It Started With A Dare

Gerard and I sprang apart, staring in horror at the door way where our witness stood with his arms crossed over his chest. My throat felt dry as my cheeks flushed from both the embarrassment of being caught and the fright of it.

“I-It’s not what it looks like.” Gerard said, attempting to save us, but it was a weak attempt.

“Bullshit.” Damien said, staring us down. I could hear my heart beating in my ear a mile a minute at the thought of Damien knowing about mine and Gerard’s relationship. But then he flashed a genuinely happy smile, “God, you two look so scared right now, it’s actually pretty amusing.”

“Well what do you expect? And has anyone in this house ever heard of knocking?” I asked him.

“Calm down Cassie, no need to have a stress about it. I knew from the start anyway.” He said, making me look at him incredulously.

“You knew?” He nodded, the same smile still on his face. “From the start?”

“Yep, ever since that day in the library when you were overly happy, I knew something was up. And then when you and Gerard ‘just so happened’ to come into the cafeteria late and together, it all made sense.”

“You’re not gonna tell anyone, right?” Gerard asked hesitantly.

“Of course not, it’s not my place to say. Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.” I let out a sigh of relief before walking over to him and giving him a tight hug.

“Thanks Day.” I said when I pulled back.

“Yeah, thanks man.” Gerard added, stepping closer until he was stood behind me.

“No problem.” He said. I grinned, feeling Gerard’s arm wrap around my waist and letting myself lean against him. “Just don’t suck face in front of me, that’s all I ask.” He added, making us laugh. He then gave us a moment alone as he went back down stairs.

“God that was close, can you imagine if that was Frank?” Gerard said, turning me around in his arms.

“I know, I was so scared.” I mumbled with a short laugh, leaning my head on his shoulder, relaxing immediately into his warm embrace. I heard him chuckle.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine, we just gotta be more careful,” He mumbled, I then felt his hand on my cheek; I looked up at him curiously as he smiled down at me before pecking my lips. “Come on, Frank will be wondering where we are.”

“And where are you supposed to be?” I asked, one of my eyebrows arched up at him.

“Bathroom.” He grinned down at me. I leant up to kiss him one last time before grabbing a blanket and going downstairs. Walking into the living room, I saw that Damien had brought down a blow up mattress and a lot of pillows which were situated in the middle of the room.

“Hey Cassie, you seen Gerard?” Frank asked me from where he was knelt on the floor. I shook my head. “Ah well, he must’ve fallen down the toilet or something.”

“You’re hysterical, Iero.” Gerard said sarcastically as he entered the room, taking a seat on the sofa.

“I know I am.” Frank said, ignoring his blatant sarcasm with a grin. “So what do you guys wanna watch? Comedy? Action? Sci-Fi?”

“Frank, no matter how many times you suggest it, we’re not watching Star Wars.” Damien said. “And anyway, I’m in the mood for a horror flick, what about you guys?”

“Yeah, me too. What do you think, Cassie?” Gerard asked me, his mouth pulled up into a half smile.

“Sure, sounds good to me.” I answered, returning the smile. I glanced to Damien where he was giving us a knowing look whereas Frank seemed oblivious to it as he stood up to put in the first movie. With a small smile, I sat down on the sofa next to Gerard, keeping a friendly distance between us until the lights were turned down and the movie began, the familiar images on the screen telling me that we were watching Nightmare On Elm Street, the original of course.

Gerard’s arm slipped around my waist, pulling me closer to him, I gladly laid my head on his shoulder, snuggling into his side. We watched the movie in silence, the occasional gasp or curse word being heard. I hid my face in the crook of Gerard’s neck at the particularly scary parts and Gerard held me closer, making me feel safer. Throughout the film, we were also able to steal a few kisses here and there without Frank or Damien noticing.

Once the movie finished, we shuffled apart, back to our friendly distance as Frank turned around to face us, asking for our opinion on the movie. When Damien commented that it sucked, Frank frowned before tackling his younger brother to the ground, beginning to tickle his stomach until he begged for mercy.

“Okay, okay. Frank, s-stop!” Damien pleaded, squirming beneath his brother’s crafty hands. Frank eventually pulled away, giggling; he then stood up to put on the next movie. Once it had started up again, Gerard and I relaxed back into our previous position on the sofa, cuddled up in each others arms. I think it was at some point during that second movie in which my eyes began to get heavy and I drifted off to sleep.



I was sat in science class a few days later, staring aimlessly at the board as the teacher went on and on about atoms or something along those lines. We’d already done the latest test so I didn’t see the point in paying attention right now. Soon enough though it rolled on to the end of the lesson where he began to hand out the graded test papers from last week.

“A lovely improvement, Miss Bryar.” Mr Jefferson said, placing my paper in front of me on my desk. I looked down, smiling slightly at the giant, red A circled on the front of it; Gerard’ tutoring sessions really had paid off. And yes, we actually did study for most of those sessions; Gerard insisted that I needed to at least pass this test. I couldn’t wait to tell him.

The bell rang loudly, interrupted my thoughts as I grabbed the paper and my bag, standing to my feet and leaving the classroom with the rest of the students. It was the lesson before lunch so I headed down the halls, down to the senior’s corridor where I found Frank, Bob and Gerard stood by their lockers. Grinning, I walked up to them and threw my arms around Gerard’s waist, hugging him tightly.

“Thank you!” I exclaimed, pulling back from the hug to meet his confused face.

“For what?” He asked, a frown working its way onto his face as he stared down at me.

“I got an A in science!” I grinned, shoving the paper up to his face.

“Only an A?” He asked. I glared at him, shoving his shoulder playfully “Well congrats, I guess.” I could understand his reluctance, seeing as I’d passed the test, it would mean that he wouldn’t have to tutor me anymore, and that meant even more time apart from each other.

“Yeah, well done, kiddo.” Bob added, pulling me into a one armed hug. We then walked together down to the cafeteria together.

“So, the Christmas holidays are next week, you guys doing anything special?” Frank asked as we walked.

“Nah, it’ll be just me and Cassie this year, as usual.” Bob answered for us. It was true; our dad hardly ever bothered to make it back for Christmas.

“You guys shouldn’t be alone on Christmas, why don’t you come round to mine and Mikey’s house? I’m sure my mom won’t mind.” Gerard suggested. I glanced at him from where I stood between him and Bob, smiling slightly at the hopeful look in his eyes.

“Yeah, that’ll be great. You up for it, Cass?” Bob asked me.

“Sure, sounds like fun.” I replied, internally grinning from ear to ear at the thought of being able to spend Christmas with Gerard.

“Awesome, I’ll tell my mom tonight that you’re coming then.”