Categories > Celebrities > My Chemical Romance > Volkswagon Beetle
Volkswagon Beetle
1 review[ONESHOT] A fan is caught by surprise once a small yellow Beetle comes screeching up to her house.
2Moving
A/N: So, months ago, my friend and I were hanging out with a few others, and I told her that Gerard was doing a Q&A on twitter and one of the questions was what kind of car he drove. He answered that he drove a (Volkswagon) Beetle and we couldn't stop laughing. I brought up the scenario, then, thus creating this story. It was originally was supposed to be funnier, but I'm not capable of funny, so this was the best I could do. Enjoy!
Briana stepped off the school bus that had conveniently stopped at the bottom of the huge hill that led up to her house. She glanced up at the long ascend disdainfully and started to climb up. What a day it had been. After all those arduous classes, including lab and clubs afterwards, she wanted to collapse right then and there. Briana sniffed at the memory of one of the clubs she had joined. They claimed to help animals in need, but so far, they had done next to nothing for any animals anywhere. A couple times, she remembered, they had some cardboard boxes for donations scattered around the school, but they didn’t find that many people contributed at all. The boxes were thrown away.
Briana was only half way up the hill, and already breathing heavily. Her ankles started to ache, as they always seemed to whenever she overused them. Twisting herself around, she reached into her bag and took out a small iPod and tangled earphones. A couple months before, she had received it as a present from her friends. She shoved the earphones in her ears and turned the mp3 player on, scrolling through her large amounts of music. Almost a year ago, her friend had introduced her to this band, My Chemical Romance, which she had fallen in love with almost immediately. She remembered the first time hearing their songs, the single one she remembered being ‘Cancer,’ a sort of slow, tragic ballad about a patient dying of cancer, telling his loved-ones around him to prepare for his death, and regretfully remembering the many lifetime events he would miss out on. It was easily a cry-able song, she thought. Broke her heart every time she listened to it.
Almost to the top now, Briana had started to listened to My Chemical Romance’s seconds album, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, or as the fandom usually called it, simple, ‘Revenge.’ Though she couldn’t completely decided which the best album was, it was a phenomenal album, containing some of her favorite tracks. She thought to herself that she couldn’t decide which album was the best. Each of them contained their own uniqueness and message and she enjoyed each one differently. Currently, though, she was listening to the lengthily named song, “You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison,” and sung along with it, her steps synchronizing with the beat of the drums. Finally, immersed in the song, Briana reached her house. She twisted around again to fish her house key out of one of the many pockets of her bag. She stood on her front porch, struggling to find the single key in the plethora of gum wrappers and crumpled papers. Briana sighed loudly, dropping the bag from her shoulder to the ground, and shuffling through again. She hoped it hadn’t fallen out of a hole.
Suddenly, as she searched, from what seemed like it was coming from the bottom of the hill, a loud screeching noise filled the usually quiet suburban air. Briana looked up from her bag a squinted to the end of the road, until a bright yellow, Volkswagen Beetle burst out, speeding towards Briana. Her heart jumped from the sudden noise. The loudness that intruded into the usual silence made her nervous, and most cars around the area were more conservative and dully colored, not like this small car that was coming closer and closer to Briana’s house. Still a little nervous, Briana continued to look for her key, but much more frantically. It wasn’t there. Finally, the tiny yellow car screeched to a stop in front of Briana’s house. The tires created skid marks on the road and small clouds from the asphalt rose from the friction of the tires. Realizing that the car was probably for her, she dumped everything out from her bag and sifted through the garbage, until finally the little silver key appeared. Briana didn’t bother picking up her garbage and grabbed her bag, fumbling with the little key. She glanced back at the car that was standing idle in front of the house, but Briana couldn’t see who it was through the tinted window. Who knew a girly little car could be so terrifying? She glanced back at the doorknob and tried to fit the key it, her hand shaking. She looked over her shoulder again, and saw that very slowly, the passenger seat window started to roll down. She stopped tying to fit the key into the lock, and was transfixed onto the window. Curiosity killed the cat, she thought, Could be literal, too. She shuddered, imagining the ruthless serial killer on the television these days, sitting in the car. The window lowered painfully slowly, but finally, it revealed the person in the car. Leaning over from the driver’s seat, wearing aviator sunglasses and a leather jacket, was Gerard Way. Briana dropped the key and it clattered to the ground, finding a place among the garbage from her bag.
“Get in, loser, we’re going shopping,” he said. From somewhere inside the car, Briana heard a muffled voice say,
“Really? Mean girls?”
“Shut up,” the man who seemed to be Gerard turned around to say to the other voice. No, Briana thought, It can’t be him. Why would Gerard Way come to my house? She picked up the key and started to try and fit it into the lock again, but to no avail. Her emotions were swarming in her head and chest, unsure what to think. One part of her hoped it was Gerard, but the other, more logical side, told her to quickly get into house, lock all doors and windows and called the police. The car honked loudly.
