Gerard's P.O.V

“Will the tar covered angel honour me with a dance?” I asked half jokingly.

I knew she’d say no, she always seemed to come up with some excuse to not be too close to me.

“Of course, how could I refuse with an offer like that” she replied.

What? she actually said yes.

“The real question here is can Count Gerardula actually dance?”.

“Well you’ll soon find out, wont you”.

I replied wrapping my arms around her waist.

To my surprise she didn’t run away or even flinch but instead draped her arms around my neck and rested her head on my chest.

She must be either really drunk, really tired or both, most of the time if I even touch her she flinches for some reason.

I don’t think she realized that I noticed it, but I did and I hated it.

How do you think it feels to have someone you really care about or might even love, cringe at your very touch as if you were hurting them.

Towards the end of the song, I noticed Jules’ feet had stopped moving and her body felt limp.

“Jules?”

She didn’t respond so I shook her a little.

“What! Where’s the fire?” she asked as her eyes flickered open and darted around the room.

“There is no fire” I replied laughing.

“Oh right” she said resting her head back up against my chest.

After a while she fell back to sleep again, so I decided I may as well take her to her room.

She had actually told me earlier that there was a private party or something happening in there but I’d seen Alice in wonderland and her friends leave about a half hour ago.

“where are we going?” she mumbled as I lifted her up.

“You are going to bed” I replied.

A few minutes later she started mumbling incoherently and then said,

“but I thought we were dancing”

“No I was dancing, you were sleeping on me” I said as I gently lay her down on her bed.

“No don’t go” she muttered grabbing my hand as I turned to leave.

“I have to” I said laughing.

“but I…..” she trailed off.

“you what?” I asked

She didn’t reply and all I could hear was her soft breathing, she had obviously fallen asleep.

“Goodnight Jules” I sighed as I flicked off the light switch.

Jules P.O.V

Owww, what the fuck is that, ahhh stupid piece of shit stabbing me in the back.

I sat up and realised I was still wearing my wings from last night and I was in my bed.

How did I get here, I don’t remember going to bed, actually that last thing I remember I was dancing with Gerard….and…I don’t know, I really should stop drinking but where’s the fun in that?

I feel like crap, I probably look like it too.

I got up and ambled into the bathroom to take a shower.

the hot water felt so great against my skin.

After I had showered I got dressed and wandered into the lounge it wasn’t actually as bad as I thought it would be but it was still a shit of a mess.

No one else was up so I figured I may as well start cleaning up, it only took me just over half an hour to clean it up and still no one else was awake.

I flopped down on the couch and switched the T.V on, ewww Spongebob I hate that little evil yellow sponge, Frankie was normally my Saturday morning cartoon buddy, but I suppose after last night he wouldn’t be up for it this morning, I flicked over the channel yu-gi-oh?

Seriously where is the good stuff, Gargoyles got cancelled ages ago, I know that but couldn’t they put on spiderman or teenage mutant ninja turtles or I don’t know… south park, Ha! could you imagine little kids watching that on a Saturday morning.

Dora the explorer? Come on, I’m getting desperate here, I could even go for some captain planet or power rangers right now.

I flicked over the channel once more and captain feathersword flashed across the screen…no way! That is where I draw the line, it is too early for the wiggles actually it’s always too early for the wiggles.

I groaned and switched the T.V off, what else could I do until everyone else gets up….it’s so boring, maybe if I tried hard enough I could go back to sleep or then again I could wake everyone else up….no that’s evil.

I was interrupted from my thoughts by a loud grumbling sound coming from my stomach….Aha food, I’ll make pancakes.

I gazed out the kitchen window as I cooked , it was my favourite kind of day, cold and misty.

“Morning!!!” Gerard yelled chirpily, causing me to drop the spatula in fright.

“What the fuck are you playing at? You scared the living shit out of me”.

“Just saying Good Morning” he said smiling innocently at me.

“Okay then, whatever you say….” I replied stooping down to pick up the spatula.

When I stood back up Gerard’s face was less than a foot away from my own.

“umm can I help you?” I asked.

He said nothing but continued to grin at me maniacally.

Oh my god ,please don’t tell me I did or said anything too humiliating last night.

“Gerard, what’s wrong with you?” I asked.

“Nothing”

“Is there a booger hanging out my nose?”

“No” he replied, giggling softly.

“Well what then…you’re creeping me out.”

“I just - he started

“Good Morning” Mikey half sang.

Gerard’s face fell a little and he subtly stepped back as Mikey came bounding into the kitchen.

“What are you so happy about?” Gerard asked.

“I don’t know, I just am” he replied

“what’s that smell?” he added as he grabbed a coffee mug from the cupboard.

“I’m making pancakes!” I replied, grinning proudly.

“More like burning pancakes” Gerard said, smirking as he peered at the round blackened crisp in the pan.

“Oh shit” I said, grabbing it out as quickly as possible.

“That is so your fault….none of the others are burnt ” I said glaring at Gerard who hard started laughing at the sad excuse for a pancake I had just retrieved from the pan.

“my fault? I’m not the one cooking”

“yeah but you’re the one who distracted me”

“It’s not my fault you’re distracted by me” he said batting his eyelids.

