I know it's hard for you to let go of the world that you knew. Please just close your eyes, we're better off this way.
I followed Lindsey curiously down the basement stairs. She turned her head to smile at me and I smiled back, still confused, but I sat down on Gerard's bed when she motioned for me to do so. She wandered over to Gerard's desk filled with sketchbooks, notepads and pieces of loose paper from what I could see.
I craned my neck in an attempt to find out what she was looking for as she began to carefully move them aside and search for something, but I soon gave up and decided to lean backwards into the bed, waiting patiently. When Lindsey turned around again, sketchbook in hand, her face lit up with excitement and smugness as she turned the pages and stopped when she'd found what it was that she was looking for all this time.
"Frank," she began in a soft and inviting voice. "Gosh, how do I put this? Let's see." She placed a finger on the side of her head and her mouth twitched up into a smile. "You're Mikey's age, right? When do you turn eighteen?"
I nodded my head slowly. "Yeah, I am. Two months, I think." I tilted my head to the side, giving her a quizzical look. "Why do you ask?"
"I'm going to take a wild guess and assume that you haven't seen this." Lindsey turned the sketchbook around so that I could see the page to reveal a drawing. I stared at the face that was lightly sketched onto the page and it stared right back at me with the same expression. My mouth dropped open in awe, and I realized that the person staring back at me, was me.
"Did Gerard draw this?!" I managed to choke out after a minute of gawking. Lindsey grinned and nodded her head as a sign of agreement.
"He told me you knew he'd drawn it or something." She turned the pad around again to examine it better for herself.
"Well, yeah. I was there, but - I mean - I wasn't expecting this." I was about to stand and walk over to where Lindsey was stood to take a better look, but as I shifted I heard the basement door open and light flooded into the room. Lindsey quickly closed the sketchpad and placed it in the middle of the desk before joining me on the edge of the bed.
"Fuck, ow," Gerard hissed as he stumbled slightly as he got to the bottom of the stairs, spilling a little of the hot coffee onto his hand.
I stood and rushed over to him, mumbling, "Here, let me help you," while I took the mug from his burning had, and he smiled in appreciation whilst cleaning the coffee off onto the thigh of his jeans. I began to sip my mug and creased my eyebrows together quizzically when I realized that Gerard had only brought down two mugs, not three. I turned this expression over to Lindsey who must have sensed my confusion and she shook her head.
"Don't worry, I'm packing up my things soon," she smiled, and instantly my stomach dropped.
"What? You're leaving?"
She sighed. "Yeah, I have family to visit too, before I go back to New York." She smiled warily at Gerard and asked, "You know, that job's still open if you want to take it." My head snapped around to look at him.
"What job?" I asked, my voice cracking on the last word and giving away my defensiveness.
Gerard waved his hand in a dismissive manner and smiled at me. "Ah, it's nothing." He flashed a glance at Lindsey. "I'm staying here."
Lindsey raised her hands in defeat. "Of course, I know. I was just reminding you in case things don't go how you're hoping."
"Lindsey, don't you need to be packing?" He asked her quickly, his cheeks rising in a pale pink blush as he placed his coffee down on the desk before reaching under his bed and pulling out a red suitcase.
