You're Not in This Alone.

“I missed you,” Gerard said, hugging me.

“Geez. I was ten feet away,” I rolled my eyes. “Ray’s gonna head over here. I told him about the band, and I sent an e-mail to Bob.”

“Ok. I’m still not sure about Frank. He’s still thinking.”

“You really wanna do this don’t you?” I asked, leaning against him.

“Yes. I hope Frank comes through. Same with Bob.”

“Where is Frank?”

“Bathroom.”

“What about Mikey? Are you gonna talk to him?”

“If he ever comes home from Chelsea’s house.” Gerard laughed. “He’ll probably have no problem with it. He’s been playing bass from time to time.”

“I have to ask, does Frank still hate me? He’s always weird when I’m around
and he doesn’t talk to me.”

“I’ve been trying to talk to him, but he evades a lot. I’ll sit him down and talk him down later. Let’s focus on the music right now. The song sounds great.”

“Cool. Are you gonna play it for me?”

“Yeah. It’ll sound better with the band, but now, it’s just acoustic.”

“Just play it.”

“Frank! Come here!” Gerard shouted.

“What?” Frank said, entering the room.

“Let’s play the song. Lisa wants to hear it.”

Without word, Frank sat down with his guitar and started strumming. He caught Gerard by surprise, but he started singing.

{Insert Skylines and Turnstiles lyrics}

“Wow,” I said when they finished.

Gerard looked at me questioningly.

“That was amazing,” I said. “I loved it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“I gotta go. I’m taking Alex out tonight. Later,” Frank said, getting up and leaving.

“Sup guys!? What’s up with Frank? He left looking really mad,” someone said from the door.

“Ray!” I shouted happily. “The return of afro man!” I ran and hugged him.

“Hey! He’s mine,” another familiar voice rang out.

“Ana!” I shouted, jumping at her.

“Frank’s being a jackass,” Gerard said.

“There’s still tension between them?” Ray asked. “I’m gonna have a long talk
with him.”

“We all should, and we will,” Gerard said.

“Then I’ll have a talk with him depending on how yours goes,” I said.

“So, where’s little Harry Potter?” Ana asked.

“At Chelsea’s. He’s been there since yesterday.”

“Isn’t today a school day?” I asked.

“Closed. They dismissed them yesterday, and they’re off the rest of the week,” Gerard said. “Mom told me yesterday when we got back.”

“Oh. Well, what should we do?” I asked.

“I gotta take Ana to work, but I’ll come back and we can go out for food,” Ray said.

“Kay. Later. Bye Ana!” I hugged her.

When they left, I jumped on Gerard.

“I’m bored,” I said.

“Well, no one’s here besides us,” he grinned.

“Naughty, naughty,” I said, before giving him a kiss.

“I have an idea for Frank,” Gerard said.

“What?”

“What if you flew back home to visit your friends, and stayed for like a week or
two. That way, Frank can cool off, and we all can talk to him.”

“But, I’d be away from you,” I said.

“You’d be with your friends. It’d go by real fast. You wanna make amends with
Frank, don’t you?”

“Yeah. Ok, I’ll do it. I’ll call Tori tonight.”

The rest of the day went by normally. Mikey finally showed up and he wanted the
band really bad. I went home at night and called Tori.

“Lisa! What’s up!?”

“Nothing. You?”

“Nothing. Nick and I got an apartment together. You should come see it.”

“Funny, that’s why I called. I don’t get along with one of our group. Well, Frank’s
the one that doesn’t like me. Gerard said I should fly out there for a couple weeks. It’d give Frank time to cool off, and they’re all gonna talk to him.”

“You’re coming here!?”

“You got an extra room? Or a couch?”

“Yes! Get your butt out here!”

“Ok! Give me a week to book the flight and stuff. I’ll call you to keep you posted.”

“Cool! Yay! Hey, I called Kristen last night, and things are cool between us.”

“Awesome! Ah- I can’t wait to see everyone!” I squealed. “I’m going to bed now,
night.”

“Night!”