Born and Broken Every Single Time.

"Mikey! Frank! Dinner’s ready!" Mrs. Way shouted up. It had been a lazy Saturday. We’d slept for most of it and only really gotten ready an hour ago. Mikey shouted back to let her know we’d heard and we casually strolled downstairs.

We walked into the dining room, being last to arrive and resumed our usual positions at the table to find our meal set out for us. The family were having lasagne and I had the quorn alternative as always. We all tucked into our food; listening as Mrs. Way told us about her day. I glanced over at Gerard, noticing his attention seemed to be solely on his food. When I looked back to Mikey, I saw him look at me awkwardly as if he wasn’t comfortable being in the same room as both of us. It was strange, but I guess it’s understandable seeing as it was the first time we’d all been in the same room since…

"So when are you heading out tonight?" Mr. Way asked as he took another mouthful of cheese.

"Oh," Gerard muttered, swallowing his mouthful of food before continuing. No one would dare talk with their mouthful or they’d have Mrs. Way to face with, a terrifying thought. "About seven. I meant to ask, do you two want to come? My friend’s having a party, I forgot to ask last night."

"Tear ourselves from the TV? It’s a tough choice but I think we can manage," Mikey giggled. "What friend?"

"It doesn’t matter what friend!" Mr. Way interrupted. "You’re going to a party, you don’t need to know anymore!"

I couldn’t help but giggle at Mr. Way’s response. The rest of the meal passed without incident, mainly just the parents talking as we all devoured the meals. The moment mines and Mikey’s forks clinked onto our plates, our excuses were made and we were off to get ready. I was strangely excited; I hadn’t been to a party in ages. Even at that, both Mikey and I went to parties with our own friends and they weren’t anything particularly special although I don’t fault them for being fun. But Gerard was a few years older than us, and we were both curious as to what the party would be like, kind of childishly actually.

"Hurry up!" Gerard called from downstairs. He obviously didn’t take long to get ready, unlike us. We’d both opted for our black skinnies, naturally! And band shirts, me with Black Flag and Mikey opting for Anthrax. We didn’t put much effort into anything else, it was pretty much the decision of the shirts that had taken our time. We headed out of Mikey’s room, making sure we had our phones with us and scurried down the stairs to find Gerard standing by the open front door, waiting impatiently.

He too had gone for his black skinnies, coming as no surprise and an open black shirt with a white tee underneath. He hadn’t styled his hair, if anything he’d messed it up but it was strangely suiting to Gerard. The moment we reached the bottom of the stairs he headed out of the door and led the way to the car.

Mr. Way was sat in the driver seat waiting patiently as Gerard hopped in the passenger side and left myself and Mikey to hop into the back seats; reminding us we were the ’kids’ of the party for the night. The car journey was fairly quiet until we got a few minutes drive from the house. We could already hear the music from a distance and Mikey started giggling like a little kid.

Mikey’s dad dropped us off outside the house and sped off the moment the doors were shut. It seemed a nice house but the teenagers lying on the lawn in a paralytic state brought the general aura of the house down. We walked casually past them all, both me and Mikey following Gerard quietly as we walked in the front door.

"Gerard, you came!" Eva smiled as she ran over and hugged him. My heart sank; it was her party. She pulled both Mikey and myself into quick hugs as a welcome, seeming slightly more detached from mine before she turned back to Gerard. "Drinks are in the conservatory, help yourselves!"

"Thanks," Gerard smiled as he walked off. We both followed just to find out where the conservatory was and upon finding it couldn’t help but admire how much alcohol they’d managed to squeeze into such a small space. Gerard picked up a beer before walking back out and leaving us. We picked up a can each and returned to the hall, standing awkwardly as we only really knew each other.

"So…" I laughed, raising my voice over the relaxing tones of System of a Down.

Mikey just shrugged, giggling as he led the way into the lounge which was overflowing with people in at least a semi intoxicated state. We just found a spot at the wall to lean against as we chatted generally. It was weird to be youngest at the party by a couple of years, we felt just kind of ’there’.

As the night drew on we made our way through as many beers as our liver could handle. A few hours down the line, Mikey was wasted. I thought I was okay, but when I stumbled mid walk I learnt I was a little drunker than I’d previously thought. We were still just paired off, mainly because neither of us wanted to be left on our own. As we stood against the wall and opened the latest cans we’d picked up, I couldn’t tear my eyes from the sofa opposite. Eva was sat talking to Gerard and she was such an outrageous flirt.

