Icy

I was eating a pint of ice cream in my flannel pajamas, with my hair in a messy bun, and watching a repeat of a trashy reality show when Sean finally showed up. I heard him enter my apartment and hesitate outside my bedroom while he contemplated the best plan of attack. When he came around the corner he had a scared smile on his face that fell at the sight of me.

“Flannel?”

“Yeah. Is there a problem?”

“Well…flannel isn’t very sexy but I can make do.” He went to slide next to me and kiss my cheek. I turned away and put my cold spoon up against his face.

“You’re really trying to go for the comedic approach?”

“Not anymore.”

“Best decision you’ve made all night.” I said putting my ice cream aside and crossing my arms.

“What did I do?”

“I thought you said that the band fired Gerry.”

“We did.”

“No you didn’t. Why are you lying me to me and not even attempting to hide it?”

“Faith, what are you talking about?” Sean could sense my anger coming to a head and his voiced was tinged with desperation. Murphy, sensing a fight, got off the bed and slinked out of the room headed for the sanctuary of his kitty castle. I’m pretty sure Sean watched him leave with jealousy.

“Gerry was there tonight, Sean. I saw him!”

Sean’s face was frozen with confusion and concern for a second before he started laughing. Hard.

“Why are you laughing at me?” I hissed.

“Because, I thought you understood….”

“Understood what?”

“That the music business doesn’t work the same way HR works, Faith. Firing a manager involves a lot more than a severance package when you work in any form of the entertainment business.”

I started blushing and felt incredibly stupid.

“Gerry’s contract isn’t up until January, when I said we fired him I thought you understood that it meant we just wouldn’t be renewing his contract to represent and manage us when it was up. I’m sorry I didn’t think to explain it more…”

“Does Gerry even know? I asked.

“We told him tonight, which is why I was so late. He didn’t take it well.” Sean looked down at his hands, he looked a little ashamed.

“Oh.” I said quietly, “does…does Gerry have a family?” I didn’t mean to ask Sean that, it came out before I could stop it.

“Gerry is a workaholic; he lost his family a long time ago. We’ve given him enough time to start looking for a new band to replace us.”

I didn’t really know what to say. Suddenly, Gerry’s hatred of me was understandable and I started to feel bad. Gerry has been with Sean’s band since the beginning, Sean and his band mates are the only family he really has at this point and he saw me as a threat, not just to his career like I thought, but to his family, as well. I totally get it now.

“So…you gonna share that ice cream?” Sean asked eyeing it on my end table.

“Hell no. Get your own.” I started giggling and Sean pretended to pin me down like a wrestler while he reached for my ice cream. As he went to reach, his belt buckle ripped my pajamas.

“You ripped them! Now I’ll never be able to wear them again!” I said holding the spoon for ransom.

“Good, you should never wear flannel, it should be a fashion crime.”

Sean was able to get the spoon away from me by distracting me with a really steamy kiss but we didn’t end up using it to eat the ice cream. We put it o better use on each other.

Note to self: Cleaning ice cream out of sheets quickly becomes a sticky mess. Invest in rubber sheets….