Let the music guide you

Over the noises of the Saturday shoppers I heard the notes of a very familiar song. The sound obviously came from a guitar, and intrigued, I started moving towards it. First I couldn’t see anything, since the one holding the instrument was blocked by two giggling teenage girls. Finally they moved on and I found myself face to face with a gorgeous black haired guy. Our eyes met and his mouth curled up into a smile. The song ended and glancing at the guitar case in front of him, he put the guitar on the ground, and picked out a few bills from the case. Then he picked up his shiny white guitar again and laid it on the money that was still lying on the bottom of the case. Pretty good for a few hours of guitar playing, I thought. Then, to my surprise, he walked straight to me.

“Care to join me for lunch?” His voice was clear and beautiful. His laugh probably sounds really cute, I thought, grinning at the randomness of my thoughts. Then I remembered his question again and instead of asking, just stared at him. A guy was asking me for lunch? Not to mention a hot guy. That never happened to me. I was the freaky kid with weird music and strange clothes.
“Don’t you speak English?” the boy asked again, cocking one eyebrow.
“Uh yeah… I do. Of course. I just… was really surprised since this doesn’t really happen to me. Like ever. I’m not hot or popular or anything. People don’t usually come talking to me. Especially people I don’t even know.” I hated how nervous my voice sounded. I knew I was rambling, but the situation really was way out of my comfort zone. Still, all I wanted to do was say yes.

“That’s easily solved”, the boy grinned. “I’m Frank Iero, and you?” he said and extended his small hand to me. Before grabbing his hand to shake it I saw the black letters tattooed on his fingers, but couldn’t make out the word. The touch of his skin scared me. His hand felt so warm in mine.
“I’m Gerard. Gerard Way, to be precise”, I finally said, after I’d already let go of his hand.
“Nice to meet you G”, Frank answered. The immediate use of a nickname made me raise my eyes from the tips of my converse to meet his eyes.
“I thought it’s a cute nickname, you don’t mind do you?” He asked, looking at me with those adorable puppy eyes.
“Of course not.” I actually managed to answer normally this time.

This boy just seemed so weird. But not in a bad way, not at all. Actually, he was totally the opposite. Sexy, funny and nice. At least from what I could tell from this brief meeting. But why on earth was he interested in me? Even I, probably the most self-conscious person on this planet, had to admit that it really did seem so. Why else would he have gone through the trouble of talking to me? Or maybe he was just bored. Maybe he was straight. That was one of my problems, I often believed straight men or boys were gay just because they were nice to me.

“So?” Frank’s voice brought me back from my thoughts again.
“Excuse me? Did you ask something?” I had to ask, feeling slightly puzzled.
“How about that lunch, now that we know each other?”
“Oh yeah that. Of course, sounds great”, I managed, feeling all bubbly inside. A feeling which really wasn’t that normal to me. All my life the word “emo” had been closely attached to me, thanks to all those bullies, ranging from my kindergarten “friends” to high school classmates. Yeah my life really hadn’t been that ideal.

“Cool”, Frank said. The grin seemed to be for ever present on his face, which was perfect. I needed some happiness in my life. Without any hesitation Frank picked up his guitar case, swung it on his back, and then linked his arm through mine. This guy really was full of surprises.
“You don’t mind, do you?” he asked, again.
“No it’s fine”, I smiled at him. And it really was. It felt really nice to be walking there, so close to this strange, lovely creature.

“Any preferences?” Frank asked me, though he already seemed to have made his choice, since he was pulling me towards some Italian looking pizza place.
“That place looks nice”, I said, pointing towards it.
“Oh it’s my favorite one!” he exclaimed. “Though my parents hated it…” he added gloomily, the grin disappearing for a second, until reappearing.
“Something wrong?” I asked, a bit worried. It seemed like something was going on with his parents, but of course I couldn’t know what, and maybe it wasn’t even my place to try to find out, since I had only met him minutes ago. As cliché as it may sound, it really did feel like I had known him forever. Despite my nervousness in the beginning, now it felt really natural being with him. There was something about him that made me feel comfortable. Comfortable enough to pull my arm away from his and wrap it around him instead, which was something I would’ve never done before. Frank just looked at me and grinned.

Together we walked into the small pizzeria, where a waitress took us to an empty table. Finally, after asking for our drinks, she walked away. She had been flirting with Frank the whole time, which of course annoyed me, thought it shouldn’t have. I didn’t even know if he was gay. Or if he liked me at all? Maybe he was just lonely, like me, and wanted a friend. This really wasn’t like me, to jump to conclusions. He was gorgeous, why would he care about me? I had just decided that yes, indeed he just needed a friend, when I saw Frank’s eyes flicker in the candlelight of the pizzeria, and slowly his head moved closer to mine.
“Can I?” His face was really close, and I could feel his hot breath on my cheeks. I just nodded, and leaned a little closer. I realized that it had been stupid to worry, since his kiss answered all my questions.