This Band Will Save Your Life || Frank Iero

Chapter 20: This Broken City Sky

Frank's POV

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We were sitting in the darkened movie theatre, Fallyn had her head on my shoulder as the last film played.

We'd been at the cinema for the past eight hours watching Tim Burton movies.
The last movie on was Dark Shadows and I watched the whole thing with a small smile because I couldn't help myself but compare it with my life.

For example, I could go out in the sunlight, I wasn't burnt by silver and as far as I knew it wasn't compulsory for me to sleep in a coffin.
I also didn't have pointy ears and creepy looking fingers that would get in the way of my guitar playing.

The movie only had ten minutes left before the marathon was over and I'd take Fallyn to the ferris wheel. My mind had fully made the decision of what to say to Gee, which had been telling him to keep his opinions to himself because he didn't get to control Fallyn's life.

When he knocked on the door and found her in my room Gee mentally put so use every swear word he'd ever learnt.

I'd told him I had free will and I tried to explain as calmly as possible that I wasn't going to hurt her, be mean to her or any other kind of bad thing that came to mind.
Surprisingly he didn't have a full blown spazz out, acted rather calmly and said he'd give me one chance.

Although he did make it very obvious if I did anything he would pretty much kill me, Gee needed to chill out, he's being over protective. So yeah, I have Gerard's reluctant blessing to embarrass myself by flirting with her, the guys are gonna have a field day with this.

It was almost funny because, after all the times I'd complained to Gerard about him banning me from doing anything now I had no idea what to do.
I'm not a lady's man or a bachelor like person but I usually have some idea what I'm supposed to be doing around the opposite sex.
Now I had Fallyn with her head on my shoulder in a darkened movie theatre and I was frozen.

Oh life has one incredibly fucked up sense of humour.
I have about as much idea now as I did in high school, my mind has completely reset every piece of knowledge I've picked up over the years.
This is what's happened, life has downgraded me to having the romantic tactics of a clueless teenager.

With effort I forced my brain to start working so I wouldn't seem like a full on idiot.
Fallyn adjusted her head but kept it on my shoulder and I responded by putting an arm around her. Within seconds her heart started beating faster and I had to stop myself from laughing.

Maybe she thought the same of me as I of her.
She looked up at me and smiled as some hair fell in her eyes. I pushed it out of the way and her cheeks went bright red before she turned her head back to the movie.
I could always try behaving like I did when Gerard banned me from trying anything.

'Deep breath, think of something else.'
My mind tuned in to her thoughts for a moment before they faded away into the static I usually got.

I wonder what she was thinking about, because I didn't know her thoughts every single second I'd often be confused. The movie ended and went to credits while the lights came on and people got up to leave.

Between us Fallyn and I had eaten two large tubs of popcorn, three slurpies and an insanely large amount of skittles.
Since I'd spent the whole time thinking I'd missed the last bit of the movie, at least I had seen it enough times to remember what happens.
After all the hours sitting still in the same seat the whole time you'd think my body had gone numb but no, my feet were still attached and I could feel them.

"Those movies were so good." Fallyn took her head off my shoulder and stretched her arms.

"I liked the one with the dog." I'd forgotten the name of the movie and was too bothered with trying to remember it.

"Frankenweenie, you just liked it because it has a dog." She laughed and adjusted her beanie that had nearly fallen off.

"You got me, I think my real favourite will always be The Nightmare Before Christmas. What's yours?" I stood up and held out my hand to help her up she took it and stood up with a grin.

"The Corpse Bride, it always makes me feel sad and happy at the same time."

The credits finished rolling and the screen was left blank, one look at the time on my phone said we had an hour before we should head back to the hotel.
She picked up a large packet of sour skittles and ate them as we walked out of the cinema and into the quickly dimming sky.

We went straight to the movie theatre because I'd thought it would be best to see the city from the ferris wheel at night time. I took her hand and began walking towards the giant wheel that could be seen from outside the cinema.

"Where are we going?" She'd pocketed the bag of skittles and was walking next to me with a light smile on her face.

