FicWad

Gerard’s POV

Three weeks later…

You wouldn’t think that so much could happen in only three weeks, but I was certainly shown otherwise. First of all, my band officially split up, meaning that I was now a couch potato at my parents’ house. This wasn’t exactly true. I spent most of my time with Ivy, but since the summer vacation was over in another day, I would be stuck with absolutely nothing to do, which sucked. Secondly, I seemed to be Frank’s new best friend. Fine, I’ll admit that aside from Ivy, he was my best friend too. Since we agreed to stick to simply being friends, we’ve been getting along extremely well, too well actually. All the time I didn’t spend with Ivy, I spent with him. Honestly, I loved Ivy to hell and back, but any time I spent with Frank was just so much more special. Maybe this was due to the fact that I still had the world’s biggest crush on her brother. How couldn’t I? Ignoring his lies when we first met, he was great. He may have been young, but he was very intelligent. He had the most adorable laugh and he could be quite the little shit, but it was also very endearing. You had to love him exactly the way he was. Above all that, he was gorgeous.

Unfortunately, he still had a girlfriend. I’ve gotten to know Lisa during all this time as well and I could definitely see why Frank was smitten with her. She was the nicest person I’ve ever met without being annoyingly so and she loved Frank right back. You could see it in the way they interacted. I never stood a chance with him against her. This knowledge killed me. I never said anything, but I kept torturing myself by spending time with them and having to see them together. Maybe I hoped it would help me get over him. I couldn’t even believe how I got so stuck on him after seven damn minutes in a fucking closet. It was ridiculous to say the least. He seemed to have forgotten about that and he was oblivious to everything I felt when I was around him and around them. He knew almost everything about me except that. It was for the best. I didn’t have to ruin our friendship and his relationship, especially after he chose her.

Maybe it was time to find a new hobby. Maybe it was time to find myself again, remember who I was before coming back home a little more than a month ago.

“Gerard?”

Frank was standing in front of me where I was sat at a table in a coffee shop staring at nothing. I hadn’t even noticed him coming in or approaching me.

He smiled down at me. “I’ve been looking for you. How’d I guess you’d be at some place that served coffee?”

“Humor me,” I smiled back, knowing full well that it was the most obvious place to look for me.

“Honestly, Mikey told me you were out of coffee when I went looking for you at the house. Where you were exactly was nothing more than a guess.”

“And why were you looking for me?”

“Well,” he started, almost bouncing in excitement and I noticed he was holding something behind his back. “I know your band split and that really sucks,” he continued sincerely. “But…” He sat down in the empty chair, placing a notebook in front of me. “I was thinking that you shouldn’t stop writing songs only for that reason. I’ve heard some of your songs and you definitely have a talent. That’s why I got you this.” He pointed to the notebook. “Now you can keep on writing songs. That is if you still wanted to.”

It was so considerate of him and yet completely unexpected. “Thank you.” I was slightly awed. “I love it.”

“You do?” Frank grinned brightly. “I thought you might.”

We sat there staring at each other and I could feel the heat start to crawl up against my neck. His eyes were so intense.

“By the, what are you doing here sitting all by yourself?” Frank questioned curiously. “Why didn’t you give me call? I would’ve come with you, you know?”

Yes, I knew he would’ve, but that was the problem. I needed space from him. I needed to sort out my feelings and focus them on something else. Frank was off limits.

“I didn’t think that far,” I lied looking down into my empty cup.

“Don’t worry,” he smiled. “I’ll forgive you this time.”

“Are you ready for school to start again?” I asked, eager to talk about something that didn’t concern me and Frank in one sentence.

He pulled one of the ugliest faces I’ve ever seen on him and yet it was still adorable in its own way. “No! I’ve had a blast this summer and now I have to exchange it for a desk and boring classes. Plus, I won’t be seeing you as much as I have been these last couple of weeks and that really sucks.”

“We’ll still hang out,” I assured him, but his words got me thinking. He was right, now that school was starting again, we won’t be able to spend so much time together. That’ll give me time to get over him, that is, if I didn’t keel over first from missing him too much. Man, I was royally fucked.

