Hotel Bella Muerte

"Mommy." a kid's voice whines, "Why are they sleeping on the grass?"

Gerard opens his eyes to find himself lying on the blanket he'd spread out on the grass the night before, with Myra tucked tightly against his side sound asleep, her head resting gently on his chest. He turns his head in the opposite direction to see the neighbor kid staring at him.

"They're weird people," the mother says carelessly, "Now get in the car or we'll be late."
"Are they bums?" the kid asks getting into the car.

"Myra." Gerard says touching her shoulder. She opens her eyes and glances around. She laughs into her hand.
"Well isn't this interesting." she says sitting up.
"Yeah." Gerard yawns, "The kid next door was perplexed with us sleeping on the lawn. It isn't exactly the smartest idea." he says standing up, he holds out his hand for Myra. She takes it and he pulls her up.
"Well I've never exactly been the smartest person." she says as Gerard picks up the blanket. She picks up the flower pot and packet of cigarettes before they head inside.

"Hey, where'd you two go?" Mikey asks as they get into the house.
"We fell asleep outside actually." Gerard says laughing slightly. Mikey stares at his older brother with slight amusement.
"Alright then," he snickers, "Did you happen to see where I left my cigs?"
"These it?" Myra asks holding up the half empty box.
"Yeah." she tosses them to him just as Alicia walks out of the washroom.
"Hey you two." she says yawning, "Mikey we should get going."
"Yeah, uhh are you up for a practice today?" Mikey asks his brother, "Bob says he'll fill in as our drummer till we got another one so he's gotta learn the songs."
"Alright." Gerard says nodding, "So is he gonna do I'm Not Okay with us for the video?"
"Yeah. So we're meeting up at the usual rehearsal place at two-thirty."
"Alright, cool." Gerard says shoving his hands in his pockets.
"Kay, well we're off." Mikey says as he and Alicia head out the door.

Myra grins at Gerard seeing as they're all alone in the living room.
"What?" he asks with a laugh. She leans forward and kisses his lips.
"You're fun to kiss."
"Oh yeah?" Gerard asks raising his eyebrows as he puts his hand on the small of her back and pulls her close. He presses his lips against hers and her hand moves to the back of his head as they stay lip locked for a while.

"Let's get some breakfast you fool." Myra grins as she playfully pulls away from him.
"Food?" Gerard asks, "Why not just some kickass coffee?" they head into the kitchen and Gerard opens the fridge.
"What the difference between regular coffee and kickass coffee?" Myra asks leaning against the counter. Gerard pulls a bag of bagels out of the fridge and holds it up. Myra nods.
"Well kickass coffee tastes good." Gerard says simply as he puts the bagels in the toaster.
"I'll try my best to make same kick ass coffee then." Myra says as she starts the coffee maker up. After filling it with water she turns to Gerard and he smiles, "What?"
"You're cute."
"Shut up." she says blushing, she leans over and kisses him just as the toaster pops, startling both of them.

"Butter." Gerard mumbles going over the fridge, meanwhile Myra grabs a knife from the drawer. Gerard puts the butter down on the counter and grabs two plates from the cupboard above his head. He starts to butter the bagels when he gets the sudden impulse to bump the side of his hip against Myra's. She bumps him back and so it goes on.
"Oh don't you two look cozy." Lea says from behind them. They both whip around and share sheepish grins.
"Morning Mom." Gerard says with a slight chuckle.
"Morning." she says going over to the coffee maker and pouring herself a mug before heading out of the kitchen.

"So what was Mikey talking about, the not okay video thing?" Myra asks as they take their breakfast and sit at the kitchen table.
"We're making a music video for one of our songs." Gerard says taking a bite out of his bagel.
"Like, a real music video, like MTV?" Gerard nods, "Holy shit! Really?"
"Well yeah, we already made one video for the song, but its just stuff we filmed from touring." he says shrugging.
"That's friggin amazing." Myra says with big eyes, "Aren't you excited?"
"I was, but I mean, now Matt's gone so I don't know." Gerard shrugs, "Do you wanna come watch us play? We'll probably sound like shit, by we, I mean me."
"Yeah sure, I uh found your LPs in Mikey's old room and listened, you're pretty good."
"Oh umm thanks." Gerard says uneasily.

