A Way Back Home | Adopted by Gerard Way (Book Two)

I'ts Not The Same (50)

Emerald's POV

After my phone call with Eve yesterday, I've been feeling as badly as I did the day she left. The way the plan she left for me to find in the letter was detailed, she felt so sure of herself in those moments, made it hurt so much more when reality had to come tear it all down. To make matters worse, I think telling her that I'll come visit is even wishful thinking. My mom can't leave work, and I don't think she'd let me, a seventeen year old, drive a couple hundred miles all alone. I have no other friends I could take a road trip with and I don't want to befriend anyone at my school. I don't want anyone other than Evelyn.

To try and take my mind off things, because I know continuously isolating myself in my room, doing nothing but homework or studying, will only make things worse, I go to the Way's house. It's Friday night, after all. What normal teenager should be found alone in their room doing schoolwork on a Friday night?

I should be able to act like it's any other movie night, like one of the dozens I've attended there in the past. But even as I approach the front door and raise my fist to knock, I know I won't. It'll feel different no matter how hard we try to ignore it. Something's missing.

Before my mom drives away, I tell her I'll text her when I need her to pick me up, then I walk toward the front door. I recognize the cars parked outside as a sign that Frank, Ray, and Mikey are already here and I begin wondering who out of the five people in the house is going to answer the door just as it swings open.

"Hey, Em! Come on in," Lindsey says, smiling brightly when she sees me. She steps aside, then shuts the door after me. "We were wondering if you were going to come, but you're right on time. We're all just in the living room."

"Of course I came; what would a Friday night be without a movie?" I say as we approach the living room.

"That's what we thought too," she says, letting out a little sigh.

"What are we watching?"

Frank doesn't give Lindsey a chance to reply, however, when he exclaims excitedly from the couch, "Die Hard!"

I put my hand on my hip. "How'd you get everyone to agree to watching that again for the hundredth time?"

"Where'd you get that attitude?" he shoots back.

"My girlfriend is a Way, remember? They're said to be pretty sassy."

"You got that right," Lindsey mutters. She takes a seat in an armchair and says, "Sit down wherever you can find room, Em."

"Yeah," Gerard agrees from the corner of the couch. "Make yourself at home."

As I sit in the other armchair, setting my phone next to me, I can't help but think about how this place did become like my second home, especially after my dad left and I started coming over a lot more often. I was instantly welcomed into the family, so I shouldn't feel so awkward and out of place in this moment. I draw my knees up to my chest and rest my chin on them as the movie begins, Die Hard displayed on the screen in big, blocky, vibrant letters.

I zone out, not really watching the movie, but still looking at the screen. The guys on the couch chew on popcorn, Frank can be heard speaking in sync with his favourite lines, Mikey jokingly telling him to shut up, Ray reminding Mikey of how he's memorized every word in the movie Jaws and can't say anything, Gerard agreeing with Ray, Lindsey shushing the four of them. They're talking and joking, enjoying the movie as though nothing is wrong, as though my arms aren't hugging my knees tightly instead of stretched around the shoulders of a girl that'd usually be joining their banter, or telling them to shut their mouths so we can actually hear the TV.