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

After weeks of extensive touring and strains on my hearing, you'd think I'd be used to the noise level at sidestage. Or at least, that's what I thought. But nothing could have prepared me for the New Jersey concert. The people in the crowd were extremely and unnaturally loud to the point where they at times overpowered Gerard and I wasn't sure if he was even singing or not.

They must eat their vitamins in Jersey.

The boys were going crazy from the feedback. It seemed like almost every night I told myself that they couldn't get any more amazing, but they never ceased to surprise me. Before I knew it, nearly extreme two hours and a tremendous encore had passed. After giving it their all, they looked absolutely exhausted as they exited the stage, each one drenched with sweat.

"I declare we have ourselves a party," Gerard announced after a few minutes of cleaning up backstage.

"Didn't we just have one?" I asked timidly, not matching everyone else's enthusiastic expressions.

"Parties are fun, dude," Bob replied from where he was stretched out on a beat up couch then raised his eyebrow inquisitively. "You like fun don't you?"

"Oh please." Shelly rolled her eyes and tucked her hair behind an each. "That's not in her vocabulary."

"You're the worst best friend ever," I declared with crossed arms, knowing she was exaggerating. I didn't really like to be around very many people which didn't dub me as very popular in high school. I didn't really care. I've never paid attention to making a name for myself, similar to the way I've kept my interests far away from the media.

"Oh!" Mikey exclaimed, his arm shooting up in the air. "Can I replace her?"

"Hey!" Shelly exclaimed, throwing a pillow in his direction.

"Of course you can, Mikey," I obliged, nodding to him.

"Hey!" Shelly now swung her head toward me with wide eyes. "Give me back that pillow so I can throw it at Julie."

"I'm sorry but I wouldn't wish pain on my best friend," Mikey rejected with a tiny smile, making Shelly frown.

"You all suck," she grumbled with a huff, leaning back into her chair with a scowl. I laughed as Shelly continued to complain to herself, while the guys already began their talk of where the party was. I guess my vote didn't count.

--

I didn't really catch whose house we were staying at, but a few hours later I found myself there all alone. Well, I wasn't physically alone, as there were hordes of people that miraculously showed up when they heard the words "party" and "free beer", but I felt alone. Once again, I sat to the side, not really doing anything.

"Julie, come on, let's dance!" Shelly came out of nowhere, surprising me by latching onto my arm, nearly knocking me over. She laughed obnoxiously as I frowned, regaining my composure as she mumbled a small, "Whoops."

Three cheers for intoxication.

"I don't really feel like moving," I declined in a low voice, wanting to seclude myself from the party, despite being seated quite near it. I think I was trying to will myself to have a good time by placing myself near everyone, but my plan was actually beginning to backfire as my annoyance grew with every person that bumped into me or sent me a drunken flirty smile.

"I bet you'd move if Frank wanted you to." She pouted, getting in my face with narrowed eyes.

"Oh please," I shook off, nudging her away from me. I wasn't really in a people friendly mood. "I haven't even seen him all night. I think he left."

"Now that I think about it," Shelly mused, tapping her chin lightly with her pointer finger, staring into space blankly. Her jaw slacked dumbly the deeper she went into thought. "I did see him leave."

"See? So you-"

"Yeah, I remember," Shelly cut me off, probably not even realizing I had started talking. She snapped her finger several times as if it would get her mind to work faster. "There was this...this girl."

I froze, my heart beginning to pound as my eyes grew wider. She had my attention. With a clenched jaw and serious face, I asked as calmly as possible, "What girl?"

"I dunno," Shelly dismissed lightly with a shrug, pausing to take a drink. "Some girl."

"Shelly," I addressed impatiently, grabbing hold of her shoulders with urgency. "What girl?"

"Well, she had brown hair I think."

"Thank you for that," I replied, smiling spitefully, now folding my arms together. "'Cause, you know, now I've only got half the world to look for."

"No wait. It was red hair," she corrected, ignoring my sarcasm, pointing to me with a reminiscent finger. "Definitely red hair."

"Forget what color hair she has," I quickly said, shaking my palms in the air. "Which way did they go?"

Shelly stared at me a couple seconds silently with eyes narrowed in thought. I waited in anticipation, nodding my head to hurry her along. "...Who?"

"You're useless," I declared, standing up. I needed to find Frank and Shelly's drunken state was of no use to me. It was never of any use to me.

"Wait- It was that way!" she suddenly exclaimed, throwing herself around to face me, slopping her drink. My eyes darted to the way she was pointing- Some secluded hallway. This was an extreme possibility. Without another word, I hurried in that direction to see what I could find, carefully avoiding people.

