Bittersweet

Like Music to my ears

"And you have to call me at least once a week!", Mikey said hugging me even tighter, "Promise!"

I laughed
"Yes Mikey. I promise!"

Mikey shortly after quit the embrace and stepped back, his luggage in his hands
"please stay safe, big brother"

"I will. I promise.", I said pulling him into a final hug, "and please say hello to Alicia. I really need to meet her one day"

I saw Mikey blush and almost wanted to 'aww' out loud but I knew he'd probably throw me right on the tracks if I did that

"You'll meet her eventually. Soon probably. You have to visit us someday", Mikey yelled over the sounds of the incoming train

I nodded, knowing that he wouldn't understand me anyways if I said something now.

"That's my Train. I need to go. I love you, Gee. Well see each other soon", Mikey smiled and I swear I could see tears in his eyes

"I love you too. Come on gimme another hug you loser"

And that was the last hug I got before Mikey climbed up the steps of the train, luggage in his hands.
I stood there checking every window until I found my brothers booth where he just sat down on the seat right next to the window

He waved at me and I returned the gesture as the train started to roll out of the station and I was alone again but this time I knew that it wasn't going to be for long.

Now that I finally had my brother back, I sure as hell wasn't going to let him go that easily.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I didn't hear from Frank for the rest of the week.
The only person I really talked to was Bert. We texted almost every day and I had to say that his messages were the only thing I was looking forward to during the day.

On Monday I got a call from Mikey, telling me that Alicia wanted to meet me as soon as possible.

Tuesday I went to Starbucks because even though I didn't have to go to work, I still needed my daily dose of coffe!

When I entered the small café I was greeted by Ray. No sign of Pete. Again.

"Still with that trainee boy?", I asked as I sat down on my usual chair close to the counter.

"Yepp. You were probably right when you said that it wasn't a good idea to let Pete handle this", Ray giggled, preparing my Coffe.
He knew by now how I liked my coffe, black with two spoons of sugar.

"Thank you, Ray", I said when he put the mug down in front of me

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like the last time I was here, the first thing that told me about his arrival were the bells on the door but this time the steps heading to my table weren't quite as steady as they were the last time.
No, today Franks legs jiggled their way to the chair on the other side of the table where he sat down, making me look up in suprise.

"You want a coffe, Frank?", Ray asked nicely but Frank shook his head

"I need to talk to Pete. Go get him please", Frank ordered
Ray frowned but disappeared through the backdoor to search for his Coworker.

We sat in silence and I took my time to study his face.
He looked like shit.
Seriously.

His skin was pale and he looked like he was close to throwing up. There were black shadows under his eyes and he smelled extremely like alcohol.
He was probably out the whole night.

"Why didn't you text me?", I decided to break the ice.
Franks head snapped up to look at me and he groaned
"I'm not your fucking boyfriend I don't need to text you every day"

I frowned.
Okay he was a bit... pissed today.
I shouldn't irritate him or something in this state

"You fucked me. I could at least expect you to text me once", I sighed not really meaning Frank to hear it but of course he did anyways

"You're fucking clingy that's so annoying", Frank leaned forward to bury his face in his hands.
He probably has a really bad headache because of the alcohol.

I tried to tell myself that it's the alcohol that made Frank say things like that to me.
At least that helped me to deal with the pain his words left in my chest.

"I see you went out yesterday", I stated sipping on my Coffe
God why couldn't I just shut up

"Good eyes, Sherlock", Frank rolled his eyes at me, "I don't stay in my house the whole time like you. Fucking nerd. And where the fuck is Ray?!"

I decided not to say anything anymore and just fumbled with the handle of the cup

As If he was listening to us, Ray stumbled through the back door
"I can't find Pete anywhere", he yelled shrugging.

"Have you looked into the storage room?", I shouted back over the noise of the dishwasher (that thing was pretty fucking loud I think it was broken) and saw Frank jump slightly and groan in agony.

"No I haven't", Ray answered

"Then go!", I said loud, "He's probably showing Patrick something again. I mean... his trainee and everything"

Ray only nodded and disappeared in the back again

"Pete is hanging around Patrick a lot lately. I'm sure there's something more between them. No suprise, Pete is like... a man whore or something. He even tried to hit on me when we first met. And I saw that he had a thing for my brother. And now Patrick I can't sa-...", I rambled for the sake of talking but Frank suddenly interrupted me by slamming his fist on the Coffe table

"Can you shut up for five minutes?! God you're so damn annoying your voice is giving me a headache", he almost yelled, but held himself back from doing so because of the stinging pain in his head.

But just because he wasn't yelling doesn't mean it didn't have its effect.

I shut up. Of course I did.
I really didn't want to annoy anybody.

I looked down again, eyes glued to the bottom of the Coffe mug, biting the inside of my cheek to keep the tears from running down my face.

"God don't tell me you're going to cry you're such a whimp", Frank spat and i know it was the alcohol speaking. He couldn't walk a straight line and he could hardly keep himself up on the chair.

But what do you say?
Drunken people are like children, always telling the truth.

And I had to say that I really was a whimp for letting his words get me, but I couldn't change it.

"Sorry", I whispered keeping my head down

Frank only rolled his eyes as an answer.

"I can't understand what that boytoy of yours sees in you. You talk way too much, you look like a fucking clown with that hair... the only thing you're good for is fucking. Seriously", he let his head fall back and laughed, "god I'm drunk"

But I didn't really listen to him anymore, too familiar were the words he was throwing at me.
I though I could change everything about me. My looks, my shy personality... but it seems like I was still the same person I was back in College.

And there went my hopes and dreams.
Thanks Frank

I stood up so quickly that the chair almost fell over
I wanted to say something to Frank. Wanted to shout at him but I couldn't open my mouth, knowing that if I actually did that the tears would start to fall so I just shook my head and stormed out of the café.

Right when I stepped out and ran to my car, Ray stormed out of the back door, eyes wide in shock

"Where's Pete now?", Frank asked rubbing his temples trying not to think about the expression on my face as I left the café

"Well... Gerard was right. Pete's in the storage room with Patrick... and you'd rather not know what those two are doing back there"