Arrangements

The following morning, I nervously got ready to go see Gerard. I played with my hair in the mirror, biting at my lip, then my mom called up to me.

"Stormy, Gerard is on the phone." She sounded so chipper.

I sighed and left the bathroom, going down the stairs. Mom handed me the wired phone and I pressed it to my ear, watching her go.

"Hey Gerard." I hated that I was so casual.

"Hey...Stormy, um, I gotta bring one of my friends with me, if that's cool?" He sounded a bit worried.

"It's fine, can I bring Astrid?"

"Yeah, sure." He didn't sound happy about that.

"Okay, so I'll see you at Peet's Coffeehouse, right?"

"Yeah, at 1."

"Alright, see ya."

"Bye, Storm."

I hung up and mom grinned at me from the kitchen. I raised my brow, "What?"

"Double date?" She giggled.

I rolled my eyes playfully, "Hardly a date."

I went back upstairs and met Astrid, who had just finished her shower. She was hurrying to get dressed.

"Hey, uh will you come with me?" I asked awkwardly.

"On your coffee date?" She giggled.

"It isn't a date." I told her, "He's bringing a friend, I need you."

She shrugged, "Okay, I'll come."

-

We got to the coffeehouse first; Astrid ordered her black coffee and I got a pumpkin spice hot chocolate. I sipped at my cup and waited nervously, Astrid sat across from me and watched me.

"Calm down." She patted my hand beside me.

I opened my mouth to speak, but then I saw Gerard walk in with a guy I've never seen before. He had the sides of his head shaved, just like Astrid, dyed blonde with a long, moppy mohawk that seemed untouched.

"Hey," Gerard said walking over, "I'm gonna get a drink." He spoke quickly, "Frank, this is Stormy and her sister Astrid, guys this is my band mate Frank."

Frank smiled widely at us; he looked too baby faced to be a man. He had a bunch of tattoos and piercings like Astrid. It was like they were twins.

"What's up?" He slid intothe booth and sat across from Astrid. 

I could see out the corner of my eye that my sister was blushing. I smirked at her.

"Hi Frank," I shook his hand, "Stormy."

"Stormy? That's very original." He smiled still, "Astrid, that's a very cool name."

Astrid seemed at a loss for words, "Thanks..." He could tell she was blushing. How obvious.

"So, um Gee told me that you guys are tying the knot?" Frank looked at me.

He had cute, playground eyes, "I guess. We're just gonna talk and get to know each other."

"It's cool. My parents were concerned for my religious beliefs growing up, too." He looked to Astrid, "Are you married?"

"No." Astrid admitted quickly, "I mean...I'm single, but I'm not in the whole arranged marriage thing." She was growing comfortable.

He kept smiling at her, he liked her too, "Oh, that's cool."

Astrid and Frank continued heavily into conversation about music. I was glad, because I would rather speak to Gerard alone, and not have Astrid butt in. 

Gerard came up to the table and sat, "So..." he held his mug, "Stormy, what kind of name is that?"

"My mother said it's because she likes storms...wish there was a better explanation." I told him with a shrug.

"What's your middle name?"

"Belle." I sipped my hot chocolate.

"Funny," he gave me a sideways smile, "Mine is Arthur."

I smiled, "Very old fashion. I like it."

He looked at me oddly, "Really?"

"Yeah, I'm very...I guess, I like older stuff. Old fashioned, vintage." I told him quickly.

"And you're into art..."

"Yeah! Yes, I'm very into pop art though."

He nodded, "Yeah, I know."

"What about you? Your mom says you're an artist too?"

He grimaced, "It's all about the band right now." 

It felt like I struck a cord, "Oh. How did you get into singing?"

Again, he gave me a death glare, "I just started fuckin' singing." He spoke in a low, angry tone.

I thought maybe this was a really bad idea. I swallowed the worry lump, and tried to think of something else, "How long have you guys been in a band?"

"Bout 3 years," Gerard seemed to ease up, "Love it."

I nodded, "Astrid is the musically inclined one, I don't know a thing about bands..."

"Who's your favorite band?" He asked, "Aside from The Stooges."

"I really like The Smiths, The Doors and Nirvana."

He chuckled, "Wow, you don't look like you listen to Nirvana."

"What do I look like I listen to?" I asked, feeling self conscious once more in his presence.

"The Backstreet Boys."

I snorted, "Wow, that was so...8 years ago!"

"So you did listen to them?"

I nodded, "I drug Astrid to one of their concerts with me."

"Worst day of my life," Astrid cut in, "and I knew all the words."

"I tortured her with my love of pop music."

"I can tell."

The way he spoke made me blush. I guess it was the bad boy image, "Who is your favorite band?"

"I dunno...seems to change every other day. I just have an open mind."

