Hotel Bella Muerte

"Can I help with anything?" Ray asks as he takes a chip from the bowl Myra's filling and pops it in his mouth.
"Yeah, there's a couple more bottles of soda in the fridge in the garage, can you go get them?" Lea asks as Myra tosses the empty chip bag in the garbage.
"Is that everything?" Myra asks looking over the table covered in snack food.
"Yeah." Lea says nodding.
"Okay." Myra says wandering out the kitchen. In the living room all of Gerard's band except the drummer, along with their manager, their girlfriends, and a couple of their crew people are standing around chatting.

Myra can't help but feel a bit awkward around them, after all, she's just some chick Mikey found passed out by the community center. She slinks up the stairs into what must be Mikey's old room. She sits on the bed and looks around carelessly as the roar of conversation downstairs drifts to her ears.

She gets up and looks at the CDs and tapes sitting on the desk. She then gets to one with dark smear like art work that said "My Chemical Romance - I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love." the one underneath it said, "My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge." She picks them both up and looks at the back of them. Both were full length CDs, the bullets one was definitly and indie label, but the revenge one said Warner Brothers. It sort of shocked Myra, besides the drug use, Gerard seemed like such a normal guy, and here he was signed under the Warner Brothers label.

She glances around the room and spots a discman sitting not far from the small stack of CDs. She grabs it and puts Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge in, and even more to her surprise it was pretty fucking awesome. She skimmed through the songs listening to the first twenty seconds of each before moving onto the Bullets CD where she did the same. About halfway through she hears someone calling from downstairs.
"Gerard's here!" she takes off the headphones and hurries down the stairs, "Everyone, Gerard's here!" Brian the band manager repeats.

Myra sits at the bottom of the staircase eagerly waiting for Gerard to walk through the door. Don is first through the door but quickly steps aside for everyone to get to Gerard.

After everyone's had their chance to hug Gerard and tell him he's looking good the herd of them make their way to the kitchen. Myra follows at a bit of a distance. These were Gerard's friends, she wasn't going to invade.
"Nintendo anyone?" Frank asks eagerly.
"Yeah, I'll play you." Bob, one of the band's crew people says.
"I'm in too." Ray says.
"One more place." Frank calls out.
"Me." Jamia, Frank's girlfriend says with a little laugh.

"Hey, where's Matt?" Gerard asks Ray.
"Umm." Ray says glancing uneasily at Mikey.
"He's umm." Mikey stutters.
"He quit the band today." Ray says uneasily, "We were going to wait till tomorrow to tell you."
"Oh," Gerard says in a slight state of shock, "What the fuck?"
"We sort of all saw it coming." Mikey says quietly.
"I know." Gerard says taking a sip from his glass of cola, "I dunno."
"But let's not think of that tonight." Don says patting his son's shoulder, "Have fun, you have your friends here."

Gerard spots Myra standing against the wall just overlooking everyone. He makes his way over to her and leans against the wall next to her.
"So," he says casually, "Why are you hiding?"
"I'm not hiding." she says turning to face him. He rolls his eyes and grins.
"Then how come you're not hanging out with everyone else."
"I dunno, I guess I don't think I'd fit in."
"But you already know Mikey, Frank and Ray."
"Yeah but everyone probably just knows me as the fucked up druggy charity case."
"Not at all," he says shaking his head, "If anyone here is a charity case its me."
"I don't-" she starts but Gerard grabs her hand and pulls her into the living room..
"Come on," he says sitting on the sofa and pulling her down next to him, "Hey Brian!"

The band manager turns around to face them.
"Yeah."
"Have you met Myra yet?" Gerard asks.
"No I haven't." Brian says stepping forward, "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too." she says blushing.
"Thank god you were there to find Gerard or I'd be fucked." he says jokingly.
"Oh umm, it was actually Ray who-" she starts.
"So how long are you in Jersey for?" Brian asks carelessly.
"Well, actually I'm thinking of moving here, Boston got boring." she says jokingly.
"Cool stuff." he nods.
"Have you found a place to live yet?" Jamia says turning away from the TV.
"Umm not yet," Myra says awkwardly, "I just sent out my resumee to get a job first."
"Oh well my roommate just moved back west so if you want, you know." Jamia says casually, "The rent's pretty low."
"Thanks." Myra says happily.
"See, you fit in." Gerard murmurs in her ear.

