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Gerard stood at the counter till, punching ridiculous purchases into the cash register and then hitting ‘cancel’ before it went through. He was so bored. It was Sunday, and the place was positively dead. As much as he hated to say it, Gerard was secretly on the lookout for a new job for when the record shop went under. It was a great place, and Gerard had been going there for his music since he was a kid, but no one else really seemed to appreciate owning a hard, physical copy of a CD, with the picture booklet, the cover art, the lyrics on the inside…Gerard sighed. He didn’t want the place to go down, but the future didn’t seem bright for little ol’ mom and pop shop, Ray’s Records.

The bell above the door clanged for the first time that day, and Gerard looked up from his till out of pure shock. His jaw dropped when he saw who it was.

It was the cute boy, Frank, from the party. He was wearing a blood-red Iron Maiden shirt and a pair of old, raggedy jeans with holes everywhere. He was shorter than Gerard remembered, and he had a small, silver hoop piercing his lower-left lip. All in all, Gerard had to admit, he looked very attractive. For a guy.

“Hey.” Frank had caught Gerard’s eye and made his way over to the check-out counter. He rested his elbows on the glass and leaned forward, casting a shadow over the displays of the classic albums. “I remember you. From the party last night. Or were you too drunk to remember?” A small smile played at his lips, and Gerard found his goofy grin from their first meeting returning to his face.

“No, I remember you. You spilled beer on my shirt.” Gerard bit his lower lip to keep it from trembling nervously. What was this boy doing to him?

“Right,” Frank said with a chuckle, his cheeks turning pink, which Gerard found very cute. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine. I’ve puked all over myself before, and it always comes out in the wash.” Gerard could not begin to explain why he’d just said that. He smacked his palm against his forehead, biting his lower lip. “Sorry. Too much information.” Frank just laughed.

“It’s cool, dude.” Frank smiled and looked around the shop, both boys at a loss for how to continue the conversation, even though, for some reason or another, Gerard desperately wanted to.

“So…are you new around here?” No, they’d just been able to go twelve years without meeting, seeing, or hearing of each other by pure accident, Gerard thought to himself, wanting to give himself another good smack in the face. He sighed.

“Yeah, just moved from California, actually. I’m staying with my cousin, Bob.”

“Bryar?”

“That’s the one.”

“Cool. When did you get here?”

“Friday night.”

“Wow, so it’s no wonder I’ve never seen you before,” Gerard said, chuckling awkwardly. “So…are you going to Belleville High?”

“Yep…I start Monday.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll find it very…adequate.” Both teens chuckled and fell into another awkward silence. “Well…” Gerard said, trying desperately to keep the conversation going. He looked around. “Well, can I help you find anything?” He gestured around at the record store.

“Oh! Right, the reason I came in here…” Frank said, then chuckled. “I was looking for the new Drive Shaft album.”

“As a matter of fact, I believe we do. Right past those shelves over yonder, there should be a particular shelf entitled New Releases. They’re in alphabetical order by artist. I’d show you, but I’m not supposed to leave the counter,” Gerard added, shrugging. Frank nodded and thanked him, walking in the direction that the other boy had indicated. Gerard wished he could leave the stupid cash register. He wanted to spend more time with the cute boy…No, with the interesting boy that seemed like he’d make a good friend. Boys were not cute.

In a few minutes, the boy named Frank was back, CD in hand, asking to be rung up. As Gerard was punching in the transaction, Mikey came bounding up to him, clutching one of his comic books. “Gee! Gee! Look, look at this. It’s--” Mikey stopped short upon seeing that his older brother was with a customer, and began to retreat.

“It’s okay, Mikes. What is it?” It was something trivial and stupid, and it almost made Gerard embarrassed for Frank to know that he was into comic books.

“Hey, I’ve read that one!” Frank suddenly said, smiling at Mikey. Gerard breathed a sigh of relief, although he wasn’t quite sure why he cared so much…

“Really?” Mikey said excitedly, showing the new teen what he’d found so interesting.

“Wow, that is cool, bud. Listen, I gotta go, but I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other again, sometime.” At that, Frank looked up at Gerard and smiled, winking ever so slightly and making Gerard’s heart jump. Without another word, Frank walked out of the store, waving to both brothers as the bell over the door chimed his exit.

“Who was that, Gee?” Mikey asked, looking up at his brother.

“Just…just a boy, Mikes.” Gerard turned back to the register, already knowing that Frank Iero was not, in fact, just a boy.


Wooh! Huzzah for me! I finally got this up. As you all know, I'm mega-busy, and this was the absolute soonest that I was able to get on the comp and write. At least it's finally here. =] Aaaaannnyyyywho, it was pretty easy to guess what was going to happen in this chapter, haha. But didn't we want to see Frank again? Yes, we did. Who doesn't like seeing Frank? No one, that's who. And here he is. So...go comment! And subscribe, please, if you haven't. Thanks, sunshine. OverAndOutxx