***This is a continuation of the story from Kiss: Casablanca High School, so read that first if you want! It's not necessary to but it would help***
It's been five years since anyone's heard anything from Gene Simmons, and at this point Paul Stanley...
I looked at my phone with a sigh, shaking my head. "Okay so here's the thing. We have like just a few more days until we make it to California and we still have no idea where Gene is. I have his first address out there but I doubt he still lives there. What do we want to do?" I asked. "Well, I say we just go there and see if we can find him. Maybe we'll be able to trace him from there?" Bruce said, taking a bite of his salad. Eric nodded in agreement, unable to respond due to the fact he only had ten minutes left to finish a four-pound burger and couldn't take the time to talk.
"Here's what I say we do! I say we drive out to his old place, we see if he's there, and if not we call Mz. Simmons," Ace said cheerfully, feeding Peter a bite of his dinner. "Yeah, that's a good point. I haven't talked to her in awhile either. She still sends me birthday cards which is sweet." "Yeah, Ms. Simmons is a great woman, she's super nice. It'll be nice to see her again too!" Peter said, taking his turn at feeding Ace.
"Yeah. She is really nice. It'll be nice to see her again," I muttered, picking listlessly at my food. "Gene kinda ruined that relationship too."
Eric sat back in the booth with a sigh, closing his eyes and pushing away his completely empty plate. "Gene ruined a lot of relationships and he better have a damn good reason for not talking to any of us," he grumbled. The waitress came back over, taking his plate and his picture and giving him his t-shirt, which he accepted happily. "How many are you up to now?" Bruce asked, raising an eyebrow. "Mm, nine I think. The goal is to hit fifteen by the time we hit California."
"Well, you have like a week left to do it, so good luck!" I said, pushing away my plate. I didn't feel like eating anymore.
We made it back to the motel after the rest of us had paid for dinner, sitting around the living room area and just kind of chilling. Eric sat up suddenly on the couch, giving us a grin. "Oh duh guys why haven't we just googled Gene? Maybe we can find his address that way!" he said, pulling out his phone.
"Oh yeah that's a good idea, go ahead and do that and let us know what you find," I said, leaning back in my seat and taking a sip of soda. Eric set to work, humming absentmindedly to himself like he always did when he was working before letting out a huge gasp and bursting into laughter.
"What? What'd you find?!" I asked, staring at him as he doubled over laughing, tears streaming down his face. "Let me see," Ace said, taking his phone before looking at the screen, eyes going wide. "What the fuckkkkk?!!?" he shrieked, also dissolving into laughter and showing it to Peter. "That's Gene?! Shut up there's no way!!"
"Oh my gosh let me see," I said, reaching over to take the phone as they sat cackling on the couch, staring at the picture in stunned confusion before joining them in their laughter. "He looks like a--he looks like a fucking drag queen!" Eric gasped. "Oh what the hell, what the hell! I can't breathe oh my gosh!" Ace cried.
"Do I even want to know what we found?" Bruce asked, not bothering to look up from the book he was reading. "He's--Gene's an actor or something, I found his IMDB page and he--I can't even explain it, I can't, you're just gonna have to see it," I replied, sides aching from laughter. "We gotta watch that movie. Like we gotta," Peter wheezed, wiping away tears. I looked at the pictures again, shaking my head. "Oh gosh Gene what the hell are you doing?!"
"Mm I bet Paul thinks that Gene looks pretty hot," Ace teased as Eric took his phone back. My face turned red and I flipped him off. "Shut up," I grumbled, trying not to show that he was kind of right. "I just...I have so many questions!" Eric cried. "What even!?"
"I don't know if I even want to know what you guys found," Bruce muttered. I pulled out my own phone, quickly looking up more pictures. "It's uh...it's something. It's hard to explain though man, you just gotta see it," I said, tossing him my phone. "Oh what the hell, Gene," he said, shaking his head with a grin. "We told him not to go wild in California but obviously he didn't listen."
"Listen?! Obviously not! Look at this, man, this is the definition of wild!! This is absolutely insane! Oh my gosh we gotta give him so much shit for this when we meet up with him!" Peter said gleefully, curling up on the couch and resting his head on Ace's lap. I bit back a sigh, shutting off my phone and leaning back on my chair. "Honestly like I'm gonna be for real, I'm pissed at Gene. Like who the hell does he think he is?"
"He's probably...he's probably got a good reason for not talking to us. Like...like maybe he lost access to social media!" "His mom didn't. Her and my mom talk all the time." "Maybe he got arrested! Or, or maybe he died or something! Or maybe he secretly fell in love with you and he couldn't take being so far from you!"
"Yeah well unless he fell in love with all of us I don't think that's the reason," I said with a sigh. "He probably just wanted to move on with his life since we were all starting new in college and just figured the best way to move on was to forget the past or something."
"It's okay man. We'll find him and we'll be able to be friends again and it'll all be fine!" Eric said, giving me a smile which I could barely return.
I laid awake long after the rest of them had gone to bed, still thinking about Gene. It had been five years, five years since I had really even thought about him, and I was just now starting to realize that I didn't miss him, I wasn't sad, I was furious.
And even if we did find him, I don't know if I'd be able to forgive him.
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A/N: If y'all want a good laugh just look up Gene Simmons in Never Too Young to Die. That movie is an experience.
