Roomie

Half-melted snow sloshed around my feet as I shuffled through the streets of Edison. We’d gotten some snow a couple days ago but it didn’t stay for long, and now the remnants only served to soak my sneakers. I had to admit, they were getting pretty grungy by now. I had another pair of newer shoes, but what would be the point of wearing them out to get dirty? I didn’t mind my toes being cold anyway, and kicked a lump of ice out of my way.

I’d decided to walk the two miles from the train station to the coffee shop instead of wait for the bus. I kind of knew my way around, it was this town in Jersey I’d been to a couple times before with kids I’d known in my few years at college. It was a lot nicer and bigger than where I grew up but you could still smell New Jersey coming out of its sewer drains.

Rounding the corner of the last block, I clutched the small package I was holding tightly in my hands. I stopped for a moment to scan the area for signs of life. Water droplets fell off of a tree behind me and a car passed by - I watched it and peered into the window from afar but the woman driving was someone I didn’t recognize. So I sighed and continued on, making my way inside of the coffee shop.

It was around eleven in the morning by then and the morning coffee rush had long been over. The bell jingled on the door as I entered and I stuffed the package inside of the pocket of my hoodie while walking up to the barista. He finished whatever mocha-frickafracka-whatsit he was working on and called out a name, blank eyes looking bored. I hurried to grab a menu to read before he might’ve started talking to me. I honestly could have been reading another language as I looked through the different drinks, I don’t know a goddam thing about coffee. I skipped back to the last page and found my saviour - tea. There was chamomile, and earl grey, and sweet fruity acai, and warm peach, and cool green, and -

“Do you know what you want?” the barista interjected.

Startled, I nearly dropped the menu and quickly shuffled through my pockets to find my wallet. “Yeah, uh, just a large peppermint tea with extra honey and...” I pulled out my wallet and gazed over at the pastries longingly. “Do you have any muffins without dairy in them?”

He stared at me for a second before he went to the display case and pointed, “Only the pumpkin ones. You want one?”

“Yeah just one of those,” I muttered, leafing through my wallet. Jesus fuck, I thought, counting my bills. I was going to be a few dollars short. Face reddening, I pulled out what I had and backtracked, “You know what I’m good I’ll jus-”

A figure appeared by my side and slid me a ten. “- Have two, actually, and a medium black coffee.”


I looked up and my lips pulled into a smile. With hi flame-red hair and eyes covered by sunglasses, Gerard had come to my rescue. The barista rung up our order and I handed over the money. When he turned around again to fix our drinks, I smiled sheepishly at Gerard and said, “Thanks, man.”

He grinned and said nothing. We waited a moment, then took what we ordered from the barista and found a place to sit in the empty cafe. Gerard put his pastry down on the table and walked off, and I sat on the worn cloth seat to wait for him to come back. Letting my tea steep, I noted how he held himself with a sense of confidence that I hadn’t seen in the month prior. He’d learned how to stand a little straighter, talk a little louder, and I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Every time I saw him he lost a piece of what I knew him as before, and that made me uneasy. I wondered if soon I would even recognize him.

But anyway, he looked happy, and from what he had been telling me he was doing well. He was dressed nicely with skinny jeans and a new white jacket I hadn’t seen before, and he was snuggled in a multicoloured scarf. I became aware of how I looked as I watched Gerard pour sugar and cream into his coffee (the pansy) - I still hadn’t gotten over myself and bought a new pair of jeans, so mine were riddled with holes, and instead of a winter coat I had on a hoodie with an even bigger hoodie over it. I was classy though, and I took them off when I got inside and into the heat.

At this point I was so wrapped up in my own head that Gerard had to get my attention when he sat across from me at the table with his coffee. My head bobbed up, seeing his fingers snap beneath my nose, and blood filled my cheeks. I let out a little laugh.

“You okay there?” he asked me. “You looked like you were about to fall asleep.”

I shook my head, grabbing my muffin and tearing a piece off. “I’m not tired.”

“That’s such a lie,” Gerard laughed, taking a big gulp of his sweetened drink. “When did you go to sleep last night?”

My eyes narrowed as I took a minute to think. I’d been up with anxiety for most of the night so yeah, I guess I was a little tired. “Like five or something.” I shoved the pastry into my mouth.

He seemed unphased by what I said, watching me. I swallowed and suddenly reached over and grabbed his sunglasses off of his face, wanting to be able to see his eyes.

Gerard immediately snatched them back from me and shoved them onto his face, but not before I saw the pale purple and red explosion encircling his right eye. His lips pursed and I could see his jaw lock as he continued his watch on me, nearly crushing his coffee cup with the intense grip he had on it now. I’d slid back in my seat from his violent reaction and my lips parted as I tried to find something to say.

