Categories > Celebrities > My Chemical Romance > The Poison
OMG GUISE! GUISE! GUUIIIIIIIISE! WHILE I WAS LISTENING TO SPLENDORA AND LOOKING THROUGH THE PLEATED JEANS ARCHIVE I FOUND "THIS":http://pleated-jeans.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/when-you-know-the-answer-and-its-on-the-tip-of-your-tongue.gif- OHMYGOD IT'S A MY CHEM GIF. ON PLEATED JEANS. I'M GONNA DIE. I DON'T CARE IF HE WASN'T AWARE OF WHO THEY WERE I'MGONNADIE.
(I also saw The Avengers on Friday, and Dark Shadows last night. Loved them both. My favorite Avenger is a toss-up between Black Widow and Captain America.)
Now, on with the chapter.
The Poison
Chapter Fourteen
You were so young
And I guess I’m old
“And who the hell might you be?” I surveyed the two males that stood in front of me, hands on my hips. One was tall, the other short (shorter than me, actually). The short one had extensive tattoos that swirled around his knuckles and up his arms, as well as one of a scorpion on his neck. The tall one had fewer tattoos (one on his wrist and another on the inside of his arm, as far as I could see, were the only ones he had) and a voluminous, curly afro that added about three inches to his already tall frame. They looked at each other, trying to figure out what to make of me.
“Well, I’m Frank,” the short one said, pointing at himself. “And this is Ray-ban, the ‘fro master.” He gestured to the tall one. “We’re Gerard’s old friends, come to help you out with that building project-thing. He called us.”
“I see.” I said skeptically, surveying them. “Well, come in, I guess.”
The two of them followed me up the steps without hesitation (what they said about being Gerard’s friends was true, then), pausing to admire the vastly improved landscape. The short one- Frank- let out a low whistle.
“He’s been working on the place, hasn’t he?” he looked at me for confirmation. “Your doing, I’m guessing?”
I nodded silently, making sure to keep my mouth conveniently closed, as my mouth had suddenly gone dry from nervousness. They didn’t think I was another one of his disposable fuck-buddies, did they? I wasn’t dressed in a revealing way at all (jeans and a union jack t-shirt), but considering my age and Gerard’s sexual preferences, they had more than enough room to hazard a guess. I made a face similar to one when I suck on a lemon and tried to ignore the pessimistic side of my brain (which, if we’re being honest here, is all of it).
“Gerard! Mikey! Alicia! They’re here!” I called, assuming they’d know what I meant.
“OHMYGOD! THEY’RE HERE!” Alicia came running down the stairs with fevered enthusiasm, her arms reaching out for a shocked Ray and Frank. “OHMY-“ she suddenly stopped short. “Oh, it’s just you guys.”
“And hello to you, too, Alicia.” Frank smiled. “How are you? Has that imaginary baby finally popped out?”
Alicia placed her hands on her obviously flat stomach, staring down at it for a minute before answering.
“Nope, but I’ve got a feeling in my gut that she’s almost ready to come out!”
Frank frowned. “She? I thought we agreed it was gonna be a guy, and you promised you’d name him Frank!”
As the two argued about the gender of Alicia’s pseudo-baby, Mikey came down the stairs (needless to say, much more calmly than Alicia). He walked over to Ray, greeting him with an affectionate punch in the arm and a fist bump. “Hey man, what’s up?” he said.
“Not much until Gee called. Christa’s on a business trip.” Ray answered.
“Damn, I was hoping she’d be able to come.”
“Oh, well. Where’s Gerard?”
“Here.” Gerard sauntered into the great room from the hall, hands shoved carelessly into his pockets.
“Oh, hey, Geegee!” Frank said, imprisoning the taller man in a camp, girly hug. “I haven’t seen you in so long!” He snuck another glance at me, giving me a judgmental up-and-down look. “Looks like you were busy.”
“Come off it, Frank.” Gerard grunted, looking over at me apologetically. I shrugged. “Anyways, we have work to do.”
He pulled out a battered red toolbox from one of the kitchen drawers and set it on the counter with a resounding thump.
