Oh my god, why can't today just end already. Gene stared at the clock on the theater wall while the professor stood at the center of the stage, lecturing away. It was only the beginning of the very last day of classes, and already Gene was ready to go home. The class itself, Psych 101, had already had their finals last week. However, the professor urged it strongly to attend today's class.
This is a waste of time, I bet, he hissed to himself in his head while doodling on his notebook. Man, I gotta work on my ninja robots. Looking around the theater for anyone he could bother, Gene spotted a blonde near the front row of seats, far from where he was sitting. The back of that guy's head looks like Scott's…not that I'd know, of course, Gene reassured himself, ignoring the heat radiating from his cheeks. Whatever, that's probably not him. If Scott was in my class, I think I'd know.
The musician pulled out his phone, composing a message. Hey, where are you right now? He looked up to watch the blonde in case he reacted. Sure enough, the man pulled out a phone moments later. A minute passed before Gene received a text back. In the theater at school, why? Oh, shit, that really is him, isn't it? Welp, only one way to find out!
Gene picked up his pencil and chucked it far from his seat. It landed near the blonde's backpack on the floor below. The blonde looked up from his notes and down at the pencil, confused. The professor saw the writing utensil fly from the corner of his eye but kept talking. "Oops, I dropped my pencil!" Gene said loudly before getting up from his seat in the theater chair.
Rushing down the stairs toward the stage, the larger man looked over at the blonde he had been observing from afar. It was, indeed, Scott. "Gene? Why are you-" the man with green eyes asked quietly before being cut off. Gene grinned and grabbed Scott by the collar, kissing him in front of the audience. The older man on stage stopped talking the moment he saw the two kiss, just as confused as Scott. "Hey," Gene whispered after picking up his pencil. The blonde man smiled a bit, still puzzled. The only Belcher son made his way back up the stairs and checked his phone.
What the hell was that?
Gene snickered a bit.
Gene: I had no idea you were in this class, too.
Scott: That was a pretty weird way to get my attention.
Gene: I am pretty weird, you of all people should know.
Scott: Holy crap, this is incredibly boring.
Gene: Yeah...wanna go to the mall?
Scott:…What? Really? :D
Gene: Meet me outside the theater in a few minutes.
And with that, Gene got up and brought his things with him and out the door. Five minutes passed until he was joined by his boyfriend. "So tell me why we're ditching exactly? I mean, I know we're going to the mall, but why the mall?" Scott asked as the two started to walk down the hallways of the community college. "Because I want to do something at the mall," Gene retorted as the boys left the building and ventured out into the parking lot. "I have another class but it's just a party so it doesn't really matter if I go or not."
"You're lucky that I don't have any other finals today," Scott mumbled. "You know I would have suckered you into going anyway!" the shorter man laughed. "Why did you have a pencil? I thought he forbid those in his classes," Scott asked as he stood next to Gene, who was unlocking his car. "Like they say, the pencil is the gay cousin of the pen," Gene said simply. His boyfriend laughed quietly. "I have never in my entire life heard someone say that, Gene."
"Oh, shit! I forgot! The teacher brought cake," Gene exclaimed, stopping what he was doing. "At this party thing you mentioned?" Scott watched Gene run back towards the building. "WE HAVE TO GO BACK!" screamed Gene. The taller blonde laughed and followed after him.
Gene looked out at the road in front of him as he drove. "Bleh, why is there so much traffic? It's midday on a Monday. I worked all weekend at my dad's, it sucked ass."
"Hey, how's Logan?" Scott asked quietly, knowing the subject was a dangerous one at this point in time. The driver sighed. "Honestly, I don't know. He's been locked up in his room since Friday night. I know I should probably check up on him, but I'm kinda scared to." "Why?" the passenger wondered aloud. "I don't actually know what he did to Louise. She won't even tell me what's going on when I called her on Saturday. I think I should just leave Logan alone for now," Gene said. "But what if he's done something to himself?" Scott pestered. "He's not like that, Scott, he sometimes talks about it but he's admitted multiple times that he doesn't have the balls to do anything to hurt himself, so I have reason to believe he's alright."
"I hope so," Scott looked out the window as they neared the mall. Once parked, the two made their way inside. "So where to first?" asked Scott. "Can we go to the food court? I'm starving!" Gene whined, his boyfriend laughing lightly. "Do you ever not think with your stomach, Gene?" "Well, yeah; when I'm not thinking with my stomach, I'm thinking with my dick, and my dick says to go eat," the man beamed. Scott looked down at Gene's crotch then back up into his eyes. "You think…with your penis?" He tried not to laugh. "Yup! Doesn't everyone?" Gene looked back at Scott, confused. "Uh, no. Some people don't have penises," Scott chuckled.
"Oh. Well I find that highly upsetting," the musician replied as the couple approached the mall's food court. "Oh, hey! Mrs. Cookie Lady! Let's go there!" Scott stopped the larger man. "But all they have is cookies, right? Trust me, I know you, Gene: You're gonna have room for way more food than a cookie." Gene stomped his foot. "JUST LET THIS BE FUN FOR ME, OKAY, SCOTT?" he screamed before running to the cookie store without Scott. The blonde shook his head and followed Gene.
"Gene, how much did you spend?" Scott asked in disbelief as he stared at the array of food on the table. "Like, 15 bucks, why?" "Just curious. Is this what you normally buy at the mall? Food?" the blonde man took a sip of his drink. "And sex toys! Don't forget about the back of Spencer's!" Gene chirped. "Seriously?" Scott laughed as his boyfriend ate away. "Okay, it was only twice: one for Elton, then one time for Elton's replacement, RuPaul." Gene explained. The blonde across the table froze at the mention of the personality. "RuPaul? You mean like the drag queen?" Scott took another sip of his drink. "Yeah, although I'll be honest I think I only watched, like, one episode of that show. It was full of celebrities I'd never even heard of," said Gene, who moved his attention to a couple a few tables away. The man at the table was obviously trying to come onto the brunette woman.
Gene tried to hold back a laugh while Scott tried to work up the courage to speak. "Ge-" "Look at that guy over there. What a tool," he giggled as soon as Scott spoke up. Scott turned his head to observe the man. "He doesn't look like too much of a tool to me," he said. "Scott, honey, it's like a scientific fact that anyone that wears Tapout shirts is a major tool," Gene replied. "Honestly, he'd look better in one of RuPaul's outfits." Gene's companion felt his face heat up, going unnoticed by the musician, who was still watching the couple. Scott took a deep breath, his eyes boring into the table.
"Hey, Gene?" he asked softly. Gene turned to face him.
"Yeah? Whaddup?" he said, half of his food already finished. "Hey, why don't you eat, you're so skinny, c'mon, eeeeat-" Gene started to shove food into Scott's mouth, who pushed his hand away gently.
"Have you ever cross-dressed?"
Gene's body came to a halt at the question. "Uh, well, a few times as a kid, but it wasn't because I wanted to. It was 'cuz I was weird. And because I wanted to. Why?" His mind wandered back to the night him and his sisters held a secret gambling casino in the basement. Girls being girls being girls being girls…
Scott fell quiet.
"Have you?" asked Gene.
The blonde's emerald eyes stayed glued to the table. A voice echoed at the back of his head.
"Oh my god, Scott! How many times have I told you I hate it when you dress like a girl! I'm gay for a reason: I don't like women!" "But Ryan, it's something I like to do…I can't help I'm bi-gender…" "Yeah, well, it's fucking gross."
