Like Buttons On A Shirt

Chapter 8

*A/N*

Hello guys!

Yes, yes, I am not dead (yet)!

Happy new year everybody! Let's hope 2018 will be better than 2017.

Anyway... without much talking:
Here you have the next chapter. It's a long one for you!

Thanks for reading everybody!

Somehow I was expecting to find Gerard not having touched the plate, but I was pleasantly suprised to see an empty one on the nightstand. 
Gerard didn't look too happy, arms crossed and a little pout on his face. 
"There, I finished the plate," he muttered, "are you happy now?"
"More than happy, Sir," I smiled, "your mother will be pleased" 
I heard him huff, but decided not to pay attention to that. 
I picked up the empty tray and told Gerard that I'd be back right away. 

I brought the tray back to the kitchen and gave it to Patrick, who couldn't believe that Gerard had eaten all the food. 
"It's true," I said, "unless he's thrown everything out the window, he ate it" 
"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that. The window thing actually sounds possible," Patrick shrugged, "I wouldn't be suprised at all" 
"No, I'm sure he ate it," I nodded, "and he looked way better. He had red cheeks" 
"Are you sure that he wasn't just blushing?" Patrick winked as he put the plates in a big dishwasher. 

I snorted.
"Why the hell would he blush?"
"Well I don't know what you guys talk about," Patrick giggled, "Sometimes Pete and I-..." 
"Oh please, I really don't want to know what you two talk about!"
I scrunched up my face in disgust, making Patrick laugh even harder. 

"You know, I really like you, Frank. You're different than the others Mrs. Way brought here before" 
I frowned.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Hum..." Patrick shrugged, "I don't really know. Hey, shouldn't you go back to Gerard?" 
I wanted to know what Patrick had to say about me being different, because I knew that there was more to that.
But he was right, I really needed to go back. 

I said goodbye to Patrick and left the kitchen to go back to Gerard's room. 
I was instantly greeted by a slightly pissed Gerard asking: "What took you so long again?!" 
"I'm sorry, Sir," I said, not sorry at all, "but I was talking to Patrick about the breakfast" 
"You should stop talking to Patrick that much. He's distracting you from your work."
I decided not to say anything to that. 
"So... what's the plan for today?" I casually asked, "what do you want to do?" 

Gerard let out a dry laughter.
"I'm going to tell you to close the curtains again so I can go back to sleep just like every day"

Every day? 
Mrs. Way had already told me about Gerard not wanting to leave his room, but she didn't tell me about him being fucking depressed. 
"I don't think that's a good idea. It's so nice outside, don't you want to go to out or something?" I asked, trying to sound excited.
He gave me a look that literally told me to fuck off. 

"Listen, I don't know what my mother told you, but no matter what you do, it won't change anything." He rolled his eyes and slid further under the blanket. 
His reaction suprised me.
Did he know about the things his mother said before I started here? 

"Come on! At least leave your bed. You could... I Don't know... watch TV or read a book!" I suggested and tried to put some extra cheerfulness in my voice. 
"I can do that in bed too, idiot," he said, his voice muffled by the sheets, "go away now" 
"But-..." I started, but Gerard interrupted me. 
"I said go away!" his voice got louder with every word and even though I didn't want to, I had to listen this time. 
I had already stepped too far today with what I did. I would have to talk to Mrs. Way about it first. 

And that's why I actually left the room and walked aimlessly through the halls until I met Jenny, who was watering some plants around the house. 
"Hey!" She said, "how is it going so far?" 
"Could be better," I answered, "he basically just kicked me out of his room" 
Jenny giggled and said: "Sounds like him" 
I decided that I liked Jenny and wanted to ask her for advice. She's been here for longer than me after all. 
"I really don't know what to do with him," I admitted, "can you maybe... give me some advice?" 
Jenny put away the watering can and looked like she tried hard to think of something. 
When she sighed, I knew that she couldn't really help me.
"I'm really sorry Frank, but I'm just a maid. I don't really have anything to do with Gerard. Ever since I've started working here, I've seen him about three times, when I was watering the plants in his room. Melanie does the whole cleaning stuff in the bedrooms so maybe you should ask her! All I know is that he loves art. Back when Michael used to live here his room was plastered with posters of comic book artists and figures. And he likes to draw himself so maybe that could get him out of his shell!"

Even though this wasn't a lot of information, it gave me a better idea of Gerard and what he liked, so I happily thanked Jenny and left to look for Melanie. Gerard didn't want to see me again all that quickly anyway. 

I mentally noted down that I would search for art stuff for Gerard. I'm sure he would like to draw a little bit. He wouldn't even have to leave his bed for that, if he really insisted on staying there. 

It took a while for me to find Melanie. 
The mansion was bigger than any house I'd been to before and I had almost gotten lost a few times. 
Needless to say, I was really glad to see the other maid changing the bedsheets in a room on the other side of the mansion. 

"Melanie!" I exclaimed, my voice cheery because I had finally found her. 
Only took me half a fucking hour. 
She jumped slightly and when she turned around to see me, she held a hand over her chest. 
"Oh damn, Frank! You scared the hell out of me!" she said and took a few deep breaths to calm down. 
"What's the matter?" she asked then. 
I giggled slightly, because the image of her being scared was pretty funny. 
"I need to talk to you about Gerard," I said. 
She nodded, as if she was already expecting me to ask her about that. 
"Jenny told me you'd know more about him than her," I explained and she nodded one more time. 
"Yes, actually I think I do. We went to highschool together after all," she shrugged. 

My mouth fell open instantly. Jenny did not mention that! 
"Are you serious?" I asked.
"Yes. We we're classmates during the first two years of highschool and actually pretty close friends." she told me, "But then, in year three, everything changed. I don't know exactly what happened but... after that he stopped talking to me and completely ignored me. And then the-... Wait... i don't think I should tell you.." 
She muttered the last few words so it was hard for me to understand. 
But I'm sure that what she wanted to say would be really important for me and my job here. 
"Please, Melanie, tell me! It's really important for me to know. I want to know what to do to make Gerard feel better because there's obviously something wrong with him!" I begged. 

Melanie looked at me with a sceptical look in her eyes. 
"You've been here for what...? A day? You're way too into this for it to be just a job. So what's up with you?" she asked. 
I sighed. 
"It's really not just a job. Well... practically it is, but it's really important to me. I really really need the money and I want to keep working here so please help me!" 
It seems like she understood me. I didn't have to tell her why I needed the money so bad, but I'm sure something told her all she needed to know. 
"I need the money, too," she whispered, "Okay I'll tell you what happened, but you have to promise me to never ever tell anybody about this, okay? And don't you ever tell Gerard that you know about this and especially not who you've got that from. I'll be dead, if he ever finds out" 
I nodded frantically to show her that I'd keep it a secret. 

After a few seconds of hesitation she sighed and pointed over her shoulder to where a small sofa was standing next to a desk. 
"Come on, sit down," she said. 
We both sat down on the soft material. 

And then she began to talk.