Breaking Hearts Still Looks Pretty Cool

Part 13

  "So," said Annabelle with a serious look on her face. I looked to her questioningly, wondering what on earth she was looking so grave about.

We were standing in line at a service station, vaguely near Idaho. I was tapping my foot impatiently, desperate to get back on the bus and rip in to some of the treats I was planning on buying.

"So what?" I replied, studying her face for some indication of why she was so austere today

"You and Gerard have been flirting like there's no tomorrow," she didn't look pleased about this fact, as she usually would have done, instead she looked tired out and almost irritated.

A little blush kindled on my cheeks as I responded as nonchalantly as I could, "really?" I asked, "I hadn't really noticed..."

I didn't look at her, and instead studied the people in front of us in the queue, which had just moved up a little.

"Don't lie to me," Annabelle replied, and at last I heard something of a smirk in her voice, "you are well aware...don't tell me that the night before last wasn't deliberate!"

The queue moved up one again.

"The night before last?" I questioned as innocently as I could,

"When we watching that horror movie," snapped Annabelle but not in a mean way, "'Oh Gerard I'm so scared'" she imitated my voice in a high pitched, 'damsel in distress' manner, "'I simply must grab onto your arm right now'"

I rolled my eyes, "I genuinely was scared," I said imploringly, "I scare easily, everyone knows that!"

"Yeah," agreed Annabelle, "you see that Gerard is totally flirting with you too,"
We were only a couple of spaces from the front now,

"What?" I asked coyly. I thought that I might have noticed every now and then a lingering glance in my direction, and he certainly hadn't minded playing the hero when we had been watching the film...I didn't want to get my hopes up though, so I tried not to read too much into things.
"I think that we're just starting to be friends again," I said levelly, "I wouldn't read too much into it,"

"Oh come on, Connie, wake up," Annabelle said, and at last it was her turn to be served. She unloaded a large selection of chocolate onto the counter and then turned back around to talk to me, "he's not stupid...he knows how you get in horror films, he was practically desperate for you to cling to him like there's no tomorrow...and I catch him looking at you all the time,"

I tried not to let the swelling pleasure I was feeling show on my face.

"Whatever," I whispered, "what about you and Bob anyway?"

Annabelle looked thoroughly caught out, confirming my suspicions. I had wanted to confront her about Bob for days, but this was the first opportunity that seemed productive.

She flushed a shade of beetroot that clashed horribly with her hair, and swept the now paid-for chocolate off of the counter.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said unconvincingly,

I opened my mouth to protest, but footsteps behind me stopped me mid breath.

"Are you guys ready?" asked Mikey's sleepy voice, "everyone's getting kind of restless just waiting around,"

Annabelle looked completely confused as she walked over to him, embracing him much more as friend than as a girlfriend,

"Yeah," I said, handing a crisp note to the cashier, "I'll be right there,"

"When are you guys next playing a show?" Annabelle was asking Mikey as I caught up with them, clutching my diet coke and hershey's cookies and cream collection.

"Tomorrow night," grimaced Mikey, clearly contemplating the long hours we still had to go on the bus, "Idaho Falls,"

We clambered onto the bus to see a scene of lethargy before us. Frank was lying lengthways on a couch, iPod in his ears, dissatisfied expression on his face. Bob was lying out on the floor, apparently playing solitaire with a lonely pack of cards. Ray and Gerard were both sat at the little table and benches, Ray with his head on the table as though he was sleeping, and Gerard with his head in his hands, completely bored.

"Ooh! Cards!" said Annabelle, just as the bus started to move, and she gravitated towards Bob. I mentally smirked and shook my head at her. She wasn't exactly doing a very good job of convincing me that she didn't have a thing for Bob. On the contrary, she sat down next to him, and began shuffling the cards in an almost sensual way whilst he looked totally enthralled by her presence. I chanced a look at Mikey, hoping that he wasn't feeling too demoralised by this blatant display of mutual affection, but he wasn't even looking at them. Like me, he was headed for the table where Ray and Gerard were sat.

"Is he asleep?" I asked, gesturing to Ray as I took a natural seat next to Gerard,

"I think so," murmured Gerard, hardly opening his perfectly formed lips as he spoke,

"Bored?" I asked sympathetically, pulling out some chocolate,
"Yes," he answered, cracking a small smile and helping himself to some,

"Chocolate's bad for singers," I teased, pulling the chocolate bar out of his reach,

"Fuck it," he said quickly, "I don't have to sing til tomorrow night,"

"But Gerard," I said with a grin, standing up, "I wouldn't want anything to spoil your beautiful voice,"

He stood up as well, looking at me with a crooked smirk that made my heart pound in exhilaration. "Hand it over," he said, stretching out his hand,

"Nice try, Way," I giggled, before taking off as quickly as I dared, dashing up the narrow, steep stairs with urgency. I could hear his lightly thudding footsteps behind me, and excited adrenaline pounded in my veins.

We were both on the upper level now, and I glanced behind me to see him only a few centimetres away. In the split second I took to look behind me, I found myself tripping over a pair of my own shoes; I was catapulted over onto Gerard's bed, lying flat on my back.

"Aha!" he called, performing a similar motion, and landing directly on top of me.

We paused, nose to nose, our eyes locked, and I knew that neither of us was thinking about chocolate. We were both breathing slightly heavily, and his scent in close-range was even more intoxicating than usual. His painfully perfect hazel eyes broke my gaze for one second, and I knew that he was looking down at my lips, which were now slightly puckered in desperate anticipation.

He was going to kiss me, I knew it, when –

"Connie! Gerard! Where are you!" it was Mikey's voice calling up the stairs. We both snapped out of our respective trances, and jumped apart. I felt the absence of his weight on me and burned.

"Just hanging out up here," Gerard called back, his voice bordering on hysterical.

When he turned back, I half expected him to say something to me about our nearly-kiss, but he didn't.

"You know what I'm definitely going to need for tomorrow," he began.

Me to be your girlfriend again perhaps?

I startled myself with my somewhat outlandish thoughts, but I knew that it couldn't be helped. He was Gerard, and that meant that I was never going to be able to let him go, it was all just too much.

He waggled his fingers in front of me.
"Nail polish?" I suggested, reaching the only logical conclusion,

"Yep," Gerard answered, "I really can't put it on myself,"

I smiled somewhat disappointedly, and regretfully left his bed and launched myself at my nail polish box, extracting a classic black nails inc. Bottle.

"Give me your hand," I ordered, and Gerard sat next to me, our sides touching distractingly. I took his warm hand and began to carefully paint his bare nails that were slightly raggedy on the ends.

I could feel his racing pulse through his fingers and it was like there was an electricity coursing between us. All I could think was 'I'm not over you.'

For the second time that day our eyes locked purposefully, and I could almost swell a potential kiss in the air.

"What are you up to then?" Mikey had taken it upon himself to come upstairs to find us, and once again Gerard and I sprung apart almost guiltily. I quickly turned my gaze back to his hand, and tried to paint his nails dispassionately.

"Ooh, you couldn't do me next could you?" asked Mikey, sitting opposite on Gerard's bed.

I tried to conceal my disappointment at his interruption.

"Sure," I smiled warmly, but I couldn't shake my startling rekindling of feelings for Gerard.