FicWad

"You're sure it looks OK?"
"It looks amazing. Just like it did two minutes ago when you asked the same question."
Jen wasn't sure how she would have done this without help from Gerard's girlfriend. She had been awesome from the moment they met. She had flown out to England to see the second festival and to find something for Jen to wear to the VMA's since they wouldn't be getting in to Miami until four in the morning the day of the show. Jen couldn't have been more grateful. Gerard's girlfriend, Lane, had been nothing but completely sweet to her since they'd met the day before. She didn't look at her with distrust or contempt or any other way Jen thought she might look at someone who suddenly appeared and attached herself to someone she cared about. She was just sweet and helpful, and also intelligent and artistic which helped in locating something right for the occasion.
Jen was no good with clothes, she never had been. She spent most of her time in t-shirts and jeans. Lane knew what she was doing though. She could look at something and know if it would work or not without even trying it on. It had taken them a full ten minutes in the store to find the dress Jen had on, black with a tight bodice and a skirt that flowed out beautifully to about her ankles. The skirt was formed from several triangular pieces that were all layered over each other all the way around. Some pieces were black, others maroon and the straps were black and maroon also. Apparently the guys would all be in black and red and so would the girls. The dress was amazing, she just wasn't sure if it was amazing on her.

She also nearly had a heart attack at the sight of the price tag.
"I can't afford this!" she gasped.
"Don't be silly. It's a gift," Lane smiled.
"I can't let you buy this for me!"
"I'm not Mikey is. Just accept it. If you don't he'll just pout. I've spent enough time with both of the brothers to know he acts just like Gerard and you might as well just let them do what they want to do. He really likes you and he wants to do this so just let him. He can't stop touching you as it is. Just wait till he sees you in this."
Maybe, maybe it did look kind of good.

Lane caught her looking at herself in the mirror and laughed a little.
"It looks incredible on you. I promise," she repeated for the hundredth time.
"So, how long have you and Gerard been together?" Jen just wondered.
"A very long time, but that's boring. What I want to know is how you and Mikey met," Lane gave her the 'spill it' look.
"He hit on me at work actually," Jen laughed thinking of it.
"No he didn't!" Lane's eyes opened wider than look possible. "Wow, Little Mikey actually got up the nerve to hit on a girl. I'm impressed. You should feel special. He doesn't do that. Ever."

That was the word on the street. Each time the look of shock invaded the face of someone else who had been told what happened Jen felt a little more special. The more time she spent with him the more incredible the whole thing seemed and the more surreal. Things like that, they just didn't happen to her. She was never going to live the fairy tale. She was never going to be the person who had this amazing life.
But she had, for the past couple weeks she had been living a fairy tale.
She was sure it wouldn't last.

The last festival show was as insane as the first. Jen was astounded at the reception of the crowd. They were crazy. She could see instantly why the band was getting to be as big as they were. The live show was as intense as anything she'd ever seen. She had a hard time being able to take it all in and she was sure she could see them a hundred more times and never be able to take it all in. Lane was there on the side of the stage with her and she obviously felt everything Jen was feeling about it as well. She had promised Mikey she wouldn't stage dive that time because the barrier was even farther from the stage so she just stood and watched.
After the show they rode to the airport and got on a plane almost immediately to Miami. Hours of flying had them all exhausted and it didn't help that they got in at four A.M. either. They all barely made it to the hotel and into their beds before passing out. They were all far from ready to get out of bed when it was time.

Nervous didn't even begin to describe the feeling all the way up into her throat as she walked down to the lobby with Lane to meet the guys. They'd be riding over together but the guys would be transferring to a Brinks security truck for their entrance, as they all found this to be hilarious. She and Lane would stay in the first car and come in just behind them so that they could be interviewed. She didn't mind at all not being on camera. She preferred it. She wasn't sure she wanted to be in front of that many people period but the guys had pulled a lot of strings to get the two extra tickets that they had gotten and it meant a lot to Mikey that she was there.

