Freak
Chapter 7
By: Makena
Jeremy's eyes fluttered open. Bright sun light poured through the half closed shades and fell across her face. She smiled and closed her eyes stretching out a little. 'That was a good dream,' she thought to herself. 'Marrying Benji... that would be so awesome.'
She was about to twist around when she realized that there was an arm wrapped around her waist and somebody in the bed next to her. She looked down at her left hand and noticed the small, silver band that indicated that she HAD in fact gotten married. She slipped it off quickly and read the inscriptions around the inside of the band. 'Eternal Love' was written in French.
'French?' Jeremy thought.
She suddenly remembered what had happened after the wedding. They had gone down to the jewelry store and gotten matching sliver bands and paid to get them inscribed. And then there was the hotel room... Jeremy felt Benji's lips on her neck, softly kissing her. Jeremy smiled and turned her head so that she could see Benji.
"Good morning, Mr. Madden," Jeremy said.
"Good morning, Mrs. Madden," Benji replied with a laugh. "How long have you been up?"
"Not long," she replied. "I was just remembering last night - I woke up and I thought all of it had been a dream."
Benji laughed slightly. "We should probably be getting up soon," he reminded her. "I'm pretty sure everyone's a little pissed off at me."
"Wow... I have school, too..." She yawned and closed her eyes. "I just want to go back to sleep!" she said, cuddling closer to Benji.
Benji held her close to his bare chest for a moment and rested his head on her own. He closed his eyes and they sat in the silence of the room for a moment before either of them decided to say something.
"What are we gonna do?" Benji asked finally.
"Hum...?" Jeremy said, her eyes still closed.
"We're married now," Benji said, feeling slightly weird saying it. "But you're still in school and I'm on the road, and when I'm not on the road I'm in Waldorf, and when I'm not in Waldorf I'm in New York."
Jeremy sighed and hugged Benji closer - she didn't want to wake up or have a discussion. "I really don't wanna have this discussion right now," she moaned. "But I probably don't want to later either, so..."
She sighed and opened her eyes. Looking up at Benji, she sat up a little and suddenly seemed to realize that she wasn't wearing anything. At all. She reached for the sheets and pulled them up past her chest. Benji laughed slightly.
"It's okay," he laughed. "I've seen everything by now."
Somewhat embarrassed, Jeremy blushed and smiled.
"Anyway," she said. She paused. "I have no idea..." She laughed slightly.
"How 'bout we go back and figure it out from there?" Benji suggested. "There's always the plane ride there."
Jeremy nodded in agreement.
"Check out is at 11:30," Benji continued, getting out of bed. "We've got plenty of time, but we still have to buy airplane tickets, so we should probably hurry."
Jeremy smiled and nodded, carefully climbing out of bed herself. She grabbed her bra and underwear from the floor and quickly put them on before she searched for her pants. She laughed and looked at her ring again after she had found everything and was fully dressed.
"What?" Benji asked, stepping out of the bathroom with a mouth full of toothpaste.
Jeremy looked up at him and smiled. "Nothing," she replied. "I was just thinking about something."
Benji nodded and spit his toothpaste out into the sink. "By something you mean this, right?"
Jeremy laughed again and nodded. "Yeah," she said. "But it's okay. I like it."
----
On the plane back, Benji and Jeremy did talk some things over. Mostly about what they were going to do, now that they were a married couple, but they figured it out.
"I'll see you later," Benji said, letting the cab drop Jeremy off at her house first.
Jeremy nodded and climbed out of the cab after receiving a kiss from her husband and clutched her backpack, walking to the house. She checked her watch - it was almost 3:30. School ended a half hour ago and she wasn't due home for another half hour on the bus.
Jeremy walked to the front door and let herself in, dropping her back pack on the floor like it had been no big deal that she had disappeared for the night and not returned home until 3:30 the next day. And it really wasn't much of a big deal - her parents were so used to her staying the night at some one's house and not coming home until a day or two later. Her mother looked up from whatever she was doing in the kitchen, and her father looked up from his paper.
"Hello, dear," her mother said, greeting her with a smile. "Did you get a ride from some one?"
