Maybe Memories

Bert's POV

"Hurry up, Frankie!" I heard Gerard yelling as I entered the door.

I snuck up behind Gerard and whispered, "I'm right behind you," in the creepiest way I could. He jumped up and swung his fist but his aim was terribly off.

I grabbed his wrists and pushed them towards his body. "Whoa boy! It's only me! You kids shouldn't leave you doors unlocked." I winked at him right as Frankie came out of the bathroom with makeup slathered all over his face.

"Reeeady!" he shirked as he came running towards me.

"Well, isn't someone quite excited," I said while giving him a hug. "You ready too, Gerard?"

"Totally. Let's go."

When we got to the party, cars were already stacking up and the music was blaring Rancid through its speakers.

As we were entering through the gate, Jepharee approached us.

"Hey you brought the My Chem boys!" he paused for a short second. " Well, two of 'em."

"Gerard, Frank, this is Jepha. He's the bassist for The Used, of course."

"Nice to meet you," Frank said, shaking his hand as Gerard just stood there and smiled politely.

"Let's go burn it up!" I shouted, punching the air as we started walking through the grassy lot, heading to the house.

When we reached the top floor of the building the music was faint. I opened the door to the room with the golden plate that read, 'Gangster McCracken'. "I told them not to put that up," I muttered. "Reserved just for us." I smirked and opened the door. The room was huge. It was painted red with black streaks splattered throughout it. "Well, it seems as if they've done a new paint job."

Everyone laughed a little then Jeph said, "Well what the fuck are we waiting for? Let's bust out the beer!"

When we were all seated and comfortable, with a bottle of beer in hand, I decided it was time. I reached under the mattress and pulled out a little plastic baggy along with a syringe the length of a pencil but twice its width.

"Have you done this before?" I asked, getting a shaky look from Gerard.

"No," Gerard and Frank both said while shaking their heads.

"Would you ever want to? Or have you ever thought about it?" Jepha asked while glancing at them, then giving me a worried look.

Gerard sat there shaking ever so slightly as Frank replied to Jepha, "It depends on what it exactly is."

“Well,” I said, “I have two things. Heroin and cherry cotton candy flavoured pot.”

“Hmm,” Frank said, looking as if he was thinking really hard. “Can I just smoke?”

“Yeah, totally,” I said, then turned to Gerard. “What ‘bout you, Gee?”

“Eh, do I have to?” he replied stuttering ever so slightly.

“No, no, no, of course not!” I shouted, shaking my hands. I felt like a jerk for even asking him to do anything. “If you would like, I could call Branden to chill with you. He’s been sober all his life, never touched a drop of alcohol or inhaled a breath of smoke.”

“Sure,” Gerard said, getting that cute little smile back on his face. “That’s only if you want me to though.”

“Of course,” I laughed. "I'm not going to force you to be around us when we're fucked up."

I called up Branden, who ironically happened to be at the store down the street. “Yo, Branden,” I said into my stupid little cell phone. I really needed a new one.

“Sup, man?” the small voice on the other line replied.

“I know this chill guy and was wondering if you would like to hang with him? He’s a My Chem boy, and he’s pretty darned cute, too!” I winked playfully at Gerard, even though I wasn’t kidding at all. He really was adorable.

“Sure, just let me finish my shopping. Are you at Jared’s party?”

“Yeah, me and Gee will wait out front by the cars so you don’t have to get through all this commotion.”

"Alright!" We both hung up. I stood up and grabbed Gerard's wrist. "Come on, love." He stood up and walked with me. As we were leaving the room, Jeph winked at me and mouthed the words "Good luck, kid." After we left the room and were heading down the hall, I realized I was still holding Gee's wrist. I slowly slid my hand down to fit with his, my fingers fitting perfectly in between his. I could see Gerard hesitate to move his arm out of the corner of my eye.

Once we got to the stairs, Gerard dropped my hand. I had a feeling that I was making him feel awkward. As we walked down the stairs, he kept his eyes down. We made our way through a mob of drunken people. When we finally made it outside it felt nice. The breeze was perfect and the night sky was absolutely beautiful. The words slipped through my mouth like water through a drain. "Gerard, can I ask you something?"

"Sure," he said, glancing up.

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out again, don't worry, next time it won't be like this, I swear!" I said, starting to get shaky.

"Um, yeah," he said, smiling. "That's be fun, Bert."

I smiled back. When we got to the curb I didn't see Branden yet. I waited and looked around to see if anyone was near. No one was. I slowly turned to Gerard. I touched his shoulder so he would look at me. When he did, I tried leaning in to kiss him, but right as I was close enough to smell his sweet breath, headlights came flashing on our faces and a horn sounded. I saw Branden step out of his car and wave.

"There he is," I mumbled to Gerard. We walked towards Branden's car and I opened the shotgun door for him. "Hey, Branden," I said, smiling at him. "Be careful with him" I winked. "He's fragile."

"Don't worry, I play nice," he said, smiling and laughing slightly.

Gerard shut the door and smiled shyly. I watched as they drove off. What kind of crazy mistake did I make bringing him to this party before I got to know him. I thought to myself.

As I walked back to the house I started feeling sick. "What the hell is wrong with me?" I said aloud to myself as I climbed up the mountain of stairs. It felt like the stairs were miles high. I sat down before I made it a fourth of the way up. My head started spinning and I felt like puking. How come I already feel like shit? I thought to myself. I haven't even drank or smoked anything yet. My head and arms collapsed on the stairs above where I was sitting. I tried sitting up but my stomach cringed too much for me to move. The next thing I saw was red. It was everywhere. All over my hands and the perfect blue stairs. I tried standing up once more but it didn't work. This time I collapsed and fell down the stairs I had trekked up. Black flooded over everything. What's wrong with me?