Go With Me

Everything lost its meaning. Everything was boring. Even the birds, chirping in the trees that reached to the fourth floor of the apartment building across the street, which he usually glanced at... Even they were boring. He didn’t find any interest in the birds that day. He didn’t even find any interest in the workmen, dressed in white, that were putting a new ice cream machine in front of the grocery store. They weren’t interesting. Not even the old European they called Turtleman, who was always fixing his old car; not even he was interesting. That day Turtleman occupied himself with changing the tires on the car.
‘Boring’ thought Gerard.
Gerard was sitting on the stairs in front of his apartment building. He silently watched everything that was happening that afternoon on the street. He saw his neighbour, Mr. Johnson, an old orchestra teacher, checking out an old family sized tent in front of the apartment building. Whenever the local kids asked him, if he was going to sleep in it, he said to them that he was only airing it out, making sure that it is still whole. He’s retired, and every year around this time, right before the school ended, he began packing so he could leave for the seaside. After he’d leave, his beautiful young wife, an actress, Eva Toro Johnson and her son Ray would follow him. Just like every year, at the beginning of summer. Usually, all of this would amuse Gerard. He would even step over to Mr. Johnson and teas him about what his young wife and stepson would be doing in the days of his absence. But not that day. That day he didn’t see any sense in anything. The world could stop forever at that point and he still wouldn’t care.
He looked around himself with a dreary look, playing with his lighter; opening and closing it, so it made a loud click sound every time. He was nervous. And rightfully so. That day, Gerard’s world was turned upside down. And there was nothing much he could do about it. He sat there on the stairs in front of his apartment building, spitting thick blobs of spit in from of him. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful day, more precisely, a beautiful afternoon. Blue sky without a cloud. Smiling people were passing him. Some little kids were returning from school, with school bags on their back that were twice their size. Some parents were dragging home their youngest from kindergarden.
‘Completely boring’ though Gerard to himself.
The wind blew, gently rocking the tree tops. The wind carried with it the fresh smell of summer. Without realising it, he took a big whiff of the smell. It reminded him of the times when he didn’t have any responsibility. Like... The times at the beach, were he carelessly laid in the sun... And the times... The times he spent with his grandfather on the countryside. Even though he was still a small boy then, he could still remember the vast forests, the tall grass, which he helped his grandfather cut, he remembered grandfather’s dog Riot and how he would crawl in to his dog house early in the morning and lie next to him and Riot would cover the small boy with his fur, keeping him warm. He remembered the small pool, deep inside the forest, in which he usually cooled off. He also remembered the annoying flies that were waiting for him to reappear from the water. He’d usually catch one and put a piece of straw on to its end and then watch how the fly would confusingly fly around with it and how it would seem like the straw was flouting in the air by itself. Those were the good times. That was when Gerard was happy. Those were the times when he was happy at mornings and anticipated the next day, which always brought a new adventure for him. Like the time, when he helped his grandfather pluck the ripened grapes and more people came to help them... That was the first time he saw two full grown men fight each other. He didn’t see anything like that ever, not even in movies. Everything was falling; the glasses and bottles from the table, men were cheering and the women were sitting on the benches near by and just waited for the fight to be over. Cool... Or the time...
“Well, look at the hero... You’re home already?”
Gerard winced. He looked up, hiding his lighter in his fist, seeing the face of the person standing in front of him. He just looked at him for a while.
“Gerard?! Hello? You here?”
A male hand waved in front of his face.
“Yes... Good day, Mr. Iero... It was just... I was just deep in thought” said Gerard.
“Did you finish early today?”
“Yes, I mean no... I just... They left me leave sooner” said Gerard.
“Oh, really?”
“Frank has photography today. He’ll probably be a little late” Gerard immediately answered.
Mr. Iero smiled. He placed his bag on the ground and sat down next to Gerard. He sighed deeply, holding his breath for a while, before exhaling.
“It’s almost the end of school, hh?” he said it more as a statement, then a question.
“Yap” said Gerard.
“And you don’t have classes tomorrow, right? School day or something?”
“School day, yeah...”
“And then summer! Lucky you, who are still going to school”
“Yap” said Gerard again.
“Yes, yes... Those were the good times...” said Mr. Iero, looking at something in the far distance. They stayed silent for a while. Gerard stared at the tip of his run down Converses.
“Yes, yes...” repeated Mr. Iero after a while. Gerard looked up at Mr. Iero, expecting him to continue, but Mr. Iero just looked at Gerard, straight in to his eyes and smiled widely. He smacked him on the knee then got up.
“Well, Gerard my friend, stop by my place sometime, okay?” he said and then went inside the building.
“Okay” said Gerard, then opened and closed his lighter again, and then repeating the act.
That Mr. Iero is one of the rare people that still call him by his actual name. Everyone else, besides his friend and brother, call him Way, because that what they call his old man, and they call his little brother the same. Way, Way, Way. Does anyone in this building still actually know his name, expect old Mr. Flitch, the news reported that doesn’t let anything slip his memory. But really... But really, does anyone care?
Boring.
