"Okay we're here, keep your head to the side a bit, as if you're looking at something. I wanna see how they react first before they know it's you," Gerard said as he turned his car off and took the keys out of the ignition.

"I think I can play along with that. But if today is an indication of how they will react I'm pretty sure they will think you brought a stranger home. Or well, more of a stranger than me," I said playfully as I tossed the butt of my last cigarette out the window.

"You're no stranger Jay, you're one of us now. Get use to it," Gerard said as he beamed me what I was learning was his infamous smirk.

"Crash position assumed," I said as I got out and closed the door behind me.

"Shall we my lady?" Gerard asked as he came around to the front of the car and placed his arm out for me.

"Yes, I think we shall. Let's go find your bunch of merry naives," I said in a mock old English accent.

Gerard just grinned and lead me forward. We walked the few feet down the street since Gerard had said he had really wanted to surprise them, and then turned onto a drive way. There was a white hitch trailer in it, parked in front of a garage and loud crashing, banging and cursing could be heard coming from the back end. Guess loading was not a smooth process yet, not even after the fame I had heard they had recently collected. Didn't musicians get people to do this for them eventually? Or even by this point? Maybe that was part of their charm, doing everything themselves. Gerard lead me around the side of the trailer as we approached it and stopped in front of the open garage doors. Then he cleared his throat. Loudly.

"Ahem."

At that everyone turned to stare at the two of us. Well not everyone, Bob had been looking at us the entire time, smiling a bit, but silent to our approach to the others. I smiled back at him a bit but caught myself as I remembered I was trying to not show it was me. I quickly looked down at the mud flap on the wheel to engage my attention like Gerard had said, so I wasn't facing them dead on.

"Holy hottie alert! Gee you know you shouldn't be showing up with got chicks on your arm when you're dating Sharon. That's bad form dude," Mikey said as he was the first to regain control of speech.

Ray and Frankie both still had their jaws dropped, just like Mikey had before he came back down to reality. Though, weird thing being, he was still checking me out! I was watching their reactions out of the corner of my eye, it was HILARIOUS! They had no idea who the hell I was!

"MINE!" Frank all of a sudden yelled loudly and then dashed at me and wrapped his arms around me tight, holding me to him, his head on my shoulder.

This was odd. What was even odder was that he let his hand roam to my ass! He really had no idea it was me.

"All right, all right Casanova, hands off," Gerard said as he peeled Frankie off of me and pushed him back towards the others.

"Hey that's not fair, you already have Sharon. You can't have her too, that's like a no go, it's got to be against the rules or something," Frankie pouted.

I tried not to laugh. It was really quite amusing.

"Her happens to have a name," Gerard said, and I knew our game was coming to an end.

Well at least this part of it.

"Well what's her name?" Ray asked, finding his voice finally.

"Why don't I let her tell you," Gerard said as he finally let my arm go and stepped back a step, as if to give me the floor.

I took that as my cue and stood up and faced them, I knew I had a shit eating grin plastered on my face as I slipped off my silver aviators.

"It's Jay you dumb asses. Or have you forgotten already?" I asked teasingly as I watched their reactions.

Ray, Mikey and Frankie's faces just dropped. Almost literally. Though the three of them did literally drop what they had been holding in their hands, causing a loud jarring noise to ring through the small garage. It made me cringe a bit. But Bob, well Bob was still staring at me and smiling slightly. He didn't seem shocked. I was confused.

"What you smiling at?" I asked Bob cheekily.

"I totally knew it was you, like the whole time," Bob replied, smile not leaving his face as started to twirl one of his drumsticks he was holding.

"What? How?" Gerard and I both asked, shocked, at the same time.

Mind you, the other guys were still standing and staring in shock. Silent shock.

"Because of Gerard," Bob said simply, not missing a twirl of the wooden stick.

I shot a look at Gerard and he simply shrugged his shoulders at me, saying he had no idea what Bob was talking about. I turned back to face Bob again, raising an eyebrow.

"How?" I asked, confused, but intrigued.

"Gerard is only totally relaxed around us, during band practice, or around you. And he gets a look on his face when you're around. So that was dead give away," Bob said as if it was nothing.

I didn't quite get it in total.

"Oh and you smiled at me when you caught me looking at you the first time. That was a dead give away too," Bob said as he stopped spinning his drumstick only to point it directly at me.

I smirked a bit and then opened my mouth to reply.

"Oh my GOD I touched Jay's BUTT!" Frankie yelled all of a sudden as he started to run in a little circle waving his arms madly, cutting me off.

