Dark Places

         "Let's go camping!", he said "It'll be fun!", he said. And that's how I ended up aimlessly roaming the woods with some kid I barely knew who was suddenly in my band. I trusted him though, somehow; and it was hard to say no to him, like he was a helpless little boy who you just wanted to listen to and protect.

It was easy to see how the little kid analogy stuck into my mind. His name was Frank Iero and he was my rhythm guitarist. He was about 4 foot 9 inches tall and had messy, unkempt hair (though it was pretty short) and still had that hint of a spark in his big, green eyes left over from the innocence of childhood. I always envied that about him, the fact that with all the shit in the world he could keep pieces of his childhood within him and prevent himself from growing up too fast like I had to that one day in September…

I would tell you a little background about that day, but it's still just too painful to talk about, besides I assume you already know the events of that day. As I was saying, the original plan was for the whole band to come out together, but Mikey had to work, Ray had plans, and Matt- well to tell you the truth, I don't know him that well. So it was just Frank and I for an entire weekend.

Why I agreed to this I myself couldn't even decipher. Nevertheless, I followed my acquaintance into the woods, trekking into the unknown regions of the state of New Jersey. As we walked, I learned many things about him (mainly because his mouth runs a mile a minute) and after a while my meds kicked in and I was opening up to him. I told him everything I knew about myself; my hobbies, potent memories from my childhood, and such. As if he wasn't already all "buddy-buddy" with everyone, he became even more comfortable around me, starting to share some deeper things. He told me about why he became a musician and about how tough things at his schools were growing up, I started to trust him more like a friend should trust someone.

As we came close to a river, I began to realize how dark it was getting and spoke up, unfortunately interrupting a touching story about his first puppy, "Hey uh Frank… where are we…?" He climbed up on a rock to get a better view, unfortunately only getting his eye level a little higher than over my head. He smirked down at me, laughing a bit when he replied, "Hmm… You know I'm not quite sure Gee!" Damn that smirk! I was happy it was dark because I think I blushed a little when I saw it.

Even if I found him adorable in any way, I was still a bit irritated with him, "Well that's just perfect, Frank. Now we're lost in the fucking forest. All alone with no way to contact anybody. What the hell are we gonna do?!?" The words didn't all come out of annoyance though, I was truthfully panicking internally. I knew I wanted to die soon, but not like this!

He hopped off of the rock and landed on a smaller one so he was at eye level with me and said, "I think I have an idea of what we can do…" the tone of his voice was way different than what I expected, it was almost… sexual. He continued to talk as he slowly got closer to me, "And hey, I thought you liked dark places"

He was so close to me that it should've been uncomfortable. I kept telling myself "MOVE YOUR FEET AWAY FROM HIM NOW!!!" to stop the churning in my stomach and the hairs from standing up on the back of my neck. I couldn't move though, it was a sensation that I hadn't felt in my entire life. Just the feel of his breath on my face in the two seconds when he was talking to me from that distance made my cheeks redden instantly. I whispered to him, his mouth mere millimeters from me, "F-Frank?" And then there was a jolting electric shock down my spine when his lips found their way to mine and I could feel his arms around me, keeping me warm in the cold night.

There was a catch in my throat and my eyes opened wide with the reality as I instinctively brought my pale hands up to run through his short, brown locks of hair. My heart beat faster and I didn't know what was running through my head, but it felt too good to care if it was a bad decision or not. As he was about to break away I pushed back with my lips in hope of gaining a few more seconds of whatever bliss I was in. After I had accomplished that task, I finally let him go and shot my eyes to my feet, waiting for the scolding to begin, knowing that it would somehow be my fault as it always is.

His breathing was heavy, almost heavier than mine, if that's possible. I braced myself for hurtful words and tears when he breathed out, "Wow, that was-" I cut him off, "I know I'm sorry Frank!" He continued as if he hadn't heard my insanity, "-fucking fantastic!" Before I knew it, he was kissing me again and I was the most confused person on the planet.

This time though, he seemed to know I wasn't going to reject him, so he gave himself some freedom, pushing my back to a tree and keeping his hands wrapped around my hips. The sensation of his teeth scraping on my bottom lip gave me no choice but to open my mouth and compete with his tongue for dominance. I gasped as he licked my sensitive tooth, a pleasurable pain drawing a loud groan out of the back of my throat as it shot tingling waves through my body. I had to break away from him again and breathe, leaning back on the tree and letting him rest his face on my chest.

I placed my head on his shoulders, drinking in his somehow pleasant scent of cigarette smoke, pine needles (from when he fell into a bush earlier), and a little bit of sweat. I heard the distant sorrowful sound of a lone wolf howling and whispered to Frank, "Hey, we need to find somewhere to set up camp for the night" He started giggling, "Gerard, I just realized… I know EXACTLY where we are!" It was quiet for a moment except for the steady chirping of crickets, then we both laughed simultaneously and I followed him to a nearby clearing.

It was too dark to set up a tent, so we built a small fire and set down sleeping bags. We spent the night bonding as friends and as… more than friends; stuffing our faces with oversized marshmallows and making up campfire songs. When the night died down and we decided to try and sleep, Frank said to me in a pouty voice, "Hey Gee, I'm cold over here do you think I could come sleep with you?" "Are you serious?", I thought to myself, "After the night I've had with you you're gonna ASK to come into my sleeping bag?!?!" Instead I replied, opening the top of the bag enough for him to enter, "Come on Frankie, you don't have to ask!"

He crawled out of his as quickly as possible and slipped into mine, snuggling up to me and whispering, "I love you, Gee" He nuzzled his nose into my neck and gave my shoulder a kiss goodnight, sighing before he closed his eyes. I put my arms around him in a protective manner and whispered back to him, "Sweet dreams, love" I rested my face into his warm, soft hair and closed my eyes for the best sleep I'd had since September…