Everybody's Got a Story

*Randall's P.O.V.*

It's Friday and I feel like every day this week, Gerard has come to school with more bruises and scars and he looks sick. Like he's dying. It makes me sad when he flinches when the substitute is calling role and he can't speak so he just raises his hand to indicate that he's here.
The end of the day comes and I have to run to his locker through the crowd of people and I actually thank whatever God there is up there that he's standing right there putting his books into his locker.
"Hey, Gerard. Can I talk to you for second?"
"Oh yeah. Sure." He smiles at me and I smile back.
"Um. I just-" I stop myself from saying something I'll really regret and go for the latter. "Um. Do you wanna come over?"
"Uh. I don't think I should. I gotta get home."
"Gerard." I fell silent again.
"Why are you really talking to me?" He suddenly asked.
I looked at the ground and decided it would be easier to talk to it instead. "I don't think you should go back to your apartment until Jamie is completely out of there and out of your life. He's a horrible guy and you've come to school with more bruises than a human should ever carry on their body." I rushed all the words out. I looked up at Gerard and he looked so upset.
"I'm sorry. Go home. Come over if you need me though." I offered and turned away.
"Randall wait."
I turned back toward him, but kept my distance.
"Jamie isn't a bad guy. He's just having a rough week."
I didn't respond.
He closed his locker and slung his backpack over his shoulder.
I looked at him and said, "I gotta go. You know where I live and my number." I turned away again and this time I didn't look back.

*William's P.O.V.*

"Dad? Papa?" I heard Joel's voice calling out.
I sat up and looked around. My ears were ringing. I felt a sharp pain in my back and arms.
Both of my dads rushed into the room and Luke picked up Joel.
I saw Luke walking out of the room.
"Hey, buddy. I'm so happy you're awake." My dad started to rub my head and I felt tired again, but I wanted to see Luke.
"Wh-Where am I?"
"You're in the hospital, buddy."
"Why?" My head started to hurt even worse and I squeezed my eyes shut.
"You were hit by a car." He wiped his eyes.
"No." I shook my head.
"Yeah, bud. I'm sorry. You ran out of the house and the car was speeding down the road so fast and everything just happened so quickly." He looked drained.
"I'm s-sorry."
"Don't apologize, buddy."
Luke came back into the room and a doctor was with him.
He came up to the I.V. pole and pushed a liquid through it.
My eyelids grew heavy and I fell asleep again.

*Gerard's P.O.V.*

I felt a fist collide with my jaw as soon as I walked through the door of my apartment.
Surprising myself and probably Jamie as well, I swung back and hit him right in the corner if his eye.
I didn't feel bad. I turned right back out of the apartment after shooting Jamie a dirty look. I ran down the street to a coffee shop, but before I went in I pulled my phone out of my backpack.
I decided to call Randall.
"Hey."
"Go ahead and say it." I said.
"Say what?" He sounded confused.
"I told you so." I mimicked his voice.
"Why would I say that?"
"Cause you were right." I said quietly. "You're always right."
I pulled my cigarettes out of my pocket and lit one.
"I'm not always right." He sounded concerned. "Where are you, Jerry?"
"I'm at the Starbucks closest to Hamlin Park."
"Stay there. Please."

*Will's P.O.V.*

"Hey, buddy there's a kid here that's asking to see you." My dad looked a bit confused.
"What's his name?"
"Craig."
"What? Really?"
"Yeah."
"Uh send him in." I sat up slightly and made myself comfortable.
Craig walked in and had his hands behind his back.
My dad smiled and pulled the door shut.
Craig sat down and brought his hands out from behind his back. He had a single rose and handed it to me.
He smiled and blushed horribly, but he looked dashing as always.
I held the rose and just smiled.
"Thank you." I said quietly.
"No worries." He smiled. "I'm just glad you're okay."
"Me too."
"When do you get out of here?"
"No clue." I answered honestly. "Soon, hopefully."
"Good then. I was hoping you'd maybe want to go on a date with me." He bit his lip nervously.
"I would love that. What did you have in mind?"
"Something chill. Like a cafe or a movie. I mean it's totally up to you." He suddenly looked nervous.
"Either one sounds nice." I started to get tired and the pain in my arms was more noticeable now.
"You should get some sleep." He smiled and patted the top of my hand. "I'll see you soon."
I gave him a weak smile and I felt myself drifting slowly once again.

