Learning to Fall

The day at the zoo seemed to go very quickly, spent going from one animal to the next all the while stopping the kids from reaching through the fence to pet them. Each animal we would see they would attempt to stick their little hands through the fence, not understanding that lions were not to be petted, which was why Frank and I decided it was time to take the kids over to the petting zoo.

Ella and Sophia quickly skipped ahead, hands latched together and swinging between them. Logan trailed slowly behind us, his little legs barely keeping up with mine and Frank’s already small steps.

“Logan, do you want Daddy to carry you?” I asked, easily seeing that he was very tired from the day and had missed his usual nap.

Logan shook his head and continued trudging along slowly. Frank glanced at me and gave a little grimace.

“Can Fankie carry you then, little buddy?” Frank tried, to which Logan simply stopped in his tracks and held up both of his arms. Frank scooped my son off the ground and brought him to his chest, giving him a snuggle as we started moving once more. Logan seemed to melt into Frank’s chest, his eyes fluttering closed.

“Daddies!” Ella yelled, addressing both Frank and I rather impatiently. “Hurry up!”

Frank and I exchanged a look. “I’ll go,” I told him, shooting a quick smile before jogging to catch up to the girls and taking one of each of their hands. We practically ran towards the petting zoo, the girls’ excitement for seeing baby animals overtaking any restraint they may have previously had.

“Look, tiny baby cows!” Ella exclaimed, letting go of my hand and rushing over to the wooden fence. I gave Sophia’s hand a little squeeze.

“Do you want to get some food so you can feed them?” I asked Frank’s little girl.

She nodded eagerly. “Yes please, Gee.”

I smiled at her and lead her over to where small brown paper bags filled with animal pellets sat waiting to be sold. I placed $1:50 in the tin provided and took three of the bags in my spare hand. Sophia and I walked back to Ella, who was about ten seconds off actually climbing over the fence to get to the calf.

“Ella, want a bag of food?”

Ella whirled around and snatched a bag out of my hand. “Let’s go feed the sheep!” She announced, making her way over to the animals.

“Sophia, here is yours.”

She gratefully accepted the small bag. “Thank you,” she said politely, before letting go of my hand and following Ella, who was being shown how to feed the animals by the zoo keeper.

“Hey.”

I turned to my left to see Frank standing by my side, a suddenly alert Logan in his arms.

“Me feed them?” Logan asked.

“Here sweetie,” I said, handing him a bag of feed before Frank set him down. He quickly toddled over to the girls; Ella, the new zoo expert, soon showing him how to correctly feed one.

“They’re all so sweet together,” Frank said softly, a small smile on his face as he watched them. I stared at Frank for a moment, almost watching him watch them. It was easy to see how much he cared for the three kids he was watching, his face alive with love and happiness at the sight.

“Frank,” I started, a thought coming into my head. “Quinn’s band is playing in some bar in town tonight. I was thinking about going down there, and was wondering if maybe you wanted to come with me? Maybe?”

Frank dragged his eyes away from the kids to look at me. “Sure,” he replied, smiling before looking back at the three little ones.

“Really?” I asked, just to be certain he had said yes. He had said it so quickly I wasn’t sure he’d heard what I asked.

Frank turned and gave me a funny look, amusement dancing in his eyes. “Of course, I just said so, didn’t I?”

I nodded, a slight blush making its way on my cheeks. “Right, yes, absolutely.”

Frank placed a hand on my arm. “You okay, Gee?” He asked, picking up on the change in my demeanor.

“I’m fine,” I reassured him, “Just a little tired I think.”

Frank gave my arm a small rub in a comforting manner. “We should probably go now, anyway.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, my mind already thinking about what I should wear that night.

“Hey guys, its time to go now, say goodbye to the sheep,” Frank instructed the kids, taking charge.

His announcement was met with three load groans and a watery eyed look from Logan.

“I don’t want to go,” he complained, his bottom lip quivering as the girls patted the sheep goodbye.

“We can come back another time, Logan,” Frank told him.

