Liar (It Takes One to Know One)

The next morning, I awoke alone in the bed. My eyes felt like two rocks sitting over my cheekbones as I tried to focus them on something. I sat up and rubbed them, realizing they were slightly swollen from all the crying I had done the night before. Images came flooding back to me and I just leaned back on the headboard and closed my eyes. I sighed and thought about Adam and how shocked I had been over his maniacal behaviour. It was overwhelming. He was definitely, like his song said, an addict for dramatics and confused the two for love. I saw him being shot again, and I didn't feel like crying, to my surprise. I just felt this huge emptiness inside. Nothing so crazy had ever happened to me before, and I doubted it ever would again. I suddenly realized the bus was still traveling, and I wondered what Gerard was doing. I peeled myself out of the bed and got dressed. I peeked out the door to the bedroom and saw the guys in the living room. Gerard was coming out of the bathroom and saw me when he opened the door.

"Mornin'," he said with a smile.

"Hey," I said, my voice still raspy from all the screaming I had done.

"Want some coffee?" I nodded and padded into the kitchenette where he had gone. Ray was sitting at the small, fold up kitchen table playing his guitar. Mikey was lying on the sofa watching TV and Bob was reading a newspaper. I didn't see Frank, so I guessed he was still asleep. Gerard handed me a steaming mug and I added some cream and sugar to it. Gerard disappeared into the back bedroom so I followed him.

"Can I come in?" I asked, pushing the door open slightly.

"Sure," he said, as he walked around the bed making it up. I sat my coffee down and started helping him. When we finished, he sat on the foot of the bed and turned the TV on. I picked my coffee up again and sat next to him.

"Everything's been plastered all over the news all morning. Bob said it was in the paper too." I just shook my head and looked down at my mug.

"So what exactly happened? Do you know?" Part of me wanted to know and part of me didn't.

"Well, Adam and that roadie apparently got into a fight about Adam's monitors not sounding right during their show. The roadie tried to explain to Adam what was wrong and it just escalated until Adam pulled a pocket knife out and attacked the guy." I stared at the floor as Gerard spoke. I closed my eyes and felt a single tear fall down my cheek. I wiped it away quickly and willed myself not to get upset. There wasn't anything I could do now anyway, and crying wasn't going to rectify anything either.

"Do you know the guy's name?" I had no idea why I asked Gerard his name, but I felt I needed to know.

"Jeff London was his name." I sighed and took a sip of coffee. Gerard tuned into a local channel for the area we were passing through at the time and checked to see if they were talking about it too. Thankfully, there was just a talk show on.

"I don't wanna see anything about it Gerard. I experienced it. I think that's enough, don't you?" Gerard turned to look at me. He held an apologetic expression as he nodded silently.

"Why did you run outside last night?" He suddenly asked. I averted my eyes from his and bit my lip. I shook my head and shrugged.

"I don't even know. I really don't. Maybe I thought if I could find Adam, I could..." I trailed off. I really didn't know why and I regretted it fiercely. Gerard saw the pain in my eyes.

"It's okay. I'm not upset with you or anything." I looked up at him and nodded.

"Can I ask you something? Why did Frank say what he said about you should just send me home?" Gerard didn't like that I asked that at all. He sighed deeply and lay back on the bed.

"I don't know. But he hasn't said a word to me this morning. But I do know it was a real asshole thing to say. He just doesn't have any compassion I guess. I don't fucking know."

"Why did you hit him?" Gerard's eyes darted to mine suddenly. He looked confused as he sat up and stared at me.

"I thought you were passed out last night. How do you know all this stuff?" I rolled my eyes at him because it was obvious that I wasn't passed out.

"Well, because I wasn't out like you thought I was. How else would I know?" I sipped my coffee again and turned towards Gerard, bending my right knee up flat onto the bed. "You know, I can't really blame Frank for saying what he did because none of you know me and if I were any of you, I wouldn't want some estranged emo ex-girlfriend of my friend's with me while I was on tour. I've caused so much shit already and it's only been...what, two days?"

