FicWad

“How’s the new job?” Ivy asked, leaning against the counter where I was pricing the new merchandise.

“Can’t you tell that I love it,” I grinned, dropping the comic book in my hand on the pile forming next to me.

“So you’re good?”

“I fixed up my old car. It’s that white Honda out front. I have a job that I enjoy and I have a date with Adam tonight.” I was better than I have been in a long time.

Ivy squealed unexpectedly, dropping the stack of comics she was about to put away. “You and Adam are going on a date?”

“Shit, did I say that out loud?”

“Why, weren’t you planning on telling me?” she asked in a huff. I opened my mouth and shut it again, not sure exactly how to fix the situation. “Never mind,” Ivy muttered.”Who finally gathered the guts to ask the other out?”

Her question caught me off guard, because it didn’t quite happen like that. “Neither of us,” I admitted with a shrug. “We went to get pizza the other night and kind of agreed to go out again. I guess you can’t really call it a date. I mean I’m not even sure if he’s gay.”

“What??? Are you serious?” Ivy looked incredulous. “Or are you completely blind? Adam is nuts about you. Besides don’t you guys have a sixth sense for things like that like you can spot another gay person from a mile away?”

I laughed at the absurdity of her question. “No, otherwise mine is seriously broken. Look at what happened with Frank.”

“Shut up. My brother’s an ass, you couldn’t have known. Anyway, he’s bi. That has to count for something and it’s not like that stopped you from making a move.” She rolled her eyes, continuing to help me put out the new merchandise.

“Do you blame me? You’re brother is f-ing hot.” Out of nowhere I got hit with a comic book.

“Are you telling me you checked him out from the second we stepped inside my house?” I scratched my head and avoided making eye contact. “So I never stood a chance.” She said apprehensively.

I shrugged apologetically, pulling the tape off the next box of comics. “I’m sorry, Ivy. I like…”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Me too, yet another thing we have in common,” she interrupted me, muttering that last part to herself. “My mission in life, falling for guys I can never have. So what do I do? I set them up with each other.”

“You like Adam?” I did not see that one coming, but then again, it should have been obvious.

“I used to, though not since I was like sixteen or so. It’s cool. What are your plans for tonight? Do you have anything special planned?”

I shook my head, slightly frowning. “No, we’d probably make it up as we go.”

“How romantic, Gee,” came her sarcastic response. “What do you usually do on dates?”

“To be honest, I haven’t been on a date in years. The last time was still in high school and I didn’t initiate it which meant that it wasn’t my responsibility to think of something to do.”

“Well, what did you do on that date?”

“Not a lot of talking,” I admitted sheepishly.

“You devil you,” she grinned, pumping me in the ribs. “You and Adam will get along just fine.”

“What does that mean?”

“How do I put this?” she pretended to think about it. “Let’s say that he’ll be very good at seven minutes in heaven.”

“I hate that fucking game,” I growled angrily, walking over to the shelf and shoving a handful of comics into place.

“Then let’s not talk about it. I had my girl moment when I squealed about you guys going on a date. Seriously, I hope you guys have fun and that you hit it off, because aside of my brother and my mom and my dad, you guys are my two favorite people in the world.”

“And your dog,” I joked, because quite frankly we weren’t that high on her list of favorite people.

“Luckily for you I don’t have a dog. I have to run, but let me know how it goes, except maybe leave out the gory details.” She winked at me as she headed for the door.

“Like I was going to share those with you in any case.” I turned back to my work, hoping to finish up before closing time.

*

I approached the skaters’ parking lot where I was supposed to meet up with Adam. It was convenient since I worked only about two blocks away at the comic book store. When I thought about it that meant I could see him a lot more often. I smiled at the thought. I stopped just short of where Adam and his friends were riding around. I didn’t wish to repeat the day we met so I stayed safely out of the way.

“Hey,” Adam stopped in front of me and picked up his skateboard. “You done with work?” I nodded in response. “Great,” he smiled wiping his forehead with his arm. “Ready for the night? I was thinking that we could get a pizza and go to my house to hang out.” I felt myself relax at his words. This wasn’t going to be an awkward, under pressure first date thing. It was simply going to be the two of us hanging out and having a good time.

“Sounds great,” I agreed. Adam waved at his friends and we started towards my car.

“Nice wheels,” he commented while I unlocked the doors and got in on the driver’s side.

“Thanks, I recently fixed her up with a lot of help of course.”

“I could have helped,” he informed me. “She looks great, though.”

