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

Nineteen

Nineteen 

Two weeks had passed since my dinner with Gerard and Mikey, and despite my desperate attempts at optimism I had to admit, things were yet to start looking up. 

Firstly, I'd found out that the only subject I was definitely on course to get a decent grade in was music, and even then I was behind on coursework. Perhaps secretly dating a priest and getting involved in a drug gang hadn't been the most beneficial to my education, but now I had to face facts that university probably wasn't on the cards for me. Which meant I had to figure out what exactly I was going to do with my life once I left college. 

In all fairness I'd been planning on getting a job straight after college anyway, especially if Gerard was going to be trying to find a new one too. If I wanted us to have a chance of getting out of town and starting over somewhere new we'd both need to be earning enough money to afford to rent a place. Still, it made my time at college seem even more pointless, and if it hadn't been for the normality of seeing my friends everyday I probably would've dropped out already. 

The second setback was that between Gerard being weighed down with work duties and the various errands Ian had had me running over town, I hadn't got to see nearly as much of him as i'd wanted to. Plus for the week Kellin's mum was home for i'd not been able to sneak out to stay round his as I didn't want to have to explain where I was going so late at night. Sure, I'd still seen him for an hour or two here and there, and I'd stayed over once since Mikey left, but it wasn't nearly enough to satisfy me. 

In better news, I'd managed to submit my art competition entry in time, my birthday was only two weeks away, and Ian was still yet to find out my involvement in smuggling Dewees out, and so i kind of had to be grateful to simply still be alive. 

More good news came on a particularly gloomy Tuesday afternoon, when I arrived home from college to find Vic and the entirety of his band stood in Kellin's kitchen, champagne in hand. 

"Frank!" Kellin immediately beamed, grabbing another glass "you're just in time to celebrate!"

"What's going on?" I frowned, looking around and finding no clues as to why. "I haven't forgotten anyone's birthday, have I?" 

"No" Vic laughed "we got signed to a record label today, we came straight here because I wanted to tell Kellin first."

"Shit, that's awesome you guys!" I hugged him, and then each of his bandmates in turn. 

"Thanks man" grinned Jaime, as Tony struggled to open the bottle of champagne, finally doing so with a loud pop that saw the cork go flying across the kitchen, and very nearly hit Mike in the face. 

"Are you gunna be recording a record soon?" 

"That's the plan" Mike nodded "I mean, we've got some time to get organised, but I imagine we'll be heading to the studio within the next few months, get it done as quick as we can so we can get on the road properly, y'know." I noticed Kellin's smile falter the tiniest bit at that, obviously remembering that for a small band starting out, the touring would be near-constant for the next few years as they tried to make a name for themselves. Him and Vic were going to have to make it work long distance. 

"Sounds amazing" I answered so he wouldn't have to, and picked up one of the glasses of champagne "to Pierce The Veil" I held it up, and they all did the same. 

"To new beginnings" Vic added, and I couldn't have agreed with him more. Seeing them getting that one step closer to their dream definitely lifted my mood and reminded me that it was possible to get out of the rut I was currently stuck in.