FicWad

Here you go, my lovelies! I apologize for the delay. Familial duties called and my mother had pneumonia so I kinda took over. But anyway. On with the story!

When they got to the coffee shop, Gerard and Celeste each ordered a black coffee and sat down at a table in the back corner.

"Okay, so. All I really know about you is that your first name's Gerard, you like comic books, you like normal books, and you like coffee," Celeste said, leaning on her elbows. "I need to know more."

"What do you wanna know?" Gerard asked, slightly frightened. Whenever he opened up to someone new, he ended up getting hurt one way or another. This was just supposed to be fun. I didn't want her to learn about me...

"Oh, you know. Favorites, likes, dislikes, siblings, childhood pets, that kinda shit." She grinned slyly. "And, if you're up to it, past relationships and conquests."

At the last word, Gerard laughed. "Conquests? What the hell do you mean?"

Celeste giggled. "Sexual conquests, of course! Don't tell me you haven't gone out one night, saw some chick you wanted to bang, and by the end of the night you'd bagged her?"

"Well, I have, but why do you wanna know?"

"For one thing, it's fun! I used to hear this kinda stuff all the time from my older brother and they always included me when I'd sneak into his room. And besides, why not share this stuff? I have no preconceived notions about you so anything you tell me won't really change my opinion of you." Celeste smiled.

"Okay, but that means I get to find out about you, too," Gerard said cautiously. Celeste nodded. "All right, go ahead."

"What's your full name?" she asked in a rush.

Gerard laughed loudly at that. "What the hell? You can ask me anything you want and you ask me what my full name is?" Celeste looked hurt, so Gerard grinned and answered. "Gerard Arthur Way. What's yours?"

"Celeste Elena Reiter." She smiled and pushed her bangs out of her face again as the waiter brought them their coffees. "Thanks. Okay, do you have siblings and what are your relationships with any siblings?"

Gerard giggled. "Isn't that two questions?"

The black haired girl scowled but laughed. "They're about the same thing! Just answer the damn question!"

Frowning, Gerard said, "I have a little brother, Mikey. We used to be best friends but now..."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Celeste said quickly, reaching across the table and grabbing Gerard's hand. "I shouldn't have asked that. Forget I asked that."

"Don't worry about it, Celeste," Gerard said, pulling his hand away and putting it in his lap. Under the table, he began to wring his hands together. "It's fine. Now, what about you? You said you had an older brother?"

Celeste smiled tiredly. "Yeah, his name's Aaron. He's five years older than me. We're best friends, too." She cocked her head suddenly. "How old are you?"

"I'm 24. You said you were 19, right?" Gerard asked, suddenly realizing how creepy it was that he was hanging out with her. She was barely out of high school and probably had friends even younger.

"Yeah, that's right. It's funny, I had no idea how old you were. You look young but sometimes you seem so much older." Celeste closed her eyes briefly but reopened them just as Gerard was going to grab her hand. "Your turn."

Gerard raised one eyebrow. "For what?"

"To ask questions, of course!" she said happily. It was disconcerting how quickly she could go from sad and withdrawn to happy and laughing.

"Oh, okay. I wonder..." Gerard muttered, staring off into space. "Where are you from?"

"Originally? I was born in Ireland and lived there until I was eight. Then we moved to Connecticut for my dad's job." She looked wistful as she spoke. "I want to go back to Ireland one day. I barely remember it."

"What do you remember about it?" Gerard asked, completely forgetting the game they'd been playing.

"Well, we lived in the country far away from any towns, so all around our house there were bright green hills. It was so gorgeous. We lived above a bar because my mum inherited it from her granddad. She ran that for a while, but when it went out of business, we had to live on just my dad's income. That's why we moved here." Celeste had been clenching her hands into fists, and when she noticed, slowly opened them.

Gerard noticed how she seemed both sad and angry when she spoke of her home. "Are you okay?" he asked carefully. "You seem...mad or something."

Celeste sighed. "It's nothing. What about you? Where are you from?"

"I grew up in New Jersey. My parents still own the house me and my brother grew up in," Gerard said, subtly putting his hand in his coat pocket and grabbing the bottle of Xanax that was there. "I don't go back there very often."

"Same with me. I haven't gone back to my house since I moved out. I haven't even spoken to my parents and my brother only a few times." Celeste frowned and finally took a sip of her coffee.

Gerard realized he hadn't had any of his coffee, either, so he took a sip of his, too. Surprisingly, it was still hot. "Why haven't you spoken to your brother if you're best friends?"

"I'd rather not answer that," Celeste said quickly. "You know what, this is getting way too personal and it was supposed to just be fun. Fuck family, let's get to the juicy stuff." She grinned. "You first."

Gerard bit his lip, thinking of something funny to ask. "How far do you go on a first date?" Just as Celeste started to answer, Gerard interrupted. "Wait, nevermind. Farthest you've gone on a first date."

Celeste let out a loud laugh. "How detailed do you want it?"

"I don't care," Gerard laughed, shaking his head.

"Well, then. It was actually with Bryan, shockingly. He was so horny all the time..." Celeste rolled her eyes. "Anyway. He's a year older than me, so I was 16 and he was 17. I'd thought he was absolutely gorgeous for a while and then he asked me out. We went to the movies, nothing big. Then he asked if I wanted to go down to the lake on the edge of town. I knew what was gonna go down but I didn't care so we did. And then, well...let's just say I had problems finding my bra and jeans after an hour."

Gerard laughed, then sheepishly bit his lip when he noticed people looking at them. "I'm not sure if I should be surprised by that or not. Oh well. Your turn!"

"Same question," she said immediately, taking another sip of her coffee.

"I was 20 and she was 21, and I was living here already. I don't know if I'd really call it a date looking back on it, but that's what I called it at the time. She came over to my apartment, we hung out and watched a movie with my roommate and his girlfriend, then they went out. I made something for dinner and it was pretty normal, then she grabbed my head and we started making out. She had to find all her clothes after that." Gerard laughed, thinking back to that girl.

"Somehow, I'm not surprised." Celeste smiled to show she wasn't being mean. "You're a guy, so it kinda makes sense that you'd have full on banged some girl on the first date."

"It was pretty nice," Gerard mused. "Nothing ever came of it though. She moved away last year with her fiance."

"Do you ever wanna get married?" Celeste asked suddenly, seeming to forget the game again.

"Maybe someday, but not right now. What about you?"

Celeste tightened her grip on her coffee cup, staring into it. "No. I'm never getting married."

"You're only 19, how can you really know?" Gerard asked, surprised. He stared at her, trying to figure out why she was against marriage. "Did-?"

"Listen, Gerard. I just don't wanna get married. Okay? No reason." Celeste glared at her coffee, then suddenly her head shot up. "I'm gonna finish this then go back to work. I'll leave some money for our coffees if you're not done."

Celeste quickly downed the rest of her coffee and threw a 10 on the table. "Keep the change. Bye, Gerard." With a quick smile, she grabbed her bag and flew out the door. Stunned, Gerard finished his lukewarm coffee. He grabbed the two empty cups and the money, and gave them to the cashier, along with the receipt.

"Did you piss that girl off, man?" the teenage boy working asked, getting change from the cash register.

"I guess so," Gerard answered. Pocketing the money, he grabbed the bag of comic books from their table and walked out. What the hell just happened? All I wanted to know was why she doesn't want to get married. What did I do wrong? he wondered, hailing a taxi.

Did you like it? I know, it was mostly just talking, but I needed to let you guys know more about Celeste. I promise future chapters will be more action-y! XD R&R please?

xoxo Allie