Like Two Starcrossed Lovers

The next morning I woke up starving, and annoyed, only because Zac was sitting on my bed, arms crossed. I blinked at him, “what?” I asked even more annoyed. “Who was the punk that screwed with you last night?”

Last night. Holy crap. I couldn’t even remember what happened until those words hit me in the chest. “No one… nothing happened.” Jeez, how did I even get home last night? Then I remembered, Gerard had brought me home, and then told me that he’d tell Mikey I would talk to him tomorrow, and then left shortly after Zac had come downstairs. “Apparently something did, or that guy wouldn’t have told me you had a bad time.” he said getting up. “There was just a misunderstanding, that’s all.” I pleaded hoping that he would leave, “just watch your back, you tell me if anyone messes with you okay? It’s just… there’s something about that guy that brought you home, he gives me the creeps… I don’t know, just be careful and don’t swipe my stuff any more, got it?!” he replied then shut the door behind him. I flopped back down on my bed.

Later that morning, to my surprise, there was a black hoodie draped over the porch railing. I walked over and picked it up, it had a sticky note on it, “Wear this next time.-Ger.” I smiled my biggest smile, for some reason I felt happy even though he scared the bajeepers out of me and drank a lot. Just then the phone rang. I walked inside and answered it, it was Mikey, “Hello, Lauren.” he sighed sadly, “I really screwed up last night, huh?” “Yeah, you did.” I replied just as sad. “Hey let‘s meet somewhere, want to do brunch, I‘ll buy?” he asked trying to make it up, “You know what? I’d like that.” I said.

“I didn’t mean to say that whatever I did yesterday. I should have thought straight, and made sure you were safe. I’m not making excuses for myself but… I was really nervous and well when I… I drank…I was so stupid. Please don‘t hate me, I‘m not like that, I don‘t know who that person was last night I swear. You’re great and I‘m sorry, please, please, please forgive me?” He said into his lap with his head on the table, he was groggy from a hangover. “I forgive you, but I don’t want to see that part of you again, I‘m not telling you to go straightedge, but just don‘t get so drunk and you lose control. If you say that’s not who you are then show me the person you really are. Deal?” I asked reaching over and taking his hand, “Deal.” he replied looking up. He smiled.

“I was wondering, maybe you could take me shopping, for a wardrobe a little more, I don’t know, dark?” I asked him on the way back from brunch. “Sure, um, I know a store that’d be good for that.” he replied once we got in his car. A little while later, we pulled up in front of a small building that had black windows, and a red sign that said Open. “Where are we?” I asked unbuckling my belt. He ignored me. “Where are we, Mike?” no answer, “MIKEY!” “If I tell you, then you won‘t come.” he said coolly as he opened the door to the shop. The moment we stepped inside, music hit us in the face. It was a large space of nothing but racks of tee shirts, either black or white, and jewelry. “See?” he yelled over the screaming noise that surrounded us, “just look at your expression.” I was a little intimidated by it being so off the wall. “Over here.” he pointed to a rack that had smaller clothes hung on it. “Thank you for listening to www.kft radio, that was the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, In Fates Hands.” a deep voice said over the loud speaker. What in the world is a ‘red jumpsuit apparatus‘?

“Look at these.” Mike said holding up some tee’s that were all black with sayings like, ’ Smell My Face‘ , ‘Smile Because My Heart’s In Denial‘, and one with a white happy face that had a red teardrop. “Uhhh… it’s not really my kind of style shirts.” I said looking at his big, cheesy, face. “Well what’d you think they were going to be like? There are other ones though.” he said his eyes loosing their brightness. I walked over to them and began to look through the different ones. “Oh this is cool.” I said holding up one that had two lions on either side of a heart. I held it up, but he wasn’t there. “Mikey?” I asked looking around, “here you go” he said finally as he dropped about nine more shirts in my arms.

