A Series Of Life Changing Events

Chapter 13: Ups and Downs

AUTHORS NOTE: Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I wanted to post all week because I had the week off, but I waited to post this because I went to Frank's concert yesterday.

It's Sunday. Gerard called the doctor and it turns out I do need stitches. Awesome. Stitches is the only thing I can't deal with. I remember when my sister had to get stitches. Skylar. I wonder how she's doing. I hear a knock on the door breaking me from my thoughts. "Come in." I say trying to sit up. I feel a lot better, but the pain is still there. Gerard walks in. "Hey are you almost ready to go?" He asks while walking closer to the bed. "Not really." I say looking down realizing I'm not wearing pants under the blanket. "Can you grab me some clothes?" I ask Gerard forgetting the amount of band shit piled in there related to him and the rest of My Chemical Romance. He starts to laugh. "What?" I ask wondering what's so funny. "Oh nothing. I saw my face." He says tossing me a pair of skinny jeans and a frnkiero andthe cellabration shirt. Oh God. He's seen the stuff. "I promise I had that before I met you!" I say putting my arms up in defense. "Relax. I think it's cool." He says leaving the room so I can get dressed. This is really awkward. I slip on the clothes and slowly walk to the door. If there was some sort of zombie apocalypse I wouldn't be able to run. I would just die. That would suck. Gerard let's me lean on him as we walk for support. We eventually get to the car. I really really hate this. He helps me in and I click shuffle on my phone. Just my luck. My Chemical Romance comes on. I quickly hit the skip button hoping he didn't notice. "Why did you change it?" My face just starts glowing red. "I don't know I just did." That was a stupid answer. "Do you feel uncomfortable listening to that stuff around me?" I don't answer. "You don't have to be. Can you change it back please?" Does he seriously want to listen to it? I switch it back. It was Helena. Gerard starts laughing. "What?" I ask curious. "When we filmed this Frank was too short to help carry the coffin. He was just touching it." I start to laugh too. For the rest of the ride Gerard tells stories about the band and I eventually forget where we're going. I never want this ride to end. It has to end sometime and that sometime is now. Gerard pulls into the hospital and parks the car. When he takes out the keys everything suddenly feels real. I'm going to get stitches. This is happening right now. "Lily..." I snap out of it. I'm not gonna cry. He gets out and walks to the other side. He opens my door because I'm too scared to. "Sweetheart we have to get this done." He says reaching to unbuckle me. I hear the click and I almost loose my shit. I grab his arm. I really can't do this. "Do you want to know a secret?" He says trying to make me forget about the stitches. I nod. "It's all in your head. If you say you can't do it, then you can't do it, but if you say you can do it, then anything is possible. You just have to believe in yourself." I sigh. He's probably right. "What's your favorite thing? What is your escape when you can't deal with real life?" He asks helping me out of the car. My escape is him, Frank, Mikey, and Ray, but that would be kinda creepy to say. I'm taking too long to come up with an answer. "Music." Is what I settle with saying. "Good choice. I want you to take that escape and throw yourself into. I don't want you to think of anything else except for what makes you happy. I want you to escape." He says opening the door to the hospital. We step in and I freeze. He starts humming the same song he's been humming for days. What is that song?! I start to walk again. That song makes me feel safe. We walk up to the desk and sign in. Then we wait. Waiting is always the worst part. I'm shaking. Gerard is holding my hand and is still humming. I have my head laying on his shoulder. I can hear his heartbeat. It's loud and steady. It's so comforting. Just him being here is comforting. I know I wouldn't be able to get through this without him. They call for us and I'm not on edge as I was, but I'm still terrified. Gerard looks down at me into my eyes. "You just have to remember one thing. Escape." He says putting his arm around me. Instead of leaning on him I wrap my arms around him. I'm not letting go until I have to. We get to the room and I sit on the stupid bed thing and close my eyes. They are shut so tight it hurts. My body is completely tense. My breathing becomes much heavier than before and I'm about to cry. Gerard takes both my hands and starts singing while the doctor unwraps the bandages. He's singing My Chemical Romance. That always calms me down. My breathing gets better, but I'm still tense. I let the lyrics burn into my brain and try to forget the needle going through my skin. When I feel the needle make contact with my skin I start to cry. Gerard whips away my tears and starts to sing a little bit louder. The stitches don't take long. When they're done I feel so much better, but I can't look at my stomach. I can't look at the stitches. If I do I'll just cry or puke and it just won't be fun. When we get back to the car I plug in my phone. "Do you have the cellabration on your phone?" Gerard asks while turning the car on. "Yeah." I say clicking on Frank's name and handing him the phone before he pulls out of the parking space. He clicks on a song and puts my phone down. Oh my God. He picked stitches. It's a great song, but I can't help, but laugh. "I love this album." He says driving in the direction opposite of home. "Where are we going?" I ask confused. "You'll see." He says driving about ten minuets until we get to some concert hall I've never been to before. I recognize the name. Where have I seen this name before? Frank! The cellabration was supposed to play here. "What are we doing here?" I ask even though I think I already know. "One of my friends is playing here tonight and I wanted to take you to the show." We get in and the show doesn't start for a couple hours. The band is doing sound check and Frank is onstage. Oh my God. I almost scream. Frank is my favorite. "How did you know I wanted to come?" I ask excited. "Jess told me that you haven't been able to stop talking about wanting to go all week and I was already planning on going." He says waving to Frank. Frank waves back with a huge smile on his face. Oh my God. I'm gonna meet Frank Iero. This is so cool. "Oh by the way she's meeting us here later." This is gonna