Flip for Me

Gerard Way’s Point of View

“So what you're saying is, is that he bought you your food and you gave him a ride home without strangling him?” Mikey asked me.

He came over today, the day after the competition, because I called him last night and told him what happened yesterday. Being the gossipy straight man that he is, he wanted to know more details even though I assured him that there was nothing else to discuss after the conversation last night. I had a feeling that he wanted to come over to comfort me for losing to Frank. Either way, I couldn’t care. I mean, I was spending time with my brother, whom doubled as my best friend. What’s wrong with that?

“I was surprised that he acted so nice to me. I was being a total dick to him and yet he was acting like we were friends or something,” I said.

“Maybe he likes you,” Mikey said before bursting out laughing. I laughed pretty hard too. The day that Frank Iero likes me will be the day that I actually win a fucking gold medal. And by the looks of it, that day will never come.

“But you gotta admit that that’d be pretty fucking funny,” Mikey laughed.

“It would be funny,” I agreed. “That little fruitcake and me – together in a relationship… I just can't picture it. I would shoot myself if I went out with someone like him. He's too… too girly and just ugh.”

“Wow Gee, you seem to be thinking about it pretty hard,” Mikey smirked.

“Fuck you Mikey. Wanna watch Rocky Horror with me?” I asked.

“I’d love to, just as long as you don’t get hard over a certain Dr. Furter. It’s so disturbing that you have a crush on him, yet you hate Frank because he's too girly. Hey! Frank Iero and Frank N. Furter!” Mikey said happily as we moved to my “cinema room”.

“Don’t say that,” I warned, pointing my finger at him. “Tim Curry is a most wonderful actor and he had a very nice ass back then. What I wouldn’t give to be Brad in that movie,” I gushed, beginning to smile as I put the movie in the DVD player. “He also had a nice voice. I bet Iero can't sing worth shit.”

“Everyone thought that you couldn’t sing worth shit, but you can. Maybe he’ll surprise you one day when people beg him to sing The National Anthem before a football game,” Mikey said. I hit him with a couch pillow.

“Ouch. You don’t have to be a bitch,” he whined, rubbing his head. I laughed at him and hit ‘Play’.

*****

Mikey left after the movie was over. He congratulated me for not getting ‘happy’ over it as well.

I don’t even think I'm gay anymore. I might be pansexual … or maybe it’s just because I know Frank's a guy in the movie, who just so happens to be a transvestite. I swear when I first saw that movie in the eighties that was what turned me gay. He's so … so delicious.

Aww damn it. His name is Frank. He has the same name as Iero. Maybe if I just start calling him Iero, it’ll leave my mind forever and I won't have to picture Iero when I think about Furter…

“God damn it,” I cursed, hitting the TV lightly. I hate it when I do this to myself. I just … ruin things.

After calming down a little, I decided to give my Mom a call. She didn’t come to the meet, so I haven’t really gotten to talk to her in about four months.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Hey Mom, it’s Gerard,” I said.

“Oh, hey sweetie! How are things going?” she asked me cheerfully.

“I'm pretty good, actually. I lost to him again though, but I beat that Joey guy. God I can't stand him either. I think he and Frank might have some sort of relationship, but it wouldn’t surprise me. Anyway, how have you and Dad been?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“We’re doing great dear. Gerard,” she said, sighing. I think she was going to yell at me again. Great. “Sweetheart, I want you to know that I'm so proud of you. I've always had hopes for you and not once have you let me down. I've never expected you to become a gymnast though, and while I didn’t like it at first, I'm glad that I gave in and enrolled you into classes, because you're excellent at what you do. I know that you get upset about coming in second, but you're first in your friend’s and family’s hearts, honey. I love you, your father loves you, Mikey loves you, and your fans love you … as long as you don’t try to bash their heads in with croquet mallets from time to time. Just remember that, okay? I don’t want you to go through life upset all the time just because you don’t think you're good enough to beat Frank. And don’t you dare try to argue with me, Gee. I know you get angry with yourself. You don’t think I didn’t notice those scars on your hands at one of last year’s meets? Just take care of yourself and don’t you dare do anything stupid, understand?” she asked.

“Yes ma’am,” I said. “I love you too.”

“Good. Now, I'm sorry to make this call short, and I'm happy that you did take the time to call me, but your Dad and I are going out. I’ll try to talk to you soon though,” she said.

“Okay,” I said. “Tell Dad I said ‘hey’, for me, will ya?”

“Sure thing,” she laughed.

We hung up, and I kind of did feel a little bit better about the situation. Trust my Mom to always cheer me up. She's so good at that sort of thing. God, did I love her.

I got online and typed Iero's name into Google. Thousands of results came up, and I clicked a random website. I don’t even know what drove me to do this. I scrolled up and down the page, finding some pretty boring stuff about him, but I saw something that kind of surprised me. There was a short article on Frank's childhood. Apparently, we grew up in the same neighborhood, and only five houses down from each other. Frank's parents still live there, and mine live in my childhood home. Life can be amazing at times; all these years I could’ve killed him easily when I first started out driving … just like I killed that dog.