I Believe We're The Enemy

Rose’s P.O.V.

“This is insanity. We’re going insane, all of us.”

“I know, Rosie,” Mikey replies. “But we’re the lucky ones, right? We have each other.”

I smirk as he wraps his arms around my waist from behind, his chin resting on my shoulder. “I’m worried about everyone else, though.”

“They’re being idiots. Forget about them.”

“Mikey,” I sigh, “despite your miraculous wooing skills, I can’t just forget about everything that easily.”

As I watch, a mischievous grin creeps across his face. “Oh, really?”

“Yes, really.”

“Exactly how long do you think that’s going to last?”

I try to shake him off, but he only grips my waist tighter. “Mikey, I’m not in the mood for this.”

“Liar.”

“Seriously. I’m tired, Mikes.”

He sighs. “I guess I’ll just be all alone then, and sit by myself and debate how wonderfully sexy you are and how I wish I could take advantage of that trait, but you won’t be able to console me because you’ll be dreaming about how messed up everything is, and how much you want-”

“Don’t even finish that sentence, mister.”

“Just ten minutes? Your lips look extra yummy today.”

I scowl.

“Five?” he purrs, resting his hands on my hips. I roll my eyes.

“Fine.”

Like a flash of lightning, he’s met my lips, and his frenzied hands obviously plan to make the most of these five minutes as he pulls me down onto our bed, the heat from his tongue warming my mouth in record time. I bite down on his tongue in one last attempt at protesting, but he simply moans into my mouth. His fingers dance across my body as he presses his mouth against mine so feverishly that it would barely even be considered a kiss. As I finally begin to relax in his grip, he moves his lips away from my mouth and instead nibbles hungrily at my neck.

“Watch it, Mikey,” I mumble when he begins to suck on my collarbone, his hands making their way underneath the hem of my shirt and across my stomach. I’ve never seen him this hungry before, this desperate. Soon, he’s tugging my shirt roughly over my head, and his lips travel even lower, planting starved kisses across my sensitive but needy skin. I don’t want to give in to this almost monstrous Mikey, but he really does know how to woo me, and his shirt soon joins mine in being tossed across the room.

The room is dark enough that I can’t see much, but I can feel Mikey’s sculpted abs underneath my skin, and I sense his heart starting to race as my fingertip travel lower and lower. I find the button on his jeans and undo it gently, holding back a groan as he does the same to me. Bursts of static electricity seem to ripple across my skin when his fingers graze the inside of my thigh. The air that flows between us is liquid lust. I start to lose track of what’s going on around me as Mikey rolls on top of me and fluidly removes my bra, a blush creeping into my cheeks as his skin comes into even closer contact with my own.

“I’m p-pretty sure the five minutes are up,” I stutter, finally letting out a low moan at his seemingly deprived touch.

“I’m not done with you yet.” The soft growl emitting from Mikey’s throat almost scares me, but I know that he won’t hurt me. He’s Mikey Way, it’s just not in his nature. At the same time, this aggressive stripping is making me start to wonder exactly what he’s after.

“Mikey, this... this isn’t the t-time.”

He lets out an irritable hiss. “It’s as good as any time. I need you, Rose. I miss my brother, and my friends, and feeling sane for once. You’re all that I have left.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to fuck m-”

Mikey cuts me off with another dominating kiss, his fingertips playing with the waistband of my underwear. The option of fighting back is slowly fading away. If I don’t want to lose my virginity, at least right now, under these circumstances, I have to do something about it.

“Mikey, I said five minutes. Your five minutes are up. I’m sorry, but I don’t really want to get screwed for the first time just because you’re angry at the world and you think it’ll help.”

He sighs, not moving his hands from where they’re clamped on my hips. “But it will. I love you, Rosie.”

“I love you too, but I’m not quite ready for this. Not yet.”

Though he feigns irritation, I can tell that he understands, and he finally frees me from his aggressive grip. “I’m sorry, Rose, I just... I want you to be happy.”

I laugh. “With your own happiness thrown in there.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Whatever.”

I sit up and let out a long yawn, before noticing that Mikey is staring quite hungrily at my exposed chest. “Quit gaping and go get my bra, will you?” I mutter, unable to keep the laugh out of my voice.

“No, thanks. I’m quite enjoying the view.”

“Michael...”

He giggles. “Yes?”

“I think you like naked girls a little bit too much.”

“Just you,” he chirps, snuggling closer to me as I pull the sheets out from underneath us and throw them over our uncovered bodies. It’s surprisingly cold with minimal clothing on, even though our emotional frames are pressed firmly against each other, so I huddle against Mikey’s body and bury my face in his warm neck.

“Mikey?” I murmur, the dim warmth of the room causing me to become unusually sleepy.

He smiles into my hair and wraps his arms around my bare waist gently. “Yeah?”

“I... I do want to have sex with you. You’re hot, and I really love you. I just don’t think that tonight is quite right.”

“Anytime you want,” he whispers, “I’ll be here. You deserve it, after all the trouble you’re going through.” And for some strange reason, all we do is laugh.

When Ginny comes in around midnight and commands me to at least throw a shirt on, even though she says she just misses her best friend, I know that really, she doesn’t want Ray to catch her sleeping with Frank yet again. Frank seems to be doing her a lot of good, and without him, she probably would’ve cracked by now, but as far as Ray can see, he’s been replaced. I remember the nights when I used to sleep with Ray and Ginny because I was too lonely and afraid to be all by myself, and I suddenly want to punch Ray in the face and remind him that we all need someone to be with. Ginny would never just forget about him.

