So...Who Are You Again? My Chemical Romance? Never Heard of You.

For the third time that night, I woke up in Gerard's grip, and for the third time, I had to push him off of me. He softly snored when I moved him, but remained asleep, now on his back with his arms and legs sprawled out on each side.

Needless to say, he was a bed hog.

I laid my head back down in attempt to go back to sleep, but felt Gerard shift positions again, shaking the bed. I sighed, trying to keep my annoyance level down. I wasn't exactly the most tolerant person whenever I was tired. In fact, I've been told I can be downright cranky when I don't get my sleep.

I groaned softly when Gerard moved AGAIN, not being able to settle on a single place. He must be one lively boy in his sleep.

When he moved for the third time in less than ten seconds, I began to think he actually wasn't intentionally draping his arm around me. I turned to face Gerard, who now had his back to me. I shut my eyes and tried to relax so I could salvage the sleep I was missing because of Gerard's persistent moving.

After a couple minutes past, Gerard hadn't moved from where he lay soundly so I was able to fully put my guard down. I needed to go back to sleep fast before he decided he wasn't in a suitable position anymore. But, of course, that would be too simple. When Gerard tossed again, I groaned a little louder this time, growing more agitated. My eyes bulged open angrily, but I was quickly startled to find his face about an inch away. I let out a tiny screech of surprise and threw myself backwards, painfully rolling onto the floor with a thud.

"That's it," I grumbled then hoisted myself off the floor. I took a quick glance to the clock- 5:45. Damn, I couldn't be up this early- This was our day off. I huffed and snatched my pillow then stomped around the bed, heading to the other side of the room.

"Woah there, where you goin'?" Gerard mumbled, causing me to stop. I opened my mouth, about to explain to him in the nicest way possible that he needed to calm the fuck down while sleeping, but he continued, "That's my sandwich, bitch."

I rolled my eyes. Awesome- He sleep talks, too. What CAN'T Gerard do in his sleep?

Disobeying the rules of the thumb war and fully knowing it, I threw my pillow down on Frank's bed; the side furthest from Gerard. I crawled under the sheets, causing Frank to stir, mumbling incoherently.

"Move, Frank," I commanded, bunching the blanket together and pushing him away from me. He mumbled some more, turning around to face away from me, giving me enough room. I settled myself again, preparing for sleep. I would probably get shit for it in the morning, but I honestly didn't care.

Sleep is too wonderful of a thing.

--

The next time I woke up, I wasn't feeling fully refreshed and I wasn't feeling ready for a new day. Quite frankly, I felt grumpy as hell when I couldn't avoid the sun pouring in our room. No matter how hard I squeezed my eyes shut, or which way I turned, I physically could not go back to sleep. Angrily, I sat up in bed, rubbing my eyes, and then surveyed the room. To my surprise, Frank was nowhere to be found and Gerard was still asleep. I shrugged then slowly crept out of bed.

When I set my feet on the carpet, I felt something strange poke me. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion and looked down. That's funny- I don't remember falling asleep with one sock on. Curiously, I crossed my leg and removed the sock to find a piece of paper neatly fall from it. I stared at the paper dumbly, blinking a few times in surprise. It finally registered to pick up the paper and unfold it, which had a message scrawled out on it:


Julie-
I gotta be honest when I say I wasn't surprised to find you in my bed this morning- Gerard moves like crazy in his sleep. Sorry about that. But anyway, I'm just letting you know personally (sort of) not to expect to see me for a couple days. I wrote a different note and put it on the dresser, but the truth is I had a dream about Lauren last night, and I woke up feeling like shit, and I can't stand to be around anybody right now, and I'm just gonna find somewhere else to sleep, and I'm just writing a bunch of random thoughts down as they come to me so I hope this makes sense 'cause I don't believe in rereading.
Frank

I smirked at his unique way of getting his message across. A message in a sock- Who would have thunk it? But I hardly think it was necessary...

I absentmindedly flipped over the paper, but noticed something was added on the back:


PS: Yes, the sock was necessary.

I chuckled at Frank's after thought. He was quite an individual, I'll give him that. Pocketing the note, laid back down and rolled to the other side so I was next to the dresser where I saw Frank's faux note:


G and J-
Went to get ice cream
See you at tomorrow night's show
Frank

I couldn't help but laugh at his note. It was definitely from Frank, him and his illogical excuses. I set the paper back on the dresser, next to the clock that now read 8:42, for Gerard to read later. It was up to him whether he believed it or not. I took a quick peek at Gerard to see what position he decided for the moment. I grinned- The jerk was stretched across the entire bed, leaving virtually no room for anyone else despite how skinny he was.

