Tonight We Can Be As One

Frank's POV

It took Gerard over a week to contact Arlette and to actually convince her to do the work. It’s 7 o’clock in the freaking morning, I’m sitting on my bed rather sleepy, waiting for Gerard and his friend Arlette. She accepted helping us but it had to be this early because she’s a “busy person”. I bet that she has nothing else to do after this but she’s just saying that to sound important and to fuck my day by making me wake up so freaking early!

"Frank?" I heard Gerard whispering on the other side of the door

"Come in" I saw Gerard entering my room followed by a girl, I’m assuming she’s Arlette, who shut the door behind her.

"Hey!" she whispered and sat at my bed, Gerard next to her. She looked nice…

"How can I help you?" She continued as I plonked myself down on a chair near my desk.

"Well we want you to turn Mikey into a fearless/secure guy." Gee stuttered.
“Ok…how’s Mikey? You are Mikey?” She asked me but before I could reply she kept speaking. “Cuz I really think you need a makeover” Well, forget what I said about her before, she’s not nice! I looked up at Gerard, who was covering his mouth thinking that I wouldn’t notice he was laughing, but it didn’t work because I did notice. I raised an eyebrow and he immediately stopped laughing.

"No… Mikey is my brother. It’s him” Gerard handed her a photo

"Jeez… He needs a makeover more than you do!" She yelped and Gerard let out a loud laugh. "Are you gonna laugh or are you gonna help?” Arlette preached frowning at Gerard. He stopped laughing and put a serious face that made me chuckle. Gerard turned to face me and stick his tongue out to me and I chuckled very quietly again because I really didn’t want Arlette to mock me like she did to Gee.
“You know what? It would be better if I make this on my own! Because I know you are gonna get bored and I don’t want to hear you whining or complaining. Wake this Mikey guy up and tell him I’ll be waiting for him downstairs and that I’ll be leaving in 15 minutes, ok?” we both nodded and with that she left the room without saying another word.

“Ok… let’s go wake Mikey up” Gerard suggested while slapping my face playfully.

Even though it hurt a bit, it made me feel kind of… I don’t know…
I stood there, with a hand on my cheek, smiling like an idiot…
“Are you coming? I was already in Mikey’s room and noticed you weren’t following me” he giggled so I nodded and stood up. I headed Mikey’s room with Gerard walking behind me.
We were standing at the right side of Mikey’s bed, and with a soft voice I count "One…Two…Three!" When the word "Three" left my mouth Gerard and I jumped into Mikey's bed and started punching him in the face with the pillows while shouting his name.
"Mikey, Mikey! Wake up dude!" I shouted "Mikey we've a surprise for you!!!"

"I see, but for god's sake guys! It's 7:30 a.m.!"

I felt a pillow on my face "We know that! You are surprised, aren't you!?!?"

After we calmed down we started telling Mikey that Arlette was waiting for him downstairs and that she was giving him a makeover so he could feel good with himself, content with the way he looked so he could get Laura or any girl he liked.

"So what do you think?" I asked finally.

It took few seconds til' Mikey answered "WOOOOW!!!" He said sighing "I don't know what to say!" He was extremely surprised. He said nothing else and jumped to hug me and his brother
“Ok guys I don’t wanna be a killjoy but you should change clothes and go find Arlette before she leaves” I hurried him.
He jumped off his bed and went running to his closet, he picked whatever in sight and in less than a minute we was rushing downstairs leaving us seated in his bed. After that we heard them walking out of the house and slamming the door shut.
“This is unbelievable! He left without even saying goodbye! How ungrateful” Gerard tried to sound hurt but it was obvious that he was happy to see Mikey excited.
“And now what? What do you want to do?” Gee asked while throwing himself on the bed. I shrugged my shoulders and we both stayed quiet until Gerard’s tummy roared. I tried to hold my laughter but I couldn’t.
“God! This is embarrassing!” he sat back down and I kept laughing. I turned around to see him and he was bright red. “I’m sorry, I’m hungry! You wanna go grab something to eat? Mom left early for work and the fridge is empty” Gerard jumped out of Mikey’s bed and yelped. “Go get change… I’ll wait for you in the car” I did as told and after 10 minutes we were already heading to iHop.

