I Drew You Once in Art Class

Ninety-Five

Gerard was still pissed about earlier. Mikey had repeatedly asked Gerard what was wrong, but he would just shake his head.

Now he was in his room laying on his back on the bed, his phone hooked to his amp with an old aux chord he'd found a few months ago. A song came on shuffle, one he recognized.

He twisted the knob, turning the volume up.

That weird, bent-sounding guitar dripped out of the amp, and as the intro continued, Gerard felt all the feelings he'd been numb to the past few days amplify a little bit, and let the muscles in his chest tighten.

He found it ironic that it was Bert's song, fueling this anger toward Frank.

The door opened. Mikey stood in the doorway, his arms crossed. "Could you please shut up? I've already told you I don't like Bert's weird music."

Gerard, without looking, turned the knob on the amp, bringing the volume even higher.

"Whatever. Have you seen mom?" Mikey had to shout over the music. "She's been out with 'friends' a lot, and she didn't tell me she was going anywhere tonight but I can't find her."

"She probably has a secret boyfriend or something. I don't know, Mikey. Don't worry about it."

"I am worried! She's, like, never around anymore if you would get your head out of Frank's ass and look around once in a while."

Gerard's eyes widened. He reached over and turned the volume down.

"Christ, Mikey. Get a filter. And me and Frank are... I don't know. He totally blocked me. I kinda think he hates me. Which sucks, because now I can't even try to apologize until I see him... well he's probably not going to the dumb dance thing, so the Monday after, I guess."

"Are you still going?"

"To what, the thing? Yeah, I invited Bert."

Now it was Mikey's turn to have eyes the size of dinner plates.

"You what? Are you two..."

Gerard laughed. "No. I can promise you that. I don't like him like that and he doesn't like me like that, but we're going because we have nothing better to do. Besides, I'm a junior and I have never been to one of these, so it seems like something I should do at least once."

Mikey cocked his head thoughtfully. "Fair," he said. "But shit, what about that thing with his mom coming over for Christmas or something?"

"I don't know. I guess Frank will tell his mom that the plan is off, and she'll get to spend Christmas with him like she wanted."

Gerard felt something prick the back of his eye, so he blinked.

"I don't know, dude. I don't know."

Mikey looked at him for a minute, twisting his mouth as if he were considering something.

"Why don't you and I go get ice cream or something?"

Gerard laughed weakly, definitely not crying a little.

"In the cold?"

"Why not?"