I decided he could sleep a little bit more, even though it was completely unfair because he probably got the most sleep in the room. I shrugged it off, though, then lazily exited the room without bothering to change, in hopes of catching the last bit of breakfast downstairs.

--

Frank stuck to his word. I didn't see any sight of him until their show the next night. I hadn't the slightest clue where he was while everyone was out perusing the different stores Selma, Texas had to offer, or during the day before their sound check. No one knew how or when he got there- He just appeared, answering extremely vague answers when asked where he'd been.

Shelly had kind of forced her way into our room when she realized Frank wouldn't be there. I grinned openly when I told her I would be more than happy if she shared a bed (She ignored her usual objections with sharing) with Gerard, completely leaving out any trace of my own experience. Needless to say, she appeared in my bed the next morning, to which the only appropriate reaction I could think of was to snicker. She never brought up Gerard's sleeping patterns, though, refusing to believe there was a flaw to her "dream boy".

During Frank's two day absence, my mind seemed to wonder about him an awful lot. I found myself wondering if he was okay, or how he was holding up at seemingly random times. Not to mention the confusing moment between the two of us while Gerard was away. I tried my best to cast it from memory, though- It was nothing. I could tell a few of the others were a bit uneasy about Frank's new trend of completely abandoning his friends lately. Even though he went unmentioned practically the entire time, except the explanation that he wouldn't be joining us for a bit, I could tell people were worried.

But after the show that featured Frank's miraculous return, something unexpected happened. All of us were lounging on the bus as usual, waiting for take off. And might I mention we were officially accommodated with a brand spanking new tour bus that had been switched yesterday during the day off. So, when the bus driver turned the ignition on, we expected to be on our way, but suddenly the door opened instead. Everyone stopped what they were doing to turn their head to the incomer.

"Frank?" Gerard and Ray asked in unison, looking completely dumbfounded along with everyone in the room.

"Room for one more?" Frank croaked with a nervous smile.

"Yeah sure, buddy," Ray accommodated, still looking completely astonished. He slowly stood from a chair and filled in the gap on the couch. Frank whispered a thanks and accepted the seat.

So there we were- Gerard, Mikey, Ray, Bob, Shelly, and I on one side of the room, Frank on the other. He looked nervous as he wrung his hands, focused on the floor, a habit I began to notice he did when he was solemn. Nobody said a word; it was as if they feared he was a dream, and any sound would crush it. It was quiet for several seconds, the only noise coming from the rumbles of the now moving bus.

"I uh-" Frank stopped short, taking in a breath, and then took a different approach. "Some of you may have noticed that I haven't really been here." He paused to laugh dryly to himself.

"Boo," Gerard said flatly, his hand cupped around his mouth. I shooshed him and smacked him in the shoulder where he sat on the arm of the couch. Frank sent me a grateful look as Gerard rubbed his arm.

"I've been doing a lot of thinking lately," Frank continued, his gaze anxiously trailing back to the floor. "And I owe everyone here an apology. I've been going through some really tough things lately and I just...I just wanted to say I'm sorry. Sorry I haven't been talking to anyone, sorry I haven't been nice, and sorry I haven't explained this. Believe me when I say I'll tell you about it eventually...Just not now." He licked his lips before concluding, "I just wanted to let everyone know I'm sorry."

That look. That same distant, broken look in his eyes and that same way the corners of his mouth curved solemnly downward. That look just absolutely tore me up inside. That look paralyzed me because I'd heard of his perils, and I felt pain of my own just for hearing about them- I couldn't imagine the torment he was going through.

I half expected for someone to crack a joke, or take offence, or do something to ruin the moment. However, I was pleasantly proved wrong when I saw everyone’s understanding faces. Mikey was the first to react; he stepped forward and stood next to Frank, towering over him. Frank looked up at him apprehensively.

"Does this mean you're back?" Mikey asked quietly. Frank hesitated to answer, still staring at Mikey through almost fearful eyes, as if maybe he thought the guys would abandon him because of his previous attitude. However, a tiny smirk made itself apparent on Franks' face.

"Yeah," he answered, his voice soft but definite. A big smile lit up on Mikey's face before his arms flung around Frank from the side. Frank laughed and tried to shove Mikey off, who made no sign of letting go.

