FicWad

Eventually, the game came to an end. Sadly, it was Frank and I that had to buy the pizza for everyone else. Even though Frank was the high scorer on our team, it was a winner-loser thing, not a ‘who got the highest score thing’. I offered to pay for the whole pizza myself to make up for my sucking in the game, but Frank wouldn’t have it.

“I knew we’d win.” Alex bragged incessantly as I looked around for the nearest pizza parlor, back with everyone squished into my Volvo. I rolled my eyes in the rearview mirror, but he didn’t seem to notice. He just kept on talking.

“It’s pretty obvious that we’d win. I mean, with us having two of the three people who go here all of the time on our team, and AJ hasn’t played laser tag since we were, like, five. She’d not exactly experienced in those types of things. And I mean, we’re just so good at it...” there was more, but I tuned it out. To me, all I could hear from that whole thing was ‘blah, blah, blah’.

There was a small pizzeria about five minutes down the road that looking promising, so I pulled in. None of the town’s natives that were present in my car seemed to object, so I was guessing that it must be pretty good. Either that or they were completely oblivious, and that wasn’t all too impossible, either.

The place wasn’t all that big, at all. In fact, there were probably a few rooms in my new house that were just as big, if not bigger, than the whole place. But it wasn’t busy; There were no other people there besides us and the workers. I liked it when that happened; It meant you got your food that much faster.

I turned to the four boys behind me. “Do you guys have any idea what you want?” I asked. I would be ordering, since I would be paying.

“I’m just going to get my own thing, AJ. You don’t have to worry about me.” Frank offered. I looked at him desperately, as if to say ‘don’t be a hero and just order whatever the fuck you want.’ Frank smiled at me, and added more to his statement. “I’m vegan, so there isn’t a lot I can get on this menu. Don’t worry! You guys just decide amongst yourselves. I can still help you pay for the rest, though.”

I threw Frank a look, and he seemed to understand what it meant. I didn’t want him paying for food he wasn’t going to eat. I turned my attention away from him and back towards the other three hungry boys.

“I’ll do whatever.” Mikey offered. “I’ll eat anything you put in front of me, so it doesn’t really matter.” Gerard nodded in agreement. I turned to Alex, looking for an answer. I didn’t want to choose for the whole group; I’d never been good with making decisions.

Alex knew that. “Just cheese sound ok?” He asked the group. There were nods and mutters of approval from the group, and I took that as my cue to order.

Frank had just stepped to the side after ordering whatever it was that was vegan-friendly on this menu. I didn’t really know what that could, but there had to be something, because he’d ordered it. I ordered our plain cheese pizza from the woman, who looked as if she could be my grandmother, and she told me it would be about twenty minutes before the pizza was ready.

Frank, Alex and Mikey managed to find another video game type thing; This time, it was an old, rusted pinball machine in the corner of the room. It amazed me how nearly every store in New Jersey, no matter what it was, seemed to have some type of game in it. Except insurance offices; Those were never fun.

I took a seat in the nearest booth, gazing at the rowdy boys from behind as Mikey played and the other two cheered him on. Gerard sat down across from me.

“You know, you don’t have to come and hang around by me if you don’t want to.” I offered, trying to be polite. In reality, I was extremely glad that one of them chose to hang around with me instead of flocking to their “own kind”. Alias, men.

“Nah.” he said, waving me off like I was a fly he wanted to swat. “I like hanging around with you. I don’t like playing games like that all the time.” he said, and he added in a grin for good measure. I grinned back at him.

This was the perfect opportunity to really talk with him, something we hadn’t really had the chance to do since we were kids. It was no secret that both of us had changed over the years. Now that we were both over the initial shock of seeing each other again, it was the perfect chance.

“So what’s New York like?” I asked, trying to get the conversation going.

“Busy.” he answered simply, and I laughed. It was just like Gerard to be vague like that. But, instead of having me push him more, he answered. “There’s always stuff going on, even at night. It’s really cool, though. There’s never a dull moment.”

