Of so many people living in New Jersey, this restaurant just had to have chosen Alicia to hire as a waitress. And of all tables, she just had to have chosen ours to spot and approach. And even with the group of people sitting at our table, I just had to be at one end of the booth, which held just enough space that she had room to sit beside me.
"Fancy seeing you all here," she remarked with a smile, which the rest of us half-heartedly returned. This had been the first time Gerard or myself had seen Alicia since I finished school a few months ago, and I hadn't talked to her much after I rejected a date with her years before. Her friend continued to harass me all throughout the remainder of that year, though.
"You work here?" Frank asked her, his gaze finally leaving the door where Anthony had disappeared into, instead to be replaced by Alicia.
"Yeah," she replied, even though the answer to his question had been obvious, seeing as she wore a waitressing outfit. "I hate it here, though. The only good things about my job are the free food and the fact that my boss isn't a complete asshole."
When all she received in response were multiple unenthusiastic, synchronized nods, she asked, "So how are you all?" and received also synchronized and monotonous replies, though this time in the form of words.
"We're fine."
"Yeah, and Mikey and Gerard are fuck--"
Ray nudged Bob subtly yet firmly under the table, making him realize what he'd almost let slip.
"--ing fantastic. Yes they are," Bob finished hastily, finding it hard to keep a straight face at everyone else's solemn ones. Alicia was mildly confused, though she allowed the odd declaration to be forgotten when everyone else did. We only laughed to cover up his stupidity, and thankfully our waiter unknowingly helped with that, and saved us from any future embarrassment by bringing our food to our table. He also managed to once again make Frank salivate over something other than food or comic books.
Alicia looked over at him curiously, smirking when she noticed the very obvious staring that Frank was directing at a certain part of Anthony.
"Frank, why are you staring at Anth's ass?" she inquired through a laugh, managing to not only point out Frank's act to everyone else at the table, but also to freak out Anthony.
"Alright, that's creepy," he commented, before side-stepping away from our table and to an incensed-looking couple who weren't being given their orders. That didn't stop Frank from staring, though.
Ray was once again lustfully staring at Alicia--seemingly completely oblivious to the food that had been set down before him--which she didn't appear to detect, so I decided to happily point it out to her.
"Watch out for Ray, Alicia," I warned, watching as they both turned to me with confusion written on their faces. "He might hide you in his hair. But it's okay, I'm sure he keeps food in there, too. And apparently a leprechaun is a resident, and possibly other people, so you'll have company."
Ray only laughed, while Alicia slowly nodded, taking in the unusual fact I'd told her, and no doubt wondering where it came from. Even after my notification, she didn't seem bothered that Ray had again begun staring at her, and in fact I think she was enjoying the attention from him, as she was smiling.
Gerard was laughing at the odd caution I'd given. He smiled at me, leaning in close to my ear so that no one else could hear his words as he whispered, "I love you so much."
Instead of engaging in a kiss which would have been awkward to explain to Alicia and any other surprise visitors, I accepted Gerard's proposal to hug, which triggered a table's worth of smiles and a few 'aww's from everyone else.
"You know, guys," Alicia interrupted, forcing me to pull apart from my brother to properly face her, though he kept one of his arms around my shoulders. "I've always really admired the closeness you two have. I think it's really sweet."
Gerard smiled at her, which was then directed at me, and rested his head against my shoulder. One good thing about being related was that people would always mistake our acts of affection for that of brotherly love. We could do all but kiss in the company of others who weren't in on our secret, and normally they wouldn't suspect a thing, except for in the case of our mother. I was trying quite hard to forget that incident and everything related to it for the moment, though.
"Yeah, I love Mikey a lot. I'd marry him if I could," Gerard stated, with more honesty than she would ever comprehend.
She cooed, smiling with admiration. "But no creepy incestuous acts on the honeymoon, right? Just Scrabble and overuse of room service?"
Gerard laughed, though the moment was slightly awkward when he replied, "Yeah, of course."
As I took Gerard's hand in mine under the table, Bob had slapped Frank upside the head for continuing to stare at where Anthony had once been but had long escaped from. Frank cried out an "Oww!" and turned to face Bob, hurt etched across his face.
"Whadido?!" is what came out of his mouth. When Bob gave no response other than a gloomy expression and noticeable pout, he asked, "Aww, Bobby, what's wrong?"
Bob's expression eased just slightly, but still he kept his eyebrows knitted and his arms crossed. "Don't call me that."
Frank fully turned to Bob, and slipped his arms around his neck in a hug, which Bob would have probably pulled away from had Frank not practically crawled into his lap to keep him in place. Unenthusiastically patting Frank on the back as a replacement for hugging him back, he didn't force away the small smile he displayed after Frank had pulled away from him.
After a short silence, Frank once again turned to Bob to ask, "Feeling better now?"
At first reluctant to answer, Bob silently muttered, "...Yes."
Frank grinned, pleased. "Then my work here is done!"
He crawled over Bob and Ray to get out of the booth, and once out, he ran off in a randomly chosen direction, probably in search of Anthony again. Bob smacked his forehead in aggravation--over what, none of us had any idea--before stating, "I'd better go after him and make sure he doesn't get arrested or something," and left the table as well.
Gerard nodded in agreement. "We'd better head home, actually. The America's Next Top Model marathon is on tonight and there is absolutely no way in hell that I'm missing it."
I rolled my eyes at his odd taste in TV programs. "I can't believe they still air that crap."
"You guys didn't even eat anything..." Alicia pointed out, who then told us to wait while she got us takeout bags to bring everything home with us. And even though none of the others lived with us, we were bringing their food with us, too, since they'd no doubt pass out at our place again. Their rent money would have been put to better use if it just went to Gerard and I, since they all spent more time at our apartment than their individual ones.
"Remind me not to eat out with Frank again, he's too distracting," Gerard said as we walked toward the exit door of the restaurant, where Frank was impatiently jumping around in boredom, along with Bob and Ray who were standing side-by-side and staring with odd looks at Frank. Gerard pulled me to him when we stopped at the door and hugged me tightly, and of course I eagerly hugged back, though I did wonder what the sudden affection was about, not that I minded in the slightest. When Alicia brought us our bags, already filled with the food we'd ordered, she smiled at Gerard and I and passed them to us. As we were walking through the door, I saw Ray handing Alicia a piece of paper and then gave her the call-me-sign, to which she only nodded slowly. She yelled out for us to come back to see her soon, which was a definite thing, as Frank's fascination with Anthony's ass was sure to lead us back there.
Frank demanded to sit in the passenger seat beside Gerard, which ultimately he unwillingly allowed. I sat in the middle of Ray and Bob in the back seat, making it very easy for me to see Bob staring at Frank along the entire drive, along with sighing every couple of minutes in between.
I eventually turned to him and smiled knowingly. "You know, Bob, you obviously have a--"
"Don't even say it, Mikey," Bob hissed back at me, his eyes not even finding mine to leave Frank, but remaining fixed upon him.
"You know, I could help you."
He shook his head forcefully, this time looking at me, and speaking in a whisper. "Shut up, Mikey. I don't like Frank, therefore I don't need help."
I smirked. "I never said you liked Frank."
Bob narrowed his eyes, turning his head away from me and to the window, and pushed himself into the corner of his seat. "Shut up, Mikey."
I never really lost the fight, but I never really won it.
♥
