Descending Angel

The light shining through the window the next morning woke me up. I groaned, arched my back and turned over on my side, expecting to find Frank on the other side of the room snoring loudly like he had been the past few mornings I'd spent here, but he was gone. The room was empty, and that hadn't happened once while I was here. Granted, it's been less than a week, but I already knew that Frank didn't like to get up in the mornings.

I jumped out of bed and ran down into the kitchen. No one was there. I stood in the middle of the room and twisted around several times.

"Mom?" I said into the silence. No one answered. So I tried louder.

"MOM! FRANK!" I was starting to get a little frantic. I didn't want to be stuck here alone.

"Hey Eric, calm down." I spun around to see Gerard in the doorway. I raised my eyebrows at him. He was the last person I expected. Well, maybe other than Bob. He walked into the kitchen and put an arm on my back. "Hey, Frank had to go to school and your mom had to go to work, so they asked me to stay here with you. Are you okay?"

I nodded and frowned. I'd spent every waking moment with Frank, and he didn't even tell me that he had to leave me for the whole day? How long are they going to be gone? Will he leave school early to come and see me?

I whimpered and leaned against the counter, crossing my arms over my chest.

"What's wrong?" Gerard asked.

"I miss Frankie. He didn't say he had to go to school, and he wasn't here when I woke up and I didn't know what happened! They left me here alone and I don't know where everything is!" I rambled, throwing up my hands for added affect. My voice broke and I think my eyes were even starting to tear up. I don't know why I was getting so worked up over this, I should have realized that Frank wasn't going to be with me every single second.

"Hey," Gerard said softly, putting hands on both of my shoulders to steady me. "Hey. We can go see him at lunch if you want, okay? Just, you know, calm the fuck down."

I sniffed, then nodded. Yeah, I wanted to go see Frankie at lunch. I looked over at the clock. It said 10:23, so I had about two hours.

"Okay. So...do you need to go sit down or something? You look kinda woozy."

I nodded again and let him pull me to the couch. He flicked on the TV and we sat and watched a weird movie called Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. I didn't really like it, but Gerard was kinda into it so I just laid back and enjoyed sitting there in peace, trying not to let myself lean on his shoulder.

At eleven thirty Gerard woke me up from a light doze that I seemed to have fallen into and told me that he was going to drive me to school now. I got into his car (when I asked if it was his, he laughed and shook his head). We fell into conversation as he drove and I stared out the window.

"Your...friends are going to be glad to see you," he said dryly. I gave him a look.

"You know they aren't my friends, Gerard. And it's rude to insinuate that they are when you clearly know that they are not." I fiddled with the door lock as I snapped at him. I felt bad, because I was actually supposed to be keeping the guy happy so he doesn't decide to kill himself, and really all I've done is complicate his life. But he didn't seem too distraught. He looked like he had something important to say. He opened his mouth for dramatic affect and turned to me, despite me telling him that he needed to keep his eyes on the road.

"So, did you, like, have periods and boobs and all that girly shit?"

I blinked at him. "Yeah...what the hell kind of question is that? You don't care about boobs, you're gay."

"Oh, really, I didn't know that!" He sighed and turned his attention back to the road. "I was just asking," he grumbled.

"You sound like you're the one on their period." Shit, why do I continue with this! Okay, self, just shut the fuck up now and maybe Gerard might not get mad. I hope. I glanced over at him warily and he didn't look happy. I cleared my throat. "Um...sorry?"

I got a grunt in response.

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We finally arrived at the school after 20 minutes of uncomfortable driving silence, and I bolted out of the car. I got about 15 feet away from the car until I realized that I didn't know where to go, and I turned back to Gerard and waited for him to catch up. He took me by the arm and led me around the building to a grassy area where lots of people were eating, and I saw Frank, Mikey, and the pink-haired chick whose name I can't remember all sitting near the road, throwing shit at cars. I pulled Gerard to them really quickly and collapsed in the grass beside Frank.

"Eric? What are you doing here?" Frank asked, pulling me into hug.

Gerard, huffing and out of breath, answered me. "Eric woke up with Frankie-withdrawal."

I nodded vehemently. "Yeah, I woke up and you weren't there, an' it was scary!" I told him, burrowing into his neck like a little kid would do.

"Yeah, I didn't want to go, but mom woke me up early this morning and said that I really needed to go back to school before I get too behind. She said Gerard would be staying with you, so I thought you'd be okay..."

"I am okay, I just freaked out a little bit." I pulled myself out of the hug and settled myself in the shade beside Gerard. The pink-haired girl scooted over to me and put her arm around me. I squirmed around a little when she did, since I wasn't into girls, but I didn't tell her to go away. I didn't feel like making a big dramatic scene in the middle of lunch.

"Eric, baby, what did you do with your hair? You look just like Frank," she told me, picking at my bangs.

"Duh, Lauren, they're twins," Mikey supplied, eying her with hate. She just leered back at him.

So...from what I've gathered, Eric is in love with Gerard, but he has a girlfriend who he is cheating on with Mikey. That stupid whore. How am I supposed to keep all of that up while trying to stop Gerard from killing himself? Gah, I'm never going to be able to just die in peace.

I felt Lauren's hand trail down my spine to tug at the bottom of my shirt. I arched up at the touch and squeaked. "Ah, watch your hand!"

Mikey stood up, his fists clenched and glaring directly at Lauren.

"Hey Eric, can I talk to you for a minute?"

When I nodded and got up he grabbed my arm roughly and I was dragged behind a set of bleachers. Mikey released my arm and I whined, cradling it in my other hand.

"Oww, that hurt, Mikey."

He actually looked concerned, bending down and taking my arm gingerly. He kissed it before releasing me again. "Sorry."

I waited for him to say something else. Like just maybe explain to me why he dragged me behind a row of bleachers. When he made no move to talk at all, I decided to start the conversation.

"Mikey, why are we back here?" Like I didn't already know. I'm surprised he hasn't jumped me and tried to rape my mouth yet.

His arm slid around my waist to rest at my back, bringing me closer to his tiny frame. He looked down at me for a long time, and I noticed how his eyes really did look like Gerard's. How his lips were shaped like Gerard's. I almost can't blame Eric for settling for Mikey. This time when Mikey leaned down to kiss me, I met him half way, standing on tip-toe to reach, running a hand through his light brown hair.