FicWad

I unlocked the door and pushed it open.
“Welcome to my hell hole.” I sighed.
Gerard took a step into the hallway; I followed and closed the door behind me.
“Already this place is looking a lot like mine.” Gerard noted.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it is the same, to be honest. The exterior on all these state houses in this street are the exact same, why not the interior too?”
I gave Gerard a brief tour of the house. First downstairs is the narrow empty hallway. The first door on the right is my parent’s room; though only my Dad sleeps in there, but I left that bit of information out. The second door on the right is the bathroom/toilet/washhouse. There’s no bath in there, just a shower. At the end of the hallway is the kitchen and dining room. To the left on the hallway is the staircase with the creaking steps. Directly opposite the top of the staircase is my bedroom. To the immediate left is the spare room/my Mum’s room, and to the far left in the corner is our living room.
At last I showed Gerard my room. It’s cold, dark and nearly empty; all that’s in there is a wardrobe, a mirror, draws and my bed. There’s no life to my room, much like the rest of the house. All signs of life inside this “home” were drained out years ago, and it’s been hollow and gloomy ever since.
There are no family photos about the place, just four blank walls and a small television that doesn’t get cable. Gerard frowned at this.
“Where are all the photos and stuff?”
“Oh… Mum’s looking at getting the walls repainted, so she took the photos down. The house is a bit naked at the moment but hopefully for not much longer.” I lied. I could feel my cheeks going red, I hated people knowing the truth about my family; it made me feel like the rest of the social rejects around this side of town. “So is this still similar to your place?”
“Pretty much exactly the same except the living room is downstairs and the room upstairs at the end of the hall is my room.”
We stood there for about a minute just staring around the place, like this isn’t awkward at all.
“So about that coffee, yeah?” Gerard burst out.
“Sounds good to me!” I clapped my hands. We walked downstairs and into the kitchen, where it was the least lively in the house. I think Gerard sensed the dark presence of the house as soon as he stepped foot in the door; he seemed uncomfortable with it.
“Take a seat,” I pulled out one of the dining chairs at the table. I walked over to the kitchen. I put the jug on and opened the cupboards. No clean cups. I looked at the sink, there they are, unwashed for the third day in a row. I sighed, washing two cups isn’t that big a deal. I grabbed the coffee jar and looked at it; no coffee. I sighed again and opened up the fridge, no milk either. I shut the fridge and my chest felt heavy. I walked back over to Gerard and sat down next to him.
“I’m really sorry,” I paused and looked at the ground. “But we’ve run out of coffee.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it.” Gerard said cheerfully. “We can just go to my place and have coffee.”
“Yeah, okay.” I smiled.
We got up and walked down the hall, I opened up the front door. It had started raining.
“Go grab your jacket, you might get a cold if you don’t.” Gerard said.
“Oh, yeah… Okay…” I said lightly. I walked upstairs and back into my room. I stood there for a little bit. When you’ve tried so hard to be a normal person around somebody, and they tell you to go grab your jacket because it’s raining, how do you explain to them that you don’t actually own a jacket? I had never felt so ashamed in my life.
“Everything all good, Rach?” Gerard called from downstairs.
“Yeah, fine!” I called back. I walked out, closing the door behind me.
“I totally forgot,” I lied again as I walked back down the stairs. “My Mum took my jacket to the dry cleaners. I only have one.”
“You only have one jacket?” He asked.
“Yeah, I grew out of the others.” That’s right, start a brand new friendship by bullshitting right through your teeth. “Amazing how fast we grow, right?”
“Right.” He repeated. He took of his army jacket and handed it to me.
“Oh,” I put my hands up. “I can’t take this, you’re worried about me getting a cold but what about you?”
“I’m from New Jersey, I’ll be fine.” He smiled.
“Thank you.” I said after thought. I put the jacket on and smiled. It smells like Lynx chocolate. Easily the best smell in the whole world.
We left the house, I locked the door behind me. I don’t know why I bother, there’s literally nothing in there to steal. We ran across the street against the rain, of which poured down harder as Gerard searched through his bunch of keys trying to find the one for the front door. My hair was soaking and Gerard was completely drenched by the time he managed to get the front door open.
