Devil's Work (Frerard / Priest!Gerard)

Thirty Four

Thirty Four

In the days that followed, I came to the conclusion that I never should have doubted Ray.

Despite knowing my secret, he acted as if nothing had changed when we were around people. He was perfectly convincing and dare I say it, an impressive liar. His parents didn't suspect a thing, especially not from their angelic son. In fact, it was only when the two of us were completely alone that we would mention it - normally just on the way to college and back when we knew we couldn't be overheard.

"You know, I see it so clearly now" he sighed on a dreary Tuesday morning, one hand on the wheel, the other drumming mindless chords on his knee "the way you look at him, how you were always okay with going there every day despite the fact it was supposed to be a punishment... it just all adds up now."

"Well as long as you didn't see it until now then that's all that matters" I sighed, feet resting up on the dashboard as Ray drove through an early morning traffic queue, which we often had to endure when making out way towards the town center.

"Oh no, I didn't have a clue. Nobody could even begin to guess that one, especially with Gerard being a catholic priest... hell, you could probably go round telling people and they'd still just laugh in your face. None of this would even be plausible to the congregation..."

"Good. The less believable, the better."

"Except for when it all comes out" he reasoned "then it's all just going to be ten times worse. There'll be that massive shock factor scandal, the newspapers will get involved... it's going to be total chaos Frank. And you won't be able to escape it."

"We can face that" I shrugged "We're strong, and the media will soon lose interest when they realize we're just another couple with nothing to say to them. Sure, it'll be a tough few weeks, but we'll get through it. I just wish I didn't have to drag you into it too."

"Maybe I'll go on a holiday when it all gets out" he shrugged "make them have to track me down first if they want to question me that badly. Not that I'd ever say anything, but you know."

"I just wish I could come too" I laughed as the car neared the campus "you know, whoever said running away wasn't the best option is wrong. If me and Gerard made a break for it right now then I reckon it would solve practically all our problems overnight."

"And surely bring you new ones along the way."

"Ray, look at us. Do you really think it's going to get worse than the shit we're already in?" He had to laugh at that one, shaking his head.

"Okay okay, you win that round. But if you do decide to run away into the night, make sure you give me a heads up first. I'm not sticking around to clean up your aftermath."

****

"Hey!" Lynz reached out and grabbed me by the back of my jacket, slowing me down in the middle of the crammed corridors "Wait up a minute, I need to talk to you."

"Oh, sure" I let her pull me over to the left hand side of the corridor, where it's less busy and we can actually walk side by side without someone knocking into us "Are you okay? Has something happened again?"

"Sort of" She grimaced "I mean, not to me. Its just Angela... she's really mad at you Frank. I dunno, I think seeing you in person really sparked something off, she won't shut up about what an awful influence you are on me."

"What? Is she trying to make your dad intervene?"

"He wouldn't - he can't expect to control who I'm friends with when I'm seventeen and he knows that. But he certainly doesn't like me mentioning you. Neither of them do" she sighed "Not that I guess we can really expect them to after what we did to her house..." A small smile appeared on her face when she thought of the state we left Angela's garden in.