Irmarie P.O.V.
When I woke up the next day, I told Rocky I was going out.
"Where are you going?" He asked outside of my closed bedroom door.
"Gerard invited me to visit his Grandma." I said putting on a black shirt with white crosses and skulls. Funny how crosses are suddenly in. I remember if you had a shirt with crosses of a necklace of a cross you were consider Gothic.
"Who else is going?" Rocky asked.
"Just him and his family." I said and opened the door for him
"Okay. Behave. Got it?" Rock said.
"Dude, I'm going to turn eighteen this year. I'm pretty sure I can behave." I said and grabbed my bag.
"Okay. But, behave, okay?" Rocky said.
"Dude, it's going to be okay. Plus, Gerard said that she was a sweet lady who likes heavy metal." I said.
"Wow. His Grandma must be so cool. I remember Grandma Jackie hit me with a broom because I put on Steel Panther." Rocky said.
"She only hit you because you wouldn't let her watch her novelas." I said and punched his arm.
"What. She always watch those Spanish soap operas! She needs a break from them." Rocky said.
"True. Hey, remember when she wanted me to get a boyfriend when I was sixteen." I smiled.
"Oh my God!" Rocky laughed. "I do! Man, she got Nacho and you to go on a date!"
"Well, we both ditch the date. We went to go eat some tacos with Rodrigo and Jorge." I laughed.
"Grandma Jakie flipped out when she found you guys." Rocky said and we both laughed.
"Oh Grandma Jakie." We both said.
There was a knock on the door. "And that will be the Ways. Gotta go. Bye, Rocky!" I said and ran to the door.
"Behave, Irmarie!" Rocky called.
"I'm not five!" I called back. I opened the door. "Hey Gerard!"
"Ready?" Gerard smiled.
"Yeah." I smiled back.
"Come on," Gerard said and took my hand. We both ran to the car. Gerard open the door for me and I got in.
"Hello, Irmarie." Donald and Donna said.
"Hi." I smiled. "Hey, Mikey."
"Hey, Irmarie." Mikey said.
An hour later, we made it to Grandma Helena's neighborhood. It was a nice neighborhood comparing to the one we lived in.
"See that house at the corner of the street?" Gerard whispered to my ear and pointed to a warm blue colored two-story house. At the front of the house was a flower bed. There was a big oak tree with no leaves since it was still winter.
"Yeah." I said.
"That's where Grandma Helena lives." Gerard whispered.
"That's a big house." I said.
"Well, there was four of us." Donna said.
"By the way, how did your family manage to fit five kids in one house?" Donald asked.
"My parents slept in the basement. When my oldest brother, Robin, got married, my parents moved to his room and turned the old room to a music room." I said.
Donald pulled to the driveway. Mikey ran and knocked on the black colored door. An old lady open up the door. Her hair reminded me of Donna's.
"Mikey!" She smiled and hugged Mikey. I tell you, Grandma Helena looks small next to Mikey.
"Grandma!" Mikey hugged Grandma Helena.
"Oh! Gerard!" Grandma Helena walked to Gerard.
"Grandma!" Gerard smiled and hugged his Grandma.
"Oh, I missed you so much!" Grandma Helena said. She saw me and smiled. "Is this your girlfriend?"
"Uh- no, no, no. We're just friends. Friends." Both Gerard and I said.
"Oh, well then, nice to meet you. I'm Grandma Helena." She smiled.
"I'm Irmarie." I said.
"Well, lets all go inside. I made cookies!" Grandma Helena said.
We all walked inside the house. Now, I tell you, the inside of the house is really different. Man, when Gerard said Grandma Helena is a sweet old lady who likes heavy metal, he wasn't kidding.
The living room was full of posters from metal, punk, and rock bands.
"So, how's school?" Grandma Helena asked Gerard, Mikey, and I.
"Interesting." Mikey said.
"Oh, I know you hate school Micheal." Grandma Helena said.
"Yeah, I do." Mikey said.
"And you sweetie, lets get to know each other." Grandma Helena said.
"Okay." I smiled.
"Play an instrument?" She asked.
"You always ask that question first." Gerard said.
"Hush boy, I want to hear what she says." Grandma Helena said.