“uhhh yes it is”

“no it’ s not”

“Yeah it is”

“no, it’s not”

“Is too”

“Is not” he argued defiantly.

“PANCAKES!!!!!!” Frankie yelled running into the kitchen, in a pair of Spiderman boxers, grabbing the entire plate of pancakes, (after throwing the burnt one at Gerard) and then running off back to his room.

I chased after him but he was too fast and had locked his bedroom door just before I got there.

“Damn you Frankie” I called.

I could hear him giggling evilly from the other side of the door.

“Well there goes breakfast” I said walking back into the kitchen.

“doesn’t matter, I don’t trust your cooking anyway” Mikey said looking up from his coffee.

“geez that really hurts, coming from the guy who considers ‘cooking’ toast an accomplishment” I said sarcastically.

“ hey don’t be dissing my toast making skills” Mikey said looking affronted.

“Forgot the Maple syrup!!!!” Frankie called out as he ran back in to grab it.

“Do we have any skittles?” he added as he paused at the door.

“Frankie we bought you a huge packet yesterday” Gerard reminded him.

“oh that’s right….now where did I put them” he muttered as he left the kitchen.

“Ooh I know, let’s go out for breakfast” Mikey suggested.

“Good idea” I replied.

“what do you reckon, Gerard?” Mikey asked

“huh?” he said seemingly snapping out of a trance.

“ do -you - want - to - come - get - food - with - us ?” Mikey repeated slowly.

“Ahhh no, I’ve gotta go do a favour for a friend” he replied.

“Fine then, have it your way, you anti-social, non breakfast eating creature” Mikey huffed.

“I never said anything about not having breakfast, maybe I just don’t wanna have it with you” he said poking out his tongue at Mikey, before grabbing his jacket and walking out the door.

Mikeys P.O.V

“No dibs , Midget duty” Gerard called quickly pressing his thumb against his forehead as Frankies snores continued to grow louder.

“Hey! no fair, me and Jules were on midget duty last time” I whined

“Yeah well you snooze, you lose, little brother”.

“Well what if I just refuse?” I said crossing my arms indignantly.

“Well first off, the snoring will kill the movie”

“It’s Jaws, it was killed to start off with” Jules mumbled sleepily.

“How Rude!!” I gasped

“I will have you know that Jaws is a classic, thank you very much”

“yeah, classically boring” she replied.

“Well if that’s what you think you can lean on someone else” I said pushing her head off my shoulder.

“Awww but you’re nice and warm” she groaned.

“Ehem” Gerard said, loudly clearing his throat.

“ You two little girls might wanna quit blabbing and do midget duty, so we can actually hear the movie” he added looking at us expectantly.

“But why don’t you have to?” Jules asked.

“Because my dear Juliet, I called no dibs first”

“Ooh Wow, you’re so mature!” she replied.

“Like, I know, right?” Gerard said doing his best bimbo impression and flipping his fringe back.

“Uhmmmm Jules do you wanna help me out here” I said as I grabbed Frankies arms.

“Not really, but I spose since I didn’t call no dibs first I have to” she said scowling at Gerard.

“You don’t have to…..you could just leave him there” Gerard suggested.

“No we can’t it’s his birthday eve that would be mean” she said bending down to grab Frankies legs.

Okay so I suppose I should probably explain midget duty in case you haven’t figured it out yet.

Frankie has this policy where if he falls asleep in the lounge it is our duty or our “privilege” as he put it to carry his lazy ass to his room, which believe me , is not as easy as you might think, he may look small but shit is he heavy.

Now I would much rather not do it at all, but I learnt the hard way that, that is a bad idea.

You see Frankie has a punishment for this so-called neglect.

Think, 5am , giggling midget jumping on your bed , pelting your head with fruit loops, Not fun, trust me.

After we had lugged Frankie off to his room, Jules and I settled back down on the couch and Gerard seemed to have vanished somewhere.

I was so tired , we’d just spent all day decorating the house to look like a haunted castle and it actually looked pretty damn good If you ask me.

“Who wants to help me blow up the balloons?” Gerard asked emerging from the kitchen a few minutes later.

“No dibs” me and Jules called in unison, jumping up from the couch and taking off down the hall.

“Hey!!!!! Guys….come on…..please…guys.......Fine then I’ll do it myself” he yelled as I slammed my bedroom door closed behind me.

“Shhhhh…”

“We weren’t making any noise you’re th-

“Oww my foot” Gerard whimpered

“Sorry”

“Why can’t we just turn the light on?”

“Because it’ll kill the surprise”

“OK on 3, are you ready?”

“1.…..2.……….3”

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!” we all yelled as Jules pulled the curtains open and Gerard dragged in Frankies presents.

Frankies eyes flitted open and he looked around at us strangely as we started singing happy birthday to him, until finally his eyes settled on the presents at the end of his bed.

“WOOHOO PRESENTS!!!!!” he yelped practically falling out of his bed in excitement.

We watched him as he excitedly tore the wrapping off each gift and his smile grew wider with each one.