She spotted Mikey before he noticed them. He had on a black jacket with the collar up and a pair of black pants and shoes. He looked good. He always looked good. He didn't turn around until Bob, who had seen them come down, elbowed him and pointed. Jen watched as his jaw dropped a little. She could feel herself blushing, never having been looked at that way before.
"I told you," Lane whispered before she broke away and headed for Gerard.
Jen paused just in front of Mikey and smiled.
"You look rather like a vampire tonight. It's pretty hot," she was only half joking.
"You look like a dream," he responded.
"Why don't you ever say things like that to me anymore?" Lane asked Gerard.
"What? You know I think you look good. You always look good!" he answered in his own defense.
Jen and Mikey took the opportunity to kiss while the attention was focused on the other two fighting playfully.
"Hey! You two quit that! You'll ruin your makeup!" Lane noticed.
"Yeah Mikey, you'll ruin your makeup too," Frank laughed at his own joke.
"Yeah, we're not going," Mikey was already turned to head back up to the room.
"Oh yes you are! If the rest of us have to suffer through this so do you," Gerard grabbed Mikey and guided him out to the car in front of the rest of them.

There was a reason Jen never watched the VMA's on television and being there was decidedly worse. They were seated just behind Jamie Foxx and Usher and their entire entourage. She wasn't even sure what the hell Jamie Foxx was doing there. Puff Daddy or P Diddy or whatever the hell he was calling himself that particular day was hosting the whole thing and he was more in love with himself than she had thought he was. The building was interesting, at least there was that. She spent a lot of time looking at it and the crowd of kids on the floor while everything was going on around them. Celebrities loved themselves a great deal and it wasn't that interesting to watch them go up on stage, dressed like they were drunk or blind, loving themselves in front of a camera. It just wasn't and she knew she wasn't the only one who felt this way. Mikey spent the entire dance sequence that P Diddy did biting his nails and looking around. The guys kept talking to each other and laughing at the insanity the whole time, paying little attention to the stage at all. Honestly, the only interesting parts came either when the guys were nominated or when Fall Out Boy won the MTV2 award and they all came through to hug the guys and laugh then tell the world at the microphone that My Chemical Romance were the best band on earth. The best part of that was that they seemed to annoy the hell out of both Usher and Jamie Foxx.

Towards the end of the night the guys ditched their jackets and performed a secret performance of Helena. Jen sat with Lane to watch them while seat fillers sat in their seats. They kicked ass and it was a whole new perspective to be able to watch them form the crowd, even if they did just do half a song. Gerard closed it by dedicating it to their grandma and it was easily the best part of the night. They could finally leave and, as much as Jen hoped the guys would get their much deserved moonman the next year, she hoped she would be watching the show from the comfort of her living room in her pajamas with a pint of ice cream.

"Well, that was..." Ray started.
"Boring?" Frankie finished for him.
"Pointless?" Lane laughed.
"It wasn't that bad," Gerard wasn't very convincing.
"No, I loved watching Diddy! I could watch Diddy everyday! The only person who loves Diddy more than I do is Diddy!" Jen was quickly learning that Frankie cracks himself up a lot.
"At least the FOB guys won one," Gerard shrugged.
"At least we get to go back and sleep now. That thing was like one giant sleeping pill," who else but Frankie.

Jen just laughed at all of them and the fact that they felt the same way about all of it that she had.
"Not quite yet. Gerard told Pete we'd stop at the Def Jam party to hang out for a while since you haven't seen the FOB guys in two whole weeks," Lane demolished everyone's hopes and dreams.
There were things pelted at Gerard. This assault continued at random intervals all the way to the Def Jam party and then actually was known to pop up all the way through the party whenever he turned his back or let his guard down for even a second.

"Fucking thank God you guys came!" a short guy with black hair that stuck up in the back much the same way that Mikey's did accosted them the minute they stepped into the party.
Jen knew he was from Fall Out Boy from seeing them on the stage earlier but she didn't know his name.
"Why? Because the only other people who are here are rappers? Is there anyone else on your label but rappers?" Frankie laughed.
"No, because you're so damn cute," the other guy looked at Frankie and smiled while Frankie pretended to blush, "And yeah there are other people on our label who aren't rappers but they managed to avoid this like the plague."
"Yeah, we're here to save you Peter Pan but under much protest from my band. You've met Lane right? I don't think you've met Jen though? Pete, Jen. Jen, Mr. Peter Wentz of the Fall Out Boy Wentz's," Gerard did the introduction thing.
"Jen-" Pete shook her hand and she smiled.
"Is here with our little Mikey," Frank filled in the blanks.
Mikey just stood beside her with a goofy look on his face that she couldn't quite figure out.
"No! Catering Girl? We haven't met but I've heard a lot about you," Pete had the same goofy look.
A waiter was handing out glasses of champagne and Jen gladly took one. She had a feeling she would be needing it.

