Someone Like You

The six of them ate their lunch surrounded by a buzz of active conversation, ranging from everybody teasing Gerard all the way up to serious conversations about politics. Frank was incredibly grateful that he wasn’t as dim-witted as Gerard had taken him for last night, because otherwise he would never have been able to keep up.

As the conversation progressed, Frank even managed to start contributing, realising that he fit in so well with them all that there was no reason to be worried. They were all so similar that things just seemed to work. Even when Gerard left briefly to take a shower, Frank comfortably stayed with the others, not just observing but actually initiating conversation with the friendly people in the room.

Once Gerard returned, everybody moved into the living room and gathered on the many couches. Although there was plenty of room, Gerard still pulled Frank closer to him so that the smaller boy was held close against his chest with his legs bent up on the cushions.

Alicia put some music on the speakers, which led to the discovery that Frank apparently had a very similar music taste to everyone else. This in turn led to a conversation about Franks band, which Gerard insisted was ‘totally fucking awesome’, and resulted in everyone insisting that they come to his next show. Reluctantly, after a lot of ‘convincing’ from Gerard and his refusal to quit tickling the younger boy, he agreed.

After a little more conversation, Frank got into an argument with Ray. Slowly, every other person in the room began to realise the intense conversation between the two people who had barely met, and even began to get worried. That was until they discovered that the argument was over nothing more than an insistence by Ray that he was obviously better at ‘Dead Rising’ than Frank.

The argument got quite serious, and resulted in an entire games tournament being set up around the games console in their living room.

A leader board was crafted by Gerard and Lindsey- a very fancy looking one at that- and within a couple of hours of Frank arriving at Gerard’s college home, he had slipped right into the middle of being almost the best video game player who occupied the house, and was even proving it by whipping Rays ass at the game.

It took four hours, a lot of soda and chips, and even a few disputes, calmed every time by Christa, but eventually their tournament had finished. Things between Ray, Frank and Alicia had gotten quite competitive, while Gerard and Lindsey had merely been messing around like children throughout most of it. Christa had remained the sensible mothering role, and if it hadn’t have been for her something would have definitely gone wrong. The whole games console would probably have ended up being thrown out the window or something.

Frank did come out on top, although only barely. As it turns out though, Alicia had somewhat of a hidden talent within the zombie killing area, and had ended up coming out second. This caused Ray to get in a giant huff, feeling as though his masculinity had been destroyed by a girl and a gay boy, but Christa also managed to solve that with a few kisses, and a reminder that Gerard had done worse than her and even Lindsey. If anyone was the girl here, it was him. Gerard just flipped her off after finishing filling in the score board and then came over to the couch to collapse next to where Frank was sitting.

After their exhausting gaming session, the group decided a movie would be best to calm everyone down. Frank was given the honour of choosing, but after insisting that he really didn’t mind, the honour was passed down to second place, meaning Alicia got to choose.

Every guy in the room moaned loudly when she pulled ‘Titanic’ out of the stack, while there was a chorus of ‘aw, yes’ from the female population. The rules had been set though, and so after getting a fresh supply of drinks and food, the movie was put on and everybody settled down to watch.

Frank, taking a leap of faith and courage, brought himself closer to Gerard so he could snuggle into his side as the movie played. Gerard couldn’t help but smile when he hugged the smaller boy closer and rested his chin on the top of his head again.

Despite their original groans and moans, even the guys managed to get into the film. Gerard even ended up admitting that he had seen the movie many times because he used to have a huge crush on Leonardo Dicaprio. Ray and Frank both laughed, but not in an unfriendly way, while Lindsey, Christa and Alicia simply agreed that there was definite potential in there. Gerard was insistent that phase had ended long ago, though. He didn’t mention that it had something to do with a certain coffee boy who he had been dreaming of since first meeting him.

By the time the ship was sinking, the movie was gripping all of them. Ray found he was the only one who didn’t cry as Jack sank down to the depths of the ocean, and while he snickered at Frank and Gerard crying, he didn’t mention that he had actually been choking up a little.

The ordering of pizza was yet another large discussion which took a lot of diplomacy and organisation on Christa’s part, although Frank did his best to help her this time because he had already been promised a vegetarian pizza to be paid for by Gerard, whether he wanted to pay for it himself or not. Compromises were made, but eventually everyone was able to order something that they were mostly happy with.

