Blow Me A Kiss Before She Goes
Chapter 11
Adam’s POV
It was a little after seven when I showed up at the Iero house. I could hear the sound of music coming from the side of the house. My finger pressed down on the doorbell button and soon enough Mrs. Iero appeared at the door.
“Adam. This is a nice surprise. I haven’t seen you in a long time. Come on in.” She stepped aside in order for me to enter.
“Hello, Mrs. Iero. I was told that there would be a band playing somewhere around here.” I offered her a smile.
“You were told right. The whole gang is here. Ivy and all Frank’s friends and the twins. I should really put my foot down with this being a school night and all, but the bunch of them always go everywhere together. I would be lying if I say that this isn’t a typical evening in my house.”
I chuckled, following her to the garage. She didn’t bother knocking, because they wouldn’t hear her anyway. Instead she opened the door and tapped Ivy’s shoulder who was sitting within reach.The latter looked up and smiled when she saw me. Her mother nodded and then left, shutting the door behind her again. Ivy reached out to grab my wrist and pulled me around in order to sit down next to her on the couch. A lot of eyes rested on me, everyone probably curious about the newcomer.
This was my first time at a band practice. Gerard had invited me the day before and I would have arrived sooner had it not been for an early dinner with my parents, because they had a meeting right now at seven. But apparently being a little late wasn’t the end of the world, because Gerard informed me that these practices sometimes stretched over three hours. They would warm up with familiar songs like a couple of covers or some of their old material then they would eat and finally they would work on some new material. They were good.
“It’s just the two of us tonight,” Ivy told me over the loud music.
“Is that strange?”
“Gerard’s brother Mikey is usually here as well. I think he likes Scary,” she finished with a knowing look on her face. “It’s just that normally we have more of an audience.”
“The two of us are more than enough.”
“Yes we are!” she happily agreed.
When it was dinner time, Ivy dragged Gerard upstairs to help her order pizza for everyone, leaving me seated on the couch alone. It didn’t last too long though, because her little brother sauntered over and sat down on the couch next to me. I didn’t know Frank very well. We met once before and Ivy talks about him a lot, but other than that he was just a punk kid that hung out with the biggest group of misfits at school.
“Hi,” he greeted me with a smile. He was kind of sweaty after playing for almost an hour. “Adam right? You’re Ivy’s friend. I’m Frank.”
“Yes, we’ve met.” I nodded. “But that was a long time ago.”
“I know. I’m glad to see you here. What do you think?” He motioned towards the band area where they had played no more than five minutes ago.
“You guys come as advertised,” I smiled recalling both Gerard and Ivy pestering me about coming to check them out. “You’re good.”
He laughed happily. “Great. Thanks. I appreciate it. Positive feedback always is. I’ll have to thank Ivy for the good word.”
“Both she and Gerard think you guys are great.”
He looked surprised by my words and it soon became clear why. “I wasn’t aware that you and Gerard knew each other. I assume Ivy introduced you to one another.”
I nodded in confirmation.
“That’s cool.”
“Hello, Boy Toy,” Scarlet exclaimed, plopping down between the two of us. She was looking at me expectantly, the endearment obviously having been meant for me.
I couldn’t help a little chuckle escaping from my lips. “Hi, Scarlet.”
She was Frank’s age, but for some unknown reason she was in my senior biology class.
“What brings you to our humble little band practice? Did Ivy promise to do your math homework for a week?”
“No, but if she did, it would be biology homework and not math.”
She made a face. “I really hate that class. The subject itself is fine, but that teacher…” She faked a few gagging sounds. “Anyway, you were saying.” She batted her eyelashes at me, waiting for an answer.
She never stopped talking and if you asked me she was nothing short of crazy, but you had to love her, one way or the other.
“Gerard invited me.”
“Then you guys know each other well?” Frank spoke up for the first time since his cousin’s arrival. He was leaning forward in order to look at me as he asked this.
“I think well enough. He’s my boyfriend,” I announced proudly. I wasn’t sure if Gerard had shared the information with his quote-unquote friends yet.
Frank started choking on his side of the couch. Scary rubbed his back sympathetically, but she didn’t pay much attention to him. Instead she looked at me excitedly.
“Our new front man is running up quite a winning streak. New band. New boyfriend. I knew he had potential.” Her head turned towards her choking cousin. “Frank, are you alright?”