Once there we ordered our food and later a nice waitress came with it.
“So… it’s been a month since you got here and you are not planning to move out yet” Did he want me to move out? Gerard noticed my expression and then explained himself. “I mean… my family is weird. And I’m surprised that you are not considering on going back to Italy” he took a piece of his pancake and put it in his mouth.
“No… your family is cool. Mikey is kinda weird… but I can deal with it” I sympathized
“Well, you know… coping with Mikey is kinda tough” Coping? What is he talking about?
“Yeah… sorry I forgot your vocabulary is not that big” He consoled and started rummaging his pocket. “Here!” he alleged and gave me a tiny book. “It’s a pocket dictionary… it gives you simple synonyms of the most difficult words that English has. It helped me a lot in college, for writing essays, for reading books and for understanding a couple of teachers that talk like Shakespeare. I’m sure it will help you a lot” I took it in my hands and searched for the verb cope. It read:
Cope: manage, handle.
“Thank you” I muttered, he just gave me a wide smile and a thumb up. “And what do you study?” I asked interested. We had talked before but never like this… I hadn’t got the chance to know him that much.
“Fine Arts… at the School of Visual Arts in New York”
“That is Awesome… you draw well?” he shrugged and took a pen out of his pocket. After a while he gave me the napkin where he had drawn… he drew the heart-shaped grenade of Green Day’s logo, it was the same one I had in the Green Day hoodie I was wearing.
“Wow” I let out in a whisper.
“It isn’t that good” Gerard lowered his head and rubbed the back of his neck.
“You are good” I assured him. “It is great” I complimented again. He looked up at me with an ashamed smile and finished eating his pancake.
“And you? What do you want to study in college?” I shook my head; I really had no idea on what I wanted to study or what I wanted to be when I grew up.
“Any interests? What are you good at?”
“I… like music. Playing the guitar…”
“You sing?” He cut me off.
“No… not at all.”
“Well, you know, Juilliard is one of the best schools of performing arts in New York. I mean… if you are good you can get accepted and then, obviously, get a bachelor of music in guitar there” he explained me cheerfully. What he said about Juilliard actually caught my attention however my mom came to my mind… and I thought how devastated she would be if I decided to move here for the rest of my life.
“I’m not planning to stay here. I just came here to study English and to know a different country but no more” I confessed, Gerard’s face went blank… expressionless.
“Oh…ok!” just at that time the waitress walked past through us and Gerard asked her for the bill.

“Where can I take you now?” He said by the time we were in the car. “Do you want to visit a museum?” I pursed my lips thinking. “No… museums are boring. What about the Zoo?” before I could reply Gerard exclaimed. “Oh… oh I know” he gave little hops in his seat; he looked cute, like a five year old boy. “I’m taking you to Jersey Shore!” I frowned… I thought he hated that show. “I’ve heard that there they have this pirate tour thing going on and it sounds fun” I stared at him not so convinced. “Oh… c’mon let’s go! I’ve always wanted to go there” I sighed giving in. “So it’s a yes!” he shrieked turning the engine on and driving away.

We drove for about two hours but I just remembered the first 20 minutes because I felt asleep the rest of the time. When we got there we first walked through the shore for a while. It was so peaceful and calm there, the breeze hitting softly my face, the bizarre/delightful smell of salty water invading my nostrils, the sound of the waves crashing… it was simply beautiful. According to Gerard, the shore was not always this calm and that it is probably because summer’s almost over and it was Wednesday. Then Gerard insisted on going to the store where the guys of Jersey Shore worked and there we bought the most ridiculous t-shirts on earth; mine said “I visited Jersey Shore BITCHES!” and Gee’s said “I’m a proud Jersey Shore dude”, we slipped them on after buying them. We looked so freaking retarded… and looking like that we walked to the closest restaurant as Gerard’s tummy was starting to roar again. We ate lobster… the most delicious lobster I had ever eaten. It was hilarious all the looks we received from people that were having lunch there. Afterwards we went to the place where they sold the tickets for the Pirate Tour… unfortunately it was closed because the pirate tour was only available on weekends. Gerard was so disappointed that he walked back to the parking lot, got into the car and decided to go back home.

We got home when it was around 7. We entered the house and immediately were greeted by a very good looking man.

“Hi” Mikey said while putting his hand up.

“Mikes? God… You look HOT!” Gerard admitted. He looked completely different from the Mikey I met a month before. He looked bold, with more confidence. He was no longer wearing glasses, his hair was quite shorter, brown and combed all up… and his clothes were amazing. He was wearing skin tight black jeans, a pair of black vans, and black and white checked flannel shirt.

“Doesn’t he? I am very pleased with what I achieved” I hadn’t noticed that Arlette had already entered the room.

“You know at first I wasn’t that happy with the idea of you changing for a girl, you know, I thought you just needed to be yourself. But, gosh, when I saw you all happy and with that attitude… I don’t know. I’m just glad I agreed on doing this” Gerard confessed and Mikey hugged his brother.
“I’m glad you agreed. Thank you” Mikey said into the hug.
“You guys are gonna make me cry” Arlette wailed as I jump on top of Gerard and shook Mikey’s hair.
“Hey it was my idea… I should receive a hug too” and with that Gerard got me down and Mikey squeezed me softly.
“I should receive a hug too… I was the one who did the hardest job! I was the one who turned you into this” Arlette stated while raising her right hand. Mikey let me go and went to hug Arlette.

“Hey hey… what is this all hugging about? I need to get into my house” Donna scolded while pushing us slightly to enter the house and then we realized that we were in the entrance with the front door opened.
“Hey mom… you wanna receive a hug from the most handsome guy of planet earth” Gerard asked her.
“Wow Gerard you are so conceited! But ok… c’mon give me a hug” Donna encouraged him to give her a hug.
“No mom… It’s from your other son” Gerard pulled Mikey, who was hiding behind Arlette, by an arm.
“Wow I had no idea Don and I made such cute boys” Donna said approaching to Mikey and hold him n his arms. “I really like the way you look now darling” Donna declared and tip toed so she could kiss Mikey’s forehead.
I just stood there watching the lovely view of Mikey and his mom when I felt someone’s arm wrapping around my shoulders and patting the right one.
“Thank you for suggesting this. Really… thanks!” Gerard rejoiced and gave a breathtaking smile. I half smiled and looked down… I immediately felt my cheeks burn a little bit. I surely was blushing.