“C’mon! Get in!” the Gerard’s doppelganger shouted. Briana yelled back,
“Leave me alone!” and finally, twisted the key into the lock, popping the door open, and ran in, locking the door behind her, running into the living, and closed the curtains. Her curiosity preceded her, though, and she opened the curtains just a bit to see if the car was still there. At the angle the window stood, Briana had a clear view of the front doorstep. To her dismay, the man was standing on it, straightening his leather jacket. He wore a paint-ridden black shirt underneath, an old pair of ripped jeans, and classic pair of black Converse. Classic Gerard clothes… Briana thought, desperately wanting the man to be Gerard, but again, her logical side shooting it down. She watched his knock on the door, but ignored it and kept watching the man through the window. The man looked around his surrounding, at the boring, cookie-cutter like houses and identical trees, and caught Briana’s eye through the window, and waved sweetly. Briana tensed, her heart lurching upon meeting his gaze and quickly shut the curtains. Her heart was palpitating, almost to the point of bursting, she thought. She crept towards the door and said,
“What do you want?” The voice behind the door, muffled, said,
“We just want to go shopping.”
“Who are you?” she demanded.
“You know who I am,”
“Yeah, okay, I do,” Briana said, indulging in her fantasies, “But how do you know who I am?”
“Just trust me, Briana. I know, but I’m not a creeper,” he said. Internally, Briana thought that she wouldn’t mind if he was. After all, he was one of her idols. Just imagine what it would be like to have the person of your dreams stalk you. She did feel a little on edge after he said her name, though.
“I don’t know if I can. Trust you, I mean,” she said.
“Oh, come on! At least open the door.”
“I just said I didn’t trust you! What makes you think I’m going to open the door?!” She heard a loud sigh from the other side of the door and then,
“Please, please, please open the door. I’m not gonna hurt you. All we want is to go to the mall. We’re late now, too. Frank and Ray are gonna wonder where we are.” Briana put her hands on her head, staring at the door with an extreme look od bewilderment on her face.
“The mall?!”
“Yeah.”
“The MALL?!”
“Just open the door!”
“Oh my god…” Briana said to herself. She grabbed her phone and wallet, and impulsively opened the door, revealing this man, who claimed to be Gerard Way, grinning at her. He took off his aviator sunglasses, and said,
“Let’s go!” Briana stood frozen in her spot staring at the man in front of her. Upon seeing his face, she had no doubt in her mind. This was, in fact, Gerard Way. All doubt left her mind. He was much shorter than she imagined, but just as attractive as he was in pictures, if not more. He twisted around on his heels and hopped down the stairs, and Briana had no choice, in her mind, but to follow him. They reached the small, yellow Beetle, and Gerard opened the back seat door open. Briana would rather sit shotgun, next to Gerard, but once looking inside, saw that Mikey was sitting in the far seat, wearing a gray hoodie and black jeans.
“Hi!” he said, giving a little wave. Briana could only wave back, and climbed into the car, staring at Mikey the whole time. Gerard swung himself into the car and started it, making the car vibrate and sputter to a start.
“Which mall are we going to?” Briana asked.
“Garden State,” Mikey said. Briana hesitated before saying,
“But why?”
“… Because that’s the best mall in the area,” said Gerard.
“No, I mean, why are you taking me to the mall.” Briana saw Gerard’s reflection on the rear-view mirror, and saw him smirk.
“You don’t remember?”
“What?”
“Several months ago, you entered in a contest to meet us,” Mikey said.
“What? When?!”
“It was at Hot Topic. Did you really not enter it?” said Gerard.
“Not that I remember… I’ve only been to Hot Topic a few times in the past half year.” Gerard shoved his hand into his back jeans pocket and took out a crumpled piece of paper. He read off of it, reciting her address.
“That is your address, right?”
“Yeah…” Briana said. She honestly did not remember entering in any sort of contest. Her attitude towards those kinds of things was not positive, and she always assumed that she’d never get chosen, so there’d be no point in entering at all.
“Hmm… Maybe you just don’t remember. Anyway, we’re here for you, and the contest was that we’d spend a day with you at the mall,” Mikey said. Briana nodded to herself, desperately trying to remember any account of her entering a contest.
“Actually,” Gerard said, “I’m glad you aren’t one of those die-hard teenage fangirls. You seem pretty composed, really.”
“Oh,” Briana said, “I’m just overwhelmed.” She spoke the truth. She honestly could not fathom being near her idols even when she was sitting right next to them. It hadn’t registered in her mind yet.
Soon, they were on the highway, heading towards the Garden State Mall. Usually, there were massive amounts of traffic, but strangely, the roads were quiet clear, making the trip much faster than usual. Soon, Gerard pulled into the parking area and found a spot relatively close to the actual building.
“We’re supposed to meet Frank and Ray at the food court, but I don’t know where that is. I’ve never been here before.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I know where it is,” Briana said, speaking up. Gerard nodded and locked the little car. He turned around and squinted at the big building.
“I don’t go to the mall a lot…” he said, and looked around for Mikey. “Mikey?” he called. Within the moment he and Briana were talking, somehow, Mikey had disappeared. “Goddammit,” Gerard said under his breath. “He’s always fucking doing this.” Briana smiled to herself. The Way brothers acted just as ridiculously as she had imagined: Gerard being the more experienced one and Mikey being the little 10 years old, though they did switch roles, Briana thought, especially through their respective life-crises. One was always the older brother, regardless of age.
“Does what?” Briana asked.
“He just runs off like he has no responsibilities,” Gerard said, putting his hands on his hips, stretching his neck to attempt to see above the cars.
“Well, I’m sure we’ll find him, “Briana said quietly. She was still surprised at how she was even able to talk with the surprise of meeting her heroes. Gerard shrugged.
“We’ll find him somewhere,” he said, agreeing with Briana, “He’s probably finding some place to eat. Sushi, no doubt… Let’s go find Frank and Ray.” Briana lead the way across the building towards the movie theater entrance, Gerard walking right next her. She so desperately wanted to just stare at him, but at the risk of seeming like an obsessed teenager and walking into a car or pole, she decided to fight the urge.
