One Shot

I was sitting on a barstool in my favourite place of all time.
It wasn't a club and it also wasn't a pub.
Bands came to play there and I loved to hear them, really.

I came there by myself or with Isa, a good friend of mine.
Iza wasn't with me today but I had the owner, Jackson to talk to

"Hey there, love."
Jackson said, when he saw me.

"Hey Jackson. How are you?"
I asked.

"I'm fine, how about you? Same as always?"
he asked, pouring in a coke.

"You know me too well. And yes, a coke would be nice.
Thanks."
I answered, when he put the coke in front of me.

"So who's playing today?"
I asked, while taking a sip of my coke.

"A local band again, let me see what they're called again.
It was a pretty cool name.."
Jackson said, while he was searching for something.

"I didn't know we had so many local bands before I got here.
You find it, yet?"
I asked.

"No, I can't fucking find it. Ah well, maybe they'll say it
when they get up there. Something to do with chemicals,
I think? Or was it syllables?"
he said, thinking to myself.

I laughed before turning around to the stage.
There weren't alot of people but that's the way I liked it.
Made the intensity of the show much more present.

After a little smalltalk with Jackson for a few more minutes,
5 guys walked on stage so I focussed my attention on them.

"Hi everyone. We're My Chemical Romance.."
the singer spoke and I heard an 'A-Ha!' behind me.

I turned around and saw Jackson pointing at me.

"I knew it had something to do with chemicals!"
he said, triumphantly and then went on doing his business.

The first chords were being hit and I saw a band
with so much energy, it was effecting my mood.
I couldn't help but bang my head and smile all the way.

After a while I really had to go to the bathroom so I stood up and
quickly made my way over to it, doing my business.
When I came back, I wanted to walk over to my spot again
but decided against it.
I wanted to sit a little closer to the stage so I sat down
2 tables removed from it.

When I looked up to the band,
I smiled and started banging my head again, tapping my fingers
on the table, too.

When they did a cover of 'Desolation Row'
I pretty much lost my cool, I loved that song so much.
So I started to sing along and faced the singer.

Then, all of a sudden he held his gaze on me.
I didn't stop what I was doing but kept on going.
Then, his hand moved up, he smiled and
made a gun gesture towards me.
It was subtle but definetely there.

I felt a jolt in my stomach for some reason,
which I thoroughly enjoyed.
When they finished the song I clapped and
WOO-ed rather loud.

"Thank you very much. We were My Chemical
Romance. We hope you enjoyed the show."
the singer looked at me once more and smiled,
which made me return it.

I sighed, stood up and walked over to where Jackson was.

"Did you like them?"
he asked.

"Yes, I did. Desolation Row was a nice surprise, I
loved that."
I answered, receiving another coke from Jackson.

"Yeah that was pretty nice."
he said.

"Did you like them?"
I asked him.

"Yeah, they were cool.
I think I'm going to ask them back if they want to."
he said.

"Hell yeah we want to."
I heard behind me.
I turned my head and stared right in the face of the singer.

"Hey, it's you."
I said, surprised.

When he saw me he started smiling and his eyes lit up.
That was new for me.

"Yeah, hi! I saw you sitting over there."
he said, pointing at the table I was sitting before.

I nodded.

"Do you wanna sit down? I could use your company."
I said, feeling a courage flowing through me I'd never felt before.

"I'd love to. I'm Gerard."
he said, sitting down.

"Mellany. You were really good up there."
I said, smiling from ear to ear.
Gerard was actually kind of cute.

"Wow, thanks. This is only our third show so..
We're still trying things. I saw you singing along to
'Desolation Row'?"
he said, while he also got a coke from Jackson.

I laughed and nodded.

"My dad loved the song so ultimately, as hard as I tried not to like it..
I did. So that was a cool surprise. I promise I'll come again if you play here.
On one condition."
I said, sipping my coke.

"We have to play Desolation Row again?"
he asked.

I nodded enthusiastically and he laughed.
Gerard was not only cute, he had the cutest laugh, too.

"So why My Chemical Romance?"
I wanted to know.

He started talking about why and how they got together and why
they chose that name and I just listened.
He had a way of telling things that made me want to hear more and more.
I also started to really look at him and loved what I saw.
He moved his hand through his hair alot what made me think
he was nervous. Maybe even more nervous than I was.

He also talked with his hands alot when he didn't touch his hair.
Overall, I was starting to like this guy I had just seen perform.

"So where's your company?"
he asked.

"Oh my friend didn't want to come today. I come here
mostly by myself. I don't talk to people much,
I'm not very social. Besides, since highschool, nothing changed."

I said, shrugging.

"What happened in highschool?"
he seemed to be genuinly curious.

"People didn't like me, I was the outcast of the school.
But if I'm judging you right, you know all about it."
I said, smiling.

"You're pretty much right, yeah. Do you smoke?"
he asked.

I shook my head and I saw him thinking.

"I'm willing to go outside with you if you want to smoke,
though. You're good company."
I stood up while saying it.

"Nice. Okay, let's go."
he said and we both walked outside.