He noticed the Turtleman, from under his forehead, how he was torturing himself with the tire. Boring. Gerard wanted to yell at the old man, to just stop trying with the tires, because the time he’ll be able to change them, summer will be over and it’ll be autumn again and then winter again. If he lasted this long with the winter tires, why not these couple months more, right?
Gerard was slowly getting mad, when he saw Frank walking down the street, his classmate and best friend since they were little. Right next to him was walking Ray, who took every single chance he could get to spend his time with Frank. At least that’s what Gerard thought.
When Frank noticed him, how he was sitting on those stairs, he lifted his hand and waved to him. Gerard just nodded to him, then spat another thick ball of spit through his teeth. Frank and Ray got to Ray’s building’s entrance, and they just stood there for a while, talking. Gerard noticed, how each time Frank said something, Ray giggled like it was the funniest thing in the world. Gerard rolled his eyes. Then Ray ran to his stepfather, who was still troubling himself with the tent. Frank on the other hand, made his way towards Gerard. When he got to his best friend, he to sat down on the stairs. They stayed like that for a while, silent and looking at the ground.
“Did you tell your parents?” Frank spoke after a while.
“They don’t care” said Gerard.
They were silent again.
“They don’t care” Gerard repeated after a while: “But my old man’s still gonna beat the shit out of me!”
Silence again. Gerard was playing around with his shoe laces and Frank fixed a lock of hair that fell on to his face, behind his ear.
“But why did you have to do it? I mean, did you do it?” asked Frank after a few moments.
“Who cares?! Who would believe me anyways? I’m Way, right? The son of that Way, the Way that was in prison! Yes, it was me, I stole the phone. Way stole the phone, who else! Little Way!” Gerard raised his voice slightly.
“Boring” said Frank.
“Everything’s boring” said Gerard, after he composed himself a bit.
Then they sat in silence again.
“Your old man came by earlier. He’s home” said Gerard, when some time had passed.
“Yeah, I know” said Frank: “He’s supposed to meet up with my mom today. And now he’s nervous as fuck”
Gerard nodded.
“Look at him! He can barely wait for summer! He’s already heading to the seaside this weekend” Frank nodded across the street, where the old orchestra teacher was setting up the tent.
“Then he’s gonna really care about the actress” said Gerard and they both laughed.
“I’m going to carry her groceries from the store!” proclaimed Frank.
“You’re going to carry her sons groceries from the store, while I fix his mothers leaky pips”
Both boys laughed loudly, still looking towards the tent. Then they got serious and were quiet again.
“What are you gonna do know?” Frank broke the silence.
“Nothing. I’m gonna work” said Gerard: “Just like my older cousin. And I’ll go live on the countryside, like my granddad”
“What’re you going to do on the countryside?” smiled Frank.
“It’s peaceful there” said Gerard.
“Peace, yeah. But it’s also dead boring!”
“Here is dead boring!” stated Gerard.
More silence.
“You could go with us tomorrow! We’re going photographing” said Frank.
“Photograph, what?”
“There’s going to be a display on the last day of school” explained Frank.
Gerard stayed silent for a while.
“Boring” he finally said. They sat on the stairs, watching up and down the street, Gerard’s lighter clicking a couple of times.
“Where?” he then asked.
“What?” asked Frank, confused.
“Where are you going photographing?”
“We don’t know yet. We got an assignment for over the weekend, to make a couple of pictures on the topic: The Unknown. So we agreed on...”
“The Unknown?” surprisingly interrupted Gerard.
“The Unknown” confirmed Frank: “Yes. Something you don’t see every day, something no one knows could be even found here, or something like that... There’s going to be a display the last day of school”
“So, where are you going?”
“I don’t know yet. Around, explore a little”
“Hmmm” hummed Gerard.
“What do you say? Go with me, Gee!”
“Who else is going?”
“We’re going in groups of three. Me, Ray and...”
“Of course, why do I even ask? Ray!”
“It was the teachers choice... So what if he goes too?”
“You think he’s pretty?” said Gerard, more as a statement then question. He had always had these feelings for Frank, but it always seemed like Frank didn’t share those feelings towards Gerard. So Gerard just teased him at times about Frank’s numerous crushes, but remained silent about his own crush; Frank.
“Isn’t he?”
“Meh” said Gerard, and waved with his hand, like he would be pushing something away.
“Who else?”
“Mikey” said Frank.
“Mikey?” Gerard was surprised: “Mikey’s not even our grade!”
“He just slithered himself along” Frank shrugged He didn’t really mind the younger Way brother coming along, but he knew that could bother Gerard. Yes, it was trued that the Way brothers were close, and they took care of each other, but Mikey was reckless and didn’t quite process his words before speaking them, and that really got on Gerard’s nerves.
“What do you mean ‘slithered in’? Didn’t the teacher set the groups?” wondered Gerard.
“Yeah, but... Mikey, he just... Oh, you know what he’s like!”
“Mikey’s boring” said Gerard. He loved his brother, but sometimes he wished that he would just disappear and never come back.
“We’re going early in the morning. Coming?” asked Frank, raising his eyebrow at his best friend.
“Boring” said Gerard, then spat a ball of spit through his teeth.
“As you wish” said Frank, then stood up: “You coming up?”
Gerard shook his head.
“Not yet. I’m just gonna walk around a little. There’s nothing good waiting for me at home anyways” he said.
“Okay then, see ya”
“See ya” said Gerard as he heard the door close behind Frank when he entered the building. Gerard took a little more time sitting on the stairs. The Turtleman was still changing the tires, the old orchestra teacher was walking around the neatly build tent, admiring his handy work.

Notes

Heeey sweethearts! I so I decided to post this story, which is based on a book I read a couple months ago, so I hope you like and justforr the heads up, I can't promise there'll be any smut, but I'll try putting some fluff things in there, but I'm mainly just gonna cuse on the story and it's mystery :)

Enjoy <3 xo and stay Fabulous
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