The feeling of Gene's hand on top of his brought Scott back to Earth. "Scott, are you okay?"
"I, um…I may or may not…" Scott trailed off.
Gene smiled a bit then got up from his chair. The seated blonde looked up at him. "What are…?" Gene took Scott's hand, motioning for him to get up. "C'mon. We're going shopping," Gene smiled.
Scott kept quiet as he walked hand in hand with Gene, his face red. What was Gene up to? "What are you lookin' at, chump?" Gene said to a staring man as they passed him by, their fingers laced. "You ain't never seen two gay guys holding hands before? Why don't you treasure the moment by taking a picture!" The man frowned, somewhat frightened, and turned away. "It amazes me how ignorant this state is, even after they allowed civil unions here…" Gene mumbled.
"You know, I'm sort of glad you brought up cross-dressing; that's the only reason we're here today in the first place!" beamed Gene. Scott looked at him, confused. "It is? How did you…?" "Oh, no, I didn't. It was just pure luck that you brought it up is all! I've been planning on torturing you by dressing you in girl clothes for a few days now. Obviously it won't be torture, though, I see." The shorter man looked inside a store from where he was walking and stopped. "Scott, hold up. I wanna go in here."
Parting hands, the two men wandered inside the clothes store; it was mostly female attire from the looks of it. "Get ready to be ultra-fuckable!" Gene said before whisking Scott into a dressing room. "Just stay right here, I'm gonna get some clothes for you to try on," Gene called out as he walked away from the wooden door of the dressing room.
Scott leaned against the wall of the small enclosed dressing room. He blushed and looked down at his shoes that were resting on the wooden floor. He's not upset? But why? I mean, he is gay…right? He doesn't even know I sometimes like to be a girl…this is weird. What if he doesn't like that? The blonde shut his eyes, ignored his thoughts, and focused on the music. Oh, gross, OneDirection, gag me with a spoon…
"Right now I'm lookin' at you and I can't believe," Gene sang quietly as he brought some clothes to the dressing room, "You don't know, you don't know you're beautiful! Open up, sunshine. I got clothes." Scott opened the door, looking his boyfriend in the eyes. "You like OneDirection?" he asked, taking the clothes from Gene. "Me? Oh god, no, I just like this song for some reason, and I don't know why. The band is a bunch of foreign douchebags. Hey, did you know they're not even British; they're from Wales. And I think one is from Ireland or Sweden or something. Did you see that video where that Harry guy got hit in the dick with a shoe? Actually, it's funny: whenever I hear the name OneDirection-excuse me, OneErection- all I imagine is a group of guys with bad teeth in a huge circlejerk and then they touch their dicks together to form one big super-penis," Gene explained. Scott stared at him before bursting out laughing. "Where do you come up with this stuff?"
Gene shrugged. Scott kissed him on the forehead and shut the door, leaving Gene to stand outside of the booth. The musician spotted a shelf on the wall of make-up and various beauty products. Walking up to it, Gene lifted up a compact case that was for display use only (at least that's what the sticker on it said) and looked it over. Inside was pastel colored eye shadow along with some blush. The man had a grin a mile wide when an idea struck him, causing him to pick up an unopened compact case and look at the other display items.
Scott peeked out of the dressing room door, weakly calling out for Gene. The musician quickly came to Scott's side with a plastic bag of make-up he had just purchased. "Uh, Gene, why do you have make-up?" the dirty blonde asked, peering into the bag. "Because I'm gonna make you look amazing," Gene said happily. "Now get back in there, I wanna see if my fashion sense saved the day once again!" He wrapped his arms around Scott's neck, kissing him softly and giggling. Scott smiled and nuzzled his lover in response.
"Hey, fags, cut that shit out."
Gene froze, then turned to look at the source of the voice. A tall man with a green Mohawk towered over another male who had dusty brown hair and skin of a light brown color.
"Dylan?" "Ryan?"
The lovers looked at each other, alarmed. "Wait, who?" they said in unison. The other men laughed a bit. "Gene, who's your new butt buddy?" the taller man sneered. The musician blushed. "Okay, first of all, we haven't even done that, so your insult backfired, and secondly, why are you here, Dylan? And who's this guy?" Gene gestured to the brunette. "Scott, you didn't tell him? He is your boyfriend, isn't he? It's not good to keep secrets, you know!" the tanned man spoke up. "He knows, Ryan, in fact I just told him today, so…" Scott said quietly, embarrassed.
"Scott, this is Dylan…we used to date, before I met you. And I'm going to guess Ryan is an ex, too?" Gene asked. Scott sighed. "Yeah, pretty much…" Ryan looked at Gene. "Did Scott tell you all about what happened in his senior year of high school, yet? Oh, it's a classic…" The dusty blonde felt his face turn fire red. "Ryan, please don't," he pleaded. "Well, you see- and I'm not sure if Scott told you this- Scott gets startled pretty easily. It was Halloween…" Ryan started his story while Scott slunk back into the dressing room and shut the door. Gene frowned and began to interrupt Ryan to save Scott from the embarrassment, but Dylan balled up a fist and raised it in a threat. The musician bit his lip as he heard Scott whimper. Fuck, this can't be good… he thought.
"It was Halloween, and Scott and I were with a few others at this haunted house that the high school had set up. This ghost guy was running after us and out the back door when Scott, who was at the back of the line crying like a bitch, ran right smack dab into some kids that had really, really good make up on so it looked like someone had actually torn off their face and there was blood, right? Scott got so scared, he," the man snickered, "he SHIT AND PISSED HIMSELF! It was priceless, you shoulda been there." "Oh my god, seriously?! Does he have to wear those Pull Ups all the time? Or is he in diapers now?" Dylan laughed.
Hearing sniffling coming from behind the dressing room door, Gene pulled it open. He looked down at Scott, who was on the floor in a little ball. Gene had a feeling in the back of his mind that this wasn't the only thing Ryan had teased him about. Gene bent over and held out a hand for Scott, a warm smile on his face. The dusty blonde trembled a little before taking his hand and being helped up. Scott was no longer in his casual attire: he was now donned in a long sleeved light pink V-neck with lace fringe and a navy blue denim skirt. Gene blushed at the sight in front of him, and then noticed the rather long pink and white striped knee-high socks he also had on. The chocolate haired man smiled and whispered "you look adorable" in Scott's ear.
Stepping out of the dressing room, Scott avoided the gaze of the pair of exes. He felt his face heat up as he felt their judgmental stares plastered all over him. "Wow, you look like a major queer, Scott," Ryan laughed along with Dylan. Gene looked at Scott's face, which was ready to cry a river. "Fuck off," Gene said calmly while looking at the men, slipping his hand into Scott's. Ryan began to look infuriated. "What?"
"I mean, what the fuck, you guys are both gay and here you are, bashing him for wearing girl clothes and calling him a queer? You're probably the biggest hypocrites I've ever met, and let me tell you, I've met tons. You know, since I'm a 'queer' and all. I don't know what your deal with Scott here is, and honestly I don't give a fuck since it has to do with you. It doesn't matter, because the way you're treating him right now is not how he should be treated. And so the fuck what if he had an accident, you've had one at least once in your life, and before you tell me you didn't, bullshit. Dylan, don't think I forgot about your little accident in the car that one time. Remember when you two were little kids? Of course you don't (or you just refuse to admit it), but let me assure you, your mom or whoever it was that had the poor burden of caring for you, cleaned up your piss-stained pants for you in kindergarten because you couldn't use the bathroom like a big boy. As for the diapers thing, you can laugh all you want but someday your kids – god help them, they'll probably be mutants- are gonna be literally scraping off your shit from your ass, when you're old and gross and bitter and have to wear diapers. So if you could go play in traffic now, that'd be great, because we're gonna buy this stuff and leave. Go fuck yourselves."
