FicWad

"What are you doing this afternoon?" I asked Gerard over lunch. I took a sip of my chocolate milk and set it down.

He shrugged. "Nothing."

"Oh," I said. "We should, um, hang out."

We looked at eachother. "Sure, I don't think my mom would mind. Your place or mine?"

I had always wanted to see the Way's home from the inside, as it was when he lived there, but I didn't want to seem rude so offered up mine.

"Okay. So I'll just get off the bus at your stop?"

"We take the same bus?" I asked him.

Nodding, he replied, "Yeah, you just always get rides with your friends or whatever."

"Oh."

There was a pause in the conversation, so I started thinking about my friends in present time... well, the future if you're talking about me being in 1991. And something crossed my mind. "Hey, do we have like, a spring dance or anything?"

"Hm..." Gerard's eyes averted to the ceiling in thought, "I don't really know. I didn't go last year. You going? ... Well, obviously you are."

"What does that mean?" I asked him.

Looking at me, he said, "Just, you never miss a social event."

I snickered. "Right."

He gave me a funny look. "Do you want to go?" I asked him.

"Sure," he said, not sounding like he really meant it. "I mean, I'll go for you."

My heartbeat skipped and I couldn't help but smile. "You don't have to if you don't want."

Part of me wanted to, just because whenever I went to school dances I would pretend that Gerard Way was my date. Because Casey Stone never got dates, she would go only because her friends forced her too. I mean, it wasn't like I talked and danced with an invisible Gerard. I just thought it in my mind.

Wow, you never realize how much of a loser you are until you actually spell it out.

"Why not? Let's go to spring fling... together?" I said.

His eyes lit up, "Together," he said in agreement. "Now we just have to figure out when it is."


*

The flyer outside the office said there would be a spring fling held in a little over a week. Today was Thursday, which gave me a week and two days to find a dress. Although, the real Amanda had probably bought one over the summer already, but it was most likely the farthest thing from my style.

Gerard pulled out a tape deck, giving me a culture shock--- this thing was huge! I was used to having people pull out thin iPods from their pockets. In it he put a tape from his bag.

"What are you listening to?" I asked him. We sat side by side on the busride to my house. It was a different route and a different part of town than I'd been yet.

"Iron Maiden," he told me, "Do you like them?"

"Yeah, they're pretty decent." He pulled out a pair of headphones.

"Do you want to listen?" he asked me, I nodded. Flipping the left side of the headphones over, he put it to my ear. I held it in place and he held his side, pressed play. I started tapping my hand along with the beat.

"Do you like, um... hm," I thought for a second, "What year is it?"

Laughing he told me, "'91. You don't even know the year you're living in?"

I faked a laugh. "Oh, you know," then stopped, feeling stupid that I'd said that out loud. "Have you heard of Fugazi?"

He shook his head, "No."

"Oh man, really? What about... like, Archers of Loaf?"

Srunching his eyebrows together, he shook his head again.

My jaw dropped. "Where are you living? Under a rock?" I exclaimed. "I'll have to burn you a CD."

"Huh?" he asked, looking confuzed.

"I mean, uh... make you a... tape.? Obviously that's what I said... right?" I said, not meaning for my sentances to sound like questions.

The bus slowed and came to a stop at the end of Amanda's street. "Well, I guess this is where we get off," I said. We stood and I followed him down the aisle and out the door.

As we walked, I asked, "How far from here is your house?"

Pointing in the direction of another road, he said, "Just down there a ways. Probably not even a mile."

"Wow, really?" I said. We continued walking until we neared the big white house that belonged to the Matthew's.

"This is your house?" Gerard said in a disbelieving way.

I nodded modestly. It felt good for someone to impressed by something, like the house I lived in, as materialistic as that is.

Opening the door, I yelled, "I'm home!" Amanda's step-mom came waltzing into the kitchen, stopping when she saw I'd brought company.

"Well, hello there," She said, smiling at Gerard. "Who's you're friend Amanda?"

"This is Gerard Way," I told her. She nodded, smiling politely.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were coming... I would have tidied up the house or atleast made up some snacks for you two."

"It's fine, he doesn't care," I told her.

"Alright. I have to go up to the mall with Jake, he needs a new stereo... we'll see you two in a couple hours," she said, then yelled, "Jake!" up the stairs.

He came slowly down the stairs, gazing from Gerard to me and back. As he passed us, he elbowed Gerard. Our step-mom hadn't seen.

"Way to be an ass," I whispered to Jake. He gave me a dirty look in return. Looking at Gerard, I said, "Let's go." And led him up to my bedroom, afraid of what he will think about all the organized perfetion that is Amanda Matthews. Though, since me taking up residence there, it's not as clean as it once was.