Mr. Way - Frerard

I went home to my apartment after meeting Frank's mother, and I couldn't stop the butterflies from fluttering in my stomach. I sank down onto the chair in my living room, and breathed a sigh of contentment. I glanced at my mobile, which I had forgotten to bring with me, to see the red light blinking, indicating a notification. I unlocked my phone curiously, to find that I had a text. This surprised me. 'Who would be texting me?' I thought 'Nobody ever texts me.'

Confusion spread across my face when I saw who it was. Lindsey, my ex-girlfriend from about six years ago. What could she possibly want? She was on the other side of the country, and had made it immediately clear that she didn't want anything to do with me after what I did, or what she thought I did. But I didn't want to dwell on that. I opened the message anxiously.

'Hi, Gerard.It's been so long... I have something to tell you. Call me when you can.'

I had no idea what this could be. I debated whether I should call her now and get it over with, or wait until the morning. No, I decided, I'd never be able to sleep with this on my mind. I took a deep breath before pressing the call button. The dialling tone played. A few moments passed and I began to half-hope she wouldn't pick up. However, the familiar voice that I hadn't heard in so long answered, "Hello?"

"Hey," I said nervously. "You had something to tell me?"

"Yeah. Yeah... uh, this isn't an easy thing to say over the phone." She gave a nervous laugh. I didn't respond, just waited, my eyes tight shut and my fingers gripping my phone tightly.

"You know when... when we were together? And that time the... the uh, condom broke? But we thought we were safe? Oh god, okay… We weren't. You got me pregnant."

"WHAT?"I exclaimed. I couldn't function, my breaths came fast and short, and the room seemed to spin around me. My mind felt fuzzy. Lindsey took the morning after pill, there was no way this could have happened.

"Gerard, calm down."

"Calm down?Fucking calm down?"

"I told you this wasn't an easy thing to say over the phone-"

"Why didn't you tell me? They must be - what? Five?"

"She just turned six."

"She." I said simply. It was a girl, I had a daughter. This couldn't be possible.

"She's called Bandit." Bandit. The name ran through my mind.

"Oh my god..."

"She's been asking about her father for a while now... I thought... I don't know what I thought. I thought you should meet her."

"I can't just leave my job to visit you! I'm teaching at a high school."

"And you can't take a week off?"

"I'm serious about my job. I don't want to take time off."

"We'll arrange something tomorrow."

"Sure."

"Bye, Gerard." I hung up immediately, not even saying goodbye. I couldn't seem to stop my thoughts from racing. I stood up and entered my small kitchen, opening a cupboard I never went into. I reached to the back, taking out some alcohol that I had struggled so badly with years ago, and took a long gulp. I had no idea what I was going to do about this.

Notes