We're Going Live

“Oh! Vegas looks nice!” Gerard said, leaning over me so his stomach was pressed against my back, “Look, there’s a pretty cheap hotel there,” he murmured, “It looks nice as well y’know? Not like cheap hotel, more like classy motel,” he grinned, nuzzling his lips into my ear, “But then again L.A’s where it’s at y’know?” he sighed, “Watcha think? Vegas? L.A,? Mexico? San Francisco? San Diego? Miami? They all sound like pretty holiday places,” he grinned, clambering up on the table.

“Hmm… why don’t we just pick? Maybe we could write them all down and put them in a bowl? Then we could just pick one?” I asked whilst bouncing my knee up and down to keep Charlie occupied.

“I like the sound of San Francisco? Sounds pretty flash right? Or San Diego?” he mumbled, making a funny ‘bunny rabbit’ face at Charlie, “Watcha think Chubs?” he asked, rolling his eyes when Charlie just blew a bubble in return.

I flicked through the pages of the brochure, staring at the different hotels to choose a cheap one. Gerard kept choosing deliberately expensive ones, so I told him he couldn’t pick anymore.

“That’s nice-“ Gerard began.

“Expensive Gee, I don’t want to waste all your money,” I chuckled, resting my chin on the top of Charlie’s head.

“So? So, so, so, so, so, so, so? I don’t care, we have it Doll, I wanna take you somewhere nice. Look, that’s three and half star hotel, two pools and a spa. See,” He said, twisting around a little and pointing to the picture, “It’s nice. Cheap as well. Oh look! It’s right next to the beach, if we go when the weathers right then we could just pretend we’re somewhere exotic,” he grinned.

I nodded, turning the pages slowly to see if there was anything else. I moved the chair in a little, propping my legs up on the side of the table. Gerard smiled and put one hand on my ankle whilst flicking through his own brochure, occasionally circling the things he liked.

It was raining like usual, Gerard’s kitchen to have a seemingly grey glow to it. It was warm though, he had put the heating on all day and the television was flickering quietly in the corner.

“I think we should stick to the one before baby doll –makes sense see? It’s cheaper if we go in the middle of the weekl-“

“Daaaa!” Charlie interrupted, kicking his chubby legs happily under the table. Gerard chuckled and flicked Charlie’s pale cheek, chuckling more when Charlie responded with his baby pigs squeals.

“Sorry Charlie Chubs, maybe you can come with us when you’re older,” he grinned, “So what about it? I wanna book soon so we go this week, seeing as tomorrows Monday, yeah? We could get it for Wednesday, come back Friday and then we’ll have the weekend to relax,” he said, sliding to the edge of the table and pushing his feet to the rim of my chair.

The next couple days were filled with trying to book the stupid holiday. Each time we tried they either had the right days in a bad hotel, or the wrong days in an okay hotel. I could tell Gerard was getting stressed from just trying to book it, I started wondering if this was a good idea, especially when Gerard chucked the house phone at the wall a few times.

“No!” Gerard yelled down the phone, his cheeks darkening, “I want a fucking room from fucking Wednesday to fucking Friday, are you fucking retarded?” he spat, I heard the man on the phone reply quaintly, “Oh, really? That’s sounds lovely you stupid fucking butt screwing cock munch –what don’t you get about Wednesday to Friday? You know what you can do with your tickets? You can give them to me and I’ll wipe my fucking ass on them -alright?” he bellowed, slamming the phone down.

I stared at the sofa, that awkward silence hanging precariously in the air.

“You know what I’m gonna do? I’m gonna go down to the fucking vacation agent and shove their stupid brochures up their stupid asses, see how they goddamn like that,” he muttered.

“Gerard we’ll find something, just calm down,” I muttered, gnawing on my thumb nail, “It’s just because you want something for tomorrow and it’s short notice,” I told him, allowing him to pull my head down onto his lap.

He stayed fuming and raking his hands through my hair like a demented comb for a few minutes, eventually the rough movements of his fingers becoming soothing.

“Once more, I’m trying once more and then those brochures are getting stuffed up butt fucks,” he muttered, grabbing the phone and the phone book, his fingers dotting down the list of numbers he could call, “566 34 2,” he muttered, his phone bleeping with each number he put in, “Hi, I would like to book a motel of a about three stars or more for a hotel in San Diego,” he said, trying to keep calm, I rolled onto my back, “Fine do that,” he muttered, “Yes, put it under Way,” he told them, obviously unable to use his first name, “Okay, I’ll come by tomorrow,” he yawned, pressing the button again to end his call, “They’ll put our name down and contact us tomorrow afternoon,” he murmured whilst rubbing his temples.

“Well that’s good,” I said, lifting my arm and spinning a lock of his hair around my finger, hoping he wouldn’t get grumpy again. I let my hand curve round his neck and I tugged a little, making him lean down to give me a hug, I suppose I only did it so he’d forget he was angry.

“I don’t bend this way well,” he grunted, jokingly though, “Ow, my gorgeous back is being whacked from hugging you –imagine that? I’d be one of those guys you read about in ‘Woman’s Weekly’” he grinned, “Cracker Crippled from Contacting with Cuddles."