Frank Iero

Why does that name sound so familiar?

I thought while extending my hand to the dreaded hair guy standing in front of me. "So this is your sister. It's so nice to finally meet you Jess, Jay and Geoff have told us a lot about you." Frank says while placing his hand in mine.

"It's nice to meet you Frank, hopefully those assholes only told you the good things." Frank let's out this loud chuckle that is nothing short of contagious. "Well that depends on what you consider good." Frank retorts.

What a sassy little fucker, I thought to myself, while laughing at his response.

"Jess, we should bring these coffees downstairs while they are hot, I'm sure the guys could use a pick me up" Jay says while interrupting mine and Frank's conversation. I quickly side glance my brother, while rolling my eyes, following behind him while he guides me inside.

My brother has always been overly protective of me. He always felt the need to step into conversations between me and guys when he was around. My guess is that he felt that if he did this, it would either show the guy that he was always watching, or to stop me from forming any kind of emotional connect to anyone of the male gender. I understood it was just his way of showing he cared. Sometimes it bugged me, but since it happened so often when he was around I was fairly use to it by now.

Upon entering through the door I notice we are in a home, not that this should surprise me, Jay did warn me the studio was in the basement. Following him carefully down some steps I am met by the sounds of drums filling my ears.

"Yo guys, want coffee?" I hear Frank call behind me, while we enter the small studio.

The first thing I notice in the small studio is various studio equipment, instruments and some old beat up couches. While I look around I then begin to see some CD's hung around the wall, mostly what looks like to be local artists from the New Jersey area. The room was small, compact, but at the same time was full of life. Various empty beer cans, coffee cups and pizza boxes littered the room with stacks of various music papers on a couple of tables.

Three guys quickly approach us, there's eyes glistening at the sight of coffee before them, while one guy stands still, sitting at the mixing board, watching what appears to be someone else in the recording booth who seems to be playing the drums.

"Jess!" The tall, lanky man shouts towards me while engulfing me in a big hug. "Hello to you as well Geoff" I laugh while returning the hug.

"Not only do you look even more beautiful then when I saw you last, but you brought me coffee!" He exclaims while pulling away and grabbing one of the coffees from the tray that my brother handed off to me.

"Geoff, what have I told you about hitting on my sister man, not cool." I hear my brother mumble as he drops down on the old worn out couch in the room. I roll my eyes at my brother and look over to the three other unfamiliar men in the room, two of which are standing talking to Frank.

"Are you going to introduce me to your friends Jay, or is this another thing I am going to have to do for you?" I say smugly, glancing towards my brother who is fully enamored by the coffee in front of him and the couch his ass is sitting on.

"Let your brother be a lazy asshole, here Jess, let me introduce you." Frank appears, grabbing my hand and dragging me towards the two guys standing around and the other guy who is manning the soundboard intently.

"Jess, I would like you to meet Ray Toro and Mikey Way." Frank says pointing to the two guys who now stand in front of me.

"It's nice to meet you Jess, I'm Ray." The tall guy with shorter curly hair in front of me says, while extending his hand to shake mine. "It's nice to meet you" I reply smiling warmly towards him.

"As Frank said, I'm Mikey, your brother and Geoff won't shut up about you" the other guy with glasses says while shaking my hand as well. "It's really nice to meet you Mikey, and hey, nice shirt." I say while eyeing his Anthrax shirt that is fit neatly on his lean body. "Thanks." He reply's, grinning widely at my comment.

"And the man on the mission here is Alex. "Mikey states turning towards the guy sitting down, who is busy pressing down various buttons on the soundboard. He briefly stops what he is doing to turn his chair and shake my hand. "Nice to meet you Jess." He says smiling towards me. "Nice to meet you as well Alex."

Shortly after the introductions, the guys seem to all settle in around the room, either talking between themselves, drinking their coffee silently or writing down various things on paper. I look around and notice a black chair next to Alex by the sound board and decide to sit down there.

