Adventures in Babysitting
Chapter Three: A Walk to Remember
Chapter Three: A Walk To Remember
I sat on the kitchen unit counter, awaiting the guys to come out of the bunk area with Adele. Yea, I could go inside, but with how small it is in there, there’s no fucking way. I’ll just wait out here for now. Then, out of nowhere, I felt someone grab me.
“Gerard, get off,” I said, cracking up. I liked Gee a lot. He could always make me smile.
“Okay,” he replied, sliding his arms off of my shoulders. He then said under his breath,”You’re no fun.” I playfully pushed him, still laughing quietly. The guess who came in? Uncle Man-with-the-plan! Oh yeah, and Bob. And Mikey and Adele. Basically, everyone.
“Are we interrupting something?” Ray asked, all parent like.
“Yeah, you are,” I threw back at him, “Next time, could you say ‘Excuse Me’ or something?” Ray gave me an ‘Are you retarded?’ look. I looked over to Adele, who was hiding shyly behind Mikey. She peeked out from behind his leg. I guess she’s never really been left with a baby sitter before. Either that or she’s scared of us. Now, who would be scared a guy with twenty million tattoos, a lip ring, black and blonde hair, and red eyeliner? Now, that’s just silly!
“So, what do we do now?” Mikey asked. He’s so clueless to all of this. He’s the youngest in his family, and he’s only been taken care off. Everyone turned to me and Gerard. Oh shit! I gotta think of something... I’ve got it!
“How about we go for a walk?” I suggested. Everyone gave me an ‘Are you on fucking crack?’ look. Wow. I’m getting a lot of those looks today, aren’t I? That’s so crazy. “Well, she could get to know the area better.” okay, that didn’t make things better. In fact, they got worse.
“That sounds good,” Gee responded enthusiastically. Thank God for Gerard. Maybe they’ll listen to him.
“Are you guys on drugs?!” Mikey asked. I guess not.
“Of course not,” I replied, “What’s wrong with going for a walk? I mean, it’s not like we’ll be letting her go alone in the alleyways! We’ll walk into town or a park or something with her.” The guys looked at each other quickly. While they decided, Adele ran over to me and hid behind my leg.
The guys turned, “You’re going with her. Not us.” What?
“What?”
“I’ll go!” Gerard volunteered. He’s like my best friend now. Did I mention that?
“Thanks Gee,” I said, putting my hand on his shoulder. He smiled at me. “Anyone else?”
“I’m going to listen to music!” Of course Bob’s not coming!
“I’m gonna go practice some songs.” Toro works so fucking hard. It must suck to be him right now...
“I’m gonna go....read Ecstacy...again!” How many times has Mikey read that now? Five hundred seventy-four million?
“All right! We’re gonna go now I guess...” I yelled after everyone scattered away. What was everyone so afraid of? We’ve all been/lived in Jersey. What, was there are murderer on the loose that I didn’t know about? Cause I’ll kick his ass if he comes near me. BAM!
We headed out into the Autumn air. Autumn in Jersey wasn’t exactly...beautiful, but it was home. Gerard and I quickly decided that we should go to the park on the edge of town. The one they hadn’t recently found any bodies in. Hey, just because we’re famous and travel around the world, doesn’t mean we don’t keep up with the Jersey Times. Call it what you will. We’re not crazy. Just overprotective!
When we reached the end of the block to cross the clutter-filled concrete, Adele stopped. We didn’t realize ‘till we were in the middle of the street. She looked at us with her big emerald eyes. “Adele?” I started, “Are you okay?”
“Mhm!” she responded.
“Why’d you stop?” I asked. She held out her tiny hand and looked away blushing again. What the hell was she doing? Think Iero Think! Use that brain of yours! What do little kids always do at street corners. Panhandle? No, you dumbass! Beg? Sometimes. What was it? Oh yeah!
I quickly ran over to Adele and took her hand in mine softly. She then stepped onto the concrete. The first thing I noticed was that her hand was warm. It could have been that my hands were cold because I couldn’t find my skeleton gloves, but I think it was her hand that was it. I was kinda sad when we reached the sidewalk and she let go. My hand was cold again...
When we came into eyes view of the park, all you saw was police tape. Shit. New Plan! Hm... Maybe Gerard will think of something this time. I’m out of ideas...
