Time Bomb

No words could describe what Gerard was feeling. His manager was talking to him about the upcoming tour with Linkin Park and apparently, to his luck, The Used.

“Gerard?” His voice was hesitant on the other side of the line, although he was the least of the lead singer’s worries.

“Are you kidding me?! How did this happen?!” An explosion erupted from inside of him. Instantly he felt terrible for yelling at his manager, but he didn’t deserve this – it wasn’t his fault, was it? “Why in the world did you schedule us together?”

Rage was pulsing through him like an electric fire newly ignited. It had been a while since he had been this upset. The last time Gerard could remember being this close to being upset was when the band found out that Pedicone had stolen from them and even then he wasn’t that upset; he was hurt.

“Listen, Gerard, it wasn’t me. It was their tour manager who booked them and they agreed to play, I have no control over this. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have booked you two together. Trust me, I know better than to do that to you.”

There was a mix of emotions running through the man and he didn’t know if he was going to be able to handle this. The last time he was with that band, with Bert – it wasn’t exactly the high point of his life. Well, technically, he was high but it was not one of his proudest moments and knew this was going to end up fucking up the current bliss he was living. Somehow, he needed to get off this tour for himself and for the sake of his family. The one thing that really stopped him from overreacting too much was the fans. Most of them bought their tickets already and were expecting to see My Chemical Romance out on the road in a couple weeks. It wasn’t like Gerard to cancel a gig and couldn’t do that to them knowing how it was to have your favorite band cancel their show; it sucked balls.

“Gerard?” His manager carefully started, “I can get you off this tour if necessary, but I don’t know how it is going to look – to be honest. A press release was made earlier about this week about how everyone was excited to start the tour before The Used was added.”

“I know. I can’t pull of the tour for the fans and the band. We need the gigs for our fans.” He sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose not sure what to do in this situation. This is usually why the band was hands on in the managing process so this shit didn’t accidentally happen. “I’ll call you tomorrow; I need to talk to my wife.”

Before another word was gotten in he hung up the phone not wanting to hear more about this fucked up mess. Right now, he needed to talk to his wife and then his band mates. They would know what to do and take the situation to heart.

The house was quiet, meaning Lyn was still out with their daughter Bandit and Mike’s wife Jamia. This only meant that he was going to have to wait and talk to her until she got home. He also did not want to interrupt their day and be a bother to them while they shopped. Not wanting to wait to talk to someone Gerard quickly sent a mass text for everyone to meet at Franks for an emergency band meeting in ten minutes. He knew for a fact that no one was busy and half of them were already at Franks so it wouldn’t be a problem to rally them up quickly.

Grabbing his keys, he headed out to Franks to meet the guys while pulling over through a Starbucks drive-thru to have something to calm the nerves he had accumulated in the last twenty minutes. A double chocolate chip Frappuccino with a shot of espresso was the solution to every. Well, almost everything.

Pulling into Franks, Gerard could see that everyone was here already. He knew that he would most likely be bombarded when walking into the room. Then again, it wasn’t often an emergency band meeting was called upon, so he wouldn’t blame them for being concerned.

Frank was already at the front door and opening it for him, greeting his friend with a smile on his face. This is why he loved Frank more than anything; the man was always there for him and knew how to make him feel at least a little bit better without saying anything. Gerard owed the guitarist his life and was more than happy to give him everything he could without a second thought.

“Hi Gee!” Frank squealed, stepping aside to let him into his home.

Ray and Mikey were sitting on the couch and gave him a nod of hello. Gerard loved his brother and his friend Ray as well. Mikey tended to be quieter about his opinions but when he spoke, Gerard knew when to listen and he was hoping today Mikey would be sharing a handful of advice with him. On the other hand, Ray was a hard ass and got right to the point most of the times. His best friends were the perfect combination that he always seemed to need.

“That bad huh?” Frank motioned to the Starbucks in his hands.

Gerard nodded as he took a seat in the recliner, facing his band. “Yeah, it’s that bad. Guys I don’t know how to say this without crashing. The news is still shocking and unbelievable to me.” Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes composing his thoughts briefly before speaking.

“Gee, what is it?” Mikey asked, concerned with his brother.

