FicWad

On Saturday afternoon, I spent almost five hours agonizing over what people wear to movie nights. I guessed that I should probably look comfortable and casual, but still reasonably nice. I mean, I wasn’t to impress Mikey and Frank, but I didn’t want to look as if I’d rolled out of a dumpster. Additionally, I thought about the fact that I was sleeping over, and I was cringing over the idea of my flannelette pyjamas with pigs and lovehearts on them. For someone who listened to the music that I did, I wasn’t very edgy. But they were all I had, so they would have to do. I figured that if Mikey and Frank hadn’t realized already I’m not an effortlessly cool kind of person, they’d have to be pretty daft.

I even stopped at the coffee shop for an hour or so, just to think things over and write a bit. My favorite stranger was sitting there, bent over his sketchbook. I decided I had to express my gratitude for the portrait he had drawn of me, so I left a note on his table as I left:
Thanks for the drawing. I’ve never met anyone who could draw the way you do – I still haven’t seeing as we’ve technically never met. Anyway, I hope you get paid to draw like that someday, instead of having to give free drawings to random people in coffee shops. Again, thank you, nobody’s ever done anything as nice as drawing me before. It made my day, month, year, life, whatever. In case you were wondering, the drawing is stuck on my wall, and it will probably stay there for the rest of forever.
P.S. I wouldn’t object if one day you decided you’d like to talk to me instead of sending me mysterious looks over the top of your sketchbook.
Although I was trying to be mysterious when I left the note on the table, I had to stop and turn around to watch him read it as I walked out the door. I think, out of the corner of my eye, I saw him smile.

Several hours later, I’d decided on jeans and a Nirvana t-shirt (I know, how original), and I was out the door. Mikey lived on a street called Salter Place, which was about five minutes away by car. Unfortunately, since my mom had conducted a drunken hissy fit the night before, refusing to drive me, I was condemned to a forty minute walk. I didn’t mind though, the walk was refreshing. Over half an hour later, I arrived in front of Mikey’s house, nervous, for whatever reason. I held up my shaking hand to knock on the door – for the first time it had hit me that I was about to meet Mikey’s family, and I desperately wanted them to like me. Then, almost instantly, the door swung open, and the last person I’d expected was standing before me.

Coffee shop stranger stood in the doorway, his face expressionless. Before I could even say anything, Frank barreled past him to tumble on top of me in an enthusiastic hug. ‘Fuck off Gerard, she’s mine!’
Coffee shop stranger was Mikey’s brother?! Oh boy… Gerard seemed to recover quickly; his blank look quickly transitioned to an amused one. I think my jaw was still on the floor. ‘This is Gerard,’ Frank said to me, clearly unable to gauge my facial expression. ‘Mikey’s brother.’ He added. ‘Gerard, this is Jamie.’
‘Cool.’ Gerard said, his face a blank, polite mask. ‘Nice to meet you.’
‘Yeah,’ I replied. ‘Nice to meet you too.’

Frank guided me into the living room, and Gerard disappeared somewhere along the way. Frank watched my face; I think he’d started to grasp that something was bothering me.
‘Don’t worry about Gerard,’ he said. ‘He’s a little bit of a hermit. Doesn’t talk very much. I’m sure he likes you, he’d just rather be in his room alone drawing vampires.’
I’m guessing Frank thought I was put off by meeting Mikey’s family. Well, he was right, but probably not for the reasons he thought he was.
‘Where is everyone?’
‘Oh, they went out to dinner and a movie in the city. They probably won’t be back until late. And Mikey’s just downstairs in Gerard’s room picking some movies to watch.’ Frank flopped on the sofa and I noticed we were both wearing jeans and a band t shirt. I had dressed appropriately! Success!
‘Gerard’s room’s downstairs?’ I asked.
Frank nodded and moved his legs so I could sit on the sofa too. ‘Yeah, he lives in the basement.’ He propped his legs up on my lap as I sat down.
‘Cool,’ I said in genuine wonder, as I thought of how effectively I could escape my mother if I lived in a basement.

