Irmarie P.O.V.
I knew Gerard was going to come. So, I left the door unlocked so he can come in.
We all helped put everything away. I was putting away canned foods when Gerard came in.
"Hey Gerard. Want to help me?" I asked.
"Sure." He said.
Gerard handed me all cans while I organized them.
"Oh, hey Gerard!" Spike said.
"Hey Spike!" Gerard said. "Irmarie. I have to talk to you after this, okay?"
It sounded pretty serious. I wonder what he wants to talk about.
Outside it was already dark. Coco was looking outside the window to see if it would snow.
Dad needed all the boys to go help him with something. So, I was left alone.
Coco saw me. "Need help?" She offered.
"Yeah." I said.
"So, you and Gerard are friends," Coco said as she handed me the can of corn.
"Yep." I said as I got on the chair, (I'm short like Frank.) and put it on the top shelf.
"You like him," Coco said.
"What?" I said almost falling off the chair.
"You like Gerard. It's obvious." Coco said.
"You mean like a friend or-"
"More than a friend." Coco smiled.
"No. I-I don't like him like that," I said feeling my face heat up. Great.
"Have you had thoughts like 'he looks adorable,' or things similar to that about him?" Coco asked.
"Y-yeah," I said.
"Then you like him." Coco said.
I thought about it. I guess I do like him. He's actually the first person that I actually like...
"I guess I do." I said to Coco.

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After I finished putting the things away, I sat down in the living room. I sighed. I love Gerard and I can't do anything about it. I can't go up to him and say that I love him. I can't, I'll probably die of an anxiety attack.
I hate this. I hate it on how I can't do probably a lot of things just because I was pretty sure I'll have my anxiety attacks.
"Irmarie?" I heard Gerard call.
"I'm in the living room!" I called.
"Irmarie. Can I talk to you?" Gerard asked.
"Yeah."
"Uh," Gerard said and looked around. "Not here. Do you have any place we can talk in privet?"
I knew what he was talking about. Coco was probably eavesdropping on us.
"Yeah. We can talk in the library." I said.
"You have a library?" Gerard asked.
"We like to read too," I said.
I lead Gerard to the library, which was upstairs.
"So," Gerard said once in the library.
"You were saying?" I said.
"Okay. Uh. Why do you have those scars on your arms?" He asked. I swear I felt the room get smaller. How did he find out?
"What." I said.
"Those scars on your arms. How did you get them?" Gerard said like a little kid.
I just looked at him because I didn't know what to say. Does he hate me?
"You can tell me anything, Irmarie. I promise not to tell anybody. Pinkie promise," he said and held out his pinkie.
I looked at it. "You have a weird pinkie," I whispered.
He gave a small laugh. "I know. But, I promise, I won't tell."
I looked at his pinkie and then his eyes. He's telling the truth. I sighed and we pinkie promised.
"Can you please tell me how did you get those scars?" Gerard asked.
"That's what I meant by 'bad times' when we were at the park." I said. "I did them to myself."
"Why did you do them to yourself?" Gerard asked holding my hand.
"I-I did it because I hated myself." I whispered.
"Why did you hated yourself? Y-you're just a wonderful person, I don't see why you should hate yourself." Gerard said.
"People said a lot of things to me. I didn't like how I looked either. I was and am a big girl and I always will." I whispered.
"Don't pay attention to them. You're beautiful. I'm sorry, too." Gerard said while whipping away my tears.
"Why are you sorry?" I asked.
"Because I was one of those people. I'm sorry I bullied you. I really am." Gerard said and pulled me for a hug.
"I forgive you," I said feeling safe.
"Can I see them?" Gerard asked.
I nod my head. He grabs my hand and rolls up my sleeves. He took off my bracelets revealing a whole lot of old scars.
He traced every one of them with his finger. "You shouldn't have deserved this." Gerard whispered. He then started kissing every scar and that's when I lost it. I started sobbing so hard.
After he had finished kissing every one of the scars, he pulled me for the biggest hug I ever gotten.
