It was eight o'clock when I decided to head home from the Way residence. After dinner I had just hung out with the brothers in Mikey's room like the other day and just got to know them even better, although we had constantly drifted off to talk about music. It seemed like the brothers had some kind of wordless agreement that we would always hang out in Mikey's room which made me feel really curious about Gerard's room. Even though I felt like I knew him quite well already, Gerard was still a little bit of a mystery. So I really wasn't wrong when I thought about him as a "mystery boy" before I got to know his name and stuff. Maybe the mysterious side of him was why I found him so attractive.
Now I was laying on my bed thinking about him. Maybe my friends weren't so wrong about me and my feelings towards Gerard. I guess I really was having a crush on him after a couple days, but I just didn't want to admit it. How can I have a crush on somebody already? But as I saw Gerard and Lindsey walking hand in hand in the morning and found out that Gerard had spent the night at Lindsey's apparently, I noticed that I felt myself jealous of him. I wanted to be the one holding hands with him. And that would never happen 'cause apparently he was in love with Lindsey. I sighed. Why did I always have to fall for the guys I couldn't get? I had dated a guy only once and it hadn't lasted very long until he realised he wasn't that into me after all. And then before that I had that relationship with a girl named Ashley about a year ago. Otherwise all the guys I've had a crush on have been either straight or taken. I assumed Gerard was both since he was dating Lindsey.
I decided to call my friends in Baltimore, assuming they were together at half past eight on a wednesday night. But even if they weren't, I would at least talk with Nico so he would see that I'm not forgetting them. So I dialled Nico's number and pressed the calling button. It rang a couple times before he answered.
"Hello, who's this?" Nico answered, pretending to not have my number saved in his phone, but I heard a smirk in his voice.
"Haha, very funny", I said sarcastically.
"Sorry, just messing with you. So what's up?" Nico answered.
"Are you alone?" I asked.
"Uh... Well, Josh is here. But others are not", Nico answered.
"Oh! I'm sorry, did I interrupt something?" I asked. Nico laughed.
"I wouldn't have answered if you had. We were just watching a movie, but it's not that important that I would ignore your call", he answered.
"Okay, good. Do you want to put me on speaker?" I asked.
"Yeah, sure. Hold on", Nico answered. I heard some shuffling and a click.
"Hi, Frankie. How's it going over there?" Josh greeted me from the other end.
"It's going pretty well", I answered and smiled at myself.
"But?" Nico asked.
"Why are you assuming there's a but?" I asked.
"Well did you call us just to tell you had a decent day?" Nico asked.
"Maybe I will someday, but okay now there is a but", I answered, making Josh laugh at our conversation and I could imagine Nico grinning knowingly.
"I knew it", he said confidently.
"So, what is it?" Josh asked gently.
"Well... Jamia left home after the first lesson today, pretending to be sick. Not really hard to guess why", I told them with a sigh.
"Oh... Well, she probably just needs a couple days to get over the fact that you turned her down straight away", Nico said.
"Yeah, that's what Lindsey said too. She was comforting Jamia on the first break and she said that she was a mess. But Lindsey said that I should wait a couple of days before going to talk to Jamia so she could sort her thoughts first", I told them.
"Yeah, that sounds reasonable", Josh said.
"Why do all people have to have a crush on the ones that aren't available or interested?" I asked with a sigh.
"Uh... Who else has that situation as Jamia?" Nico asked confusedly.
"Well... Me, I guess", I answered.
"So you admit that you have a crush on Gerard?" Nico asked. I sighed.
"I guess I have to", I answered. I could almost imagine a victorious grin appearing on his face.
"What happened that made you realise that?" Nico asked curiously.
"I got jealous when I saw them coming to school together hand in hand from Lindsey this morning", I answered.
"Oh... I'm sorry. It really sucks to be jealous of someone who's in a relationship", Nico said.
"Thanks. Yeah, it really does, but maybe I'll get over it. I just have to accept that he's happy with Lindsey and just concentrate on being his friend", I said with a sigh.
"Maybe. But still tell us if anything happens between you two", Josh said, sounding still hopeful.
"Sure. I doubt anything more than friendship will ever happen between us, but I'll tell you if a miracle like that happens", I said.
"So what did you do today after school?" Nico asked.
"I actually went to Gerard's and Mikey's place again. Mikey asked Lindsey to come too, but she didn't come 'cause she was going to check on Jamia", I answered.
"Well, that's nice. You're also probably relieved if Lindsey's not coming with you", Nico said.
"I hate to say so but yeah of course. It would be awful to just watch them together, it's enough at school. But so far Lindsey's never come with us at their place which is a bit weird", I said.
"Well, it's been only three days, maybe she's just been busy or something", Josh said. I shrugged and then realised they couldn't actually see me.
"Yeah, maybe, I don't know. Or maybe they just like to hang out at Lindsey's more", I said.
"Yeah, maybe you're right", Josh said.
"So, did you have fun?" Nico asked.
"Yeah, I did. It was really amusing to listen to their conversations with their mom. I mean Donna is really nice, but I get why the brothers are annoyed with her", I answered.
"Did anything happen between you and Gerard?" Nico asked and I could hear from his voice that if I was there he would be winking at me right now.
"Josh, could you please hit Nico with his pillow", I asked. I heard shuffling and a quiet thump. I grinned at myself.
"Ouch, what was that for?" Nico asked.
"Thanks, Josh. And that was for asking stupid questions. Of course nothing happened 'cause first of all he's taken. Secondly he's probably straight since he's dating a girl and thirdly we were with Mikey the whole time", I answered.
"Obviously I didn't mean, like making out or something. I meant something small like glancing at each other and blushing or something", Nico said.
"No, at least not that I noticed. And as I said nothing's probably ever going to happen between us so you don't have to ask every time. I'll tell you if something happens", I said.