“I found out who is playing the new tour.” He replied, opening his eyes and facing everyone.

“Avenged?! I heard rumors that they might be hopping on the tour. Or is it Paramore? Either way I would be good with it.” Frank inserted, becoming more excited about this tour.

Gerard shook his head. “The Used. The goddam fucking Used are playing this tour with us.” The rage he had somehow managed to calm down for the time being boiled inside him again.

No one really said anything. What was there to say? The one man who had played a part in literally fucking him up was going to be at the same place as him for almost two months. How was he supposed to deal with this?

“When did this happen?” Ray was the first to say something.

“Apparently in the last two weeks, it was finalized in the last twenty-four hours. I got the call today with the confirmation that they are playing the tour. I don’t know how this happened, but its happening.” He confirmed much to his dismay. “I just don’t know what to do. We obviously cannot back out, we released a press statement this week saying we were all excited and I would hate lying that I am sick or something to get out of it.”

“Do you think they knew when they agreed to the tour that we were on it?” Frank asked.

Mikey shrugged, “Who knows. They probably didn’t because neither of our bands have communicated much since then on purpose.”

Gerard agreed. There was probably a mix up in the process and that is exactly what he didn’t like, the mix up. There shouldn’t have been the mix up. Everyone should have known who was playing this tour and who was looking at playing this tour. He just could not believe this was actually happening to him.

“Things are going to be fine. We will just play it cool during the tour and we will keep you occupied and make sure he stays away from you.” Mikey concluded. Frank and Ray nodded in agreement of the plan but they all knew it wouldn’t be that easy.

A part of Gerard wanted to believe the plan of avoiding The Used during the tour but he knew that Frank, Ray, and Mikey were still somewhat friends with Jeph and Quinn so they would want to hang out with them. Also, it wasn’t like he needed a babysitter to watch him. All the lead singer wanted was not to be on the same tour as Bert McCracken.

Telling his wife about Bert was going to be a seamlessly easy task because he she would be empathetic with him and offer him constructive advice. Lindsey already knew all about the history he had with Bert and was open to talk about anything because it was history.

Gerard had just put his daughter, Bandit, down for a nap when he joined his wife in the kitchen to talk to her about the upcoming tour.

She was washing dishes when he walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her cheek and resting his head on her shoulder. This was often a ritual of his when something was wrong and he needed to talk to her. Lindsey was well aware of his habits and immediately stopped doing the dishes, nuzzling his head with her own.

“Hey babe,” she greeted with a smile and a sigh.

“Hey.”

Lindsey turned around and faced her husband. In all the years he had known her and even though their marriage was quick, he loved being with her and didn’t regret a single thing when it came to her. To him, she was the sunshine in his life and she had given him a beautiful daughter, which he would be forever thankful for. For a moment he smiled at her, all of a sudden nervous on how she was going to react to the news.

“I found out who is playing on tour with us.” Gerard broke the silence and glanced to his right, studying the counter before moving his attention back to her.

“Who?” She asked. It was such a simple question.

There was a moment of hesitance where Gerard had thought about lying and skipping around the truth, but he knew his wife would find out one way or another and he did not want to be caught in a cryptic lie. Even if he didn’t let on who was playing, she would sense something was off – she was his wife for fucks sake.

“The Used,” he answered and before she could jump into asking why, he finished speaking. “Apparently their tour manager booked them on the tour and they agreed to play.”

The look on Lindsey’s face was one of concern and worry. Gerard wasn’t sure in what way she was worried and he wish she wouldn’t take the few moments in her head to figure out what she was saying and just spit it out because the longer she stayed quiet the longer he questioned whether he should even be on this coming up tour anymore.

Lindsey placed her hand in his and sighed, “I do trust you, just not him. I know you will have the guys to help you and I am a call away at any point of the day of night. I think you are strong enough to see him and not completely crash on the floor. Gerard, I would rather not send you off to tour where he is going to be but you are on tour for the fans and I would never ask for you to cancel. I am here for you babe and know in my heart and soul that this tour will be hard, but it will end in a couple months bringing you home to me.”

Her words were swallowed and processed with a kiss on his lips. Gerard could feel the tense of the kiss but also the passion and love that they have for one another. She was right – this tour is going to be hard as hell.