Briana led Gerard through the multiple stores until they finally reached the food court, which was swarming with hungry people, lining up for food. Through the masses of bodies, Briana and Gerard looked for a short tattooed man and a tall one with somewhat of a light brown afro. Just across the food court, next to the Chipotle, Briana spotted them and nearly squealed, just as she would seeing a picture of them on her computer screen. After all this time of looking at their pictures and seeing them live on stage through the illuminated, inanimate screen, she was seeing them in real life, not through some surface of pixels, but solidly and in reality. Restraining herself from running across the floor, she caught Gerard’s attention and pointed to where the two other bandmates stood. Gerard, sensing her keenness, didn’t hesitate to jog over with her to them. Frank was wearing a short-sleeved, plain gray shirt and jeans with aviators, similar to Gerard’s, dangling off his shirt collar, and Ray was wearing his usual uniform-like wardrobe, jeans and a simple t-shirt.
“Hey!” Frank said, flashing a smile, “you must be Briana,” and held out his hand. Briana stood, speechless, and squeezed out a mere hello, forgetting to take his hand. “Oh,” Frank said, grinning even wider, “Sorry,” and took his hand back, then to move in to hug Briana. Upon his embrace, she returned the gesture. Unfortunately, it only lasted for a short couple seconds. After all the times Frank had met fans, of course, she thought, he knew what they wanted. They didn’t want a handshake, they wanted something a little more intimate to save in their memories forever, and Briana appreciated that. Now she turned to Ray, who sweetly smiled and did the same as Frank did, gave her a hug.
“Where’s Mikey?” Frank asked to Gerard.
“No idea,” Gerard shrugged. Frank rolled his eyes, clearly familiar with Mikey’s episodes as well.
“So, where do you want to go first?” Ray asked. Briana faltered, and said,
“Uhh… I don’t— I’m broke,” she said, taking out her wallet and confirming that there was, in fact, no money.
“Oh,” Frank said, and laughed.” Didn’t you read the contest information? Everything is on us! Just keep it under two hundred dollars.” Gerard spoke up,
“Oh yeah, apparently, Briana here doesn’t even remember signing up for this.”
“Well, you must have. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here,” Frank said.
“Eh, she probably just forgot,” said Ray.
“Well, I’m not complaining,” Briana said, finally speaking confidently. Gerard smirked, and gave a little amused nod.
“Well, anyway,” he said, “where should we go?” Briana pondered on this, and said,
“Why don’t we go find Mikey?” Gerard shrugged, and said,
“Whatever you want, I guess,” and started walking away from the several different restaurants. Briana, Frank, and Ray followed, and Frank, who was shorter than Briana had imagined in her mind, walked alongside her. She always imagined Frank as the more friendlier and social one of the group, and once again, she assumed correctly. He started,
“So, the great state of New Jersey, huh?”
“Ha, yeah,” she replied.
“All those guys,” he said, referring to the rest of the band, “saying they’re proud of their origins are liars,” he chuckled. “I’m the only one who stayed in this heavenly godforsaken state.” Briana laughed.
“Northern Jersey, right?” she asked.
“Yeah, and I would tell you where I lived, but not that I don’t trust you, I would just rather not have my town all over the internet for all the more… vicious fans to come running to my house. A man needs his privacy, and there’s little I can really get anymore,” he said, sighing, and put his hands in his back pocket. He glanced to the side for a moment and said, “See? There’s one with a camera now!” he said, pointing at two teenage girls, one holding a phone, ready to take a picture, and proceeded to wave, giving a wide grin. Briana started laughing as she watched them jumping and screaming around, thrilled at even the indirect contact of Frank. “I missed the old days when no one knew who I was,” he said, and sighed.
“Well, on the other hand, literally millions of people look up to you, and you said it yourself. The music you make saved them.” He chuckled, and said,
“That’s true,” and smiled to himself. “You know,” he said, “I’m really surprised we ended up spending the day with someone as calm as you. Not gonna lie, I was expecting someone like those two girl just now, drooling over the very presence of us.” Briana blushed; glad to get a compliment from him.
“Thanks,” she replied, “I try, believe me.”
“Oh, I believe you,” he smiled, and said, “Let’s catch up with them, looks like they found Mikey.” Sure enough, just ahead of them, Mikey was holding a little plate of sushi, stuffing the little rolls in his face. Briana giggled again as she watched Gerard take the platter away from his younger brother and scolding him.
“Mikey, you can’t just walk away. We’re actually doing something important,”
“Well, give it back!” Mikey said, reaching over to take the plate back.
“Ugh, is this even real fish?” Gerard said, pulling it away from him and popping one I his mouth.
“I don’t know! I don’t care! Just give it back!”
“No, apologize to Briana!” Mikey stopped reaching and faced Briana, whom he completely forgot about in his craving for the Japanese delicacy.
“Sorry…” he said, rubbing the back of his neck, but then immediately grabbing for the sushi again. Gerard pulled it away, nearly dropping the whole thing on the floor, and ran towards the nearest garbage can to throw it out. Once it landed in the trashcan, Mikey ran over and punched Gerard in the arm, playfully, but still angrily.
“Ow! You bitch!” Gerard shouted, and punched his younger brother in the arm back.
“Stop!” Frank laughed, and pulled Mikey off Gerard. “You’re 30 plus years old. Seriously, stop acting like you’re 12.”
