Romance Reloaded

Franks POV

The tour was going so much faster than I expected, before long we only had 3 gigs left to play. I was really surprised to see that Gerard and I were the most popular out of the band, at each concert we became more and more recognised. The fans began bringing banners and signs that read ‘We are the MCRmy’ or ‘You saved me.’. It was amazing, and words can’t describe how good it feels to know you’ve given inspiration to people around the country, maybe even around the world. After the ‘incident’ in New Orleans with Gerard we began hearing about ‘Frerard’, a combination of my name and Gee’s. Somehow they’d got it into their heads that we were an item. Guess it’s not hard to make that mistake with how he acted on stage.

Backstage at a concert in Miami I was tuning my guitar and thinking of Kat as usual. ‘Just 2 more gigs, Frank. Then you’re home free, back to New Jersey, back to Kat.’ I told myself optimistically. I missed her, a lot. The tour was really fun but I just wanted to go home now. Grabbing a sharpie I used at a signing I began to write on my guitar strap. I wrote the letter ‘K’ in a heart; it was just a friendly reminder to myself that she’s waiting for me and a warning to fans that I wasn’t with Gerard. At that moment precisely Gee stumbled in through the door. His eyes were glassy and sweat coated hair covered his face. Slumping himself down on a speaker and smirking through the mass of red hair, Gee spoke. “Don’t act like you didn’t love it.” I tilted my head in confusion. “You know! The other night in New Orleans.” His breath stank strongly of alcohol and it drifted across the room to meet my nose.

“Dude. Don’t you think you should cut down on the drinking? Its only 10pm and you can barely stand up.” Gee shook his head and pushed the hair out of his eyes. “It’s not hurting anything, Frank.” He took a small bottle from his pocket and emptied its contents into his hand. I watched in amazement as he dropped them all into his mouth and swallowed them down with some beer. “Gerard! Stop it!” I stood up and attempted to take the bottle from him but Gerard fought back. “I’m fine, Frank. Leave me alone.” His words were slurred and arms became weaker as he continued to fight back. “You’re hurting me…” I could feel my eyes welling with tears as I finally grasped the bottle and threw it across the room. I turned back to Gerard, he was beginning to cry too. He let out a shaky breath and spoke “Fine. I admit it. I need help.”

Putting my arm around him I sat on a speaker next to Gee. “I’ll help you.” I whispered, putting my head on his shoulder. Gerard brought has hand up and ran his fingers over my jaw. “Thank you.” The words fell quietly from his lips as he pulled my head closer and planted his lips on mine. I was shocked for a moment but I didn’t draw back, after a moment my eyes closed and I embraced Gee passionately. His snaked inside my mouth as he deepened the kiss. A few minutes later Gerard detached his lips from mine and looked deeply into my eyes. His deep hazel eyes brought me back to thinking about Kat. Gee put his index finger over my lips as I opened my mouth to object. “shhh. What happens on tour, stays on tour.” He said calmly with a seductive smirk creeping onto his face.

I pulled a cigarette out of the box on the floor next to me and proceeded to light it between my lips. I turned over in the bunk awkwardly; it was a bit of a tight squeeze next to Gerard. He looked at me pleadingly; I took a drag off my cigarette and blew the smoke into Gerard’s mouth. He closed his eyes as he inhaled the smoke and held it. The tour bus was empty, Ray was off chasing some girl he met after the concert a few hours earlier and Mikey was trying his luck at the open bar. Me and Gerard had crept on to the bus when no one was around and well… taken advantage of the ‘situation’. He was beginning to sober up now and as I laid next to him with my arm on the pillow supporting my head he smiled through tired eyes. To say I was sober I didn’t regret a thing and neither did Gee.

After a few moment of laying in complete silence I heard voices from outside the bus. It was Mikey. Gee shot up and locked himself in the tiny bathroom. I pulled my boxers back on and quickly slipped on the nearest tee shirt. Mikey opened the door and stepped in, scanning the bus suspiciously. “Have you seen Gerard?” I rolled my eyes at Mikey. “What ever happened to ‘Hi, Frank. How are you?’” I said sarcastically. “Yeah, he’s just getting a shower.” I laughed as I saw the annoyed look on Mikey’s face, he didn’t appreciate my sarcasm too much. “Thought you two would be down at the bar. It’s not like Gerard to miss out on free drinks.”

I thought for a moment before opening my mouth. “Uhh. He was at the bar but he stumbled backstage when I was practicing my guitar. He was really drunk so we talked about his ‘problem’ and then I managed to get him to come back to the bus for a shower so he can sober up a bit.” Mikey nodded as a light of understanding broke on his face. “Yeah. I didn’t want to say anything but his drinking has gone too far. He needs to cut down.”

Ray came in the door with a girl hooked around his arm. She was dark haired, slim and very smiley. “Guys, this is Christa. I just thought I’d show her around our tour bus.” He stumbled into the bus and Christa giggled. It was clear she was star struck. I yawned and got out of the bunk forgetting I was only wearing a tee shirt and boxers. “Goddamn it, Frank. Put some clothes on.” Ray ordered as he opened the minibar, showing off our bottles of champagne.

I laughed and pulled on my jeans. Christa never took her eyes off me the whole time and I could Ray wasn’t too impressed by that. Gee walked out of the bathroom door with a towel pinned low around his waist. “whoa.” He said stepping back into the bathroom. “Get her out of here Ray. I’m not decent!” ever since high school Gerard was highly conscious of how he looked, I think I was the only person he was comfortable around even then, he had to be drunk. “Fine. We’ll go back to the bar then.” Ray said, grabbing Christa’s hand and leading her off the bus. “See you later then, Ray.” I shouted after him.

Gerard came back out of the bathroom and began searching around for his clothes. I couldn’t help but watch as he dressed. Mikey raised his eyebrow at me as he sat on the bunk opposite. “Are you sure you were ‘talking’?” Mikey questioned, emphasising the word ‘talking’ quite dramatically. I scratched my neck, catching my finger on Jade’s gauge. My heart practically stopped. “Yes, just talking.” I said reluctantly.

Notes