The Romance Chemical

Lovesick Melody

"Okay, we just need two more drops of dopamine and then the mixture should turn from green, to yellow and then finally red." I watch as Gerard mutters to himself while adding in the final ingredients to his 'romance chemical'. He has been working on this mixture for almost two months now and I have been forced to sit with him for hours on end while he poured over books in the library, or travel with him to the dodgiest places to collect the perfect ingredients to complete the recipe.

Sometimes I look back on the sketchy places we went and the weird people we met and think how miraculous it was that we didn't get hurt. If I wasn't in love with him I probably wouldn't have stuck around.

It was actually ironic how he was trying so hard to create man made love, and here I was all along, my love for him already present and steadily growing every day. Gerard has been my best friend for about three years and was even the first person I came out to. Gerard confessed to being bi but I would never have a chance with him since he swings towards girls a little more than guys.

He has been there when I was bullied constantly and I stuck up for him when the same happened for him. We were inseparable. You didn't have one without the other and some of the people at school had bets on how long it would take before the two 'fags' got it on. If ever.

I glance back over to his pale face, framed by his ebony locks and sigh. "Get over yourself Frank, he's never gonna be interested in a ugly fag like yourself." "What was that Frankie?" Oh shit, he heard me! "Uh, I said, I think uh, well. You know..." Mentally face palming, I cringe at my awkwardness. He ruffles my hair fondly. "Keep trying shortstack, you might come up with a reply by Christmas  " I grumble out something about not being short just 'funsized'.

Suddenly the romance chemical catches my eye. It has turned from an emerald green to a fluorescent yellow. Gerard follows my line of vision and glares at the yellow solution angrily. "I've done everything I can but the  mixture is staying that colour, it's supposed to be red not fucking yellow! At the moment it's liquid lust, I can't get it to go all the way to love!" Frustrated, he stomps away to go look at his notes to see what went wrong.

I laugh to myself quietly, trust Gerard to come up with the liquid equivalent of Viagra. "Hmm this could be useful later to play pranks on those stupid jocks in our class." I smirk to myself, I imagine spiking their water with the mixture and seeing them squirm in their seats, unable to relieve their aching boners in the middle of class.

I grab one of the test tubes from the shelf and pour a sample of the liquid info the test tube, at the same time I accidentally spill some on the bench but I hope Gerard won't notice. I try to wipe it off with my hand but as I touch the small puddles, they turn blood red. Weird.

Cautiously, I dip my finger into the beaker that hold the 'liquid lust'  and watch in amazement as it turns a deep crimson. Gerard walks back into the room, this time, munching on a sandwich. He does a double take when he realises the solution has  hanged colour and hastily sets his sandwich down on the bench.

"Holy shit Frankie! You completed the mixture! But how did you do it? What ingredients did you put in? What did I do wrong?" I stutter as I try and get my head around all the questions he asked me. "Uh, well, you see...  I just touched it and it uh, changed?" Ugh, why am I so awkward? "Oooh, the last step in creating the romance chemical must be that someone who's in love has to touch it! So who is it Frankie? Is it that boy Patrick from English, you know, the one with the glasses? Or is it Ray from music? I saw you staring at him yesterday when you thought no one was looking. " Oh shit, what do I say without accidentally confessing my love for him. Maybe I should try and change the subject. "What does this solution do exactly?" I blurt out and sigh on relief as Gerard starts on another tangent about the effects of the romance chemical.

"The romance chemical makes the consumer fall in love with the first face they see. It takes around five hours for the mixture to take effect though, as it needs to dissolve into the blood stream first, however it is very strong and only a few drops are needed. Did you know-"

My mind automatically switches off as he can ramble for hours at a time. Phew, at least he has forgotten about me being in love. I wish he felt the same way about me. "And that is how i came up with the idea for this solution." Gerard finishes. He grabs his sandwich off the bench and stuffs it in his mouth.

"You okay Frankie, you seem kinda quiet." He peers at me in a concerned manner, well it would be concerned if he didn't has his mouth full of half chewed sandwich. "I'm fine," I reply, lying slightly because I'm still a little lovesick. "I'm just a bit grossed out. I did not need to see your sandwich mushed up in your mouth, thank you very much."  He shrugged and and stuck his tongue (that was covered in sandwich) out at me.

I caught sight of my test tube filled with 'liquid lust' and put a stopper on it and shoved it into my bag. "Whatcha got there Frankie? Someone need a better sex drive? Are you scaring all the boys away with your frigid ass." Oh god he's gonna get it now. "I am not frigid! You're just a horny piece of shit! This is for pranks anyway." Gerard shoots me a skeptical look but doesn't push the subject any further.

"Cmon virgin boy, it's class time." I tell him not to wait as I will be at class soon as I have my little spillage of mixture from beforehand to clean up. As I wash my hands I glance at the bench where I spilled the chemical. Huh, that's funny, it's gone. Maybe Gerard cleaned it up? Oh well. I ran down the hall to try and catch up with Gerard before class started.