Stars

Chapter 13

Pete lay on his bed, scrolling mindlessly through Tumblr as he waited for an alert from one of the many group chats that constantly bombarded his notifications. His aunt and uncle had returned from their weekend break only a day ago, just missing Gerard, Frank, and Mikey, and were now in the backyard, most likely with sunhats over their faces, sleeping, or in lawn chairs, reading in the sun.

Rolling over, Pete slid off the bed, putting his phone back in the pocket of his black jeans, which he stubbornly continued to wear in the 85-degree weather.  Stretching, he made his way downstairs and grabbed a glass of ice cold lemonade while lingering in the corner of the kitchen, phone in hand. Giving a resigned sigh, he ran a hand through his hair, which already felt too long, and climbed the carpeted steps back up to his room. Before long, he was sat in the old wooden chair before his usually cold metal desk, purple laptop open to around 600 tabs, most of which relating to some form of college or space travel studies. A 'modern rock' radio station blared through the red speaker on his desk, adding to the 'teen' aura that surrounded the room, with closed blinds blocking the bright sunlight outside, and the general dark look of the place.

A second song began to overlap the one that was already playing on the radio. The altogether louder chorus of Carry on my Wayward Son led Pete to giggle slightly, swiping to answer the call.

"Hey Mikey, how're you doing?"

"I'm good, thanks." There was a pause, and a yell of 'HOW'S YOUR BOYFRIEND?" from the other end of the call, in the distance.

"SHUT UP GEE!" Mikey called back, "Anyway, um, Gee and I were gonna go kind of back to school shopping in like twenty minutes, i guess, and I just wanted to know if you, like, wanted to come or something?" Pete smiled, glad for the somewhat forced break from school research,

"Yeah, Hudson Mall or...?"

"Uh, yeah, so, I'll see you there at like 12:30ish?" Pete nodded, kicking himself mentally.

"Sorry, yeah! I'll see you then! Bye Mikey!"

"Bye, see you soon."

Pete hung up the phone, smiling and closing his laptop, already making a mental list of the various band merch he needed. He ran down the stairs, sliding across the polished wooden floor in his socks to poke his head through the sliding glass door to the garden, where his aunt sat in a plastic lawn chair.

"Hey, can I go out to the mall with some friends? I'll be back for dinner if you need me to be, promise."

Lifting her sunglasses, Pete's aunt squinted over at him, smiling.

"Course you can, I'm so happy you found friends so quickly here, you're getting so mature so quickly, going off by yourself and all. I'm so proud of you."

Pete laughed awkwardly,

"Thanks. I'll see you later then. Can I take the black car?" His aunt nodded, and Pete grabbed a set of keys off the hook, making his way to the door, a small black backpack with him containing money, his phone, and earbuds. The heat inside the car was almost unbearable, the clip of the seatbelt burning his fingertips, but four open windows brought a cool and much needed draught into the vehicle as he drove to meet Mikey, Gerard, and Frank. The radio blasted throughout the car, the music mostly awful, broken by the sweet release of 'Sober Up,' just as he turned into the complex that held the mall.

Soon enough, Pete found the other three outside Starbucks, after much frantic waving on Frank's part.

"Hey Pete, how you doing?" Gerard asked, as Mikey stood to the side awkwardly.

"Doing good. Hey, we going in here or the mall?" he asked, nodding to the coffee shop beside them. Frank raised an eyebrow at his boyfriend, who smiled cheekily, winning their silent battle, an eye roll from Frank the final sign of defeat.