Oh Baby Let Me In

December 12th, 1999
Friday;late afternoon

Sunglasses..sunglasses..yes!

I sighed in relief as I dug my obnoxiously large framed sunglasses out of the glove box, slipping them over my eyes and slamming the box shut. My eyes wandered back up to the stoplight that I was sitting at, just as it turned green.

For being gone for three months, nothing has really changed around this neighborhood. It was still as boring as ever.

My house was just outside the city, though still walking distance from it. All we basically had in this dinky ass town was a playground.

One I outgrew when I turned seven, thank you very much.

I suppose that's why I spent most of my time sitting in my room and avoiding everything on the outside these past years. Mikey always stayed with me though, like he didn't care about what was, or could be happening out there.

I don't know if it's because he felt bad for his pathetic older brother, or just because he wanted to. I never really asked him, I don't think I really wanted to know is answer.

I tell myself that he did because he wanted to, so I am just going to stick to that for now.

Before I knew it, I was driving up my street. I could see my small house from my spot down the block which made me squeak as I jumped up and down in my seat, slamming the palms of my hands into the steering wheel.

I was excited, leave me be.

I pulled up next to the curb and shut the car off. My eyes drifted out the window across the street.

Mom was pulling bags out of the trunk of her car, completely oblivious to me watching her. She tucked a few under her arms and when she raised her head from inside the car, I couldn't help but snort as I watched her head connect with the trunk.

I began almost giggling as I read her lips, curse words flowing out of her mouth. She staggered around a bit, attempting to keep the bags from falling and trying not to trip while wearing a pair of high heels. The large amount of snow that had accumulated over the past couple of what looked like days wasn't helping her either.

I never understood why women wear those things. They always seem to make them taller than their dates, which I find a bit weird, and I've never heard so many complaints from those who wear them.

If they're so damn uncomfortable, don't fuckin' wear them.

Makes sense to me.

I threw open the car door and pushed myself out. Mom was attempting to grab more grocery bags now, though she still looked as if she was going to collapse any second.

"Ma! Would you quit picking up more, you're gonna hurt yourself," I laughed, quickly jogging across the street and up the driveway.

She spun around, the bag balanced under her arm falling from her grasp. I sped up, reaching forward and gripping the handle of the paper bag, but that ended up ripping, it crashing to the ground anyways.

"Shit," I cussed, kneeling down, catching the cans of soup that began rolling towards the street. I grimaced as I pulled my hand out of the bag quickly; it covered in the slimy substance of a broken egg.

I heard Mom laugh, as I attempted to shovel everything that fell out of the bag back in.

"Gerard quit it. Get up here and give your Mother a hug now, damn it."

I chuckled, letting my head hang as I did so until I felt a violent tug on my jacket. I pushed myself up off the ground, her arms wrapping themselves around my neck immediately.

"My baby's back from college," she cooed, completely ignoring the fact that I couldn't breathe because of her death grip.

I began coughing as she squeezed tighter, the way my face was slammed into her shoulder had my sunglasses pushed so close to my eyes, I couldn't even open them. "Mom, calm down please."

Her arms relaxed and then finally fell from around me. My hands went directly to my face, pulling my sunglasses off and setting them atop of my head before rubbing my eyes. "Jeez Ma. What was that for?"

"What?" she asked, her blonde, curly hair waving with her movements. "I'm not allowed to miss my own child?" she threw her arms up in the air. "What has this world come to?"

I rolled my eyes, which were now able to see correctly, before shooing her off. "Whatever. Bring the damn bags in the house and I'll clean this up."

I heard her sigh as I crouched down once more to attempt to clean the mess up, but before my knees hit the pavement, she had me in another bone crushing hug. "Don't talk to your Mother like that. It's rude."

I began laughing at her comment, reaching my hands up to lightly push her off of me, knowing that if I didn't, she could stand out here all day.

It was her turn to roll her eyes, but finally turned back around, grabbing only a couple bags rather than every single one, letting me get back to cleaning the eggs off of the driveway.

I managed to get most of the goop picked up, the snow stained yellow from what I couldn't get. The rest of the cans and boxes were thrown into other bags in the trunk. The ripped bag worked like a charm, all of the mess now rolled up into the paper. I carried it over to the side of the garage, my free hand reaching to open up the tin can. The smell of old trash that had sat in it before floated up to my nose causing me to cringe and cough. I threw the bag into the can, quickly closing it to get rid of the smell.

I groaned as I wiped my hands off on my pants, noticing that my knees were soaked from kneeling on the wet, snowy pavement. The ends of my pants were once again dripping too.

See why I hate winter?

I made my way across the width of the driveway and up the couple stairs to the front door. My excitement had built up even more now, knowing that Mikey was somewhere beyond this door.

I reached out to grab the doorknob, but it turned before I could even set my hand on it. It startled me at first, but when it swung open, I felt a grin spread across my face.

He was tall. That's all I could really say. I know it's only been three months, but I guess that's when he decided to grow. His hair was longer, but those damn glasses still sat on the end of his nose.

The second he saw a pair of feet that wasn't his in front of him, his head shot up. His body jerked forward when he stopped walking, my eyes glancing behind him to find another boy, looking about Mikey's age, startled at the sudden contact.

"Gerard?!"

Ouch. His damn high pitched voice still hadn't gone away though.

He launched himself into my arms, my whole body jerking back as his feet slammed into the doorframe as he attempted to wrap them around my waist. I stepped back out of the doorway, allowing him to do so.

"Hey Mikey," I mumbled into his shoulder, my eyes closing as I rested my head there.

He wiggled around, letting me know he wanted to get down. I loosened my grip from around his back, letting his feet rest on the ground.

Ha! I was still taller than him, but just barely.

"You were supposed to be home days ago!" he yelled, grinning all the while as he reached up to push his glasses further up his nose, though they just fell right back down to where they had started.

"Yeah, I got held up. Projects and all," I laughed, pushing a bit of hair out of my face, noticing that my sunglasses weren't on my head anymore. My eyes went directly to the ground, searching.

"Oh. Oh right! Gerard! Gerard this is Frank. Frank, Gerard," Mikey rushed.

My eyes went from the ground to where Mikey had been standing, but was now inhabited by the kid that had been hiding behind him this whole time. Mikey had run off to Mom's car.

He didn't look at me, his face hid behind a curtain of his hair that fell directly in front of his right eye. He was staring at his shoes like they were the most fascinating things on the planet.

His shoes are nice, actually.

And damn. I thought I wore tight pants. I don't even know if I could breathe in what he was wearing. His shirt was a plus too. I had the exact same Iron Maiden one packed away in my suitcase.

I tore my eyes away though, noticing I was staring a bit too long. Not that he knew or anything. He didn't even look up.

"Hey." That's all you could say? Come on you idiot!

He almost looked frightened when I spoke, his head snapping up and his eyes meeting mine. He had hazel, almost green eyes outlined with a small amount of eyeliner. Never seen that before.

He didn't speak, but he did raise his arm, dropping something in my hand before quickly running after Mikey.

My eyes followed him until his was hidden by the car and then I looked down to my hand.

My sunglasses.