"I may not know a lot about this, but thank you for staying strong. Thank you for not giving up." Gerard said.
I continue to cry into his chest. "Thank you for being an amazing person that is helping me understand things I thought I would never understand before." Gerard continued.
He then kissed my forehead and wiped away the remaining tears. "I'm here for you." He said,
I sniffed, "I now know." I smiled.
"Do you have ice cream?" Gerard asked.
"No..." I thought.
"I have some at my house. Lets go get some for you," Gerard said.
I smiled and we headed downstairs.
Mama noticed that we were going to leave, "I don't think you want to go outside now."
Gerard and I looked at each other.
"The blizzard has started." Mom said.
"Oh..." I said.
"Have you been crying?" Mom asked and then looked at Gerard.
"I told him," I said.
Mom gave me a confused look. "Oh, OH! Okay." Mom nodded and then left to the living room.
"What kind of junk food do you have?" Gerard asked.
"We bought cherries, a lot of chips, Oreos, and we have soda." I said,
"Come on, we're going to cheer you up." Gerard said and took my hand.
We ran to the kitchen. I told Gerard where the chips and the Oreos where while I got out the cherries and the sodas.
Vinny came to the kitchen. When he saw us he said he wanted to join us and so we let him.
Gerard cheering me up with junk food is probably the most sweetest thing a person can do.
The snow outside started to fall pretty fast. There was hardly anybody out there. I guess the blizzard came in a little bit earlier than expected.
Gerard saw the snow falling. "I'm not going home tonight." Gerard said.
"Don't worry, you can bunk with Vinny." I said.
"Thanks." Gerard said and then looked at Vinny.
"Sure, you can bunk with me. I wouldn't want our guest to sleep on the couch. Plus, my room is the only available spot since Coco, Star, and Wolfgang is sleeping at Irmarie's room." Vinny said.
"Okay." Gerard said.
We put away the food. But just as we did that, the power went off.
"Great!" I heard Spike say.
"Do you know where the candles are?" I heard Mama ask.
"They're in the basement," Dad called.
"Rocky, Vinny, go help your father get the candles." Mom said.
"Alright. Where are you Dad!" Vinny called.
"By the basement door." Dad called.
"Gerard," I said.
"Yeah?"
"I can't see anything. Where are you?" I asked.
"Next to the fridge." Gerard said.
"Do you have to sodas?" I asked.
"Yep. But might as well leave them out here." Gerard said.
"Let's head to the living room." I suggested.
"Okay. But, where are you?" Gerard asked.
"Next to the oven." I said.
I heard him move closer to me, then he held my hand. "Lead the way," he said. I guess since I admitted to myself that I love Gerard, my heart started beating a little bit faster. I sighed and lead the way.
I can tell nobody is sitting on the couch. And, if they are, give me a break, I can't fucking see! So, I made my way to the couch, guiding Gerard.
I don't know why, but I feel this is like a metaphor to our life situation right now.
"I hope nobody is sitting down," I whispered to myself then sat down. I sighed at the fact that I wasn't sitting down on someone. I can feel Gerard sitting down.
"Irmarie? Gerard? Are you- OUCH!" I heard Mom say.
"We're at the couch!" I called.
"Are you okay, Rosa?" Gerard called.
"Yeah. I just didn't see the table there." Mom said. She was probably setting the candle down and is now lighting it up. When the candle was lit, it gave a small warm glow. "I'll bring more." Was all Mom said before she left.
I leaned in a little bit to see which candles they were using. They're probably going to use all the candles we have, even the scented ones.
I looked at the print. "Vanilla," I read out loud.
"What?" Gerard asked.
"The candle scent is vanilla." I said and sat back down.
Mom came in with more candles. Coco and Spike then came to the living room after they had finished setting the candles in the hall. Slowly, my family started coming to the lighted-up-by-candles living room.
"Well, this can be a great time to use those board games we never use," Dad said. Dad is an optimistic person.
We all agreed and started playing the board games.