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December 31, 2016 11:37pm Frank’s POV

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We were all gathered in Ray’s basement, sleeping bags prepared as if we were tween girls, and we were about to receive our last gift from our secret santas. I received 4 mint condition Black Flag records, 2 Plaid Jackets which I knew were from the women’s department, a misfits phone case, four leatherbound journals, 3 sets of rainbow guitar strings, and 7 cardigans so far. I’d given a unicorn pllowpet, a unicorn blanket, an old fashioned anthrax shirt, a leather jacket, a pair of hipster sunglasses, and 4 liters of Coca-cola to Mikey. I was going to give him a unicorn that was the size of him that I literally hid in Ray’s garage.

Christa and Kristin were hanging out in the basement as well and they’d gotten 7 gifts from each other which they’d been exchanging to play along in our game. They were both holding boxes that had been wrapped flawlessly which they were placing under the tree where they would retrieve and exchange them at midnight. My present to Mikey had been wrapped using four full rolls of wrapping paper and one roll of packing tape.

Midnight arrived quickly, we watched the ball drop on the TV and Gerard and I kissed and took a picture.

“Are we telling them yet?” I asked.

“Yeah. Post it before we do secret santa.” I advised.

We all sat in a circle, guessing our secret santas and laughing.

“Is it you Mikes?” Ray questioned. “C’mon, the Metallica shit which looks like it came off tumblr? Only you would find that for me.”

“Yeah, it is.” Mikey handed over a Metallica shirt that looked like it would fit Ray’s kid. “ Anyway, I’m gonna guess Gerard got me the unicorn bullshit. Kristin set you up.”

Gerard shook his head. “Nope. Incorrect.”

I stood up, giant stuffed animal in my arms. “This is for you, Mikey.”

“Oh my god! I hate you so much!” He opened the stuffed animal, laughing so hard that tears were coming out of his eyes. Kristin started laughing.

“I’m gonna guess Gerard since I’m 90% sure no one else could find this shit. Plus, Ray wouldn’t be caught dead looking for jackets in the women’s at Hot Topic nor would he spent over $40 on me per gift.”

Gerard walked up to me, carrying a guitar case which was wrapped in batman wrapping paper. I opened it, revealing a brand new mint fender stratocaster that resembled Billie Joe Armstrong’s guitar, which I’d been wanting forever. There was a pocket on the side of the case, which had a mixtape and a note. The mixtape box had been labelled with each song and the note had directions and a date and time written on it.

The tracklisting had fifteen songs listed, I assumed since that’s the amount of years since we’d met. I read through while Ray revealed an autographed Morrissey Vinyl; “Coffee & TV” by Blur, “First Date” by Blink 182, “Baby, I’m an Anarchist” by Against Me, “There is a Light That Never Goes Out” by The Smiths, “Till the Wheels Fall Off” by L7, “I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone” by Sleater-Kinney, “Luna” by The Smashing Pumpkins, “505” by the Arctic Monkeys, “Everlasting Arms” by Vampire Weekend, “Only of You” by Green Day, “Song 2” by Blur, “You’re My Best Friend” by Queen, "Do You Wanna Dance With Me?" by the Ramones, “Now My Heart Is Full” by Morrissey, and of course, he had to make a joke… “Destroya” Live.

I read through the directions. The date was Friday, January 2, 2017 at 11:00pm
Right after our record release.
“Old Eyeball Record Studio, Where we first met.”

Notes

Alright, I think you're all gonna love the next chapter. Don''t assume anything, it might shock you.

Also, on Friday, my internet will be shut off for a few days because I'm moving to Denver! I'm really excited to have more space to myself soon!

Chapter Title's pretty obvious

Also, probably gonna make a playlist on 8tracks with all these songs. I'll post it in the next update!