“Quick!” Gerard said, grabbing my arm and pulling me inside. He grabbed the jacket off me and hung it up on the coat hanger right next to the front door.
“I’ll get you a towel for your hair.” He said pulling his t-shirt off and walked down the hallway to what I’m assuming is the bathroom. Topless. I tried not to stare but it was impossible. For a sixteen year old, Gerard has a relatively defined body. He’s a little chubby but his arms are toned. The butterflies within my stomach were going apeshit.
The blonde woman I saw yesterday getting out of the drivers seat of the car walked out of the living room, almost walking straight into me. She got a fright.
“I’m so sorry!” I raised my hands. “I’m here with Gerard, he’s in the bathroom!”
Gerard stepped out into the hallway, still shirtless. “Hey Mum.” He walked over to her and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I don’t remember the last time I gave my Mum a hug.
“This is Rachel; she lives right across the road and goes to my school.”
“Oh, hello sweetheart.” She gave me a kiss on the cheek. It reminded me of the first time I met Bonnie, being French it was her way of saying hello. “I’m Donna.”
“Hello. I’m Rachel.” I realised she had already been told this. “But you already knew that. You can call me Rach if you want to.”
Donna smiled and touched my hair, she frowned. “Gerard, go get her a towel. Her hair is soaking wet!”
He shot off back to the bathroom and came back with a towel. “I’m sorry it’s not the greatest, we’re still waiting for our stuff to arrive from Jersey.”
I grabbed the towel off him; it was hypnotic red and incredibly soft. If he thinks this is average or worse, imagine what he’d think of our towels.
“Thank you. Um.. Can I use your bathroom to dry my hair?”
“Of course, follow me.” He showed me the way to his bathroom, which was exactly where mine is.
Everything is so white and shone bright from being so clean. It was almost blinding. I leant over and let my dirty blonde hair hang down in front of my face. I picked up the towel and rub my hair into it until it wasn’t soaking anymore. I stood back up right and put the towel in the washing basket and walked back out into the hallway. I could hear Gerard talking to his Mum and about his day at school in the kitchen. I noticed all the family photos up on the wall; I walked over to them and had a closer look. There were many photos of so many different people. By the looks of things, he has a big family.
One photo in particular caught my eye. I looked closer. It was Gerard when he was really young, probably six or seven years old. He was standing with an old man, who I think may be his grandfather. They were on a boat, holding up a gigantic fish, both of them smiling. Gerard was missing some teeth. He looked absolutely adorable.
“Who are you?”
I turned around. The other young boy that got out of the car yesterday had peeped his head out the doorway from the living room.
“My name is Rachel, what’s your name?” I asked softly.
“Mikey. How old are you?” He asked timidly.
“I’m sixteen. What about you Mikey?”
“I just turned ten two weeks ago.” He stepped out into the hallway. “How did you get in here?”
“Oh,” I looked down to the kitchen, Gerard was walking into the hallway. I looked back at Mikey. “I’m a friend of your brothers, I came over for a quick visit.”
“Go away Mikey,” Gerard said stopping just outside the bathroom door. Still topless. “She’s not a ghost.”
I looked at Gerard and then back at Mikey, confused.
“Are you sure, Gee?” Mikey asked.
“Yes I’m sure, now please…” Gerard motioned towards the living room.
“I’ll see you later. Nice to meet you.” Mikey smiled, and walked back into the living room, closing the door behind him.
“I’m sorry about that.” Gerard said while drying his hair. “He’s at that age, you know, where the imagination is insane. He thinks everyone he doesn’t know is a ghost.”
“Maybe he can see ghosts,” I grinned.
He stopped drying his hair and gave me ‘that look’. “Seriously?”
“And maybe I am a ghost,”
“Yeah, and my name is Abraham Lincoln.” He rolled his eyes. “Go wait in the dining room for me, I’ll be in in a minute.”
I walked into the kitchen. It was so bright and full of life. No dirty dishes about, no empty wine bottles everywhere; just a little homely kitchen and a cute dining room. They didn’t have a dining table yet, just awesome bean bags placed where the dining table would be soon enough.