A jumbo bag of skittles….a batman action figure….a green day T-shirt and finally

“A Scooter!!!!! You guys are awesome” he said pulling us into a group hug.

Jules flinched a little as Gerard put his arm around her, she always seemed to do that whenever he touched her…..and they think I’m weird.

Frankie spent most of the rest of the day putting his scooter together and riding it up and down the hall.

I raced him on my pogo stick a few times, it was so fun except for when I accidentally crashed into the wall….that just hurt.

The party tonight is gonna be so awesome, not only do I have the coolest grim reaper costume, but Frankie has finally found us a drummer and he’s gonna be here tonight so I’m way looking forwards to it.

Hello lovely people, thank you for reading and commenting ,  you guys are super awesome!!!!  and does anyone know how to make the writing not be so big? If that is a stupid question don't bother answering if you don't want to ,but if you are the wise buzznet monkey of wisdom that knows all......please tell me. thanx :)

 Jules' P.O.V

“Mikey, would you hurry up other people need to shower too you know” I said knocking on the bathroom door.

He’d been in there for almost a half hour now.

I slumped back up against the wall, that was the second time I’d knocked on the door this morning and he still hadn’t answered me.

“Oh shit” I thought aloud as an idea suddenly occurred to me, I quickly ran off to the kitchen just to make sure…..oh thank god, Sid was still there sitting innocently on the bench.

I don’t know why but Mikey had a strange obsession with toasters and you had to keep a close eye on him.

I remember this one time back in high school we were in Home Ec and I’d caught him trying to shove a fork in the toaster, not because there was any toast stuck in it or anything, but simply because he’d wanted to know if “the whole electrocution thingy” was real or not.

I headed back down the hall and knocked on the door louder this time just in case for some reason he actually hadn’t heard me the other two times.

After a few seconds I heard the water stop and the door creaked open a little as Mikey stuck his shampoo covered head out.

“Are you kidding me? You still haven’t even finished washing your hair” I whined

“Grooming is a delicate process, Jules, you should try it once in a while”

“I resent that” I said scowling at him.

“Look why don’t you just use the bathroom downstairs?”

“Because, Frankie is in it doing a rain dance so there’ll be “a nice storm” for his birthday party tomorrow and he said it’s an important ritual that cannot be interrupted”.

“Ha ha, well too bad for you, you’ll just have to walk around looking like Oscar the grouch for another day” he said snapping the door shut before I could retaliate.

“Chicken!!!” I called out over my shoulder as I walked back into the kitchen.

“Coffee?” Gerard asked as I sat down at the table.

“Ooh Yay, yes please” I said stifling a yawn.

He sounded quite happy this morning, I hope this meant he was back to normal, he’d been acting off for the past week or so, ever since we came back from the movies actually and he still wouldn’t tell me why.

“Gerard….”

“Yeah?”

“Do I look like Oscar the grouch?”

“Of course not” he said smiling as he handed me a freshly made coffee.

“Oscar the grouch is green”

“Geez thanks for that, you sure know how to flatter a lady”.

“A lady! Where??” he said looking frantically round the room and straightening out his jacket.

I stuck my tongue out at him as he started laughing and sat down at the table next to me.

“So do you know what you’re gonna dress up as for Frankie’s party?” he asked.

“Not a clue, how about you?”

“I have a vague idea”

“Would you like to share?” I asked

“Nope” he replied swigging down the last of his coffee.

I don’t even really know why I bothered asking, I knew he’d say that.

“Oh Crap, I still haven’t even got him a present or anything” I said, suddenly realizing how late I’d left it.

“Yeah me neither” said Gerard casually

“We could go look for something after work, speaking of which are you ready to go?”

“Yeah hold on I’ll just go get my bag” I said jumping up from the table.

“you might also want to maybe you know put some actual clothes on.”

“Oh right…..clothes” I said looking down and realizing I was still in my boxers and singlet.

“I’ll be right back ” I said dashing off to my room.

I watched Jules as she ran off down the hall, I swear to god, she’s just as bad as Mikey sometimes.

I’ve had a lot of time to think over the past week and I started to think that maybe I’d been a little harsh on Rose, but whatever she deserved it.

She had actually called me a couple of times and tried to make up excuses for what I’d seen, pretty lame ones at that.

I mean did she really expect me to believe that the guy next to her had started choking and needed mouth to mouth?

First of all you don’t give someone who’s choking mouth to mouth, I’m sure that’s what the Heimlich manoeuvre is for and secondly the mouth to mouth doesn’t require tongue, or groping for that matter.

I don’t really know what was more insulting the fact that she cheated on me in the first place or the fact that she really thought I was stupid enough to believe that.

I was really angry after finding out at first but after a while I figured why be angry about it? Rose was off having fun with her so-called grandma, she obviously couldn’t care less so why should I?

I still hadn’t told anyone we’d broken up, Mikey and Frankie had hated her from the start and Jules never said anything but I knew she didn’t like Rose either, I really hated to admit I was wrong, so I figured if they ever bring it up I’ll tell them but until then….

“Ready” Jules announced skidding back into the room and snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Last one to the car has to explain why we’re late” I called out jumping over the table and running out the front door.

“That was so not fair” she protested , jumping into the passenger seat.

