FicWad

“This is exciting!” Ivy exclaimed practically bouncing next to me as we approached the parking lots where the skateboard festival thing was about to take place. I had no idea what to expect.

“You’re really looking forward to this,” I noted, smiling.

“It’s awesome. I love the skateboard scene and today you’re here with me.”

“Do you ride?” I asked curiously.

“Only if I want to ruin my face,” she remarked. “No, I tried it once, but could never quite get the hang of it. Instead I’m just the tag along, leaving it to those who can.”

“Is that how you and Adam met?”

“It is. These kids are the greatest you’ll ever meet. I love hanging out with them. You’ll see for yourself soon enough.”

We reached the parking lot where huge structures were set up for the event and several kids milled about the place, skateboard in hand.

“Now see, this is heaven for a skateboarder. Let’s see if we can find Adam. I’ll go this way and you can go the other way then we’ll meet up on the other side.”

I headed in the opposite direction, taking in my surroundings as I went. I never knew about these kinds of things while I was in school, but it was obviously a big deal. Food carts were parked all around, the half pipe was built for the occasion and there was even a stage set-up.

“Gee!”

My eyes travelled in the direction the voice came from and I saw Frank approaching me with a broad grin and his guitar in hand.

“What are you doing here? Are you here with Ivy?”

“Yes, we’re supposed to meet one of her friends here. What about you? Don’t tell me you suddenly decided to take up skating,” I joked.

“Definitely no. I’m here with the band. We got a slot to play here today, you know, show these locals what real music sounds like. So it’s actually a great thing that you’re here. We’ll have some real supporters and this will be the first time you get to see us perform live.” He was obviously excited as he rambled on about the band’s performance. “I’m talking too much. I have to go set up. Everyone else is wondering about my whereabouts by now. Come check us out. We’re playing at twelve thirty.”

“I’ll be there,” I assured him with a smile as he disappeared into the crowd. Just when I thought I was going to have a Frank free day, surprise, surprise. I finally spotted Adam talking to some guys and walked over.

“Hey, Gerard!” He waved me over to the group. “I’m glad you came.”

“Ivy wouldn’t let me miss it for the world.”

“I’ll have to remember to thank her then,” he grinned at me and I couldn’t help but smile back. It’s not that his smile was infectious, like Frank’s was, it was just so irresistible. “This is Luke and Tanner. They’re old friends I grew up with skateboarding. Unfortunately they’re done with school so they left me to finish senior year on my own.” He pretended to be mad at them.

“Poor kid!” The guy named Luke joked, reaching out a hand and ruffling Adam’s hair.

“You’ll be a big boy too, one day,” Tanner chuckled.

“Screw you guys. I need new friends. Gerard, you wouldn’t mind being my new best friend, would you?”

I opened my mouth to respond that I would gladly be his new best friend, it would give me a chance to get to know him a lot better, but I was interrupted by Ivy’s voice.

“There you are, Gee! I thought we agreed that we would find Adam and then meet each other halfway. Newsflash, this is basically where we started. I guess now that Adam is here you can go ahead and forget all about me. Suddenly I’m not good enough anymore.”

“Always the drama queen, Ivy,” Tanner noted with a small smile and a shake of his head.

The girl grinned at them. “Hey, guys. You all ready to break some legs?”

“Hopefully not!” Luke said loudly. “My Mom’s medical insurance cannot possibly cover anymore fractures. I’ve completely worn it out.”

“Dude, then you need to get better at riding your skateboard,” Adam teased, pumping him in the ribs with his elbow.

“Speaking of,” Ivy started. “Did you remember to restock on Ben 10 band aids?” she asked innocently.

“I did!” he responded excitedly, obviously humoring her. “They’re awesome.”

“It’s Ben 10,” she said exasperated.

“Hey, Ben 10 saved me from bleeding to death,” I gave my input in the conversation.

Ivy rolled her eyes. “You were not going to bleed to death. You barely scratched your knee.”

“That’s not very nice,” Adam retorted. “For all you know he was very traumatized.”

“Please. You guys are being ridiculous. Now who’s being the drama queen?”

“Still you, Ivy,” Luke laughed.

His comment was the last straw. “I’m going somewhere where I’ll be better appreciated. I’ll come back later when you guys are feeling nicer.”

“Ivy, we’re just kidding,” Tanner called after her.

“I know, but I have other cool people to catch up with too,” she said, winking at him.

“Cooler than me?” Luke wanted to know, pointing at himself and throwing his hands up in a questioning manner, but not receiving any response.

“Forget it, man. She’s never going to be into you,” Adam told him.

“Why not? Aren’t I cute enough?” he asked, pressing his cheeks together.

