"I'll be the ghost inside your head when we are through..." the distortion behind the melody drove me insane, scratching at the inside of my head to relieve the brain itch from pleasure.
Gerard's airy, haunting vocals streamed through my head in a haze of grey smoke, drifted off the fog of a graveyard. I felt my fingers utterly thrumming with the urge to join the tune with my own guitar perched on my lap, but Gerard has done so well that I wouldn't know what to offer the track. "I'll say, hello,hello..." I actually yelled out loud at that, prompting Gerard to cackle from his seat in the home office next to mine.
"So, you like it?"
"Holy fuck Gerard, yes I like it! This is amazing, how the hell do you shit out gold like this?"
He modestly raised his shoulders and blushed, grinning as he said "Aw, Frank, please, my ego... it's becoming dangerously inflated."
"Well you deserve it, man." I looked over at my old friend, the age lines in his face, his greying, longer hair that Lyndsey had lovingly plaited into two French braids on either side of his head. The messy braids brushed his collar bones, hidden under about 6 layers of cardigans, scarves, t shirts and what I thought was just a scrap of fabric, safety-pinned to the outside of an old jacket.
Gerard beamed, and opened his mouth to reply before the keurig dinged, and he jumped up to busy himself with our coffee cups. I wondered what he saw when he looked at me. I had the same creases in my skin as he did, I knew that. My hair had started to thin a bit as I reached forty, but other than that I was hard pressed to spot the signs of aging in myself.
The day was dark and wet, drizzling rain early in the morning left a dew on the ground that shone like tiny pearls on the grass. Looking out the bay window I caught sight of a few early trick-or-treaters, mostly young kids and their parents scrambling to keep up. I smiled, knowing that in just a few short hours, Jai and I would be getting the girls and Miles into their costumes.
Setting a steaming mug in front of me, and breaking my train of though, Gerard affectionately cupped the back of my neck, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of my head. "Happy birthday, Frankie. I missed you." I sighed, leaning back into the warm pressure of Gerard's palm. "I know, Gee. I missed you, too." Turning my face up to look at him, I couldn't help but grin when I saw the fake vampire teeth he'd slipped in while making coffee. "Happy Halloween, Gerard."
"Happy Halloween, Frankie."
I know this is weird and rambling and short, but I wrote this while I was super stoned, so that's the explanation...just some bois having music and coffee fun on a grey day.