I couldn't help but laugh, and Gerard and Bob joined in as well. Frankie's outburst and childish antics seemed to bring Mikey and Ray back around, since Ray smacked Frankie upside the head, causing him to stop and pout at Ray with a glare.

"Well you're still hot as all hell. Regardless," Mikey said as he picked up what he had dropped and started to bring it to the trailer.

"Good, because I need a date," I said loudly.

There was another loud crash as things were dropped again. And then it was silent. And then...

"ME!" was shouted in unison by all the guys, including Bob.

"Guys, guys, guys, calm down. She can only be with one of you. And besides you don't even know what it's for or when it's for. It could be tonight, she could be asking you to skip the gig," Gerard said semi dramatically, still playing our game.

"ME!" the four guys chorused once again, each raising their hands in the air like as if they were school children.

"Tisk, tisk guys. Giving up the show for a pretty face. I think I shall just kidnap her and run away, leaving you guys to do all the work," Gerard said loudly as he jerked to the side quickly, and spun on his heel.

In the blink of an eye he looped his arm around my waist and pulled me after him right quick. I felt my eyes go big as I felt myself being dragged after him. Backwards. And then they widened as I saw the guys start running after us.

"We'd get away a lot quicker if you'd help by turning and running with me," Gerard said.

"Uh huh, and why would I do that? You are the one who has kidnapped me like we were school kids or something," I pointed out as I awkwardly ran backwards, trying my best to not stumble.

So this was highly not comfortable, but I had to put a thorn in his side at least for show.

"Come on, live a little. Your capturer could turn into your knight in shining armor. You never know," Gerard said cheekily.

"Uh huh, fine," I said, but more since I had stubbed my heel painfully on a rock.

Turning he let go of his awkward grip on me but still had his arm around my waist. Maybe he was still worried about my clumsy ass tripping and getting us caught. So much for being a mature adult, nope I'm running from boys to some unknown destination with one who kidnapped me. Yeah, I feel like a kid again. A giant dork of one at least.

"Quick this way," Gerard said as he violently pulled me after him around the far side of a little shed.

I really couldn't do anything other than follow him since he was still gripping me. Which was a good thing since the only way were going to fit between the shed and the fence was squished together. I calmed myself down and started to get my breathing back under control and then realized that I was pressed firmly against Gerard's chest. He smelled nice.

"Where the hell did they go?" Ray asked from near by, sounding out of breath.

Gerard was breathing fairly heavy still, my head was rising and falling quickly with each rapid breath he took. He had his hand on the back of my neck underneath my newly shorn hair.

"I don't know. But they better not be making out," Mikey said, voice sounding closer than Ray's.

Gerard's heart rate seemed to speed back up momentarily, he seemed to be worried we were going to be caught in our hiding spot.

"Why?" Bob asked.

"Because he's dating Sharon, that'd be slightly uh, wrong," Mikey pointed out.

I could almost hear the shrug Bob was giving as a response, or at least I was guessing he was giving. He shrugged a lot, made him seem like a monkey, or a gorilla.

"Let's scare them," I whispered against the thin jacket he was wearing, only just then realizing we were both wearing leather jackets.

"All right, you go out the way behind you and I'll go around the way behind me. Wait for my signal," Gerard whispered into the top of my head.

Odd way to muffle ones voice, but whatever works I guess. He let go of me and we slowly backed out our separate ways, trying to make as little noise as possible, and I cringed when I imagined all the horrible damage I was doing to my new leather coat.

As I finally crept to my end I turned my head to see Gerard finally reaching his. He turned to look at me and raised a hand. Silently he counted to three and then mouthed go as he pointed out. I jumped around the edge of the shed.

"RAWR!" Gerard and I both yelled as he pounced at the guys.

"Ahhh!" was screamed all around, and they almost collectively jumped out of their skins.

Mikey's scream was incredibly high pitched, I had no idea it was possible for a male with all his parts still intact to reach those notes. That's guessing Mikey actually still did have all his parts, which I had no clue, so he could technically be a eunuch.

"Boo, we scared you!" I shouted, maybe being around the guys these few times had worn off on me.

Or maybe this was just what I was really like.

"Not very nice," Bob said as he shook his finger at me.

He seemed to recover fairly quickly, though I was guessing it took quite a lot to shake him to his core. He seemed solid in personality, like a stone never moving always there to lean on.

"Poo on you. So who am I using as a date?" I asked the guys, wanting to figure this out now since I figured we had to hit the road pronto.

"I will," Mikey said, the first of the guys to respond.

"Then Mikey it is. Let's get rolling then or you guys will be late," I said as I walked past them back towards the trailer.

