Live-in Nanny Wanted!

Gerard had fully moved in already and I was a wreck. His fucking smile will be the death of me, I swear to God. I seriously needed to consider writing a thank you letter to his parents for making him.

“Hey, Frank?” Gerard chimed into my thoughts. We were watching television together while the girls were napping, but I wasn’t paying attention to the movie playing. I was too busy in my thoughts about the guy sitting next to me, and how tour was going to go.

“Yeah?” I finally acknowledged.

“My brother wants to meet you. Is that all right?” He asked, looking away from my face. Aw, he was troubled.

“Sure. I didn’t know you had a brother though.” He smiled at me and nodded his head excitedly.

“Yeah. He goes to this private fancy school and he’s coming to visit in a couple of days. I’ve been telling him about my living situation, and he wants to meet you.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting him,” I say in response. “What do you feel like eating for dinner?” I ask him. He looks to be in thought for a moment before shrugging his shoulders.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” He asked quietly. I faced my whole body towards him, almost propping my legs on his lap.

“Of course. What’s on your mind?” I asked. He avoided eye-contact with me, obviously distressed. I put my hand on his shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze.

“Anything you tell me will stay safe in a vault in my head. You can trust me, Gerard,” I said, hoping to give him reassurance. He seemed to think for a moment before taking a deep breath.

“I feel a little lost. I want to do comics, but I really would like to sing as well. Like, more than drawing, maybe. I don’t know. What do I do, Frank?” He asked, his eyes showing nothing but pure worry.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” I said, rubbing his back. “It’s okay to be lost. Why don’t you giving singing a try? If it works out, maybe you can do comics on the side. If not, you can always try something else. There’s nothing wrong with not knowing what to do. As long as you live the way you’d like, then I say you did everything right,” I assured him. He seemed to relax, giving me a small smile.

“Thank you so much, Frank. I really needed to hear something like that.” He moved closer to me and gave me a bone-crushing hug. His hugs are the absolute best, I swear. I could die in his arms and be totally cool with it. Only after my girls are all grown and in college though, so it’ll be a while.

“Your hugs are the greatest. You should be a hugger. Like, you should open up a shop or something, and whenever people are sad or upset, they could go in and give you a hug for like twenty-five cents,” I said. He laughed, throwing his head back.

“Wouldn’t that make me, like, a hugging prostitute?” He giggled. I smiled more.

“Hey, if you’re helping lonely and sad, unsatisfied people and you enjoy it, you go for it! Be the best hugging prostitute you can be,” I laughed. This caused him to laugh more, and my smile to go wider.

“You’re great, Frank. Anyway, is it all right if I go meet a friend in town?” He asked timidly. I found myself surprised by him asking for my permission.

“Gerard, you don’t have to ask me. Just let me know when you’re heading somewhere so I don’t worry,” I assure him. He smiles and nods his head. He picks himself up from the couch and makes his way upstairs, and I also totally didn’t stare at his ass as he did that. I turn away from his figure before he makes it all the way up there so he doesn’t catch me staring. After he leaves, I get to thinking that maybe I should go take the girls for a walk. I go upstairs, seeing that they’re asleep and can’t bring myself to wake them up. I head back downstairs and try to decide what to make for dinner. I search my cabinets and rummage through my fridge and freezer before deciding on chicken and rice and getting a package of chicken out from the freezer.

“Hopefully Gerard likes this,” I spoke to myself as I filled a sink up with hot water and leave the frozen chicken in there. I look at the time and it was only noon; plenty of time for the chicken to defrost and for me to clean up the house a bit.

I started picking up random clothes and little toys Gerard and I would use to entertain the girls with and taking them back to their room to put in their little toy bin. The life of a dad is one filled with nothing but this, and I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. I guess my only difference was me going on tour with my band. I was thankful to have met someone as amazing as Gerard to take care of my girls while I was away, because there were many times I thought about calling off the tour. I was worried about Cherry and Lily, but now that I know Gerard will be here, I’m more confident that I can go and make a living for me and my babies.

A few hours pass and I’m really just staring at my ceiling and waiting for either the girls to wake up or Gerard to come home or both. Just as I was thinking that I really have no friends I’d like to hang out on a regular basis, my phone starts vibrating repeatedly beside me on the couch. It’s a call from Gerard and I quickly pick up.

“Hello?” I answer.

“Hey, Frank. Um, is it all right if my friend Ray comes over or something? I really think you two would get along,” he asked nervously.

