You Give Love a Bad Name

Two weeks have passed since I have seen Laurie off to Utah. Two long, tedious weeks.

A couple of significant things happened during that time, Gerard started Visual School of Visual Arts in NYC and Belleville had two new couples; Cara and Jake, and Frank and Manda.

I was extremely happy for Cara and Jake. I honestly couldn't say that I've seen her that happy for a very long time, but the only downfall was that ever since she and Jake made it official, I haven't seen much of her. I knew it partially my fault too, but I couldn't help it that I had a ridiculous amount of homework to do with all of my AP classes.

Frank and Manda were another story. I saw a lot of them.

Manda wouldn't leave Frank's side for anything, meaning that she was there for every band practice, every get together. I even saw her at 'Guys Night', that Bob, Jake, Frank, Mikey, Gerard, and Ray had once a week. Since most of these events took place at my house, it was unavoidable for me to be running into those two holding hands, kissing, and acting all lovey-dovey.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I saw a lot of Frank and Manda, but never Frank alone, and it was seriously starting to bug me.

Gerard started his schooling on September fifth, and to my great enjoyment he had to get up at the same time Mikey and I did so he could make his forty minute drive to New York. According to him, the classes he took were long and boring, which would explain his sour mood every morning, Mondays through Fridays.

Seeing that Gerard was driving the car that he, Mikey and I shared amongst us to NYC, Mikey and I had to bum a ride off someone else. Usually it was Bob, since he lived a couple blocks away.

Currently I was sprawled across my bed, reading a book for my English class. Rain was beating down my windows, and from time to time I heard gusts of wind howling outside. I was waiting for Cara. She promised to come over, so we could catch up and stuff like that.

Somewhere downstairs a door snapped shut, followed by a couple of muted voices. Thinking that Cara could find her own way to my room, I kept reading the book. I only had a couple of paragraphs to go till I would finish the chapter, which meant that I would be done with the assignment.

There was a knock on the door, and I started to frantically read the last two paragraphs, trying to finish them in a record time.

"Come in! The door is unlocked."

I didn't look up when I heard my bedroom door open, followed by the sound of footsteps going across the room. After a couple of seconds, I felt someone else’s weight on the foot of my bed.

"Wait a second, I'm on the last sentence," I said quickly, my nose still buried in the book. With a sigh I closed The Catcher in the Rye and started to lift my head up so I could talk to Cara. "Sorry about that, I had to fini- Frank?"

Frank Iero was sitting on my bed, raindrops glistening on his clothes and hair like tiny diamonds. His face was flushed from the cold, but the grin that he gave me was heartwarming.

"Hey."

"Hi," I smiled back at him. But then I had a strange feeling that something was missing. Manda. Suspiciously I turned to look at my bedroom door. "Where's your girlfriend?"

He sighed and slumped on my bed, angling his face so he was facing the window and the storm that was raging outside of it. "She's getting her nails and hair done."

"So you escaped here instead?" I asked him skeptically.

Frank turned to face me, a small smile gracing his features. "Pretty much. I could always leave if I'm intruding, though."

"No, stay," I said quickly, realizing that this was probably the only time I would be alone with my best friend for weeks. "I haven't talked to you in a while."

"Yes you have. I'm here almost every day," he informed me, picking up The Catcher in the Rye and examining the cover.

I raised an eyebrow. "Alone?"

He laughed and threw the book back on the bed, turning so he could face me. "Okay, you have a point. Anyway, you look tired. You should get some sleep."

"I'm not tired," I protested, but a huge yawn gave me away. "Okay, fine, maybe I am a little tired, but it doesn't matter. I'm waiting for Cara. If everything goes as planned, we're going to have a sleep over. Lately, I haven't seen much of her either."

All of a sudden, there was a big bang of thunder and with a flick of lights, the electricity went out. Across the hall, I could hear Gerard cuss loudly in his room. Good thing that Mom was out, or she would have let him have it.

The booming sound of yet another thunder bolt reached my ears and I jumped in my bed, blindly searching for my giant, stuffed, toy rabbit, named Puffin, that I had ever since I was three years old.

"Scared?" came Frank's teasing voice somewhere from the dark.

"N-no," I stammered, praying silently that the lights would come back on. Thunderstorms and pitch black darkness never mixed well with me.

"Yeah right," I didn't need any light to know that Frank rolled his eyes. "Move over, you big baby."

"Humph," I huffed, shuffling over to the wall never less.

After five minutes of laying in the dark, listening to the raindrops beating down on the roof, Frank cleared his throat.

"So, when is Cara getting here?"

"Sometime around six," I mumbled, feeling my eyes grow heavy with every passing second.

"Tired?" Frank asked me again, scooting closer. "You should sleep."

"No," I shook my head weakly, "if I'll fall asleep now, I won't wake up till ten, or something along those lines."

"As you wish," he sighed and I felt one of his hand in my hair, playing with a strand. "I forgot how soft your hair is."

"Thanks," I smiled in my pillow, eyes closed

Sometime in the next twenty minutes, I fell asleep to Frank stroking my hair and to the sound of raindrops hitting the roof and the concrete outside.

I woke up from one of the most peaceful dreams I have ever had. The rain stopped and there was no sign of Frank anywhere in my room.

Yawning, I rolled over to face my night stand, where I saw a folded note next my alarm clock, which read 5:37 PM in glowing neon numbers.

I picked up and unfolded the note.

I hope you had a nice sleep, you looked exhausted. I'm sorry that I
wasn't there when you woke up, but Manda called me when you were
sleeping. She wanted to talk about something. I'll call you tonight.
Love, Frank.

Smiling, I put the note in my drawer and stood up to stretch.

For the second time today, there was a knock on my bedroom door. I was somewhat confused, seeing that Cara wasn't due to arrive for another hour.

"Come in!"

The door opened and a very glum looking Gerard stuck his head in. "Mom and Dad want you in the livingroom."

The tone of his voice made goose bumps stand up on my arms, despite the warm temperature in my room. "What did I do now?"

My oldest brother smiled grimly. "Nothing. Mikey and I will be down there as well."

That made me feel slightly better, although not that much. Silently I followed Gerard downstairs.

Mikey, Gerard and I were sitting on the couch, while our Mom and Dad were sitting across from us on two chairs. The coffee table was the only thing that stood between us.

I had an idea of what was coming, I'm sure that Mikey and Gerard did too, but that didn't make it any less painful.

"I really don't know how to say this," Mom started to speak quietly. "Sometimes two people fall out of love and there's nothing to be done, really. Your father and I, well, we...we," she trailed off and looked at her hands.

I felt Mikey's body tighten on the left of me and as much as I wanted to give him a hug, or a comforting smile, I couldn't look away from my parents.

"Just say it," Gerard spat from the right of me.

"We're getting a divorce," Dad finished in monotone.

I felt tears sting my eyes. I knew this was coming, I knew it. But it was two different things, thinking those words in my head and then hearing them said out there in the open.

"We tried, believe us, we really did," Mom whispered, her face pale and lips trembling.

"I guess you didn't try hard enough," Gerard shot over his shoulder with venom in every word as he stood up and started to walk out of the room.

"You can't fix something that is broken beyond repair, Gerard," Mom pleaded after him.

I felt a pair of arms wrap around me and I turned to see Mikey's face next to mine, his eyes cold and hard.

"Everything is going to be okay," he whispered in my ear. "We are going to be okay."

I seriously doubted that.