“I will, once Gerard stops acting like a mom.”
“Shut up,” Gerard said, sticking his chin out.
“Okay!” Ray said, shouting over their arguments, “So where do you want to go, Briana?”
“Oh,” she said. She remembered: she hated shopping. She didn’t tell them, though, and said, “Whatever is fine. I don’t really have any requests.”
“Well,” Frank said, “If you really don’t, I actually need to get something for Cherry and Lily. Their birthdays are coming up. And if you could help me choose something that would be great” Briana’s face brightened at the thought of his beloved twins and agreed.
“Actually, I have to ask you something,” she said.
“Yep?” said Frank.
“If you don’t mind, and It won’t matter if you truly don’t want to, but can I see what Cherry, Lily and/or Miles look like?” Frank eyed her spiritedly, and said,
“Of course you can. I just don’t want their faces all over the internet.” Briana smiled.
“I completely respect that.”
“Here,” he said, and held out his phone. His lock screen on his iPhone displayed a picture of all three of his children sitting in the snow, facing the camera.
“Oh…” Briana said, staring at the phone screen, “They’re perfect.”
“Far from it!” Frank said, laughing, “Have you read my blog?”
“Of course! It’s brilliant!”
“Then you’ve read the different situations I’m caught in with them every day. Oh, I love ‘em more than life itself, but damn, Miles just won’t stop biting me, and you wouldn’t believe how strong little three year old girls are.” Briana grinned from ear to ear. The whole MCRmy worshipped these people as gods, even, but once meeting them, Briana saw they were just as human as anyone. They had the same dilemmas and the same virtues, and to Briana, made them seem all the more amazing.
Soon, they arrived at a small toyshop. Briana walked around in the cozy little place, eyeing the little toys stacked upon each other. Suddenly, she had an idea. She looked around at the baby section and chose a small yellow bib, unisex, with a little blue elephant on it. She turned around to look for the rest of the band, who were looking around at the plaything, and announced,
“I want to buy this.” Ray looked up from a teddy bear he was scrutinizing, and said,
“Having a baby, are you?”
“No, but I do know someone who has one.”
“Well, give it here, let me buy it,” Gerard said, and took his wallet out. He paid for it, and the cashier asked,
“Would you like me to wrap it?” Briana nodded, and moments later, the cashier handed a small bag back, contained a white-wrapped little box. Briana took it and walked over to Ray,
“I really hope the rumors are true, and I guess this doesn’t really make sense if you’re paying for it, but I’d really like to give this to you for your new baby,” she said, a little flustered that it was more than she had talked on the whole trip combined. Ray was flummoxed.
“Oh, well, don’t tell the Internet, but yes, the rumors are true, I had a baby boy, Nathan. Thank you, you really don’t have to. By all means, spend the money on something you want!”
“Oh, no,” Briana said, laughing, “Now that I’ve met you, believe me, I don’t need anything else in life.” As soon as she said it, it reminded her of something. She grabbed the phone out of her pocket and said,
“Excuse me,” and walked outside the store. She quickly chose a contact name and dialed the number. It rang a few times before a girl answered.
“Hello?”
“Hana?”
“Yeah, what’s up?” Briana sighed. This girl, the one who initially introduced My Chemical Romance, was just a big of a fan as Briana was, and now that she had called her, she felt a little guilty in telling her what was happening to her at the moment. Still, she had to share her excitement with someone.
“Guess what?”
“Hmm…” Hana pondered on the other line. “What’s today’s date?”
“The fourth.”
“Well, then, if I’m right, you should be at the mall, dunno which one, with the one and only MCR by your side.” Briana stood speechless, clinging to the phone in her hand. She tried to remember making a Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter update about her current situation, but didn’t recall making it at all. As far as she was concerned, her parents thought she was home alone.
“W— What- How did you know?”
“I’m psychic. No, but really. I signed the both of us up for that contest I’m sure you’re aware of now and forgot to tell you about it. I did it with my e-mail so I got all the information about it, and it was only fair that you take it since it was your name that won, so just take this as a birthday present, I guess.”
“Oh my god,” Briana said, “This was you?”
“Yep!”
“I’m so sorry!”
“What are you sorry for? Just take a ton of pictures and a lock of Ray’s hair for me if you can get it.” Briana stuttered, and thanked her again. Briana knew, even if she couldn’t see Hana, that even though she wasn’t able to see her heroes, too, enjoyed giving such a surprise to one of her friends.
“Who was that?” Gerard asked, striding out of the store.
“Oh, just a fri— Actually, can you do me a favor?” Briana said.
“Sure,”
“I have this friend, and she was actually the one who signed me up for the contest and organized it so it would be a surprise to me, and I’d really appreciate it, she would too, if you guys called her. Her name’s Hana.”
“Oh, of course!” Mikey said, appearing from behind Gerard. Briana re-dialed Hana’s number.
“Hello?” Hana said again. Briana handed the phone to Gerard, who answered,
“Hello? Hana?”
“Yeah, who is thi— Oh my god, is this Gerard?”
“In the flesh.”
“And Mikey!” said Mikey, yelling into the phone.”
“Holy shit,” Hana said. Gerard handed the phone to Frank, who said,
“I’m sure Briana expressed to you how grateful she is,” he said. “You’re a great friend.” The other line was filled with series of loud clanking noises. Frank winced. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just fell off the couch.”
