Blush.

I awoke to the sounds of Quinn screaming bloody fucking murder. I sat up sharply my hair surely a mess.

“What the fuck is your problem?!” I yelled, stumbling down the hall.

“Frank you sadistic bastard! Stop it! Stop it!” he screeched. What in fuck’s name was going on?

I finally burst into the living room where Quinn was cowering in one of the corners in front of Frank. Frank was holding something but I just couldn’t exactly see what it was from the door. I stepped forward trying to get a closer look but I still couldn’t exactly make out what the object he was using to taunt Quinn. It looked like a…mouse?

“Frank? Is that a fucking mouse?!” I asked.

Frank didn’t even turn to answer me. “No.”

“What the fuck is it then?” I took a few steps forward, closer to him. Quinn was still cowering in the corner, his eyes wide with fright. “It’s a tampon,” Frank stated cheerfully, giggling like a maniac.

Knowing what it is, I took a closer look and it was in fact a female hygiene product. Frank waved it closer to Quinn until it was almost touching Quinn’s face.

“Stop it!” Quinn shrieked, shrinking even farther back against the wall which seemed impossible. I giggled.

“C’mon Frank. As funny as it is, that’s enough.” When he ignored me and continued waving the tampon in front of Quinn’s face I was started to get worried. The colour from Quinn's face was draining at a dramatic rate and he looked a little whoozy.

“Seriously, Frank. Stop it now. He’s gonna pass out,” I said, starting to worry even more.

Either Frank decided to listen to me or he caught sight of the colour of Quinn’s face, either way he stopped. Frank withdrew the tampon from in front of Quinn’s face and he stepped back. I rushed over to Quinn and held his face gently in my hands.

“Are you alright, Quinn?”

Quinn didn’t look at me in the eye for a few moments but when he did the colour had returned to his face and he looked calmer. He nodded shortly and pushed away my hands before standing.

He glared at Frank before stalking out of the room without a word to either of us. I raised an eyebrow at Frank and he shrugged.

“I didn’t know he was going to get all worked up and act like a fucking pansy.”

“Yeah, but when you did realise you could have stopped,” I scolded.

“You laughed too!” Frank exclaimed, trying to justify his actions. Little prick.

“I don’t fucking care! I laughed, but I wasn’t the one waving a fucking tampon in front of his face until he looked about ready to faint!”

Frank glared at me before he too stalked from the room without another word. I sighed to the emptiness of the room and slumped into one of the chairs.
Looking after those two was like a full time job in its own. Speaking of jobs, I glanced up at the clock on the wall realising I had to be at work in an hour.

I got ready quickly performing all the necessary tasks to not look like I had just dragged myself out of bed by a guy screaming at the top of his lungs. When I was satisfied with my appearance I glanced at the clock again before I went to check on Quinn. I found him in the kitchen, head in hands.

“Quinn?” I whispered softly, walking over to the table and taking a seat next to him.

“Frank is an asshole,” he stated with no emotion in his voice.

“Aw, Quinn. It’s okay; he was just being a dickhead,” I replied trying to appease the situation.

“I don’t care. Just leave me alone please. I need to relax or some shit or I’m going to snap. He’s pissed me too much. I just need some time to be alone. You have to be at work in twenty minutes anyway, so you better hurry up.”

I looked up at Quinn, shocked that he knew my working hours. Sometimes I forget how observant and perceptive he can be, only because he doesn’t show it a lot though.

“Okay. See you later,” I whispered.

I walked out of the kitchen and paused before I left the house, contemplating checking on Frank…I wasn’t sure if I should or not. Cursing under my breath, I walked back down the hall. I knocked softly on the door of the room that Frank shared with Quinn and waited for an answer. Getting none, I opened the door quietly and slipped into the dim room.

“Frank?” I whispered softly, just as I had with Quinn.

When I had walked in I had heard Frank panting, I thought he may have been crying and my suspicion greatened when the room went silent when I entered.

“Look Frank I’m sorry for going off at you before –” As I said this I flicked the light switch on and stopped talking quite fast, my eyes widening at the scene before me.

Frank wasn’t crying. Far from it actually. And holy fuck was I unprepared for it.

