Another Way (Rated-X...I swear)

Ok...this fic is kinda my version of a 'f*ck you' to Lissy (who I do love...don't get me wrong) She thinks I can't write smut...so...this will prove one of us right...and hopefully it will be me.

This is the story that my mind writes everytime I listen to "I Don't Love You". This also paints Mikey as a jerk...and many don't...cause really he is just too goofy to be a big jerk. In this one...big jerk-E-ness.


Also...I think this will be my first story with nothing psychological, magical, or relating to 1984 (which kinda ties in with psychological crap at times)...I am kinda impressed.

A.N. As I typed this post...Lissy told me that I won't be writing smut...that I can't. Just wanted you to know.
**********
Mikey stumped up the final stairs to his apartment, feeling the alcohol in his blood stream flowing sleepily around. He had a nice buzz going, and he was feeling pretty good about himself. All evening he and his buddy, Frank, had been hanging at their usual dive, and he was doing what had become his usual thing over the past few weeks or months. He never knew...time flys when you're fucking around after all. Parts of him felt sore…used, but he liked it. Not just that, he loved that raw feeling...that delicious soreness that let him know that come tomorrow he’d still be feeling tonight. The feeling of being ol’ ‘Love ‘em and Leave ‘em Mikey Way’. His brother constantly warned him about how what he was doing was wrong, that he or someone else would end up getting hurt, but what did he know? It’s not like he had any tail anyway…he was just jealous. Gerard was such a geek at times it was ridiculous.
Frank though, he was a good one to go to clubs with. He stuck to girls that were at least six inches shorter than him. His girl at the moment was a good head shorter, but still had a nice little body. Jamia was a good one to hang with. She was a very short, but very tasty little treat of a woman. Some guys had all the luck…but Mikey was not without his own brand of luck. After all, he had been with two very tasty ladies of his own that night. They had been sad for their night to be over, they didn’t mind sharing after all. He took their numbers…never knew when they’d come in handy again.
As Mikey approached his apartment door, fumbling for his keys and giggling a little bit, it was jerked rudely open. Standing before him was a young woman, her eyes burning hotly at him and her face (normally a creamy pale peach color) was blotchy with anger.
“Where the hell were you,” she asked, not stepping aside for him to enter.
“Out. Ya know…with Frank. What’s it matter to you Jazzy?”
She let out a harsh laugh, “what’s it matter to me huh? Don’t suppose you know what today is do you Michael? And don’t you dare ‘Jazzy’ me! My name is Jezebel and you know it!”
Mikey frowned thoughtfully as he looked into the apartment. It was decorated with many candles that seemed to have been burning a long time. Their kitchen table was set with a special dinner, sushi and meso soup. Even Jezebel was dressed up in a short silk black kimono. Mikey’s eyes connected with her’s again as he pushed his way into the apartment.
“Dunno Jazzy dear…birthday?”
Jezebel let out a frustrated groan as he walked past the table.
“No you heartless bastard…it’s our fucking one year anniversary!”
Mikey let out a laugh, “wow…you keep track of that shit?”
Another yell reached his ears as the dish of meso soup whizzed past his head, smashing against the wall. Mikey whirled around on her, grabbing her by her wrist and pulling her closer to him. He gave her a little shake, her kimono pulling loose to reveal more of the swell of her soft breasts.
“What the hell was that Jazz? You could have hit me!”
Jezebel looked at him with maddened eyes, her chest rising and falling as she panted. “I won’t miss next time Michael! I swear I won’t.”
With her other hand she smacked and scratched at his face, trying to get away. He spun quickly about and slammed her against the wall that still had soup and bits of glass sliding down it. He looked her over, chest rising and falling quickly, eyes wide with hurt and shock, her hands pinned above her head against the wall totally at his mercy. He was just now remembering how pretty she still was. Even more so when she was angry, and angry sex was always his favorite. He moved in to kiss her exposed throat, a drunken smile on his lips. He felt her struggling against his arms, trying to break his grip on her to no avail.
“Lemme go Michael!”
“Come on Jazzy…you know you want it too.”
His hand made quick work of the kimono, pulling it open and brushing his one of his rough palms across her firm breasts as the other held her hands tightly over her head. He pocketed the sash of her kimono, keeping it to play with in the bedroom later.
“Michael,” she half moaned through clinched teeth as his hand slipped lower into the waistband of her lacy black panties and began to stroke across her sensitive clit. His mind already wandering to what they could be doing in the bedroom. His pants were getting uncomfortably tight.
“Michael…fucking let me go!”
Mikey stopped for a moment, he was ready to go again. The two girls from before were not enough it seemed, he needed Jezebel…and fast.
“What…what is so fucking important that you want me to stop now Jazz?”
Jezebel let out a bitter laugh, “what’s so important is that, while I was waiting for you I got a call from one of your friends.”
Mikey sighed, he thought that it was from her doctor. They had already had a scare once…no need for another.
“Who called? Ray? Robert?”
Gerard? He might…he might and that would just ruin everything.
“I believe she said her name was ‘Amber’.”
Amber…Mikey remembered her well. She was last weekend…and that Wednesday too. Nice body, great face, long black hair and stunning blue eyes. When she was cumming everyone in the city probably knew. They had used her apartment both times…he was tired of the fuck smell in his car.
“What did she want?”
Jezebel looked at him, a shocked expression on her face.
“Fuck Mikey! What did she want? Well, first off she was not pleased that you already had a girlfriend, she was kinda shocked. Seems that you are picking up girls every other night. Then she wanted to know where you were. God, I was to stunned to tell her that I didn’t know! What were you thinking…what were you doing?”
Mikey smirked a little, letting her go and stepping back. Sex seemed to be taking a rare backseat. “What’s it matter to you? You’re the one I live with and support, so deal with it.”
“Support, who the hell do you support?” Jezebel screamed as she pulled her kimono tightly around her, “I have the job, I pay the rent, I get the apartment!”
Mikey laughed, “get? Who’s getting anything?”
It was her turn to smirk, “I get the apartment. I already arranged it and signed the papers. Since I pay the rent now, the apartment is in my name alone. So I get it.”
Mikey frowned a little, “wh-what…what are you talking about Jazzy babe?”
“I’m talking about you leaving Mike and me staying and us both moving on.”
Mikey laughed at her and kept laughing until he saw the seriousness in her face.
“Y-you’re kidding? Y-you gotta be!”
Jezebel left the room in a flurry of silken cloth only to return a moment later with a large packed bag.
“Here,” she said, handing it to him as she took the sash to her kimono from his pocket. “Take your shit and leave. I’ll box the rest up later for you, just get out now Michael.”
She then led him to the door and pushed him out. Mikey looked from the bag in his hand to his half naked girlfriend, “Jazz…”
*Pow* Her fist hit across his cheek with a powerful blow. “Jezebel…I am Jezebel. You lost your chance to call me Jazz or any other pet names when you started fucking around! I mean…after all this time that you still owe…after all everything I’ve done for you, you're still the good-for-nothing…I don’t know. I…I can’t even think about it anymore Mike. So take your shit and get out…get out while you can…before I have to call the cops.”
She then slammed the door and locked him out. Mikey, once he realized the apartment lock was already changed, then spent the next two minuets swearing at the door, calling her every name he could think of. He threw his bag at the door, banged on it, everything to try to get inside. After that, in desperation, he scratched several of the words he had been screaming into the wood of the door before leaving to go to the one place he might be welcomed at this time of night…he was not looking forward to it either.

