Status: A work in progress.

Everything But Time is Running Out

Think before you make up your mind.

"I shit you not! This is a very, very true story!" I was doubled over in pain, laughing uncontrollably. We were well past our first round of drinks at The Place. Who would've known this place was actually called The Place. Ha!

Mikey had to take his glasses off; his eyes were crying with laughter. "Dude, I would've never guessed that would happen to you but actually, I'm not surprised at the same time." We all fell silent as we recovered from the past ten minutes.

Let me backpedal a bit to recall the story, because I'm not sure I could ever get sick of hearing it.

"Aye, there are those famous hands I've been waiting for!" Gerard cried out, immediately grabbing both of my hands to greet me.

"Ha ha. I see all I am to you." I said, slipping my hands back into my possession. He wiggled his eyebrows at me.

"I could tell you the reason
why I'm in need of your hands, if you were so interested in hearing about it."

"Uh, that's a big fat no from me." I didn't hesitate to say. "If it's not about my art or my writing, I don't wanna hear it, I don't wanna know about it, and I most definitely don't want to think about it SO. Let's have a subject change right... Now!" I hopped over to the table the guys made themselves comfortable at.
The Place was quite a happening place right about this time I guess because most of the tables were preoccupied. Mikey made room next to himself and Gerard sat on the other side of me. Frank just stood there, contemplating where he should sit. He decided to take the only open seat which was kitty-corner from me, next to Ray.

"Wait a minute," Frank said. "Something seems wrong here." He pointed around the table, counting aloud. "Uno, dos, tres... Where the hell is Bob? Please tell me he didn't bail already." Bob was the only one in the group who sometimes skipped out on outings with the guys.

"Nah, man, he just had to take a shit." Mikey dismissed, downing the drink he had in front of him.

"Can I get you anything to drink, Kara?" Frank offered, standing up. I politely declined as he shrugged and made his way through the crowded area surrounding the bar.

"Guys," Ray called out, "Bob taking a shit reminds me of something."

"Please tell me that it isn't about two girls one cup," Gerard said, wiping his face in apprehension.

"Dude, I told you never,
never to bring that up again!" Mikey said, groaning and fake gagging. I just couldn't even comment. Maybe if I didn't speak, the topic would cease to exist.

"ANYWAY," Ray continued, "No, it is definitely not about that! But dude I never told you the horror of what happened to me the other day." Frank had returned, holding two drinks in his hands. He handed me one and sat down in his seat. I raised my eyebrows at him as I sniffed my drink. I don't know why I thought smelling it would help me figure out what it was, because I just got a bunch of carbonation up my nostrils causing the bridge of my nose to crinkle.

"Captain and ginger ale," he said, taking a drink. "See, it's not poisoned or anything." I smiled in thanks and took a sip. It was pretty tasty. "I wasn't sure what you'd like so I thought, you can't go wrong with rum and ginger ale." I nodded in agreement, taking another drink. He leaned back, pleased with himself.

"So what horrors accompanied you the other day that Bob shitting reminds you of it so much?" Mikey asked, readying himself for the terror.

Frank's eyes filled with confusion. "This isn't about two girls one cup, is it?" he asked.

"For God's sake, one time! One time and you guys never let it go!" Ray said, exasperated.

"Yeah, one time was enough for more a lifetime!" Frank scolded.

"What was enough for a lifetime?" Bob inquired, apparently returning from the bathroom. There were groans all around the table.

"Okay, enough." Ray took control of the conversation. "Okay, so my grandma can't really drive, right?" he rhetorically asked. Gerard snorted.

"Dude, every time your grandma gets behind the wheel, almost ever car in the city almost gets rear ended."

"WELL," Ray continued, "the other day, she wanted me to pick up some chili powder, so I said, yeah of course I'll go and get it. So I drove to Meijer and got some. Well, you guys know about my GI issues relating to going to the bathroom..."

"Yeah, a little too well for my liking," Mikey interrupted. Ray ignored the comment.

"During checkout, I suddenly just
had to take a shit. Like, emergency situation. Like, I had to go right now." Bob nodded in empathy.

"I hear ya, Ray. Been there myself."

"Thank you! So you understand the urgency of the situation. Well, I was trying to rush the cashier, who insisted on having small talk. I didn't want to be rude and I didn't want to make it painfully obvious that I had to go, but I really couldn't stop the panic from building in my body. I just snatched the receipt and the bag and frantically looked for the restroom sign. Of course it happened to be way over there on the other end of the store. So I sped-walked across the store, trying to not seem to panicked, but anyone who saw me probably knew something bad was going to happen if I didn't make it to wherever I was practically running to."

I took another sip of my drink, preparing myself for the worst of the story.

"I finally made it to the bathroom, the stall was right in my line of vision. I hurriedly made my way past the bathroom sinks when I slip. In. Fucking. Vomit."

"No fucking way," I gasped.

"That's fucking gross as shit, man," Bob said, holding his nose as if he could smell the situation.

"Holy fuck, that's the worst luck you always have," Frank said in sympathy.

