Salvation

I let my brother go from my hug but instantly snatched him back up into my arms, squeezing him tightly and sobbing ecstatically.

“No way. No fucking way.” A voice sounded from behind me. A voice I recognized from a distant memory.

“I think you’ll find it’s yes Way.” Another voice laughed. “Gerard, is that you?” Once again I put my brother down and spun around, greeted by the excited faces of my childhood best friends.

“Ray! Bob!” I launched myself excitedly on Ray and hugged him tightly, laughing at how his hair seemed only to have increased in volume. When I let go I threw myself on Bob too, just once not caring about the intimacy issues I remember him having. He seemed a little shocked when I let go, but not in a bad way. Then I turned to Frank, wrapping my arms around his waist.

“Was this you?” I asked him, ignoring the surprised looks Ray and Bob were giving the back of my head. Frank nodded, biting his lip. I grinned and pressed my lips tightly to his. With my brother back, I no longer felt abandoned and felt comfortable in the clothes I was wearing and actually kissing a male in public, which possibly shocked Frank more than it shocked me and the others. I began to think that after getting over what initially led me to religion, maybe I had been trying to fill the hole my brother had left with God.

“Yeah, it was me.” Frank told me again when we broke apart. “I tracked down Mikey after your birthday.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you. You cannot possibly comprehend how much this means to me.” I let Frank go but was happy to let him intertwine our fingers. I turned back to the brother and friends I had abandoned all those years ago.

“Shall we grab a booth?” Ray suggested. “The kids will be let in soon and I don’t really want to be swept away in the tidal wave. He chuckled to himself as we slid in, me and Frank on one side and Ray, Bob and Mikey on the other.

“So what happened to you then?” Bob asked, clearly still confused by my actions. “I thought you were lynched people who did what you just did.”

“Frank happened.” I told him, smiling like a teenage girl in love for the first time. Not that I was in love.

“Hi, I’m Frank,” Frank introduced himself and held out his hand. The others did the same and introduced themselves, apart from Mikey who Frank already knew. “I’m…actually, I think you should tell them.” He grinned mischievously at me, I scowled at him.

“Guys, this…this is Frank and he’s…he’s my…he’s my boyfriend.” The moment of silence drowned out the sound of the kids finally being allowed into the auditorium. It was Ray who broke it first.

“Well, it’s about time too. It’s nice to have you back Gerard.”

“I second that,” Mikey said quietly, he looked a bit overwhelmed.

“So what exactly happened then? How did we get to this moment?” I asked, looking to Mikey and Frank for answers.

“We drove,” Frank laughed. I frowned and he bit his lip, trying to hold in the giggles.

“Seriously Frankie,”

“I am being serious,” He teased, I raised my eyebrow and he looked at me for a minute before sighing. “On your birthday, you went out on your date with Abigail –” It was Mikey who interrupted him, shocked.

“You went on a date with Abigail?! Are you crazy?!”

“At first, no. I genuinely liked her, or I thought I did. Now I don’t really have a choice; Mother really wants grandchildren. Carry on with the story Frank.”

“Um…oh yeah! So, you went out on your date and I found your brother’s birthday card. I was confused because when your brother had come up in conversation, it sounded as if he was dead.” I didn’t miss the downturn in Mikey’s expression and squeezed his hand comfortingly across the table. “So I looked him up and went to visit him, we agreed to meet on the Saturday to talk. So Saturday came around and we talked about you and why you were the way you were. Mikey wanted me to bring you back. I was going to meet Bob and Ray on Thursday but on Tuesday, Mikey rescheduled to tonight. You remember the person who kept calling and hanging up the second you answered? That was Mikey waiting for me to pick up.” I stared at them with wide eyes.

“Frank agreed to come and meet the guys tonight and asked to bring his new boyfriend, I was disappointed; I never thought he’d crack you this quick. I was just as surprised as you were tonight.”

“Wait…Tuesday…when you were on the phone…that was before dinner…that was before you even asked me the first time, you cocky bastard!”

“You would know,” he winked at me, teasing.

“What made you so sure I was going to agree?”

“I just knew,” Frank smiled, kissing me quickly. Just then, the lights dimmed and the support band made their way onto the small stage. I had no idea what to expect. The band was called Lower Than Atlantis and they were a small band from England, like the headliners. We sat and watched them, my arm around Frank’s shoulder, his around my waist, his head resting on my shoulder. I was pleasantly surprised by myself when I enjoyed the music being played.

When Lower Than Atlantis went off, Bob went to get us all drinks and we spent the half an hour between the two bands catching up on the fourteen years of each other’s lives we had missed. After a while I noticed that Mikey hadn’t spoken for some time, I followed his steady gaze to find it resting on a lone girl at the bar. I nudged Frank and subtly pointed it out. Like the small child he was, he suppressed his giggles and nodded solemnly at me, I could almost see the plan forming in his head.

“Mikey, dude, I’d shut your mouth or you might start catching flies.” Frank teased, punching Mikey lightly on the arm, breaking my brother’s reverie. He snapped around with wide eyes like a child caught with his hand in a cookie jar. It made me chuckle

“What? No…I…but…” He looked at all of our expressions that said we knew exactly what he had been doing and sighed. “She’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.” I looked back over and studied the girl. She had brown hair that fell just beneath her shoulders, big brown eyes and like Frank, a small metal ring through her lip.

“Hmmm…I spy a Muse shirt; good taste.” Frank had clearly also been admiring Mikey’s choice of girl. Just then, the lights dimmed again and he headline band launched into their first song with a shout of,

“We are Architects from the UK!” It was heavy but I liked it. Frank looked at me expectantly to see my reaction to the music and I nodded appreciatively.

“We’re going in the pit guys!” Ray shouted over the music before he and Bob left to launch themselves into the mass of flailing limbs.

“I’m going to get some more drinks!” Frank then shouted at us, giving me another quick kiss before sliding out of the booth. Mikey was watching the band so I sneaked a look at the bar where Frank was now talking with the girl. They glanced over and I grinned at them. Frank looked pointedly at Mikey, who was facing away from the bar and I knew I had to get him to turn around without him seeing what Frank was doing.

“Hey Mikey!” I shouted, hoping for the best. I was lucky; he looked straight at me and not the bar. “Thank you for this! I really missed you Mikes!”

“I missed you too Gerard!” We grinned at each other befor he turned back to the band. I looked back at Frank who gave me the thumbs up.

He returned after a minute with our drinks and we watched the rest of the band together. When the band went off, Ray and Bob returned, drenched in sweat and we gathered up our coats as they began to kick people out before the curfew.

“By the way Mikey,” Frank mentioned nonchalantly as we were leaving, I had to use the hand that wasn’t wrapped in his to cover my grin. “That girl at the bar? Her name was Victoria but you can call her Vicky when you give her a call on this number and ask her out on a date.” Frank laughed and Mikey looked stunned and Frank handed him the piece of paper with the girl’s number on it.

“Frank? You are amazing.” Mikey told him gratefully.

“Don’t tell him that!” I laughed. “He’ll get even more big-headed!”

“Oh shh you,” he told me as Mikey laughed. “You know you love it.” I pressed my lips to his unexpectedly.

“I know I do.” I whispered against his lips, making his shiver. “I know it.”