You Give Love a Bad Name

"Lena, you douche!" Mikey blindly flailed his arms around, straining to see. "Give me my glasses back!"

I grinned and stepped back, waving the glasses in front of his face. "You forgot the magic word."

"Um...Now?"

"Nope. Bzzzzz. You lose!"

"Gerard! Help me!"

Gerard smirked from the couch where he was observing me and Mikey for the past five minutes, hands behind his head. "I don't think so. I still haven't forgotten that 'Vampire' prank, you know. The one that scared Bob half to death?"

"The one from August?"

"Yeah."

"Ugh! Fine, fuck you then, you grudge-holding asshole. I'll get them myself." Mikey shot a glare at our oldest brother and lunged himself at me.

I dodged Mikey just in time, turning my head towards the front door as the sound of the doorbell met my ears.

Laughing I jumped behind the couch, coming up behind Gerard and sliding Mikey's glasses on the bridge of his nose. "I'll get it."

Ignoring Mikey's war cries and Gerard's frantic protests, I stepped into the narrow hallway, going straight towards the front door. Behind me, I heard Mom's voice rising above my brothers', scolding them on their childish behavior.

I grinned to myself, shaking my head and opening the front door.

In front of me stood a typical, middle aged couple. She was in her middle forties, kind-looking woman with radiant blue eyes, short blond bob, soft elegant features, and a heartwarming smile. He gave off a sophisticated vibe and looked wiser than most men do in their late forties and early fifties. He had dark brown hair, gray eyes, and I could tell when he was a teenager, he was extremely handsome.

But it's their son that caught my eye.

Inheriting his mother's soft features and kind smile along with his father's dark hair, gray eyes and devilishly good looks, he was simply gorgeous. Black hair framed his face to perfection, his black fringe sweeping over his left eye in the most attractive of ways, and snake bites adorned his bottom lip.

"Hello, dear," the woman's voice took me out of my gawping trance at her son, making the warmth flow to my cheeks. "I'm Molly Howard, your new neighbor. You must be Helena."

"Lena," I corrected with a small smile as she eloped me in a motherly hug. "I'm pleased to meet you."

"Oh, Ronald!" Mrs. Howard exclaimed, clutching her hands to her heart and turning to face her husband. "Isn't she a sweetheart?"

I almost snorted. If my Grandma wouldn't have taught me, Mikey and Gerard that good manners were a must, I would not put on the whole 'good citizen' show.
"Hello," Mr. Howard shook my hand, smiling pleasantly. "Pleasure."

Next was their son's turn. He nodded towards me, stretching his lips into a attractive half smile. "Hey, I'm Logan. Nice to meet you."

"Um, hi," I grinned like an idiot, motioning for the three of them to follow me inside the house. "Mom's in the kitchen."

"Is it me, or does Logan seemed a bit tense?" Mikey whispered in my ear through the pleasant chatter around us as we sat side by side at the dinner table, our dessert in front of us.

"Um," I looked over at Logan, who did in fact look uncomfortable sandwiched between Gerard and his Dad. It seemed to me that Logan's confidence died down as soon as he met my brothers, and now he sat meekly in his chair, staring glumly into his plate. "It's not you. I can sense it too."

"Kids," my Mom's attention caught our attention. "Why don't you show Logan our house?"

Mikey and I looked at each other in understanding. In other words, this was 'grown up time, children, go play'. Or at least it was when we were younger.

"Come on, Logan," Gerard spoke up on the other side of the table. "I'll show you my room."

The four of us stood up and left the table.

"I am so kicking your ass at this," Mikey exclaimed gleefully, sending his pickmen against Logan's. "Die, you bastard! You'll never get my marble!"

"Competitive much?" I snickered, watching Logan's pikmen being exterminated.

"Jeezus, Mikey. Call your blue minions off of him!" Gerard chirped in, hitting Mikey in the head with a nearby pillow. "Its his first time playing after all."

"Never!" Mikey roared, watching as his pikmen chased Logan's Luie around.

All of a sudden, a humongous spider stepped out of a tunnel and crushed Luie, ending the game.

"I win! I win! I win!" Mikey yelled excitedly, throwing his hand up in the air and making an attempt at a dance. "Sucker!"

I smiled and looked at Gerard, who was watching Mikey with an amused, yet baffled, expression. When it came to vide games, Mikey was not only the best, but also extremely competitive. He wouldn't stop at any lengths to win the first place. Playing with Mikey without the game being pure competition? Impossible.

Logan. What can one say about Logan?

From three hours that we spent with him, one of them in the basement playing video games, I learned that he was amazing, plain and simple. He reminded me of Frank, same witty responses, charm, friendliness, cool factor. I bet when he started school on Monday, he would be swarmed with chicks just like Frank. But there was one thing weird about that kid. Whenever he got close to Gerard, or my oldest brother spoke to him, Logan would clam up, look away, and mumble a quick reply. I seriously got the feeling that he didn't like Gerard all that much. I was pretty sure Gerard got that feeling as well.

"Okay, I'm done here," Mikey sighed, suddenly still. "Gerard, wanna play Logan?"

Before my oldest brother could open his mouth, Logan stood up, dropping his remote on the floor.

"Um, how about Lena shows me her room, instead? I haven't seen it yet. And you two can play."

Mikey shrugged. "Sure. Let's go, Gee."

"You know," Gerard said, standing up. "I think I'd rather go to bed. Lena, Mikey, I'll see you tomorrow. Bye, Logan."

"But its only ten o'clock!" Mikey protested.

The glare that Gerard shot him could have given Hitler the chills, never mind a seventeen year old boy.

Getting the hint, Mikey gulped and nodded. "I'll go up with you. I left my CD on your computer table."

Just like that, the two of them were gone, leaving me and Logan to stand awkwardly beside each other, not knowing how to start a conversation.

Finally I decided to break the growing silence. "Um, yeah, my room, it's tha-"

"He hates me, "Logan whispered, sinking back into the couch and putting his head in his hands.

I just stared at him. What the hell? This reaction was something that I definitely didn't expect. Not from Logan, anyway.

"Uh, Mikey?" I offered.

"Gerard," Logan looked up at me and I could tell that he was clearly upset. "Gerard hates me, doesn't he? That's why he left."

I sat down on the couch besides him, trying to group my thoughts together and produce a decent answer.

"He doesn't hate you, Logan," I replied truthfully. "He left because he saw that his presence made you uncomfortable. Speaking off, do you have a problem with Gerard or something? You kept acting weird around him."

Now that we were alone, I noticed that Logan was pretty emotional for a guy. I also realized that he had a soft - I would even call it a bit feminine - quality about him, that I didn't pick up on before now. It was also obvious that out of three Way siblings, I was the one he was most comfortable with.

Logan sighed and pushed away a strand of black hair from his captivating gray eyes and looked at his feet. "Of course I don't have a problem with Gerard. I met the guy three hours ago."

"Uh," I was seriously lost for words.

He looked at me again, and once more I was stricken by his beauty. Logan looked like he was battling with himself to decide whether to tell or not to tell me what was bothering him. Finally he looked like he made up his mind.

"Do you promise that what I'm about to tell you won't leave this room?" He asked me seriously.

I nodded. "Yes."

To my utter confusion, Logan blushed and looked away. "I think I might be attracted to Gerard. That's why I acted weird, I don't know what to do or say around him."

I almost fell out of the couch from shock.