All Mikey said was, "so did you end up shitting yourself when you fell?" We all fell silent, waiting for Ray's response.

"Fuck no, I held that sucker in! But I was like, 90% close to. I'm so grateful I made it to the toilet fast enough. So I'm sitting there on the toilet and all I can smell is fucking stale ass puke and between what was in the toilet and the floor, it was the worst thing I have ever smelled in my life. Of course, the bathroom had no paper towels, so I was grabbing wads of toilet paper to wipe off the vomit from my shoes and whatnot. I eventually made my way toward the sink, trying to jump over puddles of the stuff when I noticed the
entire sink was filled and clogged with it. Thank God the second sink seemed untouched, so I washed my hands the best I could, wiping them dry on my pants. I tired to hurry but also tried my fucking best to avoid the mess as I safely made my way out of the bathroom. It wasn't until I started walking away that I realised I had forgot the fucking chili powder in the bathroom, already paid for and everything." I could tell all of us were trying to keep straight faces, feigning compassion and pity over the story, but at that point, we all burst out laughing.

"Please tell me," Gerard gasped, "that you didn't fucking go get the chili powder."

"I went and got it." Ray defeatedly confessed.

"Dude!" Frank yelled, "why couldn't you just go buy a new fucking bottle?" My eyes were watering as I joined in on the laughter.

"There was no way I was gonna walk around the store again, especially when I had vomit all over my shoes and pants!" Ray said bitterly.


By that point, we couldn't hear what else Ray had said. We were all dying. I'm sure the alcohol made his words funnier, but it felt so good to laugh like that. After we calmed down, I sighed and excused myself quickly. The guys didn't even noticed I left. Bob had gotten up to get another round of drinks and the other guys carried on with some other conversation.

I reached for one of my cigarettes as I made my way outside. "Shit," I mumbled, trying to find my lighter, my cancer stick hanging from my lips.

"Need a light?" I turned around to see a flame ignite. My eyes locked with Frank's as he shined me one of his beautiful smiles. "I'll trade you," he said. "A light for a cig." I swiftly grabbed a second one out to give to him. He placed it between his lips, moving closer to my face. We were inches apart when he started lighting his cigarette with mine. Grabbing it as if it were a joint, he exhaled and observed the brand I chose to indulge in. I heard a light snapping as he broke the menthol ball at the butt of the cigarette. "It's been forever since I've had Camel Crush. I'm always surprised by how refreshing it tastes."

"It's really all I'm able to smoke," I said, taking another drag. "Without the menthol, cigarettes just don't taste as enjoyable, even though the nicotine in any brand is what my body really just wants." Frank nodded and we stood in silence.

"So..." he said after a few minutes, taking a breath. "How've you been feeling?" I remained silent for a second.

"Actually, I feel pretty good lately." I omitted the reason why, though, because the reason happened to be the guy I was currently leaning against, having a smoke with.

"I'm glad to hear it," he genuinely said. "You know what? Me, too." He grabbed my hand, his thumb tracing circles on the back of mine. "Is this okay?" he asked, holding our entwined hands up for me to see. I rapidly nodded my head.

"Yes, this is definitely okay."

"And is this okay?" he asked, but did nothing. I raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to elaborate what else he was wondering about. Suddenly, he moved forward and, not missing a beat, met my lips with his. I felt myself fall into it, kissing him back. As soon as it happened, though, it had ended. Very abruptly.

"Yes," I breathed, "that was definitely okay." Both of us smiled at each other, content with gazing into each other's eyes. As awkwardly lame as that sounds, I really could have studied his face for a while... a long while... I let myself admire how his gentle hazel eyes always managed to show true emotion. The way his fluffy hair wrapped its tips around his face, framing it. How his jawline fell upward at just the right angles. I felt myself swooning all over again.

All of a sudden, there was a third face inviting itself into our line of sight. "What'cha guys doing??" Gerard perkily said. "Can I join in on the staring contest?" I hastily withdrew my head back as to avoid any sort of collision in case somebody sneezed or some stupid thing like that. "Geez, it's fucking chilly out here! What are you fuckers doing out here anyway if you aren't getting all hot and sweaty?" Frank laughed, pushing Gerard playfully.

"Way to ruin my chances, Gerard," Frank said, winking at me. I felt my cheeks heat up. "Come on," he softly said to me. "Let's go in and get warmed up. I'll buy you another drink." I couldn't complain about either of those ideas.

•·················•·················•·················•·················•


It was about time for calling hour and we were all still at our table, chatting amongst ourselves. Or rather, Gerard and I were talking amongst ourselves, Bob was sleeping with his face on the table, little crumbs of chips stuck to his face. Frank, Mikey and Ray were talking about something related to music. I was really intrigued because I never knew anyone in this group was musical at all, but I was prevented to overhearing their words due to Gerard. However, I was pleasantly interested in what he had to say, also. The problem was following his train of thought and trying to not let exhaustion hit my in the face.

