Someone Like You

It seemed as though it took no time at all for the two boys to make their way through the New Jersey streets. They were too lost in conversation to pay attention to the world as they passed, and before either of them knew it they were walking up to the path that lead up to Gerard’s front door. The house looked fairly small, with only one story, but it was quaint. It was your classic small suburban house, with a front lawn and bushes bordering the edges of the house.

They walked up the wooden porch steps and Gerard unlocked the door before leading Frank through into the cool house. The hallway they walked into had walls decorated with artwork and a rug in the middle of the floor. Other than that, there wasn’t much in the way of decoration.

Frank followed Gerard into the kitchen just to the left where they found another person sitting at a small breakfast bar. “Hey, Ray,” Gerard said casually as he walked further into the room and started to make two mugs of coffee, “This is Frank.” Frank stood awkwardly just inside the doorframe instead of moving any further in, not really knowing how to act around this new person.

“Hello Frank,” Ray smiled, “Nice to meet you.”
Frank cleared his throat before answering quietly, “Nice to meet you too.” It seemed enough to satisfy Ray, as he turned his attention away from the small boy and picked up a brown envelope on the counter.
“Gerard, you might want to take a look at this.”

At first Gerard seemed very uninterested in what Ray was holding in his hand, but he did a double take when his mind began to really process through all the possibilities. He immediately dropped what he was doing and almost pounced upon the piece of paper in Ray’s hand. He tore the letter open quickly and rushed to get out the white piece of paper inside. He paced around the middle of the pale kitchen as he mouthed the words he read on the page, doing so twice to make sure that he hadn’t read the whole thing wrong. It was just too good to be true.

“I got in,” he whispered quietly at first, staring up at nothing in particular with a look of surprise and amazement in his eyes. His arms dropped to his sides as he turned to Ray who had now stood up with a grin on his face. “I got in!” Gerard exclaimed even louder now before he jumped on Ray and enveloped him in a big hug which Ray returned whilst laughing.
“See!” Ray said, “I told you you would! And you were worried!”
“I know! I can’t believe it! I can’t believe this is happening! Oh my God. Oh my God. Fuck!”

Frank couldn’t help but smile at how happy Gerard was, even if he was very confused because he had no idea what Gerard was getting excited about exactly. The small boy jumped slightly when he heard a voice come from behind him say, “Excuse me.” He quickly moved out of the way so that another girl could join them in the kitchen.

Gerard pushed Ray away in his excitement and almost yelled in the new girls face very loudly that, as he had said many times now, ‘he got in!’. “So I heard!” She laughed and hugged him too.

Frank stood calmly in the corner as another two girls walked in and also joined Gerard as he freaked out about the thing that Frank still had no clue about. “When do you go!?” one girl with long black hair asked.
“Two weeks! Two fucking weeks!” Gerard replied, now practically cradling the letter in his hands like it was worth a million dollars, “Oh my God. I can’t believe this is happening. I honestly didn’t think I’d get it!”
“Of course you were going to get it, Gerard,” said a different girl, “We’re not exactly surprised, to be honest. Awww, I’m so proud of you, baby!” The two of them hugged.
“Thank you so much, Lindsey, seriously.”
“For what!? I haven’t done anything! It’s all you and your amazing art skills.”
“Ha, yeah I guess…”

Everything seemed to calm down into a continuous buzz of conversation then as Gerard continued to grin and talk to the various people in the room excitedly. Frank didn’t quite know what to do with himself, so he just stood with his hands in his pockets and tried to blend into the walls.

Eventually though, Gerard remembered that he had company and apologised profusely to Frank who tried his best to assure Gerard it was okay without making a scene and dragging everyone else’s attention to him. He didn’t manage it of course, and instead found himself greeted with the girl from before saying rather suggestively, “Well, who’s this then?!”
Gerard couldn’t help but blush and tried to hide it by turned back to making coffee. “Um, uh, this is Frank…” Gerard said.

Lindsey looked between Frank and Gerard with raised eyebrows and smiled. “Finally!” she exclaimed before focusing on Frank, “Seriously he hasn’t shut up about you for the past year or something. At least he’s finally found the balls to ask you out.” Frank stuttered in an attempt to find something to reply, but when he came up with nothing he just blushed and nodded.
“Shut up,” Gerard sighed good-naturedly as he walked past the girl and over to Frank where he handed the small boy the mug of coffee, as well as some tablets Frank guessed were for his hangover. Gerard did walk away again to get a glass of water, but Frank just took them with his coffee instead.