“Thank you on her behalf!” Ray shouted into the phone. Briana laughed, imaging how Hana was reacting at the moment, probably jumping around the entire house with joy. She wished her friend could be there with her, but as Hana said, there was no point in being sorry, and once she got a lock of Ray’s hair, she would return to favor to Hana, she convinced herself jokingly. God, she never wanted that moment to end.
Briana stepped off the school bus that had conveniently stopped at the bottom of the huge hill that led up to her house. She glanced up at the long ascend disdainfully and started to climb up. What a day it had been. After all those arduous classes, including lab and clubs afterwards, she wanted to collapse right then and there. Briana sniffed at the memory of one of the clubs she had joined. They claimed to help animals in need, but so far, they had done next to nothing for any animals anywhere. A couple times, she remembered, they had some cardboard boxes for donations scattered around the school, but they didn’t find that many people contributed at all. The boxes were thrown away.
Briana was only half way up the hill, and already breathing heavily. Her ankles started to ache, as they always seemed to whenever she overused them. Twisting herself around, she reached into her bag and took out a small iPod and tangled earphones. A couple months before, she had received it as a present from her friends. She shoved the earphones in her ears and turned the mp3 player on, scrolling through her large amounts of music. Almost a year ago, her friend had introduced her to this band, My Chemical Romance, which she had fallen in love with almost immediately. She remembered the first time hearing their songs, the single one she remembered being ‘Cancer,’ a sort of slow, tragic ballad about a patient dying of cancer, telling his loved-ones around him to prepare for his death, and regretfully remembering the many lifetime events he would miss out on. It was easily a cry-able song, she thought. Broke her heart every time she listened to it.
Almost to the top now, Briana had started to listened to My Chemical Romance’s seconds album, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, or as the fandom usually called it, simple, ‘Revenge.’ Though she couldn’t completely decided which the best album was, it was a phenomenal album, containing some of her favorite tracks. She thought to herself that she couldn’t decide which album was the best. Each of them contained their own uniqueness and message and she enjoyed each one differently. Currently, though, she was listening to the lengthily named song, “You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison,” and sung along with it, her steps synchronizing with the beat of the drums. Finally, immersed in the song, Briana reached her house. She twisted around again to fish her house key out of one of the many pockets of her bag. She stood on her front porch, struggling to find the single key in the plethora of gum wrappers and crumpled papers. Briana sighed loudly, dropping the bag from her shoulder to the ground, and shuffling through again. She hoped it hadn’t fallen out of a hole.
Suddenly, as she searched, from what seemed like it was coming from the bottom of the hill, a loud screeching noise filled the usually quiet suburban air. Briana looked up from her bag a squinted to the end of the road, until a bright yellow, Volkswagen Beetle burst out, speeding towards Briana. Her heart jumped from the sudden noise. The loudness that intruded into the usual silence made her nervous, and most cars around the area were more conservative and dully colored, not like this small car that was coming closer and closer to Briana’s house. Still a little nervous, Briana continued to look for her key, but much more frantically. It wasn’t there. Finally, the tiny yellow car screeched to a stop in front of Briana’s house. The tires created skid marks on the road and small clouds from the asphalt rose from the friction of the tires. Realizing that the car was probably for her, she dumped everything out from her bag and sifted through the garbage, until finally the little silver key appeared. Briana didn’t bother picking up her garbage and grabbed her bag, fumbling with the little key. She glanced back at the car that was standing idle in front of the house, but Briana couldn’t see who it was through the tinted window. Who knew a girly little car could be so terrifying? She glanced back at the doorknob and tried to fit the key it, her hand shaking. She looked over her shoulder again, and saw that very slowly, the passenger seat window started to roll down. She stopped tying to fit the key into the lock, and was transfixed onto the window. Curiosity killed the cat, she thought, Could be literal, too. She shuddered, imagining the ruthless serial killer on the television these days, sitting in the car. The window lowered painfully slowly, but finally, it revealed the person in the car. Leaning over from the driver’s seat, wearing aviator sunglasses and a leather jacket, was Gerard Way. Briana dropped the key and it clattered to the ground, finding a place among the garbage from her bag.
“Get in, loser, we’re going shopping,” he said. From somewhere inside the car, Briana heard a muffled voice say,
“Really? Mean girls?”
“Shut up,” the man who seemed to be Gerard turned around to say to the other voice. No, Briana thought, It can’t be him. Why would Gerard Way come to my house? She picked up the key and started to try and fit it into the lock again, but to no avail. Her emotions were swarming in her head and chest, unsure what to think. One part of her hoped it was Gerard, but the other, more logical side, told her to quickly get into house, lock all doors and windows and called the police. The car honked loudly.
“C’mon! Get in!” the Gerard’s doppelganger shouted. Briana yelled back,
“Leave me alone!” and finally, twisted the key into the lock, popping the door open, and ran in, locking the door behind her, running into the living, and closed the curtains. Her curiosity preceded her, though, and she opened the curtains just a bit to see if the car was still there. At the angle the window stood, Briana had a clear view of the front doorstep. To her dismay, the man was standing on it, straightening his leather jacket. He wore a paint-ridden black shirt underneath, an old pair of ripped jeans, and classic pair of black Converse. Classic Gerard clothes… Briana thought, desperately wanting the man to be Gerard, but again, her logical side shooting it down. She watched his knock on the door, but ignored it and kept watching the man through the window. The man looked around his surrounding, at the boring, cookie-cutter like houses and identical trees, and caught Briana’s eye through the window, and waved sweetly. Briana tensed, her heart lurching upon meeting his gaze and quickly shut the curtains. Her heart was palpitating, almost to the point of bursting, she thought. She crept towards the door and said,
“What do you want?” The voice behind the door, muffled, said,
“We just want to go shopping.”