“Let’s get to work.”
-.-.-
Outside, whoever was in charge apparently knew of our plans and graciously decided to make the weather pleasantly warm, without a cloud to obstruct the sun’s gentle rays from our construction site. Alicia had put her iPod on, and the semi-foreign sounds of OK Go floated through the yard. I hummed along to the happy tune as I worked, already feeling uplifted.
“You know you can’t keeping letting it get you down, and you can’t keep dragging that dead weight around...” Frank sang along too, grinning at me.
“Is it really all that much to lug around?” Alicia joined in, along with (the incredibly tone-deaf) Mikey, who for the first time was actually smiling.
“Better run like hell when you hit the ground...” Ray grinned, nailing in a board to the beat.
“When the morning comes!”
I stopped singing, awestruck by Gerard’s voice. Angelic was the only word I could use to describe it. He smiled down at me and kept singing, pausing only to plant a kiss on my temple. Blushing, I smiled up at him and kissed back, freezing in the middle of the yard.
It would have been the perfect, innocent moment of absolute love like in the movies... until Frank decided to interrupt.
“So you really are together!” he exclaimed, throwing his arms around our shoulders. “I knew it!”
“Wasn’t that hard to figure out, Frank.” Alicia muttered.
“Oh, your guys’s wedding’s gonna be so cool!” Frank rambled. “We can put a huge ice sculpture in the living room and it’ll be so...” his expression suddenly went flat. “Aesthetically appealing.”
“Frank... what in the holy hell is wrong with you?” Mikey asked. “Last I checked, they weren’t getting married.” he turned to us. “You... you aren’t getting married, right?”
Gerard simply shrugged, a hint of a smirk pulling at his lips.
“How about we skillfully avoid this subject and keep building?” Ray said. “At the moment, I don’t think this really matters.”
“Yeah.” I said. “This is making us all feel awkward anyway.”
With that, I picked up a collection of 2x4 boards and started nailing them to the frame of the playhouse. Soon, everyone else joined in, the weird moment mostly forgotten.
After a few hours, the sun slowly increased in temperature and sweatspots began appearing on our shirts. Although it was nice and warm in the morning, the ridiculous heat was all but unbearable in the afternoon.
“Aaaaaugghh!” Alicia groaned. “Can we continue this tomorrow? I’m fucking baking out here!”
“You’re not the only one.” I panted. “I feel like I’ve been shoved in an oven.”
“Alright, fine, we can stop.” Mikey said. “I’m getting sunburned, anyway.”
Frank threw down his sweat rag and cheered. “Freedom! I’m sure this was one of the things the Nazis made the Jews do.”
“Build playgrounds?” I asked, arching an eyebrow. “That seems a little lighthearted for fascist torture, don’t you think?”
“No, I meant hard manual labor!” Frank exclaimed. “This is harming my delicate immune system!”
“Um...”
Alicia nudged me. “It might not seem like it, but he’s pretty sickly.” she whispered. “He spent pretty much his whole life in the hospital when he was younger.”
“Damn.” I said. “Sounds tough.”
“Trust me, it is.”
Although I tried, I couldn’t quite imagine the spunky and hyper Frank hooked up to an oxygen tank in a hospital bed. It was too far-fetched. I shook my head. Frank? A bedridden, sickly little kid? No way.
Frank sighed. “Yes, I was a hospital rat. Get over it.”
I shrugged. “Already did.”
Back in my room, I sat on my side, thinking about Frank and Ray. They were nice, I decided, if not a little offbeat- but then, what did I expect? All of Gerard’s friends seemed to be strange in some way or another. As was I, I realized. What kind of person does nothing but read classic literature and reflect on life- I mean, besides a philosopher?
We’re all messed up here, I guess. I thought.
I looked up to see the door opening a crack.
“Gerard?” I said.
“Yeah.” he answered, opening the door a bit more.
“Come in.”
He slipped into the room without a sound, his movements catlike and lithe.
“I need to talk to you.” he said bluntly, sitting down at the foot of my bed. “About... about you.”