The whole evening, I stayed with him
and we talked forever.
About everything we wanted to talk about.
Sometimes it was complete crap we were talking about
and sometimes it was amazing.

"Oh hey, why did you shoot me?"
I asked, after we ended our talk on music.

"During Desolation Row?"
he asked.

"Yeah. Not that I mind, I mean.. I've never
been shot. But I was just wondering."

he laughed when I said that so it made me smile, again.
He had a way of making me smile.

"I don't know. I guess I wanted you to know I'd seen you."
he said.

"So.. why didn't you do it to anyone else? Hm?"
I watched him light another cigarette.

"You stood out more than the others. When you came walking back
from wherever you went, and you sat down.. I knew."
he said, taking a drag and blowing out the smoke.

"Knew what?"
my question to him was.
I had no idea what he meant.

"That I had to meet you. Befriend you if I could."
he answered, moving his hand through his hair again.

"Why?"

He looked up to the sky for a while before answering me.

"For some reason unknown to me.. I am completely
and utterly flabberghasted by your appearance and
the way you are. I love the way your hair falls in your face,
and I love how you try not to seem nervous when, in fact, you are.
You have this.. glow all over you and when I saw you smile,
it touched my heart."
he answered, shyly.

I listened to him, utterly amazed.
We'd only known each other for 3 hours and
he just said to me how I touched his heart by smiling.

I opened my mouth, ready to say something but then
closed it again. What was I gonna say?

"I didn't mean to tell you that."
he said, with a frown.

"So why did you?"
I managed to choke out.

"I'm not really sure."
he said, scratching the back of his head.
Then he moved his hand through his hair and
I smiled again.

"I like it when you do that."
I said.

"Do what?"
he asked in his turn.

"Move your hand through your hair."
I answered him, truthfully.

"Why?"
it was his turn to ask me.

"I guess.. I don't really know. It's nothing special.
Only you do make it look like it couldn't be done in a better
way. And I don't support smoking either but somehow, smoking
looks good on you. That's probably a bad thing to say but hey, if we're
confessing stuff, here."
I said, feeling my cheeks glowing.

"I.."
he wanted to say, but was cut off.

"Gerard! Are you helping us, or what?"
a guy with tattoos all over his arms said.

"Yeah, I'm coming."
he said, taking one last drag and then throwing his cigarette on the floor.

He stood up and also helped me getting on my feet.

"Will I see you again?"
I asked.

He smiled and nodded.

"I couldn't say no if I tried."

This time, I smiled and looked at him closely.

"You know, you're actually really handsome."
I said, tilting my head a little to the left.

He faced his shoes and moved his hand through his hair.

"No one ever said that to me before. So thanks."
he said, facing me again.

"I can't believe no one ever said that to you. It's true."
I tried to make him believe me. I saw he didn't, not really.

"Well, believe it. I erm.. I should really help the other guys,
now. It's been 10 minutes already."
he said.
He hesitated before turning around.

"Hey Gerard?"
I yelled after him.

"Yeah?!"

"Do you believe in love at first sight?"
I asked.

"Well, I didn't. But now.. I'm not so sure.
Meet me here tomorrow?"
he asked and I nodded.

"7 o'clock?"
I wanted to know.

"Sounds perfect. I'll see you then."
he said and waved before going inside.

I wanted to walk away but remembered I had my
jacket and bag still inside, safely with Jackson behind the counter.
So I went inside too, and saw the guys break down their stuff.

I smiled when I saw Gerard lifting something with the tattoed guy.

"Hey Jackson! Can I have my bag and jacket, please?"
I asked.

"Of course, love. So how was it?"
he asked, handing me my stuff.

"Amazing. He's such a nice guy. Like, really."
I said, facing the stage again.

"Are you going to see him again?"
Jackson asked, smiling.

"Yeah, we're meeting here tomorrow."
I answered.

"At 7 o'clock sharp."
I heard next to me.

I turned my head and saw Gerard standing there.

"Aren't you supposed to help the others?"
I asked, nodding my head towards the stage.

"Yup. We're almost done. But I wanted to tell you something before
you left."
he said, and stepped a bit closer.

He placed his hand on my cheek and inched closer.
I did the same for some unexplainable reason and our lips briefly met.

"You're the prettiest girl I've ever seen."
he whispered, while staring into my eyes.

"7 o'clock tomorrow. I can't wait."
he said before gently kissing my cheek and walking
over to the stage again.

I inhaled because somewhere along the way,
I had stopped breathing.

"Oh, wow."
I whispered to myself and I touched my lips
and then my cheek.

"I wonder what's going to happen next, kid.
I wish you the best of luck."
Jackson said, smiling.

"Thanks."
I said, before putting on my jacket and swinging my bag around
my shoulder.
I said my goodbyes to Jackson and then glanced at the stage one more time.

Gerard stood up at that time, smiled and then waved at me.
So I smiled and waved back, too.

Walking out of the building, I felt my heart pound.
I was nervous for tomorrow and yet, I wasn't.
Who knew that one guy could completely change your life,
when all he did was shoot you?

"I know now."
I said to myself and smiled all the way home.