You are now officially a Way.

I drop my bag and hug Gerard more tightly than I've ever hugged anyone before. I've waited six years for this. Thirteen, really, but before I was seven and put up for adoption I never thought things would change. I may have had a pinch of hope in that naive little brain of mine, maybe.

After that I move on to Mikey, "Can I- um- hug?"

"Bring it in, Kid." People have called me Kid before, but it's been more like a "Move out of the way, Kid!" or, "You're just a stupid kid!" But it's different when he says it. He's not looking down on me (other than the fact that I am 5'2"). He's just talking to me like... like a parental figure would, I guess?

"What's going on, Eve?" Rosa's little voice comes down the hall to the front door where we're standing, hugging.

I pull away from Mikey, "Come here, Rosie," I say softly, wrapping her small body into a hug.

"Are you leaving, Eve?" She asks, sounding on the verge of tears. My heart breaks. I hadn't thought about this part of leaving: saying goodbye.

I put my hands on her shoulders, her brilliant blue eyes stare into mine. "Yeah, Rosie, I... I got adopted." As good as it felt to say that out loud for the first time, I couldn't help but feel sad. Two years is kind of a long time. I've read countless bedtime stories to this girl, bandaged Micah's knees even more times.

She hugs me again, "I don't want you to go, Eve," she whispers.

"I know, Rosie," I whisper back. "But it's all gonna be okay. You'll get a new home some day soon, too. Let me hear you say it, alright? It's all gonna be okay."

"...It's all gonna be okay."

"That's right," I nod.

When Rosa lets go, I turn around and see Gerard absolutely beaming at me. He picks up my bag. "You ready, Kiddo?" He asks, still smiling widely.

"Wait, I gotta find Micah." I go up to his room and knock on the door. He opens it and pulls me into a bone-crushing hug before I can even say a word.

"I'll miss you, Eve," he says. "This is the only time you'll ever see me being emotional, so never forget this moment."

I laugh, "Never. See ya, Micah. I'll miss you too." He shuts his bedroom door as quickly as he opened it and I go back downstairs. "I'm ready now, Gerard."

• • •

The walk to Gerard's house wasn't too bad, but I could tell he and Mikey were regretting the whole "all black" look. It was getting late in the afternoon, but the sun was still beating down on us. They were basically panting by the time we got to our destination.

"Here we are, Evelyn. Home, sweet home." He unlocks the front door and lets me go in first. The first thing I notice is the dark aesthetic of the place with frames covering the walls. Posters of different bands, artwork, albums. I like this place already.

I always love seeing inside someone's home. It's interesting to see if it reflects their personality, if it was obviously decorated by someone else, or maybe it'll just look like a generic stock photo of the inside of a house. When I have my own home I'd like high ceilings and lots of windows to let sunlight in. The most important detail would be a library, though; Beauty and the Beast style. Yes, I've thought a lot about this.

"She looks kind of in awe." I hear Mikey say.

"What do you think, then?" Gerard asks me.

"This is- wow. I mean, um- I'm so bad at words! This is great! It's great." I sigh, looking around one more time.

He laughs, "I'm glad you like it."

"Gee, should we show Evelyn her bedroom now?" Mikey asks. He doesn't seem to talk as much as his brother, but he's pretty chill. I like him.

"Oh yeah, the room! Come on, Evelyn, follow me." Gerard tells me. He's still carrying my bag as he leads me up a grand staircase. Okay, I don't really know what a grand staircase is or what one would look like, but this seems pretty grand, so let's pretend I'm right. "Aaand, here we are. You may do the honours."

I open a plain white door on the second floor, not expecting anything extravagant at all. Boy, was I wrong. This guy went all out for me and then some. Firstly, the bed is huge. A queen size, I think. The bedspread is black and white striped with a yellow accent pillow which matches the curtains. There's a fluffy black rug covering the floor, a desk in the corner, and there's a bookshelf. A floor to ceiling bookshelf.

"What the Hell!?" Is all I can think to say upon seeing it all.

"Don't you like it?" Gerard asks, slightly worried.

"I love it! This is, like, the best bedroom I've ever seen! And... you got my favourite colours right? Black and yellow, how'd you know?"

"Mrs. Miller told me over e-mail a couple weeks ago. I'm glad you like it, though! Do you know how hard it is to find a pillow and curtains in the exact same shade?"

"Hard, I'm guessing?"

"More like impossible, I'd say!" Mikey cuts in. "I had to listen to this guy complain about it for a week."

"Still worth it," Gerard replies, nodding approvingly at his own work. "I did a pretty great job."

I validate him with another hug. I've never hugged someone so many times in one day before.

"We'll let you unpack, okay? Also, I invited Frank and Ray to come over tonight to meet you, but they said they wanted you to get settled in first so we're all going to get together here tomorrow for pizza or something, alright?"

"Sounds good." I say, like a liar.

• • •

Word count: 1006

they're home! wooo!