The Light Behind Your Eyes

Chapter 10

Gerard sat at his desk staring at the wall and drumming his fingers against the wood. He once again found himself with plenty of work to do but a lack of ambition to do it. It had been a few days since he and Lindsey made up, and they even made love that same night. Gerard should be happy, ecstatic even yet he wasn't. He was bored and restless. His life felt lukewarm and it was starting to annoy him.

He was pulled out of his head by the obnoxious chirp from his phone. Who the heck would be texting him at 10 in the morning. Furrowing his eyebrows Gerard reached for his phone and unlocked it.

Unknown: Hey Gee, it's Frank. Are you doing anything tonight?

Gerard smiled a little, then mentally chastised himself for not adding Frank's number to his phone like he intended to. After adding him in to his contact list, Gerard text back.

Gerard: Hi Frank. No plans

Frank: I'm playing at a small club downtown, come down I'll buy you a drink.

Gerard: You just signed to a huge label and you're still playing small clubs? lol Mikey isn't doing a very good job

Frank: It's the first place that ever let me perform, I have kind of a soft spot for it :)

Gerard smiled. This kid was pretty loyal and that's not always a bad quality.

Gerard: Sure, why not. Text me the address.

After deciding on a time and texting the address, Gerard put his phone back on the desk. It took only a minute before Gerard figured he should probably let Lindsey know he would be home late. He pulled her phone number up quickly and pressed CALL.

"Hey Gee" she said from the other end.

"Hey Lindz, how is your day?"

"It's good, I bought us new bed sheets." Gerard could hear the smile in her voice.

"That sounds good, listen something has come up and I'll be a little late tonight." There was a pause at the other end of the line.

"What could have possibly come up?" Lindsey said. Gerard definitely couldn't mistake the slightly annoyed tone.

"The new artist Mikey and I signed is playing downtown so we're going to go watch." Gerard made a point to use the word 'we' because even though he wasn't sure if Mikey was invited or not, he figured it would go down easier by framing it as a business thing instead of a personal thing.

"Oh... okay. I guess B and I will just grab something with mom for supper."

"Sounds good, babe, I'll see you later" and with that Gerard hung up.

As Gerard resumed staring at the wall and losing himself in his thoughts, they slowly shifted towards Frank. What was it about this guy that made Gerard just lie to his wife about a simple bar performance. Sure it wasn't a big lie but a lie is still a lie. He figured he could ponder the implications of that later, right now he was kind of excited about what the night would bring.

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Frank wrung his hands together nervously. He couldn't help but feel almost terrified, and it didn't make any sense. He has performed here dozens of times and the music on his set list tonight were fan favorites. He figured it must have been Gerard. He so badly wanted to spend time with him, get to know him more. Even though Gerard was out of his league he couldn't help himself. He felt pulled to the older man like a magnet.

"Dude, calm down you are making me nervous" Frank's friend Bob joked.

"Sorry, I just don't know what's wrong with me."

"Well you better get your shit together because you're on in 10." Frank sighed heavily before stretching out a bit, grabbing his guitar and heading for the stage. He was only a minute into his first song when he noticed the raven haired man seated in a booth towards the back. A shot of adrenaline shot through his system causing him to play harder. Every time he looked over and saw Gerard watching him it caused an eruption of butterflies in his stomach.

There was only five songs in his set before the crowd cheered and Frank blew a kiss to them before retiring off the stage. He quickly packed up his gear before wandering through the bar looking for Gerard.

"Hey stranger" Gerard smiled.

"Hey Gee" Frank said as he slumped into the booth next to Gerard. The nickname slid off his tongue so seamlessly that it made Gerard blush a little. It sounded so natural.

"I gotta say you are definitely a performer" Gerard chuckled a little.

"Gotta give 'em a show, right?" Frank said proudly. The pair fell into a slightly tense silence.

"So how is life?" Frank said after he ordered a drink from one of the waiters that had walked by.

"It's good, can't complain" Gerard shrugged.

"Tell me about yourself" Frank practically pleaded. Gerard laughed awkwardly.

"Shouldn't I be saying that to you?"

"I asked you first" Frank said. Gerard sighed.

"Alright. Well you already know Mikey is my brother. I'm married and we have a beautiful little girl." Frank forced a smile at that. He didn't know why it bothered him so much. He already suspected this but hearing it made it sting a little.

"You sound like you have a damn near perfect life" Frank noted. Gerard chuckled bitterly.

"Sure I guess you could say that" he mumbled.

"Are you happy?" Frank asked. Gerard was taken aback because this definitely wasn't a question he expected to hear.

"I'm sorry?" Gerard sputtered.

"Are you happy? You sound like you have a perfect life but does it make you happy?" Frank tilted his head and Gerard would have thought he looked like a cute inquisitive puppy if he wasn't being so intrusive.

"I don't think that's any of your business" Gerard said.

"I'm sorry I don't mean to pry, I guess I'm just kind of nosy."

"What about you, tell me about you?" Gerard countered.

"Me? Well until you sign that hefty check of mine I'm poor living in an apartment with my ex-boyfriend who is a douche. Nothing fancy" Frank shrugged.

"Well are you happy?" Gerard was trying to pose the question back to Frank to show him how intrusive it really was, unfortunately for him he was about to learn that Frank was an open book.

"Happy?" Frank laughed. "I haven't been happy in months." Gerard was surprised at his blatant honesty.

"That makes two of us" Gerard said under his breath.

"But we are products of our own happiness. We change our stories so our happiness is in our own hands" Frank recited like he was reading it from a Hallmark card.

"That's very insightful" Gerard observed.

"I believe it. I can blame all my problems on my ex but he isn't in charge of my happiness. That's why I auditioned to be on your label. I took my happiness back and when I can finally move out I can move on away from him."

Gerard absorbed his words as he sipped his drink slowly.

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I started a one shot book because I am physically incapable of working on one project at a time 😂