"The ferris wheel, remember?" She nodded and walked closer to me, I wasn't sure if it was because she was cold or some other reason.

"I forgot about that." For some reason she was looking a bit off with the fairies, okay, very off with the fairies, but her eyes stood out clearly against the pale city backdrop and her smile had gotten wider.

As we walked along the street towards the surprisingly close wheel I talked to her about the video clip and tried to explain it to her.
She might not have been able to visualise what I'd been explaining but she seemed excited at the thought of seeing it.

"I've always wanted to see a video for Drowning Lessons. I know it's not the most adaptable video but I think it would make a good one if you could come up with the right idea."

The band had talked over songs we could consider for music videos but that one never came up.
We didn't even play it on stage much, maybe once or twice.
Whenever we performed it something bad would happen, a speaker being blown up, Gerard falling off the stage. It was almost like the song was cursed.

I stopped in front of the ferris wheel, it was much bigger than I thought it would be.
Fallyn was next to me with her mouth hanging open slightly, I felt like I should have the same expression. There were some people getting in and out of the cages or whatever the hell they were called.

It'd been ages since I've gotten on a ferris wheel, I think I would have been around twelve.
Fairy lights lit up the structure and gave it an almost dreamlike appearance.

"It's so pretty." Fallyn said as I started walking her towards the booth so we could get on.

"It's very pretty." I agreed with her and she smiled at me before moving her sea green gaze back to the snow or whatever object she found prettiest at the time.

I bought two tickets and waited for an unoccupied cage to come down to the ground. We waited for a minute or so before we could get onto the wheel.
Once seated with the door locked behind us the cage began its slow ascent towards the almost dark nighttime sky.

Fallyn looked like she was feeling very nervous and still held my hand as the distance between us and the ground widened. We weren't even at the top yet and the view was amazing, you could see every part of the city.
Everyone should have a ferris wheel and it should be portable so you can have this view from everywhere.

The bottom of cage was see through and I glanced at the snow below us then felt Fallyn's hand tighten around mine. Next to me her eyes were wide and she looked as if she were on the verge of hyperventilating.
Judging by her loud heartbeat she was already freaking out.

"Fallyn, what's the matter?" She took some deep breaths before closing her eyes and talking to me.

"I'm afraid of heights, like terrified." That would explain the look on her face and the pressure on my hand from her death grip.

"What about the bridge?" She'd been standing on a ridiculously high arched bridge that would amplify anyone's fear of heights.

"I wasn't afraid of falling and dying then, I am now." That sounded like a perfectly reasonable explanation.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna let you fall out of the cage." Her heartbeat slowed slightly but I could tell she was still freaking out.
We were almost at the top and I could see the city sparkling against the dark sky while Fallyn seemed unwilling to look away from me and at the view.

"What else are you afraid of?" It'd worked before so I decided to try distracting her by talking.

"Uh, I don't like spiders or ghosts and I get scared of ouija boards" The talking appeared to be working and her grip on my hand loosened slightly.

"Why don't you like ouija boards?" I didn't like them much either but I was curious as to why.

"I stayed at Kat's house one night and she had an ouija board. We mucked around with it and started asking questions, the pointer started moving then flew across the room. It was the scariest thing that's ever happened to me."

She finally calmed down enough to let go of my hand and began to look at the view. I'd been to Seattle once before and that was during Bullets, we were here for two days then left.
Because we were a new band at the time and not used to all the daily performing we were exhausted after the concert. We'd sleep all day and get up a couple of hours before soundcheck so I never got the chance to see the sights.
The ferris wheel was moving very slowly, to the point of me wondering if we be able to get out before seven.

"This is almost weird." She mumbled, pulling the beanie further onto her head.

"What do you mean?" I asked, putting my feet on the seats across from me.
Her face went bright red and she pulled out the packet of skittles and started eating them as an excuse not to talk.

"Why?" Her not saying anything made me even more curious about wanting to know what she meant. She hasn't been thinking directly at me but for the first time my powers were actually useful and tuned in.