“I want a rematch”

“Well too bad cause we’re already in the car” I reminded her as we pulled out of the driveway.

“But what am I supposed to tell Graham - sorry boss I was hanging out for a shower but Gerards vain pretty boy brother was hogging the bathroom, so I never got one - hence the smell - which completely explains our lateness?”.

I cracked up laughing , she worries too much sometimes, first of all she smells pretty good to me and Graham would be totally fine with us being late, I hope.

“Where the hell have you two been?” Graham exclaimed as we walked into the shop.

“I have an important meeting this morning, you know I only come in to open up and close the shop, not to run it, that’s your job and you’re over a half hour late”.

“I’m so sorry Graham” Jules said biting down on her lip

“What happened was…..”

“Traffic” I interjected

“Traffic was a bitch this morning”.

“……..Fine then but please try to be on time on Monday” he said looking at us wearily

“I’m off now or I’ll be late as well” he added walking out the front doors.

Jules let out a sigh of relief as he walked out.

I don’t know what Graham was so stressed about there were no customers at the moment anyway, so I went off to stack some shelves and left Jules at the counter.

After a while, a few people started to come in and look around , one guy in particular made a beeline straight for the counter and started talking to Jules, It was quite funny actually, a lot more guys had started coming in since Jules started working here.

I had told her that once but she just thought I was being a smart ass and laughed it off.

I watched them both as I was stacking the shelves, I couldn’t hear them but they were obviously flirting with each other and for some reason I felt kinda..maybe..a little jealous.

“Ahhhh Fuck!!!!!” I cussed loudly as I dropped an extremely heavy book on my foot.

Why did I have to wear jandals this morning.

“Shorter Oxford dictionary, My Fucking Ass!!!” I yelled at it, hopping around and holding my poor crushed foot.

Jules waved goodbye to the guy she was talking to and rushed over to me.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

“Yeah I’m fine, it just hurts”

“I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to the poor dictionary, first you make it touch your skanky foot and then you start yelling at it”.

She said picking it up and putting it up on the shelf.

“Well thanks for your concern” I said sarcastically

“Let me have a look at it then, you sissy”

“No”

"Gerard....just do it"

"Make me"

“Gerard stop being such a shithead, sit down and give me a look now”.

“Fine then” I sighed and sat down on the ground holding my leg out for her.

She took hold of my ankle and gently felt around my toes where the book had landed.

“Well nothings broken, but it’s pretty swollen and you might have a few bruised bones but there’s really nothing you can do about that".

“Oh goody” I said as she pulled me to my feet.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, but Jules decided it would be best if we switched positions so I “didn’t hurt anymore poor dictionary’s” as she put it. So I was stuck at the counter , the only person that came up and flirted with me was some 70 year old scottish woman , who was looking for a karma sutra book.....Just my luck.

Gerards P.O.V

It was Rose……. virtually fucking some random guy in the back row.

I turned back to face the screen reeling from the shock.

Oh god I think I’m gonna be sick.

We’ve only been going out for about 4 months and I don’t exactly think I‘m…in love with her, I mean I do or at least I did like her a lot , not so much anymore…..But she never struck me as the type that would……well do that.

She’d told me she was going to visit her grandmother today, she also told me she hated going to the movies, both were apparently lies.

I can’t believe I actually believed her……what is wrong with me?

I was thinking for a minute about going and confronting her but decided I’d rather not make a scene, I just felt sick I had to get out of there, I got up and walked out, Jules called out something behind me but I wasn’t even really listening.

“Hey, where are you going” I asked Gerard as he hurried out of the theatre.

What the fuck was he doing. I know I promised I’d stay until the end.

but fuck it, if he was gonna run off I wasn’t staying.

I emerged from the theatre to see the doors of the elevator sliding closed and Gerard standing inside looking very upset.

I have no idea, what had come over him. Surely it wasn’t the movie that had upset him, I mean it was a little freaky but he had seemed unaffected by it until that point.

When I got down to the car park, I saw Gerard lying on the bonnet of the car smoking a cigarette.

I walked over to the car and jumped up on the bonnet next to him.

“Are you alright?” I asked cautiously

“Yeah I’m fine” he said smiling weakly.

We sat there in silence for a few minutes, he looked like he was thinking really hard about something, If only I knew what.

“How come you left?” I asked, hoping he would let me know why he was so upset.

“I uhhhh…..needed some fresh air” he replied hesitantly taking another drag off of his cigarette.

That was one of the worst lies I had ever heard.

But I didn’t want to push it any further, he looked pretty pissed off and he obviously didn’t want to tell me, so I just let it go.

The car ride home was the worst part, people say silence is golden, right now it was anything but……all I can say is thank god for car stereos.

As soon as we got home Gerard headed straight down to his room.

He seemed to have calmed down a bit at least.

I was still confused by the whole thing, I had no idea what was going on.

Mind you I rarely had any idea what was going on in that boys head.

I paced around my room for about an hour or so just trying to make sense of everything.

I was just so goddamn angry, how could she do that?

What am I going to do,....I suppose I have to talk to her, even though that’s

the last thing I feel like doing right now.

