I Never Told You What I Did for a Living

"Hey!" Josh greeted me as I walked in Natalie's front door. His face fell slightly when he saw that the friends I'd brought from back home were two guys. He obviously knew that one of them was my boyfriend.

"Whoa," Mikey muttered in awe as he followed me inside. "Nice place."

"Thanks," Natalie grinned in embarassment. "I'll be sure to tell my mother you like it."

"Kevin and Angela should be here anytime," Josh gave a feeble attempt at a conversation starter.

I nodded, and the three of us sat on a white leather couch. It wasn't long before the door opened behind us, and I turned to see the twins enter the house. Kevin shot me a dark look when he saw that I'd followed through with my plan. I was suddenly terrified of what was about to happen.

"This is Gerard and Mikey," I introduced.

Angela, who hadn't been paying much attention, froze at the names. She spun around from where she'd been hanging up her sweater and her jaw dropped when she saw them.

"Mikey?" she whispered in disbelief.

He smirked awkwardly. "Angela. What a surprise."

"What are you doing here?"

"My good friend Lily asked me to come for a visit and then invited me to a movie night," he answered simply.

"Yeah, but how do you know her?"

"My brother's dating her. She lived with me for awhile."

"She... when?"

"Not too long ago. Right before she moved here."

"And neither of us... I can't believe you're here!" a wide grin lit up her face and her eyes sparkled. She hurried over and pulled him into a hug. "I missed you so much!"

"Yeah, it's been awhile," Mikey seemed slightly uncomfortable in her grasp. "How have you been?"

"Fine. You still with the girl you left me for?" she tried to make her voice sound light, but there was a dark note to it.

"I didn't leave you for a girl. I didn't cheat on you. I lied."

Natalie, Josh, and Kevin made a break for it. None of them wanted to be involved, and I watched as they slipped through the door to the basement. Gerard and I stayed, not really knowing what to do.

"Why would you lie about something like that?"

"You needed a fresh start. I was helping you out."

"I didn't need that kind of help. I needed you there for me," she sounded betrayed, and I felt for her.

"You weren't moving on."

"I didn't want to! You think that saying you cheated on me helped me move on?"

"Well, it was easier than telling you that you needed to let go."

"I never moved on, okay? I always had hope that you would realize your mistake and come back. I couldn't get over you."

I suddenly didn't want to be there. It was getting way too personal, and Gerard and I were out of place. I took his hand and we stepped outside.

"You okay?" he asked when I shut the door behind us.

"I didn't feel right listening to her pour her heart out to him," I admitted.

He nodded. "Yeah, me either."

"Will we ever end up like that?"

He shook his head. "You've only got a couple of months before graduation. We'll be okay."

I smiled. "You're right. I'm worried over nothing."

He kissed my forehead. "You worry a lot over nothing. I love you, and two months apart isn't going to change that."

"I love you, too."

"Think they're done with the mushy stuff in there?"

"I don't know. You want to see?"

We opened the door a crack and listened.

"We've been apart a long time," Mikey was saying. "It's way past time to move on."

"Then why did you come here?"

"Because Lily asked me to. I already told you she's my friend."

"Yeah, well I'm starting to wonder if I can consider her a friend anymore. She obviously knew about this."

"Yeah, so did I."

"And you still came?" there was a hopeful edge in her voice.

"So I could give you closure. I did love you, I really did. But that was a long time ago. I need you to move on, Angela. Don't blame Lily, she didn't know why I agreed to come. Just please accept that we're over."

There was a long moment of silence, and eventually Mikey joined us outside.

"Let's get out of here."