I’d always wanted to go to New York City. Everyone I talked to thought I was odd when I told them I’d never been there, because it was a straight shot from New York to New Jersey. It wasn’t my fault I was a deprived child. The only time I’d ever been out of New Jersey was when my relative who lived in New Hampshire died, and I had to go up there for the funeral.

“I’m going to have to visit you sometime.” I said. “On the weekends. It’s a perfect chance to get out of here. Maybe now I won’t have to look like an idiot to other people, because I can say I’ve actually been to New York.” Both of us shared a laugh at my expense.

I tried to think of other topics of conversation, other topics to touch on, and only one came to mind. “So” I said casually. “Yah got any “lady friends” up in NYC?”

His nervous laugh was very reassuring. “Not exactly.” He said, rubbing his neck nervously and looking down at the table.

“Sleeping with someone more than once counts.” I pointed out, trying to get him to confess. Just the simple fact of his nervous laugh made it obvious that he was seeing someone, and I wanted to know her name. That way, when I did visit him, I’d know who to acknowledge as his girlfriend. He remained silent. “C’mon, Gerard. What’s her name?”

He sighed heavily, and looked up at me. “Kevin.” He said, and I could tell I made some sort of facial expression that made him uncomfortable. Now it made sense. Someone named ‘Kevin’ couldn’t exactly be a “lady friend”.

“Oh.” I said, feeling the red blush rush onto my cheeks. I felt embarrassed for asking, and he probably felt embarrassed for telling me. “So you’re....”

“No.” His answer wasn’t at all hesitant, and it surprised me. I looked at him curiously. “I’m not gay.” he said, and I wondered how that was possible. I didn’t have to ask him. “I’m bisexual. I’ve had girlfriends before, too; Both here and there.”

“Oh.” I said again, finally understanding him. He nodded, and he finally seemed at ease. It must have been hard to be in his position; Telling a girl you’ve been friends with since you were kids that you were bisexual. I could only imagine how hard it must have been.

“So what about you, missy?” He asked, jumping right into the next question. Apparently, it was time for my turn in the unofficial ‘twenty questions’ game we were playing. “Did you leave behind someone special in Newark.”

“Not really.” I said, but he didn’t seem to buy it. “There was this one guy I liked... We went to junior prom together. His name was Jake.”

“Ahhh.” Gerard said, as if he was a therapist that just made a breakthrough with his client. “Should I expect him up here every weekend? Endless letters addressed to his one and only love?”

I laughed. “No. We won’t be seeing him around here.”

“Why?” he questioned. “Nasty breakup? Did you use the ‘long distance relationships never work’ card? Because it isn’t all that long distance, AJ.”

“Um, not exactly.” I said. He looked at me questioningly, and I figured that I owed him an explanation. “He... passed away. He and two of his friends got into a car accident about a month before we moved.”

There was a silence at the table. Like myself before him, Gerard was regretting asking me that question; I could just tell. It was really hard to figure out how to react to someone telling you their significant other had died. There wasn’t exactly anything you could say to take away the pain.

“I’m... um... sorry.” He said, and I knew that was probably one of the best things to say. I nodded, and waved him off. It wasn’t his fault Jake was dead.

“Don’t worry about it.” I assured him. To make sure that I wouldn’t dwell on the thought, which always resulted in a tear-fest, I jumped into other questions I’d thought up in the silence. We talked until the pizza, along with Frank’s vegan eggplant Parmesan was delivered to the table. As if on cue, the other three joined us, and we sat and laughed at talked about life.

This was the kind of thing I loved.

A/N -- So, I kind of lied when I said that my other story would be the next update. And I also kind of lied when I said that summer meant that I'd update more. Hopefully that won't be such a lie later. But since school let out about a week ago, I've been totally busy with everything from going to the beach to auditioning for a play to making my hair look like a brand new tropical fruit. True story.

So, hopefully this makes up for the wait. Reviews are appreciated!