"Hey man, I just thought of something." Brian says in a true ADD way, "Bob can be your drummer!"
"What?" Bob says looking away from the video game.
"Yeah man, don't you play drums?" Frank asks pausing the game.
"I do, but I mean."
"Hey listen," Gerard says calming down the hype, "No pressure, I mean Bob, if you want, we'd love if you were our drummer."
"Yeah man, we love you." Mikey laughs, "You're chemical worthy."
"I uhh, I'll think about it." Bob says blushing slightly, "But I'm more of a behind the scenes kinda guy."

"I'm gonna get myself some soda." Myra says getting up, "Do you want one?"
"Uhh sure, cola I guess." Gerard says as he watches her walk to the table.
"So," Ray says to her as she starts to pour two plastic beer cups with cola, "Are you in and Gerard a couple?"
"Uhh what umm no." she stutters as she nearly spills cola all over the table, "we're ahhh, just friends."
"Oh, okay cool." Ray says feeling kind of stupid, "because I just, I'm a bit of an idiot." Myra smiles nervously as she takes both cups and heads back to the sofa.

Her spot on the sofa had been taken over by Mikey and his girlfriend Alicia. She hands Gerard one of the cups then glances around to find another place to sit.
"I guess you can sit on my lap." Gerard offers as he sits up and puts his legs closer together. She smiles and sits on his lap only to see Ray shake his head smiling.
"Who's winning?" Myra asks referring to the video game being played.
"Bob, he's a beast." Gerard replies as he rests his chin on Myra's shoulder, he chuckles, "You're still wearing my sweater."
"Oh sorry." she says looking down at it.
"You can keep it." he says casually, "I have like ten more black sweaters."
"You and your black." Mikey laughs.
"Hey, I'd stop wearing black if they invented a darker colour!" Gerard replies.

Slowly, people start to leave, Lea and Don head off to bed till its only Mikey and Alicia asleep on the couch and Gerard nibbling on whatever food is leftover in the kitchen.
"Bye man, see ya tomorrow." Ray says heading out the door.
"Bye." Gerard says waving and popping a chip into his mouth. He spots a packet of cigarettes on the coffee table that someone left behind. He goes over to it and picks it up before heading downstairs where he catches a glimpse of Myra getting changed, he turns away for a split second as she pulls a shirt on.
"Hey." he says from the doorway.
"Hey." she smiles. He holds up the packet of cigarettes. She smiles a little wider then giggles as she grabs her sweater off the couch and pulls it on.

Gerard grabs the blanket off the couch as Myra pulls on her shoes then they head back up the stairs and out the front door. Gerard spreads the blanket out on the front lawn and they sit down. They take a cigarette each and light up.
"Oh yeah." Gerard says with slight relief.
"We're gonna need an ash tray." Myra says looking around after taking a drag. She runs up to the porch and grabs the empty flower pot and places it on the grass in front of them.

"Did you have fun tonight?" Myra asks trying to start conversation.
"Yeah, its great having everyone together." he murmurs, "Just wish it wasn't because I fucked up."
"You didn't fuck up." Myra says taking another drag. She can't help but laugh.
"What?"
"This has got to be the cleanest party I've been to since I was thirteen." Myra states. Gerard laughs out loud.
"Yeah, seriously." he agrees, his cigarette dangling loosely from his lips.

"When I first met you I thought you were an ass hole." Myra states bluntly.
"I am an asshole." Gerard says shrugging, "I thought you were kinda whorish."
"I was kind of whorish. I don't blame you, mini-skirt, skank top." Myra mumbles, "But not anymore."
"I'm still an ass hole." Gerard grins.
"No you're not."
"Well not to you." he says shaking his head, "Cause you're cool."
"Sure I am." Myra says rolling her eyes, "You're a sweet guy."
"You're just being funny." Gerard insists.
"Fine, I won't tell anyone you're a sweet guy." Myra whispers playfully as she pats her cigarette on the rim of the flowerpot letting the ashes fall inside.

Gerard can't help but stare at Myra who just finished stubbing out her cigarette. She pulls her knees to her chest and hugs them as she looks out into the distance as if the houses across the street weren't even there. Her hair was tied up away from her face with only a couple of loose curls dangling by her cheek and her eyes sort looked doll like.
"You look really cute right now." he blurts out then regrets as he feels Myra's eyes on him.
"Thanks," she says nervously, "You look cute too," she shuts her mouth quickly, "I mean handsome, I mean, sorry." she stutters. They both look away from each other awkwardly, "Do you like me?"
"Yeah, of course I do." he says quickly, and they regain eye contact, "I like you a lot." he says as he leans foward, she leans foward too until their lips meet.