“I want to stay!” Logan cried, tears now leaking down his face. I braced myself for a full-on tantrum, as was common when Logan was overtired and grumpy. The screams however, never came.

“It’s time to go home now,” Frank told him calmly. “The animals need to sleep.”

Logan’s tears slowed a little as he pondered this and simply held up his arms once more. Frank smiled in victory and picked him up, the little boy snuggling into his chest once more. I stared at Frank, a little in awe.

“What?” he asked in confusion.

“Frank,” I trailed off, barely grasping what had just occurred. “How did you do that?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Do what?”

I shook my head in amazement and turned towards the girls, who were walking towards us, now ready to go. We all made our way toward the exit, Logan now having fallen completely asleep on Frank’s shoulder. Eventually we reached Frank’s car, after somehow managing to navigate the girls through the gift shop without buying anything. Frank very carefully placed Logan in his seat, while the girls clambered in the other side and chatted excitedly about the day they’d had.

Frank placed a quick kiss on Logan’s forehead, shut the door gently and made his way over to the drivers side, quickly climbing in and starting the car, beginning the journey home.
The trip home passed mostly in silence, the girls whispered back and forth to each other and Logan continued sleeping. Frank finally pulled into our street, the long day for the kids coming to a close whilst our night was just beginning.

I turned to Frank. “Thanks for such a good day, Frankie, we had a lot of fun.”

Frank smiled as he pulled into the drive. “You are most welcome, we’ll have to do something like that again soon.”

“Definitely,” I agreed, glancing over at my sleeping son. “Ella, what do you say to Frank?”

“Thank you, Frank,” Ella said, shooting him a sweet smile.

Frank smiled sincerely back at her. “You’re welcome, Ella.”

“So,” I started, opening the car door. “I will be over in about two hours?”

Frank nodded. “Sure thing.”

---

I was finally ready to go out. It had taken me at least an hour as I had been unable to find anything worth wearing and had sat on the wardrobe floor for at least a good twenty minutes before my daughter had come in, given me a strange look and handed me a plaid long sleeve button up shirt, my black jeans and my black Converse.

After putting on the outfit my daughter had chosen, due to my inability to make a decision, I ran my fingers quickly through my hair before running down the stairs to find my kids before I headed off. Logan was sitting playing with some of his toy cars while his sister watched Madagascar, obviously inspired by her day at the zoo. I smiled, watching them for a few moments, noticing how they both looked ready to go to sleep, before I joined Ella on the couch, drawing her into my arms.

“You tired, sweetie?” I asked, kissing the top of her blonde head.

“No,” Ella replied, clearly lying.

“Is the movie nearly over?”

“Yes.” Ella was clearly getting annoyed with my questions, her overtiredness causing her to be grumpier then usual, even by her standards. I gave her one last kiss on the head before venturing into the kitchen where Miranda was typing away on her laptop, evidently replying to emails.

“Miranda, Ella is just watching a movie but as soon as its over both of the kids need to go to bed,” I told her, feeling slightly apprehensive at leaving the kids with just their mother.
Miranda turned around and shot me an icy glare. “Thank you, Gerard, but I am competent at looking after my own children. I don’t need to be told when to put them to bed,” she replied, rather snappily.

I rolled my eyes at her, and returned to my children who were still engrossed with their previous activities.

“My little ones, daddy is going now,” I informed them, though they did not seem to be paying the slightest bit of attention. I bent down and gave Ella a kiss on the head, before doing the same to Logan. “Be good for mommy.”

“Bye daddy,” Logan said, giving me a wide smile and waving. I quickly waved back before I let myself out of the house and over to my shiny black car. I checked my appearance in the window, before jumping in and turning the key in the ignition, listening to it purr to life. I quickly entered Frank’s address into my in car navigator and followed the directions to his modest house. I pulled up on the road and stepped out, only to see Frank already heading down the path.

