Wasted

"I just want to drink tonight." Frank sighed and rubbed his face in his hands.

"Mm, yeah." Mikey mumbled and ran a hand through his hair.

All four of the guys were sitting around in Frank's garage in his moms house, re-thinking about the tragedy of earlier.

"Hey Frank, doesn't your cousin work in the school by the Towers?" Ray spoke up and Frank nodded. "Yeah. Autumn was shaken up really bad. Most of her students lost someone."

A silence overtook the room and they felt a sudden weight on their shoulders.

"Is she okay?" Mikey asked.

"I'm not sure. I brought her over so she could take a nap here without the stress of her roommates."

"Damn. Poor Autumn." Ray mumbled and looked towards the door as if she were there.

Gerard kept his gaze on the floor, their words traveling by without an effect.

After a few seconds he stood up and headed for the bathroom downstairs.

Before he reached for the door knob the door opened and there stood a tired looking Autumn.

"Oh." She mumbled and looked down at her feet, not wanting him to see how disheveled she looked.
The awkwardness hung in the air as neither of them said anything.

"Well, I kind of had to pee." Gerard mumbled and pointed to the door.

"Oh, right! Um, okay." Autumn responded, keeping her gaze on the floor and moved away from the door.

She sighed to herself once he went inside and walked quietly into the living room.

"Sleeping Beauty awakes." Frank smiled over to Autumn, with a chuckle in his voice.

"Hi guys." She yawned and waved at them.

She could feel the tension in the room and sat down meekly next to Frank on the couch.

"I'm sorry about your students." Mikey spoke softly and looked up through his glasses at Autumn.

She nodded sadly, "Thanks Mikey."

Gerard's footsteps were heard and they all turned to look over at him.

"Are you guys still planning to go out tonight?" Gerard asked.

Everyone looked at each other expectantly, except Harlow who looked around, confusion lingering.

"I could use a drink." Ray spoke up and the rest of the guys nodded.

"You wanna join us Autumn?" Frank asked as he stood up and put on his jacket.

"Oh, no thanks. Its a school night." She shook her head.

Small chuckles vibrated through the living room and Ray playfully ruffled Autumn's thick brown hair.
"You're welcome anytime." He smiled.

She smiled back and stood up to grab her jacket.

"I should get back to my apartment."

She hugged all of the guys goodbye but when it came down to Gerard she awkwardly stood there for a second before enveloping him in a small hug.

Gerard was surprised when her small arms wrapped around his waist and tightened.

He hugged back awkwardly and she said a small bye before she walked out of the door.

"She doesn't have cooties Gerard." Mikey snickered and walked past him to the door.

"Shut up." Gerard retorted and followed them outside.

-

As soon as Autumn walked through the door in her apartment her roommate Riley grabbed her into a tight hug.

"Oh my god. I'm so sorry about your students." She spoke into her ear.

Autumn hugged her back tightly, "Thanks Riley."

"I'll go make us some coffee." Riley smiled and walked towards the kitchen.

"Where's Taylor?" Autumn asked as she set her bag down on the table.

"She went back to Jersey to see her parents." Riley called out from the kitchen.

"Yeah, I went to back to my grandparents house in Jersey."

Riley came back out with two mugs of coffee.

"I called my parents too and they were so scared. I can't believe this happened." Riley sat down and grabbed her mug, blowing small breaths to cool the coffee down.

Autumn took a sip and sighed.

"The worlds a fucked up place."

All Riley could do was nod.

A few seconds of silence passed by and Autumn spoke up.

"Do you feel like having a drink tonight?"

Riley raised an eyebrow, "Its Wednesday...and you want a drink?"

"Yeah. You don't have work tomorrow, do you?"

Riley shook her head, "We're taking the day off because of today..."

Autumn nodded, "Us too. And a drink could really loosen me up."

Riley stood up and shrugged, "Let me call a cab."

Autumn grabbed her phone and quickly dialed Franks number.

"Hey, what bar are you guys at?"

-

Gerard's eyes scanned the bar and he was caught by surprise when he noticed Autumn walking towards them with a tall and skinny girl who had light brown hair down to her belly button.

Autumn was shorter, standing at Frank's height. Her brown hair was thick and slightly wavy but only down a few inches past her shoulders.

Gerard's favorite feature of her were her lips. They were pouty and full and a flushed pink color.

He shook his head to rid the thoughts of her and smiled as they walked up to their pool table.

The alcohol had gotten rid of his awkwardness and he playfully spoke to Autumn.

"I thought it was a school night..."

She shrugged, a big smile on her face, "I needed a drink."

"Autumn! Riley! Glad you decided to come." Frank smiled and greeted both girls.

Riley smiled and introduced herself to Gerard.

"Hi, I'm Riley."

"Call me Gerard sugar." He smirked and took a drink of his beer.

Autumn raised an eyebrow at him and grabbed the beer Frank handed her.

"Well well well, the student came to play." Ray grinned.

Autumn rolled her eyes, "Teacher came to play, Ray."

He shrugged and put his hands up in defense.

"Are you going to sit there the whole time or play some pool?"

Autumn smirked, "I'll play."

She set her jacket down on the nearest chair and caught Gerard and Riley deep into a conversation.
They were both laughing and talking closely.

The unfamiliar feeling of jealousy crawled up on Autumn but she shrugged it off.