Categories > Original > Romance
Sips of Coffee in the Blazing Sun
0 reviewsone shot, used for a project in English class. Gerard and Helena move to Kansas from Jersey (Not Gerard Way, just some character i named Gerard and i think Helena is a pretty name... shut up lol)
0Unrated
"Shut up mother!"
I pulled my headphones around my ears and stalked out our faded, red front door. I mechanically started to get on my old black and red bike while turning up the volume on some Black Flag, heading toward the coffee shop three blocks away. My haven when this type of thing happens. I shoved my Zen in to the holster on my studded belt and rode the five minute bike ride to the coffee shop.
My ma and I had gotten into a fight over my little brother, Mikey, that I was setting a bad example for him. Never being aware of the people around me, always listening to music, and holed up in my room my mom raved. It’s not my fault he’s a little copycat.
As the scenery passed and Black Flag pounded through my skull, I started to calm down and look forward to the coffee shop. My boyfriend Gerard works there. We both grew up in New Jersey but both of our parents got up and left for the godforsaken wasteland. Other people call it Kansas.
I hopped off my bike in front of The Coffee House and lead it into the ancient, rusty racks. After I chained the old boy up, I walked through the double doors and strolled to the table in the corner, as per ritual. I plopped down on the squeaky blue vinyl seat and changed my music to some Scary Kids Scaring Kids.
“The usual, Miss Helena?” a voice called from behind the counter in the same, not local, nasally accent as I spoke with.
“No need for the formalities, Gerard.” I said with a grin.
He laughed. How I love that sound, like someone turned up the bass on wind chimes.
“Alrighty then, on medium decaf black comin’ up!”
I eased off my headphones and shut down my Zen as Gerard walked over with my order.
“Here ya go Helena. So what was the hurry to get here? You were pedaling up here like the Jersey Devil was on your tail.”
“Oh… my ma again. We got into a fight about Mikey. Dang little copycat.”
“He’s wearing eyeliner now? Or maybe some black army boots?” he sniggered.
I stuck my tongue out at him. “No he’s not turning into an angsty, punk, sixteen year old.”
“Phew, there’s only enough room for two angsty punk sixteen year olds in this town, and those positions are filled by you and me.” He said with a grin while scratching his chin with a long, pale, black-nail-polished finger.
I chuckled and downed my coffee. “Let’s be off to the forest hun.”
“Alright let me load my shift off onto the newbie and I’ll grab my truck. Put your rusty old bike into the trunk.” He said, a smile twitching the corners of his perfect lips.
I giggled and walked out the double doors. I put my bike in his pick-up’s bed and hopped into the passenger’s seat. He sauntered over, squinting in the unforgiving sunlight at about noontime around here. He kicked his clunky red Doc Martens into the cab while his lanky, six-foot-seven-inches boy followed, and turned the key to start that familiar roaring sound of his 1976 engine. We looked over at each other, slipping our sunglasses on at the same time.
We passes the farms, their fields dotted with cows and sheep, and headed to our own little chunk of town, the forest. No one goes there really, well, besides me and Gerard. Rumor is that it’s haunted. We don’t believe that.
“Think we’ll see those lost boy scouts tonight?” Gerard cooed while stroking the back of my choppy blue-black and green pixie cut.
“Ooo, scary.” I replied, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Well ya never know…” he trailed off as we reached the clearing before the gaping mouth of the forest. He jumped out of the car, his red highlighted black hair swinging around his face. He dased around the other side of the cab and opened my door.
“What the gentleman!” I teased.
“I try.” He stated while I jumped the long drop for seat-to-ground. I landed flat on my backside and flushed crimson, the heat creeping up into my cheeks. Gerard tried to stifle his laughter but failed miserably as I scrambled up and brushed myself off. He extended his hand and I took it in mine. We walked into the ever-darkening forest as the sky started to fade into a luscious red.
A deer darted in front of us and I yelped, alarmed at its sudden appearance. Gerard laughed and circled his sinewy arm around my waist. We walked in silence through the emerald, grey, and brown of the trail we mapped ourselves. Sitting at the rock we found when we first moved here, our fingers intertwined, as we watched the stars close in on the last light from the sun.