“Yeah? What about me?” I said, sitting up and scooting over to him.
He looked down at a loose thread on the comforter and tugged at it.
“Did you mean what you said yesterday?”
“What did I say?”
“You said...” he stopped and took in a deep breath. “You said you loved me.”
My heart jumped. I remembered saying that, but not the reason why. Was it to make sure he got on my good side, or did I truly mean it?
“I’m not sure.” I whispered. “I don’t remember why I said it.”
“That’s it, then.” he said, his shoulders slumping considerably. He stared down at the floor, looking ready to either burst into tears or punch someone... or both.
“What’s it, Gerard?” I asked. I’d done something to upset him, hadn’t I?
“I thought you did love me. Truly. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I wanted it. Before now, Lindsey was the only one who understood me and accepted me. Even more so than my own brother. I thought you were different from them. I thought you...”
A single tear slid down his cheek, crystalline against his pale skin. I hugged him gently.
“Maybe I am.” I said. “Maybe I do love you.”
I planted a kiss on his cheek, where his tear was.
“We won’t know until we try.”
-.-.-
Gerard left shortly after without a word, leaving me to agonize over what I had done. Was it the right thing to do? Was it the wrong thing? He was so hard to figure out. My eyelids drooped in protest of staying up all night, but even with my eyes closed my mind raced on, keeping me wide awake throughout the night.
By the time morning rolled around, I felt- and no doubt looked- like hell, with bloodshot eyes and an edgy attitude. I stumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen, determined to find a pot of caffeine-injected coffee. One was sitting by the coffeemaker, still steaming. I grabbed it and poured a copious amount into a mug, drinking it almost as soon as it was in, burning my tongue on the Brazilian poison.
“Hey! That was mine!” Mikey stood behind me, fake-pouting.
I shrugged insensitively. “Oops. Oh well. Guess you’ll have to make another pot.”
He huffed. “Fine. Be that way.”
He poured the remaining droplets of coffee into the sink and washed the pot out, replacing it under the spout. A few minutes later, he was sitting at the table, happily nursing his espresso.
“You know, for such an apathetic guy, you sure are easily pleased.” I observed.
“All I need is coffee and Alicia.” he answered, a cute smile forming on his face.
I looked down at my coffee. And all I need is Gerard, I said to myself.
Well, that was out of nowhere.
I took another sip of the coffee, instantly expelling any weird feelings from my stomach (I think they were referred to as ‘butterflies’ by my more ditzy classmates). Stupid, stupid, stupid. I couldn’t suddenly go all love-struck grade school girl just because... okay, maybe I did have a reason to. But still.
Alicia bid me good morning as she came down the stairs and grabbed her own breakfast, which was a heaping bowl of Frankenberry and more coffee.
“Have good dreams last night?” she said.
Mikey grunted. “I had a dream about a walrus being burned at the stake.”
“I didn’t sleep.” I answered. “Too much to think about.”
“Well, I had a dream that we finished the playground after Atropine’s birthday, which is...” she turned to me. “When?”
“June eighth.” I said.
“Yeah. We were all kind of just sitting there, and this guy comes and...” she stopped. “Well, shit. I forgot.”
“Well, that was highly anticlimactic.” Mikey commented, draining his mug.
“Oh well. Guess the dream wasn’t important anyways.” Alicia shrugged, continuing to eat.
I slouched in my seat. Something told me that the dream had something to do with my mother on the radio. Or, more specifically, my father. If mom knew, he would know, too. And he’d probably do something a lot less civilized than send out an announcement over the radio.
My thoughts went to Gerard. I guessed that his reputation was less than pretty around here, and there were no doubts that my father would use that against him. I didn’t want to see Gerard hurt.
Then, I made a promise to myself- if any word of my father reaches me, I’ll turn myself in to protect Gerard, Mikey and Alicia.
No matter what.
“Why so glum, chum?” Alicia poked me in the side. I hadn’t realized how serious I looked. I shook myself and answered, “I’m fine.”