be the best night ever! When sound check is over the guys take a break and Frank walks over to Gerard and I. They hug and I almost scream because they are my brotp. I would ship them as a couple, but that's really weird and makes them uncomfortable. The only person I ship my adoptive father with is my adoptive mother. Lindsey and Gerard are perfect for each other. "I want you to meet someone." Gerard says pointing to me. "This is Lily. Lindsey and I adopted her." Frank starts to laugh. "Our kids share the same name." Gerard starts laughing too. "I didn't pick it she came with the name included." I don't know what to say to him. Frank holds out his hand. What do I do? Am I supposed to shake it or something? I slowly reach out my hand and we shake hands. I feel so awkward. I love him so much. I hate being shy, but what if I say something really stupid. "Sorry she's kinda shy around really cool people." Gerard says breaking the silence. "And you...are awesome." I say and my cheeks start to glow redder. Those were probably horrible first words. "Thanks." He says laughing. Oh my God he's so cool. Why do I have to be so stupid and weird? A tech guy is messing with the mic on stage. "Check check...check check" the man on stage says into the mic and it reminds me of Destroya. I start to laugh. "What's so funny?" Gerard asks curious. Now I feel really stupid. "Nothing I just thought of something stupid." I reply looking down at my phone trying to avoid awkwardness. I decide to actually text Jess instead of losing time pretending to text her. *THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU* I send and I get a reply in less than a minuet. *For what?* I quickly type as fast as possible *You told Gerard about me wanting to go see Frank now he's standing right in front of me!* I send. *I can't wait for the concert later. I'm on my way.* she says and I pull up Gerard's name in my phone. *Jess said she's on her way.* I send the text and stare at him until he gets it. He doesn't read it so I text him repeatedly until he picks up his phone. "What the hell..." He reads the text and the looks at me. "Why couldn't you just say that out loud?" He says both laughing and confused. *I can't talk. I just can't. My jaw won't function and words won't come out and it's cause Frank and oh my God he's perfect.* I send the text and wait for him to get it. *DON'T SHOW THAT TO FRANK* I try to type, but it doesn't get there fast enough. He passes over his phone. Frank laughs. "Trust me, I'm far from perfect." I never thought I'd hear Frank Iero say 'Trust me' in person. I don't know whether to scream, hide, or both. I fake getting a text. "Jess is here! I'll be back!" I say running to the front entrance. "That was such a fake. I just embarrassed her." Gerard says and they laugh. "That's what dads are for." Frank says and I just yell "SHUT UP!" across the hall to them. I wish I wasn't born so awkward. In less than ten minuets Jess shows up and we walk back over to the boys. She almost flips the heck out, but I keep her under control. She's wearing leather leggings and a tank top with Frank's band symbol on it. I look down to the ground and realize Frank and I are wearing the same shoes. Well obviously not the same exact pair, but same brand, color, and type. The only thing that's different is the size. We're both wearing red converse. They look better on him than me. Jess is talking nonstop to Frank. It's nice to know that if I can't talk then she can speak for me. A few hours go by. We eat lunch and then after a couple more hours Frank disappears with Gerard. They probably went to go take care of concert stuff. I take out my phone and shove an ear bud in Jess' ear. "Frank is so nice and he's really funny and oh my God I love him." I admit when I'm sure the guys are not around. "Hell yeah he is. He's one of the coolest people I've ever met. Your dad is also on that list." "Yeah my dad is the lamest person in the world, but I like him that way." I say tapping my foot on the bar stool I'm sitting at. I love bars. I always have. They just look really comfy and the stools always look really fun to spin on. I've only sat at food bars. This is the first time I've sat at a real bar, but it's closed right now. Jess and I are sharing a plate of fries drenched in ketchup. That's the one thing we can always agree on. Ketchup is the best. When it comes time for the concert everyone is pumped and the concert hall is packed. Jess and I are being smushed against the stage. We scream every single lyric at the top of our lungs. This is the best show I've ever seen. I never want it to end. By the time the show is over I'm on a pure adrenaline rush. After Frank goes out and signs some autographs we talk for a little bit longer. I start to warm up to him and I find out he's pretty easy to talk to. Jess and Gerard are occupied in a different area by God knows what and I'm helping Frank carry stuff out of the venue. "Can I ask you a question?" I ask quietly kind of hoping he didn't hear me so I didn't have to actually ask it. "Sure. Ask away." He says setting his guitar case down. "Were you ever afraid to preform?" I ask looking away and messing with the ring on my finger. "Are you afraid to preform?" He asks looking down at me. Even Frank Iero is taller than me. I shake my head. "I'm not afraid to preform. I'm absolutely terrified to preform. When I'm singing I feel so free, but what if people hate me?" "People will definitely hate you..." I look up to him with so many mixed emotions. "...but so many more people will love you. The good outweighs the bad. If you love something share it with people. It's the best gift you can give to the world." He says walking back into the building. I follow him. "Thank you." I say as I watch Gerard walking over. "No problem. You can always ask me things. I'll always be here to answer you." He says and then I realize something. Frank lives on the other side of the country. I won't be seeing him for a long time. "How can I talk to if you'll be on the other side of the country?" I ask worrying too much about the subject. "I guess you could always text me or call me or something." He says giving me a smile. "But I don't have your number." I'm such a dumbass. "Give me your phone." He says holding out his hand. I unlock it and hand it to him. He goes into the contacts and puts in his number. Then he hands it back to me. We say our goodbyes to Frank and leave the venue. When we get home I crash in my bed. Today was full of ups and downs, but the good outweighed the bad.