Forever is a Long Time . . . (A Frank Iero and My Chemical Romance Fan-Fiction)

Chapter Four

Into Your Icy Blues

Frank and I left his house and headed over to Gerard and Mikey's. We made small conversation in the car about the band before Frank said he needed to focus. "So, how's the band going?"

"Pretty good." He kept his answers short to avoid 'getting distracted.'

"That's cool; any new songs?" I asked him, hoping the question wouldn't force him to think too much.

"I'm driving, Paige," Frank said in a slightly curt manor, but I didn't mind. Even though Frank was usually the sweetest and nicest person you'd ever met, when he was driving, he was a total ass-hole. Still, I kept pushing him; he was a good driver and I knew he wouldn't get into an accident if we made a little conversation. "Just tell me."

Frank sighed as if waiting for the perfect moment to respond. When that time came, he answered quickly with, "Just one." He continued driving and when another opportunity came up for him to say something he added, "We'll play it for you eventually."

At this point I could see the struggle to focus on the road evident on Frank's face and decided it was best to end the conversation and let him drive. One day he'd be able to hold a real, normal conversation while driving. I didn't know when that day would come, but he was getting better at it. For now though, I just accepted his little quirk.

We got to Gerard and Mikey's house a little later and Frank instantly seemed calmer. I don't know why driving gave him such anxiety.

Everyone else was already at the Way house, so when we got inside, we were greeted from every direction with 'hey man' and 'what's up, Paige?'

"Hey guys." We said hello to everyone before going downstairs into Gerard's room.

Gerard's room was in the basement and to get to it, you had to pass the most terrifying thing in the world. Gerard and Mikey's mom had this weird thing with porcelain dolls and she had about a million of them all in this room that you had to walk through to get into Gerard's. I don't know how he did it all the time; the dolls would stare at you walking by and it was freaky.

Once we'd all successfully made it through the chamber of dolls alive, we settled into Gerard's room for the movie. Like Frank, Gerard had a messy room, but when I say messy I mean ridiculous. Frank's room had at least some order to it, whereas Gerard's room was just chaotic.

There were clothes all over the place; on the floor, on his desk chair, on his bed. There wasn't an inch of the room not covered in something. If it wasn't clothing, it was a drawing or comic. Gerard had bins filled with comic books and even more propped up on his book shelf. He'd been drawing for years and all of his drawings, down to the littlest doodles, were amazing. His desk was cluttered with these sketches and sheets of paper filled with song lyrics and small drawings. It was a real mess.

We all somehow found a spot to sit for the movie. Mikey, Ray, and Gerard sat up on the bed, while Frank, Bob, and I took the floor. "You better not try anything, Paige." Bob teased me as I wiggled in between him and Frank.

I rolled my eyes at him; I couldn't believe he still wouldn't drop this.

Back in sophomore year, just after the band was formed, we were all hanging out at Ray's house one day. We were all just sitting around and talking about stuff and, being the teenagers we were, we naturally hopped onto the topic of kissing. I don't know why.

It was established that everyone in the circle had already had their first kiss, even Mikey; well, everyone but me and Bob.

When Ray asked, "What about you, Paige? Who was it?" I tried to play it off and act all cool to avoid the question, but of course Frank just had to be my best friend and know freaking everything about me.

"No one," he mockingly answered in my place, earning him a glare and a beating in the near future. "So?" I defended myself. "What do I care? It doesn't matter."

Gerard spoke up and said, "Paige, you have to get it over with eventually."

"Yeah, I know," I answered. "But it's not like I can control that."

A 'look' was passed around between all the guys, their eyes silently sending a message that I wasn't getting, and apparently neither was Bob. I looked to him as if to ask, do you know what they're thinking?

Once their telepathic message was sent around, Ray looked up and said, "Let's play a game." I didn't like where this was going. "Truth or Dare." Great, now the geniuses had something in mind, and that was never a good thing. "Paige, you're first." Shocker.

My next decision wasn't the best one I'd ever made, but I guess in the end, it didn't turn out to be that bad.

"Dare."

"Okay." Ray got a devious look on his face before turning to Bob, but still talking to me, and saying, "I dare you to kiss Bob." At first, I thought I'd heard him wrong, I mean I must have. Kiss Bob? Was he crazy? Why would I do that?

Bob was equally as protestant about this notion and at this point he spoke up. "Wait, what? Why me?"

"Because," Gerard began. "You've never kissed anyone either. Why not kill two birds with one stone?" Bob opened his mouth to try and say anything to get us out of the situation, "Hey, you said you wouldn't say anything, and I don't see-," but Mikey cut him off. "Just do it."

I turned to Bob and we shared an awkward stare at each other, mentally debating whether we should actually do it, followed by a very awkward first kiss.

Bob and I gave each other a look that said, they're not going to drop it until we do this, so just suck it up and kiss me. And then, well I guess you can figure out the rest.

I suppose it wasn't that bad, I mean it wasn't great either, but as first kisses go, it could have been worse. Aside from all of our friends being there and the fact that his lip ring made it feel weird, it was a fairly average kiss. At least I got the guys to leave me alone about it, even if Bob still didn't.

"I wouldn't hold your breath, Bryar." I replied to his previous comment. Even though I knew he was just joking, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to be a little sassy.

Ignoring mine and Bob's little quarrel, Gerard slid in the DVD and adjusted the input to start the movie. Once he'd gotten everything set up, he returned to his spot on the bed and Bob and I got off each other's cases.

Mikey, equipped with pillows to hide behind and a big brother to protect him, sat perched on the bed, terrified during the entire movie. The poor kid willing put himself through this torture time and time again, but I think he'd been getting better with the movies. Maybe he was even starting to like them.

About half way through the movie, it started. I was super bad at staying awake during movies. I was feeling really tired but I tried my best to stay awake. My eyes started to feel heavy, but I fought to keep them open. It was late, I'd had a long day, and staying up was always hard for me anyway, so it was no surprise when my eyes finally shut and I fell asleep.

And I'm pretty sure that when I did, I was leaning on Frank.