Alicia raised her eyebrows at Mikey, who shrugged. She kept eating, but intently staring at me throughout it. She knew something was up, but I didn’t intend for her to know exactly what.
“So, when will Frank and Ray get here?” I changed the subject.
“Hell if I know,” Mikey said. “Ray’s really bad about punctuality, and Frank wakes up at the crack of noon.”
“Probably about one.” Alicia clarified. “If we’re lucky.”
“And if we’re not?” I smiled, feeling a laugh begin to bubble up in my throat.
“Then we might have to wait a few days.” Mikey said.
“Or a few years.” Alicia snorted, pouring another bowl of cereal. She passed it to me, but I pushed it back, refusing.
“No thanks,” I said. “I’m not hungry.”
“Eat it!” Alicia exclaimed, practically shoving it my face. “You’re so damn skinny!”
Mikey grinned. “I’ll say! You probably need to put on at least thirty pounds!”
“Really?” I asked uncertainly. No one had ever called me skinny before, or told me I should eat- probably because no one cared enough to tell me. I had grown up thinking I was overweight, actually. “You’re not just kidding around, are you?”
“Why would we?” Mikey asked. “But seriously, eat. You’re a frigging stick!”
“Fine, then.” I sighed, taking the now soggy cereal from Alicia. I took one hesitant bite, than another. I ate more quickly, and by the time I was halfway done, I was eating like an absolute pig.
Mikey and Alicia laughed. “Told you you needed that.” she said, taking the now empty bowl off the table.
“Hey, good morning, Gee!” Mikey greeted a sleepy, bleary-eyed Gerard, who was wearing a pair of skeleton pajamas, complete with a hood. For obvious reasons, I found this impossibly cute. “Aww, lookie! He’s wearing the skeleton pajamas!”
“So you finally wore them.” Alicia said, a hint of smugness to her voice. “I knew you would.”
Gerard scowled, crossing his arms. “Yeah, I wore ‘em. What’s it to you?”
I bit my lip to hide a grin, laughing silently into my coffee cup. Gerard noticed and groaned.
“Not you, too!” he grimaced. “Stop laughing!”
“I-I’m not!” I managed. “I’m breathing weirdly!”
“Liar.” he pouted. “I’m gonna go change. This thing’s too hot for me anyways.”
When he came back down, he wore tight black jeans, a plain red shirt, and the same scowl as before. He crossed his arms. “Okay, now I’m ready.” he said. “I’ll call Frank and Ray.”
About a half hour later, the two aforementioned people arrived, ready to start working. Frank was just as hyper as ever (if not more so) and Ray seemed to have opened up to me more. The second day of work was a lot more comfortable than the first- as if we were all actually friends, instead of a ragtag band of old acquaintances and complete strangers.
At least, we knew each other well enough to mess with each other.
We had completed most of the basic frame of the playhouse and I was chosen to start nailing the roof on, despite the fact that I was wearing a dress.
“Because you’re the lightest one.” Ray had said, giving me a boost up onto the frame.
I was fine with it, until a rather strong gust of wind caused my skirt to billow out... with Frank standing directly beneath me, a perverted grin stretched across his face.
“Frank!” I screamed, grabbing onto the unruly fabric. “I’m gonna kill you!”
I jumped off the play structure and chased after the grinning maniac, yelling an interesting combination of profanities at him along the way.
“Hey, how come they get to take a break?!” Alicia moaned, dropping her tools.
“They’re not ‘taking a break’, Atropine’s mad at Frank for sexually harassing her.” Gerard said flatly.
“Who’s more upset, her or you?” she muttered.
“Frank! When I catch up with you, I’m gonna skin you alive!” I panted, pumping my arms in an effort to run faster.
“Like that’ll ever happen!” he laughed, still far ahead of me. “And besides, it was just a joke! I have a girlfriend, you know!”
“That’s not stopping me from beating you to a pulp!” I yelled, finally gaining some ground. I pumped my arms so fast that they felt as though they were about to fall off, and jumped on the unsuspecting Frank. I punched him lightly, with him uselessly shielding himself with his arms.
