Devil's Work (Frerard / Priest!Gerard)

Thirty Five

Chapter Thirty Five

The following weekend Kellin threw another party. Of course, as teenagers with questionable social lives, we all jumped at the thought of a free house, especially when it one the size of Kellin's, where we could all hang out for the night and get away from our families.

Obviously Vic would be coming along, so how much we'd actually see of Kellin was questionable, but I was sure they'd be able to keep their hands off each other long enough to play the hosts. I was pretty sure Oli was bringing Hannah too, and it made me feel a little jealous to see them so freely walking around as a couple. I wished I could do the same with Gerard. That I could bring him along to these parties, that he could meet my friends, that everyone could just know that he was taken.

Instead I found myself once again the single one, standing around with a few friends near the snacks table and trying not to get too pissed just to cover up the fact that I felt lonely without him.

"Is everything okay?" Oli asked me at one point, detaching himself from Hannah and opting to come and talk to me for a bit whilst she and Lynz went off in search of where the lemonade had gone "You've been here two hours now and you still haven't spoken to Dewees – is my matchmaking that off?"

"Dewees is here?" I found myself scanning the room and still not seeing the familiar face "I didn't even realize." I had to admit, I didn't exactly want to speak to Dewees at that moment in time. Or ever, really. He was part of the reason I was in this mess in the first place and although I knew it wasn't completely his fault, I was still angry with him for being involved in the whole thing. 

"Yeah. I think he's avoiding you too though" Oli laughed it off "Last time I saw he was in the back garden. Go talk to him man, or he's going to think you don't like him." 

"Yeah maybe." 

"Frank, come on" he rolled his eyes "Even if you're not interested in him, doesn't mean you can't be polite. He's my friend and I promise he's a really nice guy. You should know after all that time you spent talking to him last time!" 

I just sighed and took a long gulp of my beer.

"Yeah I guess I'll go talk to him" I tried to shrug it off, and it must have worked because Oli gave a grin and a encouraging slap to the shoulder.

"See? You guys just need to get over whatever awkward kissing may or may not have happened last time and stay friends. Trust me, he's a good guy once you get to know him. Rough around the edges and a little dodgy at times, but a good guy."

I just nodded and hoped he was right.

 ***

Sure enough, I found Dewees in the garden.

He was perched on a bench near the pond, a cigarette in one hand and a half empty beer bottle in the other. The look of his face was one of deflation, making me unable to help feeling somewhat sorry for the guy, to the point where I just sat down next to him with a sigh. 

For a moment we sat in silence; both of us watching the pond and the small goldfish we could just about see in the dim lighting coming from the back porch light.

"I used to have one of them" he spoke eventually, nodding at the fish "weird things really. Of course I was about ten at the time and quickly got bored of the poor thing, but I remembered to feed it. That's the main thing."  

"I never had a pet" I frowned "I guess my parents knew never to really trust me with a living thing. It would've been a disaster if they did. I've always wanted a dog at some point though. I use to walk my neighbours one all the time – for a while I even did dog sitting for relatives for some extra cash."