Come Hell or High Water (Petekey Fic)[ON HOLD]

Chapter 3

"So when do we leave?" is asking Ray as I approach the table. Pete's a few steps behind me, trying his best to walk straight. Now that we're at it, so am I. When I sit down, Gerard shoots me this look that says You and I will talk later. I just ignore him and take my place beside Ray again. Pete wisely decides to sit more than a few inches apart from me.

"I was thinking maybe in a week? The sooner, the better." Patrick answers. I turn my attention to him, trying not to think about what just happened in the bathroom. I also try my best not to glance at Pete, since I can still feel my brother's eyes on me. He gets quite protective about other guys flirting with/fucking me (not that he knows about the fucking part, of course). I think he just doesn't want me to go through what he went through before Frank, and I guess I appreciate it, but if he's going to look at me that way with every guy I meet...

"Well, what do you guys think?" Ray asks the rest of us. I look up at Frank, who's staring intently at his hands, his hair covering his red-rimmed eyes. He looks up to Ray for a second and says "Yeah, sounds good to me," then he goes back to staring at his hands. Gerard looks at him briefly and I can see the hurt in his face, but he quickly recovers and nods as well.

"Mikey and I can make it" he says, and I nod in agreement. I can't help it, and I steal a glance at Pete, who is smiling but not looking at me. The rest of the guys agree as well.

"Well," Pete says, standing up. "It's settled. We'll be in contact. Maybe we'll do another 'meeting' the day before so you can meet the other guys. It was a pleasure meeting you all." He smiles, shakes everyone's hand like he did when they arrived, and when he gets to me, he hands me a piece of paper mid-handshake, in a very Titanic way. I roll my eyes and smile at him. He winks, turns around, and leaves the bar, followed by Patrick, Joe and Andy. My brother is literally shooting daggers at me, and Frank is looking at me amused.

Guess it wasn't as discreet as we thought. Oh well.

~~~~

"What took you so long in that bathroom?"

Oh, are you fucking serious? Do you really want to do this right now? I look at Gerard and roll my eyes. "I had to pee," I say. We're walking towards our house, the streets lit only a little by the lamp posts. We're walking side by side, our breaths coming out in puffs due to the horribly icy November air. However, after I say this, Gerard stands in front of me and stops me dead on my tracks. I glare at him.

"Do you think I'm fucking joking here, Mikey? I'm being serious. What took you so long in the fucking bathroom?" he snaps. I take a step back, my eyes widening in caution; Gerard almost never snaps at me. "I also noticed that Pete took as long as you. What were you doing?"

I stay quiet, gaping at him. I don't know what to do now; when he gets like this, it's better to be careful; I know that due to this Frank situation he's a bit emotionally unstable, and I don't want to make it worse.

"We were just talking," I say slowly. He doesn't believe me, and I know it. "Frank was upset, and I followed him so he would... stop being upset. Then Pete came into the bathroom and Frank left, and I just sat on the sink and he asked me what I thought of the plan and I said I thought it was great and he said he thought it was great too and then I washed my hands because I they had touched the dirty sink and then we left." I don't even know where the lie comes from-- I've never been good at lying. However, this sounds fluent and true, and since Gerard knows I can't lie, he'll have to believe me. And, unsurprisingly, he does. The crazy look starts to fade from his eyes and he just looks down.

"I'm sorry, Mikey," he says, and his voice breaks. Oh no, not again. Don't cry, please, I don't think I can handle this again.

"It's okay." Gerard shakes his head, takes a deep breath, and we start walking again, him falling into step with me. We walk in silence until we reach our doorstep, where I see him wiping his eyes. I sigh, gently take the keys from him, and open the door. "You should sleep in my room tonight, Gerard, where I can keep an eye on you. I'll just put the sheets on the foot of my bed."