“Fuck work!” Alicia exclaimed. “I wanna have some fun!”
She and Ray ran over to us, jumping on top of my back. Soon, everyone was entangled in a huge dogpile, even Gerard. We were all laughing, all not giving a care about the world.
It felt good.
It felt... right.
Hoorah, Frank and Ray are finally in the story!
(I also saw The Avengers on Friday, and Dark Shadows last night. Loved them both. My favorite Avenger is a toss-up between Black Widow and Captain America.)
Now, on with the chapter.
The Poison
Chapter Fourteen
You were so young
And I guess I’m old
“And who the hell might you be?” I surveyed the two males that stood in front of me, hands on my hips. One was tall, the other short (shorter than me, actually). The short one had extensive tattoos that swirled around his knuckles and up his arms, as well as one of a scorpion on his neck. The tall one had fewer tattoos (one on his wrist and another on the inside of his arm, as far as I could see, were the only ones he had) and a voluminous, curly afro that added about three inches to his already tall frame. They looked at each other, trying to figure out what to make of me.
“Well, I’m Frank,” the short one said, pointing at himself. “And this is Ray-ban, the ‘fro master.” He gestured to the tall one. “We’re Gerard’s old friends, come to help you out with that building project-thing. He called us.”
“I see.” I said skeptically, surveying them. “Well, come in, I guess.”
The two of them followed me up the steps without hesitation (what they said about being Gerard’s friends was true, then), pausing to admire the vastly improved landscape. The short one- Frank- let out a low whistle.
“He’s been working on the place, hasn’t he?” he looked at me for confirmation. “Your doing, I’m guessing?”
I nodded silently, making sure to keep my mouth conveniently closed, as my mouth had suddenly gone dry from nervousness. They didn’t think I was another one of his disposable fuck-buddies, did they? I wasn’t dressed in a revealing way at all (jeans and a union jack t-shirt), but considering my age and Gerard’s sexual preferences, they had more than enough room to hazard a guess. I made a face similar to one when I suck on a lemon and tried to ignore the pessimistic side of my brain (which, if we’re being honest here, is all of it).
“Gerard! Mikey! Alicia! They’re here!” I called, assuming they’d know what I meant.
“OHMYGOD! THEY’RE HERE!” Alicia came running down the stairs with fevered enthusiasm, her arms reaching out for a shocked Ray and Frank. “OHMY-“ she suddenly stopped short. “Oh, it’s just you guys.”
“And hello to you, too, Alicia.” Frank smiled. “How are you? Has that imaginary baby finally popped out?”
Alicia placed her hands on her obviously flat stomach, staring down at it for a minute before answering.
“Nope, but I’ve got a feeling in my gut that she’s almost ready to come out!”
Frank frowned. “She? I thought we agreed it was gonna be a guy, and you promised you’d name him Frank!”
As the two argued about the gender of Alicia’s pseudo-baby, Mikey came down the stairs (needless to say, much more calmly than Alicia). He walked over to Ray, greeting him with an affectionate punch in the arm and a fist bump. “Hey man, what’s up?” he said.
“Not much until Gee called. Christa’s on a business trip.” Ray answered.
“Damn, I was hoping she’d be able to come.”
“Oh, well. Where’s Gerard?”
“Here.” Gerard sauntered into the great room from the hall, hands shoved carelessly into his pockets.
“Oh, hey, Geegee!” Frank said, imprisoning the taller man in a camp, girly hug. “I haven’t seen you in so long!” He snuck another glance at me, giving me a judgmental up-and-down look. “Looks like you were busy.”
“Come off it, Frank.” Gerard grunted, looking over at me apologetically. I shrugged. “Anyways, we have work to do.”
He pulled out a battered red toolbox from one of the kitchen drawers and set it on the counter with a resounding thump.
“Let’s get to work.”
-.-.-
Outside, whoever was in charge apparently knew of our plans and graciously decided to make the weather pleasantly warm, without a cloud to obstruct the sun’s gentle rays from our construction site. Alicia had put her iPod on, and the semi-foreign sounds of OK Go floated through the yard. I hummed along to the happy tune as I worked, already feeling uplifted.