"Okay, so what you have so far are the characters, aka the group of guys, their aliases, the boss-"

"Dr. Death-Defying, yes. He leads the evolution of the MCRmy in hopes of destroying Scarecrow Korse and taking away everything that BLI/nd stands for and controls over Battery City."

"Uh..." I rubbed my forehead, trying to get this all straight. For the remainder of my evening, Gerard and I started going over his current project, but it mostly was him trying to explain the plot to me while both of us being drunk AF. Often times, he would become overly excited, speaking incredibly fast and mentioning things he hadn't mentioned before, having to back track. The whole continuation of back tracking was what had my mind going in crazy circles.

My brain was running on empty as he started going into the whole Battery City and the evil main guy who has something to do with drugs and Ct. Dracula's droids and whatnot. I felt bad for not understanding, but hey, a girl can only take so much, especially when she was dead tired, thrown into a very in-depth plot and also under the influence of alcohol.

"-And so this is where you meet The Fabulous Killjoys when they come crashing into the-"

"Gerard, I'm so sorry," I cut in. He didn't look upset that I had interrupted his enthusiastically passionate train of thought. "Let's call it a night." Both of us glanced over at the other guys. Mikey had cloudy half-opened eyes as he lazily downed the last of his drink, leaning over onto the table for support. Frank was on his phone, taking notes, I assumed, over what they had been talking about; he looked on the verge of an A-ha! moment. Ray was bobbing his head back and forth, playing with his flowing curly hair. "Guys," I announced. I caught Frank's immediate attention. Mikey's glossy eyes glanced over. Bob was in a coma. Ray just continued to flop his hair around. "Let's all it a night and head home. I'm pooped."

"Who pooped?" Ray asked.

"Not me!" Mikey raised his hands, knocking over a few glasses while doing so.

"Alrighty, there, bro," Gerard said, helping Mikey up, doing most of the heavy lifting for him. "Let's get you home to beddy-bye."

"Yay beddy-bye!" Mikey cheered. Ray and Frank woke Bob up and he was at least lucid enough to have full control over his body.

We all walked out of The Place, Frank saluting the bartender and the bouncer as we left. Ray and Bob walked to Bob's car; Ray had offered to drive seeing that Bob was a walking zombie with his eyes closed. Gerard and Mikey said their goodbyes as they headed off to their own vehicle. Frank looked my way.

"Ready for takeoff, doll?" He asked in a quite attractively low and sleepy grumble. I said yes as he opened the the passenger door for me. "My queen," he said, curtsying as I sat down.

The car had Frank's scent all around. I could've stayed right here all night if it didn't get so freaking chilly outside. Frank turned the heat on when he started the car; the windshield immediately protested, forming a layer of fog, so we waited patiently, rubbing our hands against our arms, making visible clouds with every breath we let out. "I think tonight went splendidly," Frank said as we waited.

"Were you expecting otherwise?" I asked.

"Nah, just was a bit nervous of how you would like hanging out with us. I mean, my friends and I are super easy-going people if you weren't able to tell already, but you liking us was a whole different thing. I really want you to stick around." I was super aware of his presence as he spoke.

"Of course I want to-" I was cut off by Frank putting up his hand.

"Pause! Stop right there! I just want you to think about it. Like, really think about it. Because once you make up your mind, you're in for life! We take our friendships super seriously. It may not seem like it, but we don't let just anybody into our group. You'll know what I mean once you are one of us. I just want to make sure this whole hang out isn't just like a once-and-done sort of thing. We've all had shitty times with people telling us what we should or shouldn't do, what we can or can't do, who we can be or not be, and... What I'm really trying to say is, we can all tell you're a sincere person and we would love to have you with us. We just don't wanna get burned later on. I don't wanna get burned later on."

"Frank," I didn't hesitate to answer, "I would never burn you on anything. I can see you guys are different from others that I've been around before and I really want to be with you guys. I really want to be with you." I didn't know what else to say other than the blunt words I gushed out. "I'm not quite sure why others see you guys as different or judge you so much, but I would never be a part of that group." Frank's stare was intense. He suddenly leaned forward and kissed me, cupping the side of my face.

"Perfect answer." He said, straightening up. "Let's get out of here, then. Do your dorms have curfews?"

"Shit!" I worriedly glanced at the time on the dashboard. "Yeah, the doors lock after 1:00am."

"No worries," he said, putting shifting the car in drive. "Are you okay with crashing at my place?"

"I would be honored to accompany you to such a private domain," I said.

"Oh, really?" he smirked at me. "Then off we go!" And off we went.
♠ ♠ ♠
Thanks all for continuing to read my story! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it! Thank you for your support ♥

Also, I have NO idea about any medical conditions related to any famous people in my story. Disregard this information outside of my writing. FYI, too, that Ray's story is unfortunately mine. It was not so funny at the time. RIP

Another note: I do not take any credit for MCR's material regarding The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. I do add some fictional, unofficial information regarding the story line, etc. but it is all false. I am tweaking the material due to lack of knowledge and solely for my story. Thank you for understanding and I apologise for my lack of insight regarding any and all details related to the MCRmy and killjoys.