Every Rose Has Its Thorn

All 5 boys moved their eyes to her but before anyone could say anything, Angela was standing at her side. “Hoagies! You got food and you didn’t bring me any?” she joked while putting her tiny hands on the hips of her small frame.

Nichole laughed. She knew Ange was Italian, in fact, she knew a lot of Italians; she grew up with them. But she would never understand their love of food. She wasn’t Italian. Damn good thing, too. That’s just what she needed.

She threw Angela a ‘you’re crazy’ look and chuckled again, turning to skim the rows of reptiles and amphibians behind her. Animals were always more fascinating than boys. Hmm… maybe she was the crazy one…

“We never see you, why the hell would we bring you food?” someone spat. Oh, ouch. Someone’s in a bad mood. Conflicting personalities, much?

And that is why she liked animals more than people. People are stupid.

“What the fuck happened to family loyalty?” Angela replied, her voice slathered with sarcasm. She was such a weirdo. That’s why her and Nichole got along so well.

But wait, what?

Nichole swung around and eyed Angela, her eyes squinted. Her brain was turning. Okay, Angela was weird, but you don’t ask random people ‘What happened to family loyalty?’

“Coulda bought me a hoagie, Gee. God knows you have the money,” Angela said, dropping her hands from her hips and walking up the one stair into the feeder room. Nichole was still standing there, head tilted and eyes not moving. Her gaze was plastered to the Emperor Scorpion tank in front of her.

Gee. It took a few seconds to sink in. She knew who they were, and she knew they were there. She wondered why, too… but family loyalty?

The signal from her brain to move finally reached her legs and she stomped up into the room with Angela, hitting her arm. Angela looked at her and smiled. Nichole’s mouth gaped slightly. She was meaning to say something, but her mind didn’t have any sentence planned so her mouth just hung.

“Whaaat?” Angela giggled, the pitch of her voice higher than usual. She liked playing mind games. Ange shuffled the shelf of food around, tightened lids, and tapped her fingers on the wood, trying to sooth her OCD.

“Family loyalty?” Nichole whispered, prying for an answer. She twisted her upper body trying to see Angela’s face. There was too much stuff to maneuver around.

“Why don’t you ask them?” Angela grinned and left Nichole in the room alone.

Why didn’t she ask them? They were right there. She walked right past them. They hadn’t even answered her question. They hadn’t said anything. She stopped her mental babble.

Where they even still out there?

She glanced out the door to where the five boys were huddled. There were three. Her head shifted around the visible area of the store. Frank was standing at the Scorpion tank. She smirked. Takes one to know one.

The leader of the pack was still standing there with some smug look on his face. It made Nichole want to wipe it off. He was the one Angela was talking to. She walked over, eyeing him suspiciously. “You and Ange related?” she asked, straight to the point.

He grinned at her. “Sadly…” he said, sharing a glance with his brother, who stood stiff as a stick.

“Distantly related, fortunately,” Angela commented, planting her size 4 black and pink checkered Vans next to Nichole. “But related, nonetheless,” she added, frowning. Nichole shifted her eyes from Angela back to Gerard a few times. Well, that would explain the fact that they looked nothing alike.

It hit Nichole like a brick, so she hit Angela in the arm. Ange grabbed the sore spot and turned her head, mouth agape at her friend’s behavior. Ange didn’t have to ask, her eyes conveyed it perfectly. What the fuck, Nikki?

“Why haven’t you ever told me you were related to them or that you know them?” Nichole’s hand shot out, pointing to Gerard, Mikey, and Ray. Nikki thought for a moment, and she realized that there were two guys missing. Frank had wandered away from the Scorpion, probably to look at the tropical fish and she had no clue where Bob was. She circulated her arm like a helicopter propeller, signifying a new meaning of them. She repeated what she had said. “Them!”

Angela glanced at them and made a face. “Ew… why would you care?” she asked, scrunching up her face, triggering a small laugh from Nichole.

“I must conquer, Angela,” Gerard teased. “Why haven’t you introduced us to your friend?” he continued, a childish tone adorning his voice. It was now that Nichole saw, well, rather heard the family resemblance. She rolled her eyes.

“Oh, yes, I forgot,” Angela began, obvious mockery in her voice. She presented her hand which was pointed toward Mikey.“Dorky and Dorkier,” she said, changing the direction of her arm toward Gerard at Dorkier.

Mikey smiled shyly, and Nichole returned it with a warm smile, then switched her focus to Gerard, where a small chuckle escaped her mouth against her will. ’Pain in the ass…’ she murmured in her head.

“Hi, Gee,” Nichole oozed, mirroring Angela’s nickname for him. It didn't phase her whatsoever that he was in a famous bad. For Heaven's sake he was related to Angela! How could Nichole pass up this opprotunity to get under his skin?

His lips tightened in annoyance she guessed, which only made her smile more. He nodded slightly at her, what she assumed to be his introduction. He smirked at Nichole for a moment, before a delayed reaction kicked in. “Why am I dorkier?” he asked, the question directed at Angela. He obviously believed that it should be his brother’s title.

Angela looked at him with a smile Nichole had never seen exercised on her angelic face; no pun intended. Her parents chose the right name. With consideration of the black liner that rimmed both of her dark brown eyes and the red streaks in her wavy black hair, she might not be the “classic” depiction of an angel, but she was adorable.

“High school…” Ange answered in a sing-song voice, holding back laughter.

“Fuck you,” Gerard replied dryly. “I need some coffee.”