Lie To Me •Frerard fanfic•

Chapter Four

Frank’s POV

    “So just strap on the guitar, and show us what you got.”

    I look nervously from Bob and Ray, to Mikey and Gerard, then down to the electric guitar in my hands.  I carefully wrap the strap over my shoulders and gulp.  “I-I don’t, I’m not really s-sure what you guys want m-me to play,” I stutter.  God, this is so embarrassing; I can already feel the blush creeping onto my cheeks and I’ve only been here five minutes.  I’m not usually like this, shy and all.  I’m actually very confident and - I guess you can say - outgoing.  I don’t see why I’ve been acting this way recently.

    “Would it help if we played along with you?  We have a song we’ve been working on for a while now,” Ray offers.

    I nod.  “Yeah, that’d be cool.”

    They all go to their instruments, Gerard going to the mic stand, and Ray explains the chords to me.  “Okay, so the chords are simple.  Just a basic A minor, G, D, and F, then over again.  The chorus has an E minor and C chord in it, but we won’t go that far right now.  Strumming pattern is just down, up, down, up.  Got it?”

    It took a second for all of it to process through my head, but I got it soon enough.

    “Ready, guys?” Gerard asks.  After we agree, Bob taps the drumsticks together as Gerard counts out loud, “One, two, three, four.”

    Bob starts playing the drums, and I wait until Ray starts strumming to do the same.  Almost instantly, Gerard and Ray get into the music, banging their heads to the beat.  I smile, practically cooing over the way Gerard’s hair bounces, not nearly enough as Ray’s, but it’s still amusing.  I catch on pretty well from what I see so far; none of the guys have stopped to correct me yet.  Gerard begins to sing into the mic, sounding so quiet compared to the electric guitars blaring through the amps.  They all get so into their music, I find myself doing the same.  Pretty soon, they all stop abruptly, leaving me to play alone for a few seconds before I realized that I was the only one.

    I wipe the beads of sweat that were forming on my forehead, letting out a heavy sigh.  “How was that?” I ask nervously.

They all look at one another with blank faces, shrugging and silently deciding whether or not I’m good enough to be in their band.  Gerard turns to me, walking and standing extremely close.  His expression still blank, he turns to Mikey, who gives him a sturdy nod, and I gulp.  Finally, Gerard breaks into an excited smile.

“Welcome to the band, Frank.”

I let out a breath of relief, and Ray and Mikey come to pat me on the back.  Bob congratulates me from his stool, going back to playing the same beat on his drums.

“We finally found another loser with skills!” Ray jokes.  Mikey and I laugh, But Gerard is too busy examining me. Getting uncomfortable under his stare, I shift on my feet and look at the ground.  He laughs and pats my back.

“You’re really good at playing; you catch on fast, too.”

“What, you’re surprised about that?” I ask.

“A little bit,” he says honestly.  “I never saw you as the type to play.”

“Well, I never saw you as the type to sing,” I say back.

He scoffs.  “Singing is what I do.”

I nod, a bit unsure of what to say to him.  Instead, I just look at him.  I look at the way his hazel eyes look more green than brown under this lighting.  The way his long, jet black hair frames his face really nicely.  And I even see a faint mole on his left cheek, something I didn’t notice before.

He catches me staring at him, and I see him start to smirk.  “What are you-” He starts to say, but the sound of a door slamming interrupts him, and we both turn our heads to see Mikey standing in the doorway.

“We’re going to have to cut practice short today.  Mom wants us to visit Grandma before dinner,” Mikey tells Gerard.  They all instantly begin putting their instruments back in their cases while I stand foolishly off to the side.

“How is she doing, by the way?” Ray asks the brothers.  Mikey turns to Gerard and gives him a sad smile.

“Better.  The chemo seems to be helping her now, but she still gets dizzy when she walks for too long.”

The word catches me off guard.  “Chemo?” I blurt out before I can stop myself.  The guys flick their heads in my direction, gaping slightly at my expression.  I can feel my eyes bulging out of their sockets, my jaw slightly ajar.

“Yeah, it’s treatment cancer patients get. Why do you sound so surprised?” Gerard answers me, reaching his hand under my chin to close my mouth.

“I-I just never-I’ve never known anyone with cancer before.”

“Neither had we,” Mikey replies.  “There’s a first for everything.”

Ray comes to me and takes the guitar, putting it back into its case.  After Gerard’s finished with wrapping the microphone up, he clicks the switch to open up the garage door.  Mikey heads back inside the house, and Ray and Bob head out too, leaving Gerard and I alone.  Gerard had his back towards me, fiddling with something on a shelf.  I clear my throat to get his attention.

“I, uh, I’m sorry about your grandmother.”

He shrugs, still not turning to look at me.  “She isn’t dead, you don’t have to be sorry.”

“I know, but it’s still-”

“She still has her years ahead of her.  She’s strong; I know she’ll make it through this.  She has to,” he interrupts me.  He’s turned around now, but his gaze is on the floor.  His body is stiff, his hands fisted by his sides so tight that his knuckles are beginning to turn white.

“Hey,” I say, placing a hesitant hand on his shoulder.  He flinches and steps away from me, making me feel a certain way from his reaction.  Instead of reaching out to him again, I stay put.  “It’s okay.  I’m sure your grandmother is one of the strongest people out there.  She’ll beat this.”

He finally relaxes his body, letting out a steady breath. “She will; she has to.  Mikey and I started this band for her.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.  She’s the one who taught me how to sing; she taught us everything we know about music. One day, Mikey and I decided it'd be cool to form a band, so we called a few friends and did it. We had to get rid of a few band members though; they were such assholes," he laughs, making me smile.  “That's where you came in, just like I knew you would.

“How?” I ask, getting a bit creeped out. That's kinda freaking impossible, right?

After a moment, he replies with a devious smirk, “Because I know things.”

The guys crack up at my reaction.

"Gerard, leave the poor guy alone," Ray says, carrying a guitar case and heading towards the garage door, Bob close behind him.

"He's gotta get used to me if he's gonna be part of the band now," Gerard says, loud enough for Ray to hear as he walks down the street.

Having about enough of Gerard and his "psychic abilities" for a day, I say goodbye to the Way brothers and head home. There's always tomorrow, I think to myself.

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I'm pretty sure this isn't a satisfying chapter, but in the bright side, at least it's up? Sorry, don't hate me. I have the next chapter planned though! So it shouldn't (hopefully) take as long