“No, because Ivy likes Gee,” Tanner chuckled.

“Everybody likes Gee,” Adam murmured, smiling to himself as he concentrated on fixing the wheels on his skateboard.

“Hey, Adam we’re going to get our numbers. We’ll be right back,” his friends said, walking away with their skateboards.

“I’ll be here,” Adam responded, bending down to knot his shoelaces. My eyes followed him down. I’ve never understood the fascination with an ass, after all, everyone had one, but his was nice. Holy crap! This was awkward. He just caught me staring at his ass.

I cleared my throat. “Nice jeans.”

“Uh, thanks,” he muttered awkwardly.

“Are they stretch jeans?”

“No, not really.”

“Hey, Adam! Come on!” His friends called from over by the half-pipe.

“I have to go. You should watch,” he said, picking up his skateboard and making his way over to the other guys. I face-palmed as soon as he turned his back on me. What the hell, Gerard Way? ‘Are they stretch jeans?’ I might as well have admitted to staring at his ass.

I followed him over to the half-pipe and watched as Adam, his friends and some other guys started to ride. I watched them do all their neat little tricks and stunts. I would kill myself if I even tried any of it. I didn’t know much about skateboarding, but in my opinion it was pretty impressive. That was until Luke did a spectacular face plant. Adam was laughing so hard on his way down that he missed his chance to break and also ended up on his back. Tanner at least knew what he was doing.

“Amateurs!” the latter exclaimed when they approached me.

“Did you see him?” Adam was bursting with laughter. “He just went down right on his face!” he screeched.

“It’s not like you did any better,” Tanner pointed out with a chuckle. “Dude, are you okay? Adam has Ben 10 band aids.”

Luke was holding onto his shoulder. “I don’t think Ben 10 will be able to save the situation. I think I might have broken my collar bone.”

“Shouldn’t you be crying in pain?” I asked with a frown. I would’ve died if I had broken my collar bone.

“Luke is the worst skateboarder you will ever meet. He’s broken so many bones, he’s become immune to the pain,” Adam joked.

“Yeah, his mom’s medical aid doesn’t even want to cover his expenses anymore,” Tanner laughed. “Come on, man. My car is parked right here. I’ll take you to the hospital.”

Luke cringed and started limping in the direction of Tanner’s car.

“We’ll be back later,” Tanner informed Adam before following his injured friend.

I watched them go and then looked around for Ivy. She was nowhere in sight and I assumed she had found more friends to hang out with. This was clearly where she belonged even if, as she said, she couldn’t skate.

“How about lunch? I’m buying,” Adam offered with a smile.

“Sounds good, but are you okay? You also fell down.”

“I’m fine. My left butt cheek may be a little blue tomorrow, but other than that, I’m sure I’ll survive,” he said, twisting to look at his dirty jeans. “Besides it was totally worth it.”

I laughed. “It was pretty hilarious.”

We started in the direction of a fast food truck standing not too far away.

“How do you and Ivy know each other?” Adam wanted to know.

“We met about a month ago in the park and she invited me to one of her brother’s parties. We instantly got along and kept in touch since then.”

“Now you’re best friends.”

“Basically, yeah,” I nodded smiling. Ivy was kind of my best friend and she was the best person. I was lucky to have met her.

“That’s cool. She found me skateboarding down their street one day and I haven’t been able to rid myself of her since not that I tried. She’s awesome. Sometimes she can be a bit of a handful though,” he chuckled. “What would you like to eat?”

“Uh, what do they have?”

“They have the best hot dogs in the world,” he said, getting on the step in front of the van and waiting for me to decide on what to eat.

“Then a hotdog it is.”

I stepped back to let other people get to the front while Adam placed our order. It seemed like more kids showed up as the sun got higher. This was clearly a fun day for the teens showing up to listen to the music and watch the skaters. I couldn’t figure out how I never knew about this. It was probably a scene thing.

“Here you go, one with everything,” Adam announced, handing me a big, greasy hotdog with all kinds of toppings. This was going to be very messy.

I was so preoccupied with my lunch that I didn’t even notice Adam’s eyes on me. I was trying to figure out how to eat it when I decided to just go for it. I opened my mouth as wide as possible and took a bite from the hotdog. As expected sauce ran down my chin and some of the toppings landed on the ground.

“You eat like a pig,” Adam laughed.

“I’m…” I swallowed. “It’s impossible not to.”

“Look, it’s human nature to keep the food in your mouth. Watch, open,” he demonstrated by opening his mouth wide and then taking a bite from his own lunch. “And then chew,” he muttered with his mouth full of food, making me laugh. “Basic instinct,” he said once he swallowed.

