Ashes To Ashes (Priest!Gerard Frerard) [SEQUEL]

Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen 

It was Wednesday morning. 

Dewees was downstairs drinking coffee with Kellin, his bags packed at his feet as he shifted nervously. I guess the reality of going to rehab was hitting him now, but the encouragement he'd received from me and Kellin, combined with escaping the threat of Ian, was enough to keep his cold feet at bay. 

"You'll be fine" Kellin reassured him as I walked into the kitchen "this is going to be the best decision you ever make." 

"I hope so" he gulped, and I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I didn't have to look to know it would be Gerard texting to say he was outside. He was never late to anything, especially not for something like this. 

"Come on" I picked up one of his bags for him "it's time." 

When we got outside the house I saw Gerard had pulled up right in front, and was leaning on the side of the car. His priest collar was gone, thank god, and instead he wore a The Smiths t-shirt with his leather jacket and black jeans. He looked so normal without the collar, and so much younger too. Dewees didn't even bat an eyelid at his appearance, just gave an awkward smile. 

"Hi" he mumbled, but Gerard reached out and shook his hand. 

"Hi Dewees, I'm Gerard" He smiled warmly "sorry we haven't met before, but Frank's told me all about you." 

"That's probably not a good thing" Dewees gave a sad smile "but thanks for you help. It means a lot." 

"No problem. We should probably get going though, don't want to hang around here longer than necessary." we all agreed on that one, and I hopped in the front as Kellin hugged Dewees goodbye and helped him get in the back of the car with his stuff. Gerard got in beside me, and we exchanged silent smiles with each other whilst the other two were distracted. 

"Ready?" I turned back to Dewees and he gives a small nod, and just like that we're driving off, leaving Kellin to retreat to his front door and finish getting ready for college. Gerard seemed to sense my nerves, and leaned across to squeeze my hand. It was only brief, but it did the trick of calming me.

 I stole a glance back at Dewees in the rearview mirror to see he was looking out the window. If he saw, he wasn't letting on. All the same, I felt awkward being coupley in front of a guy I'd once kissed, and still seemed to like me a little. It wasn't really fair on him, and I feel like Gerard would've pushed it more if we were in a different situation, but knew better than to complicate things further when Dewees was already going through such a rough time. 

Instead he turned on the radio, and started humming softly under his breath to the music. It was faint enough that Dewees probably couldn't hear him that well, but I could just about make out the words. 

We were silent for a while after that. Dewees would ask the occasional question about the facilities at the rehab, and Gerard knew some answers but not all of them. He did his best to be helpful though, even when I started asking questions too. 

"How confidential is it?" I asked "you know, if someone on the outside wanted to visit."

"Highly. You have to be on the list of visitors, not that you should of course. Too risky." 

"Can I have anyone on my visitors list?" Dewees piped up from the back. 

"Yeah of course, I was thinking we could put your friend Kellin on it. He's not as directly linked to Frank, so that should be fine. And I'll leave my number with them too so if you urgently need to get hold of us you can always call me."