Be The Flame In The House Of Cards

After Gerard and I (and Tony, Gerard's eyes seemed to beg me to include) had gotten our lunch, we settled in the back table, where the light shone by just a flicker. The tables were strange; large, circular and a teal color. The seats were stubborn wooden stools, with splinters spitting our from every angle. And the surroundings weren't the only queer things in this place. The food was also unusual. We had a Styrofoam tray, and at the right side sat a small glass of what the servers called "crystal clear H₂O", or simply water. In the center rested a turkey and lettuce wrap, the meat clearly underdone and the greens browner than usual. We also had a cookie, but it was as hard as a countertop. I crinkled my nose. "Yuck."

Gerard smiled. "I'd go for your soup than this dirt anyways."

I stared down to my meal and back to Gerard. "Calling it dirt is a bit of an understatement." My companion starting laughing hard, wiping fake tears from his face. "Guess you don't mind the blackbirds taking it then?"

"Not at all, they can have all they want," I said. Gerard turned his head back slightly, welcoming some people to the table. The first one I noticed was Hayley, gripping tightly to Sentry Reborn. "Hi Gerard."

He nodded with a grin. His other friend had short brown hair with long bangs, narrow eyes and a large smile. "H-h-h-h-ey-ey G-g-gerard." Gerard noted told me earlier that this was his friend Austin Carlile. Gerard waved back, smiling.

Another guy came up, large green eyes outlined in eyeliner. His hair poked out aimlessly, black and wild. "What's up guys?" Gerard told me earlier he was Billie J. Armstrong, one of his friends. All of his friends so far seemed to ignore me except one.

He was thin, and had dark brown hair and a lazy grin, in which he targeted towards me. "Who's this fella?"

Gerard hadn't said a word. He stared at me, his eyes pleading me to answer. But, I ignored it, and he ended up saying so. "This is my new friend, Frank."

Hayley, who had her head stuck in a book, had looked up. "What did you just say?" Gerard's voice cracked a bit. "His name is Frank." All of his friends smiled, and kept their eyes directed to him. It was almost creepy.

"Gerard, tell us more about your friend," the thin boy started. The rest of the crowd nodded 'yes'. He didn't say a word.

"Well, um Gerard and I are pretty close, having met each other for only about a day ago."

The thin boy nodded slowly, and congenially pulled his hand out for a shake. "Hey Frank, my name's Mitch. So...what'd the doc label you as?"

"No no no," I cleared up. "Um, I'm don't come here. I'm just a visitor." He smiled, his smile was really relaxing. "Well, I'm not afraid to admit my illness, so I'll just let it out there."

I nodded for him to continue. "I'm a pyromaniac, my hands will set anything ablaze. Austin's got a speech disorder, Billie's got a severe eating disorder. Hayley has bibliomania. And, you must know Gerard's."

Gerard held unto his notebook tightly scribbling into it with a blue pen. I smiled and looked back to Mitch. "Yeah, but he's a great guy."

He shrugged. "He lives life happily. You know, you only live once."

I got up to throw away my trash, and Mitch followed. We started to talk. "Are you good friend's with Gerard?" I asked.

"Oh yeah. He's probably the sweetest guy you'll ever meet. He's like a shadow."

"How so?"

"Well, he's always there. He always has your back. And the fact that he...his life is dark."

"Huh. Well, do you know about his past?" I urged him to reply.

"He's such a damn surprise, you never know when he has you fooled. He's a liar, and a terribly good one at that," he said, laughing.

"What's so funny?"

Mitch turned to me with a toothy smile. "I think he's been fooling you all along."

Notes

new chapter c: