TALK TO ME ¯ᶠʳᵉʳᵃʳᵈ

-ˏˋｆｏｕｒｔｅｅｎ：ｓｔｒｏｎｇｅｒˊˎ-

I woke up the next morning wrapped up in Gerard's arms. I couldn't lie I was getting comfortable waking up this way. He was on his back and I was practically on top of him, my head on his chest and one of my hands in his. He was already awake, gently rubbing his thumb over the back of my hand.

"You should probably start getting ready for school," he said, using his free hand to rub my hair. I shook my head and nuzzled further into his chest. He laughed. "I don't mind staying here with you."

Of course Gerard would get the wrong idea, so I sat up, pulling out of his grip.

"No fun," he sighed, also sitting up. I got out of bed, too lazy to take a shower, so I just dug around my room for clean clothes. "I never did ask you who came over yesterday."

He had stood up from the bed and was stretching. I stopped for a minute to think. For some reason, I didn't want to tell Gerard about Shane. I didn't want to set myself on a high pedestal, but if I was in Gerard's place and he had been talking to someone who also didn't talk, I would feel pretty jealous. I decided it was best to just not mention it.

He handed me my phone so that I could text my answer.

I wrote, "Just some lady my mom met at church. It was boring."

"Aw then we could have spent the day together," Gerard said. "Oh well, we made up for it last night."

I blushed and avoided Gerard's gaze, still searching my room for clothes.

"You wanna ride to school?" he asked, sitting on my bed while he slipped on his boots. I shrugged and nodded. He got up and put his leather jacket on. "I'll wait in the car. I'm gonna crawl out of the window cause, well, I don't need your mom to see me leaving your room. Oh and could you get me some coffee? I feel fucking dead without it."

I smiled and nodded. He pulled the window open and crawled outside. I realized I hadn't even been really searching for clothes because I was so distracted by Gerard's presence. I grabbed a pair of skinny jeans, a random T-shirt and a hoodie.

I hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the night before because I kept waking up to Gerard breathing on me, and that was hard to deal with. I yawned, slipping on my converse and then made my way into the living room.

"Morning," my mom greeted me. "Are you gonna make it on time?"

I just nodded, to sleepy to bother with talking. I went over to the coffee machine and made enough for two cups, in case my mom wanted one. Once it was ready, I poured a cup full, adding just a small amount of sugar and no creamer. I was pretty sure this was how Gerard liked it. I was almost at the door when my mom tapped my shoulder, holding my backpack up. Oh, oops. I smiled and took it from her, making my way outside.

Gerard was parked nonchalantly at the curb, like he hadn't spent the night in my room.

"Morning," he greeted. "Coffee!" He took the coffee from my hand before I even got comfortable in my seat. He took no time at all to take a long, loud sip and I wondered how the hell he did it without burning his tongue. "Ah, I love coffee."

I smiled proudly, knowing I had made it. I pointed at the cup in his hands. "You made it?" he asked. I nodded. "No wonder I like it so much." I blushed, still not used to this straightforward Gerard. "But I think I could use some more sugar. I think I have some extra packets." He pointed at the glove compartment for me to open it. I pulled on it and it fell open. There was a mess of papers in there and a small plastic bag that I figured would have the sugar, so I reached for it, but Gerard quickly reached over and slammed the glove compartment shut.

"Never mind," he said, putting his coffee in the cup holder, "I'm good without sugar."

I looked at him questioningly wondering why the sudden change of mind. He saw me looking at him, and even though he usually took that time to explain to me, he didn't. He just started driving towards school. I wasn't used to Gerard ignoring me when he knew I obviously had a question-well I had been used to it for two years, but I wasn't used to it now. This Gerard was new. I poked his arm.