The pizzas arrived in a surprising amount of time, and Gerard and Lindsey went to collect them from the door, bringing them into the living room rather theatrically, literally singing and dancing as they juggled the stacks in their hands. Gerard pretended to almost drop his on Ray, earning quite a few play slaps until the raven head was cowering in the corner of the sofa trying to hide behind Frank, although still laughing the entire time. Frank was virtually in hysterics throughout the entire thing, finding it hard to believe that he was really in this situation, with these amazing people that were just so purely happy.

The ‘Pizza Party’, as it had officially been dubbed, was perhaps the most amazing time Frank had had in as long as he could remember, as it was for Gerard. Franks cheeks were in pain with the amount he was smiling throughout. He mostly just watched, not quite prepared to openly embarrass himself as much as most of the others were, but that seemed to be enough for everyone else. Gerard was also enjoying managing to make Frank so happy. It was as though Franks smile was a drug, and a rare one at that, and he had already become addicted.

Frank had also managed to figure out the distinct personalities each person had. Gerard was the loud, often jokingly sassy and slightly off-kilter leader, who was usually accompanied by his partner in crime, the oh-so-fabulous Lindsey. Ray was the quiet genius who perked up every so often with something of pure magnificence to say, although mostly he would just argue with Gerard about comic books or act like an absolute sweetheart to Christa. Christa was the mothering figure who kept everyone in check, calming things when they were just on the brink of getting out of control, but not to the extent of being a killjoy. And then there was Alicia, the apparent hub of social connections outside of this house. She knew all the best people, all the best bars and all the best bands. She was in charge of the music that was playing, although she also spent a lot of her time texting.

It was in slowly discovering everyone else’s roles that Frank began to wonder, what could he possibly bring to these people that would be anything but a burden? Unless he was drunk, he was usually very socially awkward, and while Gerard was the same around strangers, in this environment he was the complete opposite. He knew a lot of bands, but so did Alicia. He wasn’t very good at keeping control of people, because he was quite often the one causing the chaos. And he didn’t have striking moments of genius either.

However, as the evening moved on and everyone continued to laugh and talk and shout, and Gerard moved between holding and kissing and touching him subtly, as to not catch the others attention but enough to show Frank a lot of affection, Frank began to realise something. He was able to tell through the looks everyone seemed to show him, especially Gerard with his slightly crooked smile which showed his small rows of teeth, that it didn’t matter what he ‘brought to the group’. The entire idea of it was just ridiculous. Gerard wanted him there, and that was enough for everyone. Whether he was entertaining people with random singing routines like Gerard and Lindsey or controlling the quality of music like Alicia or not, everyone was happy for him to be there. To them, he was already a friend, and that was enough.

After this realisation came to him, Frank was able to relax a lot more. He spoke up a lot more, less afraid of saying something that would mess everything up. He even danced when Gerard dragged him up in front of everyone. The night seemed to fly by, without the need of alcohol or even having to leave their small, messy house.

“Okay, up! Up! Up!” Lindsey called as she returned back into the living room, carrying bags of marshmallows, while being followed by Gerard who was juggling chocolate, biscuits and very pointy sticks.

Frank was in the middle of a conversation with Alicia about a new local band that they both loved, but while Frank would have been happy to continue, Alicia seemed to be very interested in wherever Lindsey was leading them all.

Frank followed everyone cluelessly as they all made their way outside through the glass doors and out this time into the dark garden. He stood and watched everyone’s silhouette, only illuminated by the moon, as they gathered around the slightly burnt out circle in the middle, which was now stacked with logs and paper. Christa set the organised stack alight almost immediately after they were all outside.

Frank still hadn’t moved being as he didn’t really know where to go. There wasn’t much room left around the fire, and he felt as though it would be rude to ask someone to move for him. Seeing the younger boys dilemma, Gerard walked over to him and took his hand, accidently making Frank jump because he hadn’t realised he was there.

“C’mon,” Gerard whispered gently in his ear before kissing below Franks ear and them slowly down the skin of his neck, making Frank shiver unintentionally as his eyes slid shut. At least the light from the fire didn’t reach them, Frank thought, or everybody would have been able to see them.

