Dude... Are You Stalking Me?

Disclaimer: I don’t own My Chemical Romance. If I did, you’d pretty much never see them cuz I’d force them to preform for me while wearing poodle skirts and Rocky Horror-esque corsets. If I were you, in stead of suing I’d be thankful.

Chapter Three: Over Coffee

Did I just say “dude?”, Rita wondered numbly as she stared up at the guy who, against most odds, had been conjured by her mere sketching his likeness.

How can you be wondering something so stupid when there’s a stalker standing in front of you?! she bellowed at herself in a voice she recognized much more easily as her own.

Hm. I do believe I’m in shock, she answered herself placidly.

No, you’re in shock, another voice countered dumbly and she didn’t bother answering.

Her face remained blank throughout this internal conversation, and she remained carefully calm. After all, it wasn’t every day your stalker politely requested to share a table with you.

***

I blinked. It was all the response I could think of. I mean, here was the girl who against all odds, I kept running into despite the fact that I didn’t know who the fuck she was and had never seen her before she punched out that guy on the train. She was sitting at a table in the back of Starbucks either writing or drawing in a thick book. I’d just happened to go for coffee in stead of the milkshake I usually went for after my last class let out, and there she was.

We took the same train, went to the same school, and now even stopped at the same coffee shop. So I decided what the hell, I’ll talk to her. The worst she can do is punch me, right?

So I walked over to her table just as she closed her book. My whole elaborate plan of action was to ask if I could join her, then say something along the lines of “Hey, I’m Gerard.” Not exactly Shakespeare, but it works.

But before I even got the chance to set my coffee down she looked at me with this wide-eyed Bambi-after-they-shot-his-mom look and said,

“Dude... are you stalking me?”

So I blinked, and did the only other thing that came naturally. I busted up laughing.

***

Involuntarily, Rita’s right eyebrow crept up her face as she watched the guy before her laugh as if he’d just heard the punch line to the funniest joke of his life. She was unprepared for the chill that ran along her spine at the sound of his boyish laughter, as well as the annoyance that pricked the back of her neck when the laughter didn’t stop.

“Sorry, did I miss something here?” The distaste was plain in her tone, but this apparent hyena of a man merely grinned. Without answering he pulled a chair and took a seat at the other side of the small table Rita occupied. Before she could protest he set down his coffee and leaned back in his chair.

“Dawg,” he laughed and his eyes sparkled. “That is some of the fuckin funniest shit I’ve heard in a while.” His Cheshire cat grin eased somewhat into a genuine smile, but he still seemed for all the world to be helplessly amused. He extended a hand toward her, and it took Rita a moment to realize he meant for her to shake it. “I’m Gerard. And I’m notstalking you.”

She knew she shouldn’t take his word for it; she didn’t know him from Jack the Ripper, for shit’s sake. But for some reason, she just believed him. After all, if he was really stalking her would he have strolled so cheerily up to her table and asked to join her?

That’s what he wants you to think!, that same insistent voice wailed in a last-ditch effort to reassert its crazed logic. Rita simply shrugged it off.

Goin’ loco, chica, she thought with a self-deprecating smirk. With a small shake of her head that sent a shiver through her sapphire-on-ebony locks, Rita clasped Gerard’s large hand and shook it.

“My name is Rita.”

Gerard’s smile shrunk to a smirk and his eyes focused on the paper cup before him. Rita blinked as she realized... he was shy. She felt even more foolish for the stupidity she had spouted in her shock and surprise and hung her head slightly.

Stupid-ass, she reprimanded herself silently, but her facial expression didn’t change. She was tracing the letters on the cover of her sketchbook, “Lie Me An Alibi.” So intent upon this was she, the young artist nearly jumped when the silence was abruptly broken.

“So, do you always start the day off with a right hook, or was yesterday a special occasion.”

Rita blinked, and the words registered. An embarrassed smile split her face and she ran a hand through her hair in a nervous gesture. She laughed a bit shrilly and glanced out the window.

“I kinda... lost my temper. I don’t usually do things like that.”

At least, not on the train, she amended silently with a small wince.

Gerard laughed.

“Well shit, remind me not to piss you off,” he joked lightly.

A true smile lit her face, and she decided she liked this guy. She balled her right hand into a loose fist and shook it in mock-threat.

“What makes you think I’m not pissed already?”

She tried to look severe, but suspected she failed miserably as Gerard grinned. That was all it took for an easy acquaintanceship to bloom. For the rest of the afternoon they got to know each other. Gerard didn’t divulge much detail, and neither did Rita. But soon they each felt as if they’d found a kindred spirit.

Gerard told Rita that he lived at home with his parents and little brother. When the subject of his brother arose, a gentle smile lit on his lips.

“You’ll like Mikey,”

A thin smile spread across the natural pout that were his companion’s lips.
“Why do you think so?”

Gerard grinned.
“Shit, everyone loves Mikey. I don’t know what it is, there’s just somethin about him.”

He went on to tell her he was also a student in the School, and was about a year away from his Bachelor’s in Fine Arts. Which, of course, explained why she’d seen him outside the day before.

