gerard
We discussed the release of our unnamed album for a while, we got rather bored and just played video games in my basement. Mikey eventually headed upstairs to his room, and I decided it was probably time for us to hit the sack, too. I got out a blanket and a pillow for both Frank and me and we made ourself comfortable on the couches in the basement.

I could tell Frank was drifting off, but I was wide awake. My thoughts were buzzing incessantly. "Frank?" I asked, tentative.

A sleepy sigh came from the other sofa. "What?"

"Can I ask you something?" I paused, waiting for an answer. "I mean, I know I already did, but there's another question."

"Wh--what?" Frank asked again.

"Does Jessie not like me?"

At the mention of his cousin, Frank sat up. "What do you mean?" Even in the dark, I knew he had a worried expression plastered on his face.

"She just seems to not like me," I repeated. "You're her cousin, do you know?"

"Jessie doesn't like to talk about people," he said, more alert now, but sleepy nonetheless. "If you mean that she doesn't speak to you much, I wouldn't worry about it. She's really quiet."
I sighed. I know I wasn't the warmest guy, but that's not about my opinion of her. I thought she was a relatively pleasant person, though she could piss me off. "She hasn't said anything to you? At all?"

"After you initailly made her feel unwelcome, she said if you did anything like that again that she wouldn't want to help us out anymore."

"She's a good drummer. Probably as good as Matt."

"I tried to tell you." Frank's voice was getting softer.

"Yeah, you were right." I waited. "So what are we going to call this album anyways?"

Frank didn't answer, and eventually I heard his soft breathing. I fell asleep humming "Vampires Will Never Hurt You" to the beat of his steady, easy breaths and the hum of the heater.

jessie
Frank didn't come home that night, so I just spent the day working on homework. We had a huge project due and I had enough distractions.

Until Michelle called. I always had time for Michelle.

"Hey," I greeted upon answering the landline.

"Miss Iero," she said eloquently. "Your presence is requested."

I put on a formal character. "By whom is such needed?"

"Simply by your three maidens," she said, trying not to giggle. Michelle was referring to her and our two other best friends, Laura and Kayla.

"I shall be there straightaway." The call ended and I bounded up the stairs. I searched the few rooms until I found my aunt. I asked, "Aunt Linda, may I please go to Michelle's?"

Her smiling face turned from her papers to me. "Of course, sweetie. Have fun."

"Thank you!" I smiled.

"And don't get pregnant," she joked. I giggled and hopped back down, taking three steps at a time.

Michelle met me at the door, her beautiful smile grinning and her black hair let loose, and she pulled me inside. Her house was really cool, it had a lot of wood and mix matched upholstery, but what I loved was her room. It was covered in posters and she had a ton of shelving scattered with books and vinyls and figurines. Her bed was like a nest of pillows and blankets, which is where Laura and Kayla already were comfortable in.

"Hey guys," I beamed. "God, we have so much to catch up on."

"We sure do," Kayla started. We all got comfortable, knowing well this would be a long ride. "So remember that art class I have?" We all nodded. "Well the teacher failed me for that piece with the interlocking hands, because she thought I traced it. She told me to fess up for plagiarism before she sent me to the principal's office, so I told her to shut up before I sent her to the hospital."

Laura scoffed. "You did not."

Kayla nodded fervently. "I did too. I also got detention for a week." Her grinned turned into something resembling a malicious nature.

"I just can't wait until summer," Michelle said. "We're finally graduating, then we can do whatever we want, go wherever we want..."

"Oh, the new Men in Black movie's coming out in July," Laura said, twirling a dark curl around her finger. "I can't wait for that."

"Laura, you nerd," Kayla said.

I shrugged. "The album I've been working on with Frank's band is coming out in July."
"Oh my god," Michelle realized, "how's that going?"

"Pretty good," I said. "I mean, we've only had one real rehearsal and i just helped recorded a single song, but I like it. I think we're practicing more next week."

"Who gives a rat's ass as long as there are cute guys," Kayla said.

"Thanks," I snorted.

"That came out wrong," she tried, running her fingers through her blue hair. "I meant, are there any hot guys there?"

I considered the question. "Yeah."

Laura's smile spread wide. "Spill."

I chuckled. "They're all pretty attractive. Ah, I don't know..." My words trailed off.

Michelle gave me a knowing look. "What's his name?"

"Oh, there's Ray, and Mikey--"

"No," she said. "What's his name?"

I blushed. "Gerard." My friends squealed in unison. "It's not like that, he's 25 and kind of rude. I mean, yeah, he's attractive and talented and pretty funny around the guys and really creative and his hair's always messy but that just makes him look better and his eyes are a gorgeous shade of hazel..."