Gerard stopped what he was doing and dragged the now slightly limp Frank over to a spot around the fire. There was just enough space for the two of them, as long as they kept close to each other.

The marshmallows and pointy sticks suddenly made sense as they got handed out and people began to roast them over the fire. The smaller boy was slightly amazed by the whole concept. He’d only ever seen stuff like this happen in movies, and now he was living it in real life. To be honest, the entire day had been like something out of a movie for him. Not one of those action packed horror films, but like one of those romance-coming of age things teenage girls always seemed to be into. He didn’t care if that was the case though, because to him it was a lot more entertaining when you were living it that it was when you were watching it on TV.

Gerard ended up having to cook marshmallows for both him and Frank, after Frank kept his in the fire for too long and the entire thing melted off and landed in the fire. Although he found it incredibly embarrassing, everyone else just laughed it off.

“Okay! Okay!” Alicia suddenly exclaimed, interrupting everyone’s conversations, “I have an idea!”
“Oh dear,” Ray sighed, flopping back on the grass behind him in fake exasperation.
“Oh shut up,” Alicia snapped, although she was still laughing as she playfully slapped his leg. “Right, okay, I know what we’re going to do next! Let’s play truth or dare!”
“What are we? Is this suddenly some teenage sleepover or something?!” Lindsey laughed.
“I don’t know!” Gerard interrupted before Alicia could defend her point, “I think it could be fun.”
“Oh, Okay, fine,” Lindsey agreed, less begrudgingly than you would have thought, “Who’s going first?”

“I will!” Alicia chirped gleefully. “Okay, okay. Let’s see, I’m going to go forrrrr… Lindsey!”
“Oh like that’s a surprise,” Lindsey laughed.
“Whatever! Truth or Dare?”
“Ummm, Dare.”
“Okay… Kiss, who should you kiss? Gerard! Kiss Gerard!”
“That’s it?”
“Yup!”

Lindsey was already sat next to Gerard, so it didn’t take much for the two to turn to each other. Lindsey put both her hands on either side of his face and then whispered seductively, “I hope you’re ready for this.” Gerard didn’t answer because he couldn’t stop laughing. Their lips collided and at first the kiss was very obviously overdone, with every action exaggerated for comedy purposes. But then it seemed to calm down, yet neither of them stopped. The kiss continued and slowly turned into one that you didn’t do in front of your friends. It was intimate, and passionate, and heartfelt, and everything a kiss between two people who were nothing more than best friends shouldn’t be. It lasted way too long and it was way too serious. When both of them were finally released from the kiss they were both breathless, and instead of moving away from each other they kept their foreheads leaning against each other’s.

The entire group was silent apart from the gentle crackling of the fire and two peoples heavy breathing. No one was laughing or smiling anymore. Mostly everyone was just in shock at that had seriously just happened. Frank had curled into himself with his arms around his knees tightly. He kept his gaze focussed on the flames in the middle of the fire instead of on anyone else. He was so fucking embarrassed. He couldn’t believe that he had really been brought here, to this house, when Gerard quite clearly had feelings for her. He couldn’t believe that the older boy had even asked him out in the first place. This was all suddenly just a huge fucking mess.

The moments of awkward silence were interrupted by the sound of Lindsey suddenly standing up and walking quickly back into the house, the sound of a door slamming shut very faint through the open glass doors. She had evidently just realised everything that had just happened.

Gerard very slowly turned towards the fire, trying not to pay attention to the looks everyone else was giving him and instead focussing on trying to figure out what Frank was thinking. He came up with nothing though. He couldn’t even tell if Frank was angry or annoyed or upset. Frank had become completely closed off.

“Frank,” Gerard sighed, reaching a hand out towards his leg. Frank pulled his leg away just in time.
“Forget it Gerard,” Frank mumbled, “It’s fine.” Although it obviously wasn’t, because immediately after Frank pushed himself up off the floor and also began to walk inside the house, although he was planning on leaving. If he hurried, he could always catch Hambone at the bar, and then all of his problems would be solved like they always were.

Frank rushed through the house eagerly, already craving the sweet blur of intoxication and high, not even paying attention to Gerard who he could hear calling in the distance behind him.