Thin Line

I sighed hard, looking at the massive pile up of cars in front and behind us. It has been about two hours and we have been sitting here. It isn’t weird or anything, but it wasn’t normal at all. He is quiet and shy and the complete opposite of me. For the last fifteen minutes, he has just been reading his comic books. I let out a loud sigh, putting my head back. The windows were open and he looked at me,

“Bored?” He asked, and I turned to him.

“A bit. I’m surprised Meagan hasn’t called, but then again with her Frankie, nothing could go wrong.” Gerard laughed and closed his comic book looking at me.

“He hates being called Frankie.” I laughed and smiled slowly at him.

“I can imagine. People used to call me Izzy, because of the issa in my name. I hated that with an extreme passion. I used to beat up the little boys in on the playground!” Gerard looked at me with wide eyes, I looked down, “Too much information again?”

“Just a little bit.” I sighed and turned from him. I closed my eyes letting the gentle sound of honking horns and yelling lull me into a headache. I winced a bit and sighed.

“What’s the problem?”

“It’s nothing really. Nothing you need to worry about.” I stretched and rolled up my sleeves. I scratched my arm and took off my seatbelt.

“Where are you going?” He asked, seeing my hand on the door.

“I need to walk…I have what we like to call A.D.D. Spending time in a cooped up car will kill me. I need to walk.” I stepped out on the lifeless pavement taking a deep breath into the smog filled air. I walked to the trunk of the car and sat on it, lying back on the window. The car door opened and I sat up, looking at Gerard walking around. I smirked and laughed, “You are such a follower.” I laid back down on the car.

“I just don’t like being alone.” He insisted, getting on the car next to me.

“Whatever,” I muttered, closing my eyes, “Just admit you are a conformist. We all are in reality.”

“What do you mean by that?” Gerard asked. I got on my side and looked up into his clear brown hues.

“Well the ‘emo’ kids say that they are all non-conformists, but they all conform to each other. The black hoodies, girl pants, and band shirts. The preps all know they conform and cherish every minute of it. The Jesus freaks and the band geeks, all of us conform to one status norm.” He looked at me and nodded slowly,

“So what do you conform too?” A blush rose to my cheek and I sat up looking at the sky.

“To whatever my parents want.” I whispered. I wasn’t looking at him, but I could tell he was confused, “My step-father thinks that all kids that dress as I ‘used’ to dress were all occult following emo death cults people.” Once Gerard heard that he laughed so hard. I looked at him with big eyes, feeling embarrassed. I had never told anyone that and here he was laughing at me. It always seems like what is a secret to me was a joke to him.

“You should stop listing to what your step-father says and do what you want. If you wanna dress,” He paused to use finger quotes, “emo death cult clothes, then go ahead. You make your own choices not him.” I looked at him and every minute that passed I gained more respect for him. Gerard Way, saving one kid at a time. I looked at the sky, trying to see the stars and saw a shooting star. I closed my eyes tightly and grabbed his hand; it was warm and soft in mine.

“Make a wish!” I muttered to him. I wish that all your dreams come true, Gerard. I’m seeing that nobody deserves it more than you. I opened my eyes and looked at him grinning widely.

“What did you wish for?” He asked. I snorted and looked behind me, hearing the starting of engines. I slid off the car and shook my head.

“I can’t tell you that, silly!” I opened my car door and got in, starting up the car again. Gerard got in and rolled his eyes, putting that silky black hair of his behind his ear. “Hey! I’ve got three months to be childish and I’m going to treasure every second of that.” I pressed the gas slowly as the cars went past me.

“18…what college are you trying to get into.” I blushed so hard and turned to him,

“Berklee School of Music in Boston.” I put my eyes back on the road, so I didn’t have to gaze into his hues again.

“Wow…if you do get in, you are a shoe in for what ever you want to do. Performance?”

