Glades and Playgrounds

“Hi Donna!” mom said happily, giving a blonde woman a one-armed hug.

“Hi Linda!” the woman, Donna, responded, “And this must be your son?”

“Yeah,” mom said, giving me an unnoticeable push forward. “This is Frank”

“Hey…” I said and Donna shook my outstretched hand. She looked kinda old, like grandma with her scrawny hands and white/blonde hair.

“Nice to finally meet you Frank, your mother talks a lot about you”

“I know. She always talks too much” I laughed, earning another push from mom, this with the intent of making me shut up.

“Well, don’t you just stand there, come in, come in!” Donna exclaimed, suddenly realizing we were still standing in the threshold. Nervously, I stepped inside, remembering that Donna had two sons and I hoped they weren’t assholes who’d just mock me.

The house was smaller than ours, which I found kinda weird since we’re just two, and this household had four persons. There was a small kitchen with a small kitchen table pressed up under the window with view over the garden outside, a lounge room with a corner-couch and an armchair standing in front of a small coffee table. The bottom floor went in the colors yellow, white and grey and all in all, it looked really cosy. Opposite of the kitchen entrance was a closed door with a chain lock hanging from the handle without really locking it; it looked like it was just there as decoration.

“You’re a fucking pain in the ass, Mikey!” a deep, but still slightly nasal voice rung through the house and Donna froze in the hallway, rolling her eyes before stepping over to the foot of the stairs that led up to the second floor.

“Mom!” another voice yelled, but this one didn’t sound irritated, more amused. “Help, Gerard says he’s gonna kill me!”

“Mikey, just get down here and leave your brother alone” Donna called up the stairs, sighing as there was a loud thump and a groan. “Boys!”

“Oww, you fucking broke my leg!”

“Too fucking bad, I warned you! Now, do what mom says; fuck off!”

“I’m so sorry about those two…” Donna sighed, gesturing at the second floor. “They usually get along, but they’ve always had the fantastic talent of fighting when we’re having guests over”

“It’s okay, Frankie can talk ‘em out of it” mom said, smiling at me.

“What?” I asked, terrified at the mere thought of going upstairs. “I can?”

“Of course, honey… Go” she said, pushing me in towards the stairs, but before she could actually force me to go up, a black figure came rushing down, almost knocking mom over as it sprinted on to the lounge room.

“Mikey!” Donna yelled, “Come back here right this second!”

The figure slowly emerged from the lounge room and as soon as our eyes met, I knew who he was.

“You!” I exclaimed, earning some surprised looks from our moms.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

“Do you know each other?” mom asked, but we shook our heads.

“We’ve just met at a playground a couple of times…” the boy answered.

“Oh, well in that case, Frank, this is Mikey, my youngest son” Donna introduced us, smiling. “I think you’re in the same age… Fourteen, am I right?”

“Yeah” I said, nodding at her.

“Why don’t you two go and sit down in the living room while Linda and I’ll make some coffee?” Donna said, gesturing at the lounge room but then she shook her head, “No wait, Mikey, first you’re gonna explain what that was all about…”

“What?” Mikey asked innocently.

“Your little row with your brother, young man”

“Oh…” Mikey said, still looking innocent, “Well… he… erm… I…”

“Micheal” Donna said warningly, raising her eyebrows.

“Alright, alright! I was bored and took it out on him” Mikey said in a monotone voice, as if he had used that sentence a lot. “Won’t happen again”

“I doubt it” Donna sighed, “So sorry about this…” she apologized to mom and me before once again gesturing at the lounge room. “You boys can go and get to know each other and Mikey, if Gerard comes down, I swear to god I’ll make sure I only have one son in the end of the day if you piss him off…”

“Mom, don’t kill Gerard, he’s pretty cool when he’s not a total maniac” Mikey smirked, and mocked a look of terror as Donna raised her hand threatfully like she was about to slap him, but Mikey jumped away, laughing at her mocked stern face. “I love you too mom”

She sighed helplessly before walking into the kitchen with my mom behind her and I looked at Mikey. He shrugged and went into the lounge room and I followed.

“What was your name again?” Mikey asked curiously as he plonked down on a cream-coloured couch.

“Frank” I answered, “But everyone calls me Frankie”

“Cool,” he said and the room fell silent, with only the laughter from our moms to be heard. I looked around and noticed that the room wasn’t that small now when you actually were in it, but still way too small for a family of four.

“Yo shitface” Mikey grinned and at first I thought he was talking to me when I heard footsteps behind me. “What’s up?”

“The roof, you moron” the deep, nasal voice answered. I wanted to turn around and see who it was, but thought it would look too stupid so instead I pretended my fingernails were the most interesting view I’d ever seen. “And stop saying ‘yo’ all the time”

Mikey shrugged, getting up from the couch and looked at the unknown person behind me.

“Mom’s friend is here again, and this is her son, Frank” he said, gesturing at me. That was my chance of finally turning around, so I did and saw a boy who must’ve been a bit older than me with black hair and a mischievous look in his eyes.

“Hey, I’m Gerard” he said, smiling as he walked up to me, reaching out his hand. He had this weird way of walking, or not weird, but there was something about it that made me look at his hips.

“I’m Frank, as you know” I responded, taking his outstretched hand in mine. “So you’re Mikey’s brother?”

“Sadly, yes” both Gerard and Mikey said, making both of them laugh. They didn’t seem too aggressive around each other as I had thought, seeing as the first impression of them had been pretty bad.

“And speaking of you, Mikey, mom said that you’re gonna get your ass upstairs and fix my doorknob that you broke, or else she’ll take away your straightener”

“Bastard…” Mikey muttered, but obeyed and left the room. I looked at Gerard, who gave me a quick glance before speaking.

“So… How old are you?”

“Fourteen, like Mikey. You?”

“Sixteen” he smiled and that glimpse of mischievousness that had disappeared when he was talking to Mikey came back when he looked at me. “How long have you been living here?”

“For er… two weeks” I told him, “Or something like that”

“Too bad I haven’t seen you around before…” he said, smiling as he gazed at me intently. Okay, weird feeling rising in my chest… Pleasant feeling, that is.

“Yeah, sure is...” I said, gazing back at him. He was really cute, I had to admit that. I had no idea if he was flirting with me or not, but it sure as hell felt like it.

“Are you flirting with me?” he asked, as if he was reading my thoughts, leaning back in the couch, and smirked at me. “Because if you are, what are you doing this Friday?”

“Uhm…” I said, pretending to remember if I had any plans, but actually, my head was spinning. I’m being asked out by a guy… This is pretty cool… You are supposed to experiment in my age… I think… “Nothing too important”

“Wanna go see a movie?”

“Like a date?” I asked, smiling as he nodded, “Sure”

“Great. We’ll meet outside the cinema around… eight?”

“Not to seem spoiled, but could you like… pick me up at my house?” I asked, laughing, “I don’t even know what street I’m living on, so I’m pretty sure I don’t know where the cinema’s at”

“Sure… Frank” he smiled, then we were interrupted by a loud bang from upstairs. Gerard closed his eyes, clenching his teeth as he was counting down silently in his head to calm himself down. He opened his eyes, looking at me apologetically as he got up from the couch.

“Excuse me, but I have to er-… beat up my brother” he said, running up the stairs. Feeling that my work here was done, I went out into the kitchen, said good bye to Donna and went home.

[A/N I hate myself for writing this chapter. It's shit. XD]