“You know you can’t keeping letting it get you down, and you can’t keep dragging that dead weight around...” Frank sang along too, grinning at me.
“Is it really all that much to lug around?” Alicia joined in, along with (the incredibly tone-deaf) Mikey, who for the first time was actually smiling.
“Better run like hell when you hit the ground...” Ray grinned, nailing in a board to the beat.
“When the morning comes!”
I stopped singing, awestruck by Gerard’s voice. Angelic was the only word I could use to describe it. He smiled down at me and kept singing, pausing only to plant a kiss on my temple. Blushing, I smiled up at him and kissed back, freezing in the middle of the yard.
It would have been the perfect, innocent moment of absolute love like in the movies... until Frank decided to interrupt.
“So you really are together!” he exclaimed, throwing his arms around our shoulders. “I knew it!”
“Wasn’t that hard to figure out, Frank.” Alicia muttered.
“Oh, your guys’s wedding’s gonna be so cool!” Frank rambled. “We can put a huge ice sculpture in the living room and it’ll be so...” his expression suddenly went flat. “Aesthetically appealing.”
“Frank... what in the holy hell is wrong with you?” Mikey asked. “Last I checked, they weren’t getting married.” he turned to us. “You... you aren’t getting married, right?”
Gerard simply shrugged, a hint of a smirk pulling at his lips.
“How about we skillfully avoid this subject and keep building?” Ray said. “At the moment, I don’t think this really matters.”
“Yeah.” I said. “This is making us all feel awkward anyway.”
With that, I picked up a collection of 2x4 boards and started nailing them to the frame of the playhouse. Soon, everyone else joined in, the weird moment mostly forgotten.
After a few hours, the sun slowly increased in temperature and sweatspots began appearing on our shirts. Although it was nice and warm in the morning, the ridiculous heat was all but unbearable in the afternoon.
“Aaaaaugghh!” Alicia groaned. “Can we continue this tomorrow? I’m fucking baking out here!”
“You’re not the only one.” I panted. “I feel like I’ve been shoved in an oven.”
“Alright, fine, we can stop.” Mikey said. “I’m getting sunburned, anyway.”
Frank threw down his sweat rag and cheered. “Freedom! I’m sure this was one of the things the Nazis made the Jews do.”
“Build playgrounds?” I asked, arching an eyebrow. “That seems a little lighthearted for fascist torture, don’t you think?”
“No, I meant hard manual labor!” Frank exclaimed. “This is harming my delicate immune system!”
“Um...”
Alicia nudged me. “It might not seem like it, but he’s pretty sickly.” she whispered. “He spent pretty much his whole life in the hospital when he was younger.”
“Damn.” I said. “Sounds tough.”
“Trust me, it is.”
Although I tried, I couldn’t quite imagine the spunky and hyper Frank hooked up to an oxygen tank in a hospital bed. It was too far-fetched. I shook my head. Frank? A bedridden, sickly little kid? No way.
Frank sighed. “Yes, I was a hospital rat. Get over it.”
I shrugged. “Already did.”
Back in my room, I sat on my side, thinking about Frank and Ray. They were nice, I decided, if not a little offbeat- but then, what did I expect? All of Gerard’s friends seemed to be strange in some way or another. As was I, I realized. What kind of person does nothing but read classic literature and reflect on life- I mean, besides a philosopher?
We’re all messed up here, I guess. I thought.
I looked up to see the door opening a crack.
“Gerard?” I said.
“Yeah.” he answered, opening the door a bit more.
“Come in.”
He slipped into the room without a sound, his movements catlike and lithe.
“I need to talk to you.” he said bluntly, sitting down at the foot of my bed. “About... about you.”
“Yeah? What about me?” I said, sitting up and scooting over to him.
He looked down at a loose thread on the comforter and tugged at it.
“Did you mean what you said yesterday?”
“What did I say?”
“You said...” he stopped and took in a deep breath. “You said you loved me.”