“Hey! Let’s um,” Gerard thought for a moment, “Go to...the mall! The mall is fun!
Did I mention how much I love Gee? Cause I do. “Yeah! Let’s go!”
“Um..o-okay...” Adele replied, hiding behind my leg again. There’s someone in the world shorter than me. That’s a plus!
So, we headed off to the mall! There’s probably only one thing on Gee’s mind right now. Coffee. Let’s see if I’m right. When we got to the mall, we pushed through the big glass doors and entered the food court. “I’m going to get coffee!” Gee told me, smiling. Yep. I was right. woot!
“You do that Gee,” I replied laughing, “Can you get me some?”
“Okay,” And he was off. Damn he’s fast.
Adele and I went next door to Hot Topic. They sell kids clothes there, right? When we got inside, I got a bunch of stares. Right. Legend in Jersey. Forgot that. I smiled and shrugged at the random fans. They turned away. “Um, Adele,” I said to her. She looked up at me with her big green eyes again. Heart melter....
“Go pick out something you like,” I told her. She nodded her head and disappeared behind the aisles. I waited. After about twenty minutes (Gee’s gonna be pissed!), Adele toddled back over to me with about three hangers in her hands. That’s it? In half an hour, two things? Who taught this kid how to make decisions?
“Don’t you want more than that?” I asked. Maybe she came back to tell me she needed more time. Who knows.
“I’m done!” she exclaimed in her high little kid voice. Aww. Too cute.
“Um, okay,” I replied bluntly. She’s easy to shop for. I’m down with that.
I took the hangers out of her small hands (which were now red) and looked at the findings. A dead bunny t-shirt (which was pretty damn cute!) and the Dead! sweatshirt. I’m so proud of her! “All right, let’s go pay then.” We went over to the counter and put the stuff down.
“Forty-two fifteen,” the clerk said. She had orange hair and a lip ring that connected to the earrings with a chain. I handed her the money. “Thank you,” she said, bagging our things, “Come again.” She handed us the bag and we left. Wait a second. Did she just wink at me? Maybe. Possibly. Yes....Whatever though!
We walked over to Starbucks and saw Gee sitting on the bench waiting for us. I scurried over to him, Adele at my tail. “Sorry!” I told him. He had put on his sunglasses. He stared at me from behind them.
“You’d better be sorry,” Gee scolded jokingly, “It took all of my strength not to drink my coffee and yours without you!”
“Thank you Gee,” I said, happily taking my latte. I then noticed he had two more cups. “For Mikey, right?”
“You think I’d get my brother two coffees. Hell no!” Gee joked, “One is for him though. And the other one’s not coffee. It’s hot chocolate.”
“All righty,” I replied, “Who for? Ray and Bob don’t drink hot chocolate until November, or June.”
“The hot chocolate is for Adele,” Gerard replied, handing Adele the small (in Starbucksese: tall) cup, “Careful! It’s pretty hot.”
“Thank you!” Adele said softly, taking the cup into her hands. She then started to blow gently into the opening of the cup, trying to cool it down.
“All right,” I started, “Anywhere else anyone wanted to go?”
“FYE,” Gerard replied, “But I went there already while you two where gone.”
I gasped. “Gerard, how could you go there without me? You’re so mean,” I joked.
“Says the guy I got coffee for,” Gerard pulled out his FYE bag, “And the guy I got the movie he’s been wanting for.”
“Yea!” I exclaimed. I started to dance. People stared. “I love you Gerard!”
“Cool,” Gerard replied smiling like crazy. More people stared. I turned.
“What are you looking at?” Everyone turned away quickly. A lot ran.
“All right,” I said as Gee handed me the movie. “Anywhere else?” Silence. “Well then, I guess we’ll go.” I took Adele’s hand and we were off.
When we got back to the bus, there wasn’t total chaos. Bob was asleep and Ray was listening to his headphones. Gerard had to find Mikey. “I got you coffee!” Gerard yelled. With that, Mikey came running out and tripped over the threshold in the process. He mouthed ‘Thank you’ and and took the coffee from Gerard. I turned to Adele. She was siting on on of the chairs, her feet just barely dangling over the seat as she swung her legs back and forth. Did I mention how cute she is?
After a few hours of nothing (Bob sleeping, Ray falling asleep, Gerard drawing, and Mikey reading.), the night fell pretty damn quickly. I looked at the digital clock on the DVD player. 8:30 at night. Adele’s bedtime I guess. After a few minutes of looking for her, I found her in her bed (well, my bed.) and playing with a black doll thing.