You call that X-rated? it's Barely an R...Good try though!

A for effort Zomb... its a big step!!

but anyway, HA... stupid mike... he thinks he'd be able to keep that up and stay with her?!

*pfft* idiot

...see what I mean...

So...anger and depression had led me to update this again instead of crying, which I really feel like doing...ya know? Maybe not...

Eh...anyway...if you have a negative comment *cough* Lissy *cough cough* please say something positive too...even if it is a fluff comment like, "you have pretty hair". Negative Nellies cause me to not want to update...whatever.

a.n. All sound board comments/actions have happened to me...so there.

************
Jezebel sank to the floor as she heard the man she had once loved banging on her front door, yelling at her. Calling her everything from, ‘whore’ to ‘cock sucker’ and everything in between. She only stayed to listen to some of them. She had a long day ahead of her. The whole apartment felt dirty, hell with Mikey fucking around it was filthy, and she was going to clean it from top to bottom in the morning. Now though, now she needed a shower.
Jezebel slowly padded her way to the shower, grabbing a towel from the closet after she started the hot water flowing. She shut the bathroom door, successfully blocking out Mikey’s screams with her clever use of running water and thick bathroom door. She looked herself over in the mirror, seeing her dark tear swollen eyes and her puffy cheeks that sat above her slightly kiss bruised lips. She felt the prickle of tears again, but did not want to watch herself crying over her loss of him. Instead she tore off her clothes and climbed into the shower to let the warm water wash away her tears.
Mikey had not always been that way. In fact he was very sweet and charming at first, and it seemed like he was after her like dog with a bone. She had met him at a club where she was working the board for a local band. The band was ok, but she made them sound great…at least that’s what someone had told her. She had been dressed in a t-shirt of some older band, The Who or maybe someone as recent as Queen, tight jeans and a knit hat over her hair, her hoodie lying over her chair. Even though it was hot in the club with all the body heat, but the end of October was frigid here and she was not being caught unawares. As she was trying to get the lead guitarists attention to tell him to turn his monitor down without totally embarrassing him she noticed someone was standing beside her…looking at her. A frown creased her brow, it was not like she had not been stared at in clubs before. Especially when she use to wear low cut tops and her hair in something else beside a sloppy knot at her neck. Now a days though it had be come a little rarer. The change would normally have been welcome, she did miss the attention and her ability to be the ‘sound girl that got away’, but the guitarist was being a total prick and she was in no mood to deal with this. Just as Jezebel let out her final frustrated sigh, more a soft scream maybe, the guy had walked over to her small sound booth.
“Hey,” he opened with, looking smooth and casual. She hated that kind of fake attitude. She jumped up and pushed past him, toward the dance floor and the stage beyond where the lead singer of the band was bullshitting about who and how he wrote the next song. When she made it to the stage she pulled herself up instead of taking the stairs. The lead looked her over, thinking she was a crazy fan, and was about to make his way over to her, when she shoved him out of the way and moved toward the guitarist’s amp where she abruptly turned it to half power.
“What the hell are you doing,” the guitarists growled as she walked toward the edge of the stage.
“My job. I make shitheads like you sound good. Now, leave it at half, or I cut your sound. These fuckers will probably thank me if I do.”
The guitarist seemed to want to fight, but the look in her eyes must have spoke volumes and he backed off.
As she jumped off the stage and walked back toward her booth she heard a small chorus of voices, some cheering, others were jeering. She did not care, she had done what had to be done.
When she came to her booth the guy was still there. She paused for a moment, confused as to why he was there.
“Um…lost,” she asked honestly as she pushed past him to get to the booth, fully prepared to drop the guitarist’s sound.
“No…impressed to be honest.”
Jezebel had arched her brow at him, but did not change her gaze from the stage.
“Why?”
The guy leaned in the table at the booth, toying with one of the pens on her desk with which she normally writes notes to herself…sometimes on herself.
“Dunno…you don’t look that tough ya know. Kinda pretty.”