"Uh, I play guitar." I said.
"Can you play us a song?" Grandma Helena asked.
"Uh sure. But, I don't have a guitar..." I said.
"Oh, I have one. It's acoustic." Grandma Helena said.
She got up and went to a hall. A couple of seconds later, she came back with an Martin Little Martin Series acoustic guitar.
"Here you go, sweetie. Play any song you want." She said and handed me the guitar.
"Um. I'm going to sing Romance Is and it's by Lights." I said and I started to play. I guess they wanted me to sing too, but I didn't asked, so I started singing the lyrics.
When I finished the song, I got all claps from the Ways.
"Wow, has anybody told you you have a wonderful singing voice." Grandma Helena said.
"No." I said.
"Well, you have a wonderful singing voice." She smiled.
"Thank you." I said.
"I love the end of the song." Mikey said.
"Well, it's noon and I know you guys haven't eaten yet. I'll prepare some lunch for all of you." Grandma Helena said.
"Let me help." I said and stood up.
"Oh, you don't have to do that sweetie." Grandma Helena said.
"I am going to help you." I said.
"Okay then." Grandma Helena smiled.
Grandma Helena, Donna, and I walked to the kitchen to make lunch.
After lunch, I helped Grandma Helena clean up the dishes. Donna had to run somewhere.
"How long have you and Gerard been friends?" She asked.
"We've been friends since January." I said.
"Are you a new girl?" Grandma Helena asked.
"No." I said.
Grandma Helena looked around the kitchen. "Is Gerard still friends with those boys?" She asked.
"Who? Giovanni and Gabriel?" I asked. She nodded. "No, not anymore." I said.
"Thank God. I mean, no offense to them and all but, they were assholes." Grandma Helena said.
"Yeah they are. Well,Gabriel isn't an asshole anymore, Giovanni is on the other hand." I said.
"Donna told me how Gee met you. Your art teacher paired you guys up, right?" Grandma Helena said.
"Yeah. My art teacher is my sister-in-law." I said.
"Was he a jerk to you? You can tell me, I won't get offended." Grandma Helena said.
"Yeah, that's why we wouldn't talk to each other. I was the 'emo'." I said.
"Ah. I see. Well, he really has change." She said.
"Yeah he has." I said quietly.
"I know you like him." Grandma Helena smiled.
"Is it really that obvious?" I said.
"Yes it is. And you said your name is Irmarie, right. So, what's your last name?" Grandma Helena asked.
"Hale. Irmarie Hale." I said.
"And you go to school with Gerard for how many years?" She asked.
"Uh, every since I moved from Dallas to here in fourth grade." I said.
"Yeah, you are her." Grandma Helena said.
"I'm who?" I said.
"You're the girl he had a crush on in seventh grade." She said.
"He had a crush on me?" I asked.
"Oh, I said too much." Grandma Helena said.
Before I can ask her any more questions, Gerard came in.
"Grandma, I was wondering if we can stay over?" Gerard asked.
"Sure you can. But, are you going home, sweetie." She said.
"Uh. I can call my parents and ask them." I said.
"Okay. The phone is in the living room." Grandma Helena said.
I wipe my hand on a towel and headed to the living room. I grabbed the phone and called Mom. She picked up after the third ring.
"Hello?" Mom said.
"Hey Ma. It's Irmarie." I said.
"Oh, are you calling from Gerard's cell phone?" Mom asked.
"No, it's Grandma Helena's house phone." I said. "Anyways, uh, the Ways are staying here for the night, can I stay?" I asked.
Mom thought for a moment. "Okay. You know the code is 'Vinny'." Mom said.
"Yeah. Okay, thanks and bye Ma," I said and hung up. "It's an okay." I said.
Mom and Dad have codes for if we were in a sleepover and if we weren't comfortable, we called them and say the code word in a sentence. I have my brother's name as the code word, Vinny.
"Donald, put on some Metallica. Mikey, get Candy Land out, we're going to play." Grandma Helena said.
You know, Grandma Helena has a lot of energy for her age.
We played Candy Land until Donna came back. I won two times out of six rounds. We played a lot of games until we were all tired.
"Sweetie, I have some pj's, I'll let you borrow them." Grandma Helena said.