“Hey,” Rita interrupted suddenly as a thought occurred to her. “Why is it I didn’t see you on the train today?”

“Oh. Yesterday I got off at the wrong stop and had to take a different train. I was actually paying attention today,” He replied with a smirk.

Rita raised an eyebrow.
“You were there when I got on, and I ride that train for nearly an hour every day. Where the fuck do you live that you had to take that train in order to get to the city?”

He chuckled lightly.
“Newark.”

Rita’s eyes widened in horror. Quickly she brought her hands up in front of her and crossed her index fingers in a warding-off gesture toward Gerard as a stricken expression crossed her features.

“Ah! Tourist! Tourist!!” she accused. Several patrons looked on in obvious amusement as Gerard clutched at his heart in mock-betrayal.

“I didn’t think you’d care,” He reached out a hand toward her, and she recoiled.

“Of course I care! You’re from,” Her eyes narrowed to sparkling slits. “Jersey.”

Gerard’s cheek twitched with the effort of suppressing his laughter as he gazed at Rita imploringly.

“Would you really let this come between us? After all our time together?” He glanced at his watch. “Forty five long bitter-sweet minutes?”

His lip puckered in a puppy-dog pout, and Rita suddenly could take no more. She tried admirably to reply, but ended up snorting loudly and burst into helpless laughter as Gerard grinned in victory.

“I knew you couldn’t stay mad at me,” he laughed.

“Crazy,” she muttered between giggles and reached for her coffee, only to find it ice cold. After a moment’s debate, she drank it anyway. She paid five bucks for it, she wasn’t about to let it go to waste. Besides... it was coffee.

They talked a while longer, and this time it was Rita’s turn to tell her new almost-friend about herself. She told him about how she had moved to Brooklyn twelve years prior, and even about how her family (minus one prison-bound father) had stayed with her aunt in the Bronx for a short while after their building in Queens was scheduled for demolition.

“No way, they just told you they were ripping in down?”

Rita tucked a lock of hair behind her left ear and took a moment to untangle a strand from one of her piercings before she replied.

“Yep, just tacked a note to the door telling us to be out by this date, at this time. So we stayed with my aunt for a little while, and then moved to Brooklyn. I didn’t like it much, but after living in the Bronx for two years... I’m just gonna say, I would’ve moved in with Michael Jackson rather than stayed in that shit hole.”

“That’s fucked up.”

“Yeah, well. It happens.” She shrugged and took another sip of her cold french vanilla.

She went on to tell him about her growing interest in art, and how after high school she had taken a year off to endure the torment of choosing between her two loves; art and creative writing.

“It was hell,” She shook her head and brushed her hair behind her shoulders. “I mean, yeah I could’ve just gone to some University and taken an art class, so that way I could’ve done both. But it ain’t the same, you know?”

Gerard nodded and turned to gaze out the window they were sitting next to.

“I know, I feel the same way. I mean, I love music, you know? I was in a band with this guy Chris and a friend from high school, Ray. He’s a fuckin insane guitarist. And I loved it, I loved every minute of it.” He smiled, and Rita thought she saw a hint of longing flicker across the surface of Gerard’s remarkable eyes. But it was so sudden and gone so quickly, she wasn’t sure if she’d actually seen it. “But at the same time, it was like art was all I could think about.”

Rita smiled and looked down at her sketchbook. She ran her right hand over the worn cover and the two silver rings she wore, one on her middle finger, the other on her thumb flashed in the harsh florescent light. She was brought out of the moment when a shrill beeping cut the companionable silence.

“Shit,” she muttered with a frown and fished her cell phone from her back pocket. She looked at the number and sighed. “What the fuck do they want now,” She rejected the call and was about to shove the phone into her satchel when she saw the time. She sighed and shot Gerard an apologetic look.

“Man, I gotta go. I didn’t realize what time it was, and I’m supposed to make dinner.” She shrugged into her jacket as she talked and hurriedly slung her satchel over her shoulder. In her haste she pinned her hair painfully against her back, and Gerard smirked as he moved to help her.

“Hey, it’s no problem.”

Rita smiled her thanks and gave Gerard a quick pound before trotting for the door.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, stalker man!” she called over her shoulder, and Gerard stuck his tongue out in a hilarious face just before she disappeared out the door. Rita laughed all the way to the subway.

***

I watched her leave and laughed a little when she tried to push the door open. When she was gone I sat back in my chair. It was crazy; I’d been thinking about that girl since she knocked that business man on his ass the day before, but I never thought I’d see her again. And now...

I blinked and looked down at the table we’d shared all afternoon. Her book was still there.

“Aw, shit,” I knew she would need it, she’d told me herself that she did most of her assignments in it. But I knew there was no way in hell I’d catch her now. So I did what anyone would do. I took her book and put it in my own portfolio.

I mean, it would suck to make friends with someone just for them to get pissed with you the next day.

“Stalker man,” I laughed. I’d had worse nicknames.. And really, it wasn’t completely untrue...

See you tomorrow, Rita, I thought and turned to leave.

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