"So happy you have another smart person to converse with us when us uneducated people become too much of a bore?" Gerard asked as he and I finished up the food we had been cooking.

Once everything had been unpacked we decided to stay home that night instead of grabbing a late bite to eat at some restaurant, which had been happily accepted by all present. It was late, but dinner was dinner regardless of when served. And Gerard and I had decided to keep it simple, a pasta dish, salad and fresh fruit since that was what was in the house and made quickly.

"Kah," I scoffed and rolled my eyes as I finished tossing the salad that was chock full of goodies.

Gerard grinned at me and knocked my hip with his own as he finished slicing up the fruit and plating it. I glowered at him as his hip check set me over a foot or so, tossing a discarded end of lettuce at him playfully.

"You know we must bore you as none of us have been to college like you have," Gerard said and I couldn't tell if he was being serious or joking.

"Gerard you have art schooling under your belt," I added, trying to test the waters to see where he was coming from.

"That doesn't even come close to what you did, and I didn't even finish. I mean don't you even remember your majors? The ones that are laying dormant as you pal around with us in Jersey? Political Science and Chemistry ring a bell?" Gerard asked as he went to the pasta dish no longer on a burner.

"I remember quite well Gee, I suffered through all the courses. And if I recall correctly you called me a nerd. A giant nerd at that," I teased.

"True," Gerard said as he stirred the cooling pasta.

"And while yes I am not using them here as I pal around with you here I am enjoying my life as it is," I replied as I got dishes out for dinner.

"You don't feel like we're holding you back? I mean you could accomplish great things with a brain like you've got, instead of hanging out with a couple of dead beat musicians and taking our photos," Gerard said as he stopped his stirring to look at me.

I guess he was serious about it.

I sighed a bit.

"Gerard you have to look at the bigger picture. I up and left everything without so much as an explanation to people and wandered the U.S. till I came here. That's not exactly something normal people with majors do. I wasn't happy Gee, and I am now. And you're not holding me down," I explained as I lifted my wrist up to show him the small black bird in flight on my wrist.

"You brought me up Gerard, all of you. You gave me the wings I was looking for and helped me find a place here in Jersey. A place where I can continue looking for myself, for Political Science and Chemistry wasn't it," I replied seriously, though softly.

Gerard smiled softly as he traced the small tattoo on my wrist, his eyes lost somewhere else for a moment. I held my breath as his fingers slowly traced the design, his skin barely grazing mine as he did so.

"I still think you could do more," he added once his finger had dropped from my bared wrist.

"And I still think you're more than a dead beat musician that I take photos of. And didn't you once try beating into my head that my photos were a form of art?" I asked, slightly teasingly hoping to lift the odd mood that had settled in the kitchen.

"It is," Gerard said softly his fingers going out for my face like he was going to put them in my hair.

"Is it food yet?" Frankie chorused as he appeared magically in the kitchen.

Gerard's hand dropped and we both turned to glare at him.

"Almost. And if you don't quit asking every five minutes I'm throwing it all out and cooking steak! Big, fat, juicy, mostly rare, steak!" Gerard said loudly as he waved the wooden spoon he had been stirring the pasta with at Frankie menacingly.

I grinned as Frankie's expression turned to that of pure horror and then disgust.

"Yuck," he said before turning and leaving the kitchen.

"Should of said that back when we first started," Gerard said as he rolled his eyes and we went back to what we were finishing up.

I grinned like a fool and went about getting silverware, mentally having to count since there was another person with us tonight. Another person that I had a sneaking feeling was going to be around for a while so that I had better get use to counting out eight sets of everything instead of seven. As I tore off eight paper towels I heard Gerard place the spoon into the bowl he had dished the pasta into and turn.

"Have you found yourself yet?" Gerard asked my back.

I thought for a moment before turning to look at him.

"I've found a good portion of myself, yes. All of it? No," I tried to explain.

"So tell me what you've found," Gerard said as he leaned back against the counter.

Guess he wasn't in too much of a rush to get the food out now that he had threatened Frankie into submission.

"Well for one, that I can be artistic via my photos. That I have a knack of catching the sides of people they don't normally see. That highly unnatural colors is what best suits my hair personality. That I can serve a mean breakfast for six all at once. That Jersey city life is more my style. That I'm tougher than I ever thought, and can stand the pain that comes with tattoos," I added lightly as I smiled at him, not knowing how to explain what exactly I had found out about myself, or what exactly I was still looking for.

"And that you're a fiery princes looking for a silent, artistically inclined, stable boy to sweep her off her feet," Gerard added secondly.

I grinned at him as I remembered the analogy we had come up with so many nights ago that it almost felt like forever.

"That I am," I said.

"And that it isn't, thank the heavens, my brother," Gerard added, a shudder adjoining his statement.

I laughed as I picked up the all the dinner dishes, the large bowl of salad and the very large plate of fruit.

"That is so true," I laughed as I exited the kitchen and joined the masses waiting for food, leaving Gerard to follow with the bowl of pasta.
-xXx-
That night as I finally got into bed, long after Gerard and I had dropped off K.C. at her house, which luckily had ended up being between his place and mine, I picked up my journal. It seemed like forever since I had written in it, even though I pretty much wrote in it every night, and on the occasion to document my photos with blurbs of random scatterings from my unchained brain. I glanced at the cover lovingly as I thought about the treasures this book held within it's battered and tattered covers, my chicken scratch handwriting documenting my life on the journey I had set out on what now felt like so long ago. I had documented my trek across the U.S. till I had reached Jersey, the people I met, the things I discovered about humanity as a whole, the sights I saw. It kept the memories of my journey to find myself, and maybe one day help shed some light on why I had found the need to do it in the first place. Cracking the cover I opened it to where the bookmark was holding the place of my last entry and picked up my pen.

"Today was the day we discovered the impossible really is possible, and that the world didn't explode with the presence of two Frankie's. Today we found blue strawberries incarnated in human form. K.C.. I have to learn to count to eight and not seven. My purpose and presence was questioned and it made me realize how far I have yet to go to find out where I am. Poli-Sci and Chemistry are my building blocks but not the wind beneath my wings. I am flying with wings given to me by unsuspecting aspiring musicians, their power is that of inspiration. Jersey is speaking to me, her voice getting stronger with every Frankie antic, photo snapped, loud car ride into the unknown and breakfast dish served. I think I am home. Maybe?"

Smiling a thoughtful smile I reread the entry I had just penned in my trusty blue bic pen, never pencil for they were too changeable, pen was so much more permanent. What was the point of writing down ones thoughts if it was in something you could go back, erase, and redo? That wasn't a thought, that was trying to impress someone. Thoughts might be fleeting but when you had them and found the time to pen them, no pun intended, it was for a reason. They had meaning then, no matter how long their shelf life in your brain was.

Finding my entry to my liking and that it needed nothing more added to it I closed the journal and tucked both it and my pen back in my drawer. As I went to close the drawer of my night stand I caught glimpse of the intricate pen set Gerard had bought me for my birthday so I could pen my art with something beautiful. He was insane, I don't see how he could see me ever using something so out of this world beautiful on something so ordinary and plain jane as a nightly journal entry. But the pens were still beautiful regardless. Smiling I closed the drawer and went to my desk, wanting to download that night's photos before going to work so I could browse through them after I got off at the end of the night.

Notes

That will show Frankie!
Threaten him with a good rare steak!