“Unfortunately, I gotta run. I’ve got band practice,” Frank announced, getting to his feet.

“You always have band practice.”

He grinned broadly, “I guess I do, but it’s awesome. Do you want to come?”

I checked my watch. “Nah, I’m meeting Ivy at the park in half an hour.”

He looked disappointed for about half a second before shrugging. “That’s cool. Next time then. I’ll see you.” With that he turned and left.

I also got up and paid for my coffee. If I didn’t leave now, I’d be late, meeting Ivy.

Ivy’s POV

“Hey, buddy!” I greeted Gee the second he entered the clearing. “You’re right on time. Don’t get comfortable yet. I’m taking you somewhere.”

“Somewhere?” he asked with a curious smile.

“There’s this insanely amazing record store down by the skaters’ parking lot. Anything you’ve ever heard of, they’ll have it.”

“Seriously?”

“Do you know it?”

“No, but I would definitely love to see it. I’m not completely sure I believe the awesomeness you’re describing, but maybe I’ll stand corrected.”

“You definitely will,” I grinned confidently.

It took a while to reach our destination, since it was practically on the other side of town, but neither of us minded The company was good and we talked about anything and everything. I can’t believe I haven’t known this guy my entire life. I should have. I can’t even remember what it was like before I met him.

He was looking away from me at the people around us and I knew it was time to put my plan in motion. I’ve thought about this long and hard and decided to just go for it. There was absolutely nothing stopping me, aside from his sexuality of course, but whatever. I was going to go into this knowing exactly what the consequences would be. I wasn’t delusional enough to think that this would actually work, hence the backup plan. Before the backup plan could commence, though I had to do this. Now don’t be a chicken shit, Ivy.

The execution had to be perfect and it was. I stopped dead in my tracks waiting for his reaction. The second he turned around in order to ask what I was doing, I stood up on the tips of my toes and planted a quick but firm kiss on his soft lips. It wasn’t much, but I could feel my stomach doing several summersaults. Gerard blinked several times, trying to process what just happened.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized, biting my lip. “I had to do that.”

“Why?” he asked quietly, touching two fingers to his lips.

Honesty was the best policy and hey, maybe dreams did come true. “I really, really like you,” I admitted sheepishly.

“Ivy… You know I’m gay.”

Disappointment washed over me, but I was determined to stay strong. I knew this was going to happen.

“Yeah, I know. Don’t worry, this isn’t a thing. You’ve just been so unhappy about my brother and I thought maybe, hopefully that could cheer you up.” It was the truth. Aside from my feelings for him, I knew how torn up Frank had him and I wanted him to feel better. It wasn’t nice seeing him like this.

A soft smile caressed his lips. “Ivy, you don’t have to worry about me. Honestly, I’m fine.”

We started walking again. “Sure,” I muttered looking up at him. “I don’t believe that. I can always tell when you’re lying, you know?”

“I’m not. I’m…” There was a fast movement from the side, followed by Gerard sprawled out on the pavement. Amazingly the guy who crashed into him was still on his feet although he definitely wasn’t riding his skateboard anymore.

“Shit, I’m so sorry, but…you just walked right in front of me. I didn’t have any time to stop.” The guy was breathless as he fussed over Gerard. “Are you okay?”

Gee was up by this point, dusting himself off. “I’m fine.”

The blonde teen gave him a once over and shook his head in disagreement. “You’re not fine. You’re bleeding.”

Gerard looked down at his bruised knee and turned his hands up to look at his grazed palms. “It’s really nothing.” He frowned in dismay.

“Nonsense.” The other male crouched before him, taking off his backpack and pulling out a box of band aids. He immediately set about patching up Gerard’s knee with bright green Ben 10 band aids. “There we go.” He got back to his feet. “Sorry about that, again.”

“No, it was entirely my fault. I didn’t watch where I was going,” Gee said. “Are you okay?”

“I wasn’t the one on all fours,” the kid replied, walking over to his abandoned skateboard and kicking it up.

There was an awkward silence for a minute or so and I couldn’t help smiling. The two boys were staring at each other at a loss for words. I was going to be the last person to interrupt it, though.

