Thirty Five Days

Mikey's house was literally just across the street from mine – you could see into my bedroom from his front door, or at least you would be able to if I didn't always have the curtains closed. I followed him into a clean, well lit hallway with cream and brown wallpaper and furniture. Very similar to that of my own grandmother's actually. There was a strong smell of pizza as soon as we stepped into the kitchen, which made me glad since I had forgotten to tell Mikey I was vegetarian. The woman getting plates out of the cupboard turned around when we stepped into the room.
“Mikey, how was school today? Who's your friend?” She gave me a polite smile which I returned in a way I hoped didn't display my natural awkwardness in these situations.
“This is Frank, he's in some of my classes at school. Frank, this is my grandma, Elena.”
“Nice to meet you Frank.”
“And you Mrs...” I trailed off, realising I didn't actually know her name despite living across from her all this time.
“Oh, you can call me Elena, anything else makes me feel to old. Feel free to remind my grandson of that any time he mentions my age by the way. And speaking of grandsons, Mikey's brother Gerard also lives here but he probably won't appear since he never really leaves his room. Still if you do happen to see a boy with black hair and incredibly pale skin then that's him.”
I found myself smiling at her words, less awkward in her kitchen than I had anticipated, knowing the whole story now.
“What's that about not leaving my room?”
The new voice came from behind me and I spun around to see an almost breathtaking guy leaning casually against the door frame, with a grin that displayed ridiculously tiny teeth. His skin was in fact incredibly pale – he almost seemed to be glowing in contrast to his long, slightly greasy black hair. This must be Gerard.
“Of course he's left his room Grandma – you've cooked pizza and he's worried that if he stays down there he'll miss out.”
“Now, really Mikey, that is simply untrue. I leave my room for a great number of things such as pasta and ice cream and cake. In this instance, however, it is not any of those things I'm here for.”
“Really? Then why are you here?”
“To meet your new friend of course. The friend who you have been completely ignoring ever since I arrived even though you have the opportunity to see me whenever you want and you can only see him at school.”
Just like that Gerard Way walked over to me, smiling, and put his hand out for me to shake, which I took hesitantly as he spoke once more.
“Hello, I'm Gerard Arthur Way although you can call me Gerard. I'm Mikey's older brother that you'll probably never see again, unless you happen to come back when there's pizza or ice cream or one of the other rare foods I leave my room for. It's nice to meet you.”
“Er, hi. I'm Frank. Nice to meet you too.”
It was safe to say I'd never experienced another introduction quite like the way Gerard had just introduced himself and it seemed unlikely I ever would again as I don't imagine that's quite the sort of thing potential employers were going to say.
“That's all I get? I give you my life story in a nutshell and all I get from you is one name? Mikey, you need better friends.”
“Gerard, you're making him uncomfortable. Perhaps you should have stayed downstairs.”
I was surprised that it was Elena that spoke up at that point although Mikey still seemed too shocked at the sight of his brother interacting to actually do anything.
“No, it's okay. My name's Frank Anthony Iero, Jr but most people call me Frank. I'm Mikey's friend from school and I guess I'll never see you again unless I bring pizza. It's very nice to meet you too.”

***

The rest of the evening passed fairly normally - to my disappointment Gerard went back to his bedroom after we finished the pizza, leaving Mikey and I to sit in his bedroom. It was strange to see some of my posters on somebody else's walls but the more I saw of Mikey in his own environment the more I realised exactly how similar we were. I wondered if Gerard had similar interests as well or if he didn't manage to sustain any hobbies since he didn't leave his room.
We watched some of the old Hammer horror films being shown on the TV, both laughing at the special effects and marvelling that anyone had thought to produce these fairly graphic films with so little technology on their hands. Still, nobody played Dracula quite like Christopher Lee.
By the time my mum text to say I needed to go home, Mikey and I had managed to spend several hours chatting without bringing up the topic of his parents or his last school. In fact, we had discussed pretty much everything else – music, films, books, everything. I had enjoyed the evening far more than would have guessed I was going to, although I was slightly disappointed Gerard hadn't appeared again. Honestly, I wasn't sure why I was so obsessed with the older Way brother, I mean he was attractive but he shouldn't have made such an impression on me so quickly, should he?

