Just Don't Take Chances

Alliysons POV;

I sat with Gerard as the rest of the band got ready for their show tonight. We were in Dallas tonight, and I was helping Gerard get ready. I watched Frank mess around with a new game he got in his Sidekick, Ray strum his guitar absentmindedly on the floor, Bob twiddling his drumsticks (as usual) next to Frank, and Matt stretching out on the floor.

"Strange picture without him, isn't it?" Gerard murmured, looking in the same general direction as me, only higher up as I sat on the floor. We both knew that the other was thinking about our favorite bassist.

"I miss him," I said sadly, and then took a deep breath before turning back to face Gerard. I curled some of his dark hair behind his ear as he smiled, his innocent little teeth shining at me.

"Same, but he'll be back," Gerard assured and then turned back to his mirror. I shrugged and looked down at my lap, fiddling with the loose strings on my jeans shorts. "What's wrong?"

"Hm? Oh nothing," I replied, glancing up at him quickly to shoot him a smile.

"That was the most forced smile you've ever given me. Seriously Al, what's wrong? It's not Mikey, is it? Cause he'll be back, you know that. Is it Frank?"

I shrugged. I don't know why, but I didn't wanna tell Gerard. After everything me and him had been through, as friends, lovers, whatever else you wanna call it. He was my best friend on this tour, the only person I'd known for forever and a day. So what was stopping me from letting him know this one piece of information? It wasn't like I was pregnant or something...

"You're not pregnant, are you?" He whispered, his eyes open wide with worry and I shot him a dirty look.

"No Gerard," I hissed. "I'm not!"

"Then what?"

"Ugh okay so...Elisa called me this morning."

"And...I don't know who that is," Gerard said, scratching his head.

"Director of Camp Adventure," I snapped harshly, gesturing to the Camp hoodie I was currently holding. His eyes lit up with realization, his mouth forming a small 'o' shape. He nodded at me to continue.

"Well she was calling to find out if I was coming again this year and I told her that I was planning on being there, y'know? So I'm going to volunteer at camp in August."

"And...?" Gerard said. "I don't see what's so bad about that, I'm guessing you just haven't told Frank." Fucker knows me too well. "So all you have to do is tell him."

"I'll be gone from the 15th when we get to Long Island so I can pack in advance and then I'll be there the 17th for counselor training, then camp's on the 18th," I informed him and he nodded, calculating that all in his head.

"If my memory serves me correct, camp is a week, right? So you'll be back on like the 25th or the 26th, who cares? Frank should be fine with that..." He said but my face stayed the same. "There's more...?"

"I won't be back that soon..."

"Explain."

"Okay well," I said, taking a deep breath and keeping my voice down. "When we were in California, John asked me if I'd go to SummerSlam, it was just a friendly gesture, you know? So I thought about it, and I decided I'd go. Now you guys will be in Jersey when SummerSlam happens, and so will SummerSlam. But by the time it ends, you guys might be long gone so I might have to come back the next day..."

"I see," Gerard said, frowning. "Well just talk about it with Frank, I'm sure he'll be fine with it...you're just going cause you love wrestling and John is your friend, after all."

"Yeah," I said, agreeing. "A lot of other people there are my friends too, so it's not just all about John."

"Exactly, babe."

Suddenly, his phone buzzed loudly and Gerard snatched for it, immediately flipping it open.

"Who're you texting?" I asked but he only grinned, continued to text until his message was long gone and sent. Then he looked down at me and said simply, "Lindsey."

"Oh," I said, understanding. "So you really like her, don't you?"

"I really do," he said, sighing blissfully. "It's never been like this before...it's different. I feel like we're really gonna make it...like you know, go as far as I did before."

"Psh, you say that now until you start fighting and...well I don't even have to tell you, you already know," I told him but he shook his head.

"Not my girl...Come on, didn't you feel like this when you met Frank?" He asked.

At that exact moment, Frank let out a loud shriek as he yelled obscenities at the Sidekick. He caused Bob to jump up from beside him and then he proceeded to smack Frank on the back of the head, who just giggled and went on to his game.

"There a problem, hun?" I called across the room.

"I fell," Frank frowned, talking about the snowboarding game I had discovered this morning at breakfast.

I looked back at Gerard and raised my eyebrows, "I rest my case."

Gerard chuckled and shook his head, "You two are something else."

There was a knock at the door and Worm appeared, headset on and clipboard in hand, as usual. He said loudly, "Guys, you got one second to get outside. Now," and then left.

"That's my cue," Gerard said, standing up from his chair, checking his hair and handkerchief real quick before jetting out of the door. I stood up quickly as Ray and Bob exited the room after Gerard and Frank approached me, sliding the screen to his phone closed and shoved it in my back pocket.

"Hold that for me, sweetheart," he grinned.

"Only if you kiss me," I pouted and batted my eyelashes. Matt made kissy faces and noises as he held the door open for us. Frank chuckled and quickly planted a swift kiss on my lips, his lips soft and comforting.