I sucked in a breath of air as he stepped into the glow of the street light, he looked so different to the UPS man that frequented my store. His shirt was well fitted and his jeans, even tighter. Frank could have easily passed as a member of one of the bands playing on this night.

“Hey Gee,” Frank said easily, practically skipping over to the passenger side of the car.

“Ready to go, I presume?” I asked, seemingly unable to tear my eyes away.

“Yep!” He replied, giving me a huge grin and sliding into the front seat, immediately reaching for my iPod.

I laughed before resuming my position in the driver’s seat and swiftly pulling onto the street. “Hopefully the show will be good tonight, although we are guaranteed some form of entertainment from Quinn, even if it’s not quality music. If it’s lame we can always leave.”

Frank shrugged easily. “It doesn’t matter, it’s just good to be out again.”

“I know what you mean Frankie,” I agreed. “Did I mention Mikey will be there too?”

“Really! That’s awesome.”

I laughed. “Kinda. He likes going to shows and stuff too…little groupie.”

Frank giggled. “Really? Mikey is a groupie?”

“Oh totally, he is always hanging around these band boys,” I said to Frank, pulling into the car park of the bar. “He just can’t stay away.”

Frank giggled again. “Doesn’t he have a fiancée?”

I bit my lip, holding back a smile. “Maybe.”

Frank smacked me quickly on the arm. “Liar! You almost had me going there.”

I opened the car door, quickly stepping out whilst still laughing. “That hurt!”

Frank just rolled his eyes at me and led the way to the club. “Hey look Gee, it’s the groupie,” he said, pointing to my brother who was leaning against the wall outside.

“See Frank, he’s waiting for the hot boys to arrive,” I told him, rubbing my sore arm. It didn’t actually hurt very much but I just wanted Frank to feel guilty.

Frank wiggled his eyebrows. “He doesn’t have to wait any longer then.”

“Gerard!” Mikey called out, making his way over to us before giving us each a manly hug. “What are you rubbing your arm for?”

I pouted and shot Frank an evil look. “Frank hit me.”

“Frank! As Gerard’s brother I am duty bound to pummel you into a bloody mess now, but I don’t really have the strength for that tonight so if you could just maybe, like, imagine me doing it or something. It would make it way easier,” Mikey said, not looking like he cared even a little bit.

“Sure.” Frank shrugged. “Why not?”

I scoffed indignantly. “You are both very sucky people.”

Mikey rolled his eyes, as Frank laughed once more. “Aw, Gee, do you need me to kiss it better?” He asked, giving his best puppy dog eyes and using the voice he normally reserved for his daughter.

“Yes,” I said, holding out my arm. Frank quickly put his hands around my bicep and pulled it towards him, planting a large kiss in the middle and pulling away with a large smacking noise.

“Better?”

I moved my arm around for emphasis before replying, “Oh definitely. Wow, that doesn’t even hurt anymore.”

Mikey stared at me with a strange look on his face. “Fancy that,” he said somewhat sarcastically. “Can we go in now, please?”

I sighed and gestured for Mikey to lead the way. “Yes little brother.”

“He just wants to go get some hot band boy ass,” Frank whispered in my ear as we approached the door, causing me to giggle and Mikey to turn around and glare suspiciously at us.

“Those two idiots are with me,” Mikey told the burley man standing at the door. He nodded once and allowed us to enter the crowded bar. The bar was alive with activity; we were met by a thick haze of smoke and the sound of drunken laughter.

“Frank- fucking-Iero!”

Frank and I both turned around at the sound of his name. A man was standing at the bar, a drink in his hand and an incredulous look on his face. He flicked his hair, ensuring the black fringe stayed out of his eyes and took a sip of his drink, all the while staring at Frank.

He finally shook his head disbelievingly and began crossing the room, the tight blue jeans combined with an even tighter grey t-shirt had him attracting many admiring glances from both women and men. He finally stopped in front of Frank and I, running a tattooed hand through his hair.

“Well, well, well,” he said, shooting Frank a smirk and raising a dark eyebrow. “Look what the cat dragged in.”