"Bob that is one sexy drumset." Ray says just as Gerard and Myra walk into the rented out rehearsal space later that day.
"Yeah well how about helping me set it up instead of trying to ask it on a date?" Bob says as he tries to adjust the pedal on the bass drum.
"Uhh well." Ray stutters, "I don't want to taint the sexiness." he goes back to tuning his guitar just as Frank rolls his eyes and helps out the new drummer.
"Hi everyone." Gerard says waving as he goes over to the black heavy duty travel cases and starts setting up the microphones.

"Sorry I'm late." Mikey says as he takes his bass case off his back.
"Yeah honestly." Ray mumbles, "Frank and I had to unload everything from the van ourselves. That's three amps and P.A. system."
"And we love you for that." Gerard teases as he connects some wires to a mixer.

"Hey, how you doin?" Alicia, Mikey's girlfriend, asks Myra.
"I'm doing okay."
"So," she grins, "You and Gerard." All Myra can do is grin in return, "They're gonna be fumbling around for a while and its gonna take a while for them to get in sync with Bob, so do wanna bum around the street."
"Uh sure." Myra says glancing at the group of musicians.
"Don't worry, we'll be back in time to hear them play something good." Alicia says and at that moment Ray manages to fall off his amp causing a large crashing noise when his guitar hit the ground.

The two women head down to the street and walk up to the nearest Starbucks and get their fix.
"Haha, raspberry mocha frappacino." Alicia says holding her drink up proudly, "Take that Zoolander!" she pauses, "Damn, haven't you seen the movie Zoolander?"
"Yeah, its just its been a while." Myra mumbles in return as she sips her ice coffee.
"Don't you remember when Derick is all depressed at the car wash, ahh never mind." Alicia rambles as they head into a small head shop, "So how long have you and Gerard been together?"
"Since last night, after the party." Myra says scanning over a rack of bondage pants.
"Awe." Alicia half-teases, "That's so sweet."
"Oh yeah, going through withdrawal brought us together." Myra says rolling her eyes.
"Hey, what about Sid and Nancy?" Alicia says jokingly.
"Well that turned out just dandy."
"Right." the two of them just laugh.

"So just out of curiosity, how'd you meet Mikey?" Myra asks as Alicia tries on a cuff bracelet.
"A friend of ours introduced us, it was sort of an unofficial set-up." Alicia says with a smirk, "Wanna know about the other guys?" Myra shrugs, "Well after I met Mikey, I start hanging out with him and the guys and my friend Christa tagged along one time and next thing I know she's tangled in the fro of Ray Toro." Myra can't help but burst out laughing, "Oh, Frank and Jamia is actually kinda funny. They went to high school together but never really hung out, actually, he didn't even think she was attractive. Anyway, I think it was last year, she's at an MCR show, and let me tell you, after graduating high school she became a rock'n'roll knock out and Frank was just about licking her shoes by the end of the evening."
"Oh snap." Myra laughs.
"Yeah, seriously, but they make such a cute couple." Alicia says laughing, "But Frank's not all that superficial though, so don't get the wrong idea."
"Yeah, high school is a fucked up time." Myra laughs, "What about Bob?"
"Bob is single as far as I know." she says carelessly, "But he lives in Chicago, so he could have a secret girlfriend for all we know."
"So what's he doing in Jersey?"
"I'm not really sure, I guess he's just waiting for the guys to pick up and tour again, he's sort of the unofficial bouncer, roadie guy. He's crashing at Ray's place."
"What about the old drummer, Matt, I think."
"Matt, oh god, he was the black sheep of the band." Alicia says shaking her head, "He's like a fucking two year old, when things don't go his way he throws a fucking tantrum."