We followed Matt out the room towards the stage and I stood off to the side as Frank picked up his guitar and hoisted the strap on his shoulder, Matt and Ray doing the same. Bob disappeared towards the area with his drum set and Gerard did his vocal exercises off in the corner as people rushed around.

"Hey Alliyson," someone said from behind me as I helped Matt adjust his strap and I turned around to come face to face with Jill.

"Hey there, come to see the show?" I asked and she shrugged and nodded, her full head of blond hair shaking. She crossed her arms over her chest as a pair of strong arms wrapped around my waist and I felt the owners head on my shoulder.

"Hi Jill," Frank greeted, holding me tight. Jill said a quiet hello before she was cut off by Gerard coming over, his exercises now finished.

"Hello sugar," Gerard said to her, showing her his killer smile and then he approached me.

"Have a good show honey," I said to him, quickly kissing him on the cheek and he disappeared towards the stage, someone handing him a microphone on the way.

"Love you," Frank whispered in my ear as the crowd got louder and he gave me a wet kiss on the cheek before sliding his guitar off of his back and back onto his chest and ran after Gerard on stage.

"Oh my god," Jill said, obviously awestruck. "Not only am I about witness a live My Chemical Romance show from backstage, but Gerard Way just called me sugar."

"You poor, poor girl," I chuckled and Jill did the same. "Now you're gonna need a shrink."

[Time Elapse]

"My brothers are such idiots," Jill said to me as the boys got ready, and then we'd go back to the bus. The show was over, Linkin Park was on now and then everyone would go get some sleep. They'd already gone and did a couple of autographs.

"Why?"

"Well so we're in that hotel, right? And it's like 5 in the afternoon and my brothers go into the like, dining hall of this place. And they see these huge crates of beer set up. Like huge steel barrels, filled with ice and beers. And they get all excited, they think it's for them!"

"Oh boy...," I said, waiting for the rest of the story.

"Yeah they start like, taking shit loads of the beers, getting all happy cause they think they are so famous and that hotels set up these nice little catering things for them. So the manager or whatever comes in, and he's all like, 'Those aren't for you; they're for everyone on the tour!' So my brothers, now feeling like complete idiots, put the beers back and go back upstairs to tell me everything."

"Aha, that's cute. Don't make fun of them, they just thought they were being recognized."

"Recognized, yeah. That's the word for it all right..." Jill said, shaking her head and I laughed, scrolling through my phone to get to the text messages.

I stared at the text I had received during the show, from John.

Hey beautiful, what's been up with you?

I frowned and stared back at it. The show was way over, and I still hadn't replied. I would have to explain to John that I was 'busy', as an excuse for not replying for long but the fact still remained that he texted me. He took the time out of his day to send me a small message.

Back when John and I were together, this type of stuff used to get me excited. Most of the time, it would flatter me a lot more than he would know. His little ways of showing affection would cause me to go into this lovestruck mode, I loved how he would text me or call because I was on his mind.

It was cute, it was love. Or something like it.
But now? Now I just feel weird...

Like, I could be friends with exes and everything, it's just when they say things like this to me that I feel awkward. My feelings for them either come right back, or I just feel really out of place.

I didn't know how I felt about this though...

"...Alliyson? Al? Are you okay?" A voice said, shaking me out of my thoughts. I glanced up quickly and connected eyes with Jill, smiling sheepishly.

"Sorry."

"It's fine, what's on your mind? You seemed a little...dazed and confused real quick," she said and I chuckled.

Haha, dazed and confused.
Led Zepplin.
Amazing band.

"Yeah it's just..." I began, exiting out of the text before Jill saw. "Started daydreaming for a couple minutes."

Jill raised one of her eyebrows, "You sure? I'm guessing you don't really wanna talk about it..."

"Not really. But what were you saying?"

"I was talking about my brothers but that doesn't really matter," Jill said, looking up at the clock. "Where's Frank and the guys? Didn't you say you had somewhere to go?"

"Sort of," I mumbled, remembering when I told Frank I needed to talk to him later. "We're going on a walk, I kinda gotta talk to him."

"Oh, okay. What about?"

Nosy much?
Before I could answer nosy-I mean Jill, the door behind her opened and Frank shuffled through, pulling on a long sleeved shirt over his t-shirt.

"Sorry," Frank grinned, the door slamming behind him as he approached us and leaned down to peck me quickly on the cheek. I forced a smile as Jill still gazed at me and then shot a smile at Frank.

"It's fine, just don't do it again," she joked, winking at him.

"Ooh, yes ma'm," Frank chuckled, saluting her. I stared back and forth between the two of them as they shared a laugh, as if having been old friends for the longest.

"Well I guess we better get going," I said quickly, frowning as I pushed Frank away from me and stood up. "See you later Jill."

"Yeah, bye..." Jill said softly as I guided Frank out the door.