Chapter 62

In his sleep he reached for her, but all he could feel were cold sheets. He frowned and slowly opened his eyes. A little confused he looked around.

Right, they were in Philly!

He sat up and glanced at the alarm clock. It was shortly after 3 AM. But where was Fran?

He pushed the sheets away and put on his boxers before shuffling over to the bathroom door.

“Fran, are you in there?” Rich knocked shortly and only heard a low mumble.

“Franny?” he tried the doorknob and found it unlocked.

“Darling, I’m coming in.”

He pushed the door open and had to control himself from laughing out loud. Fran was sitting on the floor next to the toilet. Her head was resting on her arms, which were placed on the edge of the toilet. She was dozing, her long hair was all tousled and half covering her pale face.

It seemed she had problems putting on her robe, because it was not tied and only her right arm made it into the sleeve. He knew it wasn’t nice to laugh about someone else’s misery, but it was really funny seeing her like this. He sighed and kneeled down next to her.

“Fran? Frannie?” He softly ran his hand through her brown long hair.

“Darling, wake up.” She stirred slightly and every slow opened her tired eyes.

“Did you throw up, darling?”

“Not yet.” She mumbled and put her head back on her arms.

“Fran? Babe?” he shook her shoulder to get her attention.

“Go away!” she snarled and tried to push his arm away.

“Don’t you know you better leave a drunken woman alone?”  

“Jesus!” he pulled back lightly when he smelt her heavy breath. Since he wasn’t drinking anymore alcohol smelt disgusting to him. Richie closed his eyes briefly and sighed.

He’d hoped the alcohol would have already been reduced in her system, but it seemed she was still too drunk to realize what she was doing or saying. She sure wasn’t easy to handle when she had too much.

It took him about one hour to get her to bed, because she was padding on unsteady legs through his apartment and was looking for more champagne so they could keep the party going. He had to admit her behaviour scared him a little and he wondered if alcohol could become a problem for her in a couple years like it had been for her father.

“Come on, darling. I’ll help you back to bed and place a bucket next to it. Just in case.” He tried to get her to her feet.

“No!” she grabbed the toilet when he tried to pull her to her feet. He sighed deeply.

“Frannie, come on. It’s too cold on the floor.” He tried to stay calm. If he had been anything like this when he was drunk he needed to apologize again to his brothers.

“I said go away, you jerk! You should know best how I feel!”

Rich stood there like thunderstruck. He had no idea what to say. In a million years he’d never expected her to say something like this. This wasn’t his Fran anymore; this was a complete different person.

Shocked he took a couple steps back and pulled the door close behind him. He took a deep breath when he was standing in the dark bed room. His mind started to wander back to the time when he was drunk.

Had he been as bad as her? Did he become another person as well?

He swallowed hard when he realized the answer was yes. He buried his head in his hands. For the first time since he was sober, he realized what a monster he had been when alcohol had been running through his veins.

“I’m so sorry.” He whispered even though his brothers weren’t here to hear him.

His brothers! They were there for him. They helped him. Rich straightened his back and opened the bathroom door again.

Determined he walked over to her and shook her lightly.

“Fran, wake up!”

“Go away you jerk!” she snarled at him again.

“Fran, it’s enough!” his voice echoed loudly back from the walls and he was grateful that Jason was with his mother in Jersey.

Fran looked at him and saw the anger in his deep brown eyes. Her bottom lip started to tremble and big tears fell from her eyes.

“You don’t love me!” she sobbed loudly.

“Oh, wonderful.” Rich mumbled to himself and took a deep breath.

“Of course, I love you Fran.” He pulled her into his arms. Why do you think I’m doing this? He added in his mind.

“Don’t cry, darling.” He picked her up in his arms and wanted to carry her back to their bed. Just when he was about to step out of the bathroom she turned her head to the side and threw up on the floor.

“Great! Just great!” he cursed and held her hair back while she emptied her stomach.

When she was done he helped her brush her teeth and finally put her to bed. With a deep sigh he re-entered the bathroom and opened the windows.

The smell was disgusting. He pulled a bucket and some rubber gloves from a cabinet and started to clean the floor.

“Rockstar, my ass! Look at this Rockstar now! Sweeping vomit from bathroom floors at 4 a.m.!”