She had laughed at him, right out loud where she was sure that everyone had heard her. Her? Pretty? With her beat up jeans, trashed Chuck Taylor’s, and old band tee? She was pretty? She laughed again.
He moved further over, taking a chair with him and sitting next to her before she noticed he had.
“Your laugh helps too…kinda low and sexy.”
That grabbed Jezebel’s attention and she turned to look at him.
“Look buddy…I don’t know what you think I do with these bands, but its just sound. I don’t give like…blow jobs or anything in their van. So if you are looking for that…”
It was his turn to laugh, a dry laugh that sounded like he had been in too many smoky bars in his lifetime.
“No. I did not see you as that type. You look too innocent for that kinda stuff. Probably someone would ask you and you would not know what it was.”
Jezebel’s nose turned up at that. She did not like the fact that he was speculating about her sex life…or the lack of one. Not that it was his business.
“And now I offended you didn’t I.”
“No,” Jezebel had said breezily, but she secretly wanted the show to end soon.
“Sorry…can I start over. Please?”
Jezebel looked over at him, seeing his sad eyes magnified by his glasses. She sighed and nodded. The rest of the show she only half paid attention as she bullshitted with the guy next to her. After the show they had a drink together, nothing big and she ordered and handled her own drink.
After the drinks she excused herself and thanked him for the evening.
“It was…different.”
The guy had smiled, but as she walked away he grabbed her arm.
“Wait…what’s your name?”
She had forgotten to tell him, but he had not shared his either.
“You first,” she said, pulling away.
“I am Michael James Way, but everyone calls me Mikey.”
Jezebel smiled slyly, “well, its nice to meet ya Mikey, but I play heard to get.”
She then had promptly left him standing there and left without another word. The next day she had regretted not giving out her number, but her friend/roommate Jamia had only let out a disappointed sigh before telling her that she was not completely hopeless.
“I have you a date for tonight’s party,” Jamia had said with a wide smile. Jezebel had groaned, knowing Jamia’s taste in boys differed from her own. Her own boyfriend was just the littlest bit creepy at times, and when she heard that it was one of Frank’s friends she flat out said no.
“No! Jamia, Frank is good for you, but he gives me the creeps.”
“Trust me, this guy is super sweet!”
Jezebel did not trust her, but she still put on her costume (an angel…a play on her name) and went with Jamia to the party. When they got there the birthday boy seemed to already be on his way to a being a glowingly happy drunk and the boy at his right hand looked…but it couldn’t be…
“Ok Jazz,” Jamia had said with a smile, leading her over to her boyfriend (the Frankenstein to her Bride of…) and her blind date. “This is your date. His name is…”
“Mikey,” Jezebel said softly, feeling embarrassed. Maybe he did not remember her from the night before…didn’t regret losing her.
“The guy from last night!!!” Jamia said with a wide grin that only made Jezebel blush more.
Mikey looked at her with a smile, “so…this is hard to get?”
“Not as such,” she had muttered, leading him away from Frank and Jamia and toward a dark corner.
“Jazz,” he asked.
“No costume,” she remarked, looking at his tight jeans and hoodie.
“You first,” he said with a smile.
She had looked doubtful, but sighed, “nickname…real name is Jezebel. Costume is kinda a play on the opposite of my name…bible stuff.”
“Raised Catholic…so I know that shit.”
Jezebel had laughed, easing into conversation with him…leaning against the wall and allowing him to lean over her.
“And the costume?”
Mikey had scoffed, “I still have a week till Halloween. This early party stuff is bullshit.”
He had blushed, realizing that he had swore…a lot around her, but she had not minded. They had stayed together that evening, she even had him take her home and they shared a warm and desperate kiss in the car before she left, not wanting to get too carried away. She wasn’t Jamia, who was staying at Frank’s thank God, after all.
That had been their first date…their first kiss…their first…their first.
Jezebel turned off the water and halfway toweled off before she slipped into a t-shirt and walked with heavy limbs to the couch. She was giving the bed a cleaning tomorrow, and until then she was not touching it. Before long, her tears sent her into a fitful sleep.

This was VERY GOOD! and that is not me just being nice.


I am VERY impressed. ...and Bram says you DO have nice hair...

*WARNING*

There will be fucking!

(XP...that's for you Lissy)
...love ya Lis...

