Fever Dream || Frank Iero

.9.

MELISSA

I woke up in a fog, sunlight from the window stinging my eyelids. Opening my eyes, I suddenly realized I fell asleep on Gerard's bus on accident. Regardless of going to sleep sober, I had to quickly jog my own memory to explain why I was sleeping on the wrong bus, and it all came back to me. God, I must have really been tired, I thought. I couldn't even recall falling asleep.

Looking down, I noticed my shoes were on the ground next to the bunk. Gerard was no longer snoozing in the bunk across from me, but I could tell the bus was moving. I procrastinated getting up, unsure if I would receive any hazing from the front room. I stared up at the paneling of the bunk above me, sighing. The evening before was so strange, and I didn't know how to feel.

The words "you're insufferable" rang through my head. Normally I wouldn't have given any stock to the opinions of a stranger, especially one like Frank- but for some reason, those words struck a chord. It didn't particularly help that I hadn't felt much like myself, not just only in the last few days, but the last year or so. I wondered if the words only got to me so much because I didn't even recognize my own feelings until we left for the trip. The lost emotion has been ignored for so long, I hardly knew it was there until I was forced to look right at it.

"I should get up," I said to myself, but not really believing it.

I hoisted myself up on my elbows and attempted to peer over to try and see who was in the common area, but I couldn't see far enough. Grunting, I gathered up enough courage to get myself all the way up and walk over to the front of the bus. Upon entering, I saw Bob sitting in a booth playing on the GameCube, and Mikey slumped over a sudoku notebook, neither of them noticing I entered the room.

Gerard was laid back wearing sunglasses, who immediately stood when I entered the room. He scurried over to the coffee pot sitting on the counter and grabbed a cup, handing it to me.

"I'm sorry this is all I have to offer you after babysitting me," he laughed. I had a difficult time not snorting at his over-sized sunglasses, a true sign of a terrible hangover. "I can't believe you got me all the way up those stairs by yourself."

I cocked my head, confused. I looked around the room and found Frank in the corner, not looking up from his iPod. His earbuds weren't even in, so I knew he could hear our conversation.

"No wonder you passed out here, you're like half my size," He laughed. "I was probably a weeks' worth of exercise. Hey, thanks for wrapping my hand up, too. I guess I broke a glass, that's a little embarrassing."

Gerard doesn't remember anything, I thought. I turned to Frank, waiting for him to say something, but he didn't.

"Gerard, I wasn-"

"I was pretty surprised, too," Frank cut in, now looking at me. "Pretty impressive."

His expression was blank, and I questioned for a moment if I remembered everything properly. No, I thought. I know that happened. Why is he acting like this?

I straightened up and looked back at Gerard, forcing a smile. Frank lied to everyone, and I didn't know why. Was he embarrassed at what he had said to me? Or was he just fucking with me? Despite the frustrated bickering, I had thought that perhaps the way the night ended would have changed things between us. Not that I wanted to be his friend- I just wanted things to be civil. After our sour encounter, I made the decision to calm down and, well, be normal.

At first it seemed to work- cut the shit, stop playing games. Just be nice until he realizes he can no longer get a rise out of me, and I can get through the rest of the summer. For once, I guess I had been naïve.