“I could tell,” I laughed and in response he shoved a napkin in my face. “Hey!”

“Learn to live with decisions that you made.”

“Now you’re all cleaned up,” Adam grinned broadly.
/]
[/“It must kill you to know that we can’t be friends. End of the summer, you cut me off.”

My ears caught the sound of familiar music from the direction of the stage and my heart stopped. Frank’s show. Shit, I completely forgot.

“What time is it?”

“I don’t know, why?”

“Fuck, I am so late. Here,” I shoved the leftover hotdog in his hands and ran towards the stage.

“We’re over and done. Stop calling my house!”

I reached the side of the stage completely out of breath, but just in time as the band started coming off the stage. I missed the whole damn thing. I cursed myself for forgetting. How could I forget? They were all excited coming off the stage. I knew the feeling, that adrenaline rush you got from playing in front of hundreds of kids. My chance was of course over now that my band split.

“Here you are. I was looking for you in the crowd while we played,” Frank said slightly out of breath as he came off the stage covered in sweat. He drank from a water bottle and wiped his face with a towel hanging from his shoulder, sweeping his sweaty hair across his face.

“Uhm, yeah. I was side stage as you can tell,” I attempted to joke, while in truth I was lying my ass off. “You were awesome!” I faked enthusiasm, feeling shit about having missed it. “And the crowd loved it.”

“They did, didn’t they?” His smile was seamless. “Wow, I feel great.”

“You should,” I nodded. “Did you enjoy it?”

“I had the best time,” he grinned broadly.

“Frank, hey, you were great!” Lisa wrapped her arms around her boyfriend, hugging him tightly. “You owned every single person out there. They couldn’t get enough.”

“Thanks!” He kissed her and pulled back, wiping his face again.

“Hey, I’m going to look for Ivy,” I told Frank.

“Are you sure? You’re coming to Scarlet’s party tonight, right?”

I wasn’t even aware that she was having a party. “Sure, I’ll be there,” I nodded, turning away from them and walking in no particular direction. “See you both later.”

It was impossible not to like Lisa. She was one of those model citizens, you know, as close as you could get to a perfect human being. It was no wonder that Frank loved her. I could never compete with that.

“Where did you run off to?” Adam’s voice drew me from my reverie.

“Sorry about that,” I apologized sheepishly. “One of my friends was performing on stage and I completely forgot.”

“Did you miss it?”

“Unfortunately.”

“I’m sorry,” Adam said sincerely. “It’s my fault.”

“No way. If I wasn’t having fun, I wouldn’t have forgotten about it,” I assured him.

“In that case I’ll bore you to death from now on to ensure that you don’t forget anything again,” he joked.

I laughed. “Good luck with that.”

“I can be boring,” he insisted. “I’m quite sure I can be.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

He chuckled. Halfway back to the half-pipe we bumped into Ivy.

“Gee, where were you? I thought for sure you would be watching the show.”

“I accidentally forgot.”

Her eyes grew wide, but a smile was playing across her lips. “You know he was looking for you in the crowd. What are you going to tell him?”

“I lied and said that I was side stage the entire time.”

“Who, your boyfriend?” Adam wanted to know.

“Not at all,” I kind of snorted.

“My brother. Whoa, look, it’s Steven.”

The pair both hurried over to the side of the half-pipe and stared at the lone skater in awe. The guy seemed to be a big deal.

“Steven Garret. He’s a legend. He also attended Belleville High,” Ivy explained, not taking her eyes off the guy. “He went pro some years ago, but he’s been coming back here every year. This is after all where he was discovered. Home pride, it’s something more people should have. Remember that when you get big too, Adam.”

He nodded with a smile and I watched them continue to stare.

*

Ivy and I arrived at the party more than an hour late. After Tanner and Luke, with his arm in a sling, returned, the five of us hung out and stayed until the end of the festival before finding the nearest burger shack, practically parking ourselves there indefinitely. It was fun. The guys were really great and hilarious too. Ivy and I were bummed when we finally had to go. It was definitely worth being late, but now that we were finally at the party we felt rushed and stormed inside only to find everyone sitting in the living room, playing spin the bottle.

“It’s about time you two arrived!” Scarlet called from her place on the floor. “Come join us.”

I looked at Ivy panicked.

“Relax,” she hushed me.

“I can’t relax,” I whispered wide-eyed. “They’re playing seven minutes in heaven again. I probably should’ve guessed it since that’s apparently what they always do, but I can’t join in. What happens if I end up in a closet with Frank again? You know what happened the last time.”

“There are a lot more people here this time. The chances of you guys getting hooked up are slight. What else are you going to do, sit there and watch everyone else play? Besides, even if you do get paired up with my brother it doesn’t necessarily mean that anything has to happen.”