I scan the various buttons in front of me in amazement. Most of the instruments I recognize instantly from the years going with my dad to gigs, but I had never seen so much of it all in one space at one time. Recording had always been a quiet dream of mine. Opening my own studio, finding new talent, and helping artists achieve their dreams was something I was passionate about. This was a dream I had never openly shared with my brother and my dad, mostly because I was so insecure with my own abilities to be able to achieve it and the lack of knowledge in the and reputation in the music field.

"Pretty cool isn't it?" I hear Alex say next to me, breaking me out of my trance.

"Yeah, I don't know how this shit doesn't completely overwhelm you." I chuckle, while sipping on my coffee. "It comes a lot easier with time and practice." He responds while pressing a few buttons.

"You ever been in a studio before?" He asks, stopping what he was doing and turning to look at me."No this is the first time. I used to go to gigs with my dad all the time when he did sounds and lights, but nothing like this." I say shyly pointing my arm towards the various tools and equipment in front of us.

"Well if you stick around, I would be happy to show you..."
He starts to say something to me but is suddenly interrupted by the sound of the drums coming from the booth in front of him.

He sighs, turning away from me and forces his focus on the person playing the drums in the booth. "Matt, you're drumming too quickly again man, you gotta slow it down."

The obviously frustrated person in booth, who i now figured out is named Matt, places his drum sticks down in a somewhat angry manner "Listen dude, I'm trying, it sounded find to me."

Alex rolls his eyes in frustration, his hand rubbing his eyes. "Why don't we just take a break, come out and have a coffee." Matt then proceeds to get up and leave the booth, walking towards us.

"Where the hell is Gerard, Mikey?! He said he was going to be here an hour ago and we need to get these fucking vocals finished." Matt states in an annoyed tone, ignoring my presence in the room.

"I don't know man, he said he had to go to the doctors to get more meds for his tooth and he was coming over."

Who is this Gerard guy? I thought. Is he the singer my brother was complaint long about earlier?

I could sense the tension beginning to fill the small space, making me shift uncomfortably in my chair. After a couple of minutes I decide it was best to step out of the room and get some fresh air.

Trotting up the stairs and pushing open the door I let the overwhelming sense of daylight fill my eyes causing me to squint. I quickly reaching for my sunglasses on my forehead to help shield me from the sudden brightness that appears to be overpowering my senses. Once I adjust to the sunlight, I pull my slightly squished package of cigarettes from my jeans pocket and quickly place the cigarette on my red stained lips.

Letting the nicotine fill my lungs I quickly begin to relax and make my way over to a tree I see. I lean on the tree and begin to look at all the houses on the street noticing their similarities, yet the decorative differences between them. Some of the houses are neatly kept, with gardens full of flowers, while others have wood chip porches that are in serious need of a paint job.

Suddenly I hear a car door close near me causing me to glance towards the sudden interruption and change of noise. When I turn my head, I notice a guy, with messy black hair walking towards where I am standing. His faded black pants and jean jacket fit somewhat snug to his body, while he hung his head low, not paying attention to the world around him.

No matter how hard I tried to look away, there was something about the way he carried himself that entranced me. Maybe it was the way he was so oblivious to his surrounding environment, or how his clothing choice gave off a who gives a shit kind of vibe. Who knows what it was, but it was something I couldn't put a finger on and it was something I have never seemed to feel before.

The mystery man I couldn't seem to take my eyes off of quickly started walking past me and towards the house where the other guys and the studio was. This must be Gerard I thought to myself.

Just as I was about to force myself to look away, he glanced up slightly in my direction and I saw something I could never forget.


I saw those piercing hazel eyes stare right at me, full of pain, yet so full of life. Those eyes, shot right through me and me the most uncomfortable, yet comfortable I had ever felt in my life.

Notes

Okay, here we go! Finally meeting the rest of MCR and getting a glimpse of Gerard.
Thanks for all the input so far, hopefully this chapter as a little bit longer!

until next time

xo-J