Just as I was pondering that, my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps entering the room. I looked up from my spot on the couch to see Mikey, his arms packed full of videos. ‘I thought I’d bring a pile up and we could choose?’ Also clutched in his arms was a six pack of beer. ‘There’s more in the fridge.’
‘Sounds awesome.’ I smiled, reveling in this feeling of inclusion.
As we sorted through the movies, pulling out our favorites, and tossing away the things we weren’t in the mood for, I couldn’t help but notice how far I’d come along in the last month. I actually had friends, and they genuinely liked me. I hadn’t had sex in over two weeks. I wasn’t sure why, but it felt like a good thing. I stopped sorting through the videos as I got stuck on that one thought. I didn’t even want to have sex. I just wanted to sit with my friends and watch movies. Why did that make me feel so euphoric? I suddenly noticed Mikey’s eyes on me and began to bend back down to continue rifling through the video collection.

First, we watched Jaws, which Mikey passionately told me was his favorite movie. Frank then made us sit through Die Hard. By the time we got to Dawn of the Dead, we had gone through two six packs and I was getting famished, so I offered to go into the kitchen to get more beer, and something to eat. As I rummaged through the kitchen cupboard looking for something to eat, occasionally taking a sip of the beer in my hand, I sensed another presence in the room. Assuming it was Mikey being impatient about the beer I turned to talked him, uttering a ‘you guys have like, no fuckin’ food.’ But it wasn’t Mikey. It was Gerard. He was leaning back on the kitchen counter, hands in the pockets of his jeans, the hood of his dark blue hoodie up. ‘Hey,’ I said lamely. My voice sounded stupidly quiet, and I realized that I had this little lump in my throat. What was wrong with me?

Gerard moved off the counter and walked up to me, putting his hand past my head into the cupboard, and pulling out a pack of popcorn. He handed it to me and gave me a small smile. ‘Thanks for your note today.’
I almost didn’t respond. I was too busy staring into his hazel eyes as they looked intensely down at me. ‘No problem,’ I said in a timid voice. ‘I liked your drawing.’
He grinned a little, but didn’t say a word.
‘So, can I ask why we’re pretending we don’t know each other?’ I asked quietly.
‘Well, we don’t really know each other,’ He said.
‘Okay,’ I said, frowning at his cryptic answer.
Again, he did not reply. He simply grinned again, grabbed my half drunken beer out of my hand, and moved to exit the room. ‘See you soon, hopefully.’ He said quietly, as he disappeared down the hall.

Feeling both considerably confused and happy, I returned to the living room, popcorn and beer in hand.
‘Did you wanna take any longer?’ Frank asked, not tearing his eyes away from the zombies on the screen.
‘Not my fault this dude has nothing edible in his house!’ I said, sending a mocking glare in Mikey’s direction.
‘Excuse me, I do not buy the food in this house, do not blame me!’ Mikey argued, cracking open another bottle.

~

Many hours and films later, we found ourselves lying on the living room floor in the early hours of the morning, amongst a pile of pillows and covers, Frank lightly snoring into his pillow. Mikey and I lay side by side, wide awake, still a little drunk, staring at the ceiling. ‘Did you have fun?’ Mikey whispered, and I could see him smiling out of the corner of my eye.
‘Yeah,’ I replied quietly, smiling back. I turned to face him. ‘Thanks for inviting me.’
‘No problem,’ Mikey said, his smile widening.
I turned back to the ceiling, feeling both exhausted and elated.

For a few minutes, all was silent.
‘I know you don’t have many friends, Jamie.’ Mikey whispered. ‘I know about your home life, because people talk about it at school. I’ve also always known why the people from school write shit on your locker. I’ve heard a lot of things about you. I haven’t said anything about any of it, because I knew it would make you feel uncomfortable, and that if you wanted to talk to me about it that you would. But you haven’t. Maybe because you were scared of what I’d think. Maybe because you don't trust me.’ I began to feel unbearably ashamed, and scared that he would tell me to get out of his house. I opened my mouth to speak, but he was already talking again. ‘But I just want you to know it doesn’t matter to me. None of it does.’ I could only turn to stare at him. I wanted to thank him, but I couldn’t put what I wanted to say into words, so I simply reached out and put my arms around him. He hugged me back. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d hugged anyone like this – like I loved them. And this embrace told me that I had a friend who loved me. Mikey Way was my best friend.

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So what do you guys think? I've got to be honest, I love this chapter, with Jamie and Mikey getting closer and Jamie finally meeting Gerard.
How did you feel about it?
Please rate and review, I'd really love to see what you think :)