You Give Love a Bad Name

"Look!" Melanie's hand was gripping my shoulder as I stared at the stage. "It's Frank!"

Logan put two fingers in his mouth and coming a shrill whistle that carried throughout the small venue, clearly evident through the shouts of all the Green Day fans and admirers. "Go Frank!"

As I watched Billie Joe Armstrong give Frank his guitar, I heard loud protests emitting from the crowd somewhere behind me and my friends. Before I could realize what was happening, I felt something or somebody hit me from behind, followed by a loud groan and a wet sensation on the back of my shirt.

"Watch it, man," I heard a male voice hiss its annoyance at the culprit.

"Hey, Lena?" Logan’s lips were next to my ear, his hands turning me around. "We have a bit of a problem."

My eyes widened slightly as my gaze followed Logan's.

Gerard, my oldest brother, was doubled over, right in front of me, his black hair sweaty and matted, an empty beer bottle laying on the ground next to him.

"Gerard!" I was at his side in an instant, shooting the dirtiest looks that I could muster at the leering people around us. "Say something!"

"Lena?" He opened his eyes slightly, trying to focus them on my face, his hand lifting to rest on my cheek. "I...I don't feel so good."

"Logan, Melanie," I lifted up one of Gerard's arms, swinging it over my shoulder, "help me!"

Logan rushed over to my side, Melanie right behind him, taking Gerard's other arm and kicking the beer bottle out of the way as my brother almost fell to his knees.

"What's wrong with him?" Melanie's hand was covering her mouth as she stared at Gerard in shock.

"I don't know," Logan breathed out, cringing under Gerard's weight. "But whatever it is, he's pretty out of it."

Gerard groaned again and we began to drag him over to the sidelines, dodging the people that were staring at our little ensemble.

"Joe's," I breathed out as soon as we were out of the crowd. "Take him to Joe's."

Joe was rubbing a glass with a rag when we Logan, Melanie and I stumbled over with Gerard practically laying in our arms.

Even though the bar was about one minute away from the stage, it took us over ten minutes to get there seeing as Gerard could not walk whatsoever, fully relying on our support.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" Joe's voice boomed as he dropped the rag and practically hopped over the counter to stand next to my brother.

"I don't know," I replied, shaking a little. "I just...we...I don't know."

"Gerard?" Joe leaned over him, shaking his shoulders. "Don't fall asleep, Gee. Stay awake."

Gerard opened his eyes, looking around with a confused look splattered on his features, his breathing coming out in short, rugged gasps. "Where...am I?"

"You're safe," Joe said firmly, his huge muscles flexing as he threw Gerard's lip body over his shoulder. He turned to look at the rest of us with concern. "We should get him outside. He needs fresh air."

"Right," Logan nodded, taking my hand and looking me in the eyes. "Don't worry, Lena. He's going to be okay."

Thirty minutes later we were still outside, across the street from the venue. I was sitting on the curb of the street, Gerard's head in my lap, Logan to the right and Melanie to the left of me, and Joe leaning over my brother's face.

"It looks like an overdose," Joe finally told us, sitting down next to Logan and burying his face is in his hands from frustration. "I don't get it - when I saw Gerard and Frank before, they looked fine."

I didn't say anything and continued to stroke my Gerard's hair in a soothing pattern, trying to blink back tears of fear as I listened to my brother's labored breathing.

Melanie cleared her throat. "Shouldn't...shouldn't we get Gerard to a hospital or something?"

"We could, but he looks better than he did when you guys brought him to me. His heart beat is faster," Joe replied, looking up at me. "Should we?"

I was about to open my mouth, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear, when Gerard grabbed my hand, trying to get up and failing as he fell on his side on the hard concrete.

"No...hospital," he breathed out, trying to get up but falling yet again. "Mom."

I helped him stand up and we sit down once again, Gerard leaning against me and closing his eyes. "No hospitals, Gee, don't worry. I won't tell Mom."

"He looks drunk," Logan observed, standing up and pacing around.

"Trust me, he's not," Joe said, standing up as well. "I need to go. I'm going to get fired if I don't go back to my work. Are you guys going to be okay?"

"Sure," I mumbled.

With a last withering look over his shoulder, Joe stepped into the venue, the door shutting behind him with a snap.

"Has Gerard ever done this before?" Melanie asked me softly after a couple of minutes of heavy silence. "I know that he smokes weed, but this is, well, different."

I shook my head, stopping immediately as Gerard groaned, obviously displeased at my sudden movement. "I've never seen him as bad as this."

"Oh," she uttered, obviously lost for words. "Well, uh..."

I lifted my finger as I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. Taking it out, I flipped it open and brought it to my ear. "Mikey?"

"Lena? Where are you guys? The show ended like five minutes ago."

I held the phone away from my ear a little bit, cringing as his voice boomed out along with the noise of the crowd from the venue. Looking around, I realized that Mikey was right - there was a small stream of people walking outside.

"Lena?"

"We're outside with Gerard. You need to come over here. Quick."

"Lena," concern colored Mikey's voice, "what's wrong?"

"It's Gerard," I breathed out, filling my stomach drop to the bottomless pit of despair as I said the next two words. "He overdosed."