I remembered when we first found this place, the only spot of green in a twenty mile radius. It was when we first moved here ( we weren’t even dating yet ), we were looking fro a place to hang, but all of the teenage inhabitants were either jocks or preps, not to our liking in other words. It was overgrown, wild, and overall, private, the perfect place for two people like us to be without getting strange looks and seeing comments whispered behind the hands of cheerleaders and linebackers in the corner booth. When we were in the heart of the forest, Gerard found our “mini pride rock” as he likes to call it. He lowered himself onto it from the tree he was hanging in and patted the space next to him. I sheepishly crossed the space that separated me and him. I had a huge crush on him so I was excited to be near him, even though we’re “joined at the hip” as our parents put it. I successfully embarrassed myself by tripping right before I hopped on the rock. I scraped my skin from my throat to the tip of my chin. He grabbed me off the ground and sopped up the blood with his handkerchief, pulled from his pocket, quick as lightning. He looked directly into my eyes after her ebbed the flow of crimson and said,
“Don’t scare me like that you little klutz,” he said playfully. “Of I’ll have to do this a whole lot more often.”
“Wha-“ I was cut off by my first kiss.
I smiled at the memory that flooded my mind as I drifted off to dreamland. The deer that startled me earlier came into the clearing, as if to apologize. I fell asleep against Gerard before it got the chance.
“Dammit,” Gerard cursed as he looked at his watch. “It’s nine Helena, we should go before the send the search party. High-strung police around here…” he rambled.
“I stirred, half-asleep, and murmured my “ok” to him. He hoisted me up and supported my back as we headed out of the forest. We got back to the peeling black behemoth that was Gerard’s truck and he picked up my small frame and placed me in my seat. He kicked the engine to life and we took of for our houses. I slept the whole time while Gerard sang along to My Chemical Romance and Hawthorne Heights.
He dropped me off at my off-white house and he drove across the street to his grey shingled one. I waved a goodbye as he unlocked his front door.
“Hi, Helena!” Mikey called, waving his tanned hand in a greeting. I curled my alabaster fingers back at him and went up the stairs to my room two steps at a time.
“Ah, sweet rapture!” I sighed as I pulled my battered cell phone close to me and pulled on my headphones, turning on my Zen. I just set it to play “Skylines and Turnstiles” when Gerard texted me.
Hey Helena, r ur parents actin weird?
well my parents didn’t say hi if that’s wat u mean, but I do hear some convo going on
mine r yelling, omg divorce was just mentioned…
omg, I really hope u heard wrong
me 2, whats ur fight about?
uhm idk I cant really hear that much, father dearest sounds all slurry though
i hope ur dad isn’t drunk again, he has been 2 times this week, itll be a new record
hahaa, well they’ll prob work it out
i hope so, well I g2g im gonna drown them out with some music and lay low
see what you can hear and ill report from my end soon, love u
love u 2 bye
That is kind of weird, I really hope Gerard’s parents don’t get divorced. I don’t think that’s what’s going on here, the pops probably came home drunk again. I rolled my eyes at this very real and probably correct assumption and gave my attention to 30 Seconds To Mars.
I woke up with the sun shining in my face. I turned over, getting the window out of my sight.
“Helena, I opened your blinds for a reason. It’s noon, time to wake up.” My ma said from the doorframe.
“Mmff!” I grunted back at her.
“I have lunch ready, get up!” she demanded playfully while chucking a pillow at my head.
I rolled out for my bed, landing hard on the floor, my black comforter still wrapped around me. I slowly disentangled myself and shuffled down the stairs.
“Ah, she lives!” my ma exclaimed. Dad cringed in the corner at the sudden loud noise, proving my assumption right. I grunted a greeting and sat down to my steaming grilled cheese.
After eating while half-asleep, which was an adventure; I went into my room and changed into my The Used t-shirt, dark wash skinny jeans, and combat boots. I flopped down on my bed and gathered my chemistry stuff to do my homework, probably not a good idea while my head was racing with a million other thoughts. My Linkin Park ring tone went off in the corner, causing me to drop my pencil in alarm. I hopped to the floor and picked my phone up and answered the call.
“Hello?”
“Helena…”
“Hey Gerard, what’s up?”
“…uhm, Helena, my parents…”
“Gerard, don’t say what I think you’re going to say…”
“They… are getting… divorced.”
“Oh my gosh Gerard… I don’t know what to say to that…”
“You don’t have to say anything, meet me at the coffee shop.”
“I’m on my way!”
I ran out of the room, slipping on my sunglasses as I sprinted out the front door, kind of like a cheetah hell bent on capturing its prey. I jumped on my bike and pedaled as fast as I could down the The Coffee House. After I successfully threw my bike at the racks and bounded through the door, I saw Gerard, his head down on a table. His boss was yelling at him about the roaster or something. I could tell he wasn’t listening; he has his hand to his ear, meaning his ear bud was threaded through his sleeve. His boss barked one last comment at him then stalked into his office. I immediately sat down in the chair opposite of him, waiting until he picked his hea dup.
