Dark and Dirty Like You've Never Seen

“Angela …” His voice was seething. He was right behind me from the sounds of it. I gripped the keys tightly in my hand before turning around to face him.

“Aaron…”

He stood just one car length away from me. He had a small bandage across the bridge of his nose and both his eyes were black underneath from bruising. I swallowed hard and tried my best to hide the fact that I was shaking. He took a step toward me and I instinctively took a step back. I saw a smirk slid up on his face.

“How’s your hand?” He nodded toward my cast as he shoved his hands in his pockets, rocking back and forth casually on his heels. I stared on at him not even flinching.

“How’s your nose?”

I saw his lip twitch slightly but his smirk didn’t falter. He took another step toward me and I stepped back. I felt my fingertips graze the car. I took a deep breath and in a swift motion I turned toward the car and attempted to unlock it. As I fumbled to get the right key I felt Aaron’s hand grasp my good hand and twist it behind my back, causing the keys to fall to the ground. I went to pick them up but I felt his other hand fist my hair and the nape of my neck and pull. He pulled me backwards so I was pressed against him. I opened my mouth to scream but he quickly shut me up by tugging my hair harder so I only let out a grunt.

“Scream and I’ll break your other hand.” He whispered in my ear. I snapped my mouth shut and began breathing heavily.

“What do you want?”

“Revenge.”

“I got suspended.”

“So did I!” He spat, tugging on my hair again and I yelped.

“If you want to hit me, then hit me. Don’t drag this shit out.” I said through gritted teeth, trying not to focus on the pain of my hair being slowly ripped out as he tugged.

“Sorry sweetheart. As much as I’d love to, and believe me I would, I don’t hit girls. Unfortunately, I don’t have any help with me today otherwise it could have been arranged.”

“Oh, so you were going to have some girl beat me up? That’s rich.”

“Keep pressing your luck and I’ll do it myself. Besides, it seems like your daddy does enough damage without my help.”

I inhaled sharply. How does he know about that? I decided to avoid the question.

“What do you want then, and will you please let go of my fucking hair?” I had attempted to slip out of his grasp but it was no use. Surprisingly, he obliged but quickly snapped me around to face him, pinning me between him and the car.

“Like I said, as far as getting even is concerned, you’re off limits to me. That doesn’t mean there are things I can’t do …” He leaned into my body more. I felt my stomach lurch.

“I’d rather you break every bone in my body then sleep with you, asshole.”

To my surprise, he let out a loud laugh. I stared at him confused.

“Trust me, if I run out of girls to fuck, I’ll get ahold of you. Not that I’m not curious as to how your soft skin would feel… against mine…” He ran the back of his hand slowly down my cheek. I cringed turning away from him. He quickly grabbed my face and turned me so I was looking at him. “That’s besides the fucking point. Just because I can’t hit you doesn’t mean I can’t hit Frank.”

I froze in horror. How did he know Frank, or know that we were together?

“That is his name? Frank Iero? It’d be a real fucking shame if he got hurt, wouldn’t it?”

“H-how do you know all of that?” I referred to the comment about Frank and my dad.

“A reliable source. She was really into me, so it didn’t take much. Some friend she is. What’s her name … oh, Lacy.”

I gritted my teeth. I didn’t want to believe he was telling the truth, but how else could he have known?

“Please, Aaron. Look … I-I’ll do whatever you want. Don’t hurt him, please!”

He looked on at me with a straight face for a moment before taking a step away from me. I stood frozen for a moment, not sure of his next move.

“I’m not really in the mood for making deals with the girl that broke my nose, but I have a week to figure it out.” He stepped back towards me and I flinched as he brought his hand to my face. He smirked as he pushed my hair behind my ears and leaned forward, his breath washing over my face. I held my breath and tried my best not to throw up on him. “Maybe I’ll just take you up on your offer.” He smiled and stepped away from me. He turned and walked back to his car. I stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do. As his car rode out of the parking lot I felt myself let go of the tank of air I was holding in. I bent down and grabbed the keys off the ground, making quick work of unlocking the door and making my way out of the school parking lot. I wasn’t sure why, but as I made my way to Gerard’s house, I began to sob uncontrollably.

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I made my way around the familiar house until I saw a window sitting parallel to the ground. I peaked in and saw part of Gerard lying on a bed. I knocked on the glass lightly at first. He didn’t even move. I knocked a little harder this time and saw him shift on the bed but made no attempt to get up. I sighed and laid one good bang on the glass hard enough that it startled myself. I saw him jump up quickly and stare out the window at me. It took a minute to register, but he finally realized it was me and motioned for me to go the door by the window. I walked over and stood patiently until I saw it swing open, Gerard on the other side wearing a misfits shirt and boxers. I walked in and made my way down to the basement with him trailing behind. I stood awkwardly in the middle of the room as he made his way over to the bed and sat down. He rubbed his eyes and looked up at me.

“So, what’re you doing here? Where’s Frank?”

“Well … Frank’s at school and I guess I’m suspended.”

“What the fuck happened?” He motioned for me to come sit on the bed next to him. I sat down awkwardly next to him and began to explain the situation. Even though this was only the third time I had met Gerard, I felt relatively comfortable around him. I felt bad because I could see that he was still pretty tired. I actually felt pretty tired myself after dealing with today’s events. I decided to leave out that part. I would talk to Frank about that later.

“So Frank said I could come here, if that’s ok with you?”

“No that’s totally fine. I’m just pretty beat…”

“I understand. It’s cool. I’m pretty worn out, too.”

“I mean … you can sleep in here. If that’s too weird, Mikey’s room is open, too.”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

He directed me through the house to Mikey’s room. It was a lot brighter than Gerard’s and a lot cleaner.

“Mikey’s not here much so don’t worry about messing things up. He won’t even notice.” He smiled at me and I smiled shyly back.

“Thanks.” Gerard left me to sleep, which eventually happened, but not without being interrupted by unpleasant dreams of Frank and Aaron and myself. I awoke an hour or so later not feeling any more rested. I quietly made my way back down to the basement. I saw Gerard still sleeping soundly, just in a different position. I sighed. It’s almost ten o’clock. I walked over and sat gently on the edge of the bed, pulling my phone out of my pocket. I sent a quick text to Frank letting him know that I had made it to Gerard’s ok and that I needed to talk to him about something when he got out of school. I felt the bed shift and I looked over to see Gerard was waking up. He looked at the end of the bed at me and smiled.

“Hey. I’m sorry, I’m actually getting up this time.”

“You’re fine. I was actually thinking about getting some coffee. Wanna come with?” I saw as he instantly perked up.

“Angela, if we’re going to be friends, one thing you need to know about me is there is nothing I won’t do for a cup of coffee. Count me in!”

I giggled and stood up from the bed. “Alright, I’ll see you upstairs then.” I made my way back upstairs and out to the car. I figured this would be a good time to get to know Gerard and possibly a little more about Frank.