You're the Only Hope For Me

Chapter One

My heels clicked against the concrete, no doubt giving away my location. My eyes strained to get a better view around the nightlife city.

The scuffs of different shoes filled my ears. He was right behind me. I took in a shaky breath and pushed myself faster.

Another man walked out into my path. He caught me as I ran into him, the street lamp illuminating his face.

"Rose?" he asked.

"No time!" I told him. He pulled me into his car and sped off in the opposite direction.

"What the fuck, Rose? What was that about?" he demanded.

I caught my breath in the passenger seat and looked to one of my best friends growing up. Frank Iero.

Frank was basically my big brother growing up. Whenever someone would pick on me, Frank was there to stick up for me. If I was down, he knew just how to pick me back up again.

Then he met up with Gerard, Mikey, and Ray and that's when I started to lose him. He became instantly famous with his band, My Chemical Romance. I saw them every time they were in town. The only problem was, I didn't see Frank.

Sure, I saw him on stage. Anyone could. He would run around the entire stage with his guitar, smiling largely to himself. The fans loved him.

We still texted back and forth, but we never really got back in touch until now.

"I met a guy online..." I rubbed my head. It was enough for him to understand. We were both 30 years old and single. I was tired of it and began searching desperately for somebody who loved me.

He sighed and checked his mirror to make sure no one was following us. A sigh escaped his lips as he glanced to me, "Rose, you never know when to stop."

"Don't you want to be loved? D-don't you ever dream about falling deeply in love with someone and...and starting a family?" I asked him, "Because I do. I'm tired of being alone. I'm thirty fucking years old and I'm terrified I'm going to be alone like this forever."

He pulled over on the side of the road and leaned over to embrace me in a hug. "Rose, you won't be alone. I promise you."

I hugged him tightly. My big brother was still looking out for me and telling me that everything was going to be okay. It felt good to see and feel him again.

"I won't let that happen," he added and rubbed my back with his hand.

"Thank you," I mumbled into his shirt and smiled as be pulled back.

Many people thought us a couple when we were starting up high school. We'd openly hold hands in the halls, talk incessantly on and off the phone, and - yes - hugged each other. I didn't understand why friends couldn't do that.

At one point, I ended up liking Frank a bit. Love? Maybe not, but I felt something. I blew it away before it got out of hand. We were like siblings. I didn't want to be the one to screw up what we had just because of some mixed up feelings.

"Where do you live, same place?" Frank asked.

"Yep," I answered shamefully. I've been trapped in the same damn apartment building since I graduated and was kicked out of my parents house. For thirteen years, I've "lived" there, absolutely alone.

He pulled up into an empty parking space and pulled his keys out of the ignition.

"Frankie, you don't need to... I'm fine. You go back home and get some sleep, it's late," I assured him.

He made no move to get back into his car. His keys jingled in his leather jacket pocket as he made his way up the infinite number of stairs to my place. I noticed he breathed differently. That climb was always a bugger on him, but not like this. He was almost wheezing this time.

He straightened his back when he noticed me staring, "Key in the same place?"

"Of course it is," I smirked and pulled the silver key out of my potted plant next to the door. Funny now he remembered those kinds of things.

I changed up a few things since the last time he'd seen it. He looked around for a while as I tossed my heels in my closet and changed into something more comfortable. It just so happened to be a My Chemical Romance t-shirt and sweats. I figured it'd make him laugh.

It did. He smiled and laughed, holding the edges of my shirt. His brown eyes traced the words. "I love it," he said.

"How're the boys doing?" I skipped into the kitchen and grabbed a bag of crisps.

"They're fine," he climbed up onto the island stool and watched me pour a bowl out for us, "We've been on tour, just finished up our shows in Austrailia a few weeks ago. Just taking breather back home."

"Cool," I smiled and tossed a crisp into my mouth before setting the bowl between us on the counter.

"And how's Ferard?" I joked.

He pushed me with his elbow and even blushed a little, "Fuck off..." he laughed.

"Wait," he turned back to me, "If we're going to bring up boys, let's talk about the guy you met online."

It was my turn to blush. "Well, I found a dating website and started talking to this guy. We had the same interests and I thought, maybe this could work. We arranged to meet tonight and he..."

"Turned out to be exactly who you didn't expect it to be," Frank finished for me.

"Yeah," I breathed out with a sigh.

He shook his head and rubbed his tired eyes, "Rose, Rose, Rose. Will you ever learn?"

I shrugged, "Probably not."