“Who are you?” she demanded.
“You know who I am,”
“Yeah, okay, I do,” Briana said, indulging in her fantasies, “But how do you know who I am?”
“Just trust me, Briana. I know, but I’m not a creeper,” he said. Internally, Briana thought that she wouldn’t mind if he was. After all, he was one of her idols. Just imagine what it would be like to have the person of your dreams stalk you. She did feel a little on edge after he said her name, though.
“I don’t know if I can. Trust you, I mean,” she said.
“Oh, come on! At least open the door.”
“I just said I didn’t trust you! What makes you think I’m going to open the door?!” She heard a loud sigh from the other side of the door and then,
“Please, please, please open the door. I’m not gonna hurt you. All we want is to go to the mall. We’re late now, too. Frank and Ray are gonna wonder where we are.” Briana put her hands on her head, staring at the door with an extreme look od bewilderment on her face.
“The mall?!”
“Yeah.”
“The MALL?!”
“Just open the door!”
“Oh my god…” Briana said to herself. She grabbed her phone and wallet, and impulsively opened the door, revealing this man, who claimed to be Gerard Way, grinning at her. He took off his aviator sunglasses, and said,
“Let’s go!” Briana stood frozen in her spot staring at the man in front of her. Upon seeing his face, she had no doubt in her mind. This was, in fact, Gerard Way. All doubt left her mind. He was much shorter than she imagined, but just as attractive as he was in pictures, if not more. He twisted around on his heels and hopped down the stairs, and Briana had no choice, in her mind, but to follow him. They reached the small, yellow Beetle, and Gerard opened the back seat door open. Briana would rather sit shotgun, next to Gerard, but once looking inside, saw that Mikey was sitting in the far seat, wearing a gray hoodie and black jeans.
“Hi!” he said, giving a little wave. Briana could only wave back, and climbed into the car, staring at Mikey the whole time. Gerard swung himself into the car and started it, making the car vibrate and sputter to a start.
“Which mall are we going to?” Briana asked.
“Garden State,” Mikey said. Briana hesitated before saying,
“But why?”
“… Because that’s the best mall in the area,” said Gerard.
“No, I mean, why are you taking me to the mall.” Briana saw Gerard’s reflection on the rear-view mirror, and saw him smirk.
“You don’t remember?”
“What?”
“Several months ago, you entered in a contest to meet us,” Mikey said.
“What? When?!”
“It was at Hot Topic. Did you really not enter it?” said Gerard.
“Not that I remember… I’ve only been to Hot Topic a few times in the past half year.” Gerard shoved his hand into his back jeans pocket and took out a crumpled piece of paper. He read off of it, reciting her address.
“That is your address, right?”
“Yeah…” Briana said. She honestly did not remember entering in any sort of contest. Her attitude towards those kinds of things was not positive, and she always assumed that she’d never get chosen, so there’d be no point in entering at all.
“Hmm… Maybe you just don’t remember. Anyway, we’re here for you, and the contest was that we’d spend a day with you at the mall,” Mikey said. Briana nodded to herself, desperately trying to remember any account of her entering a contest.
“Actually,” Gerard said, “I’m glad you aren’t one of those die-hard teenage fangirls. You seem pretty composed, really.”
“Oh,” Briana said, “I’m just overwhelmed.” She spoke the truth. She honestly could not fathom being near her idols even when she was sitting right next to them. It hadn’t registered in her mind yet.
Soon, they were on the highway, heading towards the Garden State Mall. Usually, there were massive amounts of traffic, but strangely, the roads were quiet clear, making the trip much faster than usual. Soon, Gerard pulled into the parking area and found a spot relatively close to the actual building.
“We’re supposed to meet Frank and Ray at the food court, but I don’t know where that is. I’ve never been here before.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I know where it is,” Briana said, speaking up. Gerard nodded and locked the little car. He turned around and squinted at the big building.
“I don’t go to the mall a lot…” he said, and looked around for Mikey. “Mikey?” he called. Within the moment he and Briana were talking, somehow, Mikey had disappeared. “Goddammit,” Gerard said under his breath. “He’s always fucking doing this.” Briana smiled to herself. The Way brothers acted just as ridiculously as she had imagined: Gerard being the more experienced one and Mikey being the little 10 years old, though they did switch roles, Briana thought, especially through their respective life-crises. One was always the older brother, regardless of age.
“Does what?” Briana asked.
“He just runs off like he has no responsibilities,” Gerard said, putting his hands on his hips, stretching his neck to attempt to see above the cars.
“Well, I’m sure we’ll find him, “Briana said quietly. She was still surprised at how she was even able to talk with the surprise of meeting her heroes. Gerard shrugged.
“We’ll find him somewhere,” he said, agreeing with Briana, “He’s probably finding some place to eat. Sushi, no doubt… Let’s go find Frank and Ray.” Briana lead the way across the building towards the movie theater entrance, Gerard walking right next her. She so desperately wanted to just stare at him, but at the risk of seeming like an obsessed teenager and walking into a car or pole, she decided to fight the urge.
