Raconteur

Frank sat down, alone, outside at a table in front of the local Starbucks. He mindlessly trailed his finger around the rim of his half empty coffee up while he waited for Gerard to show up. It surprised Frank that his friend was actually late. Gerard was usually so prompt. It didn't really bother Frank all that much though. It gave him time to think about how his plan would work out. He had a feeling, deep down in his gut, that Gerard would be happy with the plans for the day.

"Hey."

Frank looked up and saw Gerard pulling out a chair so he could sit down across from Frank at the small, round, table.

"Oh, hey there," Frank replied with a smile.

"Sorry I'm late. My mom was on my ass about keeping my room clean so.., you know, I had to stay home and clean it up before I could leave the house."

"it's all good, don't worry about it. You didn't really miss anything anyways."

Gerard smiled before leaning forward and taking the second cup that was sitting on the table. "Anyways," he began as he drank a bit of his coffee. "What made you ask me to meet you here?"

Frank couldn't help but to grin at the thought of revealing his plan to Gerard. He'd been thinking about it all week. He was so excited to see what Gerard would do when he realized exactly why he was sitting at a Starbucks on a Saturday afternoon. He was sure everything would go perfectly.

"Well..." Frank started, his smile beginning to make Gerard feel a little uneasy. "Remember what we talked about earlier this week?"

Gerard furrowed his brow in thought before shaking his head. "No... well, not specifically. Why?"

"Well, on Tuesday you mentioned the fact that you've never had a proper relationship, remember?"

Gerard nodded, beginning to feel a little more concerned with what Frank had in mind. "Yeah..."

"Don't look so scared. You have nothing to worry about," Frank replied, laughing lightly.

"What are you getting at, Frank?" Gerard asked.

"I set you up!" Frank explained, excitedly. "I know this guy named Nathan and I told him all about you. He's supposed to be here in a few minutes to meet you."

Gerard ran a hand through his hair, sighing. He wasn't really looking to be in a relationship. He'd only gotten used to having a best friend, he didn't really need a boyfriend to complicate things. And, to top it all off, he'd never really been fond of the whole 'blind date' ordeal. He'd only ever heard horror stories involving the idea and he didn't want to experience any of that.

"Frank..." Gerard said, not sure of how to turn down Frank's offer.

"Don't me mad at me, Gee..." Frank interrupted, feeling a bit disappointed with Gerard's reaction. He was so sure that everything would have gone perfect. In his mind, Gerard would be excited and thankful that Frank cared enough to do all of this for him and he would meet Nathan and fall in love and Gerard would be even happier that Frank had set him up. Perhaps that was slightly extreme, but that was what Frank had in mind. He'd never been the most practical person.

"I'm not mad, I just... I don't want to meet someone new right now. I mean... I'm still getting used to devoting my time to having a best friend, I don't need to add a new guy into the mix."

"What do you mean?"

Gerard sighed once more. "I don't know... I'm used to dealing with myself and myself alone, you know? And, don't get me wrong, I love having you around, I just had to get used to devoting some of my time to you and balancing that out with everything else I do with my time. Adding a new guy into that equation just seems to stressful."

"So... you don't want to meet Nathan?" Frank asked.

Just as Gerard was going to answer a guy with sun kissed blond hair and a pearly white smile walked over to their table.

"Did I hear someone say my name?" He asked.

Frank smiled, before looking to Gerard with pleading eyes. "Yeah, I was just telling Gerard all about you," he answered, turning back to face Nathan.

"Yeah," Gerard added. "He was doing just that."

"Oh, I hope it was all good things," Nathan said, taking a seat next to Gerard.

Gerard chuckled. "Well, Frank didn't get much further than your name. I actually just got here."

Frank watched as Nathan and Gerard got to know each other a little better, before standing up and discretely excusing himself from the table, taking his coffee cup with him. He was glad Gerard was playing along, and he was even happier to see that he and Nathan were getting along pretty well. However, he felt a slight pang of jealousy when he thought about them developing a relationship. He hadn't really thought about how that would effect his friendship with Gerard until Gerard had mentioned being afraid of not being able to manage his time between a boyfriend and his best friend. Frank liked the way things were with Gerard and he didn't really want that to change. It made him wonder what things would be like if Gerard and Nathan actually got together. Would Gerard stop sharing all of his stories with him and share them with Nathan instead? Would they still be able to hang out all the time? Would they still be best friends or would Nathan take that title?

Frank wanted Gerard to be happy, but he wasn't sure if he wanted Gerard to be happy with Nathan.