FicWad

It always happens. No matter where we go. New York, Paris, London… It happens every time. My brother gets all the attention.
It’s been going on since we were both little. Gerard was always the one with the talent so Gerard was always the one with the attention. I kept telling myself that I wasn’t jealous, that I was proud of my brother no matter what. Every school play or school concert he was in, I attended. I clapped for him until my hands hurt and sat up straight in my seat so I could get the best view. But the more years that went by, the more bored of this I got.
Admittedly I was a lot more popular than Gerard. I was usually surrounded by a little group of people wanting to talk to me while Gerard sat alone drawing. Sometimes I went and sat with him but he didn’t seem to want me around. He insisted that he liked being alone. Well, he’s never alone now.
I think I first started getting jealous when I was about twelve. It was my first day of high school and my parents were taking pictures of me in the horrible new uniform I had to wear to this scary new school. Gerard was there too, of course and he’d drawn me a good luck card. Gerard’s always been brilliant at art so of course the card looked fantastic. My parents praised him all morning and soon forgot it was my first day at high school. So there and then I decided one day I’d be the one to make them proud. One day Gerard would be the one who was jealous of me instead of the other way round.
Well things didn’t exactly work out like that.
Gerard and I walked outside the venue and saw a small clutter of faithful fans waiting for an autograph. Gerard grinned at them all, thanked them for waiting for us, told them it was great to meet them and then began signing autographs. I stood next to him also signing autographs, telling the fans that I too thought it was great to meet them. But none of them were paying much attention to me. Everyone’s eyes were on Gerard, focusing on everything he had to say.
This doesn’t happen so much when it’s a big crowd of people. But when it’s a small group of girls aged 12-16 it happens quite a lot.
The situation will never change. Gerard will always get more attention because he’s the lead singer and he’s the ‘cute’ one. I’m just the bass player and Gerard’s little brother. I don’t pay attention to what the fans think of me, if they even bother to mention me.
It’s like this in interviews too. I love the rare interviews where they only choose two band members and one of them isn’t Gerard. My favourite was when me and Frank talked about our favourite movies. I can’t stand five member interviews though. What happens is that basically, the interviewer askes the entire band questions but deliberately aims at Gerard because he’s the singer. Gerard answers most of the question, Frank puts in an occasional comment and me, Ray and Bob kind of sit back and listen. Well we used to. Now we just daydream for the entire interview.
So fans paying more attention to Gerard than me is just a normal thing.
When we get back inside it’s not much different. The people setting up the stage are asking Gerard how he’d like the lighting and set. He chooses it to his liking and then returns backstage.
“Mikey, can you get me a coffee please?” He asked “You know how I like it.”
“I’ll have to walk to the nearest Starbucks,” I complained “It’s about twenty minutes away.”
“Please Mikey?” Gerard asked, using his puppy dog eyes on me “You know I love you!”
Everyone else in the room was looking at me. I knew what they were thinking ‘Mikey must be really mean if he doesn’t go and get Gerard’s coffee’.
So I agreed and walked down the street angrily. “This always happens,” I muttered angrily to myself “If I ever ask Gerard to do something for me it always twists around so that I do what Gerard wants.”
“Sounds like something’s bothering you,” I heard someone comment “Wish you could change things?”
I looked around to see who was talking to me. I appeared to be alone in the street “Who’s talking to me?” I asked, still looking around.
The voice laughed and said “Appearances are nothing. Just hear me out. You’re complaining a lot. Complainers always want something to change. You want something to change? I’ll help you make that change. I’ll grant you one wish. Any wish you want!”
“Yeah, right.” I said sarcastically, walking off “You wanna know what I wish for? I wish that Gerard had never been born!”
I laughed as nothing happened “Someone playing a prank on me. Probably Gerard got someone to do it.”
I walked into Starbucks and ordered Gerard’s usual coffee. I hurried back to the venue knowing that if I went slowly, Gerard would moan that it’d got cold.
I showed the security guard my backstage pass and walked through to a small room where Frank and Ray were sat laughing “Where’s Gerard?” I asked “I’ve got his coffee for him.”
Ray and Frank looked at me blankly “Who’s Gerard?” Ray asked.
I stared at him “My big brother? The lead singer of our band?”
“Uhh, our lead singer is called Matt.” Frank said “Remember? Matt Pelliser.”
I blinked at him “He was our drummer and we fired him ages ago.”
“No, we used to have a drummer called Mark.” Ray told me, as if it was obvious “But we fired him? Remember? And then we met Bob.”
“Guys, this isn’t funny.” I sighed “Where’s Gerard?”
“Mikey, are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah I’m feeling fine.” I told them “I know this is a prank. Just-“
“Hey guys!” A familiar voice said from behind me “You gonna drink that coffee Mikey?”
I turned around to find myself facing Matt. We’d sworn we’d never talk to him again but now here he is.
This is past being a prank.