Briana led Gerard through the multiple stores until they finally reached the food court, which was swarming with hungry people, lining up for food. Through the masses of bodies, Briana and Gerard looked for a short tattooed man and a tall one with somewhat of a light brown afro. Just across the food court, next to the Chipotle, Briana spotted them and nearly squealed, just as she would seeing a picture of them on her computer screen. After all this time of looking at their pictures and seeing them live on stage through the illuminated, inanimate screen, she was seeing them in real life, not through some surface of pixels, but solidly and in reality. Restraining herself from running across the floor, she caught Gerard’s attention and pointed to where the two other bandmates stood. Gerard, sensing her keenness, didn’t hesitate to jog over with her to them. Frank was wearing a short-sleeved, plain gray shirt and jeans with aviators, similar to Gerard’s, dangling off his shirt collar, and Ray was wearing his usual uniform-like wardrobe, jeans and a simple t-shirt.
“Hey!” Frank said, flashing a smile, “you must be Briana,” and held out his hand. Briana stood, speechless, and squeezed out a mere hello, forgetting to take his hand. “Oh,” Frank said, grinning even wider, “Sorry,” and took his hand back, then to move in to hug Briana. Upon his embrace, she returned the gesture. Unfortunately, it only lasted for a short couple seconds. After all the times Frank had met fans, of course, she thought, he knew what they wanted. They didn’t want a handshake, they wanted something a little more intimate to save in their memories forever, and Briana appreciated that. Now she turned to Ray, who sweetly smiled and did the same as Frank did, gave her a hug.
“Where’s Mikey?” Frank asked to Gerard.
“No idea,” Gerard shrugged. Frank rolled his eyes, clearly familiar with Mikey’s episodes as well.
“So, where do you want to go first?” Ray asked. Briana faltered, and said,
“Uhh… I don’t— I’m broke,” she said, taking out her wallet and confirming that there was, in fact, no money.
“Oh,” Frank said, and laughed.” Didn’t you read the contest information? Everything is on us! Just keep it under two hundred dollars.” Gerard spoke up,
“Oh yeah, apparently, Briana here doesn’t even remember signing up for this.”
“Well, you must have. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here,” Frank said.
“Eh, she probably just forgot,” said Ray.
“Well, I’m not complaining,” Briana said, finally speaking confidently. Gerard smirked, and gave a little amused nod.
“Well, anyway,” he said, “where should we go?” Briana pondered on this, and said,
“Why don’t we go find Mikey?” Gerard shrugged, and said,
“Whatever you want, I guess,” and started walking away from the several different restaurants. Briana, Frank, and Ray followed, and Frank, who was shorter than Briana had imagined in her mind, walked alongside her. She always imagined Frank as the more friendlier and social one of the group, and once again, she assumed correctly. He started,
“So, the great state of New Jersey, huh?”
“Ha, yeah,” she replied.
“All those guys,” he said, referring to the rest of the band, “saying they’re proud of their origins are liars,” he chuckled. “I’m the only one who stayed in this heavenly godforsaken state.” Briana laughed.
“Northern Jersey, right?” she asked.
“Yeah, and I would tell you where I lived, but not that I don’t trust you, I would just rather not have my town all over the internet for all the more… vicious fans to come running to my house. A man needs his privacy, and there’s little I can really get anymore,” he said, sighing, and put his hands in his back pocket. He glanced to the side for a moment and said, “See? There’s one with a camera now!” he said, pointing at two teenage girls, one holding a phone, ready to take a picture, and proceeded to wave, giving a wide grin. Briana started laughing as she watched them jumping and screaming around, thrilled at even the indirect contact of Frank. “I missed the old days when no one knew who I was,” he said, and sighed.
“Well, on the other hand, literally millions of people look up to you, and you said it yourself. The music you make saved them.” He chuckled, and said,
“That’s true,” and smiled to himself. “You know,” he said, “I’m really surprised we ended up spending the day with someone as calm as you. Not gonna lie, I was expecting someone like those two girl just now, drooling over the very presence of us.” Briana blushed; glad to get a compliment from him.
“Thanks,” she replied, “I try, believe me.”
“Oh, I believe you,” he smiled, and said, “Let’s catch up with them, looks like they found Mikey.” Sure enough, just ahead of them, Mikey was holding a little plate of sushi, stuffing the little rolls in his face. Briana giggled again as she watched Gerard take the platter away from his younger brother and scolding him.
“Mikey, you can’t just walk away. We’re actually doing something important,”
“Well, give it back!” Mikey said, reaching over to take the plate back.
“Ugh, is this even real fish?” Gerard said, pulling it away from him and popping one I his mouth.
“I don’t know! I don’t care! Just give it back!”
“No, apologize to Briana!” Mikey stopped reaching and faced Briana, whom he completely forgot about in his craving for the Japanese delicacy.
“Sorry…” he said, rubbing the back of his neck, but then immediately grabbing for the sushi again. Gerard pulled it away, nearly dropping the whole thing on the floor, and ran towards the nearest garbage can to throw it out. Once it landed in the trashcan, Mikey ran over and punched Gerard in the arm, playfully, but still angrily.
“Ow! You bitch!” Gerard shouted, and punched his younger brother in the arm back.
“Stop!” Frank laughed, and pulled Mikey off Gerard. “You’re 30 plus years old. Seriously, stop acting like you’re 12.”
“I will, once Gerard stops acting like a mom.”
“Shut up,” Gerard said, sticking his chin out.
“Okay!” Ray said, shouting over their arguments, “So where do you want to go, Briana?”