All around the room couples had paired off; guys with girls, guys with guys and the one pair of girls seemed to catch Mikey’s attention. He wasn’t listening to anything I said so I gave up and just watched the pair on the sofa, jealousy running through me. I had no idea what was happening with him, whether we’d ’finished’ what ever you could call it because of Mikey walking in. Before I could question it any further I saw Eva get up to get them some more drinks and I just ran.

I stumbled across the room and slumped onto the sofa beside him, watching him grin dopily at me as I landed. I glanced quickly back over to see Mikey look around and frown at my sudden absence then turn his attention back to the girls on the other side of the room. I couldn’t help but giggle like a fool.

"Hey stranger," he slurred as he pulled me into a hug. He was beyond wasted and more, it was hilarious. "I saw you walk over, you’re drunk!"

"Rich," I grinned as I hit him jokingly. We just sat giggling crazily as we spoke; I guess the alcohol was a great aid to that. Even though this was a party, I had to talk to him.

"Gerard…" I began slowly, giggling again as he mumbled inaudibly. "When you said it was a one off, did you mean it?"

"Well it wasn’t a one off at the time," he smirked. "But you know I was just shutting Mikey up."

"So what’s with you and Eva?" I frowned, seemingly forgetting that was the answer I wanted to hear.

"She’s always been a friend, you know that," he sighed, ruffling my hair randomly.

"Are you blind?" I laughed. "She’s been flirting with you like mad!"

"I’m not blind," he grinned. "But did I respond to her flirting Frank? I believe not. I also believe someone must have been watching us from wherever he was standing."

"Maybe," I laughed, sticking my tongue out like the adult I was. It had been pointed out that I was one of the two kids of the party, so I might as well act it in all honesty.

"Talk of the devil," he whispered. Well I say whispered, more of a mumble to make it remotely audible over the music. I glanced discreetly around to see Eva trying to push her way through the mass with two drinks in hand.

I turned back to him, noticing him just looking at me with a sly smirk. He leaned forward and clumsily smacked his lips to mine. I could taste the alcohol off him as his tongue lazily battled against mine. I couldn’t help but smirk into the kiss as I heard the clink of two bottles next to us. I figured she’d got through the mass and wasn’t impressed with what she saw. With my eyes shut, I easily pretended I was oblivious whereas I believed Gerard genuinely was.

"Well it all makes sense now," she snapped as she threw one of the bottles haphazardly at us, hitting my stomach. It hurt, but I didn’t let on. I just slumped back into the sofa and sighed at her immaturely, throwing in a glare for good measure.

"What makes sense?" he slurred, frowning up at her so hard he’d pouted with it, looking an utter idiot.

"You moaned his name because you were with him!" she exclaimed, gaining a few people’s attention as she waited for the instant denial.

"Darling," I said with a grin as I stood up. She was slightly taller than me but I didn’t care, I just continued much to everyone’s bemusement. "I’m not with him and I never have been, but if I was," I paused as I smirked at Gerard. "Then I know whose name he’d be moaning. I wouldn’t have to worry about the wrong name escaping those lips."

"Ugh!" she yelled, pushing me so I fell back onto the sofa next to Gerard. He met me with a shocked expression, but I could tell he was amused even if it was only slightly. The few who had noticed something was going on continued to watch, although most people were happy enough in their own little worlds.

"What’s going on?" Mikey asked, pushing his way past some random girl. Eva turned around and sharply told him she’d found us on the sofa and wasn’t best pleased, maybe with a bit more profanity in the mix. Mikey raised an eyebrow as he looked over at us.

"Again?" he slurred.

"AGAIN?" Eva yelled, looking between Mikey and the pair of us. Although I wanted to hate her, I didn’t. She was actually really pretty. She had shoulder length black hair and was tanned, but a paler tan. Thank god she wasn’t orange or else I’d have ripped her so much. She was really skinny, but not to the point you could see her bones. Pretty much a perfect girl apart from the shriek she was shredding my ears with.

"Mikey," Gerard moaned in complaint.

"Shit, sorry," he mumbled. "But you told me it’d be a one off."

"Shut up!" Gerard continued. "Mikey, just be quiet!"

"But it’s not-"

"Want to shut them up properly?" I muttered to Gerard as his brother continued to rant and rave, Eva watching and listening avidly.

"Enlighten me," he smirked, glancing drunkenly over at me.

I reattached my lips to his clumsily, locking my hands through his hair. I felt his hands move to my waist and pull me closer, practically onto him. I heard Mikey’s words slowly trail off and Eva yell in frustration again. I didn’t know if any of us would remember this in the morning, but what I did know is for the rest of the evening only one person had my full attention.