LMPYITP: The Random Passages

Until [Gerry] I Was Never Happy

            I could hear Liam knocking about the bedroom while I got ready in the bathroom. Bouncing up and down on the bed, shuffling around the room, grunting and mumbling about something that was too incoherent to understand.

            I didn't try to ignore him though. I knew that would be impossible to do. He wouldn't let me. He'd make sure to make enough noise to keep that from happening.

            But I still had to get ready. I still had to go out and do what I'd been assigned to do. I wouldn't be gone long. Okay, I might be gone all day but certainly not forever.

            "Are you gonna be okay while I'm gone?" I asked Liam as I stepped out of the bathroom when I was finally finished.

            He frowned. "The fuck kinda question is that, eh?" He replied flopping down on the bed. "I'm a grown man. I can look after me self."

            "I know you can." I sat down beside him stroking his lower jawline.

            He turned his head away shooing me off. "I should go with yer."

            "I know but there won't be room for you in the car."

            "How d'ya mean?"

            "Well, the car only seats five and if you'd go that'd make six of u-"

            "Who the fuck's the sixth?" He inquired.

            "We won't be gone long." I assured him. "Long enough-"

            "Well fuckin' enough!" He sprung up using his legs like a springboard and took off out the room.

            I followed him to the living room where he plopped down on the couch.

            He gazed at all the papers and pamphlets strewn all over the coffee table. He sifted through them tossing them aside with a tut when he'd had enough.

            They came through the mail a lot more frequently since Gene got his acceptance letter. He hadn't fully committed yet and was still waiting to hear back from other schools. But all of them would do their best to win him over, including that one. It was only a matter of months now before he'd have to make his final decision.

            "Thought ya said ya weren't gonna do this?" Liam pointed at the pamphlets and catalogs showcasing all the fun campus activities and residence life the school had to offer. "Thought ya said you'd give it up 'cuz-"

            "I did." I agreed. "But that don't mean Gene did too."

            "Ya wouldn't have to stay over there full-time though. I can send for youse every weekend not just for the holidays."

            "Seems like a waste of jet fuel-"

            "Fuck off!" He snapped. "I'm tryin' to be accommodatin'! It's you who's tryin' to fuckin' run away again and take my son with ya!"

            "I'm not runnin' away again!" I denied. "And I'm not takin' Gene with me either! But he's old enough to make his own decisions now-"

            "Yeahr? Well, he shouldn't fuckin' decide this!" He threw one of the catalogs across the room.

            I watched it land on the floor then turned back to Liam. "You should support him in whatever he wants to d-"

            "I always fuckin' have! But this fuckin'...this fuckin' bullshit chasin' after squirrels and that, he can fuckin' do that somewhere 'round 'ere-"