The musician gave the men a smile that could have been mistaken for one that was laced with kindness and pleasant feelings. Ryan had a disgusted look on his face, and with a mighty Harrumph! he walked out of the store with Dylan. Gene waved to their backsides. "And don't come back, shitstains!" he said to himself quietly. Gene turned to face his boyfriend and was immediately embraced the moment their eyes met. "Thank you, Gene. Nobody – and I mean nobody – has ever stood up for me like that before," Scott said softly. Gene blushed deeply and grinned before wrapping his arms tightly around the tall blonde. "You're welcome, babe," Gene whispered back. "Now let's go over to that mirror, I want to put this make-up on you."
"Tina, I'm not gonna be able to go to that movie tonight, I'm really behind on the comic and they need me to help with it, I'm sorry." Why are we even dating?
The glasses-donning writer looked at the concrete under her feet sadly and sighed. "Alright, Henry. Bye," Tina hung up her phone, staring at the wallpaper she chose. It was a picture of her and Henry dressed up as zombies for Halloween the previous year. She slipped her phone snug back into her jacket pocket and walked back inside.
Tammy and Zeke were leaned against a wall of the recreational area, furiously making out with each other. Tina walked up to them. "Uh, Tammy, can I talk to you? Privately?" she asked, watching them, her eyes wandering to Zeke's butt. A few moments later, Tammy had managed to tear herself from Zeke and was in front of Tina. "Sure, what's up?" Tammy put her arms akimbo and had a smile on her face.
The two girls had somehow rekindled their friendship during high school without causing any change in Tina's behavior. Tina had her limits, and Tammy had hers. Which were very few. Junior year of high school, Tammy had become one of the popular, preppy girls along with Claire, Julie, Rupa, and Jacklyn while Tina was labeled as a nerd. Prom strolled around the corner, and the more popular girls had become annoyed with Tammy. She tried to control everything they did so it was her way. Fed up, the girls humiliated Tammy once and for all to get her to leave them alone. The prank took place at the after-prom party which was held on a cruise boat that circled around a certain section of the ocean. It involved Claire causing Tammy to "accidently" lose her balance and fall off the edge of the boat. When she was back on the boat after being rescued, the girls didn't stop there. Jacklyn ripped the front of her dress down the middle, the tear ending above her belly button. Tina had been watching everyone and their dancing butts from afar when she saw Tammy run past her, crying and holding her chest. Curious, the bespectacled girl followed after her to the bathroom, where she found Tammy crying in an open stall. Tina looked down at her own dress jacket along with the shawl she draped over it. She took off both of those things and tied the shawl around Tammy's stomach, acting as a large makeshift belt of sorts. Handing over the jacket, Tammy looked up at the girl with her make-up completely ruined from crying and being in the water. Tina simply smiled at the forlorn Tammy, who in return smiled back.
"Well, I'm starting to think Henry doesn't actually like me at all," Tina said, exhaling through her nose as an attempt to sigh. Tammy squealed. "You know what this means, don't you?" "Uh, no…?" Tina tilted her head. "We have to go to the mall to get your mind off of your craptacular boyfriend and onto a new outfit." Tammy turned her head toward Zeke, calling out that she would text him later. The man sighed, clearly annoyed, and went in the opposite direction. "There's something wrong with my outfit?" Tina looked down at her clothes as she was being pushed out the door. "Girl, you've been wearing blue since you were born. I've seen your baby pictures. It's time for a change! I'm thinking maybe red or white would look good on you," Tammy said excitedly. "Alright, we gotta take your car though. I don't drive, remember? I usually get a ride from Gene or just take the bus," Tina said as she walked alongside Tammy. "Right, right. Man, why don't you drive, Tina? You're 21, even- speaking of being 21, we should get a drink later tonight. You can walk me home or something, I don't know," Tammy started to chat. "You know I don't drink, Tammy," Tina said quietly. "Wait, maybe I can get Zeke to come! He can drive us back," the fashionista went on, ignoring Tina.
"Alright, let's roll!" Tammy said excitedly a few minutes later when the two of them were in the car. Along the way, the driver mostly blasted pop music from the radio and let the hood down, causing Tina to have to hold onto her glasses. "I love this song!" Tammy yelled over the radio before speeding up. "I threw your shit into a bag and pushed it down the stairs! I crashed my car into the bridge, I don't care!"sang Tammy as Tina was holding onto her backpack for dear life with one arm. Once they arrived at the mall, Tina and Tammy left some of their things inside the car. "Tammy, you don't need a condom for a trip to the mall," Tina said, looking at the item in her friend's hand. Tammy laughed and tossed it back into the car.
Looking around the various stores, Tammy finally settled on a clothing store that was strictly female clothing. Tina lagged behind her, not interested in being here at all. "Tammy, I want to go to the gym so I can watch fat people work out, It makes me feel better about myself," Tina whined. The blonde woman stopped and turned to face Tina. "Tina, does your brother have a girlfriend? I thought he was gay," she said, confused. "He is gay. What are you talk- oh my god, Gene?" Tina's eyes widened through her thick glasses.
"Oh, uh, hey T!" Gene said uneasily, gripping Scott's hand, who was still in the outfit Gene had selected for him. "What's up?" Tina looked up at Scott. He had some make-up on and his hair was ruffled slightly. Scott smiled nervously at Gene's older sister, hoping she wouldn't figure it out. Tina's eyes squinted. "You look familiar," she said. Gene quickly put an arm around Scott's waist. "Well, we gotta-"
"Scott?" Tina asked, a smile on her face. Scott blushed and nodded. "Cute," she said happily, walking away. "C'mon, Tammy, I wanna find some of that lipstick he's got. Bye, Gene. Bye, Scott." Tammy nodded and waved to the two before excitedly joining Tina. "You actually want to look at lipstick? Oh my god, it's a Christmas miracle!" the blonde squealed. "It's not like I'm not a girl, Tammy, I still like some girly stuff. Like shopping. And yoga pants. And BravoTV. And sucking pen-" "OKAY, Tina, I think I get it," Tammy quickly said. "You think or you know?" Tina questioned her friend. "Whatever, that last one is optional anyway." Tammy laughed, "Oh, really?" The eldest Belcher daughter smiled.
"Mmm, this fruit yogurt is amazing. Tina, try some," said Tammy, shoving the cup up to Tina's face. The dark brunette put a hand in front of her face and pushed the yogurt back. Looking down at the scenery below from the second floor of the mall, Tina tried to focus on other things. Tammy frowned. "Girl, what's wrong? You're acting weird. It was a miracle that I even managed to find you new, awesome clothes that you liked." Tina looked down at the food court table. "Jocelyn is over there staring at me while talking to Jimmy Jr.," she murmured. Tammy looked in the couple's direction. "She looks kinda mad," she said. She watched as she saw Jimmy Jr. calmly walking away from Jocelyn. "I guess he's getting really tired of her bullshit?"
