He Never Told Me What He Did For A Living

Mikey leaned forward in the passenger's seat to fiddle with the radio, finally giving up on getting a good reception of some good rock and sticking a CD in the player. The first song that blasted out of the speakers, which must have been some type of rather enhanced speakers, was 'Astro Zombies' by the Misfits, which just happened to be one of my favorite songs by them!

With just the touch of my burning hand, I sent my Astro Zombies to rape the land. Prime Directive, exterminate, the whole human race... Gerard sang along.

I had to admit, his voice was amazing and surprisingly familiar. Wait- Gerard had said he sang in a band earlier today, hadn't he? Maybe I'd heard his band before.

...And your face just drops in a pile of flesh, then your heart, heart pounds til it pumps in death, Prime directive, exterminate, whatever stands left. And all I wanna do…and all I gotta do...who'd I do it for, hey, me or you? I joined in as well, softly and under my breath- barely a whisper.

But Gerard was watching me in the rearview mirror, his face half-covered with some dark, expensive looking shades, blocking out the setting sun. He smirked.

"Go ahead Josie! Break it down, girlfa-riend!" he ghetto-talked, popping his head as he did so.

Mikey stared at his brother in horror. "Dude. That was so gay." he said, watching Gerard.

I couldn't help but giggle at him. I had been thinking the exact same thing.

"Ya think so?" Gerard asked, his voice tinged with sarcasm.

"Yeah, just a tiny bit." snorted Mikey.

"Okay. Right, well, Josie, where are we eating? Or you, I should say. I'm kinda stuffed." he said, puffing out his cheeks.

"Yeah, you should be, after all those carbs you just devoured."

"You callin' me fat?" he asked, attempting the same line Mikey had earlier.

"You said it, not me." I shot back, grinning idiotically, refusing to be made a fool of again.

"Seriously, where you wanna eat?"

"Umm...McDonald's is good, I guess." I honestly didn't care.

"Okay. Mickey D's it is then." he said, and whipped into a parking lot. I'd had no clue that we were that close to a McDonald's.

Mikey looked at me. "You sure aren't picky."

I shrugged. "Food is food."

"I don’t know if I’d call what McDonald’s serves…food," piped up Gerard.

God. He would have to say something like that.

"Gross."

"Hey, just statin’ the facts. We goin' in or not?"

"I guess."

The guys were out in an instant, looking a bit too eagerly at me as I stepped out of the car.

No freaking way. They couldn't be. There is no way.

"Guys....you aren't hungry again, are you?"

Gerard shrugged while Mikey just looked at the concrete parking lot like it held the future.

"Driving makes me hungry." Gerard said.

"Gerard's driving makes me hungry." Mikey piped up.

"Oh, my god. You guys are going to burst if you don't quit eating!"

"That would kind of suck. But I'm still hungry."

"Gerard, seriously. After we leave here, though you two will probably be waddling, we are going to the park to walk it off."

"What?!? No way!"

"Yes way!" I argued back with Gerard.

Mikey butted in to say "No! It's Mikey and Gerard Way!" and collapsed with laughter.

And I thought it was weird when Gerard was ghetto-talking....

Then Gerard spoke, out of one side of his mouth. I noticed he did that a lot.

"Mikes...you said that kinda loud."

The three of us turned around to see a group of teenage girls making their way to a mid-sized car. But something had obviously delayed their journey and made them turn in our direction.

One of them was holding a trembling finger in our direction...and whispering to her friends. One quickly produced a camera phone from her purse and aimed it in our direction.

"Time to go!" yelled Gerard, making sure his sunglasses were in place and dove into the driver's seat. Mikey was already buckled in and I was in the process of properly seating myself when Gerard peeled out of the parking lot, burning rubber. The door that I hadn't been able to close yet slammed shut as I was tossed across the backseat of the car.

When I finally righted myself and was buckled in properly a few blocks away, I demanded to know what was going on.

"Gerard! What the hell was that?"

"She doesn't know?" asked Mikey, looking at Gerard.

Gerard mumbled "No." and kept driving.

"Guys, I'm serious! What's going on? Will you please tell me what happened back there?" I pleaded.

“Remember when I told you we were kinda famous? Well, it’s more like we’re…really famous.”

I blinked. “That’s it? That’s why those girls started drooling and snapping pictures with their phones?”

“Is it not enough?” Gerard snapped, somewhat sarcastically.

Mikey and I stared at him as he drove, and eventually, he exhaled and apologized. “I’m sorry, Josie. Sometimes, I hate this life, but I love what I do, so I can’t say I regret any of it.”

I nodded and smiled softly, to show him everything was okay, and that we were still friends. Friends. There was that word again. In the back of my mind though, I was questioning why it was that when Gerard used it, it didn't bother me so much. Gerard had some odd quality that made me like him, like some unexplainable force. It wasn't complicated. He was a nice guy, and I don't believe the fame had gone to his head at all. Mikey had that same quality. I'd only known the guy for two hours or so and I'd felt at home with him as well. Maybe it was just these older guys. I couldn't understand it. All these years, I had never desired or wanted a friend.

In elementary school, I played in the sandbox, and occasionally, I got a swing. But I was always alone. No one ever talked to me, and I never bothered to join the group on the merry-go-round or the slide. Their playground games didn't entice me. It continued through junior high- I'd sit under a small, twisted tree and eat my lunch, alone. When I started high school, I began to learn the piano and started staying in the music room during lunch to practice.

Then I met Gerard. Gerard opened my eyes with his scintillating personality and sincere words. He opened my eyes and made me see exactly how lonely I really was.