I leaned against the doorway. “Whatcha doing?” I asked.
She turned. “Playing.”
“With what?” I really wanted to know what the fuck that doll thing was. It was tiny, that’s all I know.
“Wee Ninja,” Adele said throwing him at me. He hit me in the face. Who dare touches my face?! No, I’m kidding.
“Ahh! Wee Ninja!” I whispered loudly, not wanting to wake the guys up. Gee and Mikey had fallen asleep too. “Uh, bedtime I guess.”
Adele quickly got under the covers. She looked so tiny in the bed. I turned out the lights and started to head for the closet for sheets. I had to set up the couch I guess. “Frankie?” I heard. It was Adele. I turned around.
“Yeah?” I asked. Did I forget to say goodnight?
“Can I ask you a question?” she asked. She just did, but I’ll cut her some slack.
“Sure,” I replied, “What is it?”
“Are you my new dad?” she asked. My jaw almost dropped.
“I don’t know,” I told her. It was the truth.
“Okay,” she said. I guess the answer was good enough. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” I said. She then fell fast asleep. I headed for the closet and pulled out some sheets. I set up the couch for myself and quickly changed into my pajamas (Black with pumpkins. I was Halloween after all.). I lied in the ‘bed’ and tried to fall asleep. Nothing worked.
I thought for a moment. Did Marc abandon Adele? Was he in trouble or something? It wouldn’t surprise me if he was in trouble. He had filed for divorce about a year ago, gained custody of Adele (barely), and got in a lot of trouble with the cops when he was young. But abandoning his own daughter? No, Marc wouldn’t do that. He may be a troublemaker, but he’s not that much of a jerk. Is he?
I honestly don’t know. But, it wouldn’t be so bad if he let Adele stay here for a year or two. I really like her. I kinda fell...fatherly towards her. That’s heart melting. A rock star father with his kindergarten daughter. But hey! If John Lennon could do it, so can I! But would they let me adopt her when her mom’s still alive and her uncle’s right her? I don’t know...
What I do know is that Adele’s gonna make me cry by the end of the week by how cute she is!
I sat on the kitchen unit counter, awaiting the guys to come out of the bunk area with Adele. Yea, I could go inside, but with how small it is in there, there’s no fucking way. I’ll just wait out here for now. Then, out of nowhere, I felt someone grab me.
“Gerard, get off,” I said, cracking up. I liked Gee a lot. He could always make me smile.
“Okay,” he replied, sliding his arms off of my shoulders. He then said under his breath,”You’re no fun.” I playfully pushed him, still laughing quietly. The guess who came in? Uncle Man-with-the-plan! Oh yeah, and Bob. And Mikey and Adele. Basically, everyone.
“Are we interrupting something?” Ray asked, all parent like.
“Yeah, you are,” I threw back at him, “Next time, could you say ‘Excuse Me’ or something?” Ray gave me an ‘Are you retarded?’ look. I looked over to Adele, who was hiding shyly behind Mikey. She peeked out from behind his leg. I guess she’s never really been left with a baby sitter before. Either that or she’s scared of us. Now, who would be scared a guy with twenty million tattoos, a lip ring, black and blonde hair, and red eyeliner? Now, that’s just silly!
“So, what do we do now?” Mikey asked. He’s so clueless to all of this. He’s the youngest in his family, and he’s only been taken care off. Everyone turned to me and Gerard. Oh shit! I gotta think of something... I’ve got it!
“How about we go for a walk?” I suggested. Everyone gave me an ‘Are you on fucking crack?’ look. Wow. I’m getting a lot of those looks today, aren’t I? That’s so crazy. “Well, she could get to know the area better.” okay, that didn’t make things better. In fact, they got worse.
“That sounds good,” Gee responded enthusiastically. Thank God for Gerard. Maybe they’ll listen to him.
“Are you guys on drugs?!” Mikey asked. I guess not.
“Of course not,” I replied, “What’s wrong with going for a walk? I mean, it’s not like we’ll be letting her go alone in the alleyways! We’ll walk into town or a park or something with her.” The guys looked at each other quickly. While they decided, Adele ran over to me and hid behind my leg.
The guys turned, “You’re going with her. Not us.” What?
