Go With Me

Gerard woke up when darkness still filled his bedroom. It was Friday, 3rd of June 2005. By the cough he heard emerge from the street, he assumed it would be dawning soon. His eyes were open, staring in to the darkness. He heard the light snoring of his younger brother, who was still deeply sleeping. He was a bit jealous of him, being able to sleep soundly, when Gerard himself didn’t sleep much that night.
When the shouting in the living room died down late last night, when he was able to shut his eyes for a brief moment, his drunken neighbour, whose bedroom was right next to Gerard’s, only separated by a thin wall, stumbled home, causing so much noise and banged on the wall, to which Gerard’s bed was pressed to.
Gerard covered himself over his head with his blanket, waiting for his neighbour to pass out. And after a while he actually did, and all Gerard could hear was his dreadful snoring! He would sometimes bang on the wall himself, trying to shut up his neighbour and it work for about a minute, then the snoring began again. Somewhere around two in the morning, the snoring was joined by his father’s gasping for air. It wasn’t like he was suffocating, the old man was just as stupid in his sleep as we was awake. And all of this didn’t stop, until that first cough came from the street.
Gerard got up and silently snuck to the bathroom. The light was still on, probably from last night. First he took a piss, then splashed cold water on to his face. Then he sat down on the edge of the bathtub, resting his had on his hands. He was lacking sleep, and it showed on his face. He felt a slight pain, like something would be packing at him. A yawn escaped his lips. He stood up and looked himself in the mirror. For a moment, he just stared at the reflection. He noticed that his eyes were a little red. He stared at the for long time, then smiled to himself.
‘Gerard, Gerard’ he thought to himself: ‘This could be your last day. The old man’s going to kill you when he finds out you got kicked out of school. Especially when he learns why!’ he fixed his messy hair, continuing to stare in the mirror.
‘And besides, who is he to talk shit? I she going to give me a lecture? Him? The guy who went to prison. Meh’ he thought: ‘Boring’
He returned to his room. He picked up the jeans that were laying on the floor by his bed and put them on. He took a fresh shirt from the closet and also put it on. Then he left the bedroom and went in to the living room, where he found his father, still snoring loudly. He walked to his father’s pants, which were hung over the sofa, quickly feeling around them with his hands, until he found dads wallet. Gerard took it out and opened it, causing it to make a slight rsk sound. He looked over to his father, terrified that he might wake up, but the old man just turned in his sleep and continued snoring. He took a few bucks out of the wallet, briefly counting them, then shoved them inside his pocket, returning the wallet to its previous place. Gerard was just about to leave, when he heard a quiet voice.
“I won’t rat you out”
Gee looked over to his younger brother, who was still half asleep. The older brother stepped to his baby brother, handing him a few dollar bills.
“Here, saw them for your trip, if you’ll need it” whispered Gerard, still careful not to wake his dad.
“Thanks... Where are you going?” asked Mikey, putting away the money.
“I don’t know... Around, I guess...”
“But, you’re coming back, right?”
“Of course” smirked Gee, messing up Mikey’s hair: “What else did you think?”
“Well, have fun, bro” mumbled Mikey, then left for the bedroom, to catch a some more sleep, before the trip. Gerard smiled to himself. He stayed in the living room a while longer, watching his father sleep on his back, gasping for air.
‘He’s gonna kill me today’ Gerard thought to himself. He passed the sofa and walked in to the kitchen. Once there, he opened the fridge and making himself a sandwich.
Sandwich in hand, he left the kitchen, putting on his Converses, leaving the apartment behind him.
When he stepped outside the building it was already bright, a couple of birds already singing the song of morning. The only thing interrupting this beautiful morning were the sounds of car engines being turned on through the entire block.
Gerard sat down on the stairs in front of the apartment building, sinking his teeth in to the sandwich. As he ate, Gerard watched how the world slowly awoken in to a bright, sunny morning. Lights turning on in some apartments, pet owner taking their dogs on a morning walk, some were only returning home, tired for drinking the entire night before. Some of these hid the fact that they were drunk, others were as skilled. The sun was soon completely risen and the entire street began its usual day.
This bored Gerard, so he decided to go in to the bike shack. He took his packet of cigarettes, shoving it in his pocket, like the money before, then walked to the back side of his apartment building, seeing numerous balconies. He sat down under the first balcony he reached, lighting up a cigarette with his lighter. He took a couple of smoked, then burned out the cigarette, returning the half that was left of it in to the packet. He stepped out from under the balcony, putting two fingers in to his mouth and whistling as loud as he could. It was a sort of special whistle, it was their whistle. Gerard stared at the balcony on the third floor. Nothing... He whistled again, not even louder, which he thought wasn’t possible. Again, nothing... He picked up a pebble from the ground and threw it at the window next to the balcony. His window.
He missed the first time, but the second time he got lucky. The pebble hit the window! The sunlight bounced of the glass, when the window opened, Frank’s head picking from it. Gerard loved seeing Frank like this; messy hair, sleepy face and shirtless. It was like a morning gift for him.
