You Had Me At Hello

10: Give Me A Shot To Remember

 The sunlight shone brightly through the window, cascading across the floor. I felt the throbbing headache as I lifted my head. I reached over to grab my phone. As I scrolled through the many notifications, I heard a loud pounding on the front door. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I glanced beside me and almost screamed.

"Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out of me," I muttered. A very sleepy eyed Gerard sat up next to me. I looked around the room, noting the clothes scattered across the floor. The pounding continued from down the hall. I groaned and threw my legs over the edge of the bed. I threw on a shirt and some shorts before heading to answer the door. As I pulled it open, Mikey stood there breathlessly, poised to knock again.

"What the fuck, man? I have been calling you all morning."

"Dude, it's only like 8:00," I said, rubbing my head. I grabbed my cigarettes and lighter and stepped outside. I lit a cigarette and looked back at him. "So, where's the fire?" He stared at me incredulously.

"Gerard never came back last night," he said slowly, as if he were trying to dumb it down for me. "You never called or messaged me to tell me how it went." At that moment, the door opened and Gerard stumbled out. He made a low, almost growl-like sound at the bright light. I looked at him for a minute, noting the tousled hair. Mikey looked at him and then back at me. His eyes widened. "Oh." I looked at Gerard who glanced over to me before we both started laughing.

"Dude, why are you up so early?" He asked his younger brother. Mikey just blinked a couple times and shook his head.

"You never came home. I didn't know what had happened."

"Eh, I'm good," he said as he took a drag from his cigarette. Mikey looked back at me. I just kind of shrugged.

"Everything's fine," I assured him. "At least, I think so." Gerard smiled at me.

"Everything's great." Mikey looked back at him.

"Okay, well... I'm going to run some errands with Mom... I guess I'll see you guys later," he said, trying to find an escape from this mildly awkward encounter. He pointed at me. "Call me later on." I nodded, knowing that I was going to be given the third degree. He turned and walked off. Gerard cleared his throat, and I looked over at him.

"So, I think we should probably talk."

"Yeah," I agreed, blowing a puff a smoke upwards. "I really don't know what happened. I'm not sure what came over me. I honestly didn't plan on any of that."

"Neither did I, but I'd be lying if I said I hadn't wanted it to." I nodded slowly. "I guess... I don't know. I guess I just wanted to make sure that you weren't having morning after regrets."

"Actually, no. I'm not," I assured him. "Honestly, that was probably one of the best nights of my life. I mean, I guess we kind of crossed the other couple type things off the list." He laughed to himself and nodded in agreement.

"I would say so." We stood in silence for a moment before he spoke again. "So, does that change your answer?" I looked down at the ground and thought for a minute. "I don't really expect that it did, but I had to ask." I looked back to him.

"You know, at this point, we are basically already together, right?" He shrugged. "So, I mean, why would it being an official thing make it any different from what we have now?" He looked at me as if he were trying to read my mind.

"What do you mean?" I took one last drag before throwing my cigarette out. I blew the smoke towards the ground.

"I mean, what difference does it actually make? At this point, anything that might happen is already going to fuck me up. So, why not give it a shot? I mean, with literally everything else crossed off the list, where does that leave us?" His eyes lit up. He stepped closer to me and put his hands on my waist.

"So, does that make it a yes?" I heard the hopefulness in his voice. I smiled and leaned forward to kiss him. He smiled into it, which caused my heart to flutter. I pulled away and looked into his eyes.

"Yes, it makes that a yes." In that moment, all previous fear and trepidation disappeared. All felt right in the world. "We should probably get you back home."

"Yeah, I assumed so. Come on, let's go get you dressed." After I got dressed, we headed back towards their house.

"So, how should we go about telling him?" I asked as we rounded the last turn. He smiled and shook his head.

"Don't worry about it. I have the perfect way." I just shrugged and we headed in the house. I popped my head into Mikey's room, where he sat on the bed, fidgeting with something.

"Hey, we're back," I announced before continuing down the hall. He followed us into Gerard's room.

"Glad to see that you're both more awake now."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Gerard apologized. "I didn't mean to scare you. I just lost track of the time. On that note, I should probably go let Mom and Dad know that I'm alive." He got up to leave, but before he did, he leaned down and kissed me. I smiled as he left the room, then I turned my attention to Mikey. He was standing there with an awestruck look. Ah, the perfect way to tell him. He just stared at me for a couple minutes before he sat down on the floor.

"So, what happened to telling him that you weren't ready for that kind of relationship?" I just kind of shrugged.

"Well, I was trying to work myself up for it, and so we were drinking some wine," I began explaining. "I told him everything that I had planned too, but then, something happened. I can't really explain it. I just started talking with no filter, and well, I ended up telling him that I did love him, and even though I didn't really want to be in a relationship, we already kind of were. Then..." I trailed off. He looked at me expectantly. "Well, we may have been a little intoxicated, but I just kissed him, and before I knew it, well..." His eyes widened.

"Hold the fuck up. So, let me get this straight. You told him you didn't want a relationship, but then said you loved him. Then you kissed him. Then you fucked my brother?" His words came across as a mixture of confusion and annoyance. "I don't even want to know how the fuck that happened. So, what are you guys then? Are you together?"

"Yeah, I guess we are, Mikey. I guess we are."