“What?”
“I’ll go!” Gerard volunteered. He’s like my best friend now. Did I mention that?
“Thanks Gee,” I said, putting my hand on his shoulder. He smiled at me. “Anyone else?”
“I’m going to listen to music!” Of course Bob’s not coming!
“I’m gonna go practice some songs.” Toro works so fucking hard. It must suck to be him right now...
“I’m gonna go....read Ecstacy...again!” How many times has Mikey read that now? Five hundred seventy-four million?
“All right! We’re gonna go now I guess...” I yelled after everyone scattered away. What was everyone so afraid of? We’ve all been/lived in Jersey. What, was there are murderer on the loose that I didn’t know about? Cause I’ll kick his ass if he comes near me. BAM!
We headed out into the Autumn air. Autumn in Jersey wasn’t exactly...beautiful, but it was home. Gerard and I quickly decided that we should go to the park on the edge of town. The one they hadn’t recently found any bodies in. Hey, just because we’re famous and travel around the world, doesn’t mean we don’t keep up with the Jersey Times. Call it what you will. We’re not crazy. Just overprotective!
When we reached the end of the block to cross the clutter-filled concrete, Adele stopped. We didn’t realize ‘till we were in the middle of the street. She looked at us with her big emerald eyes. “Adele?” I started, “Are you okay?”
“Mhm!” she responded.
“Why’d you stop?” I asked. She held out her tiny hand and looked away blushing again. What the hell was she doing? Think Iero Think! Use that brain of yours! What do little kids always do at street corners. Panhandle? No, you dumbass! Beg? Sometimes. What was it? Oh yeah!
I quickly ran over to Adele and took her hand in mine softly. She then stepped onto the concrete. The first thing I noticed was that her hand was warm. It could have been that my hands were cold because I couldn’t find my skeleton gloves, but I think it was her hand that was it. I was kinda sad when we reached the sidewalk and she let go. My hand was cold again...
When we came into eyes view of the park, all you saw was police tape. Shit. New Plan! Hm... Maybe Gerard will think of something this time. I’m out of ideas...
“Hey! Let’s um,” Gerard thought for a moment, “Go to...the mall! The mall is fun!
Did I mention how much I love Gee? Cause I do. “Yeah! Let’s go!”
“Um..o-okay...” Adele replied, hiding behind my leg again. There’s someone in the world shorter than me. That’s a plus!
So, we headed off to the mall! There’s probably only one thing on Gee’s mind right now. Coffee. Let’s see if I’m right. When we got to the mall, we pushed through the big glass doors and entered the food court. “I’m going to get coffee!” Gee told me, smiling. Yep. I was right. woot!
“You do that Gee,” I replied laughing, “Can you get me some?”
“Okay,” And he was off. Damn he’s fast.
Adele and I went next door to Hot Topic. They sell kids clothes there, right? When we got inside, I got a bunch of stares. Right. Legend in Jersey. Forgot that. I smiled and shrugged at the random fans. They turned away. “Um, Adele,” I said to her. She looked up at me with her big green eyes again. Heart melter....
“Go pick out something you like,” I told her. She nodded her head and disappeared behind the aisles. I waited. After about twenty minutes (Gee’s gonna be pissed!), Adele toddled back over to me with about three hangers in her hands. That’s it? In half an hour, two things? Who taught this kid how to make decisions?
“Don’t you want more than that?” I asked. Maybe she came back to tell me she needed more time. Who knows.
“I’m done!” she exclaimed in her high little kid voice. Aww. Too cute.
“Um, okay,” I replied bluntly. She’s easy to shop for. I’m down with that.
I took the hangers out of her small hands (which were now red) and looked at the findings. A dead bunny t-shirt (which was pretty damn cute!) and the Dead! sweatshirt. I’m so proud of her! “All right, let’s go pay then.” We went over to the counter and put the stuff down.
“Forty-two fifteen,” the clerk said. She had orange hair and a lip ring that connected to the earrings with a chain. I handed her the money. “Thank you,” she said, bagging our things, “Come again.” She handed us the bag and we left. Wait a second. Did she just wink at me? Maybe. Possibly. Yes....Whatever though!
We walked over to Starbucks and saw Gee sitting on the bench waiting for us. I scurried over to him, Adele at my tail. “Sorry!” I told him. He had put on his sunglasses. He stared at me from behind them.