As I expected, my mother had a whole host of questions prepared for me once I arrived back home.
“How was it Frank? Were his parents nice? What did they give you to eat? Could you actually eat what they had prepared for you? How was school – Matt came round looking for you after school but I told him you weren't here? Why didn't he know where you were?”
“Mum! Please stop asking questions all the time! Apart from the fact that it's bloody irritating how can I possibly answer a question when you've already asked a thousand more before I've even had the chance to process the first one?!”
Maybe I shouldn't have shouted at her like that but I really didn't think I could take another fucking interrogation session, especially after how hard it had been not to mention some things at Mikey's for fear of upsetting him.
“Fine,” she snapped, “you can answer those questions one by one and then I won't give you the thing that arrived in the post today.”
“Look, Mum, I'm sorry okay? It was just kinda stressful being at Mikey's and I didn't want to come home to be immediately bombarded with questions. But anyway, Mikey's house was good – we watched films and ate pizza. I met his older brother Gerard who also seemed pretty cool. They live with their grandmother because both their parents are dead. And Matt did know where I was, he probably just forgot.
“Happy now?” I decided that just answering her stupid questions was probably the best way to avoid any further conflict, besides I was curious to find out what had arrived in the post for me – as far as I knew I wasn't actually expecting anything.
“No I am not 'happy now'. You know it doesn't work that way, Frank. If you go upstairs and look on your bed you'll see your post. I want you to open it then bring it straight back to me, okay, because there's nothing I can do if you lose it.”
I was on my way up the stairs before she had even finished speaking.

The white envelope on my pillow didn't seem particularly exciting, even the post mark was only from the next town over. I was slightly disappointed as I tore it open, pulling out the letter inside. Except there was no letter. Inside the envelope were three tickets to next month's Black Flag concert.
After my immediate rush of gratitude to my mum I wondered why there were three tickets, desperately hoping that she hadn't been planning on her and my dad accompanying me.
“Mum, why are there three tickets?” She had followed me up the stairs, probably so she could see my reaction for herself.
“Well, I bought them a few months ago and I thought that maybe Matt and Chris could go with you, but now there's Mikey as well but there's no more tickets so I don't know what you want to do?”
At least she hadn't wanted to come.
“Do Matt and Chris know about the tickets?” If they didn't maybe I could not invite either of them, instead taking Mikey and (hopefully) Gerard if he liked their music too.
“No, they don't. I thought it would be a nice surprise for all of you.”
“Yeah it is a great surprise, Mum. I don't think I'm gonna invite those two though, I'm gonna ask Mikey and his brother if they want to come instead.”
“Alright then, if you think that's better. I just thought you were trying to be better friends with Matt and Chris?”
“Oh, I was but I've decided that since there's only a month left, I'll just talk to Mikey instead. At least he listens to me in conversations.”
She seemed a bit confused by the idea that I wouldn't just automatically ditch Mikey for Matt and Chris which I didn't really understand, but then again perhaps it was just the tiniest possibility of seeing Gerard again that was making me so eager to go with Mikey.
“I'm going to text him just now okay?” I was pulling out my phone before she even had the chance to respond.
Hey Mikey, thanks for inviting me round this afternoon I had a great time. When I got back I found out that my mum had bought three tickets to go see Black Flags next month so I was wondering if you and Gerard (if he likes them) would want to go with me? Its totally fine if you dont but I thought it would be nice to offer. Thanks again, Frank.
His reply came through almost immediately.
Black Flag tickets?! Thats amazing. Id love to come with you but I dont know if I can afford to get concert tickets just now. Gerard does like them by the way, we like almost all the same music, but he's in the same position as me regarding money. Thanks for the offer though. M
“Mikey says him and Gerard both love the Black Flags but can't afford the tickets, so I guess I will just have to invite Matt and Chris after all.” I tried to hide the disappointment in my voice as I relayed Mikey's response to my mother.
“He doesn't need to pay for the tickets. Tell him they're a moving in present, like a welcome-to-the-neighbourhood gift.”
“Really?! Thanks Mum, that's great!”
Mikey, dont worry – mum says you can have the tickets for free as a moving in present. Can you come now?
Wow, thats really nice of your mum Frank. I feel kinda bad taking them for nothing though. M
dont worry about it Mikey,she said its not a problem. Please come, if you dont ill probably have to go with my parents! :-\
okay then, if you insist! You can invite Gerard yourself – ill attach his number. M
Sure enough there was a phone number attached to the message. Slightly uncomfortable with the situation, I opened the contact and started to write a new message.
Hi Gerard, this is Frank Iero (Mikey's friend from earlier today). He gave me your number a minute ago so that I could personally invite you to come (with Mikey) to the Black Flags concert next month. Mikey has already said he will come and my mum is paying for the tickets as a moving in gift for you, so you don't need to worry about that. I hope you can come, Frank.
I hesitated a moment, rereading what I had written far more times than I would on a normal text before telling myself not to be so silly and hitting the send button.
The few minutes I had to wait for a response were unusually tense.
When my phone finally buzzed again, I was greeted with five simple words.

Notes

Look at that - two updates in less than an hour! Turns out writing things in advance can improve updating speed, who would've guessed?! Anyway hope you enjoy this since Gerard finally appeared! Thanks for reading :)