I'm not okay...yet

When I wake up next to Gerard I panic at first, forgetting how I ended up there, but as I wipe the sleep from my eyes, I start to remember. He's snoring softly and smiling at his dreams. I'm so glad the nightmares seem to have gone away. I get out of bed, turn on some music, pull on a pair of overalls and apply my eye make-up. I sit down at the coffee table and eat a bowl of frosted flakes before turning on the coffee pot. The smell of it wakes up Gerard and he immediately pours himself a cup of it, strong and black. "20 dollar nose bleed: good song." He comments on my choice and kisses my cheek. We sit on the couch and turn on supernatural, his arm around my shoulder. It's the episode when Sam's stuck in the same day over and over again, one of our favorites.
When the episode is over Gerard gets up and dressed. He turns to me and says, "I gotta go run an errand, honey, i'll be back as soon as I can."
"what is the errand?" I ask, but he won't tell me, something about dying his hair is all he'll let me know. He leaves with a suspicious grin on his face and a bit of a swagger in his step. I figure, while Gee's gone, it's as good of a time as any to call my little brother. I feel bad for not telling him goodbye or explaining to him why I had to leave home, or explaining that to anyone for that matter.
He picks up on the first ring and his voice makes me homesick. "Hey Henry, it's me, Alice."
"Alice? Where are you?" He asks, excitedly,concerned, surprised and sounding oh-so much like him. He's a freshman in high school and I'm sure people have been asking him left and right about why Gee, Frankie and I had basically disappeared from the classes, hallways, lives of the rest of Roosevelt High School.
"I'm in Kansas right now, but we've stopped in New York and Ohio. I'm headed to the Grand Canyon with cousin Charlotte and Frank and Gerard soon."
"Why did you leave? Why didn't you say goodbye? Alice, I miss you and I've been worried about you since you vanished two weeks ago." I can tell he's hurt, he sounds like he's close to tears and I wish that I were there with him right now to wipe them away and make him bush by asking him about girls and asking him about boys, telling him that I wouldn't mind if he were gay, though I'm pretty sure he isn't.
"I'm so sorry Henry, you deserve to know why I left and I should have said goodbye. I'd been planning this trip for a long while, but I wasn't planning to actually go until after graduation this spring. Some things happened and other things came up and I had to leave. I wish i could tell you all about it, about why I had to go so early, the scary things that pushed it, but I can't. Not even Gerard really knows why we've embarked on this route, not Charlotte or Frank either. I miss you and I'll tell you about it as soon as I can, when I get back. I promise I will."
He sniffs loudly and his voice breaks as he says,"Okay Sissy, just please be careful, don't get hurt and come home as soon as you can. Mom and dad are fighting more without you here and it's starting to really scare me."
"Alright, I will punky, do you want me to tell Lottie anything for you? I'd give her the phone but she's in a separate hotel room, and knowing her, she's probably still asleep."
"Just tell her 'hi'. and uh, what do i tell people at school happened to you and the others?" Henry asks and it's a good question. hmm...I've got an idea.
"Just tell them that we had some very important business regarding Gerard and Frank's band. After all, it's not exactly a lie, we did send out a few demos to record companies that are considering signing them." I tell him and he says that'll work. He tells me a little about what's going on back home, school stuff, family stuff, and the rumors that are being spread about were we are and why we left. Some people are saying that Gee and I had been hooking up and I got pregnant, others think We're in trouble with the police and fled to avoid being arrested, there's even a few that think we've been kidnapped, or that one or two of us have been kidnapped by the others. I wonder if any of them know or suspect the truth...I guess we'll find out eventually.
"Henry, are mom and dad home?" I ask and he runs into mom's office and puts her on the phone after we say goodbye and I promise to call him again soon.
"Alice, is that you?" She asks, as though she thought I was dead, or worse, which for all I know, she actually did think was what happened to me.
"yeah, It's me, the one and only. I'm alive and safe." I tell her and she lectures me for much too long about what I've done wrong and how she and dad are 'so very disappointed in me and my careless, reckless actions' and how 'we're going to have to talk more about this and it's consequences when I return'. In the middle of her sentence, I interrupt by saying 'goodbye mother' and hanging up. I should have known that she wouldn't want to listen, but would rather be, well, her. i'm almost eighteen and if she thinks that this is a one time act of rebellion and I'm going to come back and stay on her tight little leash, she's out of her goddamn mind. I shake my head and lay down on the couch. Muttering things like, "over-bearing bitch" and "never again her puppet", I fall asleep.

Notes

I'm sooooo grateful for my subscribers! Please let me know if you have any suggestions, I'd love to know what you think about the story so far and what you'd like to happen with the couples or anything else for that matter. Thanks!