He slammed a fist on his chest and choked out. “Gum.”
“Come on.” She got to her feet and pulled him up. “Congrats, Adam.” She said to me before leading Frank away in the direction of the kitchen.
Frank’s POV
I drank an entire glass of water before being able to breathe somewhat again. Scary looked at me without a trace of sympathy and this irked me. Didn’t she care if I died? I couldn’t focus on that though.
“His fucking boyfriend?” I exploded. “He hasn’t known Gerard for five fucking seconds and now he’s his boyfriend?” There were no words to begin to explain how I felt in that moment. Betrayed. Hurt. Stunned. This was the last thing on earth I had expected to happen.
“Easy with the language!” I knew she was simply trying to lighten my mood, but it took everything in me not to tell her to piss off. I wasn’t angry at her and she was only trying to help.
“And why the fuck didn’t he tell me?” We were supposed to be friends. He should tell me when something major happened in his life, like him getting a fucking boyfriend.
“Maybe because he was afraid about how you would fucking react.” She motioned towards me with a tell all look on her face. Scary swore as much as I did, but I knew that she threw that one in there for my benefit. “Or maybe because it had nothing to do with you.”
That comment warranted the dirtiest look I could muster.
“So what?” Scary asked shortly, becoming bored with the conversation. “Gerard’s a cool guy and if he likes Adam then why the hell not?”
I shouldn’t have said it, but it was out before I could stop myself. “Gerard is supposed to like me!”
“Okay, little dude.” Scary took a hold of my shoulders and looked me square in the eyes. “Time for an intervention. Gerard did like you, but you didn’t want him. Time to move on.”
She stepped back, looking impressed with herself and annoyed with me at the same time.
“I did want him.”
“Frank, do you still have a girlfriend.”
I bristled with anger. Everyone always threw that in my face. Yes, I had a girlfriend whom I loved very much, but I couldn’t help that I had a monster fucking crush on my best friend.
“Yes.” I hissed in response.
“Then that settles it,” she said with a tone of finality before turning around and leaving me alone in the kitchen.
I craved a cigarette more than anything at that moment and made my way outside. The motions from there were automatic. Cigarette, mouth, lighter, but before I could light it, Gerard and Ivy came around the corner laughing. My hands lowered as I watched them come closer from the front yard.
“Hey, Frank.”
“Hey, Frank.”
My mind went blank for a split second and then the only thought that went through my head was that I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t want to be around Gerard. He had a boyfriend now. Things were different. He was off limits. Scary was right, I needed to get over it. Fuck it. There was nothing to get over. I had a stunning girlfriend. If I had really wanted to be with Gerard, I would have been, but there we were, both with other people. We were nothing more than friends. Friends.
“I should really quit,” I muttered, removing the cigarette from my mouth and retreating back inside.
Fr some unknown reason, the first person I sought out happened to be my least favorite person in the world. “Congratulations.”
Adam looked up at me startled, clearly not having expected me to come from behind.
“With you and Gerard I mean,” I clarified. My eyes caught Gerard come into the garage and I couldn’t help feeling hurt that he had found someone else. “I hope you guys are happy.”
“Oh, thanks.”
“Plus, now the band has one more fan even if it is only by obligation,” I joked.
“At least you guys don’t suck. I know of a few people who saw you play at the skate fest who were really into you. I remember Gerard running off in order to see you guys play.”
They’ve known each other longer than I thought. “That was a great show, although it would have been better had Gerard already been a part of the band back then. He has an amazing voice. It’s good that he found someone. He deserves to be happy.”
“I think so,” Adam agreed, looking around the room, his eyes easily finding his boyfriend.
“You guys must like each other a lot if you’re dating after knowing each other such a short period of time.” Maybe I was fishing, but it didn’t matter. Maybe it was the fact that I thought Gerard cared more than to just jump into a relationship with the first person to come along.
“We instantly got along. We were kind of on the same wave right from the start. Things kind of just happened easily.”
Like with Gerard and I. Obviously he was an easily likable person. You had to love him. There was no other way.
“I’m going to go over there,” he nodded in the direction where Gerard and Bob were talking before walking away. “Thanks for the chat.”
“You too,” I mumbled sarcastically to myself.
I watched as he went to stand next to Gerard, who smiled at him and gave his hand a quick squeeze. This was going to be a long ass night and I haven’t even had dinner yet.