“I love your house!” I turned to Donna.
“Thank you,” She laughed. “It’s so empty at the moment.”
“Yeah,” My smile faded. “Not for much longer though.”
“So what are you two cool cats upto this afternoon?” She asked, reaching into her handbag for something.
“Just coffee.” I smiled.
“Coffee and teenagers?” She looked up at me. “Well I never thought I’d see the day.”
Gerard walked into the kitchen and straight to the jug, he flicked it on. This time he was fully clothed, he’d switched his topless status for an Iron Maiden t-shirt.
“Gee, I’m going out with Mikey for a little bit. I won’t be long, but if you do go out, please lock up.” She grabbed her wallet and car keys from out her bag. “Please don’t do anything I wouldn’t…. Or illegal.”
“Alright,” Gerard went bright red.
“See you soon. I’ll see you when I get back Rachel, if not. Lovely to meet you.” She smiled. She walked out and into the living room. I heard the television switch off, and the front door open and close.
“Gee?” I turned to Gerard. I had the biggest grin on my face.
“Shut up.” He said boldly. “It’s been my family nickname since I can remember. Don’t ever call me that, and don’t ever tell anyone that.”
“I won’t. I promise… Gee.” I poked my tongue at him.
He turned and glared at me, then went back to making coffee.
I sat down on one of the bean bags.
"It's so squishy I'm gonna die!!!" I yelled squishing the bean bag.
Gerard laughed at me. “Yeah, I love them too.” He brought the coffee over.
“Thank you,” I said as I grabbed my coffee, and carefully cradled it with my hands.
He pulled one of the bean bags a bit closer to mine and sat down.
“So who are Iron Maiden?” I asked breaking the silence.
Gerard, who was about to take a sip of his coffee at that split second, froze in mid-moment, his eyes made their way to me and he stared at me for a second. He put his coffee down on his lap and looked at me. “Seriously?”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “I don’t really have access to music at home. I just hear what’s played on the radio in public, or what other people are playing.”
“You don’t have a stereo or something?” He asked.
“I wish.” I took a sip of my coffee.
Gerard looked at the ground with a slight frown on his face, as if he were trying to comprehend not having a stereo… It’s all I’ve known.
“Fair enough,” He said as he sipped his coffee. “Well, they’re a really good band. My favourite. Metal band. British, actually.”
“Oh, cool,” I said quietly. “I’ll check them out sometime.”
As I sipped on my coffee some more I couldn’t help but notice Gerard staring at me with such intensity. I looked at him, and held eye contact for a little bit. “Is everything okay?” I asked him.
“I’m just trying to figure you out.” He said with a serious tone.
“What do you mean?” I asked nervously.
He took a sip of his coffee, and lay back in his bean bag and looked up at the ceiling. It was silent for a little while.
“I’m generally a closed book.” He said. “I find it incredibly hard to open up to people. Sometimes I struggle to say hello, sometimes saying hello isn’t so bad, worse case scenario? I struggle to so much step foot out the front door. I mean, you saw my introduction in English today, I completely choked.”
I nodded. I didn’t really understand. I didn’t once get the vibe that he was that much of an anxious introvert.
“But then there’s you. I can joke around with you, I can talk to you, hell I can invite you back to mine for coffee. All this less than 12 hours since we first even spoke to each other.”
That heavy feeling in my chest started rising again as he continued.
“Coincidentally, I just happened to move in across the road from you, let alone wind up in the same school. I feel this connection and I think you can feel it too. Yet, we don’t even know each other. And we’re only sixteen. And you don't even know who Iron Maiden are.”
I sat there staring out the window in the back door. What the hell do I say to that? “Yes Gerard, I feel the connection too, I’m also insanely attracted to you.”? Hell no! His motives behind coffee are purely friendly. Or are they? Is he attracted to me? No. Just… No. Shut up.
“Rachel?” Gerard leant forward, making eye contact with me.
What do I say?



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A/N: I don't know if anyone noticed, but the title for this chapter is actually an Iron Maiden song. I don't actually care if you want to check it out or not, I'm telling you. Go check it out.