“Sure. I’m about to start making dinner, so he’s more than welcome to stay for it. Do you need me to pick you two up?” I asked, getting up and heading for my room to get me and the girls dressed.

“If that’s not a bother. His car got a flat on our way here. We’re in the next town over at the movie theater on 5th,” he explained. I searched my mind for the place he was talking about.

“I remember it. Okay, I’m gonna get the girls dressed and I’ll be on my way. Be there in half an hour,” I say, replacing my shorts with pants.

“Thanks, Frank. Be safe, okay?” I smiled at his concern.

“Of course. All right, be there in a bit. I love yo-” I cut myself off. Well, fuck me… “Fuck,” I say, covering my face in embarrassment. Gerard starts laughing on the other line.

“I love you, too, Frank,” he giggles. I shake my head.

“Sorry. I normally only speak to Jamia on the phone. It’s habit,” I explain, pacing my room.

“You still tell her you love her?” He asked.

“We’ll talk about that later. I’ll be there soon.” Then I hung up. I was too embarrassed to be on the phone with him any longer. Oh, God, now he thinks I still love my ex-wife. I get the girls dressed, careful not to make the wrong move to trigger their crying. Without Gerard here to comfort one, I wouldn’t be able to handle it. I put them back in their cribs before running downstairs and making them bottles for the car ride back so Gerard and maybe Ray could hold the bottles for them while I drive. After making the bottles, I went back upstairs and put my shoes on and then grabbing the girls and strapping them in their carriers. At the front door, I grabbed their diaper bag and swung it over my shoulder before opening the door and then picking them up again and walking outside. I put them down again to hold the door closed as I locked it and then picked them up once more as I walked to my car. It was such a long process to put them in any car because I needed at least one hand to do things, but I didn’t want to just put one of them down just in case they got ideas in their head that I favored one more. Call me paranoid.

After finally strapping them into the car correctly, I got in the driver’s seat and took off to the city. I lived on the edge where it was quiet and I loved that my girls would grow up in a decent neighborhood and not some crazy city. I mean, I grew up here and I turned out okay. Gerard turned out great, even. He’s the perfect example.

The girls start crying just as I park the car next to Gerard and another dude who is probably Ray. He has big curly hair and it looks fucking majestic and I wanna run my hands through it to see if it’s tangled or surprisingly not. I quickly waved them over and as soon as Gerard climbed in the front seat, I passed him the bottles. He seemed to get my message and got in the back next to Cherry and Ray shyly scooted in the seat next to Lily, and grabbed the bottle that Gerard was handing him after waving to me.

“Hey, man. I’m Ray. Thanks for the ride and letting me stay for dinner,” he said as he held the bottle up for Lily. I smile at him in the rearview mirror.

“It’s no problem, man. I’m Frank. Thanks for feeding my little Lily. The one Gerard is next to is my little Cherry,” I said back, introducing all of us. “So what movie did you guys catch?” I asked, trying to make some sort of conversation for the ride home.

“Oh, we just saw some thriller movie. It wasn’t exactly interesting. We didn’t exactly watch it anyways,” Ray responded. I raised my brow and felt my stomach ache is sadness. Normally when people say that, they’re making out or something. I looked at Gerard through the mirror and he was looking down at Cherry with a small smile on his face, causing my heart to tear. So they are like that.

“Oh?” I say back, realizing I still needed to answer. “I didn’t know you guys were dating.” I want to cry at my own words. I see the two look at one another before laughing softly.

“Frank, no. Ray is like my brother. We snuck in and pretty much just people watched,” Gerard explained. I felt relief spread across my body and I chuckled.

“Wow, sorry if I made it awkward,” I laughed.

“Nah, it’s cool. So, Frank, what do you do?” Ray asked me. I smiled bigger because the answer was my pride and joy.

“I’m in a band. We’re going on tour in about three weeks, so I’m excited for that.”

“Wow, that’s so cool, man! I think I’d enjoy being in a band. I play guitar,” he said. Ray seemed like a pretty nice, laidback guy. The kinda guy I wouldn’t mind hanging out with.

“Awesome. We should totally jam sometime,” I offer. I hear Gerard giggle and my heart nearly stops.

“Frank, your age is showing.” I glare at him, silently asking what he means. “You said “jam.”” I roll my eyes.

“Fuck off. I’m only 25,” I huff. This causes him to laugh and I can’t bring myself to even think about getting mad at him.

“Yeah, let’s totally play together!” Ray says, interrupting our small moment. I’m actually thankful.

