Like Buttons On A Shirt

Chapter 20

I practically danced down the floor on my way to the kitchen.
Gerard actually liked my present.
In fact he even said that he loved it!
He LOVED it!

I couldn't remember being this proud before in my entire life.
And in that moment Petes words came back into my head.
I didn't like Gerard, did I? I mean... everybody would get this excited, right?
Ugh... why was I even thinking about this?!

While walking down the floor I heard voices coming from the dining room. The others must be getting breakfast. Maybe I should go be with them for a moment before getting back to Gerard.
My stomache made a loud noise and I knew that I didn't have much of a choice. I was very hungry and the thought of Patrick's bacon made my mouth water.

I got in the kitchen and put a load of different stuff on plate. Hopefully nothing would fall off on my way to the dining room. On top of that I poured myself a cup of coffee and got to the others.

Everybody greeted me happily and asked me how my weekend was.
I sat down between Mike and Melanie and told them about how boring it was.
Pete was sitting on the other side of the table and gave me some curious looks. I tried not to look at him. Yes, I had decided to apologise to him but that didnt have to be today, right?

I took a huge bite of a cinnamon waffle (that tasted heavenly by the way) when Mile suddenly asked:
"What did Gerard say to the present?"

I almost choked on my waffle.
What the actual fuck, Pete?!?
I quickly looked over to Patrucks boyfriend who just looked down at the table.
And again I wished that looks could kill.

"Goddamnit, Mike. You weren't supposed to say that!", Melanie hissed.
She must have kicked him under the table because Mile helped in pain.

"Well thank you Pete for retelling our private conversations", I hissed, till throwing imaginary daggers at him.
"And if you all want to know: he liked it. Thanks for your interest. Now can I please finish this in peace?"

"He really liked it? What even was it?", Patrick asked but got quiet when I shot him an angry look.
"Can we just not talk about that now?", I asked.
I didnt know why but this conversation was way too deep into my privacy for my liking.  The present was just a thing between me and Gerard. And I wanted to keep it that way. I decided not to tell anyone about the present. They could bite their nails off trying to figure out what it was.

"Please tell us!", Mike pleaded. Ge got another angry glare.

"Guys how about we stop pestering Frank about that and just enjoy our breakfast together?", Jenny suggested.
I really wanted to hug her now.
She had kept quiet the whole time and now she even was on my side! What a friend.
"Yes please"

The others nodded and the rest of the breakfast was pretty quiet. Just a little small talk every now and then.
I was almost relieved when I had finished my plate and also almost happy to go back to Gerard.

After knowing that he LOVED his present I wasnt as scared of being in the same room as him anymore.
I prepared a little plate for him with pancakes, eggs and fruit. And of course the obligatory cup of coffee.

"Here you go", I said when entering his room, "a nicely put together plate of breakfast goodies fresh from the kitchen"

Gerard rolled his eyes but I could see his mouth twitching. He was about to smile.
"Did you bring my coffee?", he asked.
"Who the fuck do you think I am? Of course I got you coffee"

I sat the plate down in front of him and put the cup on his nightstand. With a little pride in my heart I noticed that he still had the box on his lap.
Just like I thought he neglected the food and got straight to the coffee. But Gerard knew that I was not going to leave before he had at least eaten a little.
To my surprise I didnt even have to beg for him to eat. After a while he just took the fork himself and started nibbling on a few pieces of fruit. And I couldn't have been happier.

"So now that I got you the supplies, how about you turn the rest of the day into an... art themed day? Or however you artists say that!", I suggested.

"How us artists say that?", Gersrd mocked me, "I didnt know artists have a special name for the days they draw."

"Ha Ha you're so funny. But all jokes aside, what do you say?"

Gerard hesitated.
"I mean... I would like to test a few of the supplies actually. So yeah... maybe"

My heart almost exploded. I actually got Gerard to do something other than laying in bed. Well okay... he only said 'Maybe' but that's the closest I could get to an actual achievement.
I tried very hard to hide my triumphant smile.
But apparently I failed.

"Hey dont look at me like that! I'm only doing that because I can stay in bed for it and I'm kinda curious. This doesn't say anything about how you're managing your job!"

"Of course, Mr. Way", I said, still smiling.

After a few more bites of fruit and half a pancake Gerard seemed to be done. I got the plate and the empty mug to bring them back to the kitchen.

"Do you think I could watch you paint?", I suddenly ask.

Gerard hesitated.
Did I go too far again?
"Uhm... it would be very boring for you", Gerard said after a while.

"I dont care. I could like... read or just... watch"
I didnt know why but I really wanted to watch him draw.
I wanted to know how good he was.
I wanted to know what kind of person he was when he did something he loved.
I desperately wanted to see a different side of Gerard.
I just knew it was there and I felt like this was the best opportunity to see it.

"O-Okay..m if you insist", Gersrd shrugged but he seemed kind of nervous.

"Thank you, Mr. Way. You wont even notice that I'm there!", I promised excitedly and got ready to leave the room. But before I could leave Gersrd called me back.

"Oh, and Frank", he said.
I turned around and gave him a confused look.

He didnt look me in the eyes when he said:
"Just call me Gerard already."