"But?" Michelle asked.

"Oh, it's that he's very cold. He makes me uncomfortable."

"What does he do?" inquired Laura.

I sighed. "He pays attention to me, but it's negative attention. He'll give me dirty looks and doesn't treat me like a person. I think it has something to do with the fact that I'm seventeen. Apparently, all teenagers are violent and angry."

"Oh yeah," Kayla mused. "Jessie Iero, queen of violence and anger. Look out! She'll wound you with just a glare from those menacing eyes and can strike fear into the hearts of grown men!"
I didn't say anything about his song lyrics.

"I could be scary."

Even Michelle laughed. "You couldn't kill that mosquito last week because you said it had a soul."

I rolled my eyes. "I have to get going home soon."

"You can't sleep over?" Laura pouted.

"It's Saturday," I replied. "I have to study." Laura frowned.

"We do have finals starting Tuesday," she said, "so I guess you're right."

We said our goodbyes and Michelle winked at me. "Good luck with that dude," she said. I smiled. I sure would need it.

gerard
It must've been the twentieth time I paced the room. My fingers combed through my knotted hair and I kept muttering the same thing over and over to myself, all to the amusement of Mikey, who was sitting on the couch.

"Dude, calm down," he laughed. I glared at him with all the fury in my possession. "It's fine. They said we didn't need to tell them until they started promoting it."

"It's the name of our first album, Mikey. I should have already known it." You fuckup, Gerard. Just a damn loser. You'll never make it...

"So? It's okay. Chill."

"Everything's going fine. Every track is recorded and we're scheduled to release in weeks. We have a few gigs lined up. And even Jessie is learning the pieces. She's fucking seventeen and has been with us for a week and--"

"Dude, why's your face all red?"

"It--it's not. As I was saying, everything's all ready but we don't have a name for the goddamn thing."

The doorbell rang, barely audible in our expansive--and rather cold--basement. "I got it," Mikey said, disregarding what I had just said. "And just relax."

Moments later he returned, with an ecstatic Frank and quiet Jessie on his heels. "Hey," Frank said. "Mind if we hang here for a while? My mom kicked us out."

"Whatever," I replied coolly. "But what's she doing here?"

"Uh, dude, she lives with him," Mikey said, as if it were obvious.

Frank raised an eyebrow. "You've been to my house, do you not remember seeing her?" I honestly didn't until he said, "You first met when she was making pancakes. Ring a bell?"

It did. I remembered a brunette wearing a hoodie, cooking a delicious breakfast that I devoured sleepily, probably without a word of gratitude or even acknowledgement.

"I remember that well," Jessie said softly. "You were hungover." The guys laughed, and when they weren't looking, I smiled broadly and offered her a rather rude hand gesture. She promptly went bright red.

"Well," Mikey said, "we were playing video games, but Gerard's whining kinda put an end to that."

"What game?" Frank asked, tilting his head to look at the screen.

"That's Halo, right?" Jessie said excitedly. Her gaze flashed between us and the TV.


"Yeah," Mikey replied. "Do you play?"

"Give me a controller," she requested, fire burning in her dark eyes.

She was good. She beat my brother four out of seven times, something I could never do. Frank and I were laughing our asses off at Mikey's reactions, tears forming in our eyes. The scene was intense, each on the edge of the sofa cushion and both--even Jessie--yelling. We cheered her on between fits of laughter, shouting over the game's music.

"How'd you get so good?" I wondered.

She shrugged. "It's all algorithms. Patterns."

She won by a good margin on the last game. Frustrated, Mikey got up off the couch, chucking his controller across the room. It his the wall and broke into pieces.

"You're paying for that," I said, pointing at my fuming brother. I hopped up. "I'm getting a beer. You guys want one?"

Mikey nodded through narrowed eyes. Frank glanced at his cousin and said, "I'm underage, could I just have some iced tea?" He winked. Beer in a glass instead of a bottle it was.

"Jessie?" I asked. Her head snapped up. "Want one?"

Her eyes widened. Frank spoke for her. "No, man, she can't have any."

"May I please have an iced tea as well?" she inquired softly, shedding her superior demeanor for a softer one.

"Uhh, sure..." I said reluctantly, glancing over at Frank for help. He just shrugged.

I headed up the stairs, trying to decide what to do. But as I opened the fridge and grabbed four bottles, I decided to have some fun with it.

Notes

Sorry I haven't updated! Tons of work and sickness fell upon me in my weakest times (the holidays!), my deepest regards. Happy new year, friends :)

xoxo
gerweird.