It Was All An Accident (Frerard)

Chapter Eight: Agreement

Frank’s P.O.V

The words rang through my head as I rethought them. Maybe I could love Gerard, too. Maybe it was possible for me to love more than one person. My body said ‘yes’ as I felt a slight tingling on my lips as I remembered the kiss. The drunken kiss. And even though it was a drunken act, I knew that it hadn’t come from nothing. I knew that Gerard probably didn’t mean to do what he had done, but a part of him wanted it.

I remembered how weird it had felt to have his lips pressed against mine again, and this time it hadn’t been a stunt. His lips had felt warm and hot against mine and his alcohol-stenched breath had fanned me across the face. It had been familiar and nice, and those feelings had shocked me to the core. I remembered the guilt that had hit me and the anger that welled up inside me. Even though Gerard clearly had been drunk, even more so than me, he had no right to use me like that. So I had done the only logical thing my drunken mind had come up with. I pushed him away.

I had pushed him away in such a manner that our whole family now suffered from it. We weren’t talking and it now affected our kids.

Even though it was first now that any of them had in any way confronted us with it, I had a feeling they'd caught on pretty early. That was probably why they hadn’t brought any friends over for the past week.

I didn’t like that. I didn’t like when my fight with Gerard affected the kids. It was time to grow up and deal with this as the adults we were. That meant that no matter how mad I was at Gerard for taking advantage of me in my drunken state of mind, I couldn’t hold that against him anymore. At least not when I really didn’t mind it anymore.

--------

I got up from my bed and padded out of the room. I could hear voices downstairs, otherwise the house sounded abandoned. Bandit’s high-pitched voice drifted out, and I guessed that she and Gerard was discussing something from her insisting tone. Curious as I was, I snuck down, careful not to make any sounds.

“But, daddy, why won’t you and Frankie talk to each other? And, I can tell there’s something wrong, as none of you are smiling, so don’t try to hide it from me.” Bandit’s voice reached me as I slowly tiptoed towards the kitchen.

“Because daddy did something bad, Beezle. He did something he really shouldn’t have done.” I reached the doorframe and peeked inside the kitchen. Gerard was sitting on a barstool beside the counters, his head in his hands and his whole body slumped together. Bandit was sitting on the counter beside him, looking down on him with question marks in her eyes.

“But daddy, why don’t you just ask for forgiveness for the bad thing that you did? I know Frankie isn’t so mad at you that he won’t forgive you.” Her sweet voice was so pure and innocent, yet she held a wisdom in it that none of us knew where she had gotten it from.

Gerard took his head out of his hands and looked up at her, before asking, “How do you know he’s not that mad at me?”

“Because I talked to him, silly.” She smiled at him, before she pointed towards me and said, “And, he’s standing there now.” Gerard’s head snapped in my direction, his eyes widened when he spotted me. I pulled my mouth up in a small smile before stepping into the kitchen.

“Frank, what are you…”

“Gee, we need to talk.” I interrupted him, before I turned to Bandit. “And for you Beezle, it’s bed time.” She stuck her tongue out at me and gave me a small wink. “Okay Beezle, you can get a piggy back ride.” I sighed, and she quickly climbed up on my back from the counter.

I walked up to the kid’s bathroom, grunting a little on the way as I realized how heavy Bandit actually was. I couldn’t fathom how Gerard was able to give her as many piggy back rides as he did when I already had problems with my girls. Once we got there, I sat her down on the toilet lid and let out a small huff as the weight got off my back.