As if called on cue, Jocelyn walked up to their table, her curly blonde hair parted so it all rested firmly on her right shoulder. "Hey, freak. Do you think you could mind not getting my boyfriend's attention while you're in the same room as him?" Tina looked up at the girl. "What? I'm not trying to-" Jocelyn's eyebrows narrowed before she moved closer to Tina. The glasses donning girl quickly stood up so she could move out of the way, but the platinum blonde was too quick for her. Before she knew it, Tina's lower back was pushed up against the railing, Jocelyn towering over her like an angry fireball. Tina panicked and turned her head to the side only to see the people walking around on the floor, which looked a million feet below her. "Every time me and Jimmy Jr. go somewhere, you always just happen to show up!" "J-Jocelyn, I'm not doing it on pur-purpose! I think I'm gonna fall-" Jocelyn grabbed Tina (who was scared shitless and frozen in fear) by the collar, slowly pushing her against the edge of the railing. "I don't know what he sees in you, Tina Belcher, but I'm not going to stand by and let you take him away from me!" The blonde looked to the side of Tina to see how far the woman under her was to falling off the edge. "And by the looks of it, you won't be anymore." Jocelyn grinned.
Friggin' Jocelyn. It's not like I'm deliberately spending more time dancing to avoid her. These past few months dating her have been a living- Jimmy Jr.'s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice yelling for help. Tina? Looking up at the floor above him, he saw Tina and Jocelyn, who was just about to push the dark haired woman off the edge. The dancer on the first floor quickly ran close to the railing above. Jocelyn was just about to push Tina off when she was socked in the face by Tammy. "Bitch," she sneered at the now bleeding from the mouth lighter haired blonde. Unfortunately, the moment Tammy punched Jocelyn, she lost her grip on Tina, which was the only thing that was stopping the woman from falling to her impending doom. Tina's pupils dilated as she felt the railing on her back disappear and her body going over the edge. Tammy's eyes widened as she ran to the railing, looking at her friend, who was still falling. "Oh, shit!" she screamed.
Tina felt her eyes tear up from fear split seconds before she felt two arms catching her, the owner almost falling forward from the impact, but he managed to stay upright. Tina's eyes, which had been squeezed shut, suddenly opened. "Hey, Tina," Jimmy Jr. said, a goofy smile on his face. "Is…Is this heaven?" Tina said while looking around, surprised she hadn't splattered on the marble floor of the mall. "No, this is real life, last time I checked," Jimmy Jr. said, still holding the woman in his arms. Tina blushed. "Let me down, Superman," she said quietly. The redhead did so. "So, uh, how're you and Jocelyn?" Tina asked uneasily, as if she hadn't just been pushed off a railing by said girl.
"History," Jimmy Jr. said firmly. "…What? Really?" Tina asked, not believing what she was hearing. "Really. And that little stunt she just pulled didn't help. She always wanted to go to the clubs and crap when I had important stuff to do with my dance troupe. The last thing I want to do is go to a nightclub and watch her get wasted while hanging all over all the hot guys that graduated from Muscle-head University. I'm pretty sure she didn't even like me at all; probably just using me. Girls are weird. Well, not you, Tina. You're cool," Jimmy Jr. said. The girl smiled.
Tammy ran up behind the two. "Oh my god, Tina, are you okay?!" she said before looking all over Tina. "Yeah, I'm fine. What happened to Jocelyn?" "Oh, she ran off after I beaned her in the face. Stupid bitch. So, Tina, Jimmy Jr.," Tammy lifted her phone , which was dialing a number, "Zeke." A gruff voice let out a "what you want, woman" from the other end before Tammy continued. "Are we gonna go drinking now?" Tina let out her world famous groan in annoyance. "Tammy, I don't-" "Good! It's settled!" Tammy spoke into the phone before hanging up. "See you in fifteen. Let's go, fothermuckers," the blonde said as she grabbed the two by their wrist and dragged them away.
Tammy squealed in excitement the moment her heels hit the pavement of the nightclub's parking lot. "Hey J-Ju, now that you're single, how about we go straight to the bar? Maybe find you a babe," Zeke said, shutting his car door and walking towards the club like everyone else. "Uh, no thanks, Zeke. I'm fine for now," said Jimmy Jr. Tammy pouted and punched Zeke in the arm. "You have a girlfriend, here!" she snarled as Zeke put an arm around her. "Calm your tits, hotlips, I said find him a babe, not me. 'Sides, you're all I need," he said, kissing her cheek. Tammy purred until Zeke spoke up again. "Because you can do all the housework." The blonde pushed him away and started to try to punch him in the stomach as he laughed.
Tina stayed close behind Jimmy Jr., not really wanting to go inside. But she had no choice; Tammy would bug her until she got her way. Jimmy Jr. noticed Tina was lagging behind and smiled. "I feel like such a hypocrite. I'm at a club and I just said I didn't like going here," he laughed, holding the door behind him. Tina quickly walked to his side once they entered the club. Tammy jumped a few times happily, then grabbed Zeke's hand and made a beeline for the dance floor. Jimmy Jr. waved a bit to his friend as he left. "Don't you want to dance?" Tina looked up at him. The ginger shook his head. "I like dancing, but..." he gestured to the dance floor that was filled to the brim with people grinding, "that's not dancing. That's dry humping." Tina stared at them. "Do you think someone could get swallowed up in that wave of horny dancing?" she asked. "Uh, I guess…" Jimmy Jr. said before leaving to find a table, in which Tina followed.
Jimmy Jr. stopped at the bar for a moment, getting himself a beer. Tina just got some water. "Sorry, I must look like a loser with this water," Tina said as they sat down at a rounded booth. Jimmy Jr. smiled. "No, you don't. It just means you make better choices than me," he said after taking a sip of the rather large glass. "So, how's Henry?" the redhead asked, looking over at Tina. Tina just looked down at the table in front of her sadly. "Fine." The dancer leaned over and lifted her head by her chin then sat back. "You're a terrible liar. You always have been," he laughed. Tina smiled a bit, embarrassed. "But seriously, are you guys going through the motions, or…" "He doesn't seem to even like me. All he does is work on his comic- excuse me," Tina said before imitating her boyfriend, "Graphic novel." Jimmy Jr. chuckled. "He's in my language arts class. I don't talk to him, but he seems pretty secluded unless he's with his two friends," he said, drinking again. The girl sighed. "I don't know if I should just let it go on, or if I should break up," she said, looking into the cup of water she had. "Break up. I'm damn glad I did."
"Did you actually tell her it's over?" Tina asked. "Oh, crap, you're right. Hang on," Jimmy Jr. said, then pulled out his phone. He pulled up a new text message and typed for a good minute. "Okay, how does this sound? 'It's over. I'm pretty sure I caught you cheating, like, five times, anyway, so. I'm leaving you because you're batshit insane. Oh, and you almost killed an incredibly weird-but-awesome cute nerd girl. Bye.' Is that too forward?" Tina burst out in laughter. "'Cute nerd girl?'" she said between giggles. Jimmy Jr. blushed. "I'm pretty sure she knows I meant you, besides the fact that she nearly killed you." "Why do you say that?" Tina looked at him. "Because she would always get mad when you were around and I was paying more attention to you than her," he said, smiling. "Oh, I should probably…send this." Jimmy Jr. quickly sent the message, then looked at the side of his phone. Tina watched as he managed to take out the sim card. The eldest Pesto son then proceeded to drop his phone into the cup of beer in front of him.
