The Ghost of Him

7. Infatuations

I woke up the next morning with someone's arm wrapped around me. I panicked at first, but then everything from last night came flooding back to me. I glanced down at Gerard's arm and tried to decipher his intent. It was wrapped nicely around the very center of my abdomen, not too high and not too low for my discomfort. That had to be a good sign right?

His face was pressed into the crook of my neck, and his little snores sent his breath across my back and shoulders and sent chills down my spine. I didn't want to wake him up, but my body was stiff and sore and I needed to stretch out. I was also starving and wanted to see what sort of food he had laying around.

I gently pushed his arm off of me and slowly peeled my body away from his, trying my best not to disturb him. I stood up and stretched out my arms and then leaned down and touched my toes, hearing my back pop in several places. Pull out couches are not the most pleasant things to sleep on.

I stood back up and came face to face with a newly awakened and groggy Gerard Way. Funny, after being so used to hearing his name mentioned here and there in public and almost constantly on the news, I never actually took much notice in it. I mean, why would I need to know it amyway? Sure, I knew it enough to where I would see him and be able to recognize him by his name but I had no reason to ever just bring up his name in a conversation like how you would with music artists and whatnot. It was sort of ironic that now I was stuck here with him.

I also noticed how when you're talking about a famous person, or a well known person like Gerard, you scarcely ever call them by just their first name. In my town, it was always Gerard Way this, Gerard Way that, Gerard Way, Gerard Way, Gerard Way. It felt strange being here with him and only calling him by Gerard, but I knew it would be weird if I called him by his full name this entire time.

He stared at me with his wide hazel eyes and then yawned. "Good morning..."

I couldn't help it. I smiled at him and then sat down on the edge of the bed. "Yeah, morning."

Suddenly he froze, and then glanced at me nervously. "Do you think... Do you think they're looking for you yet??"

Suddenly reality was brought back. I was supposed to go back home last night, and check in with my parents while I packed some things, and then Zoe was supposed to pick me up and we were going to stay together for the rest of spring break. Someone had probably reported me by now. Probably.

I nodded my head and he sighed deeply. "Do you think they'll look here?"

I shrugged. "I mean... You did take me from Zoe's house which is literally a twenty minute walk from here, so probably."

He got a worried look on his face and I sort of felt bad and couldn't decide if I wanted to stay with him or wanted them to find me and take me back home. I couldn't deny that I sort of liked him and I wanted to get to know him better and keep him company. But I also couldn't deny that that would be a horrible thing to do. I could be arrested for being infatuated with him and not reporting him the first time. He was a murderer, whether I liked him or not.

He sighed. "Okay... Can I show you something?"

My stomach growled, reminding me of why I had gotten up in the first place. But I found myself nodding and he took my hand in his and lead me out of the RV. It was sort of windy today and it made goosebumps go up my arms, so I hugged myself to conserve body heat.

Gerard kept glancing at me nervously but never said anything about it, so I just continued following him through the woods. I wondered how he knew where we were going; everything looked the same to me. The same little white flowers were scattered everywhere, along with all the giant oak trees and little thorn bushes. And it's not like there was a trail anywhere to follow. He was just walking aimlessly. Well, at least that's what it seemed like to me.