What was I even gonna say - Hey Rose, how’s it going ? Saw you and you’re grandma at the movies today, I never realized how young or male she was or how close the two of you were.

Yeah that would go down well.

Would it be better to call her or go around and see her……you know what, fuck it ,I’m not wasting petrol for her.

I dialled her number and held the phone up to my ear, waiting for her to answer.

After it rung about 4 times she picked up the phone sounding as happy as ever.

“Hello” she answered.

“Rose?”

“Oh hey babe”

“Yeah whatever” I replied flatly

“What’s the matter?” she said hearing the anger in my voice.

“How’s your grandma?” I continued, ignoring her question.

“ummmm she’s fine……. look what does this have to do with you being angry?”

“Did she enjoy the movie as much as I did?”

“Gerard seriously what are you going on about?” she asked sounding confused

She never was exactly, the sharpest tool in the shed.

“Oh that’s right, my mistake, she probably didn’t see any of it, the two of you were too busy doing….. other things in the back row”.

“Oh My God!” she gasped finally clicking on.

“Gerard you were there?……why were you…..what..”

“I can explain…...It's not what you think....you see, he's ummm....

“I…I was well…I was uhh” she stammered

“yeah, save it you whore, I don’t wanna hear it, It‘s Over”

“you're breaking up with me.....?”

"Well that's what it sounds like, doesn't it?"

"wait so you call me a whore and then you just break up with me" she spluttered.

“Oh sorry, did I say whore, I meant slut, at least whores get paid and yeah thats about the gist of it”.

She stopped speaking and I heard a sharp intake of breath from the other end of the phone.

“The truth hurts, doesn’t it?……… Goodbye Rose” I said hanging up the phone.

A/N: Hiiiii, hope you guys are having a good day, so heres the next chapter, don't know when I'll be able to get the next one up...I have shitloads of homework, but until then I hope you enjoy this one and thanx for reading and commenting!! :) 

A/N:   Hello my fine feathered friends, thanx for reading and commenting, I have had far too much spare time on my hands at the moment, so here I present to you the next chapter...hope you like it, please leave comments and let me know what you think. 

After a few months in the house, I had settled in quite well.

It was fun to be living with other people again.

I will admit in a strange way, I did miss Morris but Frankie more than made up for it - No Cyndi Lauper, but I swear to god one morning I walked past the bathroom and heard him singing ‘Like a virgin’ in the shower.

And when Frankie had told me they used the kitchen to order takeout from, I really though he was kidding - but no such luck.

I mean on occasion one of them would cook something , but I don’t really think any of them actually knew how to cook properly.

“ I can cook toast” Mikey said proudly beaming up at me from his morning coffee.

“Mikey that hardly counts as cooking” I replied.

“Oh yeah?” came Frankies’ voice from the hallway door.

“Well if that’s what you think, you obviously haven’t met Sid”

“Who the-

“Sid the evil toaster” Gerard explained emerging from the lounge with an empty coffee mug.

“And what is so evil about the toaster” I asked trying not to laugh.

“Sid is an arsonist, no matter which setting you put him on he always burns the toast” Mikey replied matter-of-factly.

“Have you ever considered….I don’t know…getting a new toaster” I asked sarcastically.

“Hell no! could you imagine how pissed Sid would be if we did that” Frankie said sounding shocked that I would even suggest it.

“whatever” I said rolling my eyes and sitting down next to Mikey at the table.

“So girlies what are we doing today?” Gerard asked

“Well I don’t know about you losers, but I have a date” said Frankie smugly.

Mikey snorted, “And what girl is stupid enough to go out with you?”

“If it even is a girl” Gerard added.

After hearing that Mikey and I both collapsed in a fit of giggles.

“Yes it’s a girl, Gerard!” Frankie said angrily, throwing a skittle at Gerard’s’ head.

Frankie gave me and Mikey the evil eye.

“Look would you guys let it go, It was one time, I was really drunk and that guy was really convincing in drag”.

“Yeah cause girls normally have big bushy moustaches, don‘t they Frankie” Gerard cut in

I started laughing even louder, Mikey had told me the story plenty of times, but to hear Frankie actually admit it was priceless.

“ So who is she then…” I asked finally getting over my laughing fit.

“Her name is Lexi” Frankie said.

“Starbucks Lexi?” Mikey enquired.

“Yeah, she works at Starbucks….. how did you even know that?” Frankie asked.

“Come on Frankie do you know who you’re talking to?” asked Gerard

“Mikey knows the name of every goddamn person that works in that place”.

“Good point……Well I better go now or I’ll be late” Frankie announced.

“Where are you taking her?” I asked

“Out for coffee” he said ,before grabbing his jacket and walking out the door.

Seriously I do not know what is wrong with that boy sometimes, but I suppose eating skittles for breakfast every morning doesn’t exactly help.

I watched as Frankie walked out the door, fuck he was an idiot, what kind of dipshit

takes a girl who works at Starbucks out for coffee as a date.

I looked back to the table, Mikey was busy texting someone on his phone and Jules was staring blankly at her coffee mug, she had the most beautiful green eyes, I couldn’t help but watch her for a while.