“Oh… hey.” He said, his tone deadpan.
“Gerard… I’m so sorry…” I stammered.
“The court hearing is tomorrow, apparently they’ve been keeping this a secret for a while. He said, looking down at the mottled plastic of the table. “They’re going to fight over… custody.”
“Who do you want to live with?” I asked.
“My dad most definitely. My ma disapproves of everything, my dad is all like ‘that’s cool’.” He answered sincerely.
Well they’ll probably take that into account at the hearing.” I said, trying to lift his spirits.
“Yeah I guess you’re right… well I gotta fix the roaster, it’s broken AGAIN!” he stood up, grinned at me, and loped back to the counter.
I slowly stood up and as I walked out the door, I stole a last glance at him. He was humming “Nobody’s Listening”, a good sign. Feeling confident that Gerard was okay, I walked out the double doors, hopped back on my bike, and headed home.
The next day, Gerard shuttled me to the hearing in his car. He was tense and unwilling to talk. When we walked into the courtroom, we were ushered to a bench and we sat, doing as we were told for once. The trial began…
“I give full custody to Mr.Silver, your ex-wife will have visitation right of course.” The judge said pompously while banging his gavel, giving me a headache by doing so. “Court adjourned.”
Gerard and I stood up, both of us dressing our formal garb, and trudged out the heavy oak doors to the courtroom.
“Phew, I’m glad that’s over.” Gerard sighed with relief.
“Me too. I think I fell asleep at one point though, sorry about that.” I muttered.
“It’s alright, I was listening to my iPod the whole time anyways.” He said slyly.
“But you still are gonna be living here… right? I mean like in your same house.” I asked timidly.
“Oh yeah, my dad still owns the house, my ma has a place down in Florida so that’s where she’ll go to live now.” He explained.
“That’s great! Now we can remember the good ol’ times and make some new memories right here in our own personal hell.” I chuckled.
“Good ol’ times?” he puzzled.
“If I remember correctly, they were Wednesdays.” I said with a grin.
We both laughed at my Dane Cook reference as we made our way to the exit. Gerard took my hand and we walked out into the blazing sunlight, slipping our sunglasses on at the same time.
I pulled my headphones around my ears and stalked out our faded, red front door. I mechanically started to get on my old black and red bike while turning up the volume on some Black Flag, heading toward the coffee shop three blocks away. My haven when this type of thing happens. I shoved my Zen in to the holster on my studded belt and rode the five minute bike ride to the coffee shop.
My ma and I had gotten into a fight over my little brother, Mikey, that I was setting a bad example for him. Never being aware of the people around me, always listening to music, and holed up in my room my mom raved. It’s not my fault he’s a little copycat.
As the scenery passed and Black Flag pounded through my skull, I started to calm down and look forward to the coffee shop. My boyfriend Gerard works there. We both grew up in New Jersey but both of our parents got up and left for the godforsaken wasteland. Other people call it Kansas.
I hopped off my bike in front of The Coffee House and lead it into the ancient, rusty racks. After I chained the old boy up, I walked through the double doors and strolled to the table in the corner, as per ritual. I plopped down on the squeaky blue vinyl seat and changed my music to some Scary Kids Scaring Kids.
“The usual, Miss Helena?” a voice called from behind the counter in the same, not local, nasally accent as I spoke with.
“No need for the formalities, Gerard.” I said with a grin.
He laughed. How I love that sound, like someone turned up the bass on wind chimes.
“Alrighty then, on medium decaf black comin’ up!”
I eased off my headphones and shut down my Zen as Gerard walked over with my order.
“Here ya go Helena. So what was the hurry to get here? You were pedaling up here like the Jersey Devil was on your tail.”
“Oh… my ma again. We got into a fight about Mikey. Dang little copycat.”
“He’s wearing eyeliner now? Or maybe some black army boots?” he sniggered.
I stuck my tongue out at him. “No he’s not turning into an angsty, punk, sixteen year old.”
“Phew, there’s only enough room for two angsty punk sixteen year olds in this town, and those positions are filled by you and me.” He said with a grin while scratching his chin with a long, pale, black-nail-polished finger.
I chuckled and downed my coffee. “Let’s be off to the forest hun.”
