runaways {frerard}

four

The past two days had been a blur of street signs and city names, narrated by pockets of quiet conversation. We stopped occasionally to get food, and I often ended up falling asleep in the passenger seat before Gerard could pull over so we could sleep in the back.

He had driven aimlessly down highways for countless hours, we didn't even know which direction we were headed. That didn't matter though, as long as he was by my side and we were far from Belleville everything would end okay.

"Do you think your mom and brother will be okay?" I leave the ever changing scenery through the window and turn to face Gerard, leaning my elbow against his armrest and propping my face up with my fist.

He was silent for a moment, still looking ahead at the road, "Mikey can handle himself. He's not a little kid anymore, he doesn't need me all too much now. As for my mom, well she's still got Mikey."

"Aren't they wondering where you are?"

"I think they know, well... Yeah. They know." He pauses to ponder for a moment, finishing shortly after.

"You... Told them about me?" An odd smile began to creep onto my face, and I'm sure I was blushing red as a tomato by now.

"Mmhm, sometimes to the point where it started to annoy them."

A nervous giggle slips from between my lips, and I feel myself smiling like an idiot as I sit next to Gerard.

"I'm tired, Gee." I glance between the night sky outside the window and the car clock, it was nearly two in the morning by now.

I carefully climbed into the back of the van, getting comfortable as one could be in the back of a van and drifted off into a much needed slumber.

***

I woke up in a groggy haze, momentarily panicked about my whereabouts until I saw Gerard climb over the backseat and remembered I was in the back of his car. I glanced out the window, it was pitch black and we were pulled over in the parking lot of some closed convenient store.

"Did I wake you? I'm sorry." Gerard whispered as he sat beside me.

"No, it's fine. I'm going back to sleep, goodnight." I breathed out softly, laying back down.

"Goodnight, Frank." He replied sleepily and laid down next to me.

My eyes fluttered shut as I tried to reposition myself comfortably, but it was no use. I tossed and turned sleeplessly long after Gerard had swiftly fallen into a peaceful sleep. His presence beside me was making me so nervous, he was so close next to me and there was no way I could possibly fall asleep knowledgeable of that.

This was the first time I hadn't fallen asleep by myself, well besides crawling into my mother's bed after a nightmare. For the brief amount of time she'd actually gotten along with me throughout my childhood, that is. Other than that, I was never allowed to have sleepovers as a little kid. Not that I had all too many friends to have sleepovers with in the first place, or even just in general.

He suddenly rolled over, nuzzling against me and slinging an arm around my delicate frame. His touch was warm against my body, It gave me that anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach. If anything, it only made me more alert and awake. There was no way I could fall back asleep now.

I carefully shifted Gerard's arm away from me and sat up. I stared at him for what seemed like an eternity, he looked so angelic and vulnerable as he slept— it was beautiful.