*Gerard's P.O.V.*

"Gerard?" I heard a voice behind me and slowly turned around.
I turned and saw Eric standing there with a sad look on his face.
"Randall sent me. When he called. I didn't know what the hell he was going to say. But this. This I could not believe. And now that I'm seeing your face I believe it and I'm mad at myself for not seeing it. Oh god." He came closer to me and sat at the table with me. "You deserve such a better life than the one you were dealt."
He held my hands and looked quietly down at them.
After a few minutes of awkward silence I looked up at him and said, "Eric. I was dealt the hand I was meant to. If I wasn't then I wouldn't have met you or Randall or Alex."
He didn't respond.
"I'm gonna go home now. And you should too." I stood up and pulled my jacket on. "Thanks for staying with me." I put my scarf on and Eric looked at me this time.
"I gave that to you." He said quietly, taking note of the scarf.
"Indeed you did."
"Why don't you come over to my house?" He suggested with no facial expression. "Elijah and Oliver are there for one of their school breaks. I'm pretty sure they'd love to see you."

*Elijah's P.O.V.*

"Shiiiiit." Oliver laughed and pushed me, trying to make me lose the Mario Kart race so he could win. I won anyway.
I laughed as the 1st place symbol came up on my screen and Oliver finished 2 seconds behind for 2nd place.
"I don't like you anymore."
"You know you love me."
I just smiled and pushed him.

-

"Hey." Eric said as he walked in the room. A pale, scrawny kid with a bunch of bruises and a thick jacket came into the room.
"This is Gerard. Remember him?"
"Oh yeah, Gerard, hey." I smiled to him and extended my arm.
He shook it gently with his long, slender fingers and smiled back.
"And Uh that's Olli." I pointed to his sleeping figure on the other couch and smiled.
I started to remember Gerard from his name now.
"I should wake him up." I said awkwardly and stood from the sofa.
I stood up and shook Olli to get him up.
"Hey. Wake up." I said to him and sat beside his head.
He looked up at me and smiled a very tired looking smile.
"Hey, gorgeous." He said to me.
I blushed and said, "Eric and his friend Gerard are here."
He looked past me to see them and waved. "Hello."
"Come on. Up." I said again.
He sat up and I stood back up. He looked so tired and I wanted to tell him to just lie back down and go to sleep.
He looked at Eric and smiled. "Elijah has told me a lot about you."
"Oh have you, Eli?" Eric had a sly grin on his face. "There's lots to tell about you though."
I glared at him. "No." I laughed. "You wouldn't dare tell him anything." The kid had some pretty good stories about me.
"Oh I would." He grinned even harder.
"Ooh do tell." Oliver laughed and I pushed him back down on the sofa. I started tickling his sides.
"Not fair. Not fair." He spoke through uncontrollable fits of laughter. "Stop it, El."
I lifted my hands and said, "Okay. No more. I promise." Then stood up. Oliver wiped the tears from his eyes then sat up once again.
"That wasn't fair." He stuck his tongue out at me. "You know I don't like to be tickled."
I grabbed his hands and helped him up from the sofa.
"I'm sorry, babe." I said and regretted my words after they came out of my mouth.
Oliver was speechless and Eric looked right at me.
"You guys are-" He stopped like he was searching for his words.
"Yeah." I answered. I knew Oliver wasn't going to speak and right now. I was so glad my mom and dad weren't there. "I-I'm sorry. I know I should've told you, but being here. I could never be myself and when I finally got to college I found someone and I could be myself."
"But you had so many girlfriends." Eric said quietly.
"I know. I just." I stopped so I could think. "I knew it wasn't what I wanted. And I found Olli and everything just became perfect."
I looked over to Olli and he smiled weakly.
"Please don't hate me."
"I could never hate you, Eli." He laughed. "Hell. My best friend likes dudes." He nudged Gerard and he blushed. "I also can't judge cause I dated a dude."
"Please don't talk about it." Gerard finally spoke.
"Why?" I laughed.
"He dated my brother." He looked disturbed and very uncomfortable.
I laughed again and so did Eric.
"Your brother is nice though."
"Why did you break up then?"
"We were just too good of friends I guess." He looked like he still didn't know why things ended.
"No. You broke up, because you both are pinheads and can't communicate with each other." Gerard said with a cocky grin.
I was starting to like this kid and I felt just a little more comfortable.
"Yeah. So if you're worried about mom knowing." Eric said. "She will still love you and then she's gonna go into a long speech and probably hug you."
Oliver smiled and said, "Can't wait." It wasn't sarcastic though. He actually sounded excited for a momtalk.
I smiled and kissed his cheek.
"So you guys are already graduated?"
"Yeah. Just a few weeks ago, actually."
"Damn. My baby brother is getting old."
"Ha ha ha." Eric said sarcastically.
"So you going to college?" I asked them both.
"I don't know yet." Eric looked uncomfortable talking about the situation.
"I got excepted to Wilbur Wright." Gerard said quietly.
"Dang, kid. Good choice."
"Thanks." He smiled a little nervously.
"You have time, Eric."
"Yeah. I know. I don't even want to go to college though."