We got in the car and I drove to the pizza hut nearest to the residential area where Adam lives. There we bought two large pizzas, triple cheese and pepperoni. Clearly Adam loves cheese, a lot, and then it was officially time for our date.

*

Frank’s POV

When you stare at the ceiling long enough… nothing happens. I’ve been staring at my ceiling for at least twenty minutes thinking about Gerard. I couldn’t get why he stormed out the other day. Okay, I did. He was still into me. I understood a lot better than he knew. I was still into him too. I was into him a lot. I still remembered the day after we met when I had woken up all excited about seeing him and when I had the greatest time hanging out with him. If only Lisa and her friends hadn’t shown up. On the other hand, my relationship with her would have had to come out eventually. I hadn’t wanted to hide it. I had simply wanted the day to last longer. I hadn’t meant to keep it a secret. Of course Gerard wouldn’t believe me, but ever since we’d made peace, I’ve been trying so hard to keep things between us light and easy. We got along great and we had so much fun together. It’s kind of a pity that we met through 7 Minutes in Heaven. If we had only met through Ivy and had never been stuffed into a closet together, things might have been a million times simpler. We would have been best friends without the added sexual tension.

I think he’s mad at me. He denied it, but that hasn’t kept him from avoiding me. I haven’t seen or heard anything from him in almost a week. That wasn’t normal, since we made contact at least daily, normally. I didn’t know what to do. It’s not like I tried to do anything that might give him the wrong idea about us. We played games and stuff. We didn’t do anything that could potentially lead to something else. It’s not like I could control either of our feelings and change it to platonic. It wasn’t fair that all the bad stuff were placed on my shoulders. Yes, I kissed Gerard that first night and yes, I neglected to tell him about Lisa straight away, but did that make me a bad guy. I was trying, but Gerard wasn’t making this easy.

Maybe there was a way we could still spend time together without the risk of forgetting ourselves and doing something we would later regret. It was a way that would ensure spending a lot of time together. He won’t be able to avoid me even if he wanted to. I pulled up my covers and turned off the bedside lamp before dropping my head back on the pillow. I smiled happily. I’ll ask Gee to join the band.

*

Gerard’s POV

“Three of a kind!” He whooped excitedly. “My turn. Woo me.”

“What?” I was confused. We were kind of playing twenty questions, but we coupled it with a game of poker. Whoever won, got to ask the other a question.

“If, theoretically, you were to woo me, how would you do it?” He looked really interested.

“Uhm,” I thought about his question. I was amused by his use of the word ‘woo’. “I might start out by doing something fun. The best way to get someone’s attention is to have a good time with them. I might deliver a plate of homemade cookies. My grandma makes the best peanut butter cookies ever.” I guess I was bragging a little. I smiled as I kept talking. “I would show up at your door like all the time. I don’t…” His lips quickly pressed against mine. It was so brief that I wasn’t even sure that it actually happened. However, the satisfied look on Adam’s face as he sat back was unmistakable.

“If I were to woo you, I would, well, now that you have I job, I guess I’ll be the most loyal or at least most frequent customer you have.” Adam said as if he hadn’t just kissed me. “Plus, I’ll drop little compliments every chance I get, because apparently I’m a huge flirt without even knowing it”

“You already do that,” I heard myself saying, remembering all the quiet little remarks I’ve heard him make since meeting him.

“I know,” he smiled secretively. “Maybe I do realize it after all.”

A silence followed, but it wasn’t awkward or anything. We were both just caught up in our own thoughts. Tonight went a lot better than I expected. Once we arrived at his house, we immediately stuffed our faces with pizza while watching some lame movie. We played a game of red hands, I lost. I was willing to bet that my hands have never had that much color in them. We spent a lot of time talking and now we were here. Unfortunately it was getting late, or rather it was late. I had work in the morning and Adam had school. We both had to get to bed if we had any intention of getting through the next day.

“I should probably get going,” I said, getting to my feet and straightening my clothes.

“No, you don’t,” he disagreed.

I chuckled. “Yes, I do.”

Adam let out the biggest sigh I have ever heard and stood up. “Fine.”

I said goodbye to his parents and then he walked me out to my car.

“I had a great time. We should do this again soon, like tomorrow,” Adam said.

“I’ll see what I can do,” I assured him with a smile. I leaned forward and kissed him not as quickly as he did earlier. I kept my lips pressed against his for a few moments before pulling back. “See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Adam murmured, walking backwards towards the house while I got in the car and drove away.