"What was that for?" the dark brunette asked. Jimmy Jr. laughed a bit. "Because I know after she reads that, she's gonna call and text me until hell freezes over." "But what about your phone?" "Eh, it's no big deal. All the important stuff is in the sim card, anyway. The only thing left on there was old pictures of me and her. Besides, my dad'll buy me a new one in a heartbeat just to get me to shut up and consider 'taking on the ownership of the restaurant.'" Jimmy Jr. explained. "You're not gonna carry on in your dad's footsteps?" "Hell no, I hate working there. Maybe Andy and Ollie could own it." He carefully took the phone out of his drink and tossed it carelessly on the table. "Your turn," the auburn haired man said after taking another helping of his beer. "What?" "Your turn. You want to break up with Henry, don't you? Your turn to break up."
Tina looked at her own phone. "But how? I mean, if I just say, 'I'm leaving you,' he probably won't care. He didn't care about missing my birthday." Jimmy Jr. frowned. "I'm not usually like this, but, does he get jealous easily?" Tina thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think so. Why?" She looked at him. The boy grinned, red tinting in his cheeks. "Can I have your phone for a moment?" Tina handed it over. Jimmy Jr. looked through her phone's main menu until he found the camera. "I don't know why, but I really want to do this. What better idea than to take a suggestive picture?" "Suggestive picture? Like por-" "No. No. Not…no." Tina blushed. "Sorry," she said quietly.
"No, what I meant was…if you send him a pic of you with another guy, he'll get mad, right?" Jimmy Jr. said before moving closer to Tina. "But who am I gonna take a picture with?" Tina asked, confused. "Me, duh," Jimmy Jr. smiled and put an arm around her shoulder. "Now, look all lovey dovey. I'm gonna take the picture." Oh, I don't need to pretend to do that…Tina thought, blushing. Jimmy Jr. held the phone up in front of them. The bespectacled girl gulped and mustered all her courage to put a hand on Jimmy Jr.'s chest. "Ready?" "Y-Yeah." As the redhead pressed the button on the phone, he quickly (and without thinking) leaned over and kissed Tina on the cheek, causing Tina's eyes to widen. The picture taken, Jimmy Jr. smiled and looked at it on Tina's phone. Tina peeked at it too, blushing at what she saw. "You look like you saw a ghost," the man laughed quietly, ignoring the flush in his cheeks. Tina smiled then took her phone, not moving away from Jimmy Jr.
"Alright…'I'm leaving you for him.' And insert photo. And…send," Tina said, a feeling of relief washing over her. She didn't have to worry about Henry any longer. "Are you really, um…leaving him for me?" Jimmy Jr. said, slight nervousness present in his voice. Tina looked up at him. "Oh. Um…well, may…mayb-" But before Tina could finish, a heavily drunken Tammy ran up to the table. "Tiiiiiiiina! Hey, girlfriend. Can I ask you somefin?" she slurred out. "Uh, sure?" Tina looked at her friend, slightly alarmed. She had seen Tammy drunk before, but not this bad. Tammy crawled into the booth and whispered loudly to Tina's face. "I never told you this, but I always thought you wurr sexy," she said, causing a confused Tina to back away a bit and into Jimmy Jr.'s lap. "Thanks, Tammy, but that's not a que-" Tina was cut off by Tammy's mouth on her own. Frozen, Tina sat through it, thoroughly shocked. Jimmy Jr. stared at the two, blushing brightly. "Oh, awesome! Girl on girl! Uh, I mean…Tammers, what the hell are you doing?" Zeke ran up to the booth, grabbing the drunk blonde by the arms and pulling her off of Tina. "Sorry, J-Ju, didn't mean to interrupt you and T-Ball over here," he said. "Goddammit, Tammy, how many times have I told you: you can't go running around swapping spit with random girls? (as much as I wish you could)" Zeke scolded his girlfriend, who in response simply licked his face.
"Are you okay?" Jimmy Jr. looked at the girl who was still in his lap. "Well, I'm seriously reconsidering my friendship with Tammy, but other than that, yes," she said bluntly. The redhead laughed and smiled, looking into her eyes. Tina started to lean in to kiss him until her phone started going off. The girl jumped, startled. "Oh, it's Henry. He probably wants to yell at me," Tina glared at the small screen. "Let me take care of this," Jimmy Jr. said, taking the phone from her and answering it without saying hello.
"Tina?! What the hell are you doing with that dancing scumbag? Were you cheating on me, you ugly whore?!" was all that was heard on the other end. Jimmy Jr. smirked then spoke into the phone. "Listen, asshole, I don't know what your problem is, but if I were you, I would never leave Tina in the cold." Tina's eyes went wide and she started to smile. "Even if I had some big fancy dance rehearsal to go to, I'd still make it a point to talk to her. And I'll be sure to dance on your grave, you inconsiderate fuck. Hell, if I were you, I'd be planning every single day of my life to revolve around her. Also, you must need to get your already failing eyesight checked again, because I'm sitting here with the girl you called an ugly whore in my lap, and all I see is someone that's fucking gorgeous and probably the funniest and most adorable chick I know. So go shove your graphic novel up your ass and get bent, Henry." And with that, the ginger hung up the phone and gave it back to Tina, who had the biggest smile on. "I have a feeling he's never going to bug you again, Tina. Although I have to admit a lot of that couldn't have been done without beer."
The girl embraced him tightly, as giggly as a schoolgirl. Jimmy Jr. beamed and held her tight. "Thank you, Jimmy Jr.," Tina said. "No need to thank me, that guy deserved it," Jimmy Jr. smiled. Tina let go of him then took his hand. "Walk me home?" she said, looking shyly at their hands joined together. "Of course," the man kissed the top of her head.
"Alexis, what-"
"I-I'm not a psycho, okay? Drop it. I wasn't going to kill her."
The two women hadn't spoken since the night at Wonder Wharf. Alexis refused to answer Courtney's badgering all day. Courtney didn't understand. Why did she try to kill Louise? Whatever the reason, Courtney thought she had better not ask.
"…I wasn't going to ask about that. I was going to ask about something else," Courtney said quietly.
"Fine, what is it?" the redhead snarled in the dark. The two were in the same bed after Alexis spent a few nights on the living room couch. Lights out, the women were side by side in Courtney's bed.
"What happened to your sister?"
Alexis felt her heart stop for a few moments. She resisted the urge to shove Courtney off the bed just for asking about her sister. Alexis sighed.
"Okay, you really want to know? Well, here it is: my dad used to beat the shit out of our mom whenever he felt he needed to. When I turned 11 I got sick of hearing my mom's body hit the floor so I went up behind him before he hit her, and instead he hit me. Sent me right into the wall into a mirror. I have scars on my back from it. My mom told me to run away from home so I could survive. As I left I heard a gunshot, and to be blunt, I'm pretty sure my mom is dead because my dad shot her, and I don't even know but my sister is probably dead too. Now shut the hell up and stop asking me about this shit." Alexis turned onto her side, the tears from her eyes falling onto the pillow. A good ten minutes passed before Alexis felt Courtney's slender arms wrap around her waist and her lower back start to get a little wet. The redhead blushed and shut her eyes as the girl behind her cried.
"My mom left my dad when I was 14. See, I'd tell you I understand how you feel, but I'm not going to. Because I don't. Because I'm not you," whispered Courtney hoarsely. "All I know is how it feels to be hated. And even then it still doesn't match up to what happened to you. Before puberty I was an annoying little shit with a horrible voice. Now I'm an annoying little shit with an okay voice and a horrible wardrobe."
Alexis sighed and placed her hand on one of Courtney's.
"Hey, Alexis, do you have a Facebook?"
The redhead scoffed. "You mean that website where you can talk to all the people you only met once and think you're best friends all of a sudden? No. I don't even have a computer, dipshit."
Courtney smiled then shut her eyes, falling asleep.
