You Put the Spike in My Heart

Ray and Bob turned their video game back on to try and drown the awkward silence. Gerard slunk back into his seat, ashamed of himself. What he said had come out of nowhere, not that it wasn't how he felt. He had a strange compulsion to protect Mikey from Bert's sister. But that wasn't any excuse for what he had said. He didn't even know the girl...
His thoughts were interrupted by Bailey's sudden outburst of approval. She was holding up a mirror to the now completely transformed Michael Way.

"I look like Frank."

He pointed to his hair which was slicked over to one side. She tilted her head and smiled from one boy to the other.

"That's not true, you're so prettier than Franklin."

"Hey!"

The whole room burst into a fit of laughter as Frank started to chase Bailey around the room with hair gel as a weapon. As they were making their second lap around the room, Frank tackled her into the couch...landing mostly in Gerard's lap. Bailey took hold of the situation, taking Frank with her onto the floor and pinning his arms over his head. She looked up at Gerard sheepishly.
She offered a friendly smile and Gerard was surprised to find himself smiling back, as if her grin were contagious.

"Carry on. Kill each other."

Frank squealed from beneath her.

"I give!"

"Pansy."

Frank kicked her off and she landed hard on the floor. She squeezed her eyes shut and moaned.

"Franky, I hate you."

She heard a heavy sigh and footsteps stop directly in front of her. When she opened her eyes she was facing a long, articulate hand. Taking it without thinking, she was pulled to her feet effortlessly and was brought face to face with Gerard.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

She turned to walk away but didn't let go of his hand. He quirked an eyebrow at an amused Frank (still laying on the floor) as he was half-dragged across the room.

"What are you doing?"

"Your makeup."

She jumped up onto the counter and pulled him close, daring him to run away with a slight smirk.

"I'm fully capable of doing my own makeup."

She pouted dramatically and smacked his arm.

"Oh just indulge me and I promise to leave you alone for the rest of the tour."

He put one hand on either side of her on the counter and leered at her in jest.

"Just don't make me look like Frank."

A bottle of hair gel hit the back of his head as the only protest across the room. Bailey laughed and turned Gerard's face back towards her with a gentle hand.
He wasn't sure why but he was disappointed by her careful observation of his face. She hadn't touched it at all like she had Mikey's, only slightly turning it this way or that with a light push of her finger. He figured his 'canvas' just wasn't as interesting as his brother's...
She had that same pout as she devoured his features with her blazing green eyes. They stuck out more than anything, a pretty contrast to her natural red hair. Her complexion was creamy and she had a quaint set of freckles that spanned across the bridge of her nose and floated over her cheeks.
Bailey started to rifle through her makeup bag, chewing on her lip-ring in thought. As she pulled out her black eye-shadow she caught Gerard grinning at her.

"What?"

"You have the same lip ring as Frank."

She smiled and looked over at Frank who was heavily engrossed in trying to make Bob lose the game he had been playing against Ray.

"We got it for our birthdays. We were born on the same day, in the same hospital. That's how our parents met and eventually how we became close friends."

She looked back at Gerard and he looked into her eyes intently, searching for something. She smirked and started to rifle through her makeup bag again.

"Try and stay out of my head, eh Gerard? You really don't want to know what's going on in there."

"Sorry."

She smacked him in the arm.

"Shut up and close your eyes."

He gave her a crooked smirk and leaned forward.

"Are you going to give me a surprise, Bailey?"

She raised an eyebrow at him and grabbed his chin. The sarcasm was gone from his face immediately and he held his breath. She smiled.

"Close your eyes before I close them for you."

He laughed and did as he was told. She loosened her grip on his chin but kept her palm beneath it to keep his face steady.
After she was done with his face and started onto his eyes, he felt it was safe to talk. He had something that had been burning a hole through him ever since he had entered the room.

"Bert never told me he had a sister."

Her hand had gone rigid underneath his chin and she had stopped brushing eyeshadow over his eyelids.

"We have different fathers. Neither of us knew the other existed until shortly before our mother's funeral."

He opened his eyes and looked at her. She was facing away from him, looking as if she were somewhere else completely.

"I'm so sorry."

She looked back at him and offered a weak smile.

"Don't be, it's not your fault. Besides, I don't need your pity."

Gerard's sympathy turned to shame. Bailey suddenly realized how harsh she had sounded. She was never one to apologize for her actions so instead she poked him in the ribs.

"Besides, I got a crazy brother out of the deal. Now look up for me."

He did as told and she started to apply eyeliner to one of his eyes.

"Well, I met your mum once. She was an incredible lady."

Bailey could feel the blood draining from her face and her hand started to shake. She tried to gulp it down and forced out a meek 'thank you'.
She had pulled back after finishing the one eye. He looked back down for a moment and fleetingly motioned to her hair.

"You must look an awful lot like your father, your mother's hair was..."

Bailey snapped the eyeliner pencil in two and pulled her hands away from him quickly. She pushed him back slowly and hopped off of the counter. She started to make her way towards the door but Frank had been listening and he was at her side in an instant. He grabbed her arm but she shook him off roughly with a threatening glare. Gerard didn't understand what he had said wrong but he felt obligated to fix it.

"Bailey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."

She stopped at the door, turning to show that her eyes had darkened considerably, narrowing at him dangerously.

"I don't want or NEED your damn apology."

She gave him one last menacing look before slamming the door behind her. Everyone seemed to simultaneously look at Frank who looked at the ground, lost. Ray was the first to break the silence.

"What the FUCK was that about?"