The Secret Between Us//Gallavich

11| Awkwardness

GENERAL
Mickey and Mandy had a plan. They had been staying with Ian and his family for a while, and as much as he didn't want Fiona discovering the arrangement, he hated not being able to express his love to Ian. Although, the plan was somewhat pointless, as Ian hadn't yet exited his state of depression.

The plan was simple; While Fiona was at work, Mickey could be as romantic toward Ian as he wanted. From the time Fiona got home, until 10 pm, Mandy had to be the loving girlfriend and she'd go to bed with Ian. From 10 pm 'til 6:45 am, Mickey and Mandy would swap places. Mickey would sleep with Ian and Mandy would sleep on the couch. At 6:45 am, Mickey and Mandy would swap back before Fiona woke up.

This plan had lasted almost 3 weeks. Halfway through week 3, Mandy and Mickey didn't anticipate Fiona waking up at 2:15 am.

FIONA
Since Ian had come home, my worries about him had been keeping me up at night. Most nights, I'd be able to ignore my worries and go back to sleep, but the fear of him running away or hurting someone had managed to keep me tossing and turning. I noticed the time; 2:15 am.

I intended to go downstairs and grab a drink, but I stopped when I noticed that the figure laying on the couch was different. Getting closer to the couch, instead of barely seeing the FUCK U-UP tattoo on Mickey's fingers, l could barely see a nose piercing. My mind raced in confusion, wondering where Mickey currently was, considering Mandy was sleeping on the couch and not him.

I entered the kitchen, seeing nobody around. My confusion only increased when I looked in other rooms and even outside the house to see that Mickey wasn't there. There was only one place where Mickey could be, and that confused me. Walking upstairs, my hand held the doorknob that would lead to the boy's room. Pushing open the door, my eyes widened when I saw Ian laying in bed, sound asleep, while Mickey rested behind him, his arm wrapped around Ian's torso, his face buried in Ian's neck.

Two emotions were most present in my brain; shock and betrayal. Is was shocked because the last thing I expected was to see Mickey happily sleeping beside Ian. But I also felt betrayed, knowing that Ian was gay and had been dating Mickey and he had kept that a secret from me. Did he believe that I wouldn't accept him?

Wanting to leave them to sleep, I walked downstairs and sat on the lounge chair opposite the couch.

At 6:45 am, I could hear footsteps.

"Fiona's still asleep. Be quiet." Mickey spoke gently as Mandy stood up, adjusting her shorts.

MICKEY
As Mandy began to head upstairs, we both panicked when the living room light turned on, revealing Fiona on the chair opposite the couch.

"Am I asleep, Mickey?" She spoke, scaring me.

"Fiona...we can explain." Mandy smiled.

"Please..." Fiona walked into the kitchen, gesturing for us to follow.

Sitting down at the table, Fiona just sat there, silently, waiting for one of us to speak.

"We had...an arrangement. Ian and I are both gay, closeted obviously. We wanted our relationship to succeed, but with both our dads...that wouldn't be possible, so we asked for Mandy's help. If Ian and Mandy pretended to date, everyone would be less likely to know that it's really me and him making out behind closed doors. Everyone would think that I'd have a girlfriend, and everyone would think that she had a boyfriend. It would be a win-win for both of us." I explained as Fiona tried to understand.

"How long?" Fiona asked as she leaned back.

"Just over 4 months." l sighed

"Who else knows? Does anyone else know?" Fiona started questioning us.

"Frank caught us first, but didn't say anything. Then Terry nearly caught us, but Mandy helped us prevent him from catching us. Lip obviously figured it out and promised that he wouldn't say anything. No one else knows.'' Ian spoke as he walked downstairs, clearly only concerned about consuming coffee.

"Do Debbie or Carl know?" Fiona rolled her eyes.

"Nope." Mandy shook her head while Ian didn't care about Fiona watching as he sat down next to me, his fingers intertwining with mine above the table, his head resting on shoulder.

"Do you love him?" Fiona asked as she smiled at me.

"Yes. More than anything." I smiled, planting a kiss on Ian's forehead.