“What’s wrong with you? You know what time it is?” Frank said, trying to be pissed off at his best friend, but failed to do so. It was Frank’s favourite time of the day when he got to see his best friend, especially if Gerard came to call him from under his balcony. It made him feel like he was Juliet and Gerard was Romeo, coming to sweep him off his feet. He never had the guts to tell Gerard about his feelings towards him, fearing rejection. So he kept his feeling for his best friend bottled up, trying to push them away by spending more time with Ray, who clearly had a crush on him. It never worked though.
“Are we going on that trip?” asked Gerard, giving Frank a half smile.
“What trip? What’s up with you today?”
“Photography! I’m asking if we’re going on the photography trip?”
“You’re insane” sighed Frank, leaning down on the window sill, hiding away his torso.
“You did say that you’re going early in the morning. Now is early in the morning” said Gerard, feeling kind of disappointed that he would no longer see Frank’s perfect body.
“No, not now. We’re agreed to go in an hour” said Frank.
“Early bird catches the warm” retorted Gerard. Frank studied Gerard’s face, trying to figure out if he was serious, but all Gerard did, was shrug innocently. Frank rolled his eyes, gesturing to Gerard that the was crazy.
“Wait there, I’ll be right down” then said Frank, closing the window as he went back inside to get dressed. Gerard smiled mo himself. God, did he love him!
Gerard was sitting on the stairs in front of Frank’s building for a while, before Frank appeared.
“Are you sleep walking?” asked Frank, sitting down next to his best friend.
“You could say that” Gerard smirked at Frank with a raised eyebrow, thinking to himself: ‘Sleep walking right to you, sweetheart’
Frank playfully smacked Gerard over his shoulder, then stood up, gently tugging on Gerard’s hand.
“Come on, get your ass up and let’s go”
Gerard immediately stood up, following the shorter man.
“Where are we going?” asked Gerard when he caught up with Frank.
“We’re getting Ray, I called him to get ready. Then we’re going to go get Mikey, because you’re right; Eraly bird catches the warm, my friend” Frank smiled, all excited. Gerard was glad that Frank was so excited about this trip, he just didn’t like that he was excited about something that involved Ray.
He watched Frank, happily skip beside him, the bag pack on his bag bouncing up and down.
“What then?” asked Gerard, still curious about Frank’s plan, even though a part of it bugged him to his very core.
“Then, we go exploring” exclaimed Frank. Only moments later, they were in front of Ray’s apartment building, but the only problem was, that there was no Ray.
“Typical” mumbled Gerard under his breath, leaning back on the stair rail.
“He’ll show. I had to wake him up you know”
“That means till be a long while before he show up” said Gerard: “To get that fro of his to stand perfectly and all that...”
Frank watched his friend for a while, sensing a slight ironic tone in Gerard’s voice, but couldn’t quite figure out why. Was it maybe that Gerard likes Ray, and was bothered by the fact that Frank spends so much time with him? Frank quickly pushed the thought away. Of course Gerard didn’t like Ray, he usually couldn’t stand the sight of him. Secretly Frank smiled to himself, sneaking a glance at the black haired boy.
“I think you might be right...” said Frank, leaning on the stair rail next to Gerard, making sure their arms were pressed together. Frank just loved the feeling that spread through his body when he touched Gerard, even if it was only a high five or a shoulder pat.
“What do you have with you?” asked Gerard, pointing to Frank’s backpack.
“Camera, lenses... sandwich, water, hoody, stuff like that” shrugged Frank.
“Stuff like that” repeated Gerard.
“You don’t have anything?”
“I’m not in photography club” said Gerard.
Their conversation was interrupted by the front door behind them swinging open. Both boys turned around, expecting to see Ray, but instead of him, out came an old lady with a walking stick.
“Good morning” the boys said in unison.
“Don’t you have anything better to do? Don’t you have school today?” said the old lady.
“It’s the day of the school” explained Frank: “There’s no school”
“Oh, really... Well... When I was your age, we didn’t have things like this, we didn’t have time to just sit around” said the old lady, her voice bitter. Frank and Gerard moved closer to the rail, giving the old woman space on the stairs. The old woman looked at the boys, swinging her stick toward Frank and yelled: “Get away from the rail, hooligans”
The boys quickly moved away from the rail, allowing the old lady to hold on to it, as she made her way down the stairs with a look of old lady evil on her face. Gerard and Frank grinned to each other. They knew the old woman; Mrs. Lapkovski, the old Russian lady who yelled at children when they played under her window or in front of the stairs.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she turned to the boys once more.
“You have no manners! This is supposed to be city culture, not this hillbilly, sitting around on the stairs, that you people do” she hissed, then continued her way down the street, heading towards the bus stop, like she does every morning. Frank and Gerard started laughing, still watching the Mrs. Lapkovski, struggling with her walking stick, Gerard smirking out: “So, when she sits by her window all day, that’s more city culture or something?”
They looked at each other, even wider grins appearing in their faces.
“Where is he? Come on, call him!” then said Gerard, becoming impatient with Ray.