It was a little after seven when I showed up at the Iero house. I could hear the sound of music coming from the side of the house. My finger pressed down on the doorbell button and soon enough Mrs. Iero appeared at the door.
“Adam. This is a nice surprise. I haven’t seen you in a long time. Come on in.” She stepped aside in order for me to enter.
“Hello, Mrs. Iero. I was told that there would be a band playing somewhere around here.” I offered her a smile.
“You were told right. The whole gang is here. Ivy and all Frank’s friends and the twins. I should really put my foot down with this being a school night and all, but the bunch of them always go everywhere together. I would be lying if I say that this isn’t a typical evening in my house.”
I chuckled, following her to the garage. She didn’t bother knocking, because they wouldn’t hear her anyway. Instead she opened the door and tapped Ivy’s shoulder who was sitting within reach.The latter looked up and smiled when she saw me. Her mother nodded and then left, shutting the door behind her again. Ivy reached out to grab my wrist and pulled me around in order to sit down next to her on the couch. A lot of eyes rested on me, everyone probably curious about the newcomer.
This was my first time at a band practice. Gerard had invited me the day before and I would have arrived sooner had it not been for an early dinner with my parents, because they had a meeting right now at seven. But apparently being a little late wasn’t the end of the world, because Gerard informed me that these practices sometimes stretched over three hours. They would warm up with familiar songs like a couple of covers or some of their old material then they would eat and finally they would work on some new material. They were good.
“It’s just the two of us tonight,” Ivy told me over the loud music.
“Is that strange?”
“Gerard’s brother Mikey is usually here as well. I think he likes Scary,” she finished with a knowing look on her face. “It’s just that normally we have more of an audience.”
“The two of us are more than enough.”
“Yes we are!” she happily agreed.
When it was dinner time, Ivy dragged Gerard upstairs to help her order pizza for everyone, leaving me seated on the couch alone. It didn’t last too long though, because her little brother sauntered over and sat down on the couch next to me. I didn’t know Frank very well. We met once before and Ivy talks about him a lot, but other than that he was just a punk kid that hung out with the biggest group of misfits at school.
“Hi,” he greeted me with a smile. He was kind of sweaty after playing for almost an hour. “Adam right? You’re Ivy’s friend. I’m Frank.”
“Yes, we’ve met.” I nodded. “But that was a long time ago.”
“I know. I’m glad to see you here. What do you think?” He motioned towards the band area where they had played no more than five minutes ago.
“You guys come as advertised,” I smiled recalling both Gerard and Ivy pestering me about coming to check them out. “You’re good.”
He laughed happily. “Great. Thanks. I appreciate it. Positive feedback always is. I’ll have to thank Ivy for the good word.”
“Both she and Gerard think you guys are great.”
He looked surprised by my words and it soon became clear why. “I wasn’t aware that you and Gerard knew each other. I assume Ivy introduced you to one another.”
I nodded in confirmation.
“That’s cool.”
“Hello, Boy Toy,” Scarlet exclaimed, plopping down between the two of us. She was looking at me expectantly, the endearment obviously having been meant for me.
I couldn’t help a little chuckle escaping from my lips. “Hi, Scarlet.”
She was Frank’s age, but for some unknown reason she was in my senior biology class.
“What brings you to our humble little band practice? Did Ivy promise to do your math homework for a week?”
“No, but if she did, it would be biology homework and not math.”
She made a face. “I really hate that class. The subject itself is fine, but that teacher…” She faked a few gagging sounds. “Anyway, you were saying.” She batted her eyelashes at me, waiting for an answer.
She never stopped talking and if you asked me she was nothing short of crazy, but you had to love her, one way or the other.
“Gerard invited me.”
“Then you guys know each other well?” Frank spoke up for the first time since his cousin’s arrival. He was leaning forward in order to look at me as he asked this.
“I think well enough. He’s my boyfriend,” I announced proudly. I wasn’t sure if Gerard had shared the information with his quote-unquote friends yet.
Frank started choking on his side of the couch. Scary rubbed his back sympathetically, but she didn’t pay much attention to him. Instead she looked at me excitedly.
“Our new front man is running up quite a winning streak. New band. New boyfriend. I knew he had potential.” Her head turned towards her choking cousin. “Frank, are you alright?”
He slammed a fist on his chest and choked out. “Gum.”