- - - -
Mikey woke up with a groan. Horrible sunlight was waking him mush to early as it began penetrating his room. That, of course, was a relative term. It was actually Gerard’s room that he had stolen. When he had come to Gerard’s apartment, close to three in the morning angry and drunk, Gerard had not been pleased. He had told him he could stay in the spare room once Mikey had finally told him about how his bitchy girlfriend had dumped him (“for no fucking reason”). When Mikey saw the spare room though, filled will multiple sketchbooks, easels with paintings, art and music magazines, he scoffed and promptly kicked Gerard out of his room while he was in the kitchen grumbling about something stupid.
Gerard, in the morning (afternoon actually), had not been pleased. That had prompted such rules as ‘be awake by noon’ and ‘clean your shit up’. Mikey had ignored most of these so far, seeing as how at the moment he had just awoken at one in the afternoon, and it had not resulted in anything bad. He thought that was mainly because he had told his mother about his ‘hard breakup’, and his mother had threatened Gerard to treat him well or else.
Mikey turned himself over as he thought over the last two weeks. It had been about two weeks since Jazz and he had split, and for him it had not been bad. He’d been able to play the part of the ‘broken hearted’ guy whose girl was a whore who had left him for another man, or maybe she had died…depended on his mood. He knew that, during the day, Frank sometimes did prank calls to Jazz’s phone or bugged her at the club, but what did he care? Hell, he would ask him to do more, but he was too busy on the glorious rebound to care at the moment. Frank had alerted him that he was not allowed in the club, but he did not mind. The music was shit there anyway.
As he sat there, trying to get back to sleep, his mind unwillingly went back to Jezebel. Jezebel and the club, a lot of their first dates had been in the club after she did sound for a band. He would hang with her at the booth, then the two of them would either get a drink there or join Jamia and Frank for a late dinner at some other dive. Their first ‘actual’ date had been about a month into their dating. He had taken her to see some corny horror movie that had kept Jezebel gripping his arm all night. Half way through it, as Jezebel buried her face in the side of his neck to keep from seeing some kind of gory scene, Mikey had taken her face in his hand and pressed a warm kiss against her lips. When he pulled back he did not bother looking at her face, but instead wrapped an arm around her shoulders and held her tighter to him. Before long the two of them were locked in a tight embrace, the movie completely forgotten. By the end of the credits, they had missed the end of the movie and only came up for air when the lights came up in the theatre, their lips were bruised and slightly tingling. Mikey walked her to the car, seeing her flushed cheeks and bruised lips radiating in the moonlight, and began driving her toward her house when he slowed the car a bit.
“Hey Jazz,” he had said smoothly, “you have not seen my place yet…how about we both go in for a cup of coffee or something.”
Jezebel had looked over at him, her eyes wide as she licked her lips nervously, “well…I guess…sounds like fun.”
Mikey had placed a warm hand on her upper thigh, “it will be. I promise.”
By the time they reached the apartment the two of them are all over one another again. Jezebel’s hands were in his hair and her lips were pressed roughly against his as he fumbled with the door’s lock. As the door crashes open he and Jezebel didn’t take a second look around and he lead them toward the living room, easily tipping Jezebel over one of the arms of the couch and landing half on top of her. She had let out a soft, gruff, sexy laugh as he whispered to her “welcome to my humble abode”.
He had then blazed a hot trail from her warm soft lips and down her throat while she had gasped softly above him, her cool hands pressed under his t-shirt and against his too hot skin. Slowly he had pressed one of his hands underneath her shirt, cupping one of her firm breasts under her bra. She had groaned his name softly, maybe even said something else, but he did not hear it. He silenced her with a kiss as his hands began unbuttoning her pants. She moaned into his mouth, trying to pull away as he shoved the pants down far enough to begin tugging down her panties.
“Mikey,” she had gasped softly, her breath smelling of bubble gum and sugary soda. “What are you…”
Then she was gasping for breath again, pressing her fingers to her mouth, as his fingers brushed against her sensitive clitoris. Then her hand was in his hair again, tugging slightly. He pulled himself away so he could take off his pants and he tore open her shirt and easily unclasped her bra so he could touch her soft breasts with his bare chest as he lay on top of her. He kicked Jezebel’s pants off the rest of the way as he positioned himself over her. Jezebel looked up at him, looking nervous.
“Mikes…I…I haven’t…”
Mikey had silenced her softly with a kiss as he eased down on and into her. He had heard Jezebel’s breathing grow tight as he rocked inside her. She was tight…really tight, and he heard her soft candy scented breath as he rocked harder…faster. Jezebel’s breaths were hitching, he felt her getting slightly tighter. He smiled against her collarbone as her arms crossed his back. He had shifted a bit, pressing sloppy kisses against her collar as he moved. He heard her squeak in pain as he felt something in her give way. But then movement was easier, and before long he was pushing himself towards his conclusion. As he felt the waves crashing over himself, he felt Jezebel’s breaths grow shaky. He held off for a moment, waiting for her. As she tightened around him, pressing her fingers to her lips to keep from making a sound except for a tiny squeak as he felt her cum around him, he had let go, collapsing against her.
After a moment of stillness, Mikey had pulled himself up and out. He pressed several kisses against Jezebel’s lips and face as he stood and turned on a light. He stretched, feeling a tingling in his body that had replaced the burning from his stomach. He then turned to Jezebel to see her, all of her there for him. When he saw the stains on his couch and Jezebel’s thighs he knew what the something that gave was and what Jezebel had been trying to say. He smiled at her as she wiped a few tears away while she sat up.
“Sorry,” she had muttered as Mikey had nuzzled his head against her neck. “I…I didn’t wanna cry. Not my first time.”
Mikey had taken the time to kiss her tears away back then, and helped her to the bed, but that seemed forever ago. Now a days…he would not have cared.
But what did not matter anymore, what did matter was closing the ‘Gerard opened’ blinds and getting more sleep. And that’s all he had planned to do.

Poor Jezz...I feel sorry for her.

But it DID hold my attention.