She went to what I assume is her room. In a couple of minutes, she came back with some pj's. They looked like some other teenage girl's pj's.
"Here you go. The bathroom is upstairs. It's the second door to you left. Your room is three doors down to the right." Grandma Helena said.
"Thanks." I said.
I walked down the hallway and into the bathroom to change. I got out quickly and headed to my room for the night.
My room was pretty big. Well, bigger than my own. The guitar I had played earlier was there in it's stand.
I guess this is where she got the guitar. I thought to myself.
There was a glass door. I set my bag down on the bed and walked to it. There was a long balcony. There was a knock on the door.
"Come in." I said.
"Oh, I just drop by to say goodnight." Grandma Helena smiled.
"Goodnight." I smiled back.
I tossed and turned on the bed. Yeah, I couldn't sleep at all.
I sat up on the bed and looked at the time on the clock that hanged on the wall. Midnight. Great.
"Well then," I said to myself, "might as well walk around."
I got out of bed and paced around the room. Thank God the floors don't creak, I wouldn't want to wake people up.
I looked at the guitar. I had the urge to play it.
"No, it's not yours. Don't play it." I said to myself.
I kept looking at the guitar.
"Fuck it!" I said in the end.
I grabbed the guitar. Since I didn't want to wake anybody up, I head out to the balcony.
"Fuck it's cold." I said as I remembered we're in the middle of February and my coat is downstairs.
I sat on the edge and rested my back on the wall. I strum a couple of strings before playing and singing quietly to myself.
I sang The Only Exception by Paramore.
"And I'm on my way to believing." I finished the song.
"Wow. You really have talent." I heard Gerard say.
I jumped. I almost fell but Gerard caught me.
"Sorry." He said.
"It's fine." I said.
"Get down from there. I don't want you to fall." Gerard said.
"Fine." I said and down on the ground.
"Aren't you cold?" Gerard asked.
"Not really." I said trying not to give any hint that I actually am. Eh, I like to suffer sometimes.
"Liar." He said. He handed me my coat. "Put it on."
"Aren't we a little grouchy." I said and started putting on my coat.
"Sorry." He said.
"It's fine. So, why are you up?" I asked.
"The real question is why are you up at midnight playing guitar?" Gerard asked.
"Hey, I asked you first!" I claim.
"Alright. Fair enough. I'm up 'cause I couldn't sleep. Plus, I heard someone playing guitar and singing." He said.
"Sorry." I sheepishly said.
"It's fine. I enjoyed it. You should be in those bands you like." Gerard said and sat next to me.
"Thanks. First time I heard that." I said.
"Yeah..." He said.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"What?" He said.
"Don't you 'what' me. I can tell something's wrong." I said.
"Nothing's wrong. I just can't sleep." Gerard shrugged.
"Look at me." I said. I cup his face. "What's wrong?"
"It's just... I don't know." Gerard said.
"Hm." I said and sat back down. "My butt hurts, let's go sit at that bench."
Gerard and I moved to the bench. I started wondering why Gerard was sad. He usually is happy...
"Can you play a song for me?" Gerard asked.
"Uh, sure," I hadn't notice that I was now sitting on the bench. "Which song do you want me to play?"
"Surprise me." He said quietly.
"Okay."
I looked down the fretboard and thought of what to play. I couldn't really feel my hands, but that didn't stop me from playing. I then started playing Misguided Ghost by Paramore.
"I'm going away for a while
But I'll be back
Don't try to follow me...."
I don't know why but I felt like I should play that song in the moment.
"...Well now I'm told that this is life
And pain is just a simple compromise-"
All of a sudden, Gerard quickly leans in and presses his lips against mine. I froze for a moment, and not because it's freezing cold.
I slowly moved my numbed lips. My hands began to tremble. All of a sudden, the warmth was gone. Gerard had pulled away.
"I-I'm sorry." He said and then quickly ran way to his room.
I sat there, trying to figure out what just happened. I felt like crying at the moment.
I sighed and headed back inside. I set the guitar down and threw my coat at the floor. I lie in bed and began to cry.
"Out of everybody in this world, why him," I cried.
I have no idea how long I cried, but I know I cried long enough for me to fall asleep.