You Had Me At Hello

“Shit.” My eyes fluttered open. The sunlight peeked through the trees. I sat up and blinked a few times to make myself more alert. I looked over to see Gerard sitting in the same sleepy position. His hair was tousled and his shirt was unbuttoned. I rubbed my eyes.

“Did we really sleep here all night?” He looked over at me.

“Yeah,” he said, stretching his legs in front of him. I looked around for my phone. I picked it up and groaned. “How bad?”

“Well, I have at least a dozen missed calls from Mikey,” I said as I scrolled through the notifications. “Added to the fifty or so texts.” He held his phone up.

“I probably have more, but mine died.” I shook my head. I forced myself up off the ground and stretched. He stood up and started putting everything into the bag.

“We should probably get back before they assume the worst.” He nodded. “Can we get some coffee first?” He turned to look at me and smiled.

“I couldn’t have come up with a better suggestion.” I smiled back and looked down at my phone. I shot Mikey a quick text, letting him know that we were, in fact, still alive.

We made our way back to the car and headed back towards familiar territory. We popped by one of the local coffee shops before heading back to their house. As we pulled into the garage, the door flung open. Mikey rushed down the stairs towards us.

“Dude, what the fuck? You couldn’t answer a call or reply to a text?” He jumped his older brother. He turned and looked at me. “Where the hell have you guys been? I’ve been worried sick. I was scared that something had happened to you. I didn’t know if you had gotten in a wreck or if you had run away…” I pulled my cigarettes out and lit one. I shook my head at him.

“Mikey, we are okay,” I assured him. He looked me over, then he turned back to Gerard. He had the mildly annoyed older brother expression.

“Dude, we’re fine,” he said calmly. “The car is fine. She’s fine. I’m fine. Everything is fine.” Mikey stared him down for a minute.

“Well, you still could have let me know that you weren’t coming home,” he said bitterly. Gerard held his phone up at him.

“It’s dead,” he responded. “I couldn’t really have done much of anything. Besides, I wasn’t planning to be gone all night. It just kind of happened.” He looked to me and smiled. Mikey immediately snapped his attention back to me. He gave me the We’re going to talk about this later look.
“Well, still… You need to go tell Dad you’re back. He’s been worried too.” Gerard rolled his eyes and looked back to me.

“Well, I’m going to handle this situation. You coming inside?” I just shook my head.

“Nah, I’m about to head back home.” The disappointment flashed across his eyes again, but he nodded.

“Alright, well… Think about it, okay?” I nodded and watched as he walked in the house. I looked back to Mikey, who had been staring a hole into my back.

“What in the actual fuck,” he asked me. “What happened? Where did you go? I went by your house, and no one was there.” I took a hit from my cigarette before responding to him.

“Well,” I said as I blew a puff of smoke. “We went to this old park for a moonlit picnic. He made us dinner. Then, we just sat and talked for a while. We had laid down to look at the stars, and I got cold, so he held me to keep me warm. It was just so quiet and peaceful that we fell asleep. I’m sorry that we scared you, but like he said, it wasn’t actually planned.” He eyed me suspiciously.

“So, you just talked? Nothing else happened?” I felt like I was getting the third degree from my older brother. I debated whether or not to tell him about what he had asked me. If I did, then he might just start worrying about both of us. On the other hand, if I didn’t, Gerard might, and then, he’ll be upset with me for not being truthful.

“Well, yes and no.” He narrowed his eyes at me.

“What do you mean? How is it a yes and a no?”

“Well, nothing happened in the way that you are probably thinking. So, no. I didn’t sleep with him. Nothing in any way sexual happened.” He seemed slightly more relaxed.

“Okay, so why the yes?”

“Well...” I took another hit. “He asked if you put me up to this whole thing.” Fear crossed his face. “I told him that, while you did tell me about the most recent hospital visit, I took it upon myself to see if maybe he just needed someone to talk to.” The fear melted away. “That’s not all though, Mikey. He asked whether or not I wanted to give it a shot.” He looked at me for a second, but before he could even ask, I put my hand up. “He basically asked if I was willing to give him a chance. Romantically speaking.” His eyes widened.

“What did you say?”

“Well, he told me that he didn’t expect an answer right away,” I blew a puff of smoke. “He just asked me to think about it.”

“Well, have you?” I just shrugged.

“I don’t know, Mikey. I mean, this whole situation is kind of strange. It’s only been a month, and honestly, I was never planning on a romantic relationship with him.” He nodded slowly. The disappointment and concern was clear in his eyes. “I mean, I enjoy spending time with him. Honestly, with as close as we are, it’s not really that much different. With whatever we are now, we already hug. We lay together. We hold hands. We have slept in the same bed. We have gone and hung out, just the two of us. He kisses my forehead. I mean, it really isn’t that much different. On the other hand, there is more left to do…”

“Ew, gross.” I smacked his arm.

“I wasn’t even talking about that,” I scoffed. “I guess I’m just concerned. I mean, what will happen-”

“If it goes badly,” he finished. He nodded again. “I get it. I’m worried about it too.” I finished my cigarette and dropped it in the trash can. “I mean, like you said, you guys already do most of the boyfriend/girlfriend stuff. To my knowledge, you just haven’t kissed or slept together.”

“You’re right. Don’t worry about that,” I laughed. “I don’t know. I’m not sure what to tell him. I really just kind of hope he forgets about it, but you and I both know that he won’t let it go.”

“Yeah,” he said as he pushed his glasses up. “This just got more complicated. In the end, it’s entirely up to you.” I groaned.

“I guess so, isn’t it?”