Ray went in to comfort Gerard. He made Frank and Mikey stay with me, because we knew seeing Gerard like this would absolutely shatter Mikey, and Frank wanted to comfort both of us.
"Lily, he's not thinking clearly. He didn't mean it," Frank explained.
"Frank! This isn't the first time he's hurt me for the exact same reason! The first time, he said it was because I pried into his personal life. I guess I did it again," I sobbed.
"Just, give him some time to think, okay?"
"How the fuck am I supposed to give him time to think? I'm staying with him! My sister's gonna be gone for a whole month! I can't live alone for that long!" I shouted, tears now flowing freely.
"Okay, I'm gonna be real honest with you Lily. Gerard can be a real prick. When somebody becomes close to him, he doesn't know what to do, and he just pushes them away. We've all been there. He pushed me, Ray, and even Mikey away for years. But, we had to overlook the shit he put us through, because he needed help. He needs you, Lily. You can either stay and hear him out, or you walk out that door right now and lose him forever. Your choice," Frank said, with a shrug.
"But what if I can't overlook the shit he puts me through? I've been treated like shit my entire life, Frank! You're basically telling me to let my boyfriend treat me like shit because he needs help? I'm not a fucking punching bag! I'm done being treated like shit," I ranted.
"I understand that. I just... I don't fucking know. Let me go talk to him," Frank said. He got up and went into the bathroom, leaving me with Mikey.
I noticed that Mikey was curled up in the fetal position. He had his head resting on his knees, and he looked absolutely broken. I went to sit down with him.
"Mikey," I whispered, to get his attention.
He looked at me and gave a fake smile.
"Mikey, you can talk to me about it, if you want. I understand the pain of having an older sibling being in pain."
"It's just, I'm so worried about him, you know? He's so depressed. What if he doesn't make it out of this? I don't wanna lose my big brother," Mikey sobbed.
I remembered having these same thoughts when I was his age. My sister left for college when I was twelve. I worried that, since she kept all of her emotions about Mom and Dad in, she'd end up never coming back. I didn't want to lose her.
I just hugged Mikey and let him let it all out. He cried onto my shoulder for a while, before his sobs faded into sniffles.
"He'll be okay. We'll make sure of it. We won't let him leave you, okay?" I whispered soothingly.
"Thank you, Lily," he smiled. I hugged him one last time, before we pulled away and sat next to each other in silence. Frank and Ray were in the bathroom for an entire hour before they all three came out. Frank and Ray smiled at me, but Gerard just looked at the ground. They put their arms around Gerard and helped him over to his bed. They let him get into bed and then they walked over to me. I huffed. I didn't feel like talking to them right now. They sat right next to me and Mikey on the floor.
"Hey Lily," Ray said.
"Hey," I greeted sadly.
"He didn't mean to hurt you, you know. He only broke up with you because he thought he wasn't good enough for you," Ray explained.
"When we told him he hurt you, he started crying again. He isn't mad at you, Lily. He's mad at himself," Frank added.
My heart broke. Did he really think he wasn't good enough for me? If anything, I wasn't good enough for him.