“Oh,” she said. She remembered: she hated shopping. She didn’t tell them, though, and said, “Whatever is fine. I don’t really have any requests.”
“Well,” Frank said, “If you really don’t, I actually need to get something for Cherry and Lily. Their birthdays are coming up. And if you could help me choose something that would be great” Briana’s face brightened at the thought of his beloved twins and agreed.
“Actually, I have to ask you something,” she said.
“Yep?” said Frank.
“If you don’t mind, and It won’t matter if you truly don’t want to, but can I see what Cherry, Lily and/or Miles look like?” Frank eyed her spiritedly, and said,
“Of course you can. I just don’t want their faces all over the internet.” Briana smiled.
“I completely respect that.”
“Here,” he said, and held out his phone. His lock screen on his iPhone displayed a picture of all three of his children sitting in the snow, facing the camera.
“Oh…” Briana said, staring at the phone screen, “They’re perfect.”
“Far from it!” Frank said, laughing, “Have you read my blog?”
“Of course! It’s brilliant!”
“Then you’ve read the different situations I’m caught in with them every day. Oh, I love ‘em more than life itself, but damn, Miles just won’t stop biting me, and you wouldn’t believe how strong little three year old girls are.” Briana grinned from ear to ear. The whole MCRmy worshipped these people as gods, even, but once meeting them, Briana saw they were just as human as anyone. They had the same dilemmas and the same virtues, and to Briana, made them seem all the more amazing.
Soon, they arrived at a small toyshop. Briana walked around in the cozy little place, eyeing the little toys stacked upon each other. Suddenly, she had an idea. She looked around at the baby section and chose a small yellow bib, unisex, with a little blue elephant on it. She turned around to look for the rest of the band, who were looking around at the plaything, and announced,
“I want to buy this.” Ray looked up from a teddy bear he was scrutinizing, and said,
“Having a baby, are you?”
“No, but I do know someone who has one.”
“Well, give it here, let me buy it,” Gerard said, and took his wallet out. He paid for it, and the cashier asked,
“Would you like me to wrap it?” Briana nodded, and moments later, the cashier handed a small bag back, contained a white-wrapped little box. Briana took it and walked over to Ray,
“I really hope the rumors are true, and I guess this doesn’t really make sense if you’re paying for it, but I’d really like to give this to you for your new baby,” she said, a little flustered that it was more than she had talked on the whole trip combined. Ray was flummoxed.
“Oh, well, don’t tell the Internet, but yes, the rumors are true, I had a baby boy, Nathan. Thank you, you really don’t have to. By all means, spend the money on something you want!”
“Oh, no,” Briana said, laughing, “Now that I’ve met you, believe me, I don’t need anything else in life.” As soon as she said it, it reminded her of something. She grabbed the phone out of her pocket and said,
“Excuse me,” and walked outside the store. She quickly chose a contact name and dialed the number. It rang a few times before a girl answered.
“Hello?”
“Hana?”
“Yeah, what’s up?” Briana sighed. This girl, the one who initially introduced My Chemical Romance, was just a big of a fan as Briana was, and now that she had called her, she felt a little guilty in telling her what was happening to her at the moment. Still, she had to share her excitement with someone.
“Guess what?”
“Hmm…” Hana pondered on the other line. “What’s today’s date?”
“The fourth.”
“Well, then, if I’m right, you should be at the mall, dunno which one, with the one and only MCR by your side.” Briana stood speechless, clinging to the phone in her hand. She tried to remember making a Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter update about her current situation, but didn’t recall making it at all. As far as she was concerned, her parents thought she was home alone.
“W— What- How did you know?”
“I’m psychic. No, but really. I signed the both of us up for that contest I’m sure you’re aware of now and forgot to tell you about it. I did it with my e-mail so I got all the information about it, and it was only fair that you take it since it was your name that won, so just take this as a birthday present, I guess.”
“Oh my god,” Briana said, “This was you?”
“Yep!”
“I’m so sorry!”
“What are you sorry for? Just take a ton of pictures and a lock of Ray’s hair for me if you can get it.” Briana stuttered, and thanked her again. Briana knew, even if she couldn’t see Hana, that even though she wasn’t able to see her heroes, too, enjoyed giving such a surprise to one of her friends.
“Who was that?” Gerard asked, striding out of the store.
“Oh, just a fri— Actually, can you do me a favor?” Briana said.
“Sure,”
“I have this friend, and she was actually the one who signed me up for the contest and organized it so it would be a surprise to me, and I’d really appreciate it, she would too, if you guys called her. Her name’s Hana.”
“Oh, of course!” Mikey said, appearing from behind Gerard. Briana re-dialed Hana’s number.
“Hello?” Hana said again. Briana handed the phone to Gerard, who answered,
“Hello? Hana?”
“Yeah, who is thi— Oh my god, is this Gerard?”
“In the flesh.”
“And Mikey!” said Mikey, yelling into the phone.”
“Holy shit,” Hana said. Gerard handed the phone to Frank, who said,
“I’m sure Briana expressed to you how grateful she is,” he said. “You’re a great friend.” The other line was filled with series of loud clanking noises. Frank winced. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just fell off the couch.”
“Thank you on her behalf!” Ray shouted into the phone. Briana laughed, imaging how Hana was reacting at the moment, probably jumping around the entire house with joy. She wished her friend could be there with her, but as Hana said, there was no point in being sorry, and once she got a lock of Ray’s hair, she would return to favor to Hana, she convinced herself jokingly. God, she never wanted that moment to end.
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