My heart jumped. I remembered saying that, but not the reason why. Was it to make sure he got on my good side, or did I truly mean it?
“I’m not sure.” I whispered. “I don’t remember why I said it.”
“That’s it, then.” he said, his shoulders slumping considerably. He stared down at the floor, looking ready to either burst into tears or punch someone... or both.
“What’s it, Gerard?” I asked. I’d done something to upset him, hadn’t I?
“I thought you did love me. Truly. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I wanted it. Before now, Lindsey was the only one who understood me and accepted me. Even more so than my own brother. I thought you were different from them. I thought you...”
A single tear slid down his cheek, crystalline against his pale skin. I hugged him gently.
“Maybe I am.” I said. “Maybe I do love you.”
I planted a kiss on his cheek, where his tear was.
“We won’t know until we try.”
-.-.-
Gerard left shortly after without a word, leaving me to agonize over what I had done. Was it the right thing to do? Was it the wrong thing? He was so hard to figure out. My eyelids drooped in protest of staying up all night, but even with my eyes closed my mind raced on, keeping me wide awake throughout the night.
By the time morning rolled around, I felt- and no doubt looked- like hell, with bloodshot eyes and an edgy attitude. I stumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen, determined to find a pot of caffeine-injected coffee. One was sitting by the coffeemaker, still steaming. I grabbed it and poured a copious amount into a mug, drinking it almost as soon as it was in, burning my tongue on the Brazilian poison.
“Hey! That was mine!” Mikey stood behind me, fake-pouting.
I shrugged insensitively. “Oops. Oh well. Guess you’ll have to make another pot.”
He huffed. “Fine. Be that way.”
He poured the remaining droplets of coffee into the sink and washed the pot out, replacing it under the spout. A few minutes later, he was sitting at the table, happily nursing his espresso.
“You know, for such an apathetic guy, you sure are easily pleased.” I observed.
“All I need is coffee and Alicia.” he answered, a cute smile forming on his face.
I looked down at my coffee. And all I need is Gerard, I said to myself.
Well, that was out of nowhere.
I took another sip of the coffee, instantly expelling any weird feelings from my stomach (I think they were referred to as ‘butterflies’ by my more ditzy classmates). Stupid, stupid, stupid. I couldn’t suddenly go all love-struck grade school girl just because... okay, maybe I did have a reason to. But still.
Alicia bid me good morning as she came down the stairs and grabbed her own breakfast, which was a heaping bowl of Frankenberry and more coffee.
“Have good dreams last night?” she said.
Mikey grunted. “I had a dream about a walrus being burned at the stake.”
“I didn’t sleep.” I answered. “Too much to think about.”
“Well, I had a dream that we finished the playground after Atropine’s birthday, which is...” she turned to me. “When?”
“June eighth.” I said.
“Yeah. We were all kind of just sitting there, and this guy comes and...” she stopped. “Well, shit. I forgot.”
“Well, that was highly anticlimactic.” Mikey commented, draining his mug.
“Oh well. Guess the dream wasn’t important anyways.” Alicia shrugged, continuing to eat.
I slouched in my seat. Something told me that the dream had something to do with my mother on the radio. Or, more specifically, my father. If mom knew, he would know, too. And he’d probably do something a lot less civilized than send out an announcement over the radio.
My thoughts went to Gerard. I guessed that his reputation was less than pretty around here, and there were no doubts that my father would use that against him. I didn’t want to see Gerard hurt.
Then, I made a promise to myself- if any word of my father reaches me, I’ll turn myself in to protect Gerard, Mikey and Alicia.
No matter what.
“Why so glum, chum?” Alicia poked me in the side. I hadn’t realized how serious I looked. I shook myself and answered, “I’m fine.”
Alicia raised her eyebrows at Mikey, who shrugged. She kept eating, but intently staring at me throughout it. She knew something was up, but I didn’t intend for her to know exactly what.
“So, when will Frank and Ray get here?” I changed the subject.
“Hell if I know,” Mikey said. “Ray’s really bad about punctuality, and Frank wakes up at the crack of noon.”
