Take Me By The Hand

FOUR ( • Y • )

Haha. I made boobs in the chapter title. Please excuse my immaturity while I find this way funnier than I should... -xoRachel

"Do I look fat in this shirt?" I demand. I suck my stomach in and glance at Mikey in the full-length mirror that stands near the door. Worry knots in my stomach, showing clearly in both my voice and expression.

Mikey simply rolls his eyes. "You never look fat, Frank." He sighs. "You're like ninety pounds."

"You are not helping." I narrow my eyes at him before pulling the shirt off over my head and tossing it into the pile of rejected clothing I've already gone through. I had already been through all of my own clothes, finding absolutely nothing good enough to wear. So I came over to Mikey's thirty minutes ago, now rummaging through his shirts in search of something to wear to Synyster's party tonight. I pull on a form-fitting Anthrax shirt as Mikey groans, falling back onto the bed. I run my hands down my torso once, smoothing the fabric out before turning to look at Mikey. I hold my arms out. "Is this okay?"

Mikey just watched the ceiling. "Yeah, that's great."

"You didn't even look!" I accuse, sighing in exasperation and turning back to the mirror.

In the same moment, Mikey's bedroom door swings open and Gerard peeks his head in. "Mikes, Mom says you need to get your shit out of the living room."

"What shit out of the living room?" Mikey wonders, still not looking up.

Gerard shrugs. "I don't know. Whatever shit you have in there."

"Fine." Mikey sighs. Gerard goes to close the door but Mikey sits up suddenly, his eyes wide. He points a slim finger at his brother, making him stop. "Gee!" He exclaims and uneasy expression comes across Gerard's face.

"What?" He asks warily. 

Mikey shifts his finger so it's now pointing at me. "How does Frank look?"

Gerard narrows his eyes a little before shifting his gaze to me. "Umm... Why?"

"He's worried about Synyster's party tonight," Mikey explains. I roll my eyes, looking back to the mirror, my eyes grazing over my own body. 

Gerard's voice seems to lose it's wary edge, but his words still sound guarded somehow. "You're going to that?"

Before I have the chance to answer, Mikey jumps in again, his voice boastful yet taunting at the same time. "Zacky asked him to go." I see his cocky smile in the reflection and groan internally. At this rate, everyone was bound to know that Zacky asked me out by nightfall. Then again, if things went as planned at the party, people would start realizing it soon enough without the help of Mikey's big mouth anyway. 

"Oh..." Gerard says simply, his expression unreadable when I finally bring my eyes back to him. His eyes slide over my outfit and he smiles a little. "Yeah, you look really good." 

"See?!" Mikey demands of me while Gerard slips out of the room, pulling the door closed quietly behind him.

I shake my head. "Why does it matter what your brother thinks?" I ask.

Mikey shrugs. "I figured you might need his gay-boy insight." He yawns, scratching the back of his head. "I'm not good with the whole picking-out-clothes thing."

"Wait," I say, something in his response catching my attention, and turn back around to face him. "Gerard is gay?"

"Yeah," Mikey says, like it should be obvious. Just because I am gay does not mean my gaydar functions properly. Last year, I hit on this guy for two weeks before someone was kind enough to inform me that, though he was well-styled and wore guyliner, he was indeed straight and had a girlfriend.