'Because this is kinda like a date.'
My mouth fell open slightly while she sat there acting as if nothing happened, which it had as far as she was concerned.

Did I mishear her or did my mind make up something that would make me happy?
What did she mean about this being like a date?
Did she not want it to be a date or did she think it was awkward because she wanted it to be like one?

My mind blanked out while the wheel finished turning and our cage came back to the ground. According to my phone we should begin to head back to the hotel.
We would have some time to get changed, hang out a bit then head to the music hall for a soundcheck.

When we got to the curb I hailed a cab and told the driver we'd be going to the The Bloody Evangeline. After a short car ride we got back to the hotel and I paid the driver while Fallyn waited for me on the sidewalk.

We walked towards the lobby entrance and I tried to act as if I hadn't heard her thoughts by linking my arm with hers. I opened the door for her and waited for her to walk through, when she didn't I closed it and looked at her.
There was a bright red streak running across her face and she was staring at the ground.

"Fallyn, what's the matter?" She was being uncharacteristically quiet and it confused me.

If the guys ever had an opinion on something they'd say it out loud and if you didn't like it, well, bad luck.
Girls can be silent and not say anything but get angry when you don't know what's wrong.
Fallyn wasn't like most girls, she spoke her mind and wouldn't put my head on a chopping block for giving my opinions.

"Oh, I was just thinking, um." I could hear her heat beating quickly and was surprised by how girly she was behaving.

"You can tell me anything."

"Uh, okay then." She took a couple of steps towards me and gave me a hug while I tried to ignore the feeling of her heart beating against chest.

I'd eaten a lot this morning, enough to the point of feeling like I wouldn't need to eat for a while. But now my throat burnt badly and my teeth hurt.

"I wanted to say thanks for the nice day. Like the movies and stuff." I was surprised enough by getting a hug from her.

She wasn't the kind of person who hugged people, she'd get hugs from others but that was it. She gave me a kiss on the cheek and I had to clench my jaw tighter to dull the aching in my teeth.
I'd thought it was weird getting a hug from her but now I was entirely confused by the kiss on the cheek.

I was confused as to whether or not she was being the nice, innocent girl that doesn't have a clue about love. She might not have the slightest idea what she was doing.

"So, thanks." She gave me a smile smile and went into the building while tugging her beanie off.

Gerard had told me he'd back off but if he knew about this I'd get in serious trouble.
She gestured for me to hurry up and I followed her to the elevator.
Once on the fifth floor I knocked on Gee's door to see if he had gotten back from cutting together the music video.

He opened the door almost immediately and I could see Ray, Bob and Mikey in the background staring at the tv. I'm Not Okay was playing loudly and I assumed they've finished editing the video and this is the final copy.

"Where have you guys been? We got back over an hour ago." He sounded calm but I could feel the crankyness coming from him in waves.

"The movie marathon only ended a bit ago and we went to see the giant ferris wheel." Fallyn was looking over Gee's shoulder, she could probably hear the music and was wondering what was going on.

"We finished making the video. It'll be aired within the next month. You wanna be the first outside person to see it?" He was talking to Fallyn who had a huge grin spread across her face.

"Really?"

"Yeah, go ahead." She squealed and ran into the room as Mikey used a remote to go to the start of the video.

I think the fifteen packets of skittles had an effect on her behaviour. She didn't usually squeal, run around and behave like a girly girl. I knew what the video was supposed to have in it and I knew what it was supposed to look like once cut together but I was still kinda excited to see the final result.

Fallyn sat on the arm of the couch while I sat on the floor and Mikey played the DVD'd music video. It opened with Gerard sitting on the steps talking about all the things he was unable to do then it went into the high school part.

She laughed at the part where I jumped out of the locker, she now understood the joke about Gerard putting me in a locker. He hadn't done it in the first place but it was still funny.
The video ended and she sat there with a huge grin on her face before exploding into a verbal nuclear bomb.