He took a huge gulp of the liquid as he swallowed the tablets and ended up scolding his tongue in the process and trying his best to hide it in front of all these new people he was meeting to avoid looking like an idiot. “This is Lindsey,” Gerard said, gesturing at the girl as he introduced Frank to all the people in the room, “Ray, Christa and Alicia.” Frank waved awkwardly, and they all smiled warmly. They could all tell how awkward Frank felt, and so were doing their best to try to make him feel as comfortable as possible. Even Lindsey had now backed off and begun to act calmer.

Still, it was clear Frank was still uncomfortable in the crowded kitchen. He wasn’t used to being in this kind of crowded space. He was used to being surrounded by people and had no problem with that. But with those people he usually didn’t know most of them and wasn’t planning on making any effort to get to know them. This was a completely different kind of crowded. All these people knew each other and everything was so homey, and it was something Frank just wasn’t used to. He had no experience, and it made him feel honestly quite vulnerable.

Seeing this, Gerard told everyone that he and Frank were going to go out in the Garden for a while to ‘hang out’, to which everyone seemed quite happy with and so bid them both a fond farewell as they left. Frank felt a little disappointed in himself though. Everyone in the kitchen had seemed so nice. They were the exact kind of people you’d want to be friends with. They were fun and happy and enthusiastic, but they were also caring and actually aware of other people’s emotions. They were a group of people who all had the perfect combination of characteristics you could ask for in someone. Frank wished he had the confidence to get to know them. He wished he could have been friends with Gerard’s friends.

Gerard ended up taking Franks hand as he led the smaller boy through the house. Along the hallway there were various other doors, most of them closed with a sign or decorations covering the front. About halfway along the hallway there was an archway which led into a large living room. There were three sofas that all looked very used, but in the best way. They were well loved, you could say. There was a television and various games consoles and an entire bookshelf worth of DVD’s and CD’s.

To the side of the living room was a set of French doors which led out onto a back porch which looked out across the garden. On the porch was a small bench covered with cushions and a small table. The rest of the garden was mostly just grass, although it was well kept, and there was a space in the middle which was clearly used for campfires.

Gerard pulled Frank over to the bench and they sat down so that there was about a foot between them and Gerard was no longer holding his hand. “So, um, what did you get into exactly?” Frank asked, feeling a little better now that it was just him and the older boy.
“Oh, um, it’s this art course thing, I guess. What it is, right, is they choose a select few people throughout the country and they get to go like, traveling and stuff to gain inspiration for pieces. It’s basically an internship with an art company, although it’s not like going to work every day. You just get to paint and stuff. Sometimes people even get proper work out of it!” Gerard explained, “It’s really difficult to get onto though, but like a few days ago someone dropped out and my college told us that there was one space that had just come up! Remember the other day when I came in all stressed and rushed and stuff?” Frank nodded. “Well, they had emergency interviews on that morning because they needed to choose someone new as soon as possible. And I guess they must have really liked me because, well, I got in! I leave for England in two weeks! This is just… it’s incredible!”

“That’s amazing! Well done!” Frank wanted to be happy for Gerard, he really did. But he couldn’t help but focus on something else. “But, um, uh.” Gerard waited patiently and expectantly for Frank to say what he was trying to say. “So if there was a chance you were leaving, why’d you ask me out? I mean, not like I’m not glad you did or anything, but I just mean like… Gerard, you leave for England in two weeks.”
Gerard was still grinning excitedly, before he also realised and his face dropped. “Oh… yeah… fuck. Shit, Frank, I really didn’t think this through.”
Frank hated seeing the disappointment on Gerard’s face though, especially since he’d been so happy before, so he thought it best to maybe at least try and act positive. “Hey! It’s okay! Hell, it’s amazing!”
“Yeah… I’m sorry, Frank…”
“It’s okay,” the smaller boy shrugged, and then they both fell into silence.

Frank watched the birds as they flew to and from the trees at the end of the garden. He was trying not to let the realisation that no matter how good he made himself seem to Gerard, he was still going to end up alone, affect him too much. He should never have let himself get his hopes up. Gerard was also staring straight ahead, trying to figure out some way to fix this situation.

Quite some time had passed, and both boys were still sat on the bench in Gerard’s house’s garden in silence. Frank jumped very slightly when he felt something soft on his hand, but relaxed when he realised it was just Gerard slinking his hand over to hold Franks hand again. They both turned to look at each other slowly, and soon found themselves staring into the others’ eyes. “A lot can happen in two weeks,” was all Gerard said, very quietly so that the words seemed to dance along with the bird song that surrounded them both. Frank didn’t answer, but instead smiled ever so slightly.

And then, taking all the confidence he could muster, Gerard leaned forwards very slowly and pressed his lips down upon Franks soft ones.