It's Not the Life It Seems

Honey sighed as she sat down on the patch of grass positioned next to the deserted road.

“When will they get here? I am so bored”, she complained loudly, picking up a blade of grass and slowly ripping it into smaller shreds.

“Want to play a game?” Frank asked her from his place leaning up the side of the stationary bus.

“Want kind of game?”

Frank paused, thinking for a moment. “I spy?” he finally offered, shrugging.

“Fine, but I go first. I spy…”, Honey looked around, “something beginning with…R”.

Frank looked down at the ground, “road”.

“Shit”, Honey said, feeling stupid she hadn’t picked something cleverer, “this game’s boring, I don’t want to play it”.

“You just don’t want to play it because you suck at it”, Gerard interjected from his place next to Frank.

Honey glared at him, “you think of a better game then Mr.Way”.

“Okay…” Gerard trailed off and looked up at the sky as he thought, “okay, why don’t Frankie and you see how long you can not talk for?”

“NO!” Frank and Honey shouted at him, both appalled at the idea of not being able to talk.

“Fine, why don’t you see how long you can…stay together for”, Gerard said, trying desperately for anything to keep them occupied.

Honey wrinkled her nose in confusion as Frank said, “what?”

“You two have to see how long you can not be a part for. The rules are you can’t be more than two..no one meter away from each other at all times”.

Honey and Frank looked at each other with wide eyes and grinned, nodding madly.

“I bet you we don’t make it past an hour”, Frank said to Honey as he got up to go and sit next to her, to start the game.

It was safe to say the next few hours were the worst hours on the tour so far for Gerard. He had created a monster in thinking up that game because every two minutes he would hear either Frank or Honey squealing when one nearly went over the meter mark. Both of them would keep making up reasons as to why they needed to go somewhere so that they could ‘test their strength’ at playing the game.

Ray came walking off the bus, covering his ears after yet another shriek from Frank. Honey had told Frank she needed her notebook and so of course both of them had to go.

“What have you done Gerard”, Ray said complaining as he sat down next to Gerard, “Bob and I went in there to get away from those two, instead you create a game that sends them in there every two seconds!”

“Sorry man, I was just trying to get them to shut up”, Gerard replied putting down the drawing he had been working on in between avoiding Frank and Honey.

“Nah its okay, their just excited. What are you working on Gee?” Ray asked him, peering over his shoulder to look. Before Gerard could reply he was interrupted by a loud voice as a woman came running out of the bus and towards him, followed by a short breathless man.
Ray quickly excused himself and jogged back to the bus.

“Gerard, I have something to show you”, Honey said proudly, clutching a black notebook.

“Honey…why…did…you…have…to…go…so…fast”, Frank panted, putting his hands on his knees.

“It’s not my fault you’re slow and I’m fit. Anyway go away, I have something I need to show to Gerard”, Honey told him, waving him away with her free hand.

Frank looked at her like she was crazy, “Honey. I can’t! The game, remember?”

Honey rolled her eyes. “Fine, you get on the bus and stick right to the side, and so will I, except that I will be on the outside. So we will still be together, there will just be a metal barrier between us”, Honey explained to him. Frank thought about this for a moment, considering if it would work, before finally nodding. Honey walked him to the steps of the bus, before letting him on and walking back to Gerard, making sure she was close to the side of the bus.

Gerard looked up at her from his place on the ground and noticed Honey standing there awkwardly, biting her lip like she didn’t know what to say. Honey looked down at the ground, before bringing her eyes back up to meet Gerard’s.

“Uh…I have something I want to show you. I’ve just been thinking a lot lately and I just…”, Honey put a hand behind her head, “I want to know what you think”.

“About what Honey?” Gerard asked her, a confused look upon his face.

“This”, Honey said thrusting the black book into his hands, “the first page”, she added.

Gerard opened the book and scanned his eyes over the page, reading every word on it. He finished it, and read it once more, before closing the book and looking off into the distance. Honey held her hands together nervously, as Gerard’s face remained expressionless.

“Did you write that?” He finally said, looking up at her. Honey gave a small nod of her head, a blush creeping up her face.

“You hated it, don’t worry it was just something I was messing around with. Please don’t tell anyone about it Gerard”, Honey begged.

Gerard stood from his spot on the ground and put his hands on Honey’s shoulders, forcing her to look at him.

“It was good Honey. Very good, I was just surprised. I liked it, I liked it a lot”, he reassured her.

“What do you mean surprised? Surprised that I would try and write a song? Because that totally surprised me too”, Honey told him, looking down at the ground once more, feeling more vulnerable then she had in a long time.

“I was surprised that you wrote something so deep and meaningful”, Gerard said to her.

Honey looked up and smiled at him, “I learnt that from you. You inspire me in so many ways Gerard”.

“I…what?....I inspire…you?” Gerard looked at her in bewilderment, feeling incredibly touched by what she had just said.

Honey giggled at his inability to form a sentence. “Yes, you. I admire you so much Gerard, on so many different levels”, she told him sincerely.

Gerard didn’t know what to say to this, so he just enveloped her in a hug. He couldn’t believe what she was saying, that the famous, perfect Honey Meadows felt inspired by him. He was just Gerard, nothing special, but here she was saying that she admired him and he was actually inspiring her to write beautiful songs and become something more than a shallow pop singer.

Honey pulled away from the hug and looked up at him, smiling.

“Honey what was that song written about? It didn’t sound like something that would happen to you”, he asked her curiously.

Honey sighed and slumped down on the side of the bus, Gerard soon joining her.

“It was about my experience in high school. How I felt so invisible all the time and no one cared about me. I had one friend and she didn’t turn up half the time, no one talked to me and so often I wondered if I really was invisible. I had braces, glasses, my family didn’t have much money, I studied too hard, socialized too little. I wasn’t an outcast, because that would have meant someone would have had to have noticed me to call me an outcast”, Honey told him quickly, not wanting to show the ‘other’ part of her life she would rather forget.

“Wow…I never would have imagined”, Gerard said truthfully.

“Please don’t tell anyone Gerard. It’s not really something I talk about”. Honey picked up a stray rock and threw it across the gravel path next to the road.

“Honey, its not something to be ashamed about”.

Honey shook her head, feeling tears start to well in her eyes, “It is Gerard. It is. It’s why I’m such a screw up now, it’s why I let no one become close to me, it’s why I have trust issues and self-esteem issues”. Honey angrily brushed away the tears that were falling down her face, as she felt a warm arm come across her shoulders and pull her towards him. Honey sobbed into his shoulder for a good minute before calming herself down enough to pull away and give him a cheesy smile.

“Sorry”, she said gesturing to his wet arm.

“It’s okay Hon. As long as your feeling better now”, he said brushing the hair off her wet face.
Honey nodded and turned away from him, composing herself on the spot and returning to her normal confident self. Just as quickly as the barriers were down, Honey put them back up.

“I’m fine, just having a moment I guess. So you liked the song? Good, I’ll get onto my agent when I get back-“ Honey was interrupted by a voice yelling down the stairs. Frank burst out of the bus.

“Help is only ten minutes away, we’re going to make it to tonight’s venue!” He yelled to them.
Gerard let out a sigh of relief but Honey stood up, her mouth open in shock, pointing at Frank.

“FRANK! You broke the rules, you ruined the game”. Honey crossed her arms and glared at him as Franks expression turned to one of horror.

“Shit. I didn’t even realize, I was so excited about the man finally coming. Awe, we were doing so good”. Frank stamped his foot on the pavement childishly and crossed his arms, mimicking Honey.

“Oh well, lets just start again”, Honey said to him as they linked arms, ignoring Gerard’s loud groans.