“I don’t think my mom will appreciate this too much,” I said buttoning the top few buttons as I came out of the dressing room,

wearing a black fishnet that had a bloody dagger going down the front. “Hmmm…maybe you’re right.” he agreed, “try the others.” We had already tried on about six different outfits that I liked, but he kept giving me more things to model. “You dressed?” he asked from outside, “Yep.” I replied just as he popped his head up over the door. I smiled and pretended like I was covering myself. He giggled… yes…giggled. I opened the door and let him in to see the last outfit. It was a cute black cargo mini-skirt, A white tank top, that had a silver skull on it, which I didn’t mind as much as the others, and converse that had designs on them. “Pretty… and punk!” he commented as I twirled around, “then again, you’re always pretty.” he added. I have to say, it caught me off guard. “Mikey…” I sighed, “What’s wrong?” he said with a worried expression, “I don’t think it’s right that you are older then me.” I said looking away from his dark Periodot eyes that seemed uneasy, “Not much though, you’ll be sixteen in December and I‘m only seventeen, so it’ll work out.” then he changed the subject, he does have the mentality of a fifteen year old, so maybe it will work out. “Well we’re just friends anyways.” I muttered, and his expression went blank.

“The three things you’ll need most are…” he said looking at a shelf of necklaces, “a key…” he handed me a skeleton key on a chain, “a cross…” he handed me a silver crucifix, “and handcuffs.” he added, “handcuffs?!” I gulped, “little ones,” he assured me as he held up a bracelet that was of them. “Oh.” I looked at the price tags, one was $28.99! I gave him a puzzled look but he didn‘t notice, he was too busy smiling and searching through some earrings, this was making him so happy. “Okay, the last thing…” he said holding up an eyebrow ring, I felt my eyes shoot open wide, “No way.” I gaped, he busted into laughter, and “I… got…you!” he said between guffaws. “Oh, you suck!” I said rolling my eyes at him, he was still laughing.

We went up to the counter and dropped our items, relieving our tired and numb arms. “Will that be all?” asked the cashier, who had tattoos going down both arms; four lip rings, and who looked like he’d been plastered for days. “Cody! Oh my God is that you,?! Oh man! Hey man!” Mikey shouted at him, “Mike? Is that you?” Cody asked looking bewildered, “Damn straight! Man… look at you, same old Code.” he replied, “You know him?” I asked Mikey with a concerned expression. “Yeah, Gerard and he went to school together, we always used to hang out.” he told me ignoring the way I had asked.
“So… new girl, huh?” Cody asked him, “Yeah, I was just making her over into an emo.” he said giving me a squeeze, which made my heart do a dance, “Dude, so stereotype.” he said looking at me with bright blue eyes, his long brown hair ,like mine, shoved back behind his ears, he is cute I guess, in a grunge sort of way. “Nice to meet you” he said thrusting a hand at me, I shook it. “She’s cute.” he said then began ringing us up, “Has she met the others?” he asked bagging the first few shirts, “Yeah, but we had a little fuss, so we might start over.” he said trying not to go so deep into the fact he made a mistake. “Oh, well the first impressions don’t really go that great anyways.” he said then turning to me,
“So what do you think of our music?” he asked, “I like it. My favorite band will always be Sum 41.” I lied, “I like the way they always have a background to their lyrics, the garage boy bands today sound like they grasp on mixed emotions, not the actual feelings they experience, it‘s pretty confusing. Also when you look at a good track of Alternative Rock, you see a pattern in the chords and an up beat in the chorus, as oppose to pop where everything is flat and twang-y.” I said knowingly. I didn’t realize until now that both Cody and Mikey, along with the guys that were behind us, were staring at me with their mouths open. “Wow. I like her already.” Cody said with a smile.
“Where did that come from?” Mikey asked me pushing his thick rimmed glasses back on his nose, they would look really dorky on any other guy but Mike pulls it off, “I’m not deaf, you know.” I said all mysterious, I learned most of it from Zac, though. The only thing I‘ve ever heard from them was the little snip of one of their songs on a commercial “Huh.” he commented.

“That’ll be two hundred twenty eight dollars even, Mike.” Cody told him. Mikey got out his wallet, and without thinking twice, pulled two hundred twenty eight, out. Mikey smiled to himself, like he was happy about doing this, So when we got back to the car I gave him a hug. “I never got any ripped jeans like you have, though.” I said a little disappointed as we let go, “Are those good ones?” he asked pointing to the hip-huggers I was wearing, “not really-.” as soon as I said that, he pulled out a pocket knife, and slit two gashes in both knees. “Well thanks.” I said gawking at him, he grinned, “very welcome, babe.”