Calibrations

New Jersey 2002

When they were about halfway done recording, Gerard got a phone call from Frank. He'd already gotten four calls that day: two of them were from telemarketers, and the third was from his credit card company, so he was glad to see Frank's phone number on his caller ID and hear his voice on the other end of the line this time. "Hey Gerard," Frank said. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay," Gerard said.

"You don't sound okay," Frank said.

He wasn't okay, not at all, but he didn't want to admit that hearing from Frank was the best thing that had happened to him all day, so he changed the subject. "What city are you playing in today?" he asked.

"Chicago," Frank said.

"I've never been there, but it sounds amazing."

"You've said that about every city we've been to."

"I just want to see the world. Is that too much to ask?"

Frank groaned and said, "Chicago is so two years ago, and honestly, I don't think there's anywhere in the world that's better than Jersey."

"Yeah, right."

"I'm serious."

"People call our state the Armpit of America for a reason."

"I like the dirtiness of it," Frank said. "Besides, New Jersey can't be that bad if you're there."

Gerard smiled, and not for the first time, he wished that Frank could be there with him. "When are you coming home again?" he asked.

"We're playing in Chicago tonight, and then we're driving back tomorrow to play a show in Newark on Wednesday," Frank said. "Thank God this tour is going to be over soon. It's been awful."

"What happened?"

"We were thought that more people would come to our shows, but they didn't, and now, I've taken a whole semester off of school just to lose money on this tour. Also, I think Tim and John are trying to kill each other."

"Why?"

"I don't know, really. I heard something about Tim smashing John's bass, but that doesn't seem like something he would do. Anyways, everyone's taking sides, and I can't stand to be in a room with any of my bandmates right now." Frank paused and then asked, "Has that ever happened to you?"

"No, not really," Gerard said. He had never been more thankful that he got along with everyone in My Chemical Romance. They'd had their petty arguments over everything from which shows to book to what equipment to buy to which superhero was best, but at the end of the day, they were all still friends with each other.

"You're lucky, I guess. It must be nice, having such a close-knit band."

"Yeah, it is."

"How's My Chemical Romance doing, by the way? I talked to Mikey yesterday, and he said that the album's coming along well."

"Yeah, it's coming along."

"You don't sound super excited about it," Frank said. "Come on, Gerard! You're recording your first album! It's going to be amazing!" Gerard laughed, but that just made his tooth hurt even more. He yelped in pain, so Frank asked, "Is everything okay over there?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Gerard said as he reached over to grab more painkillers. "I just have this really bad toothache, and it's making it hard to sing."

"Maybe you could postpone the recording sessions?" Frank suggested.

"We can't. Geoff's only in town for two weeks, and we have to record...ow, it hurts!" Gerard took a few more pills and then kept talking. "We have to record while he's here."