Blush.

How many ways different ways can you say ‘I hate you’? Because I swear I wanted to scream those three words at Quinn in every language possible at the moment.

One guess as to why I wanted too. Frank had leapt off me as if I had suddenly caught on fire and legged it the moment he heard Quinn calling out that he was home. Groaning, I had made my way out to meet Quinn and had been greeted by another guy too.

And now we were all sitting in the kitchen having tea, coffee and biscuits. I was having tea, obviously.

“So, how did you guys meet?” I asked, smiling at the guy Quinn had brought home whose name had escaped me.

“Well,” Quinn started, “I was out grabbing our weekly meal of pizza and Dan and I bumped into each other and he ended up dropping his damn pizzas.” Quinn giggled at the memory, throwing a small glance at the now named ‘Dan’.

“I didn’t drop them!” Dan interjected, with a shy smile at Quinn, “You knocked them from my hands on purpose.”

Quinn grinned cheekily, “No I didn’t.”

Dan raised his eyebrow at him, with a playful smile on his lips.

“Quinn you ratbag,” I said, laughing. “You did, didn’t you?”

“Maybe,” he answered, scooting closer to Dan. I shook my head at him.

“Quinn you are one evil little fucker.”

We all looked up to see Frank leaning against the kitchen doorframe with a smirk plastered across his features.

“I mean, come on. You preyed on this poor, innocent little guy? But I must say, well done,” he continued, “Dan, you’ll be happy with Quinn. He may be a bit annoying at times but he’s always trying to do the right thing by everyone.”

I watched Quinn’s mouth drop with alarming speed as soon as the words were out of Frank’s mouth. I was a little surprised too, but it was nice to know that Frank wasn’t angry at Quinn or anything. He was being nice.

“Quinn, I gotta go, okay? I’ll be late for work,” Dan said. He pecked Quinn’s lips softly before bidding us all goodbye. Quinn got up quickly to show him the door, just before he walked from the room he gave me a thumbs up.

“That was a quick goodbye,” Frank remarked, his eyebrows raised slightly.

“Yeah. It was, I guess.”

Quinn came back into the room with a small sneaky smile plastered on his face.

“This is my cue to leave,” Frank said, palms facing us as if he were surrendering to something. Quinn and I both chuckled as he backed away and disappeared down the hallway. Once Frank had left, Quin turned completely to me with a cheesy grin on his face.

“He seems nice,” I said, smiling at Quinn’s expression. His grin became wider as he nodded.

“He is. Sweet too,” he replied, the dreamiest look appearing in his eyes. Sickening.

“So why didn’t you tell me anything about him? Frank was the one who told me and I’m shocked you didn’t tell me,” I cried in half mock hurt.

“I’m sorry Gerard! It’s just that I didn’t want to tell anyone. I just wanted a secret of my own, yeah?”

“Whatever,” I laughed, “You can make up for it by telling me everything.”

“Later,” Quinn groaned, his expression now one of pleading. “I’m not in the mood right now; I’m tired.”

“Fine. Whatever,” I replied, using the same tone Quinn just had. I watched Quinn as he walked from the room and I heard the small smile in his voice as he muttered, ‘Asshole’. I chuckled to myself.

Getting up, I decided it was time for our weekly pizza meal, intending not to let Quinn go and pick up the food just in case he decided to chat up any other guys. Just as I was about to dial the number, that I knew by heart, the phone rang in my hands causing me to nearly hit the roof.

“H-hello?”

“Gerard?”

“Yeah…? My I ask who’s speaking?” I replied, wondering who the hell this was.

“Don’t hang up. It’s Mikey,” he replied, his voice showing just how nervous he was.

“How did you get this number?” I asked bluntly, trying to hide my bewilderment.

“I went to where you work and told them I was your brother and needed to talk to you urgently,” he answered, his words meshing together because of the speed he was talking at.

I waited for a moment. When he didn’t elaborate, I asked, “And…?”

“And what?”

“What’s the urgency?” I replied, exasperated.

“Oh, right. Well, I was wondering if you’d come out to dinner with me so we could talk,” he explained. When I hesitated, remaining silent, he added, “Just you and me.”

“But why?” I burst out, letting my bewilderment show completely.

“Uh, because I want to talk to you.”

I could just about hear the frown in his voice.

“When?”

“Tomorrow sound okay?”

“Yeah,” I mumbled. “I’ll see you then.”

“Okay. Bye, Gerard.”

“Bye.”

I hung up the phone and flopped onto one of the chairs in the kitchen.

“Who was that?”

I looked up to see Frank standing guiltily in the doorway. My face flushed crimson.

“Mikey. I’m going to see him tomorrow night for dinner,” I replied, locking my eyes with Frank’s.

He didn’t move. He didn’t say a word.

“That’s nice,” he said curtly, and then he turned and walked off.

I let my head thump against the table and I groaned quietly.