"You didn't cause what happened last night Jordyn. Adam did. You had nothing to do with any of it. Why can't you see that?" Gerard stood up in frustration and looked out the window. I stood up and went over to his side.

"I'm sorry, okay? I know I didn't make Adam kill that guy. But I do know that if I hadn't have caught him with that girl that none of this would have happened quite the way it did. You've gotta agree with me on that." Gerard looked at me, and his angry expression softened some.

"It's possible. But it happened the way it happened and we won't ever know what could have been because it's not going to repeat itself based on different circumstances." I sighed and sat back down on the bed, frustrated myself then.

"You're stubborn sometimes, you know that?" Gerard turned and looked down at me, but I wasn't looking at him. I was staring at my mug again.

"Yeah, so they tell me," he said, sitting down beside me. "But you are too." I looked at him and smirked. He cocked an eyebrow at me and gazed down at my lips.

"I know. Don't remind me please." Gerard couldn't help but snicker at my comment, and hearing him laugh actually made me smile too.

"So where the hell are we anyway?" I stood up and looked out the window myself.

"I don't know. It looks like the fucking desert to me."

"How come you don't know where you're supposed to perform next? I thought famous superstars kept up with shit like that."

"Pssh...Hell no. We've got people to do it for us silly." He furrowed his brows at me and smirked. Then he breathed on his fingernails and polished them conceitedly on his t-shirt and lay back on the bed on his elbows. I rolled my eyes and shook my head, giggling softly at his playfulness.

"You're full of it," I said, sitting down beside him and curling my feet up underneath me.

"Yeah, I know. Don't be hatin'." He threw a fake gang sign and puffed out his lips seductively like Vanilla Ice or someone. I rolled my eyes and turned my attention to the television. Maury was on, and the show's theme was "My Man Wears Women's Underwear and I Love It."

"Good lord," I moaned, reaching for the remote and flipping around until I found something better. I stopped on a local weather channel. The forecaster was talking about the high for Montgomery, Arkansas.

"Shit! We're in Arkansas?" Gerard said, sitting up and watching the weatherman.

"Apparently so. Does that ring a bell for any shows you're doing?" Gerard shook his head.

"Maybe we're just passing through then."

"Why don't you go out there and ask someone if they know where we're going? Or better yet, ask the driver."

"Okay. I'll be back." He got up and left the room. I shook my head in disbelief that he didn't know where we were going. But then again, with all the distracting events of the past 2 days, it was sort of understandable. In a minute, Gerard returned and closed the door behind him.

"We're going to Houston," he said triumphantly, sitting down beside me again.

"Ugh, more hot ass weather." I leaned against the headboard and crossed my arms over my chest. I liked the cold, staying true to my hometown weather. With cold weather, you can always stay warm by putting more clothing or blankets on, but with hot weather, you can only take so much off before being illegal in most areas. It was just a messier season. Sweatiness, smelliness and overheating were three very good words I associated with summer weather. It was just an all around shitty time of the year to me.

"Awww, it ain't so bad. You'll get used to it." I shook my head in disagreement.

"I'll never get used to smelling like the back alley of a gay workout gym. Never." Gerard burst out laughing at my analogy. His laugh was so awesome. I had to smile every time I heard it. There was always something about him that seemed to always cheer me up or make me feel better. I needed to be around him, especially at that time of my life.

"I'm hungry," he suddenly said, sitting up and turning towards me.

"Me too."

"Hey I know! Let's make the driver stop at McDonald's or something."

"Will he?" I had no clue.

"Oh hell yeah. I'll be back." He left again, only to return a moment later.

"What?" I asked, seeing his expression.

"He said no."

"What? He won't stop for food?" I stood up and went to the door.

"Where are you going?" Gerard asked.

"To make the driver stop," I said matter-of-factly, turning and walking out. I went up to the front and sat in the passenger seat.

"Hey there," I said, turning to the driver and putting on my best feminine wiles. He turned to look at me and his eyes grew big.