The door to Gene and Logan's apartment stirred for a moment before opening. Gene stepped in with his arms full of shopping bags and looked around the dark room for a few moments. "Logan's still in his room. Coast is clear," he said as he ushered his dolled up boyfriend inside. "Thanks," Scott said quietly. Stepping inside, the very tip of the low heeled shoe on Scott's foot bumped into the carpet, causing its owner to fall forward onto the flooring. "Shit, are you okay?!" Gene dropped the bags and knelt down beside his lover. "Yeah. I just hope Logan didn't hear that. If he saw me like this, he'd probably think I'm a freak," Scott responded. Helping him up, Gene scoffed. "Oh, right, I forgot. You haven't really talked to him, like, at all. Well, he's not like that," the brunette said with pride.
"Saw you like what?"
A light flipped on, Logan standing next to the offending light switch. His hair was a mess and his eyes somewhat swollen and red. He was in just his boxers and a t-shirt. Logan's eyes darted to the figure next to Gene, who he mistook for a woman at first before realizing it was Scott. "Gene Belcher? Bringing home a WOMAN?" he said in mock shock. Scott blushed, Gene wrapping an arm around him. "Logan, it's Scott."
"I know, dumbass," the older blonde snapped before walking to the kitchen and grabbing a beer out of the fridge. "Logan, how many cold ones have you had in the past 78 hours?" Gene asked, almost afraid to hear the answer. "Shit, I dunno, like, 60?" Logan mumbled. Running up to the blonde, Gene smacked the beer out of Logan's hand and screamed. "That's, like, about 20 beers a day! Logan Barry Bush, if you keep drinking that much, at this rate, you're gonna die! Stop being a stupid shit!" Logan looked down at the floor at the spilled beer can, its contents leaked out all over the kitchen tile.
"Logan, what the fuck happened on Friday? When I asked you about it later that night you refused to tell me. I can't help you if I don't know what the hell is going on," Gene pleaded. Logan looked back up at the musician, who gave a sympathetic smile in return. "I won't judge you. Scott won't judge you. You might have made my sister cry and I might be a little upset about that, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to listen to what you have to say." The crossdressing dusty blonde not too far behind Gene smiled sweetly.
Logan sighed. "She asked me out. I said no."
Gene nearly thought he had gone crazy when he heard the words come out of Logan's mouth. "Seriously? And you rejected her?!" The rarely executed brotherly instincts kicked in. The heavier but shorter man grabbed Logan by the collar and yanked it forward, causing Logan to fall and hang by his shirt, looking up at Gene, who was now towering over him and balling up a fist. "Do you know how fucking depressed she is? Tina texted me that she won't even leave her room unless it's to use the bathroom. I don't even think she's eating!" Scott quickly ran over to the men and grabbed Gene's fist. "Gene, stop. I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation. I mean, from the way you describe Logan to me it makes me think he's nuts over the girl. It just doesn't add up that he said no to Louise," he said firmly, confident to end this pointless brawl. Logan smiled at Scott. Gene sighed and let him go. "Alright, so why did you say no?" he asked, aggravated.
Getting back on his feet, Logan walked over to the couch and sat down. "Alexis was there. You guys remember the last time I pissed her off, right? She'd fucking kill me, not even joking. Louise was trying to ask me out when Alexis showed up behind her, and when Louise finally asked if I'd be her boyfriend, Alexis basically silently threatened me she'd slit my throat if I said yes. I know that the crazy bitch would do that, so I had to say no. I didn't want her to hurt Louise, either."
Gene looked down at his feet. "Shit…I'm sorry I almost tried to beat the shit out of you, man. I just, wow…" Scott looked back at his boyfriend before silently walking to the door and picking up the shopping bags and carrying them into Gene's room. "So, that means you really would have said yes if Alexis hadn't shown up?" Gene asked. "Are you fucking kidding me? Of course I would, I- Yes! I would have said yes! And I'd probably do a bunch of mushy lovey dovey bullshit like hold her and k-"
The musician coughed. "I get it," he said, causing Logan to blush from embarrassment. "Then why don't you tell her?" "Dude, if she saw me in person this very moment she'd beat the crap out of me. I can't just stroll up to her and say, 'Oh, hi, Louise! Guess what? I've been in love with you for like almost ten fucking years!' and then she'd scream, 'Oh, boy! You liked me when I was a little girl? I have too, you sick fuck!' then she'd jump on me and we'd make-out furiously and everything would be happiness and daisies and ponies and sunshine!"
"Okay, one: don't diss the ponies. I'm pretty sure you'd like Rainbow Dash. I'm more of a Pinkie Pie person myself, but whatever, that's not the issue here. Two, ew. I didn't need to know about your deepest confessions about and wildest fantasies with my little sister. Three, want me to talk to her? She loves me, naturally. I mean, who doesn't, right?" Scott peeked his head out from Gene's room at the mention of ponies. "Are we talking about ponies now?" he asked quietly. "Scott, just- just get on my bed and look sexy or something, alright? Maybe show some skin. Or food. Or both. I'll be there in a minute," Gene turned his head to Scott, who slunk back into the room.
"Scott likes My Little Pony?" Logan asked. "I'm not really surprised, though, he seems the type…" "Yeah, he's one of those Fluttershy fanboy- LOGAN WE'RE GETTING OFF TOPIC HERE! Do you want me to talk to Louise or not?" Gene crossed his arms, getting impatient. "Yeah, I'd really like that. Thanks, Gene. Just…don't tell her about how I like her and stuff, okay?" Logan said. The chocolate haired man gave a thumbs up. "I'll see what I can do tomorrow. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go have a hot steamy make-out session with my boyfriend. After I call Louise, that is." And with that, Gene turned away and went to his room, shutting the door behind him.
Logan rolled his eyes. "He won't let me talk about my sex life, yet he plasters his all over the walls. Typical Gene," he sighed, picking up the remote and turning on the TV.
"Kono michi wo hashiri susumi susumi susumi tsuzuketa…"
Louise sat hunched over on her bed, an earbud in her ear and her laptop open. She quietly sang along to the foreign song, stumbling over words. "Furry curry ooh-two soko ni me-eteh iteh keh-shig…fuck, I don't speak this shit."
The angry brunette looked at her Facebook newsfeed. Why do I even have half these people added? I don't care about your exciting times at the swinger place, Grandma. Oh, shit, I should probably block Logan, that slimy little shitstain… Louise made her way to his profile, his profile picture of her and him being stupid together. I can't believe I liked him… Her mouse pointer hovered over the 'Report/Block…' option. Shit, I really want to block him, but…
The girl's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the front door opening and closing and footsteps rushing up the stairs. Tina. Louise heard her mother greet Tina before Tina opened up the door to Louise's room. "Louise, holy crap. You'll never guess what just happened," said an overly-cheery Tina. "Jimmy Jr. is a flaming homosexual? I always knew this day would come," Louise guessed, her voice dry and dripping with sarcasm. "Even better!" The older sister made her way into the room, much to Louise' displeasure, and shut the door behind her and walked to her little sister's bed, sitting on it.