“When did that happen?” I asked him, trying to be as calm as possible in that moment.

He was being careful with his thoughts, taking a lot of time to think before speaking or doing anything. Finally, though, he relaxed his muscles a bit and let his jaw go slack again. “A couple days ago,” he said, “on the subway into Grand Central.”

“Wha- who did- what?!” I sputtered.

“Some guy,” he huffed, making big gestures with his hands. “He came over to me before he got off the train, called me a faggot, and socked me right in the eye. And then he left and I went to work and nothing happened.”

I bit my lip as Gerard loosened his scarf and made himself more comfortable. He swept a hand through his red hair and it all fell to one side, obscuring part of his face. “Why would someone do that to you… Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” My gaze drifted away from his face and down to his hands, fidgeting as he pulled apart the rest of his pastry.

“I dunno, I must’ve looked like a faggot,” he snapped. “I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want you to worry last night.”

I started to get frustrated with him. I hadn’t gone out of my way to meet him for coffee that I couldn’t even afford, just so he could take his anger out on me. “Gerard, chill the fuck out. I’m sorry you got hurt but I can’t do a damn thing if you’re bein’ short with me. I didn’t do anything to you.” Although I still couldn’t see his eyes, he seemed to deflate a little. Maybe he’d be reasonable now. “Anyway… You said you got hit a couple days ago, not last night.”

“I did?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh,” he stiffened. “It felt like yesterday.”

It had looked to me like the bruise couldn’t’ve been more than a day old, but I didn’t trust myself to remember exactly what colours it was when I’d only seen it for a moment. It wasn’t really worth it to bring it up anymore, I thought, so I took a swig from my tea and then dug through my pile of sweatshirts to find the package I had brought with me. I set it on the table and pushed it over to Gerard, whose lips turned down into a frown at the offering.

“You got me something?” he asked. “What for?”

“For nothing.”

“I’ve been an ass, I don’t really feel like I deserve it now…” He picked up the package and turned it over once in his hands. “You don’t need to buy me things, I know you still haven’t found a job.”

I sighed. “It doesn’t matter. Will you just open the damn thing?” My head dropped into my hands. He was being an absolute child this morning. “It’s already bought and I’m just trying to be a cute fucking boyfriend but I’m tired and I can’t deal with your shit right now.”

“Sorry,” Gerard whispered, starting to pry open the package. I could hear him mutter under his breath something about him being right that I was tired. A minute later I heard a little clink of glass on the table and I looked up.

“Ink?”

“Yeah!” My face lit up a bit. I’d been really excited to give him this gift - a small pot of beautiful shimmering blue ink. “It’s for your fountain pen. I found it when we moved all of your shit to your new place, remember? You said you broke your last ink bottle and you kept forgetting to buy more.”

“Wow, yeah,” he held the glass bottle up to the light to see the colour sparkle. “I’m surprised you remembered. I haven’t used that pen in years.”

“You liked it back in college.”

“Ha, didn’t I write an art history paper for you with that pen?” he was smiling again, and I smiled back, contagious.

“Yeah man, and when you gave it to me half the thing was smudged up!”

We spent a blissful moment laughing and our faces turned pink with happiness. I knew things were different now, but it was hard not to think about the good ol’ days back in college when everything was easy. Sure it didn’t work out so well, but we were happy while it lasted and I hoped now we could get back to that state of mind.

After we caught our breath, I said, “Hey, you gotta do me a favour now since I got you that present.”

“That’s not how presents work!” Gerard smirked, “But I’ll do it anyway. Whatchu want?”

“Since you’re a goddam celebrity living in New Yuck City and I never get to see you and Mikey anymore, you have to use that ink and write me some goddam sincere handwritten letters. That way, next time you get knocked in the face I’ll know a couple days after just ‘cuz snail mail can suck my balls.”

Gerard burst out laughing again, but managed to say, “Alright, alright, I’ll do it! And Mikey misses you, ya know. He wants you to record more.”

“Send some money with your letters and I’ll take the train up to meet him sometime.”

“I know, I know, you just want me for my money. Thanks for the present,” Gerard lifted himself out of his seat slightly to lean over the table and give me a kiss.

“I love you.”

“I love you too, dammit.”

Notes

Sorry his took twice as long as I expected it to! I actually ended up writing one chapter and scrapping it before I posted it. So here's chapter 6 and I hope everyone likes it, leave me a comment to let me know what you think and how things should go. Thanks for all of the support so far!