"Well...hey yourself cutie. What can I do for you?" He winked and looked me up and down. I didn't really like it because he was a sweaty, fat burly man with way too much body hair and he smelled like rotten celery.

"Me and the boys are really hungry and could really go for some Mickey D's. Do you think you could do me a little favor and stop at the next one we come to?" I batted my eyes and smiled sweetly. I even reached over and touched his ape-like arm and squeezed it gently. I immediately felt like I was going to get fleas or something. He smiled at me, and his teeth...well tooth...was green with rot and looked painful. I managed not to throw up on him as I winked and waggled my eyebrows at him.

"You got it babe. The next one I come to." He nodded, and as I thanked him and got up to walk away, he nearly broke his neck turning to look at my rear. I returned to the bedroom and closed the door. Gerard saw the disgusted look on my face and furrowed his brows.

"Didn't work for you either?"

"Oh no. It worked. We're stopping at the next McDonald's. It's just..." I wrinkled my nose and frowned, "he smelled like rotten fucking celery or something." I shivered as I thought about the guy again. Gerard giggled and fell back on the bed. He laughed louder and I stood there with my hands on my hips. He looked up at me and saw my frown.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Come here." He sat up and opened his arms to me.

"Oh hell no! I just got the guy to do what you couldn't get him to and now you laugh at me." I crossed my arms over my chest and play-pouted. Gerard tried really hard to stifle his laughter. I sat on the bed and hunkered down on myself, my lower lip sticking out as far as I could make it. I probably looked like Bubba from "Forrest Gump."

"Aww, poor baby." Gerard put his arm around my shoulders and hugged me. I attacked, and furiously began tickling his sides. He jumped and shrieked as he backed up onto the bed to get away from me. I started laughing as I chased him up to the pillows, where I attacked him again, this time keeping him from stopping me by sitting on his chest and pinning his arms down to his sides. He yelled and cussed and laughed as he tried to wriggle free.

"Revenge is sweet. Sound familiar?" I said, giggling as I got the best of him good. He gaped open his mouth in surprise that I had even remembered him saying that to me two days before.

"Yeah, but I haven't even gotten revenge on you for pushing me down yet. You have to wait for someone to do it to you before doing it back."

"Does that apply to everything?" I asked slyly.

"For the most part, yes."

"Okay. I'll remember that then. So watch your back." I got off of him and sat on the bed. He sat up and straightened his t-shirt out. He looked over at me with a twinkle of payback in his eyes. He even gauged the distance between us like he was about to pounce on me.

"Don't even think about it Buster." I evil-eyed him and he just sat back and thought twice about what he was about to do. The bus' airbrakes sounded just then, and we felt the bus slowing.

"We must be exiting the highway to go to a McDonald's," I said, getting up and looking out the window. Gerard looked out the other window at our surroundings.

"Yeah, I see the sign from here," he said. He turned and looked at me. I turned and headed for the door. He followed me out into the living room, where we told the guys what was going on.

"I'm taking orders if anyone wants anything," I volunteered, looking between them all and waiting for them to tell me something. One by one they spoke, until I had in my head what everyone wanted. Frank was still not up, so I turned to Gerard to see what he wanted to do.

"Do you know what Frank might want or do you wanna go wake him up?"

"Umm, hang on. I'll wake him up." He went back to Frank's bunk and woke him to ask what he wanted. He came back and told me what he'd said.

"He doesn't want anything and wants us all to leave him the fuck alone." Gerard shrugged and looked at me. I just shook my head and looked down.

"You coming with me?" I asked, walking over to the door as the bus came to a complete stop.

"Yeah," Gerard said, following me outside.

"What the fuck is Frank's problem? I just don't get it."

"That makes two of us," Gerard said, holding the door for me as we walked into the restaurant. I ordered our meals, paid, and stood off to the side to wait. When we had everything and had made sure it was all there, we headed back to the bus to eat. The driver hardly waited for us to sit down before getting back on the road. I guess he just wanted to get the hell to Texas as fast as he could and I really couldn't blame him much.