“Damn it” Mikey said looking up from his phone.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Rays got a cold, I’ve got to go in to work and cover his shift” he replied

“but can’t someone else do it, we were supposed to be going to the movies…remember?”

Jules said sounding annoyed.

“Jules we watch videos all the time” he replied

“No we don’t, plus it’s not the same as actually going to the movies”

“Jules I have to go, I’m needed, my job is important…unlike yours” Mikey said

Jules raised her eyebrow questioningly at him.

“ Mikey you work in the video store” she replied scathingly.

“Yeah well at least people actually come into the video store”

“People come into the bookstore!” Jules argued.

“Mikey just cause you can’t read doesn’t mean other people don’t come in” I said

“I can too read” he argued, sticking his tongue out at me.

“Yeah whatever” I said sliding down from the bench.

“Anyways do you want a ride or not?”

“Why where are you going?” he asked.

“Well me and Jules can still go to the movie without you”.

“Oh okay, well yeah , I’d rather not walk in the rain ,I did just straighten my hair yesterday”

“Oh my god you are such a pretty boy Mikey” Jules laughed sneaking up behind him and ruffling up his hair.

“Oh no you didn’t “said Mikey jumping up from the table and chasing her outside as she ran to the car giggling.

A/N: Thanks very much for the comments they are very much appreciated. So, here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 4

Now it was my turn to scream.

“MIKEY!!!!!”

“JULES?” he said pulling me into a bone crushing hug “Oh my god!! What are you doing here???” he asked, his eyes wide with surprise.

“Well I uh -

“No not the skittles!!!” I heard Frankie yell from the kitchen.

Mikey and I looked up the hall to see the Frankie running towards us cradling a bag of skittles as the guy from downstairs chased close behind.

They both came crashing down to the ground in front of us, as Frankie was tackled by his pursuer.

A pursuer that all of a sudden looked very familiar and this time I knew why….it was the guy from the cemetery.

Mikey looked down at both of them and shook his head.

“I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but Jules, this is my brother, Gerard, I don‘t actually think you two have ever officially met before” Mikey said

“Hi, again” Gerard said as he got up off the floor to shake my hand

“Gerard meet Juliet Nichols , my old friend from high school”

“Mikeyyyyy” I groaned.

He always did that when he introduced me to people. I hated it. People always felt the need to make lame Shakespeare jokes after they found out my proper name.

It’s my fault really though, he started doing it after I introduced him to my parents as Michael James Way, he thought it was hilarious and he’s never let me live it down.

Mikey and I had known each other since we were 13.

All through high school we were virtually inseparable. A lot of people even thought we were dating, although we never did.

We were at each others houses just about every weekend.

I preferred his house to mine, firstly because my stuck up parents weren’t there and also because their house was so interesting to look around there were so many odd artefacts and photographs around the place ,it was so different to my disturbingly sterile home , I’m sure Mikey got quite bored of it after awhile but he let me explore to my hearts content.

Despite being over at Mikeys’ so often I’d only ever met his brother once before and it was only a brief encounter. Mikey and I had both been sixteen at the time.

It was around 3 o’clock in the morning and Mikey and I were in his living room watching The Texas chainsaw massacre - It was quite an old film, but Mikey assured me it would be good.

He was right, it scared the shit out of me, but then again I wasn’t exactly the hardest person to scare.

By the end of the movie I was gripping onto Mikey for dear life, I absolutely loved the thrill of horror movies but that didn’t change the fact that I was a complete chicken,

especially when it came to scary movies that were supposedly based on true stories.

As we watched the end where leatherface is dancing round in the middle of the street with the chainsaw, I relaxed a little and released my grip on Mikeys’ arm , that was until the front door flew open and I still slightly on edge, shrieked and scrambled behind the couch for safety, who the hell could possibly be here at three in the morning??

Wild irrational thoughts started going through my head, what if it was a burglar or a murderer, or what if it was….leatherface himself….I don’t want to die……

“Jules snap out of it” Mikey said laughing as he dangled over the couch, waving his hands in front of my face.

“Jules, it’s just my brother Gerard, he just got in from the airport I told you he might be coming home today”.

“You didn’t say at 3 in the morning” I replied embarrassedly.

Mikey had told me all about his brother and how he was away at art school, but up until then I’d never actually met him before, I’d seen him in photographs around the house but I’d never seen him in person.

I looked up and smiled at Gerard sheepishly, realizing what an idiot I must look like.

So much for making a good first impression.

That was probably one of the first nights I had actually been allowed to stay over at Mikeys’ place.I mean I’d been there plenty of times before but was never allowed to stay the night until I was sixteen and my parents had realized that they couldn’t actually stop me from going anymore. So instead they gave me every lecture they could get their hands on about deviant behaviour and drug abuse and what not.

It was insulting really, I had never really behaved in a particularly “deviant manner” as they put it, but for some reason that’s all they had ever expected from me.

It was because of them that I had been so desperate to leave Jersey in the first place, I couldn’t stand them.

They drove me insane with their constant nagging.

Mikey was the person I missed the most when I was living in Seattle.

We’d tried to keep in contact as much as possible via email, It wasn’t the same , but it was the easiest way.

