Busy by myself, and I've been doing it pretty well for the past two years."

"He's been talkin' about seeing you."

"And?" I asked with a raised brow, "I don't want him around me or my daughter."

Frank frowned, "That's his daughter too."

"Frank," I pulled him aside as Busy continued to munch on her cookie and hum, "You should've heard him, he doesn't want Busy. If he did, he wouldn't have said those things. He can go to hell; he'll never see my daughter after all the terrible things he said."

Frank shook his head, "He's changed, October. He's clean and sober, he's good now. He met this girl, she totally changed his life."

I frowned, "Well, tell him to have babies with her." I went back to Busy, "C'mon, sweetness, you need a bath."

"Aw! I don't wanna!" Busy pouted.

"She looks just like him, October." Frank whispered.

I looked back at Frank, ignoring his comment, "Thank you for coming over Frank. It was nice seeing you, say bye Busy."

Busy waved, "Bye-bye Frank."

Frank frowned as I led him to the door, "October, you know he deserves to see her."

I shook my head, "Ask him Frank. Ask him what he said the last time he saw me and you think about it. Think real hard if you were in my shoes." I opened the door, "Bye."

He sighed, "Look, Mikey told me not to come, but I wanted to. And, I wanted to give you these." He gave me an envelope, "It's two tickets and two backstage passes."

I shook my head, "I don't want them."

He looked at Busy, "Hey, Busy Bee, have you ever heard of My Chemical Romance?"

Dear God, why did he say that?

Busy gasped, "Yes! I see them, mommy say no!"

"Well, I'm in My Chemical Romance, and this is a gift to you. You and your mommy will go see them."

Busy squealed, "Yay! Yay! Thank you!" Frank handed her the envelope.

I groaned, "Yeah, thanks a lot, Frank."

He grinned, "She should see him."

"You're making me the bad guy if I say no and don't take her!" I hissed at him.

"Then I suggest you take her." Frank said happily, "I'll see you on Saturday, Busy Bee." Frank kissed her forehead and walked out the door. I closed it and locked it, then I took Busy to her bedroom to undress her to give her a bath.

"Mommy I see them!" She squealed again once I set her down.

I sighed, "Yeah, baby doll, I know." I spoke unenthusiastically.

I watched Busy set the tickets in her play house and then she came back and let me undress her for her bath. She hummed that damn song while I took her braids out. I hated Frank.

Busy sat in the water and played with her rubber toys. I washed her hair and rinsed her off and let her play. She looked up at me with wonder in her eyes, "Mommy you no like Frank?"

I nodded, "Yes, I do. He just annoyed me, is all."

"He's cute, mommy." She giggled.

"I know, sweetie." I rolled my eyes.

"I like him." Busy continued to laugh.

I shook my head, "You too little to like him."

She just giggled and continued to play. I took her out a whole later, dried her up and put her in her jammies and made us dinner of Mac and cheese. It was a usual quiet night, but I suddenly began to think of Gerard.

It hurt to know that he had met a girl and suddenly got clean for her. After trying so hard and getting nothing, this woman comes along and changes him. That made me feel like I was truly nothing to Gerard, that the many years I spent loving and thinking of him was nothing but a waste of my life.

Now, I would probably have to see him up close again. I didn't want to use the backstage passes, but I knew my baby will put that thing on as soon as the day came. I could lie to her, but I hated doing that; I guess I'd have to suck it up.

I tried not to hate him, but it was hard not to; he gave me Busy, but he also hurt me and he hurt Busy by pushing her away. I shouldn't be so hard, but it was hard to forgive someone like Gerard. As I thought about deeper, I began to cry and I couldn't hide it from Busy. She got up and hugged me tight, "Love you, mommy. No cry, please?"

I had sniffed up my tears and hugged my little girl back, "I won't cry anymore, okay? I promise, B."

I wiped away my tears, trying to remain strong for my baby. She needed me to be because she didn't have another parent to be the role model, the back bone. I was it for Busy, and I couldn't break; she needed me.

After feeding Busy, I cradled her on the couch, letting her curl up in my lap and fall asleep. I kept thinking of Gerard, feeling that maybe I was selfish. But, it hurt, I will never forget the words he said to be. He had hurt me, he hurt my daughter, he didn't want me and he made sure of it when he sent me away without batting a lash. I never wanted him to see her, after all he said, he didn't deserve to see or have the pleasure to know the greatest little girl on the planet.