"Except for the Backstreet Boys."

He nodded, "Except for the Backstreet Boys."

Gerard and I continued to talk for another hour. I kept my distance about his singing and his art, those seemed to be touchy subjects. We all agreed to leave, but Gerard stopped me, letting Frank and Astrid go outside.

"My mom asked me to ask you something," He said softly.

"What?" I raised my brow.

"Uh...we got room on our tour bus, and the rent isn't much, and I'll pay for it, but Uh...would you like to come along? We could knock this wedding shit out while doing so."

I knew my mother had something to do with this, along with Astrid, "Gerard, that's very sweet of you, but I shouldn't intrude."

His lips seemed to turn down, "Don't want to get too close?" He seemed angry.

"No, it's not that, it's just I do not want to intrude and I don't want to step on your or any of your band mates toes." I spoke honestly, he could see this.

He seemed to grit his teeth, "Stormy, it'd be my pleasure and we'd love to have you."

He didn't seem all too enthusiastic, "Can I think about it?"

He nodded, "Yeah, sure."

He didn't want me to come along, he was just asking. He was doing this to please his mother like I was marrying him to please my father.

"I'll call you, okay?" I felt my stomach twist, and I pecked his cheek, "I'll see you, Gerard."

I quickly exited the coffeehouse and hurried to Astrid down the block. She gave me a weird look and raised her brow at me.

"Stormy, what's wrong?"

"You told mom about the tour?" I snapped at her, I didn't mean to, "He just asked me to come with him!"

"I may have said something, but I didn't think she'd actually say anything to him." Astrid still gave me that curious look, "He doesn't want you to go?"

"I don't think he does," my emotions slowed, "and I don't want to either. He doesn't like me."

"You guys seemed to have gotten along," Astrid looked over at me sadly, "I saw you two laughing and stuff."

"He has really bad mood swings. He doesn't like to talk about his art or his singing."

"Well, you're the same, Storm! But, you don't snap at people, you just hide or turn the conversation around."

I sighed, "Yeah, I know."

"Look, I'm not pressuring you to go or anything else you don't want, but Stormy, I have a feeling this will be good for you."

"How do you know?" I questioned angrily.

"Because you aren't over Toby! You're too shy and you're too naive! Maybe experiencing a part of the road will toughen you up!" Astrid smiled, but I knew she would be glaring if she could.

"What if his friends don't like me? What if--"

"Don't think about the what ifs! Fuck them if they don't like you, you aren't marrying them."

I smiled at my sister, "You really think this would be good for me?"

"Yes, I do."

I coursed my hair, "Gosh...I don't know."

"I'll teach you everything I know, okay?" Astrid slung an arm around my shoulder.

-

The following day, Astrid filled me in about everything I "needed" to know. I basically learned to survive tour, and she gave me a bottle of dry shampoo.

"Showers are scarce." She told me.

Today, though, she would be heading back to California to check on things. I was nervous to be without her, just because I was more confident with her around. I dropped her off at the airport, and went back to my parents home.

My mom was off at work, and my dad was inside resting. He had retired due to his illness, and was resting a lot, from the pains in his back and stomach. He was on pain meds, but he was still hurting -it killed me to see him in such a state.

When I arrived back from the airport, I saw Gerard sitting on the porch. He looked deep in thought, and as if he were waiting. I guess he was waiting for me.

"Hey," I said softly, walking up the drive.

Gerard look up, blowing a cloud of smoke into the air, away from me. He gave me a small, forced smile, "Hey." His voice was hard.

"What's wrong?" I asked softly, sitting beside him.

"Nothing." He took another drag from his cigarette.

"Uh...y'know, Gerard, I want to thank you for letting me tag along on your tour." I wanted to ease him up.

"Yeah, it's fine. Mom thought of it." He didn't look at me.

"Astrid suggested the same and told my mom." 

We were both silent. I could just feel the tension radiating off of him.

"You don't like me, do you?" I asked him quietly.

He finally looked over at me, "I do like you...as a friend. I don't think it's the greatest idea for us to get married...I don't want to get married and I don't wanna have kids." 

"May I ask why?"

He furrowed his brows, "I just don't." He spat lowly.

"I don't think I'll ever have kids..." I told him sadly, "I'm not scared or anything, it's..." I shook my head at myself for exposing so much, "I'll never find the right one." I excused.

"You will." He smirked and tossed his cigarette, "I came over to tell you that we leave on Friday night."

"Oh."

"Brian just told us, I went for a walk and decided to just tell you." He stood, "I'll see you at dinner tomorrow night."

"Alright. See you Gerard."

I watched him walked down my lawn and down the block. He confused me so much, and I wondered what he was thinking. I really wish I could read his mind.