“You’d better be sorry,” Gee scolded jokingly, “It took all of my strength not to drink my coffee and yours without you!”
“Thank you Gee,” I said, happily taking my latte. I then noticed he had two more cups. “For Mikey, right?”
“You think I’d get my brother two coffees. Hell no!” Gee joked, “One is for him though. And the other one’s not coffee. It’s hot chocolate.”
“All righty,” I replied, “Who for? Ray and Bob don’t drink hot chocolate until November, or June.”
“The hot chocolate is for Adele,” Gerard replied, handing Adele the small (in Starbucksese: tall) cup, “Careful! It’s pretty hot.”
“Thank you!” Adele said softly, taking the cup into her hands. She then started to blow gently into the opening of the cup, trying to cool it down.
“All right,” I started, “Anywhere else anyone wanted to go?”
“FYE,” Gerard replied, “But I went there already while you two where gone.”
I gasped. “Gerard, how could you go there without me? You’re so mean,” I joked.
“Says the guy I got coffee for,” Gerard pulled out his FYE bag, “And the guy I got the movie he’s been wanting for.”
“Yea!” I exclaimed. I started to dance. People stared. “I love you Gerard!”
“Cool,” Gerard replied smiling like crazy. More people stared. I turned.
“What are you looking at?” Everyone turned away quickly. A lot ran.
“All right,” I said as Gee handed me the movie. “Anywhere else?” Silence. “Well then, I guess we’ll go.” I took Adele’s hand and we were off.
When we got back to the bus, there wasn’t total chaos. Bob was asleep and Ray was listening to his headphones. Gerard had to find Mikey. “I got you coffee!” Gerard yelled. With that, Mikey came running out and tripped over the threshold in the process. He mouthed ‘Thank you’ and and took the coffee from Gerard. I turned to Adele. She was siting on on of the chairs, her feet just barely dangling over the seat as she swung her legs back and forth. Did I mention how cute she is?
After a few hours of nothing (Bob sleeping, Ray falling asleep, Gerard drawing, and Mikey reading.), the night fell pretty damn quickly. I looked at the digital clock on the DVD player. 8:30 at night. Adele’s bedtime I guess. After a few minutes of looking for her, I found her in her bed (well, my bed.) and playing with a black doll thing.
I leaned against the doorway. “Whatcha doing?” I asked.
She turned. “Playing.”
“With what?” I really wanted to know what the fuck that doll thing was. It was tiny, that’s all I know.
“Wee Ninja,” Adele said throwing him at me. He hit me in the face. Who dare touches my face?! No, I’m kidding.
“Ahh! Wee Ninja!” I whispered loudly, not wanting to wake the guys up. Gee and Mikey had fallen asleep too. “Uh, bedtime I guess.”
Adele quickly got under the covers. She looked so tiny in the bed. I turned out the lights and started to head for the closet for sheets. I had to set up the couch I guess. “Frankie?” I heard. It was Adele. I turned around.
“Yeah?” I asked. Did I forget to say goodnight?
“Can I ask you a question?” she asked. She just did, but I’ll cut her some slack.
“Sure,” I replied, “What is it?”
“Are you my new dad?” she asked. My jaw almost dropped.
“I don’t know,” I told her. It was the truth.
“Okay,” she said. I guess the answer was good enough. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” I said. She then fell fast asleep. I headed for the closet and pulled out some sheets. I set up the couch for myself and quickly changed into my pajamas (Black with pumpkins. I was Halloween after all.). I lied in the ‘bed’ and tried to fall asleep. Nothing worked.
I thought for a moment. Did Marc abandon Adele? Was he in trouble or something? It wouldn’t surprise me if he was in trouble. He had filed for divorce about a year ago, gained custody of Adele (barely), and got in a lot of trouble with the cops when he was young. But abandoning his own daughter? No, Marc wouldn’t do that. He may be a troublemaker, but he’s not that much of a jerk. Is he?
I honestly don’t know. But, it wouldn’t be so bad if he let Adele stay here for a year or two. I really like her. I kinda fell...fatherly towards her. That’s heart melting. A rock star father with his kindergarten daughter. But hey! If John Lennon could do it, so can I! But would they let me adopt her when her mom’s still alive and her uncle’s right her? I don’t know...
What I do know is that Adele’s gonna make me cry by the end of the week by how cute she is!