"Alright, another one!" Bob cheered, bounding across the room then squeezing the two. I watched the welcome back quickly turn into a free-for-all as the other two raced to join in the group hug, knocking everyone over to create a painful looking dog pile. I watched with an amused smile, having no intentions of breaking it up because I wasn't at the bottom this time. I looked over to Shelly who looked equally entertained.

"Hiya, Julie," I suddenly heard suddenly. I whipped around in time to identify Mikey before being brutally dragged from the couch toward the mayhem. I clawed at everything in sight, trying to grab onto something to ground me.

"No!" I objected with a whimper, trying to wrangle out of Mikey's grip that was now around my waist.

"Aw, but don't you wanna be part of the big pile of love?" Mikey asked playfully. Through my jostled vision, I saw Shelly pointing and laughing at me. Why do I keep her around?

"No, no!" I pleaded, still trying to get away. "Not again!"

Too late. Mikey fell backwards onto the group, causing much yelling. When Mikey finally let go of me, I desperately tried to get out, but I had already become part of the jumble of people. My loud whining practically got drowned out by the other's screams of objections, everyone trying to get out a different direction, only causing pain. Despite my attempts up, I got shuffled to the bottom where unexpectedly, someone fell directly on top of me, his face almost touching my own.

"Fancy seeing you here," Frank said smoothly, a smile still on his face.

"Oh yeah," I replied with a slightly exasperated smirk of my own. "You come here often?"

"Not nearly as much as you." He chuckled before pushing his palms against the floor, elevating himself from me with difficulty. I took the opportunity to scramble out of the pile, grabbing Frank's wrist upon my freedom. I pulled as hard as I could, leaning my weight backwards until he escaped.

"Thanks," Frank breathed, smoothing out his pants. I nodded before falling back onto the couch, making sure to bring up my legs so I couldn't get pulled back again. The welcome back dog pile, which didn't even consist of the person being welcomed back anymore, dwindled after a couple seconds, then soon died off with everyone else laying on the floor in separated places. I looked down at the person near me with a strange look.

"Shelly?" I addressed. "How did you get in there?"

"I don't even know," she whispered with wide eyes, looking as if she just had a panic attack.

"As much as I appreciated breaking about half the bones in my body," Frank started, glancing around the room at everyone slowly recovering, "Let's never do that again."

"I second that," Shelly agreed loudly, still looking to be in pain.

"But we barely get to do those," Bob argued with a frown, propping his head up with a fist on the floor.

"And with good reason," I piped up, rubbing my aching side.

"Fine," Bob pouted, looking sullen and defeated. To be honest, I actually didn't care about Bob's spirits at the moment, even though that sounds rude. I was just glad to see Frank happy and back to talking with his friends; I hoped that nothing ever made Frank as sad as before. I watched him beaming as the guys now animatedly told him about something or another- I had tuned them out.

"Why do you keep looking at him like that?" Shelly suddenly asked from beside me, causing me to jump. I shook my head shortly, casting away my initial shock.

"Who?"

"Frank." Her eyes were now set on him as she nodded in his direction, absentmindedly gnawing on her gum. I glanced toward him then back to Shelly with furrowed eyebrows.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, still unsure of what she was getting at.

"Well, you just keep looking at him." She shrugged her shoulder, her eyes still on him.

"Maybe I'm happy he finally apologized." I huffed, trying to get her to see reason. She was always making something out of nothing, and I could never convince her otherwise. Her overactive imagination often led to her irrational thinking.

"Well I'm happy for him, too, and you don't see me getting all-" she stuttered a second, trying to find the right adjective, then settled on, "-All googly eyed."

"I am not getting all googly eyed," I disagreed, holding up my pointer finger, appalled she would even think something like that.

"Okay," she replied, backing down and raising her hands in defense. "No googly eyes over here."

"Damn straight," I mumbled, nodding my head.

"So, why do you look at him like that?" Shelly persisted, her eyes gleaming with energy.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I replied flatly, not in the mood for this conversation anymore. I crossed my arms, suddenly feeling put out. I usually had more tolerance for Shelly's goofy ideas, but whether it be that I didn't get enough sleep, or that her observation was stupider than any other one, or what, I was in no mood.

"You look at him all-" She reenacted an over the top infatuated expression, which I huffed then turned away from. She pushed her way back into my view with the same expression, which I continued avoiding. Finally, I looked her dead in the eye and said,

"Shelly stop it, you're crazy."

"Nahh." She batted her hand in the air with a smile. I frowned, narrowing my eyes. The dictionary defines crazy as senseless and impractical; She had no idea what nonsense she was talking about.

That makes her and her dumb idea nothing but crazy.