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

After about three hours on the bus, the band's tolerance progressively diminished one by one as the hearty breakfast from this morning started to wear off. Tensions were high when we were informed by the driver we couldn't stop for another 20-35 minutes due to the heavy traffic we experienced earlier. The guys soon lost their will to play video games, which was probably monumental, and, shortly after, lost their will to live, it seemed.

"I'm so hungry," Gerard whispered, limp on the couch, staring at the ceiling with dull eyes.

"I don't think I'm gonna make it," Mikey mumbled, who had his body slumped over the arm of the couch so that his face almost touched the floor due to his height. Ray was lying motionless on the floor, his mouth hanging open and Bob sat in the corner, gnawing on his jacket sleeve in desperation.

I stood with my arms crossed, analyzing the scene in front of me with a raised eyebrow. By looks of their weary figures, you'd think that the fucking black plague just swept through the room.

"I think you guys can last another ten minutes," I commented. "You're My Chemical Romance- You can survive anything!"

"Except starvation!" Mikey began whimpering, causing me to scratch my head. I had less breakfast than them and I wasn't to the point of collapsing.

"Oh, hush. You're not gonna starve," Shelly said, walking up from the bunks behind me rubbing her eye. I glanced to her, guessing that everyone's complaints from the past five or ten minutes had woken her up from her nap. Mikey moaned in response, rolling off the side of the couch onto his back while his legs knee down were still on the cushions due to a mild turn in the road.

"You okay there, Mikey?" I asked cautiously, kneeling down.

"Julie," Gerard croaked suddenly, stretching his arm out toward me. These guys were such drama queens.

"Yes?" I sang back.

"I need," he paused to cough, "I need your help." I rolled my eyes, and inched to Gerard on my knees, deciding Shelly could deal with whatever issues Mikey was having.

"The Calvary has arrived," I informed flatly. He slowly rotated his head toward me and took my hand.

"I think I see the light, Julie," he spoke softly, widening his eyes. I looked toward what his eyes were focused on.

"That's the sun reflecting off Ray's watch." Ignoring me, he coughed dramatically, causing a smile to form on my face.

"It was a great experience meeting you and I'm sure I speak on behalf of everyone else-"

"You don't have to- They're right here," I motioned to the rest of the band sprawled out around me.

"And I'm sure I speak on behalf of everyone else," he repeated louder, "when I say, thank you for driving Frank off the bus. He gets really pissy when he's hungry so I can't even imagine what hell he would wrath." He coughed again. "I don't have much longer; tell Mikey I love him."

"Why? He's right here," I emphasized again, pointing to him.

"I just want my brother to know I appreciate him," Gerard said, his voice weak and frail.

"You two are brothers?" I asked, surprised. They couldn't have mentioned that when I met them? Sure, it wasn't necessarily vital, but it would have been nice to know.

Gerard, instead of answering, loosened his grip on my hand and shut his eyes. I scowled then looked behind me for support from Shelly, but to my surprise she had disappeared. I grumbled to myself then sat cross legged on the floor, unable to stop thinking I was part of a lame knock off of a Shakespeare play.

A few seconds later, I heard a slight crinkle come from the back. My eyebrows knitted together, finding it strange. Suddenly, Gerard sat straight up, his eyes bulging and one of them twitching.

"I hear a chip bag," he whispered madly. Each guy's head jerked up from their repressed states with hungry, almost demented expressions. I turned my head toward the sound, noticing Shelly enter the room with some freshly opened Cheetos.

"Hey guys, I still have a-"

"Food!" Bob bellowed. Immediately the guys charged forward to Shelly, whose face paled significantly. She let out a squeak before she dropped the chips and dove out of the way just in time before they all collapsed on the food. Shelly scrambled over to me, freighted, as they fought and devoured the cheesy snacks.

"Please, for the love of God, say we're near civilization!" Shelly shouted to the driver, clinging to my arm. He looked back at us with a positive expression.

"We're almost back on schedule," he called back. "The exit is about five minutes away."

"And I'll be praying for my life every second of the way," she mumbled, staring at the guys with wide eyes. Judging by their latest ferocity, I had to say I'd be right next to her on that one.

--

I don't think the McDonald's we stopped at knew what hit them. There were at least ten men screaming their orders desperately to the cashier, who was frozen in astonishment and probably a little fear. Two other buses decided to stop with us at the McDonalds we found. Some of the others who hadn't turned into savage beasts stood awkwardly behind the mob with Shelly and me, earning strange glances from other customers.

"This is ridiculous," I stated, raising my eyebrows at the hostility of starving guys.

"You're telling me," a guy I recognized as the singer of Linkin Park agreed. "You should have seen Mike and Brad on the bus."

"You should have seen My Chemical Romance," Shelly said, curling her lip as the musicians ordered.

"They looked terminal." I added.

"Well, you didn't have all of 'em. We had Frank." I felt as though a wave crashed over me; all expression in me washed away. I had completely forgotten about Frank.

"Did he cause you guys any trouble?" I asked, not wanting their pain and misery to be on my behalf.

"No way," he answered. "He went straight to sleep; said he had a bad morning."

So I ruin mornings, do I?

"Is he still sleeping?" I inquired, glancing to the buses outside.

"Uh-uh," he declined. "He followed us out, but didn't come here. I'm sure you can find him if you walk around or something."

"Alright, cool. Thanks." I waved to him and Shelly before she could object then hurried out the restaurant. I slowed my pace, wondering around the parking lot, keeping my eyes peeled for Frank. I noticed there were so many random small businesses and even more eating establishments that the guys could have eaten at, but I guess hunger clouds reason.

