The Only Hope For Me Is You [My Chemical Romance]

Chapter 17: Pizza Before Hugs [1]

Me and Gerard arrived at the Way’s a few hours later. We walked the short distance from my house down the winding paths in comfortable silence. It hadn’t started in silence. I had attempted to make small talk with Gerard but after 5 tedious minutes of putting my foot in front of the other and hearing one syllable answers from him I had given up, allowing the silence to win.

“What’s wrong?” I asked and sighed roughly as we rounded the last corner before their house came into view.

“Nothing.” Gerard replied innocently, shoving his hands in his front pockets, bowing his head at the same time and walking slightly faster towards, the now looming, front door.

“Gerard.” I said calmly, in the ‘motherly serious’ tone. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing you need to worry about Dana.” He replied quietly before stepping through the now open front door and ushering me inside. I decided not to probe any further. It was probably nothing.

“Dana!” I heard the familiar cry of the small boy and braced myself for the impact that would follow any second.

“Frankie.” I replied, ruffling his hair as he wrapped his arms around me in a bone-wrenchingly tight hug. “You’re going to kill me.” I continued in a mock serious tone and he quickly tore away.

“Sorry Dana!” He retorted, a cheeky grin spread across his face. “But I missed you.” He said again, his smile twisted into a pout and he stuck his bottom lip out cutely.

“We spoke on the phone about 2 hours ago Frank.” I replied with a light giggle. “Now come on let’s go and choose a movie.” I grabbed his arm and pulled him into the Way’s living room.

Mikey was sprawled out on the couch in a lazy fashion, his head rested on one end and his feet dangled precariously off the other end. I went and sat on Mikey’s knees and he grunted with discomfort.

“Thanks Dana!” He muttered sarcastically and tried to push me onto the wooden floor with one of his jagged knees.

“It’s what you get if you don’t say ‘hello’ to me.” I said with a snarl, doing my best to look and sound ferocious. 

“I’m sorry Dana!” Mikey cried. “But will you please get off me? It kinda hurts.” He said more softly and blushed a little.

“Not until you say ‘hello’,” I added stubbornly, earning a chuckle from Frank.

Mikey pulled himself up so that his feet rested on the floor, and Frank quickly took the opportunity to steal the end of the sofa which had just become vacant. I hadn’t moved from Mikey so I was now sitting on Mikey’s lap.

“Hello.” Mikey sang and kissed my forehead lightly. “Forgiven?” He added at the end, through a broadening smile.

“Of course Mr Way!” I cried and Frank laughed again. “Now what are we watching?” I asked Mikey, running my hand up his cheek to ruffle his hair roughly.

“I thought that we could watch A Nightmare on Elm Street?” He asked cutely, pushing his head into my neck and smiling sweetly.

“Sounds good.” I replied and patted his head as if he was a little fluffy dog and not a grown teenager.

“Good because I already put it in the VCR machine!” Frank cried and ran back from the machine to sit by me and Mikey on the worn sofa. Mikey his tongue out at me in victory and I pinched it, causing him to yelp and slam his mouth shut. Then the opening scene started, displaying flickering colours on the TV set.

I didn’t even notice Gerard until about an hour into the film. He was sitting away from the three of us on the sofa, on the smaller seat off to the side, his head was tilted towards the screen but I could tell from his expression that he wasn’t actually watching the film. His eyes were squinting, causing small wrinkles around his cheeks and forehead and his face was twisted into a sad glare, which hung with him for the rest of the film.