“I’m Adam,” skater boy was the first to break the silence.

“I’m Gerard.”

“Hey, Ivy.”

I smiled at Adam. “Hello, Adam. Ben 10?”

He looked down at his green and purple sneakers. “I’m a skater. Accidents happened,” he scoffed. “You learn to patch up and carry on.”

“Yeah, but Ben 10?” I giggled.

Gerard looked between the two of us. “You two know each other?”

“We go to the same school,” Adam explained. “Ivy is in the most of my classes.”

“Plus, Adam was totally my boyfriend in kindergarten,” I grinned, flinging my arms around his neck.

“Yeah, that was as real as her imaginary friends,” Adam chuckled awkwardly. I loved that he never pushed me off. I could be a real pain in the ass, I knew, but somehow he tolerated me. Gerard smiled too.

“So what brings you to this side of the town?”

“Can you believe Gerard has lived here his entire life, but he’s never been to the music store down here? I had to show him.”

“Cool,” Adam nodded. “I’ll walk with you guys.”

My inner girl grinned broadly. Of course he was walking with us. He was walking with Gerard. I didn’t miss the sparkle in Adam’s eyes when he first stopped to properly take in Gerard’s appearance.

“You’ll love it,” he continued, skateboard in hand as he walked beside us. “They have absolutely everything. If the artist ever existed, they’ll have something of him.”

“I’ll have to see it to believe it.”

I grinned broadly as the two kept talking. I was ecstatic at what was happening next to me. Two of my favorite people were totally hitting it off, just as I knew they would. I knew that the second I introduced them to each other, they would be like magnets and viola. Mission accomplished.

I’d been tired of seeing Gerard hung up on Frank and wanted him to be happy. I loved Adam like a brother and also wanted him to be happy. That’s when I got the idea of the two of them together. Unfortunately, setting them up was never an option. Gerard was too proud and Adam too stubborn. Instead, I made it look like an accidental meeting. That way neither of them will be any wiser. I knew Adam usually spent his afternoons down here, skateboarding with his friends. Of course I couldn’t guarantee a chance meeting, but fortunately things happened to work out. Adam nearly killing Gerard was not at all part of the plan. Oh well, maybe it was a good thing. It got them talking. They’ll thank me one day when they’re married with a bunch of beautiful kids.

“Ivy, you’re still coming to the festival this weekend, right?” Adam was suddenly talking to me.

With all my plotting to get these two together, I nearly forgot about the skating festival here this Saturday. “Of course! I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” I saw another opportunity and took it. “Hey, Gee you should come too. It’ll be fun!”

“You should,” Adam agreed eagerly. “It will go on all day long, but you’re welcome to leave any time you want. A whole bunch of skateboarders from all over the state are congregating here for the day just hanging out and doing what they do best.”

Gerard nodded. “Sure. It sounds like fun.”

“It’s a lot of fun,” I assured him. I always had a blast at these things. “The people are the coolest.”

“Should I bring you more band aids?” Gee asked jokingly.

Adam chuckled, “No, I’ll be fine.”

We reached the music store and didn’t waste any time starting our search for all the best records. I was only busy for about two minutes when I stopped searching and instead focused on my two besties bonding. I didn’t think were searching too hard either. They were looking through records, while standing really close to one another and talking. I resisted the urge to squeal. Ivy Iero, job well done. You just made the day of those two boys.

We were in the store for almost an hour before we left with our new purchases in hand.

“I have to get back to the lot,” Adam told us. “But this was fun. I’ll see you both bright and early Saturday morning?” he asked hopefully, but he wasn’t looking at me. His eyes were locked on Gerard’s.

“I wouldn’t miss it.” This was Gee’s response this time.

“Bye!” Adam got onto his skateboard, leaving the two of us alone.

We started our walk back home too.

“You two are cute,” I couldn’t help commenting.

“What?” Gerard asked wide-eyed.

“You and Adam totally hit it off.”

“No,” he muttered, looking down embarrassed.

“You’re so adorable! You guys will make a great couple.”

“I just met the guy.”

“Give it time,” I smiled knowingly, dropping the topic the rest of the way. I knew what I knew and that was all that mattered.