FicWad

I showered and set the table. Mikey remained in the living room awaiting his friend's arrival. Ma prepared plates and drinks. My father was supposed to be home soon. Right on cue. I heard the back door open. It was most likely him. I heard keys drop onto a table.
"Something sure smells good." Great, he was in a good mood. If there's one thing you never want to do, it's catching my dad on a bad day. He came into the kitchen and hugged Ma from behind, who was tending to a salad.

"Hey dad." Mikey called from the other room. He said "Hey" in return.
"How'd the interview go, kiddo?"
"He starts tomorrow!" Ma had stolen the words right from my mouth.
"Well, send me to prison and call me Bubba's bitch." My dad had the most hilarious sayings sometimes. I couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Don! Watch your mouth."
"Sorry, honey." He tried to sugar coat his voice apologetically.
"Good job, Gerard. I'm really proud of you." My father gave me a pat on the back. The door bell rang.
"Mikey, get the door honey. That's probably your friend.", Ma called. Mikey did as told. I could hear his greetings from the kitchen. Yeah, it must have been his friend. Within the next few seconds, Mikey was followed in by a boy about his height. Maybe a few inches shorter, give or take. He had ivory skin and jet black hair. He was skinny like me, but he looked like he might weigh less. I noticed he had a lip ring. I didn't know what it was about this guy. I had already forgotten his name but my heart screamed to get to know him. Mikey introduced him to my parents then finally to me.

"Gerard, this is Frank Iero."
"Hey man, how's it hanging?" Frank smiled at me and offered his hand. I shook it. I had shaken a lot of hands today. I laughed to myself under my breath.
"P-Pretty good man." I answered with a stutter,taking a seat as everyone else did.
"Food looks good, Ma." She smiled at Mikey's compliment.
"I'm sorry Mrs.Way, but is there meat in the lasagna? I'm a vegetarian." Damn. Another similarity.
"Yes, dear, half of it is meatless. Gerard's a vegetarian as well. Mikey told me you were. There's extra in the oven if you're still hungry."
"Awe, you didn't have to do that. Thanks." Frank's face beamed with a smile.
"Oh it's no problem. I do it all the time for Mr.Artist over there." Oh god, mom, I thoughtI blushed a little as my mom motioned to me while I was cutting a piece of lasagna. Frank looked my direction.
"You draw?", his words were jumbled due to his chewing but I could understand him.
"Yeah. I sketch kinda randomly. It's not all that great really."
"Shut up. Gee's brilliant, dude. I swear. You should see some of the stuff he does. I could never do it. It's amazing."
"You'll have to show me sometime, man."
"He just got a job down at the local paper as a the new comic artist." My dad added.
"You work for The Jersey Jotdown?" Frank seemed shocked.
"Yeah. I just got the job today."
"Talk about small world!"
"What do you mean, Frank?" Mikey asked.
"Dude, I could have sworn I told you. I got a job writing for the music page a month ago."
"Oh, wow." I was in slight disbelief.
"Looks like you two can be cubicle buddies." My mom snorted. I laughed cause she thought she was so funny. We all laughed at her.
"Real funny, Ma." My glance shot at her. Mouth half full of lasagna Mikey spoke.
“You guys want to watch a movie?”
“Mikey you have to clean up the table. You know the rules.” My mother said walking out. Mikey groaned and began to clear the table.
“Got any horror movies?” Frank asked.
"Nothing but." I smiled his way. He seemed so mysterious. I couldn't help but stare. I knew he would probably get freaked out if I did any more. I tried to stop. I gestured towards the living room.
"You can go pick one,if you want."
"Kay." Frank left the kitchen. My parents had already retreated to the back porch. It was a full moon tonight, so they were drinking. My mother loved full moons. For some odd reason, she made it tradition to buy a bottle of wine when one came around. At first, she did it alone. My dad eventually joined. I tried to distract myself by helping Mikey with dishes. I heard the shuffling of DVDs in the next room. My distraction wasn't working well. I kept thinking about how we were going to be working together. I didn't know why, but it made me nervous. I kind of felt intimidated. He seemed so cool. Why would he want to be friends with me? No one ever did. I was the weird kid, the freak obsessed with art. No one at my school ever paid any attention. I could never talk to anyone. When I tried, I tended to have a bad case of verbal vomit. Girls thought I was akward and creepy. Mikey was really the only friend I had. He was the only one who understood me. Me being the older brother, you would think I'd be the one to defend him. Unfortunately for myself, it was the complete opposite. Mikey always had the confidence I longed for. I just could never seem to capture it. A lot of times, I would find myself being jealous, angry. For the most part I had gotten over it, but I had my days.
"Hey Mikey?"
"Yeah, Frank?"
"I can't figure out the player."
"Hey, Gee can you help him?" Funny thing was, I was the one to help Mikey with it.
"Yeah, sure." I dried my hands and walked into the living room. He looked so frustrated.Frank was sitting indian style, his nose in the manual.I could hear him curse under his breath. Apparently, I had walked in at the right moment. He threw the book and gave the dvd player a stern look and tried poking some buttons. Finally exasperated, he pointed at the player in angst. I stood there and decided to quitely watch the show.
"Stupidfuckermaybeishouldshove5muffinsinyouandseehowyoufeel!" I couldn't help but burst into laughter. Frank looked back up at me and his face had turned bright red.
"Were you standing there the entire time?" Through jagged breaths and laughter, I managed to nod.
"Sorry." I calmed down a little.
"Grr! It freakin confuses me!" He reminded me of a five year old at the moment. I just wanted to give him crayons and cookies to calm him down.In an odd way, it made me at ease. This one moment, made me feel like he was just like me. An oddball.
"It's okay, I have to fix it for Mikey all the time." I sat next to him,he shoved the remote in my lap.
"You do it, then." Within a few minutes, I had the movie playing and put it on pause.
"How did you-I did that and it didn't-What the fuck-Five muffins, damn you!This isn't over, pal!" He was talking to the DVD player again. Mikey walked in a second later.
"Uh, Frankie? Why are you talking at my dvd player?"
"Don't ask." I answered laughing.
"Oookayyy." Mikey plopped down on the couch. I had sat on the floor and propped myself up against it. Frank was still cursing under his breath. To my suprise, he sat right next to me.
"Ready?" Mikey asked.
"Just play the goddamn, movie." Frank huffed. Attempting to calm down, he hugged his knees and rested his chin on them. Maybe we could be friends. I smiled to myself while watching him all flustered.