Gerard grumbled to himself as he poured himself a cup of coffee from the office pot. He was already sick of Mikey staying with him, but he did not see that ending anytime soon. It had been nearly three months since Jezebel and Mikey had split, nearly three months since she royally dumped him actually, and they had not been easy. Not with Mikey’s shit everywhere, him coming home drunk at the crack of dawn (sometimes not alone, and defiantly not quiet) and him taking over his own bedroom, leaving Gerard to the slightly more cramped guestroom. A guest in his own home…this was the worst.
Gerard stumped lazily toward his small office, coffee in hand, and began working on another sketch. It wasn’t much, but hopefully the show would be picked up and he would not have to spend too much more time in the cramped apartment with Mikey. But if it wasn’t, he always had comics to fall back on. As he sketched out the monkey’s left paw he saw a blinking on his cell phone, alerting him of a message. He slowly turned his seat, stretching a bit as he stood up and walked from the sketch easel to his small desk. He picked up his phone and looked to see that, as he had gotten his morning coffee, Mikey had called three times and left three separate messages. A light smile on his face, Gerard listened to the first message. It was just as he had suspected, Mikey calling him all sorts of interesting names because he had taken all the blinds and curtains off his windows. He listened through all the other messages, his phone playing them over the speaker. As the last one finished, with a prompt and slurry “your gonna pay Gee…fuck’n mean it”, another message began to play. An older one that he had forgotten to delete.
“Hey Gerard,” the soft familiar female voice said over his phone before he could stop it. He recognized it immediately as Jezebel’s. “Mikey and I are on our way to the house. I made a dessert, but do you need anything else? Call please if you do. You have my number right? I think you do, but if not call Mikey. We are already heading over so you will have to make it quick. See ya soon!”
Gerard got out of his messages then, trying to remember what that had been for. As he looked through his phone, seeing his missed calls from the past, he remembered that the two of them had come to a party his parents had thrown at house to for a small showing of his art that he had in the his old neighborhood’s art center. It had been a pretty big deal to everyone in his family, and Jezebel seemed interested in it if only for the sake of making nice with her boyfriend’s family. She had even sat with Mikey through a short lecture he had been forced to give on his opening night, filled with many ‘ums’ and ‘errs’, about his artwork and what made him draw. Jezebel had sat at full attention, her eyes wide and attentive and had even asked questions about some of his work.
That had been about a month before their breakup. Mikey had already been cheating then, and Gerard had known it, but he wanted to give him a chance to stop. After all, he had seemed to love Jezebel in the beginning. He wanted to give his little brother time to right himself, but he now realized how bad that could have been for Jezebel.
Gerard was still flipping through his phone, looking at his address book, when the idea hit him to call Jezebel. After all, the breakup had been hard on her too, and who knew if anyone had been nice enough to check on her or not. He was pretty sure she and Mikey had both lost friends in the break up, but it seemed like Mikey still had a lot of his friends. Gerard knew that he was not really the best candidate, being the brother of the ex, but it was still a nice gesture that he could extend. Righting the wrong of not telling her about Mikes when he had the chance. Sounded pretty good to him. He still thought about it, not wanting to get in her way if she was already past Mikey. She was pretty, she could already have another boyfriend for heaven’s sake. It took Gerard nearly two hours of drawing, smoking, and drinking coffee to convince himself that what he was doing was not stalker-ish. It was Mikey’s old girl, but she was available now, and anyway…he was only checking on her. How was that bad? Before better sense could stop him, Gerard keyed in her number on his lunch break and watched as the number was sent. As the phone began picking up rings, he placed it against his ear and held his breath.
Jezebel picked up on the third ring, “I swear to GOD Mikey, leave me the hell alone or I’m going to…”
“Jezebel,” Gerard squeaked at the harsh and barely familiar voice. “Um…I-its Gerard.”
The line was silent on the other end for a moment before she spoke again, her voice sounding a bit more measured.
“Gerard? W-what are you calling about?”
Suddenly Gerard couldn’t remember, he racked his brain trying to remember why on earth he had called Mikey’s ex of all the stupid things. He reached in his pocket automatically for a cigarette.
“Gerard,” her voice sounded tired but concerned, “are you ok? Do you need me to come and get you or something?”
Gerard cleared his throat, trying to think again. “Um…actually Jezebel I was, um, calling to tell you, well to ask you…are you doing ok?”
“Oh,” it was soft and a bit confused sounding, “um…I’m…ok.”
It sounded like a lie, and not a very good one. “I was just wondering, I mean…I have not heard from you and…I just thought you could use a friendly voice.”
“Friendly…ok…have you talked to Mikey lately? I mean…you know we are not together anymore, right?”
Gerard felt like laughing, but instead said, “yeah…I know that. He is with me now.”
“My condolences,” Jezebel said, a smile creeping into her voice that made Gerard’s heart skip a small beat and forced him to forge ahead.
“Listen Jezebel, if you are not busy tonight why don’t I, um, take you out for burgers or something? You sound like you could use it.”
The other side went quiet for a good two minuets, making Gerard think he had lost his connection.
“Jezebel?”
“I…I’m trying to figure out why…why you are doing this.”
“Doing what? Asking you to burgers?”
“No,” her voice was hushed, “being nice to me. I mean, I broke up with your brother and…it doesn’t not add up.”
Gerard frowned a bit, “just say yes Jezebel. You sound like you could use someone to talk to is all. I get off at around seven so if you want to go then we can…”
“No, I go in at six. I will be done by eight though, just one band on weeknights. Pick me up at the Knitting Factory, ok?”
Gerard wrote it on his hand with a pen from his jacket, “sure. Burgers sound ok?”
“Yeah, um…thanks Gerard. I…I guess I’ll see ya tonight.” She didn’t sound so sure that she would, it made him anxious.
“Yeah, I’ll be there at eight.”
Jezebel then mumbled a goodbye and hung up. Gerard felt a fist on anxiety weighing down on his stomach as he slipped his phone in his pocket and began smoking the rest of his mostly windswept cigarette. He was nervous about seeing Jezebel, though he was not sure why…maybe he was afraid that she’d punch him for not telling her about Mikey? Mostly though, he was pissed off that Mikey was still bothering Jezebel. The first words that Jezebel had spoken to him over the phone were proof enough of that. He needed to have a long talk with Mikey, though he was not sure how to even start that conversation. Somehow opening with, ‘I was talking to your ex the other day,’ did not sound like it was be conductive to having Mikey listen to him.