“I guess you’re right,” I shrugged, following her over to the group of people playing and we sat down between Bob and some other girl I didn’t know. While a couple spent seven minutes in heaven, the rest of us played truth or dare. That I could do. I’m pretty sure nothing I’ve done compared to anything these kids have done and the dares weren’t too extreme either. It was all in good fun. I looked up at some point and saw Frank and Lisa talking animatedly. They were the best couple ever. That didn’t mean I wasn’t jealous. I still liked Frank even though I knew he was off limits. I obviously wasn’t going to act on my feelings. I wasn’t an idiot.

Of course fate hated me. Frank reached out for the bottle when it was his turn and he spun it. The bottle went around and around and around, my eyes not leaving it for a second. It slowed down, moving in my direction. Inside I prayed for all I was worth that it would not be me. The bottle stopped and so did my heart.

“Bob!” Ivy’s voice yelled distracting me for about half a second. “You lucky bastard you!”

“No, it’s Gerard,” Scary corrected her, pointing to the tip of the bottle that was in fact pointing in my direction.

Ivy looked at me apologetically and I sighed, getting to my feet and following Frank to the closet being used for the game. It was bigger than the one we had used at Frank and Ivy’s house that time. There was space between us which I was very grateful for.

“Look, Gee I don’t want this to be awkward,” Frank said after a long time of silence. “We’ve finally reached an awesome place in our friendship and I don’t want to ruin it.”

“I agree,” I said, feeling myself relax. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.

“I have Lisa and you and Ivy seem pretty close.”

“We’re just friends.”

“I know,” he nodded and the silence picked up again.

I looked down at my shoes in order to avoid his eyes, his face or any other part of him for that matter. This was beyond uncomfortable. The last time I was crammed into a closet with Frank… I shouldn’t let my thoughts go there. The bad part was that since then I’ve actually gotten to know him and he was a great guy, he really was. He was beyond wise for his years, he was funny and he had the most adorable little laugh. I was really crushing on him so hard and that’s exactly why being stuffed into a closet with him was so bad.

“Gerard…”

“Frank, don’t.”

“But I…” I looked up right into his big round hazel eyes and I could tell that he was thinking the exact same thing that I was. This was a game. No one was going to think anything funny if we played along with the rules. Scary would be in the clouds. Ivy might not approve, but who gave a damn? I wanted to kiss Frank and if this was the only time we could do so without it resulting in him cheating on his amazing girlfriend then I was going to make the best of the probably only four minutes we had left. In the end I’ll be the one who gets hurt, but I was okay with that, for now.

I wasn’t sure who moved first, but very soon we were pressed against each other and kissing each other deeply. It was different from the last time. The last time we did this it was sloppy and rushed. We had been trying to do everything at once, because it had all been out of lust. This time we had an understanding. We were friends. For me that sucked, but right then it didn’t matter. This was the way it was supposed to be. It felt good kissing Frank. His hands were buried in my hair, keeping my face glued to his. My arms were wrapped tightly around his body. Neither of us was going anywhere.

“Gee, stop,” Frank pulled away and stared at me wide-eyed. “This isn’t fair to you. This can’t go anywhere.”

“I don’t care.”

He pressed his lips back to mine and pushed me backwards against the wall. His hands moved up and down my sides. I was exactly where I wanted to be, as close to Frank as possible. If we could stay like this forever, that would be okay with me too.

“Do you guys plan on rejoining us anytime soon?” someone asked, knocking loudly on the door. “You’ve been in there for ten minutes.” We parted reluctantly, Frank pecking my lips a few more times before finally letting me go completely.

“I forgot to set my watch,” Frank told whoever was on the other side while he patted his hair.

“Well, time is up,” the person spoke and then we heard footsteps dying away.

“I’m sorry,” Frank muttered with a quick glance in my direction before he stepped out of the closet and returned to the group in the living room.

I composed myself very quickly and followed. Nobody said anything as we entered. Ivy looked up at me with big demanding eyes and I managed to force a smile in her direction, hoping to assure her that nothing happened and that I was fine. Only nothing didn’t happen. I made everything worse by kissing Frank. Now I was definitely not going to get over him that easily. It would take a miracle. Damn it!

I caught Frank staring at me several times in the duration of the night and I knew he was also affected by what happened. I wasn’t sure how, though. Was he mad? Did he feel guilty? I did. I couldn’t stay any longer and soon decided to bail on the party. Once I got home, it was nice to talk to Mikey. It was normal and he helped me to feel better about the whole thing. Frank wasn’t the first guy I had to get over and he probably wasn’t the last.