Old Flames Die Hard

Two weeks after that night at Order to Chaos, Gerard got a call from Brian, MCR’s manager. “Hey Gerard, there’s someone that wants to meet up with you to talk. Do you have time today to go over to the Starbucks and meet them for coffee? Say around 4?”

“Ummm, sure,” Gerard replied, “Brian who am I meeting? Is it someone I know?”

“They didn’t want me to tell you who it was, but they said that it was really important and you’d want to hear what they said. I know it sounds strange, but I know the person Gee…you’ll be fine.”

“Fine Brian, but how will I know who I’m supposed to be looking for? What if I get there after them and don’t know who I’m supposed to sit with?”

“Gerard stop worrying, they know who you are and what you look like…don’t worry about getting there late or after them or whatever…they’ll come to you. Just be there around 4 today okay?”
“Alright,” Gerard replied before hanging up. He sighed as he looked at the clock and realized it was already 2 in the afternoon. He hadn’t showered in a few days, doing nothing but watching movies and hanging out with the guys, so he decided that he should at least look presentable for whoever wanted to see him so badly, and hopped into the shower. As the water washed him clean, he began to think about all the people that may want to see him, but not want him to know who it was before he got there. He wondered if maybe Brian was tricking him into a last minute interview or a meet and greet for a contest winner. He was beginning to dread going to meet the mystery person. He got out of the shower and dressed in black tight pants, black Green Day shirt, and black hoodie. He swiped on a bit of eyeliner just in case the person did end up to be a reporter who wanted to take a few pictures as well, before heading out the door telling Mikey he didn’t know when he’d be back but that he’d be at Starbucks meeting someone for Brian.

When Gerard got there he ordered a coffee before sitting down at a table that was close to the door so that whoever was looking for him could find him easily when they walked in. He himself got lost in his own thoughts as he waited for the person to arrive. About 10 minutes after he sat down, the mystery person arrived and sat down across from Gerard at the table. Gerard, who had been thinking about a new song he had heard, didn’t even notice the person sit down until they said “Hey stranger.”

Gerard looked up and found himself staring straight into Bert’s eyes. He was in shock. Bert, who had left him crying and broken on the floor of a rock club two weeks earlier, had called Brian to trick Gerard into meeting him. He couldn’t believe Brian would do this to him. Brian knew what Bert had said about Gerard, knew that Gerard had cried himself to sleep for months after the break up, and about the incident in the club. Gerard felt like running away, but was stopped when he heard Bert sigh and say “I’m sorry, for everything.”

Gerard couldn’t believe his ears. “What,” he said quietly trying to hold back the tears.

“I said I’m sorry, for everything I’ve done to you, said to you and about you. I was so confused back then. When you got clean, we went from spending almost every day together, to only seeing each other every few days. I was hurt, not because you got clean but because I wasn’t seeing my boyfriend as much. It felt like you were avoiding me. Then when you said those things about never getting to be successful unless you became sober, I felt like you were trying to force me to give up partying. It felt like you were telling me it was either you or the booze. I freaked out. I loved you so much, but I wasn’t going to change who I was to keep my boyfriend. I am who I am and felt that if you didn’t love who I was or what I was doing, then I should just walk away; so I did. I lashed out at you in any way I thought I could. I stopped calling you, stopped answering questions about you guys in interviews unless I said something hurtful about you, and then when we finally got to do our record I wrote all the hatred I was feeling towards you into the songs. You know all this. What you don’t know is that I was hiding all the pain I was feeling over the loss of you with the hatred. I missed you like crazy some nights and would wake up crying because I felt so alone, so when you came up on the stage at the club, I was shocked, but a part of me was happy to see you again because I had missed you so much. Of course I couldn’t tell you this because I was supposed to be pissed off at you, so I told you all the hurtful things I had thought about you in the past 3 years, but left out all the stuff about me missing you and wishing you were still my boyfriend. I thought that if I hid that part, and just let you continue thinking that I hated you, then we could both finally move on with our lives and get over each other. But when you told me that you had never meant to lose me, and that you still loved me…I was in shock. I couldn’t believe that you still loved me even after all the things I’d said about you. I was so confused about how I actually felt that I needed to get away so I could clear my head and think everything through. Did I really want to open up that part of my life again, could we get past everything that had happened and be friends again? I didn’t know that night, but now I do. Gerard, we can get through this, I know we can. I want to be with you again. We’ve lost so much time being stupid. We were so good together; I know we can be great again. Please Gerard, please take me back. I promise that if something like this ever happens again I’ll stick around long enough to hear the explanation before I freak out and ruin everything. I promise I’ll be better, please, just say yes, please.”

Gerard couldn’t move. Bert, who had devoted the past 3 years of his life to hating Gerard, and taking every chance he could to say something hateful about him, was sitting across the table from him begging for Gerard to take him back. For a brief moment he thought he was on some kind of sick reality show and at any moment Bert was going to start laughing and tell him it was all a joke and that he still hated him as much as ever. What the hell was he supposed to tell Bert? Sure he’d said he’d give anything to have Bert back, to be talking with him again, but now that the opportunity was right there in front of him, he wasn’t sure. Was he ready to let Bert back in? Was he up to a relationship right now, especially with the one person in the world who had hurt him the most? His head was heavy with all these thoughts. Bert just sat there looking on the verge of tears, so pathetic and lost, but so sure he wanted Gerard back. Gerard marveled at how quickly his younger friend’s feelings could change. What happened if Bert found another reason to hate Gerard, where would that leave him? Gerard thought a bit longer before reaching a conclusion. He took a deep breath, looked up and braced himself for Bert’s reaction, before answering the fellow vocalist’s question.

A/N: okay please don't hate me for yet another cliff-hanger...but i'm tired and I want to keep you guys coming back for more!! Thank you sooo much to my reviewers for all the kind words and enthusiasm. You guys are amazing and I'm still amazed at how fast this story took off....170 some hits in two days...THAT'S AWESOME!! don't worry...direct continuation to follow...maybe tomorrow...we'll see.