“Alright let me load my shift off onto the newbie and I’ll grab my truck. Put your rusty old bike into the trunk.” He said, a smile twitching the corners of his perfect lips.
I giggled and walked out the double doors. I put my bike in his pick-up’s bed and hopped into the passenger’s seat. He sauntered over, squinting in the unforgiving sunlight at about noontime around here. He kicked his clunky red Doc Martens into the cab while his lanky, six-foot-seven-inches boy followed, and turned the key to start that familiar roaring sound of his 1976 engine. We looked over at each other, slipping our sunglasses on at the same time.
We passes the farms, their fields dotted with cows and sheep, and headed to our own little chunk of town, the forest. No one goes there really, well, besides me and Gerard. Rumor is that it’s haunted. We don’t believe that.
“Think we’ll see those lost boy scouts tonight?” Gerard cooed while stroking the back of my choppy blue-black and green pixie cut.
“Ooo, scary.” I replied, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Well ya never know…” he trailed off as we reached the clearing before the gaping mouth of the forest. He jumped out of the car, his red highlighted black hair swinging around his face. He dased around the other side of the cab and opened my door.
“What the gentleman!” I teased.
“I try.” He stated while I jumped the long drop for seat-to-ground. I landed flat on my backside and flushed crimson, the heat creeping up into my cheeks. Gerard tried to stifle his laughter but failed miserably as I scrambled up and brushed myself off. He extended his hand and I took it in mine. We walked into the ever-darkening forest as the sky started to fade into a luscious red.
A deer darted in front of us and I yelped, alarmed at its sudden appearance. Gerard laughed and circled his sinewy arm around my waist. We walked in silence through the emerald, grey, and brown of the trail we mapped ourselves. Sitting at the rock we found when we first moved here, our fingers intertwined, as we watched the stars close in on the last light from the sun.
I remembered when we first found this place, the only spot of green in a twenty mile radius. It was when we first moved here ( we weren’t even dating yet ), we were looking fro a place to hang, but all of the teenage inhabitants were either jocks or preps, not to our liking in other words. It was overgrown, wild, and overall, private, the perfect place for two people like us to be without getting strange looks and seeing comments whispered behind the hands of cheerleaders and linebackers in the corner booth. When we were in the heart of the forest, Gerard found our “mini pride rock” as he likes to call it. He lowered himself onto it from the tree he was hanging in and patted the space next to him. I sheepishly crossed the space that separated me and him. I had a huge crush on him so I was excited to be near him, even though we’re “joined at the hip” as our parents put it. I successfully embarrassed myself by tripping right before I hopped on the rock. I scraped my skin from my throat to the tip of my chin. He grabbed me off the ground and sopped up the blood with his handkerchief, pulled from his pocket, quick as lightning. He looked directly into my eyes after her ebbed the flow of crimson and said,
“Don’t scare me like that you little klutz,” he said playfully. “Of I’ll have to do this a whole lot more often.”
“Wha-“ I was cut off by my first kiss.
I smiled at the memory that flooded my mind as I drifted off to dreamland. The deer that startled me earlier came into the clearing, as if to apologize. I fell asleep against Gerard before it got the chance.
“Dammit,” Gerard cursed as he looked at his watch. “It’s nine Helena, we should go before the send the search party. High-strung police around here…” he rambled.
“I stirred, half-asleep, and murmured my “ok” to him. He hoisted me up and supported my back as we headed out of the forest. We got back to the peeling black behemoth that was Gerard’s truck and he picked up my small frame and placed me in my seat. He kicked the engine to life and we took of for our houses. I slept the whole time while Gerard sang along to My Chemical Romance and Hawthorne Heights.
He dropped me off at my off-white house and he drove across the street to his grey shingled one. I waved a goodbye as he unlocked his front door.
“Hi, Helena!” Mikey called, waving his tanned hand in a greeting. I curled my alabaster fingers back at him and went up the stairs to my room two steps at a time.
“Ah, sweet rapture!” I sighed as I pulled my battered cell phone close to me and pulled on my headphones, turning on my Zen. I just set it to play “Skylines and Turnstiles” when Gerard texted me.
Hey Helena, r ur parents actin weird?
well my parents didn’t say hi if that’s wat u mean, but I do hear some convo going on
mine r yelling, omg divorce was just mentioned…
omg, I really hope u heard wrong
me 2, whats ur fight about?
uhm idk I cant really hear that much, father dearest sounds all slurry though
i hope ur dad isn’t drunk again, he has been 2 times this week, itll be a new record
hahaa, well they’ll prob work it out
i hope so, well I g2g im gonna drown them out with some music and lay low
see what you can hear and ill report from my end soon, love u
love u 2 bye
That is kind of weird, I really hope Gerard’s parents don’t get divorced. I don’t think that’s what’s going on here, the pops probably came home drunk again. I rolled my eyes at this very real and probably correct assumption and gave my attention to 30 Seconds To Mars.
