Everybody's Got a Story

*Randall's P.O.V.*

It had been a week since what happened to Gerard and he refused to leave my bed and he hadn't been back to his place since it happened. I tried to get him to get up every day, but all he wanted to do was lay there.
He wouldn't even go to school.
"Gerard." I said to him when I walked into my bedroom.
"Hmm?" Was his only response.
"Come on. Time to get up. It's Friday. We have to go to school, babe."
"I don't want to."
"Well you have to." I sighed and gently pulled the blanket back. "You've missed a lot of days, babe. You need to go to school."
He pulled the blanket back and I stopped trying to fight with him.
"Come on, Gerard. If we leave now we won't be late and we can go stop somewhere and get breakfast."
"Fine." He pushed the blanket back and sat up slowly. He looked at me and whispered, "It still hurts though. Do I have to go today?"
"Yes. You've probably missed the amount of days you're allowed to miss."
He looked on the verge of tears, but got up anyway. He grabbed some clothes and walked down the hall.
"You got ten minutes." I shouted after him.
I walked down the hall and got my football gear together and into my bag.
I put all my books into my backpack and then went back down the hall to wait for Gerard.
He slowly walked into my room with his dirty clothes and set them in the hamper beside the door.
"You ready?" I asked.
"Yeah." He said quietly.
I stood up from the bed and we walked into the living room. I gathered my stuff and we walked to my truck. I threw my stuff in the back and opened the door for Gerard.
"Thanks." He muttered.
I drove us to school and we went our separate ways for first period.
The day went pretty smoothly aside from Gerard crying a few times.
At the end of the day we got back in my car after saying goodbye to Eric and I drove toward Gerard's parents house.
"Where are we going?" Gerard asked.
I stayed calm as we got closer to there house. "You need to tell them, Bear."
"No. Take us back to your house. Please." His voice cracked and I had to breathe steadily so I could drive there without causing an accident.
"You need to tell them. And if not both of them. At least your mom. She deserves to know why you're avoiding her."
We pulled up in front of the house and I got out.
Gerard just stared at the house. I opened his door for him and held out my hand for him.
His hand was shaky when he excepted it, but nonetheless, he excepted it.
I shut his door for him and we walked up to the house.
I rang the doorbell and Danielle answered.
"Hey guys." She smiled warmly. "You know you don't have to knock." She continued smiling and let us into the house.
Gerard squeezed my hand and gave his mother a rather somber look.
"Are you okay, Gerard?"
"I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" She asked with concern.
"No." He choked out.
She stepped forward and hugged him.
"Let's go in the living room." She said and began pulling him in that direction.
Jim was already sitting in there playing a video game. He paused it and gave them a concerned look.
"Everything okay?" Jim asked.
Danielle pulled him down so he was sitting on the sofa between her and Jim.
Gerard just shook his head no.
He told them everything and an hour later he was curled up on the sofa with his head in Jim's lap.
Jim looked distraught and Danielle had cried a lot.
Jim sat there running his fingers through Gerard's hair and tried to compose himself. He looked like he was about to cry too.
My phone began to ring and I answered it. My mother wanted me back home for dinner.
Gerard decided he was gonna stay here and spend the night.

*Jim's P.O.V.*

Randall had just left and Gerard seemed to tense up after that.
"Wanna play Ghosts?" I asked Gerard after Danielle left the room. She seemed to overwhelmed to even be in the same room.
"No thanks. You can play if you want though."
"Okay." I sighed. I picked up the control and powered the Xbox back on. I started up a game and began to play.
Everyone once in a while I ran my fingers through Gerard's hair again.
"Jim?" Gerard said my name in such a monotone way.
"Yeah, bud?"
"Do you think I'm disgusting?"
"No. Of course not."
He turned on his back and stared up at the ceiling.
He whispered, "I wish I could have been stronger."
"You are strong enough, Gerard. You told me and your mom about what happened and you let Eric's mom help you. That had to of taken so much strength."
I set the controller down and looked at him.
"You're strong, Gerard."
He kept staring at the ceiling.
"That was my first time." Fresh tears started to spill out of his eyes.
He sat up and hugged his knees to his chest.
"I'm weak and I would rather die right now than feel the way I'm feeling."
"Don't say things like that, Gerard."
I scooted closer to him and hugged him closely.
"It's so hard not to feel like this. I can hardly sleep at night and every time I do sleep I have horrible nightmares. It's the last thing on my mind before I go to sleep and the first thing on my mind when I wake up. It's horrible."
"I wish I could help you, Gerard, but the only thing that I can really tell you is that I'm here for you. What I did is in the past and I will protect you. Okay?"
Gerard's bottom lip started to tremble and he just shook his head 'yes'.
"Good. Now how about we get something to eat and then we go to bed."
"Okay." He said quietly.
We made a pizza and ate it in silence.
When we were done eating I walked into the living room with Gerard.
"Want me to stay in here with you while you go to sleep?"
He looked at me for a minute then just nodded.
That's how I ended up with Gerard's head in my lap for the second time that day.
I gently ran my fingers through his hair and watched as he drifted in and out of consciousness.

*Gerard's P.O.V. (The Next Morning)*

I lifted my head and sat up slowly.
It took me a moment to realize where I was. Jim was asleep with his body slouched over onto the arm rest of the sofa. I smiled slightly remembering his words from the night before.
I got up and walked into the bathroom first then into the kitchen. I made some coffee and poured myself a cup.
I sat at the island counter and sipped on the coffee until Jim woke up.
"Hey, kiddo." Jim said when he walked in the room.
I gave him a slight smile and sipped more of my coffee.
"You okay?" He asked as he made himself a cup.
"Yeah."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. I guess so."
I sighed when he still looked concerned.
"You don't have to be like that. I'm fine, okay?"
"How am I being?"
"You're acting weird. I'm fine. I'm not as fragile as you think I am."
"I'm sorry." He whispered.
"Yeah. Me too." I looked down at my hands. "Stop worrying about me so much, dad." I said sarcastically.
He smiled and we went on with our day.