Do You Understand?

2

My phone buzzed. I had a text.

F: Heard you were going out today. Can I tag along?

The text was from Frank. This was...odd. Frank is my boyfriend, who I've with for three months. Three days from now it would be our four month anniversary. We didn't really celebrate anniversaries, though. But anyway, back to the text. It was odd, because he never wanted to be seen with me outside of classes or off-campus (since we go to the same college), which was really difficult. But he didn't want anyone to assume, and I totally understood. I thought for a minute before responding.

G: r u sure? what if someone sees us??

I bit my lip, waiting for him to respond.

F: ...
F: I guess we'll just have to no homo it.
F: I really want to see you, Gee. Plus, Michael told me, and if you're taking him shopping, you need someone with good taste in clothes.

I laughed at his response. Yes, Mikey and I both dressed a bit odd, but I thought I thought I had good taste.

G: xD ok, drive 2 my house around noon. can't wait to see u. xx
F: See you then. xx

I checked the time. 11:15
"Shit," I muttered to myself. I was still in my pajamas, and I hadn't showered yet. Well, now was a good a time as any. I took a brisk shower, brushed my teeth at least five times (to make sure my breath smelled okay), and got dressed.
"Hey Mikey!" I shouted, hoping my brother would hear me down the hall.
"What do you want?" He grumbled, obviously still only half-awake. I checked the clock again. It was already 11:35, and Mikey hadn't even gotten out of bed yet.
"Get the fuck up, dude! Frank is gonna be hear in, like, twenty-five minutes," I shouted again. Thank god mom went to work early; she would've thrown a fit over my yelling. I heard Mikey moan and roll out of bed. I put on my jeans and rushed downstairs to find my shoes.
At 11:55, Mikey finally came downstairs, fully dressed, hair a mess. He had rather long blonde hair.
"Put your hair up or something. It looks bad," I advised. I didn't want Frank to think we were lazy or anything.
"Gee, I'm not going to try and impress your boyfriend," he shot back.
"H-he's not my boyfriend," I said defensively. How had he known?
"Frank told me everything, dude. Plus, you're really bad at erasing your internet history." I heard him chuckling to himself. What a cheeky lil shit.
I heard a knock on the door. I asked Mikey if my hair looked okay (to which he replied "You look fine, for the fifth time. Jesus fucking Christ."), and I opened the door. And there he was. The boy with the tragedy-kissed lips. The horribly touched skin. I hugged him. I hadn't seen him in a few weeks, since classes were over for now. I held him in my arms, and he was mine.
"Alright gaylords, you can quit any time now," Mikey said, interrupting the moment. Frank chuckled, and I could feel my cheeks going red.
"S-so, should we, uhm, get going?" I stammered, embarrassed. The other two nodded, and we headed out.
"Our first stop is to get Michael's hair cut, right?" Frank asked.
"It's just Mikey," my brother said from the back seat of Frank's car.
"Alright, Mikey it is."
We drove to the nearest Great Clips we could find. We weren't exactly rich, and couldn't afford to go to a proper salon. The three of us went in, told the lady at the desk that "Angelina" was getting a haircut, and sat down to wait. I would have said Mikey's name, but in our town, being transgender was frowned upon even more than being gay.
"Angelina Way? Come with me," the lady at the desk said, taking my brother to one of the chairs to get ready for his haircut. I was excited, but I tried to hide it. Thirty minutes later, Mikey came back, hair chopped off. He looked great.
We paid and left. Frank took us to a couple shops to buy Mikey some new clothes. At some point, I saw Frank buy something, but he wouldn't tell me what it was. He'd been acting a little off all day. Almost as if he was trying to keep something from me. Mikey was the same way, and they'd glance at each other and laugh whenever I asked what was up.
"Nothing," Frank said, grinning. "Just some bros being bros, you know?"
At this, both he and Mikey started cracking up. So, I thought to myself, they're definitely hiding something from me. Great.
By the time we got home, I was a bit annoyed. But my brother and my boyfriend giggling like teenage girls was the least of my worries when Mikey opened the front door.
Mom was home. And she was pissed.
"Angelina, what the fuck did you do to your hair?! And who the hell is that?!" She screamed, pointing at Frank.
"Ms. Way, my name is Frank Iero. I'm a friend of Gerard's, we met at school. As for Angelina's hair, she got some gum stuck in it, and we had to cut it all off. We tried to make it look as decent as possible. I'm terribly sorry." I looked at Frank, stunned. He was usually very soft-spoken and quiet around others. He never raised his hand in class, and never talked unless spoken to. This was quite a surprise. But the biggest shock was that mom believed it. She seemed to like Frank, and even asked if he could stay for dinner, which I thought was ridiculous, because she met him literally three minutes ago.
"Of course. I was actually wondering if I could spend the night here, to help Gerard with one of our summer assignments," he said, smiling very innocently. I blushed.
"Well I think that's a great idea! Actually, do you think you boys could run to the grocery store for me? I have a list, but you could buy some snacks for yourselves as well," she replied, shoving a piece of notebook paper at me, with various items written on it.
"Sure thing, Ms. Way. C'mon, Gee," he said nonchalantly, practically dragging me back to the car. I was so stunned, I could barely move. By the time we got to the store, though, I was almost back to normal. I took the list, while Frank left to find snacks.
"Hey, what kind of chips do you want?" He asked, raising his voice so he could just barely be heard from the next aisle.
"Well, you know I'm always a slut for Doritos!" I shouted back at him.
"Jesus Christ, Gerard," I heard him mutter. I laughed. Today had been a good day. One of the best in a long time.
"I love you, Frank," I whispered, so quietly that even I could barely hear it. I'd been wanting to tell him for a while now, but I didn't think he'd say it back. So for now, I'll settle for this. Whispering secret I love you's when he can't see. Laughing when he comes around the aisle and pretends to be angry at me. Admiring how cute he is when he gives up and smiles. Kissing him softly when nobody's looking.
Yeah. I'm alright with this.