“Come on.” She got to her feet and pulled him up. “Congrats, Adam.” She said to me before leading Frank away in the direction of the kitchen.
Frank’s POV
I drank an entire glass of water before being able to breathe somewhat again. Scary looked at me without a trace of sympathy and this irked me. Didn’t she care if I died? I couldn’t focus on that though.
“His fucking boyfriend?” I exploded. “He hasn’t known Gerard for five fucking seconds and now he’s his boyfriend?” There were no words to begin to explain how I felt in that moment. Betrayed. Hurt. Stunned. This was the last thing on earth I had expected to happen.
“Easy with the language!” I knew she was simply trying to lighten my mood, but it took everything in me not to tell her to piss off. I wasn’t angry at her and she was only trying to help.
“And why the fuck didn’t he tell me?” We were supposed to be friends. He should tell me when something major happened in his life, like him getting a fucking boyfriend.
“Maybe because he was afraid about how you would fucking react.” She motioned towards me with a tell all look on her face. Scary swore as much as I did, but I knew that she threw that one in there for my benefit. “Or maybe because it had nothing to do with you.”
That comment warranted the dirtiest look I could muster.
“So what?” Scary asked shortly, becoming bored with the conversation. “Gerard’s a cool guy and if he likes Adam then why the hell not?”
I shouldn’t have said it, but it was out before I could stop myself. “Gerard is supposed to like me!”
“Okay, little dude.” Scary took a hold of my shoulders and looked me square in the eyes. “Time for an intervention. Gerard did like you, but you didn’t want him. Time to move on.”
She stepped back, looking impressed with herself and annoyed with me at the same time.
“I did want him.”
“Frank, do you still have a girlfriend.”
I bristled with anger. Everyone always threw that in my face. Yes, I had a girlfriend whom I loved very much, but I couldn’t help that I had a monster fucking crush on my best friend.
“Yes.” I hissed in response.
“Then that settles it,” she said with a tone of finality before turning around and leaving me alone in the kitchen.
I craved a cigarette more than anything at that moment and made my way outside. The motions from there were automatic. Cigarette, mouth, lighter, but before I could light it, Gerard and Ivy came around the corner laughing. My hands lowered as I watched them come closer from the front yard.
“Hey, Frank.”
“Hey, Frank.”
My mind went blank for a split second and then the only thought that went through my head was that I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t want to be around Gerard. He had a boyfriend now. Things were different. He was off limits. Scary was right, I needed to get over it. Fuck it. There was nothing to get over. I had a stunning girlfriend. If I had really wanted to be with Gerard, I would have been, but there we were, both with other people. We were nothing more than friends. Friends.
“I should really quit,” I muttered, removing the cigarette from my mouth and retreating back inside.
Fr some unknown reason, the first person I sought out happened to be my least favorite person in the world. “Congratulations.”
Adam looked up at me startled, clearly not having expected me to come from behind.
“With you and Gerard I mean,” I clarified. My eyes caught Gerard come into the garage and I couldn’t help feeling hurt that he had found someone else. “I hope you guys are happy.”
“Oh, thanks.”
“Plus, now the band has one more fan even if it is only by obligation,” I joked.
“At least you guys don’t suck. I know of a few people who saw you play at the skate fest who were really into you. I remember Gerard running off in order to see you guys play.”
They’ve known each other longer than I thought. “That was a great show, although it would have been better had Gerard already been a part of the band back then. He has an amazing voice. It’s good that he found someone. He deserves to be happy.”
“I think so,” Adam agreed, looking around the room, his eyes easily finding his boyfriend.
“You guys must like each other a lot if you’re dating after knowing each other such a short period of time.” Maybe I was fishing, but it didn’t matter. Maybe it was the fact that I thought Gerard cared more than to just jump into a relationship with the first person to come along.
“We instantly got along. We were kind of on the same wave right from the start. Things kind of just happened easily.”
Like with Gerard and I. Obviously he was an easily likable person. You had to love him. There was no other way.
“I’m going to go over there,” he nodded in the direction where Gerard and Bob were talking before walking away. “Thanks for the chat.”
“You too,” I mumbled sarcastically to myself.
I watched as he went to stand next to Gerard, who smiled at him and gave his hand a quick squeeze. This was going to be a long ass night and I haven’t even had dinner yet.
Notes
The next chapter will be better and have more substance, I promise!
I highly approve
5/6/16