"Uh, excuse me, Kanye West. Who said you could come in here?" Louise looked up from the screen, her gaze meeting Tina's. "Me, now-" "Damn, something good really did happen. You stood up for yourself against me. You go, Glenn Coco!" Louise took out the earbud. "Anyway, me and Tammy were at the mall and Jimmy Jr.'s psycho girlfriend pushed me off the second floor and Jimmy Jr caught me," Tina explained, happy to start her story. The zombie-loving girl noticed Louise's headphones and picked an earbud up, placing it in her ear. Electro world jimen ga furuetekudaketa sora no taiyou ga… "Oh, you're listening to that Chinese stuff again. Why do they put English words in?" "Japanese," Louise corrected. "And it's probably just to show off that they know English. That's a big thing over there, at least when they're not drawing those weird big eyed cartoon girls in bikinis. Which, by the way, I find oddly attractive. "
"You mean like Sailor Moon?" Tina asked, looking at a graphic novel with a blonde in buns and pigtails on the cover that was placed beside her little sister.
"Ahaha! Of course not! That stuff is for girly girls!" Louise laughed while quickly chucking the manga across the room, getting lost in a pile of dirty laundry. "Now what's your dumb story that you probably made up as an excuse to come in here and bug me so I'll tell you what happened Friday night?"
"I didn't, though. Whatever, so he caught me and then Tammy made us go out for drinks with her and Zeke. Jimmy Jr. and I broke up with our significant others just to make each other happy again, and he stood up for me when Henry called to argue with me. What we did was send Henry a picture of me and Jimmy Jr. Look!" Tina lifted up her phone, her wallpaper now changed to the picture of the ginger kissing her on the cheek. "Then Jimmy Jr. walked me home and he kissed me for the first time in years and I still feel his lips on my own and-"
"Did you guys drink? Are you going out now?" the girl with the bunny hat asked, her attention going back to her computer. "No, you know I don't drink, Louise. And no, we aren't. Oh, and for some reason Tammy kissed me when she was drunk." Louise's ears (as well as her rabbit hat's ears) perked up immediately. "Did you kiss back?"
"No, I don't really like her that way," Tina replied. Louise went back to her Facebook newsfeed. Sure enough, there was a status update from Tammy that mostly consisted of complete nonsense. It had been sent from her mobile about thirteen minutes earlier. "Tina, are you even bi?" she pondered. The older sister looked at her. "Yeah, why?" "It's just you don't really act like it. Maybe it's just me," Louise said while looking at the lit screen.
"I am. Hey, listen…could you please tell me what happened on Friday? Why were you crying?" Tina looked at her sister, deeply worried.
Louise bit her tongue before slamming her laptop closed. "Logan doesn't want to go out with me. That's all. It's no big deal, really. I can get other guys. Hell, I bet Rudy would be all over me if that slobbering hound wasn't all over him." The younger woman grabbed the sides of her hat, pulling every which way at the strings on either side, causing her hat to eventually cover up her eyes. Now please leave.
"You asked Logan out? Why? I thought you said you'd never go out with him, not in a million years. That's what you told me," Tina said. Louise groaned. "Tina, I told you that when I was, like, 15. It's different now. I actually…"
"You what?" Tina leaned in, waiting for Louise to say it.
Louise grumbled something. "What did you say?" Tina got excited.
"I love him, okay?! Shut your face! If you say anything about this to anyone I swear to god I will end you!"
"I didn't say anything. Does he know?"
"Well, technically, I didn't tell him. But he probably does since I screamed at him if he wanted to be my boyfriend or not," Louise mumbled under her hat. Tina reached over and lifted Louise's hat so her face was in view once again. "Tell him," she said.
"Fuck no! He hates me! And I fucking hate him! I'm never going to talk to him again! He's a douchebag! And even if he does like me that way, I'll just say no, because he's an asshole!" Louise yelled, causing her mother to yell at her to quiet down from the kitchen. Louise just rolled her eyes.
"You say that now, but someday…" Tina got up and headed towards the door. "Whatever, Tina," hissed Louise. Tina turned around. "You haven't been talking to Alexis, have you?" she asked. "No, she hasn't even called or texted me in like 5 days, I think she left or something." The younger sister muttered, "thank fucking god," under her breath.
"Good," Tina turned back around to the door and opened it. "Louise, just promise me something?"
"I can't guarantee it, but what?" Louise asked, picking up her laptop and putting it on the floor.
"Give him another chance. I just know he likes you a lot. Loves you, even. I knew it since you guys started hanging out on a daily basis. There's something not right with your story, and I just know there's something he hasn't told you. Mostly because he's afraid."
Before Louise could respond, Tina had left.
Why did it take me so long to realize how I feel about him…?
Louise looked out the window that she had made her dad install years back. It was right next to her bed, meaning she could sit up in bed and to the right she'd be greeted with a limited view of the world. The current owners of the business next door (Sham-Pow! Comix), who were also the owners of the longest lasting establishment next door to date, had removed the second floor of the building because they had no reason to live above it. Granted, all Louise could see was the roof of the comic shop, and if she tilted her head a bit she could catch a view down the road, but it was a nice view nonetheless.
The girl looked at the door to her bedroom and quickly got up, locking it. She sighed and closed the small curtains on the window. Lifting the hat from her head, Louise stepped up to her dresser, looking at the mirror conveniently placed above it. Prom is this Friday. Shit, what am I gonna do with my hair? More importantly… She set down her hat and lifted up the rather long sleeve of her shirt, revealing the scars Alexis had left a week or two earlier. Louise had been applying ointment to the wound ever since, but it was still visible upon closer inspection. I guess I'll have to put makeup on it. Gross.
Louise spotted the contents scattered across the top of the dresser. Make-up, various knick knacks, and the like. The young woman was about to turn away when the photo taped on the mirror caught her attention: it was Logan giving her a piggyback ride at the county fair. It had been taken when Louise was at the age of 14 and Logan was 17. They were in the midst of falling, but Louise looked excited nonetheless. She smiled at the "oh, shit" look on Logan's face. Fuck, I never noticed it before until now, but he really is adorable. Louise looked at another picture of the two of them together, this time on the swings at the park. Louise's 16 year-old self was giving Logan, who was 20 at the time, a playful smooch on the cheek. The older blonde looked absolutely disgusted, almost gagging. It had always been just a silly picture to her, but as she looked closer she realized Logan was blushing. That's not from me, right? I mean any girl kissing you on the cheek would make you blush, right? Shit, no, not if you're a mutant. Fuck, maybe it was the fact it's me that he's blushing. God dammit, he really does like me. But then why did he say no?
Louise's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the ringtone she had assigned to Gene, which was simply farting noises. She didn't really feel like talking to her brother about this whole fiasco just yet, so she let it go to voicemail. A few minutes of carefully addressing her wounds later, Louise heard the ding! of her phone going off informing her of a new voicemail. Louise continued to apply ointment to her shoulder until she felt it was good enough.
Picking up her phone, she unlocked the screen, being greeted by her home screen and a small icon on the top row next to the battery display. The wallpaper was of a white rabbit with red eyes and eating the flesh of a human, bloodshed everywhere. Quickly making her way to her voice mailbox, Louise put the phone up to her ear and listened to the message left for her. "Hey, Louise, it's Gene. You're gonna be working at the restaurant tomorrow, right? Yeah, uh, me and Scott-oof!" It sounded as if someone had lightly punched Gene in the stomach before his voice lowered. "Dude, she doesn't know yet! Shut up! …I'm gonna call you Scott because you're not dressed as a- you know what?...No! Forget it, I'm leaving a message for my friggin' sister!" Louise lifted an eyebrow, not impressed. "Heh, uh, sorry, anyway, me and my boyfriend are gonna swing by around 2. I gotta talk to you about something, well, more like tell you something. Don't worry you're not in trouble or some shit, it's just really important. Alright, see you tomorrow, bye." The click of the phone hanging up was heard from Gene's message before Louise hung up. Dammit… Louise walked over to her dresser and placed her hat back on her head.
