Wasted

Autumn's head was gently rested on her cousin's shoulder, the both of them sitting on the couch and watching crappy reality tv in his house. Their chests let out small laughs, taking in their usual Saturday mornings.

"Steve Wilko's is such a classy dude," Frank spoke up with a laugh.

Autumn laughed back and nodded, "Totally."

Since they were kids, they spent most of their time cooped up together. Frank's parents were divorced and he was an only child. Just like Autumn. Autumn was only two years older than him, but he treated her like a little sister. Protecting her from anything harmful and loving her more than anyone in his family.

Autumn felt Frank shift uncomfortably and she sat up, looking straight at him. "Something up?"

He bit his lip and let out a small sigh. "I have a question."

Autumn nodded for him to go on and sat with her back against the arm of the couch, her arms crossing.

"Is there something going on between you and Gerard?"

Autumn's eyes widened and she let out a small laugh. "Gerard? Your friend Gerard?"

Frank's eyebrows furrowed. "Yes, there's only one mutual Gerard between us."

"I mean, we're friends if that's why you're trying to imply."

Frank sighed again and shook his head. "I mean, like...romantically."

He grimaced slightly, not wanting to imagine a best friend of his with Autumn who was sacred to him.

Autumn's eyebrows furrowed and she jutted her lip out, wondering why he was bringing this up and how he got that idea.

"I don't even know why you're asking me this Frank. Gerard and I aren't even really that close of friends."

Frank bit his lip and nodded, smiling a little. "You're right, I'm just being silly."

Autumn rolled her eyes and moved in closer to her cousin, "Completely. What even gave you the idea?"

"I just remembered you two going outside at the bar last week and not coming back for a while. I jumped to conclusions." He rubbed his neck, trying to rid of the subject.

Autumn nodded, "Oh. Yeah we were just smoking."

He nodded and turned back to the tv where Steve Wilko's was reading out the paternity test to a dysfunctional couple.

Autumn sighed to herself and looked down at her hands. Gerard and her were just friends. Sure he had confided in her the other day at the coffee shop but he was much too...different for her to really see him as anything more. But she felt an odd sense of twisting in her stomach when she thought back to the day at the bar when their lips grazed against each others, inhaling the nicotine.

"Remember that time we were at your mom's house and you jumped off of the roof into a bush because you wanted to be just like Ryan Dunn?" Harlow asked, a grin across her face, remembering the old times.

Frank nodded vigorously and laughed loudly, "Hell yeah. He's a fucking legend."

Autumn smirked and ruffled Frank's hair, "You're too short Frankie."

He grumbled and smacked her hand away, "You're just as tall as me."

Autumn shrugged and turned away, looking at the tv, "I'm the perfect height for guys."

He rolled his eyes and playfully shoved her, "I don't care about your boy problems."

Autumn laughed and pushed him back, "At least I have a love life!"

Frank snorted, pushing her back harder, "You haven't had a boyfriend in months!"

Frank's comment made her shove him harder than before and she frowned. "I'm too busy for all of that."

"Yeah, busy with your snotty little kids."

"I'm really tired of you calling them that. They're more intelligent than you and your friends give them credit for."

Frank was secretly annoyed by her job and her students. She had skipped a grade in high school and made it to college at seventeen. At fifteen he was slightly pushed away by her. She was too busy studying and trying to get her degree that she sometimes forgot she even had a cousin.

"I don't even know why you're a teacher, you hated school."

Autumn bit at her lip, knowing where the direction of this conversation was going. Frank was moodier than usual, asking her questions about Gerard and then poking at her 'love life' and now insulting her for her job.

"Some of us have to make a living instead of dropping out to be in a band that's playing small shows in Jersey!" She spoke up louder, causing the living room to echo and Frank's mouth to pop open.

Her eyes widened as soon as the words left her mouth and she quickly apologized. "I didn't mean that! Frank I-"

He cut her off and put his hand up, "Don't worry about it." He snapped.

He got up, pulling on his shoes in the process and walked to the door.

Autumn stood up after him but before she could apologize again he slammed the door in her face.