Still, the prospect of going on a sorta date (call it a half date) was pretty exciting, since the last time he had a girlfriend (a solid girlfriend) had been about two years ago. Not that Jezebel was anything near a girlfriend, ‘but,’ part of his brain interjected, ‘its not like she is dating someone.’
Gerard refused to follow that line of thinking, and tried to concentrate on drawing again, but his fingers were too fidgety. By the end of the day he was two panels behind, but he did not want to stay any longer. He drove home, changing from his semi-formal clothes from the office, to a pair of jeans and a hoodie with thick coat over it. He then started the twenty-minuet drive to the Knitting Factory, getting there with five minuets to spare. He pulled in front of the door, making sure that Jezebel would not miss his car.
He did not have long to wait for Jezebel to exit the club, looking over at his car like it was a ghost. Gerard was sure that his expression did not differ much. Jezebel looked…different. He had seen her fresh from the club before, but she had never looked like this. Her eyes were ringed with shadows, her face thin and pale. Her clothes, only a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a hoodie in the twenty degree weather, hung off of her awkwardly, as if she had lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time and had not had the money to get new clothes yet. His frown must have been obvious, because when Jezebel got in the car she let out a small laugh.
“That bad huh?”
Gerard did not know what to say, “I…you…its not…good.”
Jezebel tensed, and Gerard quickly pulled away before she could leave the car. Out of the corner of his eye Gerard watched as Jezebel settled back a little and relaxed. She kept looking around, as if she expected someone to jump out at her…maybe she did. At a stoplight Gerard nervously drummed on the steering wheel, trying not to notice how nice she smelled even though she had just come from a grungy dirty club.
“So…um…you sick?”
Gerard watched Jezebel’s head whip around as he began driving again.
“Yeah,” she said softly, “its called ‘Landlord Toro Thinks Its Funny To Double My Rent’.”
Gerard sighed, he had forgotten that Ray was the landlord of that building. He would defiantly not have given her the ‘friends discount’, but doubling it was a really low thing to do.
“I know I should leave,” she continues, “but I can’t bring myself to do it. It’s like they win if I do.”
Gerard felt sick to his stomach listening to her, “S-sorry Jezebel. Listen, I’ll pay tonight ok?”
He looked over to see Jezebel blushing, Gerard smiled, liking the way the blush on her cheeks made her look.
“Then I insist on buying. I will not take no for an answer young lady.”
Jezebel gave him a grateful smile, “thanks Gee. I’ll pay you back. I promise.”
He pulled into the Tick-Tock diner, a neighborhood favorite.
“This ok for you? Best burgers in town.”
She looked up at it, her eyes lit up with the signs glow.
“Yeah. How can anyone turn down the town’s best burgers? ”
Gerard turned off the ignition and got out of the car, moving to the other side of the car to help Jezebel out only to see that she was already closing the door. They walked inside and toward a booth that Gerard had claimed as his own since he was in high school. The diner was halfway busy, half the booths in the diner were filled with people. A fairly busy weeknight. It did not take them long to order, Gerard convincing Jezebel to get actual food rather than the grilled cheese she had been insisting on. When they had both ordered their burgers and fries, they sat in a semi-awkward silence. Gerard watched as Jezebel began to tap softly against the edge of the table in a quick rhythm. He thought about talking to her about bullshit, ‘how was the show’ ‘how about this crazy weather’, but decided that conversations like that would not help Jezebel and she looked like she needed someone to vent to.
“So,” Gerard said as their waitress brought them their food, “how have you been Jezebel?”
She looked up at him, slightly alarmed.
“I…I’ve been better. I mean…” She sighed and shrugged, as if that answered the question, and began dressing her burger.
Gerard sat, watching her as she concentrated entirely too much on her burger. Her hands shook slightly as she felt his eyes on her. Finally he reached across the table and took one of her hands in his.
“Jazz…please.”
She looked up into his eyes, her’s brimming with tears.
“What do you want me to say Gee? That my life has been hell since I broke up with Mikey? That no one has talked to me, except maybe a call from Frank to let me know what a bitch I am? Do you want to know how I’ve lost all my friends, because they have sided with Mikey? Even Jamia, and we were friends from fifth grade! Do you want to know all the disgusting things I’ve done to pay for the apartment? I have to work extra shifts and do things I’ve never thought I would.” Her cheeks turned pink, imagining what he thought she could mean, “I mean like clean bathrooms and stuff. Nothing...nothing like that.”
She then let out a scornful laugh before whispering, “I haven’t even got a rebound fuck.”
Gerard felt his face growing red as his pants tightened slightly. He shifted a bit, trying not to think about that…about being that fuck. He thanked God that she did not seem to notice.
“I’ve spent plenty of time thinking it over, trying to see when the exact moment it was that I royally screwed myself.” She left out a soft sigh before saying, “you think its cause I wouldn’t give him a blowjob?”
Gerard coughed up half his burger, trying to catch his breath. When he looked up he saw that Jezebel was serious.
“I…I don’t think…”
“I do,” she mumbled, “when he said for me to I…I dunno. Seemed funny, so I giggled.”
She laid her head down on the table in shame, “pretty stupid huh? He said I was that type from the start.”
Gerard looked down at her, hearing a few muffled sobs against the table. “I…its not your fault. I mean…Mikes…he can be a total asshole.”
Jezebel looked up, tears streaking her face, “but…he is your brother? Aren’t you supposed to be on his side…hate me?”
Gerard laughed, “knowing what I do about him I have to say I’m on your side.”
Jezebel’s eyes grew confused, because was he supposed to know about Mikey, but it passed as the waitress asked how they were doing. The rest of the night passed a bit easier. They stuck to safer topics like music, art, and horror movies. He was a bit surprised at her adoration of Japanese horror movies.
“Next time we get together I have one you gotta see,” Gerard said as they were leaving the diner.
Jezebel paused when they got to his car, “is there going to be a next time?”
He frowned at himself, he had gotten carried away. He was just a meal ticket tonight after all.
“Well…I…if you don’t want to,” he said as loftily as he could while he got in the car. As if her words didn’t cut him ever so slightly.
“I…I would not mind,” Jezebel said softly from next to him.
Gerard could not fight the grin that slipped across his face as he pulled into the parking lot of her apartment building.
“I’ll call ya Gee ok? And…um…thanks.”
Jezebel gave him a small smile as she left the car and entered the building. Gerard watched her apartment window, waiting to see the light come on. When it did, he slowly drove away.