“No. I want to go into the music business. I wanna open up my own record company.” Gerard nodded, and I pressed on the gas, feeling my back pocket vibrate. I pulled out my phone and handed it to Gerard, “Press the speakerphone button; it’s on the side, please.” He set it on the dashboard and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He pressed it and Meagan’s voice came flooding through.

“Where are you two?” Meagan asked, annoyed.

“And what are you two doing?” Another voice asked. Meagan giggled and I knew instantly it was Frank.

“There was a traffic jam. And we are on our way.” I answered trying to figure out why Frank would say it like that.

“Well there has been a change of plans.” Meagan said. I sighed, getting over into another lane, “We are going to the hotel and from there going to dinner.”

“Fancy or not?” I asked. Gerard started to laugh and I smiled, shaking my head. I knew that we were probably gonna go to a burger joint or something and have French fries thrown at my head, “Never mind, Meagan.”

“Hey!” Frank said, “Put me on with, Gee.” I shrugged and let him take it off speaker phone, putting up to his ear.

“No, Frank.” He sighed and I looked over at him. “You are a fucking idiot do you know that? I don’t know what girls see in you?” There was a loud roar of laughter, “Fuck you too,” Gerard answered, hanging up the phone.

“Productive conversation?” I asked. He laughed and shook his head,

“If he wasn’t my best friend, I probably would have to kill him by now.” I laughed,

“So where is your hotel?”

“The heart of Chicago, Doubletree!” He said excitedly, “They give you cookies at night on your pillow. Last night, I took Mikey’s and Frank’s.” I snorted and blushed hard looking at him horrified. He blinked a few times and bellowed with laughter. I couldn’t stop the blush crossing my cheeks, but it fell so natural to sit there and laugh with him as if he was the long lost friend I needed from the beginning. I didn’t like this feeling at all. But I knew it wasn’t going to change. I got off of the highway as soon as I could, smiling wide, “What are you smiling about?” He asked. I raised an eyebrow and shrugged,

“I’m just happy, you know.” I said. Gerard nodded, looking out the window. A silence fell over us and it wasn’t weird like before but calm. I opened my mouth to ask him a question I’ve wanted to ask him since I’ve heard about him, but then I stopped knowing better not to. I turned the radio on, letting a Misfit song flood into the car. I hummed and tapped my finger to the drum part. I heard Gerard humming with me and then we both broke out singing, laughing together. On the drive there we talked about politics, music, stupid stuff like how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll. He says one-hundred and seventy four. I say three hundred flat. When we reached the Doubletree the band was standing outside, all annoyed that we were late. I rolled down the window and looked at them, “Um…pick up for My Chemical Romance…and a Meagan?” Meagan beamed knowing that I was going to alright. Some how we all piled in my tiny car and I drove off. Megan smiled, being squished between Frank and Bob. I sighed and questioned,

“Where are we going?”

“I donno…..lets just go somewhere.” Meagan answered. I could just imagine how she just latched on to that poor boy all day. I mean, she latches on to the poster of him and now that she’s got a real thing, she must love it.

“Oh! I wanna go there!” Frank said, pointing out of the window. I looked at it, cringing extremely hard. Gerard noticed my face and shook his head,

“I don’t wanna go there.” Thank you, I tried to tell him mentally. That place had more of their fans in it than I wanted to deal with.

“Why don’t we just go to that place?” Ray asked, pointing out the window. I nodded and pulled over, putting the car in park. I stepped out of the car and stretched grinning at the sky. We all were walking inside when I remember that I left something back in the car. I opened the door up getting my purse and I turned around staring into Gerard’s eyes. Boy was creepy he was quiet.

“Sorry!” I muttered, looking down.

“No problem, just wanted to make sure you were okay.” I nodded and took a step, but stepped on a crack. My footing got loose and I was falling. I thought I was going to hit the ground but he caught me. I looked into Gerard's clear brown eyes then looked down as he brought me up.

"Are you okay?" He asked me. I didn't really have much to say, I nodded as we looked at each other, and then were broken out of our stupor by a camera flash.