-

Autumn hadn't talked to Frank all day since their argument at her apartment.
She looked at herself in the mirror, staring straight into her own eyes and let out a frustrated sigh.

Fuck she thought.

Frank was right. Gerard was right. Everyone was right. She didn't want to be a teacher. She didn't grow up imagining herself at a blackboard, facing kids and playing the role of someone she wasn't. She wanted to write something that would change someone's life. She didn't want to teach others how to write and how to analyze papers.

She was stuck in a career she didn't see the exact point of and her conversation with Gerard at Barnes and Noble repeated itself in her head.

Of course they're fucking right. She thought to herself and picked up her lipstick, dabbing it on her lips.

She moved some hair out of her face and turned her back to the mirror, leaning against the bathroom counter.

She figured she would see Gerard and the rest of Frank's friends at Frank's show with Pencey Prep tonight and the thought gave her goosebumps.

Frank was probably still fuming at her but she couldn't skip out on a show, she never did and Riley and Taylor were coming with her just in case she had a shit time.

She looked down at her phone, seeing the time appear, 8:00. She hurried into her room, grabbing her bag and descended down the stairs where Riley and Taylor were sitting at the kitchen table, flipping through magazines.

"You guys ready?" She asked, standing by the door with her keys in her hand.

"Mhm," they murmured and stood up, heading towards the door.

"First time I'll be out in weeks," Taylor exasperated, planting herself in the front seat of Harlow's car as soon they were outside.

Autumn smiled over at Taylor, understanding exactly how she felt. Taylor was a medical major at NYU, devoting all of her time to school and barely having enough spare time to even care for her other needs. But tonight her studying was done and her hair was down, ready for the night and the alcohol at the bar.

"Your cousin's band is good, right?" Taylor asked.

Autumn nodded vigrously, feeling the guilt from her argument with Frank seep in. "Yeah, they're awesome."

-

Gerard stood by the bar of the small club, his third beer in his hands and his hair messily in his face waiting for the show to start and for everyone to go ape shit.
He noticed Ray and Mikey conversing with everyone else in the club, their people skills better than Gerards and he grumbled to himself, feeling the alcohol mix in with his attitude.

Just as he turned to order another beer he noticed three girls walk in and his eyes widened at the sight. Autumn walked in first, two girls right behind her and all drop dead gorgeous. His eyes settled on Autumn, eyes trailing up and down her body, noticing the shorts she had decided to wear with her thigh high socks fitting her leg shape perfectly.

He felt a strong sensation of lust rip through him, overpoweing itself with the alcohol he had consumed.

Her hair was down and in its natural state of smooth waves cascading around her face. He swallowed thickly and turned away, feeling like a teenager staring at the cheeleader.

But Autumn spotted Gerard by the bar where her friends were heading and she felt her stomach twist into an unfamiliar feeling.

"Hey," she spoke up, standing beside him and waved.

He looked down and smirked, "Hey sugar."

She raised an eyebrow and eyed him curiously, noticing how pink his cheeks were and the beer in his hand. He was drunk and she knew could tell. It wasn't a rare sight, most of the time he was drunk, but she could tell tonight he wasn't going to sober up.

"Did you tell Frank about that day at the coffee shop?" She asked, feeling his eyes looking right down at her.

He furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head, "No. Why?"

She shrugged and sighed softly, "Frank thinks there's something between us..."

Gerard's eyes widened again and he raised an eyebrow, wondering just like Autumn, how on Earth he got that idea.

Autumn was...perfect and completely out of his league. Even her friends who weren't as flawless as her were out of his league.

"What? That's weird." He frowned, trying to fiegn dis-interest in her.

She felt the twisting in her stomach incresae and she nodded, "Yeah, totally. I mean, it's not like we'd ever even consider that," she laughed nervously, trying to ease the awkwardness.

Her comment stung and he looked away quickly, not wanting her to see his sudden mood change.

"Right," he said curtly and walked off towards Ray.

Autumn was taken back by his curtness and the way he just walked off. She noticed that he was always different around her, never the same exact Gerard, especially is alcohol was involved.

Gerard was always confusing and never really there. But the past few encounters with him made her think he was becoming an actual friend. But she knew tonight would be a completely different story.