"Shouldn't we head back to the rehearsal place?" Myra asks after realizing they'd been roaming the store for a while.
"Yeah, just let me pay for this." Alicia says holding up a cuff bracelet.

"What will it take to show you that its not the life it seems? I've told you time and time again you sing the words but don't know that it means." Gerard sings out just as Myra and Alicia walk in, "To be a joke and look, anotherl line without a hook, I held you close as we both shook for the last time, TAKE A GOOD HARD LOOK!!" Myra grins as she and Alicia sit on the floor against the wall, across from the band, "I'm not okay! I'm not oh-kayayay! I'm not ok-ay-hey-hey-hey! You wear me out!" Ray starts jamming a solo and Bob looks so concentrated on what he's doing is heart warming. Eventually the song comes to an end and Gerard puts the mic back on its stand.
"So were we good?" Mikey asks.
"Yeah." Alicia nods, "Bob's even better than Matt and he didn't even write the drum part." Bob sort of grins happily.
"Awe, let's adopt him." Frank says hopping up on the bass drum, "C'mon Gerard, can we, can we, can we?" Gerard just laughs then turns to Myra.
"What do you think?"
"I think you should adopt him, he's cute." Myra laughs.
"No, how do we sound?"
"Oh, you guys sound awesome."
"Whoop." Ray says taking his guitar off, "I need to pee."
"Thanks for that." Mikey says shaking his head.
"Because we all wanted to know." Bob says laughing as Ray made his exit.

"So it that all you practiced?" Alicia asks.
"No, we played Cemetary Drive too." Frank informs, "We've been bouncing between the two."
"Oh! Let's play Hang 'Em High, I know that one by heart." Bob says twirling his drumstick between his fingers.
"Yeah." Frank says hopping around, "Ray, hurry the fuck up!" Gerard drinks from his water bottle as he sort of amuses himself by watching Frank jump around eagerly.
"Frank, you should switch to decaf." Alicia pipes up.
"Alicia, fuck you." he says grinning.
"No, that's Mikey's job." she says smartly. Frank just sticks out his tongue.

"I'm vibrating." Mikey says twitching as he grabs for his cell phone in his pocket, "Hello . .. . yes she is, one moment please, Myra its for you." he holds out the phone and Myra gets up to get it.
"Hello?"
"Hi, this is Jonathon Simona from Barns and Nobel, I recieved your resumee and was wondering if you'd be able to come in for an interview tomorrow."
"Definitly."
"Alright, are you free at one o'clock?"
"Yes."
"Fantastic, just come on in and ask for me."
"Alright thanks." Myra says hanging up.

"Who was that?" Mikey asks as he returns his cell phone to his pocket from which it came.
"A manager at Barnes and Nobel. I'm going in for an interview."
"When?" Gerard asks.
"Tomorrow afternoon."
"Vibrating again." Mikey sighs as he pulls out his phone for a second time, "Hello? . . . .hey mom . .. . yeah he called . . .yeah . .. practicing, bye."

After the practice, Myra helps Gerard put of away the P.A. system.
"We're going to California for the video shoot on Sunday." Gerard informs.
"Cool."
"I was wondering if you'd like to go with us." he says quietly.
"I uhh, I can't."
"Why not?"
"I don't have the money."
"Don't worry about that," he says shaking his head, "I'll pay for it."
"No, I can't accept that." she says blushing.
"Please." Gerard says with pleading eyes.
"Fine," Myra says to his relief, "But I'm going to pay you back once I'm on my feet."
"Nu-uh." he smirks.
"Uh-huh."
"Nu-uh." Gerard says childishly.
"Oh, but what about Barnes and Nobel?" Myra says smacking her forhead.
"Tell them you can only start next Thursday." Gerard says shrugging, "Its not big deal."
"Alright."