*Randall's P.O.V.* (2 hours later)

Message from Gerard.
-Hey. I'm at Eric's place. Could you come get me by any chance?
I replied back after reading it.
-Sure. Be there in 10.
He responded immediately with..
-I mean youdont havetoit wouldjust be really cool if you did and I can't go back to my place so ijustneedsome placerocrash..
All of his words ran together like he typed it way too fast and then just clicked send.
I sent another message after I got into my car that said..
-Be there in 9.
At every stoplight I texted the estimated time if be there.
I stopped in front of Eric's house and Gerard and Eric were already sitting out front.
I waved and they both stood up.
Gerard hugged Eric and they spoke to each other for just a second, before Gerard ran over to the car.
"Hey." He smiled.
"Hey you."
"Can you drive me to the hospital?"
"Why?" I hated the hospital.
"William. He got hit by a car. I know I should stay away from Luke, but his son got hit by a fucking car and he's such a sweet kid. I just need to see for myself that he's alright.
"Okay." I said quietly. I started driving in the direction and when we pulled up to the front, Gerard didn't get out.
"Please come in with me."
I pulled away from the front and went to the parking lot.
We went inside and Gerard had a death grip on my hand.
We found Luke and Paul and they let us see Will.
Gerard looked broken.
He went up to the kid, but he didn't want to touch him. He had one arm in a sling, one of his legs was in a cast already and his other arm was in a cast as well.
He looked horrible.
"Oh god." Gerard put a hand over his mouth and gently touched the kids hand. "I'm so sorry, Will."
We stayed just a little while longer, but William didn't wake up.
Gerard went up to Luke and said, "I'm sorry."
He hugged him tightly and it actually pained me to watch the interaction between the two.
"Tell William to come see me when he's better." Gerard said then just left. I followed him and we got back into my car.
Gerard looked out the window as I started the car back up.
"Where to?"
"Anywhere." He whispered. "Just get me away from this place."
And so after he said this. I pulled out of the parking lot. And I drove. I drove until we could both breathe again. I drove until I didn't know where the hell we were and it was cold and we ended up right in front of a hotel. So we stopped. Thankfully we had money and enough. Quite a bit actually.
We got a room with two beds and I felt cold as I laid alone in mine. I'm not sure how far we drove or if we even went that far at all, but we left and you seemed happy. So I was happy.