Busy doesn't deserve to meet that monster. Gerard shouldn't even have the knowledge of knowing he had a baby girl. He should go to hell, he should make his own babies and leave mine alone.


All Busy could talk about was the concert for the next week. Frank, thankfully, didn't come around, but that still didn't deter Busy from talking about how cute he was. When Friday came around, she had told all her cousins about Frank and My Chemical Romance; they almost didn't believe her, until they asked me.

I told them the truth, and of course they all wanted to come, but I told them the truth. I didn't even want to go. I told them he gave Busy the tickets because she really wanted to go.

So, that Friday, she had me go out and pick out a dress for her at the boutique. I loved how adult she was treating this concert; she had to have the perfect shoes and the perfect dress. She had dubbed Frank her husband.

She's 2, I can't crush her dreams by saying he's 24 and too old for her. 

"Mommy I look pretty for Frank." She took my hand.

"I know, Biz." 

She took a dress from a rack; it was pink with little black hearts around it. "This pretty?"

I nodded, "That looks perfect, baby."

"Kay." She skipped to the register with it and stood on her tippy toes to set it on the counter, "Hi Tina!"

Tina is one of the girl's I trusted to run my store. She is a young seamstress I hired when I first started. She has a daughter of her own; "Hi Biz! How are you?"

"Good. Mommy let me see MCR."

I shook my head at the way she abbreviated the name, "She loves them."

"Really? Lucky you."

"I look pretty for Frank." She grinned at Tina.

Tina looked at me and I rubbed my neck, "She's in love with the guitarist."

Tina laughed, "Victoria loves Justin Timberlake, so I feel your pain."

"Ring this dress up. I'll find something to replace it. She has to look perfect for Frank." I spoke sarcastically.

"I marry him, mommy." Busy said this with all seriousness.

"No you aren't, Busy." I told her.

"Yeah-huh! I am!"

I shook my head, "Oi, you're killin' me, Biz."

Tina laughed, "Look at you, Ms. Thing! Already caught you a man."

"He likes me too!" Busy told her.

Tina looked back at me with a raised brow, "It's a long story." I explained, "He gave her the tickets."

"You really are lucky." She winked at me.

"You don't know the half." I exasperated, "Thanks, Tina. I'll see you later." I picked Busy up.

Tina handed me the bag with her dress, "Have fun."

"Thank you." Busy waved to her.

I carried Busy on my hip out the store, letting her rest her head on my shoulder. I was going to take her to get some sneakers, so I was taking her to the kid's shoe store down the block. First, I put the dress in my car, then I let Busy walk and skip.

As soon as we walked into the store, a woman looked at me funnily. I had known her for a while, since I had opened my store; her name is Ophelia. 

"Hey, October, I was just talking about you." She said as I walked over.

"Oh, really?" I asked; Busy jetted off towards the shoes.

"Yeah, a girl was in here asking where your store was."

"Oh, you sound as if it was weird."

"She seemed pretty upset and she didn't have a kid with her."

I furrowed my brows, "Weird..."

"I thought so to. Anyway, what brings you by?"

"Shoes for my mini me."

Ophelia laughed, "Oh yeah, Busy is seeing her husband tomorrow night."

As if on cue, Busy walked up, "Mommy, pretty?" She held up a pair of black flats.

"Very pretty, Biz, but wouldn't you be more comfortable in sneakers?"

She shook her head, "No."

I sighed, "You don't want to change your mind, do you?"

Busy shook her head again, "No."

"Okay, Biz. You're the boss." I have the shoes to Ophelia, "Size 3, please."

"I'll be right back." Ophelia turned and went to get the shoes.

I turned to Busy, "Busy Bee, you're gonna kill me."

She giggled, "No! I look pretty, 'member?"

I nodded with a smile, "You're pretty all the time, baby doll."

She smiled, causing her cheeks to dimple, "Thank you."

I hugged her, "I love you, sweetness, you know that?"

She laughed and nodded, hugging me back, "I love you too!"

Ophelia came back, "Alright, Busy, I got you your shoes."

I sat Busy down and helped her try them on. She danced around in them; "Pretty."

"We'll take them. Thanks, Ophelia."

"Anytime. Have fun, Busy."

"I will." Busy hummed.