Breakfast passes in the same monotonous dysfunctionality as always. Ginny eats nothing and stays as silent as possible, while Mikey and I act like your average stressed-but-affectionate couple, Frank tries to get Ginny to eat, Grace leans her head on Frank’s shoulder, and Ray glares at everyone else. Even though this state has become routine, we can all feel the tension building in the air, and the anger bubbling up in everyone’s throats. Ray shouts at Frank, Mikey snaps at Ginny, and I allow Ray to feel the burn of my horrendous death glare as he passes Ginny the kind of glance that makes her shrivel up and die inside. Grace just seems lost, and she sticks close to Frank and I, because we’re the only ones with decently controlled tempers.

Later in the day, Ginny starts crying uncontrollably, and after one glance at her I realize that she’s practically wasting away. Her skin is pallid and seems to hang from her slender bones, and she’s lost so much weight that her collarbone and even a few ribs are clearly visible through her blue T-shirt. Not only are her eyes red and puffy, but the dark circles underneath them make it quite clear that she’s hardly slept at all. None of this is Ray’s fault; she seems to think that she’s as alone as she can possibly be. Nothing even seems to get to her anymore. She’s just lost in her own little world, and everyone knows it.

“Quit the crying,” Mikey finally snaps. “Just stop. Now. Quit feeling sorry for yourself and live already. I’m so sick of listening to you whine.”

Ginny glares at him. “I’m allowed to have feelings.”

“Yes, of course you are, but that doesn’t mean that you’re allowed to sir around sobbing for no good reason and wasting everyone else’s time. I will not watch you starve yourself to death and go insane from all this fucking misery!”

“I’m not dying. I’m just lonely.”

Mikey’s hand twitches, but he refrains from hitting her. “Everyone here cares about you, Ginny. You’re not alone.”

Her head droops. “Why do you just keep yelling at me, then?”

“Because you’re being pathetic! This isn’t getting you anywhere! Nobody wants to deal with you when you’re being this stupid!”

Ginny stands up, clenching her fists, and finally looks Mikey right in the eyes. “Fine, then. Just go. It won’t make much of a difference anyway.”

“I will.”

With that, Mikey storms out the door and into the desert, leaving Ginny, broken and shaking, in his wake. Every last one of us knows that he won’t be stopped now, so Ray rises and starts to follow him, with Frank on his tail.

“Frankie!” Ginny cries, grabbing his arm. “Please, don’t leave me here...”

Frank sighs. “Ginger, they’re not coming back. I can’t trust them to be on their own, not now, and I don’t want anything to happen to them. You have Rose.”

That’s when our situation starts to sink in. If they leave now, we’ll probably never see them again. As much as I want to stay with Mikey, I decide to take care of our three G’s instead.

“What about Gerard?” Ginny asks softly.

Fear, love, and uncertainty all take turns playing their way across Frank’s face, but finally, he gives her hand one last squeeze and steps away. “Take care of him for me, okay?”

Ginny nods, but I can tell that she’s not ready to leave the boys behind. Abandoning her spot on the sofa, she races outside to appeal to Ray, with me on her heels, just in case he decides to bring her harm. I wouldn’t put it past him, at this point. However, when I get outside, the two are already deep in a fight, their enraged shouts filling the overheated air. Angry sobs rack Ginny’s slender chest, while Ray’s usually frenzied hand gestures have increased to a million miles an hour. The two seem completely oblivious to everything around them; I doubt I could tear them apart if I tried.

“You think I don’t miss you?” Ray shouts. “I do. You don’t even need me anymore. You’ve got enough attention elsewhere to last you a lifetime.”

“You don’t get it, Ray! I’m not having fucking orgies with everyone else at night, I’m crying over you like an over-emotional baby!”

“You are one!”

She takes a step closer to him, and even from yards away I can still hear the shaking in her unsteady breaths. “I love you, Ray. I think that’s something worth having feelings over.”

Before she can even finish her sentiment, Ray turns and starts walking away, leaving a sobbing Ginny to run after him like a lovesick puppy. “Please, Ray, don’t leave me here!” she gasps, reaching out to grab his arm. Suddenly, he whips around to face her again, but Ginny is closer to him than he expected, and his dramatic turn causes one enormous guitar-player hand to smack her across the face. Both of them are instantly silent. Ginny gazes up at Ray with angry, resigned hurt, while he watches her shuffle away with an utterly horrified look on his face. He hadn’t even meant to hurt her, but nobody else seems to realize that. Even I am on the verge of tear now, as Mikey blows me a melancholy kiss and starts to walk away, a dejected Frank in tow. I should’ve let him fuck me last night... Everything is so, so, so wrong.

Lariah’s P.O.V.

Two weeks is a long time for two troubled girls to wander the desert on their own; still, Whatsername and I somehow manage to survive. Even after we lost all tracks of the Trans Am and its inhabitants, we kept marching in the same direction, desperate to find our friends again. All I can think of is Gerard. For all I know, he could be dead. I don’t know if I could handle never seeing him again, especially after he so recklessly saved me from a certainly painful death.

On the last night of our second week alone, we finally find a decent place to sleep, in a relatively dry nook underneath an enormous boulder that juts out conspicuously from the sand. Whatsername and I curl up back to back and fall asleep instantly; however, the world I escape to is just as violent and hazardous the waking one. I follow Gerard’s tortured screams to find him in a small, sad-looking building all by himself, where, despite the calls coming from his open mouth, he’s fast asleep. Something feels wrong. He should be awake now, I’m sure of it; he’s needed elsewhere, whether he knows it or not. I approach his sleeping form to take one of his warm, callused hands in my own.

“Wake up, Gee,” I whisper, running a hand through his surprisingly soft hair. “We need you.”