The Glitch

One

"You don't honestly think that, do you?"

"Yeah, I do! Got a problem, unicorn-boy?"

I opened my mouth, but the bell on the door rang, indicating that we had customers and it was time to keep our unprofessional conversations to a minimum.

Or... at least just be quiet about them.

Gerard and I glanced over to see who had walked in, and he beat me to welcoming them.

"Welcome to Micheal's!" he chirped, a fake smile spread over his face. The two who had entered gave us weird, engineered smiles, almost identical.

Gerard and I angled our heads away from them, ready to have our private conversation.

"You think they're wired?" I asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Gee whispered. "Of course they're wired. The smiling gave it away almost immediately!"

I thought about it. He was right.

"Yeah, that's true," I said. "I swear, I know them from somewhere, though..."

"What? There's no way-"

"Hey, I have a life away from home, you know," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Oh!" Gerard snapped his fingers, as if he was remembering something. "That's right! I forgot about your little fuck-buddy! What's his name again? Oh, yeah, Pete!"

I stared at the counter in front of me. I could feel my cheeks burning with embarrassment. "Shut up," I mumbled.

My brother laughed, slapping my back. "Ah, Mikes, you know I'm just messing with you!"

"Do I need to bring Bert into this?" I asked, cutting my eyes at him. His smile disappeared. "Not necessary," he muttered. I smirked at him. I was about to say something else when the bell above the door went off.

I looked up to find Brendon and Ryan walking in together. "Oh, hey guys!" Brendon called, waving at us. The two walked behind the counter and into the closet behind me, where their work vests were. I slipped mine off of my shoulders and tossed it at Ryan. Gerard did the same. Ryan made sure none of the customers were looking before flipping us off.

He hung our vests up anyway.

"You're driving," Gerard said, throwing his keys at me. I rolled my eyes. "What, you gonna go text-"

"Shut the-"

"Both of you, get out before you get yourselves fired," Ryan said. "Idiots." I flipped him off, and Gerard grabbed my shirt to tug me out the door.

On the way home, Gerard had the music cranked up too loud for any conversations to go on. About a block from the house, he did what he always did and turned it down so we didn't irritate Mom.

We walked inside, and the smell of food hit me in the face.

"Mom, we're home!" Gee called.

"I'm in the kitchen!" came the response.

"We couldn't tell!" he yelled back.

Mom poked her head out of the kitchen, pointing a wooden spoon at her oldest son. "Don't push your luck," she said. She leaned back into the kitchen.

I walked over and leaned against the kitchen door-frame.

"Is someone coming over for dinner?" I asked.

"No, why?" Mom gave me a look, pushing loose blonde hairs out of her face. "Does someone have to be coming over for me to cook a nice meal? Am I not allowed to just make something because I'm so proud of my boys?"