Jeremy nodded. "Yep. I need to tell you guys something."
Jeremy's mother looked confused at her daughter, but walked out and joined her father in the living room. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"Nothing," Jeremy replied. "Every thing's fine. I just wanted to make an announcement."
Jeremy waited for them to say something before she continued.
"Let me guess," her mother finally spoke up. "You finally got that tattoo you've been wanting!"
Jeremy shook her head, but found it good to know her mom would be cool with it if she came home with a tattoo one day. Or, rather when she came home with one.
"You got a job?" her father asked.
"False hope, daddy dear," Jeremy said with a laugh. "That isn't happening for a while."
"Well... what is it? Tell us!"
Jeremy sighed somewhat nervously and finally held up her left hand, flashing her sliver wedding band at them. "I got a ring," she said.
"You're engaged?" her mother asked, some what happily. "Who is it? When can I meet him?"
"I'm not engaged, mom," Jeremy said. "I'm married."
Not a word was spoken for quite some time.
"Come again?" her mother said.
"You heard me," Jeremy said with a sigh. "I got married."
"Oh..."
"Who did you marry?"
"This guy - his name is Benji. He's in that band I like so much - the one Marty always catches me talking to on my poster?"
"You're married to a rock star?" her father questioned. "Oh, that'll last long."
"What are you going to do?" her mother asked, ignoring her husband's comments.
"Well, Benj and I talked it over, and we think the best thing to do - since we're married - is for me to wait until I graduate and once I do that, I'll move out to Maryland with him."
"Maryland?" her mother repeated. "That's so far away from here!"
"I don't think so..."
Jeremy sighed, thankful she hadn't mentioned going out on the road with them. Then they wouldn't even consider letting her go... 'Wait a minute,' she though. 'I'm 18 - I'm officially an adult now. I can live on my own and make my own choices. What the hell am I asking them for?'
"You know what?" Jeremy said. "I'm 18. It's legal for me to be married - I am. And it's about time I started making my own decisions. Not like I haven't for the past four years, but you can't even TRY to stand it my way this time."
Upset and a little sad her parents weren't as happy about her marriage as she was, Jeremy grabbed her jacket and ran out the door. She had to find Benji.
-----
Benji was dropped off at the parking lot of the concert hall where one bus remained. That meant Autopilot Off and Simple Plan had both left and the Good Charlotte bus was waiting for Benji. Benji slipped the cab driver a tip and walked nervously to the bus. Joel met him half way through the parking lot before he even had a chance to run his explanation through his head.
"Benji!" Joel shouted. "Where the fuck have you been?"
Benji sighed and walked over to his brother.
"We're supposed to be headed for..."
"I know, I know," Benji said. "I fucked the tour thing up."
Joel sighed. "Where'd you go?" he asked. "You weren't drinking or anything were you? None of us saw you after bowling and..."
"Jeremy and I flew to Vegas," Benji broke in.
Joel frowned. "Why would you go to Vegas?"
Benji held up his left hand. Joel stared at the silver wedding band. A mix of shock and awe filled his face as he examined it.
"Benji... what the hell... did you and Jeremy get MARRIED?!"
Benji nodded and shoved his hand back in his hoodie pocket; the temperature was freezing and his hands were getting cold.
"Fuck... you just met the girl and you married her? You don't even KNOW her that well. You don't love her."
"If I don't already, maybe I will," Benji said.
"Will? WILL?!"
"Will."
Joel sighed and put a hand on his head, trying to think about things. "This is... I... this isn't normal, Benji."
"Norm is the guy who sits at the end of the bar," Benji replied.
He had heard Jeremy say it once. Norm - as in Normal - didn't exist. Nothing was or ever will be normal. Joel frowned at the expression.
"I don't know what to say," he said.
"How about 'Congratulations, Benji. I'm happy for you.'" Benji rolled his eyes and began to walk past Joel to the bus.
"Benji..."
"You know what? Forget it - pretend I never even told you."
Benji, instead of walking to the bus, past it and began to head for the park that was a couple blocks away from the concert hall. He needed to find Jeremy.