Like Ghosts in the Snow ▹ ▶︎ Gerard Way

▶︎ Glad to see you're not dead.

▶︎ Cherilynn.

"Cherilynn, you're fucking unbelievable! You're such a bitch, man- oh my fucking God! I thought you'd fucking died or something!"

Though she held onto me like I'd disappear if she let go, Dani had been yelling at me for the last 5 minutes. She'd always been pretty... emotional, so this outburst didn't surprise or upset me at all. I found it funny, honestly. And what made it even funnier was Gerard's face, which went from terrified to apologetic as he noticed the unwanted attention Dani's yelling was attracting.

"Where's your sister?" I interrupted her bitching, struggling to keep in my laughter. "Still in New York?"

"Oh, you know Valerie," She let go of me and rolled her eyes. "Her shift started fifteen minutes ago, but she's late... as always. And, yeah, we both live at home."

"Still sharing a room?"

"Sadly," Dani sighed before looking at Gerard and giving me one of her trademark raised-brow looks. "Who's the babe? Your boyfriend?"

I felt my cheeks heat up under Dani's diamond eyes, and when I looked up at Gerard, he was mirroring my expression. A soft shade of pink covered his pale cheeks as he kept his skittish gaze on me while I racked my brain for an answer.

I mean, he wasn't my boyfriend.

But he also wasn't not my boyfriend.

"Gerard, nice to meet you," Gerard broke the tense silence and held out his hand to Dani, who took it approvingly.

"Handsome and polite." I knew Dani could tell I was dying of embarrassment, but she'd always loved to tease me like this. She didn't do it to be mean or anything. But it did make me wish the earth would swallow me sometimes. "Best boyfriend you've had considering your... questionable taste in boys."

"He's not my boyfriend-" I awkwardly blurted out, although Gerard and I did look like a couple. I mean, our hands were intertwined, there was a prominent lipstick mark on his jacket that matched the color of my lips- it all screamed we were dating. "We're not dating."

"Well, I'll gladly take him then," Dani teased, and I felt Gerard's hand tense in mine.

I knew she was just joking around, but an unexplainable pang of jealousy took over me as Danielle playfully winked at Gerard. So I let go of Gee's hand and wrapped my arms around his waist, a gesture that made him softly chuckle as he looked down at me.

"Sorry, but she called dibs on me first," he said.

Gerard's sweet laughter filled my ears as he ran a warm hand through my hair, and I swear I could've melted. I couldn't relish in his touch for too long, though, because Dani's aggressive eyebrow-wiggling and smirking were getting hard to ignore.

I'd missed this feeling.

I hadn't realized just how much I'd missed feeling like a bashful teenager in love all over again. I got with David when I was sixteen, and he'd forced me to keep our relationship secret. So the last time I was able to wallow in the oddly humiliating sensation that came with being mercilessly teased by your friends whenever you had a crush was probably when I was fifteen.

"Stop it!" I whined, my face hidden in Gee's jacket as Dani laughed her ass off. "You're just jealous my boy's hotter than your boyfriend."

"My boyfriend's non-existent at the moment, so I'll take your word." Danielle was the only person I knew who could out-bitch me, and God, I'd missed her. "Does your man have a brother? Cousin?"

"He does have a brother, actually," I suggestively said, Gerard softly smacking the side of my arm as he shook his head.

"Stop prostituting my baby brother," he gasped, and though he made both Dani and laugh, I found it oddly sweet. "Poor Mikey."