A Taste of Peppermint

“She’ll be here in a while,” Bob told us right after he had hung up.

“Great,” I said smiling causing Frank to quirk an eyebrow at me.

He folded his arms, creating a distance between us.

“Yeah, because you like her so much,” he muttered silently, not looking at me.

“I heard you.”

“Good.” With that he walked off and I once again found myself glaring at his disappearing frame.

“What’s up with you two, man?” Ray asked me, also staring after Frank.

I pressed my fingertips to my lips and sighed through my nose.

“Nothing really,” I said, removing my hand before I spoke. “I got upset with him for leaving Mikey here alone.”

Ray laughed at me.

“Well, Frank’s not a nanny. He really doesn’t have any responsibility regarding Mikey. He’s your friend, not a baby-sitter. Seriously,” Ray said with a shake of his head, still snickering.

I didn’t answer him. I didn’t even bother looking at him.

“In any case you too need to kiss and make up soon,” he said in a more serious tone of voice. “We still have songs left to tweak and record. You two can’t fall out right now, Gee.”

“I’m not gonna apologize,” I sulked. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other when Ray wouldn’t stop staring at me. “Well, I’m not!”

“You better do something though ‘cuz-.“ He let the sentence remain unfinished and raised his eyebrows at me, giving me a knowing look.

“I was gonna talk to him,” I defended myself making an irregular, rotating gesture with one of my hands.

“Alright.”

“But now Randi’s coming over and all,” I said innocently.

“Yeah, what a perfect timing,” Ray said.

I shrugged my shoulders and walked away.

To pass time I ended up in my room, drawing. Everything turned out as random things and I didn’t really concentrate on what I was doing. That was until I started sketching on a face realizing that it belonged to Frank. I looked at the slovenly drafted features and made a grimace thinking to myself that Ray was right. It definitely wasn’t the right time for one of Frank’s and my childish disputes. None the less I ripped the sketch out, crumpled it up and threw it away.

Seconds after there was a knock on the door and Mikey’s head popped up.

“Randi is here now,” he informed me with a little smile.

When I headed down the stairs I heard voices at the front door. I stopped for a moment, listening.

“Hi again, Randi.” It was Bob’s voice.

“So, uh, this is where you live?” Randi asked and I assumed she was talking to Bob.

“No, the guys and I are just staying here while making our new album,” Bob replied. “We live in New Jersey.”

“Oh.”

“Well,” Bob said, probably making a welcoming gesture. “Come on in.”

A smirk swept across my face momentarily.

”Let the game begin.”

I continued down the stairs to join the others. I found them in the living room and Bob where just about to introduce Randi to the rest of the guys when I walked in.

“Hi,” Bob said, turning towards me, ”you’re just on time.”

“Hello Randi.” I nodded in her direction as I placed myself beside my brother on the couch, crossing my legs at the knee.

“Anyway,” Bob started. “The ones you haven’t met is Mikey Way, Gerard’s brother.” Mikey flashed her an insecure smile and received a similar in return. “And Ray Toro.”

Ray, who had remained standing, held out his hand. She gave him an odd look and took it almost hesitatingly as if she wasn’t accustomed to polite manners. He didn’t seem to notice it however as he smiled, shaking her hand firmly.

“Eh, nice to meet you all,” she said after letting go of Ray’s hand and I noticed that her eyes were almost fixed on the floor when she spook.

She then looked around almost insecurely while biting slightly on her bottom lip.

“I didn’t really expect to meet you all like this,” she confessed, her gaze sweeping from face to face hastily before she lowered it once more. “Bob didn’t mention-. I guess I figured I’d pay him a visit, see how he lived and have a coffee or something.”

“Do we weird you out?” Frank asked her with a small smile playing on his lips.

“No, just the situation,” she replied, this time making eye contact. “Especially since I’m the only girl.”

“Oh, don’t worry! You’re not the only girl,” he snickered. “Right, Mikey?”

He turned to Mikey with a broad smile and a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. My brother just rolled his eyes and offered a wry smile in response.

“Alright then,” she said sounding slightly amused. “You’ll look after me, Mikey?”

“He can’t even look after himself,” Ray said and we all laughed. Or, they laughed, I giggled and mentally slapped myself for sounding like a schoolgirl, hoping Randi hadn’t noticed. But judging from that gleam in her eye it was probably too much to hope for.

“Okay, but I’m sure you’ll take good care of me, Bob.” Randi turned towards her old friend.

“Don’t count on it,” he replied.

“What kind of a friend are you?” she asked, hitting him on the arm jokingly.

I noticed that she had relaxed somewhat and that her eyes wasn’t fixed on the floor for very long anymore. She still looked a tad uncomfortable however and I didn’t blame her; who wouldn’t feel awkward in a similar situation? And of course I loved every second of it.

My eyes were fixed on her face, never looking away. A small smile played on my lips and I knew that there was a mix of amusement and trickiness gracing my features. I tapped my index finger lightly against my bottom lip while observing her, noticing how it made her shift uneasily.

“I’d make a better friend!” Frank exclaimed and bounced up from where he was sitting on the other side of Mikey.

In two steps he had reached her and with a light bow he offered her his arm with a playful smile which he tried to fight. She quirked and eyebrow at him.

“C’mon, I’ll give you a tour of the house,” he explained. “Since Bob is a doofus and the rest of the guys are just hopeless in general.”

She gave him a bewildered look and he leaned in a bit.

“They have no manners, you see,” he whispered with a hand held in front of his face, purposely talking loud enough for all to hear.

“And you do?” Ray laughed, putting words to what we all were thinking.

“I’m the one who offered to escort her, wasn’t I?” Frank pointed out. “Milady?”

He offered her his arm again and this time she took it with an entertained grin.

“This way!” he exclaimed excitingly as he started to walk.

The smile slipped of my face as I watched them stroll away and instead I gritted my teeth.

Randi threw an insecure glance at Bob over her shoulder. With a smile he moved from his spot and quickly caught up with them. After some hesitation Ray decided to join them leaving only me and my brother in the living room.

I glanced at Mikey who was looking at his hands that was placed on his knees.

“You’re not going with them?” I asked but he shook his head.

“It’d be too weird.”

“You’re just shy,” I smiled. “Admit.”

“And you’re mean,” he stated.

With a sigh I let my head fall onto his shoulder thinking that things where bound to get back to normal soon. As normal as it could be.

“I know,” I said, agreeing with his statement while adjusting myself into a more comfortable position.

We sat in silence for a while until Mikey reached out his hand grabbing the remote, flipping on the TV. After looking through numerous of channels he found something that caught his interest and soon he was engulfed by it. My gaze also rested on the flickering screen but my eyes saw nothing of what was displayed in front of them. All that filled my vision was my friends together with that girl. Frank together with her.

Images of Frank and her laughing together flashed on my retina. I gritted my teeth again at the thought. It was revenge and I knew it. I knew Frank. I knew and I hated it. He wanted me to feel replaced that fucker. I knew him and he knew me. Therefore he knew that one of my weaknesses was my need for appreciation, my yearning for confirmation. And he would deny me any until I in some way had made it up to him.

Our twisted dance had picked up pace and we twirled and twirled in effort not to be the one who followed. And as much as a part of me wanted him to lead and show me how to dance gracefully the other part was dying to make him trip and fall flat on his face.