Fever Dream || Frank Iero

.6.

MELISSA

I sat on a large black trunk backstage, watching roadies carry equipment inside from the parking lot. The venue was larger than I had anticipated- and even though I couldn't see all the way out to the crowd, I could tell that there were thousands at the least. I pulled my knees up to my chin, flicking at the fray sprouting out of my old shoes. Part of me felt as if I should be making a bigger deal out of being here, but I couldn't be bothered. Something was tugging at me, and I couldn't decipher what it was. I simply didn't feel like myself.

    I watched Gerard hop through the door and begin scurrying past, but came to a halt and spun on his heels to face me. I forced a small smile as he walked toward me.

    "Hey Mel," He pushed me a bit to make room for himself and I let out a suffocated laugh. "You seem kind of in your own head- are you even excited to be on tour? You can be honest, I won't be upset."

    I tried not to frown, but I was sure my face did it anyway. Readjusting myself, I rested my chin on my right knee. "Do you ever feel strange but you aren't sure why?" I picked my chin up again, looking at him. "I keep thinking about how if I had this opportunity a year ago I would have been thrilled, and I wonder why instead I feel... complacent."

    I kept my eyes on Gerard, wondering if I had just revealed too much. Only meeting a few hours ago, I wasn't sure if that was too much to tell someone I hardly knew. "Sorry," I backpedaled, straightening my back and facing forward. "I know you just met me, that's kind of too much already." I let out an exhausted chuckle.

    He smiled at me and laughed, patting my back. "Melissa." He maintained a welcoming look. "When you meet people you know you'll be seeing every day for months, you have to open up a little quicker than usual. Plus, I can already tell that I like you."

    I smiled softly, almost in relief at the kind words. I looked down as I unlocked my knees and let my legs dangle against the side of the trunk.

    "Yes, I know how that feels," Gerard said. "It's only day one. There will be a lot of downtime and you're going to meet a ton of cool people, it's nervous energy. Just relax and try your best to have fun, yeah?"

    I looked up and nodded, Gerard hopping off of the trunk. "I have to finish setting up, I'll see you in a bit."

    Feeling a sense of comfort, I nodded again to myself in agreement and began to slide off of my perch when I heard shuffling behind me near the door.

                "Look alive, Bambi," Frank came barreling through the door, shoved a beer in my hand, and was gone as quickly as he had come. I looked down at the bottle in confusion, from both the strange gesture and the nickname, and looked back up in the direction Frank went. I didn't trust him, I knew that. A day isn't enough time for me to determine whether a womanizer like him would sink low enough to spike a drink or not. I scoffed and threw the full bottle into the large trash bin next to me and hopped off of the trunk, walking back outside to get a new one.

                Grabbing a fresh beer out of a cooler by our bus, Jessica strolled up to me, her body almost vibrating from excitement.              

                "God, aren't you so excited? We get to do this like, almost every day, too. So crazy." She took a deep breath, knowing she was getting ahead of herself. "Anyway, hey what was the deal earlier?"

                I winced a little- I had hoped it wouldn't be brought up later in the evening, but I should have known better. Jessica doesn't forget a thing. Foolishly I acted coy, although I knew there was about a 2% chance that it would actually work.