The 'short stay' at the Def Jam party turned into a small circus. They walked the room with random members of Fall Out Boy as they ran across them and were introduced to rapper after rapper, including Jay Z and Beyonce. It was a great party where everybody kissed everybody else's ass and no one was in any way genuine. Great fun.
Every time someone you don't know acts like you've been friend forever, take a drink. Each time you have to meet a rapper with the word 'Young' or 'Lil' in front of his/her name you should take another. It helps dull the pain.
Hell, by about an hour and a half in to the evening the pain was so numb it was practically gone and Jen felt as though they were all good friends from way back. She was pretty sure everyone on earth would have been her friend from way back. She wasn't sure why Mikey was giving her weird looks though. She was only trying to blend in and very thankful that she had worn flats since the carpet seemed to be very uneven. She hadn't noticed that earlier. The people they were meeting later in the evening were much funnier than the people they had met earlier. She was having a much better time as the night wore on but she didn't think Mikey was.
"Let's go find Gerard and tell him we're ready to go," Mikey offered.
"Why? We're having a good time!" JEn smiled at him, her adorable Mikey.
"I'm tired and we've met everybody. We should go," he tried again.
"I'm having fun though," she kissed him.
"I can tell. I'll tell you what, lets go tell Gerard how much fun you're having."
That sounded like an excellent idea.

They found Gerard pretty easily and he was talking to Usher. Usher walked away pretty quickly though and Gerard just shook his head.
"Gee, are you ready to go yet? Jen is having a really great time if you know what I'm saying here," Mikey looked like he was having hard time keeping a straight face.

Gerard looked at her and the same look came across his face.
"Yeah, I see that. I'm ready. Lane's been ready. Lets get the rest of the guys and go," he agreed with Mikey.
It wasn't until they got all the guys that Jen realized they were leaving.
"Gerard, did Usher just call you Steve?" she asked.
They all lost it. She didn't think it was that funny.

Jen woke up the next morning with the immediate feeling that she was going to be sick. She raced to the hotel bathroom as the room swayed around her and her head pounded. She clearly had the hang over form hell and she didn't remember having that much to drink.
But then again, she didn't remember much form the previous night. She racked her brain as much as she could, sitting beside the toilet, waiting for the next wave to come. The excruciating pain wouldn't let her think about much at all. She felt tears running down her face. Great. That was all she needed, to start crying uncontrollably while she sat beside the toilet in the bathroom of some hotel. The only thing that would make it worse would be if Mikey came in and saw her, this mess of a person he had gotten himself involved with.
She sat for another ten minutes and tried like hell to get herself together. The worst of the sickness seemed to have passed and so she got in the shower to stand under the hot water and let it wash away the feeling and the tears. She hadn't brought clothes in so she wrapped herself in the bathrobe provided and made her way out of the bathroom to face whatever the hell had happened past the second glass of champagne.
Mikey was sitting on the bed with a tray of food.
"Morning. I brought you toast and this shit Gerard says will help a hang over a lot and he would know," he smiled, clearly not having the same problem she was.
"I feel like somebody tried to kill me in the night and failed," she tried to joke but all it did was make her head pound harder to laugh.
"Come sit down."
"I made a total fool out of myself last night didn't I?"
"We all do dumb shit sometimes. No big deal. You actually just got really happy. You really liked the party," he tried not to laugh at the thought of it but she couldn't miss the way his eyes danced.
She made a face.
"OK, I don't remember much from last night but I do have one question."
"Shoot."
"Did Usher really call your brother Steve?"
The laughter that escaped his mouth was very familiar.