Tell Me Where We Go From Here

“Oh shit,” I said and stepped out of the stall.

“What are you doing in the guy’s bathroom?” Jared said.

“Um, Jared, who is that?” I heard the other guy mumble in Jared’s ear.

“Friend of mine. Um, Maggie, this is Tomo.”

“Oh hey.” I said to Tomo. He smiled and nodded.

“So, why are you in here?” Jared asked.

“Well, I saw your sister and we kind of got into a fight because she claims she’s still Mikey’s boyfriend after cheating on him with Matt. But she’s the reason he’s even here in the first place,” I said, tearing up again.

“Wow. I’m actually not surprised. Gabby would do that. But it’s not like it’s the first time either.”

“What? She’s done this before?”

“Yeah she has. There was this guy Gerard and I were really close to. His name is Geoff. I think he’s in the local band called Thursday.”

“Oh yeah, I know him.”

We heard the door open and it was Gerard. He looked at Jared and the guy, then at me. “What’s going on in here?” he asked confused and a little angry.

“Nothing is. I-” I stared but got cut off.

“Were they trying to do something to you?”

“No! We were just-”

“Because if they did-”

Before he could finish, I shoved past him and ran to the elevator. Tears came really hard. I got to the first floor and walked out the door.

I saw people waking by on the sidewalk while cars tried to find a spot in the parking lot. I saw someone to the side holding up a sign. I walked over to the person because I felt like I knew them.

“SKITTLES FOR THE HOMELESS!” They said.

“Lucia?” I asked. She looked at me.

“Do you have any skittles?” she asked sweetly.

“Oh man, I wish I did. What are you doing her, and at the hospital of all places.”

“Well,” she said as tears welled up in her eyes, “Matt kicked me out and I haven’t eaten for 2 days. I’ve been living outside a fucking McDonald’s for crying out loud.”

“Oh my gosh, seriously? Matt is a scum. You don’t need him.”

“You’re right. You’re a good friend you know that?” I smiled and heard foot steps coming quickly from behind us.

“Maggie, what’s going on?” Gerard asked.

“This isn’t the time Gerard,” I said taking him to the side.

“Yes it is. Who were those guys-”

“You didn’t even recognize one of them? You’re only friends with him. Maybe if you’d stop jumping to conclusions, then you would understand.” He sighed.

“Look,” I said, “I know you’re upset about all of this, but so am I.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just that you could’ve been hurt really bad. I don’t want something to happen to you too.” He said in almost a whisper.

“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. I can take care of myself.” I said as he whipped away a tear. I saw two people running towards us from behind Gerard.

“Hey man, we didn’t do anything-Gerard?” Jared said, stopping in front of us.

“Hey,” he said, choking up.

“Lucia, what are you doing here?” Jared asked looking at Lucia on the ground.

“Oh nothing. I figured if I didn’t eat long enough, a nurse would come out here and put me in rehab for anorexia.” She said sarcastically.

Jared laughed, “Okay, what are you really doing out here?”

“My boyfriend, who is now dating your sister, kicked me out. So I’ve been living outside of a McDonald’s for the past three days.” She said in a completely calm voice; as if this kind of thing happens all the time.

Jared’s eyes widened. “Why didn’t you tell me? You know I would let you stay at my place.”

“Really, you would?”Jared nodded his head as Lucia started tearing up. Gerard started crying with her.

“Stop it you guys. I’m getting upset too.” I said. I felt tears well up in my eyes. Lucia wrapped her arms around me.

“Let’s go get you guys some skittles,” Jared said. I nodded and helped Lucia up off the ground. All five of us walked to 7-11 across the street. Lucia and I both got Skittles and Mountain Dew. Gerard, Tomo, and Jared all got Monsters. Gerard paid and we all made our way back to the hospital.

“So what are you guys doing here?” I asked Tomo and Jared.

Jared and Tomo looked at each other. “My brother got into a car accident by a drunk driver.” Jared said, looking down. I felt a pang in my stomach.

“Is he okay?” Lucia asked.

“Yeah, he’s getting better everyday. He woke up two weeks ago and should be coming home in a few days. The doctors want to make sure he’s all better,” Tomo said.

Jared was still looking down and I saw a tear fall from his face. “Yeah, I’m just glad he’s going to be okay,” Jared said, whipping another tear away from his face. I nodded and opened my Mountain Dew. I took a big sip of it, savoring the taste of lemon-lime plus caffeine.

We waked inside the building together and went to Mikey’s floor where we saw Mikey and Gerard’s parents as we got out of the elevator. Donna was at the reception desk while Don was standing off to the side. Gerard went to them as we all stayed behind. It took a good 3
minutes until he returned to tell us news about Mikey.

“My parents said he’s in room 38 and that the doctors are in there right now doing tests. They said we could go in after they’re done.”

We all nodded and stood as an awkward silence came upon us.

“So, um, the said doctors said Shannon should be walking today.” Jared said.

“Yeah, let’s go see Shannon,” I said. We got back in the elevator as Lucia and I ate our skittles. We had to go to the very top floor and to the very last room. We wall walked inside the room and saw tons of helium balloons that said, ‘Get well soon’ or ‘Thinking of you’ or something like that. The room had a bathroom and a TV up on the wall with The Simpsons on. I saw Shannon in the bed. He had very short dark brown hair which was spiked up with hair gel. He smiled as he saw Tomo and Jared.

“Hey, how are you feeling today little bro?” Jared asked.

“Better than yesterday, I’ll tell you that. But this hospital food is shit. It shouldn’t be good for you.”

I laughed, “Do you want my Mountain Dew and Skittles?” I asked.

“Oh yes! Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had soda? Or sugar?” he said taking the Mountain Dew and Skittles that I had offered him.

“Thanks, what’s your name kind stranger?” he asked, taking some Skittles and popping them into his mouth.

“I’m Maggie,” I said.

“Oh, okay. I remember Jared talking about you a few days ago.” I nodded.

We heard the door open and Frank came in.

“Hey you guys. Um, we can go into Mikey’s room now.” He said.

“Okay,” Gerard said.

“Hey Frank! Haven’t seen you in a while.” Shannon said smiling.

“Oh wow. Shannon Leto. How are you doing?”Frank said with a smile on his face.

“Well, uh…I’m kind of in a hospital bed. You can guess the rest.”

“Oh yeah. So if anyone wants to go in Mikey’s room, you can.”

“Okay, Frank. I think I’m going to stay up here for a while and catch up with the Leto brothers.”Gerard said.

“Um, I’ll go,” I said.

“Okay. I’m going to go with you.” Frank said. I nodded.

We walked out of the hospital room to the elevator. Frank pushed the button, making it light up. We heard a ding and went to the elevator to our left. I could smell the heavy scent of medicine and fresh linens. We stepped inside of the dark elevator as Frank pushed the number 3. It was silent going down as it was lonely. I saw Frank wipe his eye a couple of times.

“You okay?” I asked quietly. He nodded his head as the elevator door opened.