"Baby, look, about yesterday with the whole "Scott" thing: I'm sorry. I had no idea that you wanted to be called Scotti when you're in "girl mode" or whatever," Gene said as he drove. "God, it's getting sunnier. Is it gonna be summer soon?" "Uh, well, for us it is, yes. I think Louise and the rest don't even have to go to school for the rest of the year besides graduation, right?" Scott asked. "How do you even know this?" Gene retorted as he pulled his car up in front of Bob's Burgers. "My cousin is in high school. She talks to me a lot on Facebook, so naturally I know a few things," Scott said, unbuckling his seat belt. The dusty blonde wasn't in any of his newly-acquired feminine attire; he felt he wasn't ready to go public about it just yet. The only feminine thing on him was a bracelet his cousin had made for him that had pink and yellow flowers adorning the design.
Locking up and making their way inside, the men were not one bit surprised to see Linda behind the counter with Louise. The older woman was watching her daughter like a hawk as the girl in her trademark pink bunny hat was at the cash register. "Mom, I know how to work a cash register, okay?" Teddy was there as well; nothing about him had changed much since the kids were, well, kids. It seemed like he had been trying to grow out a beard, which surprisingly worked in his favor, gaining him more of his "fuzzy little friends" on his chin and lower jaw area. "Teddy! Hey!" Gene called out excitedly. Teddy smiled. "Hey, Gene! Who's this you got here?" he asked, gesturing to Scott.
"Oh! Teddy, this is Scott. He's…uh," Gene stumbled. The family had kept Gene's sexuality a secret from Teddy, due to the fact Teddy wasn't the brightest bulb in the lamp. Linda was afraid he might get upset, and Bob just didn't want Teddy talking about it and asking questions all the time while he was working. Bob could only imagine the questions, seeing as the last time homosexuality had come up, it was about one of the higher ups at town hall that was involved in a gay sex scandal. Teddy had treated it as his opportunity to learn everything he ever wanted to about gays. Growing up when he did, Teddy didn't know much.
"He's my fri-" "I'm his boyfriend," Scott interjected cheerily, causing Gene to facepalm. Scott noticed all the stares at him. "Shit, was I not supposed to say that?" Teddy just looked at Linda confused then back at Gene. "Boyfriend?" he asked, intrigued. "Uh, yeah, well, Teddy, we haven't been completely honest with ya…you see, Gene is gay," Linda stammered on, placing a hand on Teddy's shoulder, a nervous smile on her face. "I'm fine with that. Why, did you think I wouldn't or somethin', like one of those crazy religious nuts?" he said. "O-Oh! Well, good!" Linda said before quickly changing the subject in an attempt to save herself and the others from a bombardment of questions related to homosexuality. "Hey, Teddy, what'd ya think of them Devils last night?" the mom asked, putting a hand on her hip. "Linda, you know I don't watch hockey. So, Scott, how did you meet Gene?" Linda sighed a bit before going back to the kitchen. "I need an aspirin…"
"Oh, well, it was after Gene and Logan did a gig at my uncle's pub down on 34th street. I thought Gene was pretty good at keyboard, so I went backstage and talked to him," Scott smiled, sitting down on a stool next to the contractor. Teddy pulled out a small notebook and a pen and started jotting down notes. "Um, why are you taking notes?" Scott asked, confused. "I need all the help I can get," Teddy said, causing Scott to laugh. Gene took this time to get his sister's attention.
"Louise! I gotta talk to you about something, something big and important!" Gene said as he leaned over the counter, trying to distract her from her dull task of cleaning the cash register. Louise looked up at her brother. "Well, at least now I know we're not talking about your penis," she said dryly, causing the man to blush. "You take that back! Freddy is too big and important!" he hissed quietly so as not to disturb the other patrons. "Now come on, I gotta talk to you! Like, now!" Now now!" Louise sighed. "Fine," she said, walking around the counter and seating herself at a booth, as did Gene. "Okay, look, before you blow up at me, I know what Logan did on Friday night-"
Louise immediately got up. "Nonono! Wait! I can tell you why he did it," Gene pleaded, grabbing her wrist. The girl stopped and sat back down. "You really wanna know why he did it, Louise? Well…" "Well? Spit it out, Michael J. Fox!" "Hey, that guy is cool. Don't be dissin' the Fox. He went the future, dude. Did you? I didn't think so, sister. Anyway, Logan said no because Alexis was there. She snuck up behind you and right after you asked Logan if he wanted to date you, Alexis was right there threatening him not to say yes. She did the whole 'throat-slitting' motion thing. Logan knew Alexis was bad news, so he said no so she wouldn't hurt you. He was doing it to protect you, Louise," Gene explained, looking at his hands that were clasped together on the table. Louise's eyes fell from Gene to the floor, her face turning red. "So that's what he was looking at," she mumbled. "Huh?" Gene looked up. "He kept looking behind me like something was there. Normally, I would have turned around, but since I was basically spilling my feelings all over the ground like they were guts, I didn't think to."
"Oh, yeah, um…" Gene rubbed the back of his neck, "There's one other thing…that I'm not really supposed to tell you, but…"
"Wait, since he said no because she was there, does that mean that he would have said yes if she hadn't?" Louise started to freak out.
"Louise, I have something else to te-"
"Do you think he actually might have feelings for-" Louise's voice started to falter.
"LOUISE! LOGAN IS MADLY IN LOVE WITH YOU! HE'S BEEN IN LOVE WITH YOU SINCE YOU WERE NINE! HOW DID YOU NOT SEE THAT? I MEAN, C'MON! EVERY NIGHT HE'D COME HOME BITCHING ABOUT HIS FEELINGS FOR YOU TO ME AND I HAD TO PUT UP WITH THE FACT MY BEST FRIEND WANTED TO MAKE OUT WITH MY LITTLE SISTER! HE LOVES YOU, MAN!"
The restaurant went dead silent as all heads turned to Gene, who was leaned over the table and had shouted in his sister's face. The hat on Louise's hat was crooked slightly from the amount of force Gene had put into the very loud confession, her eyes hidden by the rim of the fabric. Louise grinned like the devil and fixed her hat. "I KNEW IT!" she yelled before getting up out of the booth and darting out of the restaurant. The musician still at the booth smiled sheepishly at Linda and Bob, whose heads were sticking out of the kitchen door and looking right at him. "H-Hey. What's up, you guys?" Gene squeaked, giving a weak wave.
Swinging open the door to their home, Louise dashed up the stairs and to her room. She leaped onto her bed and grabbed her pillow, screaming happily into it. Whipping out her phone, the elated girl sent Logan a message. As quickly as she had grabbed it, Louise tossed the phone aside and ran to her sister's room. Tina jumped as her bedroom door flew open and Louise bounded inside, her widened eyes meeting the gaze of her older sister and an obviously hungover Tammy. "TINAGUESSWHATLOGANLOVESMEHEISACTUALLYINFUCKINGLOVE WITHMEOHHITAMMYOKAYGOTTAGOBYE!" And with that, the girl in the pink bunny hat had vanished.
A moment of silence was had before Tina spoke up.
"What the fuck was that?"
Tammy proceeded to vomit on the floor.
Sitting on his bed with his laptop, Logan felt his phone vibrate. Pulling it out of his pocket, his face instantly brightened with a smile when he read what he had received.
I forgive you, you stupid sack of crap. 3