“Probably about one.” Alicia clarified. “If we’re lucky.”
“And if we’re not?” I smiled, feeling a laugh begin to bubble up in my throat.
“Then we might have to wait a few days.” Mikey said.
“Or a few years.” Alicia snorted, pouring another bowl of cereal. She passed it to me, but I pushed it back, refusing.
“No thanks,” I said. “I’m not hungry.”
“Eat it!” Alicia exclaimed, practically shoving it my face. “You’re so damn skinny!”
Mikey grinned. “I’ll say! You probably need to put on at least thirty pounds!”
“Really?” I asked uncertainly. No one had ever called me skinny before, or told me I should eat- probably because no one cared enough to tell me. I had grown up thinking I was overweight, actually. “You’re not just kidding around, are you?”
“Why would we?” Mikey asked. “But seriously, eat. You’re a frigging stick!”
“Fine, then.” I sighed, taking the now soggy cereal from Alicia. I took one hesitant bite, than another. I ate more quickly, and by the time I was halfway done, I was eating like an absolute pig.
Mikey and Alicia laughed. “Told you you needed that.” she said, taking the now empty bowl off the table.
“Hey, good morning, Gee!” Mikey greeted a sleepy, bleary-eyed Gerard, who was wearing a pair of skeleton pajamas, complete with a hood. For obvious reasons, I found this impossibly cute. “Aww, lookie! He’s wearing the skeleton pajamas!”
“So you finally wore them.” Alicia said, a hint of smugness to her voice. “I knew you would.”
Gerard scowled, crossing his arms. “Yeah, I wore ‘em. What’s it to you?”
I bit my lip to hide a grin, laughing silently into my coffee cup. Gerard noticed and groaned.
“Not you, too!” he grimaced. “Stop laughing!”
“I-I’m not!” I managed. “I’m breathing weirdly!”
“Liar.” he pouted. “I’m gonna go change. This thing’s too hot for me anyways.”
When he came back down, he wore tight black jeans, a plain red shirt, and the same scowl as before. He crossed his arms. “Okay, now I’m ready.” he said. “I’ll call Frank and Ray.”
About a half hour later, the two aforementioned people arrived, ready to start working. Frank was just as hyper as ever (if not more so) and Ray seemed to have opened up to me more. The second day of work was a lot more comfortable than the first- as if we were all actually friends, instead of a ragtag band of old acquaintances and complete strangers.
At least, we knew each other well enough to mess with each other.
We had completed most of the basic frame of the playhouse and I was chosen to start nailing the roof on, despite the fact that I was wearing a dress.
“Because you’re the lightest one.” Ray had said, giving me a boost up onto the frame.
I was fine with it, until a rather strong gust of wind caused my skirt to billow out... with Frank standing directly beneath me, a perverted grin stretched across his face.
“Frank!” I screamed, grabbing onto the unruly fabric. “I’m gonna kill you!”
I jumped off the play structure and chased after the grinning maniac, yelling an interesting combination of profanities at him along the way.
“Hey, how come they get to take a break?!” Alicia moaned, dropping her tools.
“They’re not ‘taking a break’, Atropine’s mad at Frank for sexually harassing her.” Gerard said flatly.
“Who’s more upset, her or you?” she muttered.
“Frank! When I catch up with you, I’m gonna skin you alive!” I panted, pumping my arms in an effort to run faster.
“Like that’ll ever happen!” he laughed, still far ahead of me. “And besides, it was just a joke! I have a girlfriend, you know!”
“That’s not stopping me from beating you to a pulp!” I yelled, finally gaining some ground. I pumped my arms so fast that they felt as though they were about to fall off, and jumped on the unsuspecting Frank. I punched him lightly, with him uselessly shielding himself with his arms.
“Fuck work!” Alicia exclaimed. “I wanna have some fun!”
She and Ray ran over to us, jumping on top of my back. Soon, everyone was entangled in a huge dogpile, even Gerard. We were all laughing, all not giving a care about the world.
It felt good.
It felt... right.
Hoorah, Frank and Ray are finally in the story!
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