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!

Here is a small update. I demand comments...I comment you guys.

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It was nearly a month before Gerard received a call. He was on his lunch break in his office, muttering to himself about late work and deadlines, when his phone went off. He grabbed it without looking, thinking that it was his partner for this project about to drop another deadline in his lap. He answered with a low grunting sound, trying to concentrate on fish gills, but the voice on the other end was defiantly not Joe’s.
“G-gerard? Is that you…hello?”
Gerard in a moment felt his mouth go dry as he tried to think of what he had just said into the phone. He prayed it was not some of the low swearing he had been doing all morning thinking of Joe Boyle and his tendency to drop deadlines in his lap mere hours before they were due.
“Gerard,” Jezebel’s voice pulled him back to his senses.
“O-oh hey Jazz…I…I didn’t know it was you. Um…how have you been?”
Jezebel laughed low into the phone, making Gerard have a slow heavy burn move through his stomach.
“I was hoping that grunt wasn’t for me, and um…better.”
The low, confidential tone of her voice was making the burn spread a little faster. He quickly rearranged himself to a better position in his seat.
“G-glad to hear it. I was wondering what happened to ya.”
It was the truth too. For a full week he waited for her call, then gave it up for lost. Like so many other relationships.
“Oh, um, sorry Gee. I got swamped at work, two other sound techs quit and I have had to cover their work,” she paused and sighed softly, “but that’s no excuse. Sorry Gerard, I just wanted to call when you and I could um…hang out or something.”
“Oh,” Gerard said, a small smile braving its way onto his face, “does that mean that we can hang out tonight?”
Jezebel sent another low laugh into the phone, “yeah. Why not come over after work, I’ll make the dinner, and you can bring that movie you were telling me about last time. We’ll make a night of it!”
“Sounds great,” Gerard said, trying to keep his enthusiasm in check, “I um…I will be by your place around eight…is that ok?”
“At eight,” Gerard swore he could hear the quick scratch of a pen on paper, “sounds great. Anything you can’t eat?”
“Um, not really…I don’t like celery though.”
Another low, gentle laugh, “I’ll keep it in mind. I’ll, um, see you tonight Gerard.”
“Y-yeah…tonight. See ya.”
Gerard waited until he was sure that she had hung up, then placed his phone back on his desk with a satisfied sigh and began working again, a smile plastered on his face. He was so happy in fact that when Joe came in with another frantic deadline, he hardly even noticed.

AWW I like the slow build of this story! It feels really Natural!

Little lame...but here's something at least.