Over the years we’d shared the most trivial as well as the most important things in our lives with one another.

He’d told me about his dreams to start a band and had also let me in on the fact that, coffee even in very small amounts, should never ever be fed to goldfish.

Poor Speedy had to learn that the hard way.

I in turn had told Mikey about my life in Seattle,

Including Morris the crazy old guy who lived in the apartment next to me and liked to dance down the halls in stilettos belting out Cyndi Lauper tunes at two in the morning.

I also told him about more important things like my failed ‘career’ as a doctor

And my new oh-so-glamorous career as a supermarket checkout operator.

At first Mikey tried to be sympathetic about the whole situation, but the truth was that he thought it was absolutely hilarious and he started to ask stupid questions like how many eggs had gone into cardiac arrest in aisle 4 that day.

I knew I shouldn’t have told him about that, He’d never let it go, but at least he helped me to see the funny side of the circumstances.

I had never let Mikey know in the e-mails that I was coming back.

Hell I didn’t even know I was, it was more of a last minute decision .

I had just been fired from my job - yes I managed to get fired from the supermarket.

To cut a long story short, my boss was a perverted asshole, I was having a shit of a day, he tried to feel me up, my solution?

Kick him in the balls and throw a banana at his head.

I know in hindsight it was a stupid thing to do, I should have at least thrown an apple or a coconut , you know inflict some real damage, but a banana was the closest thing at the time.

Anyways after that fiasco, I started to think, why the fuck was I still even in Seattle it’s not like I had any real friends there - Morris was friendly enough, once when I was drunk, he even let me dance down the hall with him for a rendition of ‘Girls just wanna have fun’- but that hardly counted.

I had no career holding me there or job for that matter and I was completely miserable, so I decided If I was going to be miserable, I may as well be miserable at home and that was around the time Jess had called me to tell me about poor Angie.

“Arrggghhhhhhhh make it stop”

“Jules, what are you talking about” I heard Jess shout from in the bathroom

“That evil noise, make it stop”

Jess popped her head out of the bathroom and looked over at

me strangely as I lay there flailing my arms about trying to grab a hold of the evil noisemaker.

“ Jules if you are referring to the alarm clock, no I will not make it stop, until you get up and it’s no use trying to attack it , it’s not on the bedside table its over here on the dresser.” she said as she walked off down the hall.

I groaned in defeat as I dragged myself out of bed, and walked over to switch off the evil alarm that sat across the room on the dresser.

“For gods sake Jess its only six in the morning” I complained.

“Early to bed, early to rise makes one healthy, wealthy and wise” I heard her recite from her room.

Oh my god!! What is wrong with her????? She is far too perky in the morning, it’s just not natural, it’s not human, she’s not human, I often wonder how it’s even possible for the two of us to be related.

I mean, I know she’s a lawyer, she has obligations, long hours ,a lot of work to get through…but getting up at six o’clock on a Sunday morning is plain wrong.

After having a nice long hot shower I got changed into a pair of black jeans and a hoodie, tied my dark brown hair back into a ponytail and made my way downstairs.

I entered the dining room to see Jess struggling to get my bag out the front door.

As soon as I saw her I collapsed in laughter.

She looked ridiculous, she had her cell phone pressed up to her ear and was carrying my bag in one hand and a stack of files in the other, and was struggling to get through the door without dropping anything.

I quickly ran over and grabbed my bag off her before she could drop it and potentially break something.

She sighed in relief as I took the bag out of her hand and then made her way to the car, placing her files in the boot and gesturing for me to do the same with my bag.

“Right are you ready to go?” Jess asked, as she snapped her phone shut.

“ummm I guess so……you do realize that it’s still only quarter to seven, don’t you?”

“Yeah…….your point being”

“Who the hell is calling you at quarter to seven in the morning?”

“Leo” she said in a sing song voice.

Well that explained a lot. Leo was Jess’ high school sweetheart and as of valentines day last year, also her fiancé. Leo was a commercial airline pilot, so he was often away from home a lot and called at weird times, but somehow they managed to make it work.

It was something I always admired about Jess.

“ Have you got the address there?” asked Jess as she fired up the engine.

“Uh yeah hold on a minute” I said as I pulled the crumpled up piece of paper out of my pocket.

“Here it is, 662 Gilmore Ave” I read aloud.

“Your in luck, Gilmore’s only about 20 minutes from here”

God she was a know-it-all.

“How do you even know that?” I asked

“I go along Gilmore on the way to work” she replied simply.

Jess was right, as per usual - it took 20 minutes at the very most to get there.

“Do you need any help with that?” Jess asked nodding at the large duffel bag she had just pulled out of the boot.

“No, It’s fine, I’ll manage”

“Okay then” she said chirpily, clapping her hands together.

“Well I best be off now, it’s almost ten past seven and I really do want to be at work by half past, call me later and let me know how you’re settling in” she said before she jumped back in the car and sped off.

After watching her disappear into the distance, I turned to look at the house that would be my new home.

It was a fairly ordinary one story brick house with a basement.

I sighed and slung my bag over my shoulder and reluctantly made my way up the front path.