I woke up with the sun shining in my face. I turned over, getting the window out of my sight.
“Helena, I opened your blinds for a reason. It’s noon, time to wake up.” My ma said from the doorframe.
“Mmff!” I grunted back at her.
“I have lunch ready, get up!” she demanded playfully while chucking a pillow at my head.
I rolled out for my bed, landing hard on the floor, my black comforter still wrapped around me. I slowly disentangled myself and shuffled down the stairs.
“Ah, she lives!” my ma exclaimed. Dad cringed in the corner at the sudden loud noise, proving my assumption right. I grunted a greeting and sat down to my steaming grilled cheese.
After eating while half-asleep, which was an adventure; I went into my room and changed into my The Used t-shirt, dark wash skinny jeans, and combat boots. I flopped down on my bed and gathered my chemistry stuff to do my homework, probably not a good idea while my head was racing with a million other thoughts. My Linkin Park ring tone went off in the corner, causing me to drop my pencil in alarm. I hopped to the floor and picked my phone up and answered the call.
“Hello?”
“Helena…”
“Hey Gerard, what’s up?”
“…uhm, Helena, my parents…”
“Gerard, don’t say what I think you’re going to say…”
“They… are getting… divorced.”
“Oh my gosh Gerard… I don’t know what to say to that…”
“You don’t have to say anything, meet me at the coffee shop.”
“I’m on my way!”
I ran out of the room, slipping on my sunglasses as I sprinted out the front door, kind of like a cheetah hell bent on capturing its prey. I jumped on my bike and pedaled as fast as I could down the The Coffee House. After I successfully threw my bike at the racks and bounded through the door, I saw Gerard, his head down on a table. His boss was yelling at him about the roaster or something. I could tell he wasn’t listening; he has his hand to his ear, meaning his ear bud was threaded through his sleeve. His boss barked one last comment at him then stalked into his office. I immediately sat down in the chair opposite of him, waiting until he picked his hea dup.
“Oh… hey.” He said, his tone deadpan.
“Gerard… I’m so sorry…” I stammered.
“The court hearing is tomorrow, apparently they’ve been keeping this a secret for a while. He said, looking down at the mottled plastic of the table. “They’re going to fight over… custody.”
“Who do you want to live with?” I asked.
“My dad most definitely. My ma disapproves of everything, my dad is all like ‘that’s cool’.” He answered sincerely.
Well they’ll probably take that into account at the hearing.” I said, trying to lift his spirits.
“Yeah I guess you’re right… well I gotta fix the roaster, it’s broken AGAIN!” he stood up, grinned at me, and loped back to the counter.
I slowly stood up and as I walked out the door, I stole a last glance at him. He was humming “Nobody’s Listening”, a good sign. Feeling confident that Gerard was okay, I walked out the double doors, hopped back on my bike, and headed home.
The next day, Gerard shuttled me to the hearing in his car. He was tense and unwilling to talk. When we walked into the courtroom, we were ushered to a bench and we sat, doing as we were told for once. The trial began…
“I give full custody to Mr.Silver, your ex-wife will have visitation right of course.” The judge said pompously while banging his gavel, giving me a headache by doing so. “Court adjourned.”
Gerard and I stood up, both of us dressing our formal garb, and trudged out the heavy oak doors to the courtroom.
“Phew, I’m glad that’s over.” Gerard sighed with relief.
“Me too. I think I fell asleep at one point though, sorry about that.” I muttered.
“It’s alright, I was listening to my iPod the whole time anyways.” He said slyly.
“But you still are gonna be living here… right? I mean like in your same house.” I asked timidly.
“Oh yeah, my dad still owns the house, my ma has a place down in Florida so that’s where she’ll go to live now.” He explained.
“That’s great! Now we can remember the good ol’ times and make some new memories right here in our own personal hell.” I chuckled.
“Good ol’ times?” he puzzled.
“If I remember correctly, they were Wednesdays.” I said with a grin.
We both laughed at my Dane Cook reference as we made our way to the exit. Gerard took my hand and we walked out into the blazing sunlight, slipping our sunglasses on at the same time.
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