"Wait? What? You're coming with us? You're coming to the gig?" Frankie spit out like quick shot as he ran up to me.

"Of course silly, that's why Gerard brought me. And why I need a date. Gerard insisted that I be fake dating one of you tonight so as not to be whisked away by the first guy that looks at me. Because for some reason he believes this will come to play as soon as we get there," I said as Frankie and I were the first to reach the trailer.

"And he's damn right about it, just wish it was me that got you as arm candy for the night. I'd kill for a hot chick on my arm," Frankie said as he smirked at me and then punched me in the arm before going towards equipment.

I rolled my eyes at him and then went for my purse that had been dropped in the chase so as to get a cigarette.

Finally all the guys joined us.

"Anything I can do to help?" I asked, halfway through my cigarette.

"Nah, we've got it covered," Ray said as he went to grab an amp.

Nodding my head, realizing that I'd probably just get in the way or break something I took my camera out of my bag and started walking. Nothing like a moment alone to catch some great shots. That and I wanted something to remember the day by.

At the end of my stroll I had managed to take quite a few shots, not sure how many I would keep, but a lot just the same. I got a great one in color of an old Basset hound sleeping in a ray of sun on the porch of his house. Another of kids playing foursquare in the street, chalk boxes and all, I had no idea kids still played that. I snapped one of a group of kids walking down the street, chatting away, one of the boys was silent and staring slyly at one of the girls of the group. It was perfect, and I snapped it in black and white, with only him looking at the girl. It was innocent, summed up teenage love, and love in general, without having to say a word.

There were tons of others but those were my favorite that I was looking at again as I strolled back up the driveway. They seemed to be just about finished, guess they slacked off while Gerard wasn't there. Switching my camera back onto photo mode, and into black and white I snapped a few more. The last I took was taken from the side of the trailer, at an angle where I could just see enough of them. It was of Gerard handing someone's arms coming out from inside of the trailer, Bob's by the looks of them, the bass drum. Standing behind him was Frankie, holding a package of drum stick on his shoulder like they weighed as much as the drum, and grinning like a fool. They really were an eclectic group of guys for a band, maybe that was what kept them going.

I flicked the last of my cigarette and came up as I hung my big black camera around my neck.

"All ready to go rock the masses," Frankie said as he tossed the drum sticks in last, ignoring the look from Bob who picked them up and placed them correctly.

"All right then, let's make like a banana split and melt," I said as I turned towards Gerard's car.
-xXx-
The car trip was memorable, since it took half an hour to get there that gave Frankie plenty of time to annoy someone. That someone changing back and forth between all of the guys, I seemed immune, I liked it. It was refreshing, and made me laugh. Ray ended up dumping the remainder of his orange soda down the front of Frankie after he had flicked Bob's ears repeatedly as he asked if we were there yet. Frankie broke into tears, surely put on, but tears none the less. At first I was worried, till he bemoaned about how he had only brought three changes of clothes for the night, and that that wasn't enough to choose from. I found out he was a clothes whore and spent more time on his makeup then most females and gay men. Which I was assured repeatedly he wasn't, to which he tried proving by slapping a kiss on me. Tried that is till Gerard shot him a look in the rearview mirror and told him to sit the fuck down before he pulled over. I found it amusing.

At the venue I once again found myself being told that my help wasn't needed and to just wait and they'd have it all done in a jiffy. Which was true, it seemed quicker to unload than to load. So instead I went back to Gerard's car and sat in the front seat with my journal in my lap. I jotted a few notes, grabbed one of the little, thick poster board flyers for the show off the dash and stuck it in it. I decided that I was going to add more than just photos to the entries. Closing it I lit a cigarette and went to go find the guys since they had ceased making noise in the trailer behind me, leading me to believe that they were inside somewhere.

Getting out I went in search of, and found, an open back entrance. As I walked in I heard the loud chatting voices of the guys, and the thumps of equipment being placed somewhere, so I just followed my ears, forgetting that I had walked inside with my cigarette lit. As I rounded the bend and saw them come into view I stopped and smiled. Gerard had his arms around, and was kissing a pretty brunette, Sharon I was assuming, they had described her pretty much spot on. I was about to snag a shot of them when my view was blocked by a large chest.

"You can't be back here, nor can you be smoking in here as a guest," a deep voice said.

I looked up from the muscled chest to look into a very square set face that had a scruffy beard gracing it's sharp jaw lines.

"Oh, I'm," I started to explain.

"Gary, she's with me, and us. Don't worry," Mikey said as he came up to me and put his arm around my shoulders.