“I have extra guitars back at my place. We could jam when we get home,” I say, stressing the word as I glanced back at Gerard and gave him the finger over my shoulder.

Ray laughs. “Yeah, man. Sounds good. Oh, um, Lily fell asleep.” I groaned.

“Those girls will be up all night,” I said. “Meaning, I, too, will be.”

“I’ll stay up with you, Frank. Don’t worry,” Gerard said, lightly brushing his hand over Cherry’s cheek, watching as she stared back at him in wonder. I smiled, just letting the silence overtake for the rest of the ride. We were almost home anyways, but then my phone had a different idea and began playing out a Nirvana ringtone from Heart-Shaped Box. I grabbed it and held it over my shoulder.

“Gerard, can you answer this? It’s Jamia.” I felt the phone slip out of my hand and Gerard’s fingers brushing over mine.

“Sure thing. Hello?” He said as he answered the phone. I kept glancing between him through the mirror and the road.

“No, Frank is driving us home right now.” I watched as he glanced out the window and nodded his head to whatever Jamia was saying. “Yes, we’re actually almost home. The girls are here. Lily fell asleep and Cherry is just looking around; they’re so cute,” he giggled. I smiled and turned my attention back to the road as home came into view.

I parked and we all go out. I took the phone from Gerard and held it between my shoulder and cheek as Gerard and I unbuckled the girls. I’ll come out later to take the car seats out.

“What’s up, Jamia?” I asked, holding Lily like my life depended on it. Which, yeah, it did.

“I was just checking in. Seems everything is good. Skype me when the girls are awake, okay? I miss their little faces.” I smiled at how sincere she sounded.

“Of course. They’ll probably be happy to see you,” I responded as I handed the house key to Ray. He seemed like he felt useless, no offense to him.

“I don’t know when I’ll be able to visit. We have really big events coming up that drag along well into next year,” she explained, sounding upset.

“It’s okay. We’ll Skype as much as possible and I’ll keep sending you pictures and all that good stuff until you’re able to visit.” We walk inside and I take a seat on the couch with Lily bundled up in my arm and I smile down at her, feeling tears come to my eyes. This is my baby, and she has a sister, and I love them so much that it hurts. These little girls are a part of me. The excitement I felt for going on tour was suddenly replaced with dread at the thought of being gone for so long.

“What about when you’re on tour?” She asks.

“I’m gonna give Gerard my laptop password so he can video call with the girls instead. And, if it’s okay, I’ll give him your number so he can send us both the pictures,” I offer. Just as his name is said, Gerard comes back empty handed and takes Lily from my arms to lay her down in the crib in my room. I smile at him and mouth a thank you. He gives me a bigger smile in return and turns and walks away.

“That sounds good, Frank. Well, I’m off to take a nap. Had a long night and work day today. We’ll talk tomorrow?” She says.

“Of course,” I say as Gerard comes back and takes a seat next to me, Ray sitting on the smaller couch and looking around. “Sleep well. I love you. Bye.” She says it back and then we hang up. I toss my phone on the coffee table and lean back. I look over at the guys.

“It’s none of my business, but I guess you guys are planning to get back together?” Gerard asks. I raise my brow. I hear Ray sigh and my attention shifts to him.

“Sorry, Frank. Gerard is the kind of person who wants to know everything. He hates being clueless,” he explains.

“No, it’s okay. Um, we’re not. She and I were best friends since we were little. It’s always something that we’ve said. When we started dating and then got married, we said it twice as much. It’s just always been a part of us. We’re still best friends, so that hasn’t changed,” I said. Gerard nods along, looking like he understands.

“Awesome. So what do we do now that the girls are sleeping?” Ray asks. I shrug.

“I’d recommend napping since Gerard and I will be up all night, but I’ve gotta make dinner now. You guys don’t mind having chicken and rice, do you?” I asked. They shook their head. “Awesome! Movies are there, gaming system is there, and CDs and vinyl’s are over there.” Then I get up and go to the kitchen to start making dinner.

Man, I’m so punk rock.

Notes

Sorry for the long wait and that's it's uninteresting. This was the only story that I only had the characters and their development planned out, but not the plot. Any suggestions? Message me. I'd be glad to hear anyone out.
Feedback would be amazing! And encouraging!
Hoping to be updating Tuesday's Gone next or In My Mind Only <3 Maybe check those out if you haven't? It'd mean lots :))

Much love,
-OAIF <3