The Red Ones Make Me Fly

‘They’? Who’s ‘they’?
Gerard’s insides sunk. He hadn’t even realised they were so…up. But they must have been because they were sinking to his feet. He didn’t have time to dwell on this fact, however, because Frank shoved the beers into his hands and ran off to answer the door to whoever ‘they’ were.

Voices suddenly filled Frank’s otherwise quiet home. Loud, boisterous voices. Gerard sunk back till his back was pressed painfully into the wall. He held his bottle to his lips and swallowed the cold liquid, gulping it down so quickly that he barely tasted it until it was finished. He placed the empty bottle on the counter nearest to him and greedily putting Frank’s beer to his lips too. While he drank he opened some cupboards, searching through them guiltily till he found a bottle of pills that was half empty. He didn’t read the label – he didn’t care what it was – he just poured a pair out onto the counter and closed the bottle with one hand, putting it back in the cupboard which he closed. By the time he heard Frank’s voice in the kitchen again, the pills were gone. All Frank saw was Gerard’s head tilted back as his beer poured into the taller man’s mouth. “Woah, man, we’ve got a whole night ahead of us, you know!” Frank grinned and opened the fridge for the second time that evening, removing four more beers and opening them all but one. He pointed to the fourth bottle and raised his eyebrows, “When you decide to join us…”