Momentarily I forgot that we were "dating" for the night when I saw his arm around me, and then remembered quick enough to knock the shocked look off my face and act like his girlfriend.

"Sorry Mikey, had no idea. Never seen her before, congratulations on snagging yourself a really pretty girl. Sorry for that miss, it's venue rules to say that. And since you're with the band you can smoke back here," Gary the brick wall of a guard said as he backed away.

"No problem Gary, and my name is Jay," I said as I stuck my hand out for him to shake.

I figured an introduction would seem normal for the girlfriend of one of the guys.

"Good to meet you. Good luck tonight guys," the moving barricade said as he let go of my hand and moved back off to lurk in the shadows and guard against teenagers.

"Gary's really nice, he's been a friend, and a fan, of ours since we started playing here as regulars way back when," Mikey explained as he led me to the rest of the group, arm still around my shoulders.

"Mikey I didn't know you got yourself a girlfriend finally," Sharon said as the two of us approached.

Gerard had a smile on his face, but I wasn't going to play the game with his girlfriend too. That would be just cruel, I mean we've never met so it would kind of lack purpose.

"I'm Jay, and you're Sharon I suppose, I've heard a lot about you. And Mikey and I are only fake dating for the night. Protection you see, I'm apparently a wanted woman," I said as I stuck my hand out for her.

She had slightly wavy chestnut brown hair to a little past her shoulders, the sides of which she had pinned back on the back of her head, causing bits to stick up on the air. Looked like on purpose. She had on a simple white t-shirt with a black tank top on over it, and loose fitting blue jeans and flip flops. She seemed just as relaxed as they all described her as.

"Oh my god YOU'RE Jay? I've heard so much about you too! Only you look nothing like they said, like nothing at all. And I would kill small countries for your shoes," Sharon said all in one breath as she shook my hand.

I laughed.

"Yeah I took a drastic change for hopefully the better today, like all at once, hence you weren't informed of the changes. The guys only found out about an hour ago anyway. And I got them at Waste of Breath," I said as I took my hand back.

"Oh I love that place, yet never remember to go. I think I will have to remedy that. So what's new that they got in? Anything exciting? Any awful puke green or putrid decaying pumpkin colors?" Sharon asked as she linked her arm with mine and led me off.

We were going to get along just fine.
-xXx-
"So plan is we're going to watch the show from the side?" Sharon asked a little while later.

The guys were to go on in like five minutes, since the guys band was the headliner the other two bands of the night had already played. Which we had watched from the side of the stage for the most part.

I had snapped a few shots, even this great one of Gary as he had been leaning against some scaffolding on the side of the stage, watching one of the bands play. I had taken it from behind, in the dark, without using the flash so as to capture the colored lights filtering his body in their own mixing hues, so that parts of him were still encased in dark. It seemed quintessential.

"Sounds good to me, though I would like to snag some shots from the floor before they stop playing," I said as we made our way back to the side of the medium sized stage.

I was excited, I had never really gone to any concerts like this before. I mean I had been to big arenas and seen like Bob Dylan, and The Wallflowers, Tom Petty and the like, but nothing that had this feel. The venue was smallish, with a decent sized stage. The venue seemed like a well loved place that bands frequented just for the atmosphere and because the bartender took the time to learn your name and drink order even if it wasn't alcoholic, and the people attending seemed like regulars. It was small, personal, loud, smokey, slightly crammed, hot, and extremely exciting.

"Beer ladies," Bob said as he walked up to us, handing the two of us cold glass bottles.

"Donkey shits," I said in thanks as I raised my bottle.

"Want to really date me?" Mikey asked at my reply.

It had turned out Gerard had been right, I had needed Mikey for the evening just as he had expected. Not that I couldn't defend myself, it just way laid a lot of what could have been potential problems. I was hit on none stop, and Mikey was always there to swoop in, place an arm around me, smack the side of my head with a kiss, and tell them I was taken. By him no less. That usually ended things right there. Only one guy had pushed the matter and had to be forced to leave the venue by Gary.

"Sorry Mikey, but I haven't figured out, nor found, me as a person yet. No time to be adding on a boyfriend," I said matter of factually.

"Damn! Well when you find yourself and are ready for a boyfriend, just remember that any of us will be willing to fill that spot," Mikey sad as he winked and then walked towards the stage.

"Boys," Sharon and I said simultaneously as we shook our heads.

Notes

A bit of a mish mosh but it's her first show!!!
Everyone has to go back to a gentler easier tme in thier lives and play tag like a fifth grader every once and a while. If for no other reason then to keep them young.

Because we all know. . . boys have cooties!!!