"ThatwassofuckingawesomeyouguysdeserveabloodyawardFrankieitwashilariouswhenyoudidthepartwiththeeyeandthebitwhereyoujumpedoutofthelockerandGerardMikeyRayandBobyoudidsuchanamazingvideo!ButRaywhatwasthethingyouputityourmouthHahathatswhatshesaid!Seriouslythoughwasitapencilorsomething?"

I sat there with the guys who had a confused look on their faces. They had as much idea as to what she said as I did. I'm pretty sure she didn't even take a breath while talking.
Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to let her eat all the skittles by herself.

"What did you do to her?" Gerard asked, looking at me with his eyes wide as she grinned and took deep breaths.

"She tasted the rainbow." I joked, Gee wasn't happy with me and it didn't take a genius to realise it, so I resorted to comedy to worm my way out of things.

"Well you'll be holding her hair back when she barfs the rainbow." Mikey, Ray and Bob laughed while I saw there frowning.

It's not like I knew she'd act like this.
I could eat a million packets of skittles and I wouldn't become a psycho, she probably has a lower tolerance than me.

"Hahahahayouguysaresofunny!Youalldeservetonsandtonsofhugs!"

She ran up to Gerard who'd been standing by the door and wrapped her arms around him while he stood there trying not to laugh. After deciding Gee had gotten enough hugs she practically jumped on Mikey, Ray and Bob who'd been sitting on the couch.
They looked fairly surprised but didn't say anything as she took turns giving them hugs.

"AndspecialhugsforyouFrankie!" While I sat there on the floor she got onto my lap and gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Gerard didn't say anything and assumed it was the skittles talking. After her kissing me on the cheek outside the hotel I'd thought it was her trying to flirt or something like that. It made me feel upset to know it was simply the effect of multitudes of coloured sugar.

"I think you broke her stop button." She was still sitting on my lap and began to giggle for no reason.

"The slushies fried her circuits." I couldn't help but laugh at her crazy behaviour.

"ThatvideowassogreatcanIwatchitagain?" Gerard got something from his bag and handed it to her.

"I got you, your own DVD so you can watch it whenever." She gave him another grin and a hug.

"Yaaaay!" I think I'm gonna regret this in an hour.

Without stopping to take a breath she went out of the room and into the hallway.
Even though the walls were thick it wasn't hard to hear her singing at the top of her lungs.

"I'm not okay, I'm not okaaaaay! Well I'm not okaaaay! I'm not o-fucking-kay!"
All of us were laughing without restraint, then, as if for the hell of it she put her head back in the door.

"Trust me!" Our already loud laughter got even louder and reached the point of almost hysterical as she sung into the hallway and what sounded like my room.

Okay, I'm lying. I don't regret it, Fallyn on skittles was possibly the cutest and funniest thing I'd ever seen in my whole life. I'm not sure what she'd be doing in my room, getting changed probably but I told her not to go anywhere alone.
Gerard managed to stop laughing and took a glance at his watch.

"Shit! We're gonna be late if we don't leave right now! Frankie go get Fallyn and your guitar."

I nodded, got off the floor and jogged into the hall then into my room.
Fallyn was singing in the bathroom and I laughed a bit before grabbing Pansy from against the wall.

"Not to rush you but we have to go, like right now." My clothes would have to do for the moment, the fans will forgive me for not wearing the shirt and tie.

"Okaaaay!" She skipped out of the bathroom with a grin on her face, she'd put on so much makeup it looked like a Halloween costume. Judging by the skull thing she'd done it was supposed to look like that.

"DosntthislookprettydidyouknowImreallyreallygoodatdoingspecialeffectsmakeup?"

There was no doubt she was good at it. She'd been in there for a maximum of five minutes and it looked like she had an hour.

"You look very pretty. Come on we have to go or we won't even get there in time for a soundcheck."

She hummed I'm Not Okay as she walked out the door to see Gerard, Ray, Bob and Mikey in the hallway with their stuff ready.
We piled into an already called taxi van and told the driver the address for the music hall.