I’d be lucky if anyone was even awake, I mean it is the weekend after all I don’t even normally get up until like eleven on the weekend .

I knocked on the door anxiously and to my surprise it swung open almost immediately.

Standing before me was a guy an inch or two shorter than me, with black hair and a lip piercing, wearing an inside out t-shirt and a pair of batman boxers.

“Yo” he said barely looking up from the handful of skittles he was picking at.

“umm hi is Frankie here?” I asked consulting my little piece of paper.

“At your service” he replied, saluting me with his skittle free hand.

I couldn’t help but laugh a little.

“Well my name is Jules, I called you on Fr-

“Ohhhhhhhh right……new flat mate” he replied “come on in”.

“Where should I put my bag?” I enquired

“Follow me” he replied walking down the hall“ This room is yours” -he said opening the door of the end room , “chuck your bag in here and then I’ll show you around”

The room was pretty basic, there was a double bed a wardrobe and a small desk in the corner - but it was just what I needed.

“Now for ze grand tour” he said leading me back into the lounge.

“This of course is the lounge, where we…watch T.V and stuff”

“This -he said leading me through to the next room- is the kitchen, where we uhhhhhhh…..use the phone to order takeout and make coffee, and if you’ll follow me back through to the hall…this first room is mine, the room between yours and mine belongs to…..well you’ll meet him later and…….. that room across from yours is the bathroom” he finished.

“What’s downstairs?” I asked

“Oh you don’t want to go down there” he replied

“That’s the dragons lair”

“I heard that!!” yelled a voice from downstairs.

“Awwww poor baby, what ya gonna do about it” Frankie yelled back as he started to dance around making chicken noises.

“You are so dead Iero” the voice called out

Frankie just started clucking louder

“Well I hear ya loud and clear but I don’t see you doing anything” replied Frankie in a mocking voice

All of a sudden a dark figure jumped out from the shadowy staircase causing Frankie to scream like a little girl.

The two of them ran off down the hall and into the lounge, Frankie laughing the whole time.

“What’s all the yelling about ?”someone said groggily , as the door of the middle room creaked open.

I swivelled round and was met by a friendly face, one I hadn’t seen in almost five years.

“What took you so long?” she said as I clambered into the passenger seat.

“I kind of didn’t realize the funeral was over” I replied embarrassedly.

Jess went into a fit of laughter “ you didn’t realize the funeral was over?”

“Shut up, it was an honest mistake” I replied defensively.

After I said that she laughed even louder.

So I just gave up arguing and leant against the window as we drove down the hill and away from the cemetery.

“So how long are you in town for?” she asked

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about earlier……..” I said.

“I’m kind of moving back here”

“ Hold on, What !!”she said slamming down the brakes

“When were you planning on telling me this” she exclaimed

“Holy crap! Would you calm down Jess, what’s your problem?”

“Uhmmmm are you serious Jules?”

“First of all straight out of high school you take off to Seattle to try and escape this place and now after like what….five years you’re just coming back, without any prior mention of it.”

“Well when you say it out loud I suppose it does sound a little stupid…but I don’t know I suppose I started to miss this place”

Jess drove on in silence for a while as she seemed to be trying to calm herself a little.

She freaks out way too much I mean I know I make some rash decisions but it’s not like I couldn’t handle myself or anything

“Have you even got a place yet?”

“Well kind of…” I trailed off

“Kind of.. what exactly is that supposed to mean Jules?”

“Well I’m not in the best of financial situations at the moment, so I’m not going to get my own place, I’m going to be flatting”

“With who?” she enquired

“I don’t exactly know” I replied

“Oh great” she chuckled sarcastically “Tell me Jules do you ever plan out anything?”

“Oh, Shut up you’re making it sound worse than it is” I replied

“When you picked me up, late may I add, from the airport on Friday I had time to go through the paper and I found this flat mate wanted ad so I called the number and the guy I spoke to told me about the place and I said it sounded perfect, so he told me I could move in as early as Sunday if I wanted, so yes I do have this planned out , I just don’t actually know specifically who I will be staying with…so would you just get off of my case”.

“Alright point taken” she said rather taken aback.

“How come?” Jess asked.

“Well the place I’m moving into is already furnished and you know that big duffel bag that I brought with me - she nodded - well its got all of my stuff in it , everything that was too big to fit in there, I sold”.

“Well that makes sense now, and here I was thinking you were just being a drama queen with that huge bag, if that’s the case then I’ll take you around first thing tomorrow, before I go in to work”.

“You work on a Sunday as well? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“I need to go in to make up for missing work today” she said

“Jess, you were at a funeral and It‘s a Saturday”

“Yeah but that doesn’t change the amount of work I need to get through alright…so just drop it would you”

“ Okay fine” I replied

As soon as we got back to Jess’ place, I went straight to the guest room and

gathered all my shit together, making sure I hadn't left anything lying around

so I’d be ready in the morning.

No doubt knowing Jess we’d probably have to leave at five a.m.

When I climbed into bed that night I stared out the window at the starless sky and realized, I was back again, home in Jersey, the place I had never wanted to return to,

But for some reason was irresistibly drawn to.