Intuition.

It’d been days since music class, making it near a week since I’d been at school. Gerard and I had constantly tried to outdo each other at soccer everyday and judging from the last few days it seemed as though we were as good as each other.

“Do you have plans for this weekend?” my Dad asked, interrupting my thoughts. I looked over to where he stood at the door from my bed.

“Sort of…” I replied hesitantly. I wanted him to say that he was going to spend the weekend with me but I doubt the words would come out of his mouth. I’d stopped expecting them years ago.

“Okay, because I’ll be working the weekend shift. I have to leave in an hour; I have a major surgery coming up,” he explained, grimacing.

“Its fine, Dad,” I forced a smile, “I’m going out with some friends anyway.”

He nodded and walked down the hall, becoming out of sight immediately. He used to be so good at picking out my lies. Either I’ve become better or…

Brushing the thought off, I rummaged through my bag beside my bed looking for my phone. Once I located it, I quickly messaged Gerard. It was Saturday morning and he’d complained enough about his younger brother that I knew he’d be dying for an excuse to get out of the house.

want 2come 2 the pool with me today?

I lay back on my bed and stared up at the ceiling with my phone on my stomach thinking about yesterday; it had been so interesting. I hadn’t been here long but it felt like I really did fit in. All of the girls were so, well not unattractive but very unappealing though. They all wore their cherry chapstick, probably inspired by Katy Perry’s new song, which I found pretty pathetic.

The guys on the other hand. I smiled just thinking about it. None of them were dating material but they were all so awesome. The was they all joked around with each other and laughed at silly things made them so easy to be around.

My phone vibrated.

YES!!! what time? asap plz. mikey is driving me insane.

I replied instantly, smiling at Gerard’s reply. of course. about 10am? an hour?

I pocketed my phone and walked down to the kitchen, waiting for Gerard’s reply. It took long enough for me to make a bowl of cereal before his reply vibrated in my pocket.

sure. local pool, yeah? i’ll meet u there.

yup. c u there. meet u out front.

I put my phone back in my pocket and continued to eat my breakfast and stare out the window into the bright and sunny day. I could hear Dad bustling around upstairs, getting ready for work. He may as well live at the hospital anyway.

I crunched my way through the rest of my cereal before heading upstairs to change into my board shorts and pack a bag for the day. I packed sunscreen, my phone, two towels and some cash. I chucked a plain black shirt on for just until I got to the pool.

The pool was only a twenty minute walk away so I didn’t even think to ask my Dad to drop me there.

The walk went fast; there was so much to see. Cars zoomed past me and there seemed to be green plants everywhere. The path beneath my flip-flopped feet was so warm that the heat was beginning to seep through my flip-flops, so I walked faster.

I was early getting to the pool so I bought Gerard’s and my ticket entry into the pool and waited the last fifteen minutes until he’d get here. From what I’d observed in the past week he was always early for everything so I was earlier than him for once.

The fifteen minutes I thought I would be waiting for was taken down to five. He was twenty minutes early. When he caught sight of me he smiled even wider, as a smile was already in place on his face as it always was. I’d never really seen Gerard without a smile or a happy expression. It was hard to imagine him without it.

“Hey,” he greeted me when he was within ear-shot.

I nodded my head in reply. “You’re early,” I stated.

“So are you,” he retorted.

“I’ve got your entry ticket so let’s go in,” I informed in, already turning to go in.

“What?” he exclaimed, “You shouldn’t have, Frank.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I answered, but when I saw his expression I backtracked. “If it makes you feel better you can pay for the food if you want,” I offered.

He nodded, his grin widening to its usual size again. “Sure.”

We entered the park and stood still for a moment to find a good spot to set up. We spotted one over the other side of the pool and made for it quickly, before it was taken by someone else. It was ideal; it had shade, a perfect view of everything and nice green grass.

“Thanks for inviting me, Mikey was being a pain.”

I glanced up at Gerard briefly as I set up my yellow towel next to his blue one. “It’s fine. I had nothing to do all weekend and I knew you’d probably want to come out anyway. We should have invited some of the other guys too.”

“Nah, they all had something on this weekend,” Gerard told me, “Visiting cousins, grandparents, doing family stuff and what have you. I almost died when I found out Ray was going to be busy! He’s never busy!”

I laughed at Gerard’s horrification, it was impossible not too. His expression was priceless.

“You want to get in?” I asked, changing the subject although I was still smiling at his expression.

“Yeah,” he answered. “Race you!”

Gerard was a fast runner and I almost matched him with speed. Needless to say, he won though. Only because he got a head start. The water from his impact splashed up and hit me as I went in after him, only seconds after. We both floated to the surface and bobbed in the water, grinning at each other.

“I beat you,” Gerard panted triumphantly, flicking his wet hair out of his face.

“Only because you got a head start!” I panted back.

He poked his tongue out at me and dove under the water, swimming away. I dove under and followed him. We headed to the deep end where I couldn’t reach the bottom even when I went under the water.

“So, what have you been doing this weekend so far?” Gerard asked me, floating on his back.

“Nothing to be honest,” I answered, copying him and floating on my back too. We remained silent and floated around, occasionally being bumped by a random that would be swimming by.

“Your Dad at work?” Gerard broke the silence between us. His question caught me off guard and my answer hurt.

“Yeah, he is.”

“Mmmmm,” was the answer I received.

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing around and just being stupid, splashing each other and getting sun-burnt. When it was five in the afternoon and starting to cool down, Gerard and I got out of the pool and gathered our things. Then we started walking back to my house.

“So, what are your plans for tonight?” Gerard asked, walking beside me.

“Not a lot. You?” I replied, kicking the ground as I walked, kicking up some leaves.

“Mikey’s having a friend over.”

“Ahh, okay,” I paused for a moment. “Hey, do you want to stay at mine then?”

Gerard looked over at me, “You serious?”

“Err, yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” I was a little baffled as to why he thought that I wasn’t.

“Nothing. It’s just because your Dad isn’t home I thought that…well, y’know.”

“That I wouldn’t be allowed to have friends over?” I guessed.

“Yeah, something like that,” he mumbled, although his smile still in place. I swear it never left his lips. Ever.

“Nah, its fine. He wouldn’t mind.”

“Wouldn’t mind or just wouldn’t be around to care?”

I only just caught what he said and I was shocked by it. I pretended not to hear it at all.

“So? Tonight? Yes or no?” I asked cheerily, hiding my shock and confusion.

“I’m going to have to pass, new kid. I’m sorry, it’s just that I have an assignment due this week for science,” he answered, sounding genuinely sorry.

“Another time then,” I said, forcing a smile that mirrored the one now pasted on Gerard.

“Yeah, this is your house isn’t it?”

I looked up and was surprised to see that it was. “Yeah, it is. I’ll see you Monday then, I guess?”

“Yeah, Monday. See you later, Frank,” he grinned, waving as he walked off. I watched him walk down the street until he was out of sight before walking up the path to the house. I opened the door and was greeted with deafening silence and stillness. There was no one home. No big surprise there.

I kicked off my flip flops at the door and trudged upstairs. My bag landed with a thud when I dropped it at my door and my stomach grumbled. I paused at the door, debating whether I should get something to eat or just go to sleep.

I ignored my stomach and continued on my way to my bed. I flopped down and wrapped my arms around my middle, trying to stop the grumbles of hunger escaping. Somehow I had convinced Gerard that I wasn’t hungry meaning that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast this morning.

Soon my breathing slowed and my eyes were almost closed. It was dusk and there was little light shining into my room from my window. Sleep was close and I knew it.

I let it engulf me with little fight.