CHAPTER 12
Months passed of touring and soon Kayla's seventeenth birthday came around. Mikey kept his mouth shut when it came to Kayla's parents, and her birthday just sort of came and went as Gee's did. Kayla didn't really mind. Gee wished her a happy birthday, so at least he didn't forget or anything. They just had other things to do. One day, in August, four months after Kayla's seventieth and Gerard's thirtieth, he asked the bus driver to stop in the middle of a small town. Gerard had been looking out the window at the passing stores and just suddenly yelled
"Stop the bus!" he jumped up and told the bus driver to wait. He ran right into a store that Kayla couldn't see the sign for and wondered what on earth he could be doing. About ten minutes later he came back on the bus, a slight bulge in his pocket.
"What was that all about Gee?" asked Bob, one eyebrow raised.
"Nothing. Nothing at all." said Gee, sitting down and pushing the bulge farther down into his jeans.
Over the next few weeks that bulge rarely left Gerard's pocket. Sometimes Kayla would catch Gerard looking at her, lost in thought, his hand in his pocket. Kayla wondered what it could possibly be. One day they were all really bored, so they sat around the table and played truth or dare. So far the dares/truths were as such:
-Mikey made out with Frank
-Ray body-slammed Gerard
-Kayla punched Bob
-Gerard sucked Frank's toes
-Bob attempted to play guitar
Then finally Mikey got to ask Kayla.
"Okay Kayla truth or dare?" he asked.
"...Truth." said Kayla, afraid of a dare as gross as Gerard's last one. Everybody went "Awww! Pansy! " and Mikey stopped them.
"Fine." he stopped and thought of a good question. Then he smiled and asked "How 'EXPERIENCED' are you and you know what I mean." he said. Kayla rolled her eyes and said
"Do I honestly have to answer that?" she looked at Mikey with an exasperated smile.
"YES!" he answered. "Because otherwise you have to take the dare!" Kayla clicked her tongue
"FINE. If you honestly have to know...I'm a virgin...perv." she added. Everyone sort of stayed quiet then Frank said smiling
"GEEEEEEEEE! Kayla's a virgin! Fix it!" Kayla leaned over and punched Frank in the arm. Gerard went very red, which surprised Kayla. She wasn't embarrassed at all really. She wished Frank hadn't said it, but she didn't really care. Then Gerard blurted out
"I wanna ask Kayla a dare." he spoke very spastically, like the words didn't want to come out. "Dare from me Kayla?' he said, a little more steadily. Kayla was concerned and said
"Yeah Gee okay. What dare?" he came over to where she was sitting and finally pulled the bulge out of his pocket. It was so small she couldn't see it from being balled up in his fist. He knelt down in front of Kayla and her jaw dropped. He's not...No way...he can't be! She thought to herself. But the more she tried to convince herself he wasn't, the more it seemed that he was. Mikey, Bob, Ray, and Frank were beginning to realize what was going on as well and seemed twice as shocked as Kayla was. Then Gerard spoke.
"Kayla, it's been almost two years since we first came and got you, and ever since we did, I've been riding on a cloud. That's all thanks to you. Ever since the day you told me you loved me, I knew you were perfect. They way you talk, the way you smile, the way you walk, the way you think. I love you for all of it, everything you do. I never want to run the risk of losing you. It seems like no matter what I ever do, its always enough to make you happy, so I'm going to do more than enough right now. Kayla, truth or dare?" Kayla still wasn't sure she understood what was going on, but she said
"Dare..." and he opened the box in his hand. Inside was a ring with a silver band, a diamond was set perfectly, wrapped in small tendrils of silver that held it to the band. The silver tendrils would around the top of the ring and wound together in tight knots across the band.
"Kayla Jean Rogers...I dare you to marry me." he said, his Adam's apple bobbing like crazy. Is he fighting back tears? Oh my god he is! she thought to herself. Then she realized she had to answer him. She smiled and fought back tears of her own, but they spilled foreword anyway as she said
"Yes. Yes Gerard Way I will marry you." she closed her eyes as he pulled the ring out of the box and slipped it onto her finger. It fit her perfectly. She held it up to the light and watched the diamond glitter for a moment. Then she looked down at Gerard, still kneeling there like he was stuck. She knelt down next to him and kissed him hard. They just knelt on the floor like that, and then someone started to clap. Kayla wasn't sure, but she thought it was Bob. Then the other three joined in and they were lost in a sea of hugs and congratulations. But Kayla wouldn't let go. She was realizing that now she never had to let go. She was always going to be with Gerard, no matter what happened, she would always be with him.