“Should I?” hesitated Frank. He like spending time alone with Gerard and he didn’t want it to end, even though they have this photography trip.
“Yes! Otherwise we’ll be here all day” Gerard said, rolling his eyes.
“Okay, yeah, you’re right” said Frank, taking his phone from his pocket and dialling Ray’s number. Gerard carefully watched him, just hopping that Frank wouldn’t light up like a Christmas tree when he would hear Ray’s voice.
“It’s ringing” announce Frank.
Gerard spat through his teeth, like so many times before and then he heard Frank say: “Where are you?... Well, hurry up, we’re waiting for ya”
Frank hung up, putting his phone back in to his pocket. They were silent for a while, just watching everything going on, on their street.
“You didn’t say anything at him, right?” Frank asked, breaking the silence. Gerard looked up at Frank, their eyes immediately meeting. Gerard loved Frank’s eyes, his beautiful hazel eyes that always seem happy, with small specks of green and dark brown in them. He especially loved then Frank sometimes put on eyeliner, smudging it a bit and it looked perfect.
Just as Gerard was about to answer, the door behind them opened again and out came Ray.
“Ready?” asked Ray, a big grin on his face directed at Frank.
“Ready” smiled Frank.
“We still need to get Mikey and he’s not answering his phone” said Gerard.
The three boys headed down the street, towards Frank’s and Gerard’s apartment building.
Frank and Ray walked in front, with Gerard a few steps behind them, his hands tucked away in his pockets, glaring at the two in front, feeling sick every time Ray laughed at something Frank said. Yes, Frank was funny, but not ‘every word that comes out of his mouth is golden’ funny.
Ray also had a backpack, it swinging on his shoulder, as he tried to keep up the pace with Frank. Then all of a sudden, Ray turned back to Gerard.
“What, your old man didn’t kill you yet?” he asked.
“Not yet” shrugged Gerard.
“Ray, come on” said Frank, giving Ray a strict look.
“What?” innocently asked Ray, giving Frank a flirty look in return. Gerard rolled his eyes and Frank remained quiet, the whole way back to the building.
“Okay, sorry” said Ray after a while, looking at Frank with a raised eyebrow: “Excuse me for living”
No one said anything anymore, until they got to the building.
“Should we buzz him down, or...?” asked Frank, looking at Gerard for an answer. Gerard looked up to the floor their apartment was on, seeing the light turned on in their room.
“Nah, just buzz him” said Gerard. Frank stepped to the intercom, pressing the button next to the name WAY. The window of Gerard and Mikey’s room opened up a second later, Mikey’s head peeking down at the boys.
“I’ll be right down!” he yelled, maybe a little too loudly, because a few of the neighbours turned their heads to see who was yelling this early in the morning.
“Hurry up, we’re waiting” yelled back Frank, getting even more looks. Gerard leaned back on the rail, spiting through his teeth again, Ray and Frank soon following his example.
“Who’s going to babysit him?” asked Gerard. Don’t get him wrong, he loved his baby brother, but he was clumsy and hasty.
“There’s nothing we can do about it now, Gee” shrugged Frank. Gerard played with his lighter, making that click sound in his pocket.
“Doooeees this tickle you?” asked Ray, tickling Frank. The shorter of the three boys jumped away, giggling out a: “It does”
“Aaaaand thiiiis?” Ray asked again, tickly Frank some more.
“Where the hell are we even going?” interrupted Gerard, seeing enough of Ray tickling his best friend and crush. They immediately stopped, becoming serious.
“Well, my mom said that it would be best if we head up to the old castle or go around the old water tower and take the pictures there” said Ray.
“That’s not the unknown, that’s history” said Gerard, raising his eyebrow at Ray in annoyance.
“He’s right” agreed Frank: “We should find something that we don’t see every day, something that’s hidden front the ordinary eye. Maybe something completely random, like a homeless person or a passed out drunk...”
“We see that every day, Frankie” interrupted Gerard.
“I don’t mean it like that... You know what I mean... Something we don’t see every day on TV. We need to explore!” said Frank.
“What if we go...” started Ray, but couldn’t come up with anything good.
“Down town, of course” said Frank. Then Mikey came downstairs, in his regular, everyday clothing; skinny jeans, a band t-shirt with a hoody and run down Converses. He also had a backpack like Frank and Ray, maybe a slightly bigger up.
“So, where are we going?” asked Mikey.
The three boys looked at each other.
“Gee, you coming with us?” Mikey asked surprised at the sight of his older brother.
“Mhm” hummed Gerard.
“Awesome!” exclaimed Mikey: “So, where are we going?”
“Exploring” said Ray.
“Where?” asked Mikey.
“For starters, we’re going to the marker down town” said Frank.
“What the fuck will we be doing there?”
Gerard raised his eyebrow at his baby brother’s cursing, but said nothing.
“I don’t know, maybe will find something interesting” shrugged Frank.
“Okay, then” said Mikey.
The group of four boys headed down the street, towards downtown.

Notes

Hey, sweetheart :) sorry, I haven't updated in a long time :P had some shit to deal with
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