Frank was leaning against the wall sitting on his bed, dick in hand, and his eyes wide, shocked and startled. I don’t think anything could have prepared me to see that. My eyes were somewhat glued to his dick and I couldn’t seem to break my gaze away from it.

Feeling Frank’s stare on me suddenly I tore my eyes away to look him in the eye with my own panicked ones. We stared at each other for what seemed like hours and I finally felt capable of speech.

“Right. Well, I’ll leave you to it,” I said trying to regain my composure whilst backing out of the room slowly, eyes still locked on the scene before me. Frank nodded feebly.

I turned quickly and strode from the room in shock. Fuck. What had I just seen? I caught Frank jacking off. I caught Frank jacking off. I caught Frank jacking off.

Fuck. Can I just repeat that one word as many times as I can?!

My mind was racing but my body had somehow gone into autopilot. I was walking briskly down the street before I knew it and heading for the bus shelter for my ride to work. I was running a little late so I had to run to make the bus.

On the bus I couldn’t get the image of Frank out of my head. I tried desperately to think of the things I was meant to do while I was out but I couldn’t think of a single thing except work.

I seemed to be still in my autopilot state when I did arrive at work; a small and lonely bookshop. Although the bookshop is well-stocked we don’t get many customers.

I relieved the person in the shift before me and I sat behind the counter trying to get my thoughts into check. Since it was quiet and there was no one else in the store I allowed myself to randomly say parts of what I was thinking.

I do this when I’m alone but whoever’s listening can sometimes get very confused as I only say random words or phrases and not the whole sentence of thought.

“...right in the middle…”

“…didn’t want to see…”

“…horrible…”

“…embarrassed…”

“…how will I face…?”

I was broken from my chain of thought by a customer walking through the door, making the bell sound. I tried to busy myself by looking at newly arrived comics. There wasn’t much luck there, which surprised me because I love comics.

I smiled softly up at the customer, a girl about fifteen years old, when she arrived at the desk to purchase her book. I glanced at the cover and smiled. I had read this one.

“This is really good, I’ve read it. I don’t know you, but I’m sure you’ll love it,” I said whilst scanning the code on the back cover. When she didn’t reply I looked up at her confused, only to find her staring down at me worriedly. She looked really uncomfortable and she shifted from foot to foot.

“Are you okay?” I asked taken aback.

When I spoke she stared at my lips intently like they were fascinating. Having her stare at my lips kind of creeped me out and I continued to stare at her, my eyes full of questions.

She nodded with a small smile when I had finished speaking which just confused me even more.

“Why do you keep staring at me like that?” I asked bluntly. I was creeped out and started to feel awkward under her stare.

When I finished speaking her eyes darted to meet mine and she looked shocked and ashamed all at the same time. She still hadn’t spoken a word since she entered the store. She looked around the desk desperately and when her eyes landed on a pad of paper and a pen they lit up.

She leaned over and picked them up hastily and began to write. I watched her in fascination and took the pad gently out of her hands when she handed it to me.

My eyes skimmed over her scrawl and I immediately felt ashamed of how I acted before. She was deaf; she couldn’t hear a word I had said, which was probably why she didn’t answer the first time because I was looking down and she couldn’t see my lips. I had missed the obvious.

I felt my cheeks flame red and I looked up at her and apologized profusely, using my eyes somehow to show her how sorry I was.

She smiled at me and waved me off, shaking her head. She gestured with her hands to show me it was all okay and picked up her book which I had placed in front of her.

She quickly grabbed the pen and paper again and scrawled a neat ‘thank you’ in her tiny writing and waved goodbye before leaving the store briskly.

I stared after her shocked at her sudden departure. Maybe I had embarrassed her? Well I hope I didn’t because she seemed nice…I hope she comes back on my shift sometime. I still felt a little bad about being such a bastard to her though. I shouldn’t have. But I didn’t know right?

At least the encounter had distracted me from…Frank. Yeah and like a chain reaction the images and thoughts from before came flooding back in a torrent of…perplexity?

The two thoughts still hadn’t left my mind. The first: I caught Frank jacking off.

And the second: Why did I like it so much?