Maid Costume

Frank's eyes scanned over my body, clothed only in the skimpy dress. His words had been harsh but I had reason to believe he liked the dress on me. Except I was positive he was the straightest boy in school. And the most popular. It was unlikely he would ever compliment me period (whether on my art or something as chitchatty as just my shirt), much less believe I looked hot in a dress.

My face grew hot with a blush nonetheless; damn, he kept looking me up and down, with that... expression reflected in his eyes. I was uncomfortable.

"Mikey... h-he forced me to try this on," my voice caught in my throat as I explained. "But then he stole my clothes so I was like 'fuck it' and decided I could pass as a girl."

"Forced you?" Frank's tone wasn't unfriendly, but it wasn't immensely friendly either.

"Well, he bribed me with coffee," I admitted. His scowl turned up a bit, into an amused smirk; a smirk, yes. But it was closer to a smile than the scowl. I felt I was making progress.

"Hah," Frank chuckled. "Caffeine's not good for you. It makes you do crazy shit."

"Helps me stay awake during school though," I added.

He nodded. "Well, umm, you look... nice." he bit his lip down and looked away.

"Ummm, thanks?" I giggled at the awkwardness, then shrugged. "I've gotta go."
 
Then I was off. Walking slower than my speed before, and taking my time. I was pretending to be a girl after all. I wasn't two feet away when Frank called after me.

"Hey, Gerard," I flinched at his use of my first name, "you.... you should go out with me."

His hesitation proved he was sincere. I would've kicked his ass if he'd said it with utmost confidence, and then that signature smirk. But, he hesitated. And that look in his eye - the pleading look. I wasn't sure if he just wanted me because of my girl-like appearance at the moment, but I nodded slowly and carefully.

"I should," I murmured, and then walked off. I could feel his gaze staring holes into my back, but I kept walking. I could deal with Frank Iero at school, whenever my suspension ended (I think they called you about those types of things to say "oh Gerard is unsuspended bye") but I couldn't always deal with Mikey. Mikey was at the comic book store now. Not later. Now.

Mikey was in tears when I found him, his mouth open but his laughs catching in his throat. "Oh - my - god!" Each syllable was between a laughing spasm.

"C'mon, Mikey, let's go. You've caused enough shit today." I cut him off, and then ignored his further attempts to make fun of me. It didn't matter I was wearing a dress now - one of the hottest guys in school had - technically - asked me out.

He kept talking about how funny it looked and how he saw the maid costume and he knew it was "fucking perfect!" I didn't want to hear it rubbed in my face at the moment, but since he wouldn't shut up about it, I wondered what he did with my clothes.

"Oh I put them in the garbage cans outside of the food court," Mikey chirped. "So you would never find them again."

"Mikey, why would youuu?" I demanded. "Those skinny jeans were designer."

He shot me another weirded out look, and we began to walk to the car in silence. Once in, he was still silent. He didn't speak until we stepped through the doorway of our house, and even then it was only to greet our parents - and then he kept walking. Two words - "hey guys" to mom and dad - in the course of 45 minutes was an impressive feat for Mikey. He never shut up usually.

My parents were bewildered as to why the hell I was wearing a dress but I just bit my lip to keep from laughing. "Mikey," I choked out. I always laughed in awkward moments. Mom nodded, scowling a bit, and dad shared the same amused smirk Mikey always pulled when he pranked me. I could've sworn that he even muttered under his breath, "proud of that boy" but I couldn't be sure.

The rest of the week dragged on slowly, and I was ecstatic when my mom said Monday I could go back to school. I didn't know if the school called to remind us (my earlier theory) or she just remembered from my papers last week. I spent that time drawing Frank. Yeah, fucking stalkerish if you just think about sketching some random boy. But I didn't really know how to explain it - the fact that he had flirted with me at the mall had made me blush, and then I'd flirted back, not to mention I sort of like-liked him. That was odd. I'd never liked him before. I was confused, but I took it out on my sketchbook, shading and coloring in the details I could remember.

The maid outfit was long gone by now. Mikey had snatched it the following evening and wrapped it up in old birthday wrapping paper. (When I said I thought it was their anniversary, he acted pissed. I supposed he was too cheap to buy normal wrapping paper.) I

So everything was back to normal - I was back to drawing, my hair was redyed red, Mikey got rid of the cursed dress, blah blah blah.

But I still had to face Frank on Monday.

And now that I thought more and more about it, I felt like I was starting to have a crush on him.

He saw me in a fucking dress for god's sake.