You Give Love a Bad Name

"Wakey, wakey."

I groaned and buried my face deeper into the pillow, trying to hang on to the lingering fragments of the dream with all of my might.

"Lena..."

I ignored the voice, desperately trying to go back to sleep. What was my dream? It was me and Frank on the bridge. Alone. And I was close to him, so, so close...

"Ah!" I sat up at an alarming speed, feeling the wet and cold substance slide off my cheek, leaving a chilly, melted trail. "What the hell?!"

"Now the Sleeping Beauty awakes," Gerard said calmly from the shadows, and I could see him brushing the snow off his hands out of the corner of my eye. "About time."

I looked at the clock on my bed stand, immediately dropping my head on the pillow after I saw the time. "It's five in the fucking morning, asshole. What the hell do you want?"

"Now don't get testy with me, Lennie-Poo," Gerard wiggled his finger in my face, smirking like the moron that he was. "It's time for pictures."

I threw one of my pillows at him, trying to hide under covers. "Go away!"

The covers were lifted off of me, and I was blinded by electric lights. "Now, none of this. You promised."

I groaned and covered my eyes, shaking my head in denial. "This is not happening."

"Do you need another snowball in the face, Helena?" Gerard asked in mock sterness. "Because it won't be a snowball next time. I'll take an icicle and shove it up your ass."

I lifted my hands to glare at my oldest brother. "Gerard, get the fuck out of my room! Or else I'm not doing shit for you."

"You have half-an hour," he replied in a sing-song voice, practically skipping out of the room. "And don't be late - we have pretty damn big icicles outside, you know."

I cursed as another pillow collided with a closed door instead of its intended target; Gerard's head.

"Why are you so moody today?"

I slowly turned my head, emitting my best death-glare, the plastic coffee cup from 7 Eleven practically burning my hands. "Why, Gerard? Why? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I haven't gone to sleep till one, because Mikey just had to make everyone watch 'Just Friends', and then instead of getting much-needed eight hours of sleep, I get woken up four hours later by my whale-of-a-brother, even though it's New Year's Eve and I have a party to go to for one of my friends. So why am I pissed, Gerard? Maybe because I want to be sleeping in my warm bed, and not sitting in a dark park with cheep coffee and a whale, waiting for the next psycho that walks by to kill me."

Gerard rolled his eyes. "Are you done with your little monologue, melodramatic freak?"

"Go eat another doughnut," I hissed, staring straight ahead into the pitch-black darkness that coated Branch Brook Park like a thick layer of shadows.

We sat in a couple of minutes of silence before I felt Gerard lean in and wrap his arm around me, tilting my body until my head was touching his chest. "I know you're cranky right now, and I'm sorry. I wish we could have done this later too, but I really want to capture the sunset."

I sighed and placed my coffee cup on the bench to the left of me, turning my body so I could wrap my arms around Gerard. "I know. I'm sorry for being an ass."

I could feel his body shaking as he laughed. "You weren't being an ass, you were just being a little sister."

I grinned, feeling my eyes close. "Can I sleep on you till they get here?"

"I guess," Gerard's voice was mildly irritated. "I told Mikey to be here at five forty sharp. It's five minutes past that. We're gonna miss the sunset."

"Mikey's gonna be here, don't worry," I mumbled sleepily, hugging Gerard tighter. "Frank is bringing him, and Frank likes to be on time..."

I was awaken ten minutes later by someone gently shaking my shoulders. Yawning, I opened my eyes, immediately looking into the unmistakable hazel ones. "Hey."

"Hi," Frank leaned back, and I could barely make out his smile in the twilight. "We're here."

"About time," Gerard grumbled, waiting till I was sitting to stand up. "We almost missed it. I knew it was a bad idea for Mikey to sleep over at your place."

"Hey, no sweat, man," Frank shrugged, lighting up a cigarette. "We made it, didn't we? Besides, you know Mikey - once he's asleep, you can’t wake the guy up for shit. I doubt he would have made it out of my place last night even if you'd used a bulldozer."

"Yeah, yeah," Mikey's voice was somewhere close to me. "Let's do this thing. I still need to finish wrapping Bob's gift."

"Wait, let me finish my coffee," I managed to croak out, my fingers searching for a now-cold coffee cup.

"Um," Mikey laughed nervously, "I kinda, sorta drank that when you were sleeping."

I groaned. "Mikey!"

"What?" he smiled sheepishly at me, taking off his glasses to rub his eyes. "We didn't have time to make coffee at Frank's, and you know how I basically live on that stuff."

"Yeah, and dead fish wrapped in rice and seaweed," Frank added, taking a long drag on his cigarette.

"Hey," Mikey's expression was stormy. "You wouldn't know the rich flavor of Sushi if it slapped you in the face."

I debated weather to throw a snowball at him, but then decided against it, standing up and stretching slowly. "I'm rea -"

With a yelp, I was knocked into a huge snow pile by something warm and furry, missing the hard edge of the bench with my head by mere inches.

There was a snap, followed by a cheerful, "First picture of the day, everyone!"

I groaned and tried to cover my face as I felt the rough tongue licking my flushed face all over with unmerciful consistency.

"Jersey! Down, girl! Down!" Even though he was trying to sound stern, Frank failed and let out one of his adorable boyish giggles.

I gave up and started to scratch the golden Labrador's ears with a huge grin on my face as she continued to attack me with her rough tongue.

Finally, after fifty pictures from Gerard and a helpful hand from Frank, I was up and trying to de-snow my back, only succeeding after Frank and Mikey chipped in, pretty much leaving me black and blue in the process.

"Since I'm not taking Jersey on her morning walk today, I thought I'd bring her along," Frank informed me a bit too late, a small smirk on his face. "You know how she loves people."

"And tackling them on the ground," I muttered, wiping my face with my sleeve.

"Actually," Frank looked uneasy, "she only does that to you."

I stopped rubbing my cheek and looked up with wide eyes.

"But I think that's because she likes you," Frank explained quickly, smiling as Jersey sped towards us with a stick in her mouth. "Feel special."

"Oh, trust me, I do," I assured him, watching with sinking heart as Jersey ran straight for me.

Before I could land on the ground once more with Jersey on top of me, I was yanked by the shoulders so I was staring straight into Gerard's face. "Are you ready? Or do you want to talk some more?"

Mockingly, I tapped my chin. "Yeah, I think I would."

Gerard didn't answer me, just drugged me towards Mikey, who was still holding my coffee cup in his hands, glaring into nothingness.

"Lena! Smile!"

"I am smiling!"

"That's not a smile! This is a smile!"

"No wonder your face scares children, GerBear..."

After close to a hundred pictures, ten minutes of Gerard yelling at me, me yelling at Gerard, Mikey and Frank laughing at both of us, and two tackles from Jersey, we were finally done and ready to go home.

"I think I got the perfect shot," Gerard cheered on the way home, while Mikey and I sulked in the back, tired from this morning's festivities. "No, scratch that, I know I've got the perfect shot!"

"Ugh," Mikey turned to look at me, frowning a bit. "How jealous are you of Frank right now? He gets to ride in his car alone. In absolute quiet."

"Not quite alone," I reminded him, "he's got Jersey with him."

Mikey sighed and leaned his head against the window, closing his eyes. "Yeah, but come on, would you rather hang yourself after riding in the car with Gerard and never ending chatter, or Jersey?"

I thought about Jersey tackling me. "Gerard."

"Hey!" Gerard glared at us in the rearview mirror. "Cut that shit out, or you'll be walking home."