Stay With Me

It’d been two weeks since I asked him for help. I’d gone over almost every day to work on the project. I looked over at Gerard, who was focusing intently on some part of the picture.

“I think we’re about done,” he said conclusively. I nodded. I looked at the dark reds, purples, blacks, and blues. He looked up at me and smiled half-heartedly. “You are so getting an A on this.” I smiled back. He seemed to be in deep thought.

“What’s on your mind?” I asked, folding my legs under me. He seemed to be searching my eyes.

“What if… What if I couldn’t have helped you?” He asked quietly. I tilted my head slightly.

“What do you mean?” He just sighed.

“Well, I mean, we’ve gotten closer over the past couple weeks… What if I couldn’t have helped you? You would have had no reason to even acknowledge my existence…”He trailed off. I wish I could have just said that I did it for Mikey, so I would had to have found some reason. But, I remembered the game plan, and sighed.

“Well, think of it this way. I suck at art. Mikey was my best friend. You are his brother. You are great with art. There was a reason that we got to work together,” I said, playing the fate card. He just looked back at the drawing.

“Yeah, I guess so,” he muttered. He seemed to resume his deep thinking. I stood up, stretching my legs. He quickly looked up at me. “Are you leaving already?” I looked at the clock.

“It’s almost five,” I pointed out. He stood up and looked at the clock.

“Oh, I guess it is,” he said softly. “Hope you get a good grade…”He handed me the drawing. I took it, and nodded.

“I do too,” I replied quietly.

“Well, nice to have worked with you,” he said quietly. I nodded.

“Thanks again,” I said, shifting uncomfortably. I headed towards the door. I stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind me. I walked downstairs, where I found Mikey washing dishes. “I don’t know what to do? I have no other “art projects” to do… I’m sorry, Mikey.” He turns to look at me.

“Well, just go home and see if you can think of something,” he said encouragingly. I nodded slowly, knowing that would most likely not happen. I slipped my shoes on, waved goodbye, and headed home.





She left, and I leaned against the counter. He was doing so well. What can they do together… I was wracking my brain for ideas when Gerard came downstairs. He seemed very upset. I knew it wouldn’t be long.

“Mikey, can I tell you something?” He asked, running a hand through his hair. I nodded, waiting to see what he might possibly have to ask. “That girl… Your friend that I was helping… We’re done with her project…”

“Yeah? I knew that,” I said, putting away a couple of plates. “What’s the deal?” He looked down for a minute. Then, he looked up, tapping his hand against the edge of the counter.

“The deal is… I don’t want it to be over. These past weeks, I’ve felt better than I have in a long time. She made me forget. Now, there’s no reason for us to talk, and she’ll go back to not even knowing I exist.” It was that exact moment when it hit me.

“Well, why don’t you call, and ask her on a date or something? She’s not with anyone,” I said casually. He looked back down.

“I don’t know, Mikey…”He stared intently at the counter. I set the bowl back down.

“Look, she’s a great chick. So, just go give her a call or something,” I pressed. He looked up, and smiled.

“You sure?” I nodded, smiling at him. “Alright, well, I’m going to go get a shower first. That way, I’ll have time to think of something to say.” I shook my head, laughing quietly to myself.

“Alright, go on.” He smiled and quickly went upstairs. I grabbed my cell off of the counter, dialed her number, and waited as it rang.

“Hey, what’s up?” She answered.

“Look, in a little while, he’s going to call you, ok? He just told me that you’d been making him feel better. So, he wants to ask you on a date,” I explained quickly.

“Wait, what? You said to spend time with him, not to fucking date him,” she hissed. I flinched, but remained determined.

“Taylor, it’s only a couple more months. Please, just give me this!” I begged her. I heard her sigh, and I knew she was going to give in.

“Fine, but I will be accepting those payments. I’m going to need a lot of fucking cigarettes for this,” she growled.

“Alright, fine. Just, thank you so much.” I heard footsteps. “Alright, well I got to go. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Yeah, whatever.” There was a click, and pushed the end-call button. Gerard came down the stairs, grabbed his cell, and went back upstairs. I smiled to myself as this plan seemed to unfold in the way I had hoped.

About an hour later, he came downstairs, smiling an honest smile. I watched him for a minute before raising a brow at him.

“She said yes.”