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Jezebel was excited or nervous, perhaps a mix of the two. It had been a while since she had company over and even longer since it wasn’t someone Mikey invited, like Frank and Jamia. Hanging out with the two of them as they date is like watching porn in slow motion. Every moment they are not in bed, they seem to be thinking about what they could be doing in bed and giving each other the mental play-by-play, like eye humping. Jezebel could have sworn once that Jamia had let out a soft moan just because Frank had quirked an eyebrow at her. They also had a penchant for not waiting till home to fuck, but instead when the moment struck they found the nearest room (bathroom, kitchen, strategically placed closet) and commenced fucking. They also hated bedrooms, a plus in the case of a visit, but a negative when you walk in on it.
Yes, normal people…this is what she needed. And the fact that he was the brother of the guy she had last been dating was not bad, but maybe not completely normal. Still, he was closer than what she had been around. Somehow making friends with the guys at the bar doesn’t seem like her best bet. The bands think of her as a groupie, and the drunks just want a quick hand job, so there isn’t really room for a relationship even if she wanted one.
Not that she thought of Gerard that way, he was just a nice guy to hang around with. See a movie, go and eat, get out of the house for once and quit wasting away her life.
After hanging up and sticking her note on the refrigerator with a magnate, she rushed to her closet to pick out an outfit, only to find that none looked appropriate. They were either too casual or too dressy. She didn’t want to give the wrong impression with a skirt, but she didn’t want to be under dressed. What if he is wearing a nice shirt, he would feel awkward and she did not want that. Jezebel tried on ten different outfits, wanting the perfect look, though she wasn’t sure why she should be so awfully concerned. Perhaps it was the fact that she could hear the mental voice of her sister complaining that she was ‘never going to be a girl with a wardrobe like this’. She finally settled on a pair of tight jeans and her thermal shirt with a silver dragon painted on it and silver sequins. Classy, but not too much so. Just about right.
She then looked at the time, seeing that she had wasted about four hours since her two o’clock lunch call and she had not even started dinner.
Jezebel ran around the kitchen, gathering the ingredients for a quick supper of Fried Alfredo chicken lasagna, a recipe her mother had taught her as a kid and one that she always loved to fix. When she was through putting the ingredients together she opened her door, the oven while preheating having made the whole apartment near sweltering. That was one of the bad things about her cooking, the other was that her oven gave off an awful hum, so if Gerard had been knocking she wouldn’t have heard it.
When she saw that the hall was clear she went back to her lasagna putting it in the oven and setting her chicken shaped timer. She left it on the corner of the counter so she would hear it fall over the buzz of the oven since the ringing bell would be missed. As she was turning around, she came face to face with Gerard. She let out a frightened squeak before she could stop herself. Gerard gave her a guilty look.
“I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said above the buzz.
Jezebel held a finger up and grabbed her timer as she led him outside the apartment. She smiled at him once they were in the chilly hallway, glad to see that he hadn’t dressed up anymore than she had. Just a pair of pants and a hooded sweatshirt, tr’e casual.
“Sorry about the apartment. The oven has been busted for a while. Ray promises to fix it but…” she shrugged, softly bouncing on the balls of her feet.
“Oh…um…its ok. I, uh, was just admiring your door art before I came in.”
Jezebel looked behind her, seeing the words carved into the door. Everything someone, more than likely Frank, could think of to call her. She had replaced the door once, but the marks were back after her next concert…as if by magic. She attempted to paint it, but after two times painting it, and he still came back, she refused to acknowledge it.
“Yeah…its not a big deal. When they forget I am here I’ll paint over it again and be rid of it, but I’d rather just not give them the satisfaction anymore, ya know?”
Gerard’s lips pursed as his brow furrowed, probably trying to think of some way to get Mikey to stop.
“Don’t worry about it, ok,” she said with a smile, trying to keep his mind off of the door.
Gerard let out a soft sigh, “I…I could talk to him…”
“And say what,” she asked with a laugh, “that you were just swinging by my place for dinner and a movie and just happened to see my door?”
Two pink circles touched his cheeks, “I might think of a better story.”
“Its just not a big thing, ok? Don’t make waves Gerard.”
Gerard laughed a little and the expression, leaning on the wall next to her, “if you say so.”
“And I do Mr. Way.”
They both stood next to the door, listening to the slight tick of the tiny chicken timer in Jezebel’s closed hand until it finally went off after a few minutes.
“Supper’s on,” she said flashing a small smile as she went into the oven-heated apartment. For some reason she found that she was really glad that Gerard was here.

- -
Gerard frowned at the door as he walked back inside the apartment. Words such as ‘whore’, ‘bitch’ and even the hard ‘C’ (as his mother had always called it) glared angrily back at him. He quickly closed the door, not wanting Jezebel to have to see them anymore. Plus he was sure that if he had to see it anymore he might jump Mikey the next time he sees him.
So instead he watched as Jezebel played homemaker, turning off the oven and taking out what was inside it.
“I hope you like chicken,” she says as she sets it on the stove to cool. He looks over at it, seeing what looks like a weird casserole.
“What is it,” he asked as he helped her open some windows to let out the heat.
“Fried Alfredo chicken lasagna. My mama’s recipe, so it should be pretty good if I didn’t mess it up.”
She passes him some plates and offers him something to drink, he takes the plates and a coke and takes the lasagna to the table for her. She smiles at him, pressing some of her dark hair out of her face. Suddenly Gerard is wondering what her hair feels like, whether her fingers are hot or cold, what her eyes will look like when she gives him a smile that reaches them and doesn’t just stop at her lips, like she is afraid that he is about to pull the rug from under her.
She serves, laying it on his plate like a slice of cake. He takes it, allowing one of his fingers to brush against her’s, feeling its coolness under his warm hands. He chanced a glance at her, but attributed her blush to the remaining heat in the room. He then turned to his food, but as soon as his fork touches it creamy alfredo sauce begins seeping out, leaving a pool of warm cheese sauce for the slices of white bread she handed him.
“It’s a mix of southern and Italian, so enjoy.”
Gerard wondered if she knew that he was half-Italian, but she did date Mikey…so the answer was more than likely yes.
Jezebel watched him pensively as he brought a fork full of his first bite to his lips, seeming to hold her breath in anticipation. He flashed her a little smile before taking the bite, allowing the warm cheesy sauce to warm him all over. He let out a soft moan that caused Jezebel to let out one of her soft and somehow dirty laughs before digging into her own dinner. Gerard snuck a look at her, smiling as she popped a piece of chicken in her mouth before catching his stare.
“You like it?”
“Yeah,” Gerard smiled, “its wonderful”

AWWW these two are SOO cute!

I find myself actually hating Frankie in this!

okay im back now!!!!!! and AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW THEY'RE SO *CHOOOOOT*!!!!!

this is just wonderful, Zomb, absolutely great!!

...i'll buy her a new door... and a bouncer.