While on my mission, I found a small Stop N Go on the corner a little ways from the McDonald's and decided to make a sidequest to stop in and buy some food so a repeat of today wouldn't happen. I entered the store, a tiny bell announcing my entrance. I greeted the cashier then took out my wallet as I continued on, checking to see how much money I had. I only had a couple fives and-

My thoughts got cut off when I ran into something, and hard.

"Ow," I heard someone whisper in pain and I realized I ran smack dab into somebody in the candy isle.

"I'm so sorry," I apologized, raising my head to face the other person, my face scrunched up. I was taken aback when I made eye contact to none other than Frank Iero.

Well that was easy.

"Crap," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "Why do you keep following me?"

"Hey, I just came in here to get food for the road." I raised my arms defensively.

"That's great," he replied, looking past me to the wall of candy. He already dismissed this conversation as over, I guess.

"So, are you riding the rest of the way with us?" I questioned.

"Are you going to be on there?" he asked, scanning the isle around me for something in particular.

"Well, yes," I answered, putting my hands on my hips. He looked me in the eye and put his hands on my shoulders, making my eyes widen in shock.

"Then no," he said simply, moving me out of his way. He leaned over in front of where I once stood and picked up three packages of Skittles. After lingering a couple seconds, analyzing his choices, he seemed pleased enough with his pick and pushed past me to check out.

"You seem like you're in a better mood," I observed. It was true. His tone wasn't as sharp as it usually was and he wasn't barking orders at me with a scowl. He stopped in his tracks and my initial thought was that he was going to throw something at me, but instead, he turned toward me halfway, his face softer.

"I'm still half asleep from my three hour nap I just had. I can barely tell what's what. Don't get used to it."

I opened my mouth to reply but he cut me off.

"That doesn't mean you can talk to me," he stated, then continued walking to the cashier. I shook my head quickly, brushing off his comment, and then hurried to catch up with him.

"You know it takes more muscles to frown than to smile," I informed, falling into step with him.

"As much as I miss my science class in high school, I really don't give a fuck."

"And it's not good to keep secrets for too long. You read what happened to Dimmesdale," I reminded. By this time we had reached the register and the cashier was ringing up his candy. Frank turned to me with a screwed up face, holding his wallet.

"What the hell is a Dimmesdale?"

"Reverend Dimmesdale," I elaborated, looking at him expectantly. He returned a clueless expression. "You know, from The Scarlet Letter."

"Is that a fabric store?"

I rolled my eyes; my reference was lost on this guy.

"Never mind, never mind." I waved my hand, letting him forget the matter. He shook his head and paid for his Skittles. "But all I'm saying is it's gonna start wearing on you if you keep this act up."

He narrowed his eyes upon scooping up his purchases. I noticed his signature glare formed on his face as he faced me.

"You're seriously starting to piss me off." There was the murderous tone I'd gotten so accustomed to and this is where my previously hatched plan comes back into play.

"And God forbid we upset the princess." Frank did not like this statement. He looked absolutely furious, his seething figure being the angriest I'd ever seen him. He took a step closer to me and pointed his finger at me. I shrunk back, my heart dropping when I thought to myself that this was the moment I was going to die.

"Don't ever say that again," he warned through gritted teeth in a low voice, emphasizing every word so that it would burn into my memory. Stunned, I let him angrily stomp past me without a word. My senses finally worked after a couple seconds when I registered that the door had just shut.

I shook off my intimidation and rushed to catch up with Frank who was rapidly crossing the parking lot. I had to hurry to a jog to finally catch him, but when I did, I felt a wave of guilt flash over me- Angry tears had formed in the corners of his eyes.

"Frank, I'm so-"

"Get the fuck away from me," he growled, shoving me away. I stumbled to the right of him and watched him walk away from me. I had no idea he would get so upset at one sentence, and I felt horrible for it.

"I'm really sorry, it'll never happen again," I called after Frank, sincerely meaning it.

"Just shut up, Lauren!" he yelled over his shoulder then suddenly froze, his back toward me. There was a moment of silence between us; we simply stood our ground.

"Who's Lauren?" I asked cautiously, beginning to piece together what exactly had Frank so riled up.

"You want to know why I've been so pissed off lately?" Frank asked all of the sudden, still not facing me.

Ya think?

I wanted to roll my eyes and complain about how this all could have ended a long time ago. But instead, I shorted the gap between us, carefully walking up to his side.

"Lauren is my bitch of an ex-girlfriend," he revealed, looking forward stoically. "I found out sometime last week that she's been cheating on me after I was so fucking sure she was the one." He finally faced me then continued, "I was gonna ask her right before I left for the tour if she'd marry me. I had never been so sure about anything in my life before."

My eyebrows drew together empathetically as I continued looking at him. It all completely made sense now. I would be more than pissed off if I loved someone so much and they pretty much rejected me.

"And that's not even all," he said, throwing his arms in the air, laughing dryly at himself. "My mom keeps bitching at me 'cause she thinks it's my fault that I drove away the nice girl I couldn't stop talking about, even though now I know she's the polar opposite because she keeps throwing parties at my house and getting me noise violation tickets. Oh, and on a different, still crappy note, the day after I broke up with Lauren, one of my dogs got out of the house and got ran over. And on top of that, I've gained seven pounds."

I blinked in astonishment.

"With everything else, I hardly think gaining seven pounds is something to worry about right now," I whispered, more to myself.

"Go to Hell," he mumbled lividly, leaving me standing in the parking lot stupidly, repeatedly slapping myself mentally as he shuffled toward the buses.

That could have gone better.