After peeking in a couple doors, my hope began to fade. No one was even in this part of the large house. Maybe I was wrong to believe Shelly so quickly. I soon began to feel guilty for jumping to conclusions. I sighed to myself in exasperation and turned to retrace my steps but I heard suddenly heard a voice.

"Look, it was an easy mistake. You forgot who you're talking to- I know how you used to be. All I'm saying is that you spent a lot of time with that girl."

I recognized that voice. It was faint in the back of my memory, but I'd heard her somewhere before. Curiously, I crept quietly toward the room where the voice came from. No, I wasn't eavesdropping at all...

"Are you kidding? That was my friend. If I said she was just a friend, then she was just a friend," a second voice argued that I immediately recognized as Frank's. My heart sank and my blood ran cold when I put two and two together.

"But I thought-" I peeked in the room since it was ajar to find what I feared- Lauren and Frank were talking, or rather arguing. I pursed my lips in worry, not remembering him saying a thing about meeting with her. Maybe that's what he was thinking about. I cursed to myself for not pursuing the matter when I had a chance.

"It's the fact that you didn't confront me and you just assumed I was cheating on you," Frank lashed ou, his back towards me. I couldn't see his face, but I pictured his glare that I'd received many times. "Why didn't you talk to me about it?"

I finally saw Lauren for the first time when Frank shifted. She looked up toward Frank with large, apprehensive eyes that really did look like mine and to my surprise...she didn't look anything like what I pictured. She actually did look like a relatively decent person. And for the record, she had short, dark blonde hair. Thanks, Shelly.

"I was frustrated, okay?" Lauren snapped, her glare now downcast to the floor. "I was angry with you at the time and Johnny was there. I got carried away, yes, and when you walked in, I realized just what I was doing. I really did mean it when I said I'd never do it again." She paused to lick her lips as her eyes met Frank's. "I wanted to talk to you but you went on tour. You wouldn't answer my calls so I thought maybe if I got those noise violations, it would make you come back home..."

"I can't just rush home because of a few tickets." Frank breathed a sigh of responsibility at her immature thought process.

"Yeah, I figured that out," Lauren mumbled sheepishly. "But now that you're here, let's talk this out."

Silence filled settled in the room. I was baffled that he wasn't angrier or that he wasn't walking away. I expected more of a reaction out of him with the aftermath Hurricane Lauren left in his mind and heart.

"Frank, I want to get back together," she urged, making my jaw drop. "What I did was wrong and I know that...but I seriously just can't live without you. Life has sucked for me lately with you gone."

"Yeah, me too..." Frank uttered. I continued staring, unable to stop the silent train wreck before my eyes. I couldn't believe Frank. Was I under some delusion that I actually helped him?

"So who are we kidding? We belong together," Lauren insisted, taking a step closer to him. He didn't move.

"I can't tell you how much you hurt me..." Frank whispered.

"I know and I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry. Can we just forget it?" She took another step, now less than a foot away from him. He still didn't move.

"I've tried and I can't forget it," he argued weakly, not looking to put up much of a fight.

"You think it hasn't affected me too?" Lauren countered with ferocity. "I'm the worst person in the world for doing that to you and I'm the one who has to live with myself. I'm not asking you to fully forgive me yet...but I think we should work things out." With no more room to move forward, she enclosed her arms around him and looked up hopefully. My eyes narrowed when he still didn't move, letting her engulf him right in her trap. I didn't feel an ounce of compassion for Lauren, but I was also beginning to lose hope in Frank as I watched him still stand emotionless.

What was his problem? Why didn't he just push her away?

I swallowed back tears at the sight of him allowing her to get so close. I wanted to run away and never see him again...but then I remembered. This was the part in the movie that the girl ran away too early and didn't get to see the boy's valiant defense. A fleeting feeling of hope pressed through me as I mentally urged him to prove me wrong.

My vision blurred as I watched her look up to Frank and he still didn't move. My heart sank as I saw them lean closer and a single tear fell as I saw them kiss. I waited for him to redeem himself...only that part never came.

Broken inside, I backed away from the room quietly after seeing enough, containing the rest of my tears until I could make it to a more secure location. Holding a hand over my mouth, I quickly walked past everyone with my head down, determined not to break down in front of everyone. I heard someone yelling my name before I was almost out the front door, but they weren't Frank so I didn't turn to look. Actually, I didn't think I would have even stopped for Frank.

Instead, I continued walking away from the party outside to the side of the house, dark and secluded. I began to block out the world as I balled myself against the side of the house and let it all out, squeezing my knees to my chest.

That night, instead of having fun like the people on the other side of the wall, I cried my eyes out, unable to do anything else.