“Are you going to catch it? Are you sure?”
“Yes!” I said in exasperation. “Hit me.”
Amy pulled another Skittle from the packet in her hand and aimed at me. I opened my mouth wide and tried to catch the candy flying in my direction, but failed miserably.
“Dude, you suck,” Ray chuckled from where he sat, tuning his guitar.
“Mikey’s pretty good at this,” Amy said, throwing a Skittle at the younger Way brother who caught it effortlessly and grinned at me as he chewed.
“Years of practice,” he smirks and swallows the candy.
“He’s used to having to catch his food,” I grumble slightly and turn my attention back to Amy who was seated in front of me on the couch. “One more.”
“This is the last one, Frank, because you’re wasting all my sweets,” she told me, holding a bright green Skittle between her fingers.
My mouth gaped open expectantly and right before I could catch the lime candy, Gerard’s head swooped in and the Skittle landed in his mouth.
“Hm, lemony,” he grinned, looking down at me.
“Gerard, that was mine!” I yelled indignantly.
“Nope, mine,” he said still grinning. “You were just going to miss it anyway.”
“I wasn’t…”
“Yeah, tell that to all the other Skittles covering the floor,” he said sarcastically.
I scowl in response.
“Why didn’t you just pick those up and eat them?” Amy enquired with a slight frown.
“Because,” I started, pulling a disgusted face. “I don’t know who’s been in here before or what they might have treaded in here.”
“You ate peanut butter with your ice-cream when you were a kid,” Gerard pointed out. “I think you can survive some Skittles off the floor.”
“You’re more than welcome to eat them since you obviously like stealing my candy,” I shot back.
Matt stepped out of the recording room and watched as Gerard and I bickered over the Skittles.
“Okay, so how about that? Better?” he wondered and immediately Mikey and Ray stormed towards him.
“It’s not right,” Ray shook his head. “Your timing is off. The first and second verses don’t sound the same. You need to fix that.”
“And the ending isn’t working either,” Mikey chipped in. “We have to change it or pick up the pace or something.”
“Come on, guys!” Matt exclaimed in exasperation. “I’ve been in there all day. Gerard, Frank what do you think?” he wants to know and all eyes turn to us.
“Fix the beats of the two verses,” Gerard nodded in agreement.
I nod as well, almost in sync with Gerard.
“I agree with Mikey as well. That ending is definitely not working.”
Everyone stared at us in surprise obviously not thinking that we’d be able to comment considering that we hadn’t been paying attention to their conversation.
“Fine, I’ll fix it,” the drummer sighed, turning around and walking back to his drums.
I sit back down cross-legged on the floor in front of Amy with a hopeful look on my face.
“One more please.”
“Frank! Fine, last one.”
I waited patiently as she fished a Skittle out of the packet and then tossed it at me. This time I actually managed to catch it and threw my hands up in the air.
“Yes!” I shout in triumph, getting to my feet and plopping down on the couch next to her. I gave the blonde a high five.
“Good job, Frank,” she smiled placing another one in my mouth as a reward.
The door to the studio swung open and three very familiar figures came into the room, looking around curiously. I subconsciously sunk lower in my seat the second my eyes landed on Brittany. Of course this little action made no difference, because she already spotted me next to Amy. I supposed that I might as well prepare for war and some tough love. This was not going to end well.
“Mel,” Gerard grinned broadly at his girlfriend, walking over to greet her with a kiss. “This is a nice surprise. I didn’t expect to see you today.”
“I didn’t plan on dropping by,” the raven-haired girl admitted. “But then I bumped into these two at the shopping centre and we decided to surprise you,” she informed him smiling.
I glanced warily at Brittany and as if she sensed my eyes on her, her head turned and her eyes met mine coolly. Yep, she was mad. That’s what I got for choosing the mean girl to be my girlfriend. Gerard and Mikey had nice girlfriends. Hell, even Ray and Matt’s girls were sweethearts. Me? I chose Brittany for some odd reason I still couldn’t understand. I frowned slightly and then Amy poked me in the ribs with her elbow, drawing my attention. I looked at her questioningly and saw her eyes shine with laughter. I couldn’t help scowling, because she knew exactly how Brittany felt about our friendship and she was enjoying the fact that Brittany was pissed off.
“What’s up, Frankenstein?” Kasey asked, sauntering over and sitting down on my other side. “Aren’t you going to say hello to your amazing girlfriend?” she asked quietly also enjoying my discomfort.
“And die a premature death? I don’t think so,” I snorted. “What are you guys doing here anyway?”
“Like Melania said, we happened to bump into each other in town and decided to come by. I bet you didn’t anticipate Brittany walking in on you and Amy all cozy here on the couch.”
“It’s not like that.”
“We were just having fun,” Amy agreed. “Not that your best friend would understand that concept,” she couldn’t help adding.
Everyone’s eyes travelled over to where Brittany stood talking to her brothers and Melania. She seemed calm enough.
“Do you think she’s mad?” I asked Kasey carefully.
“She’s your girlfriend. What do you think?”
I swallowed and slowly got to my feet, walking over to the group of people.
“Hey,” I greeted Brittany, kissing her cheek.
“Hi, Frank,” she replied, quickly kissing my lips, completely surprising me.
My first instinct was to relax, until my subconscious woke up screaming at me. Don’t trust her! Of course. One look in her eyes told me that she wasn’t very happy with me right now.

“Having a nice day?” she asked sweetly.
“It’s been interesting,” I nodded cautiously, trying to figure out what mood she was in. “You?”
“I’ve been enjoying it so far. School was okay, but somewhat of a bore,” she shrugged casually.
I had to admit that I was impressed. Ever since we started dating she’s actually been doing really well with this whole acting-more-mature thing. That was the only plausible explanation as to why she wasn’t making a scene in front of everyone which is exactly what she would’ve done a couple of weeks ago. Now it was just a matter of when the explosion would occur. My shoulders slumped at this thought, knowing that I would have to face her wrath alone.
I glanced in Kasey and Amy’s direction, but they were wrapped up in their own conversation. The remainder of the day passed surprisingly uneventful and finally we finished up and split up to go home for the night. Amy, Matt and Ray left, leaving me, Kasey, Melania and the three Ways. Gerard gave me his car keys and left with Melania. Mikey and I rode in the front, me driving, and the girls were in the backseat. The trip was short and I soon parked in the Way’s driveway, everyone tumbling out of the car. Mikey went inside the house and Brittany and I walked Kasey home.
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” the girl with the jet-black hair spoke to Brittany as we reached her front door. “Good bye, Frank.”
I smiled at her and waved, “See you.”
“Bye, Kasey. I’ll probably call you a little later,” Brittany called over her shoulder at the other teen as we started to walk away.
The second we walked away from Kasey’s house I could feel a change. I immediately sensed Brittany’s change in mood. Bring on the hostility.
“Okay, bring it on,” I said bravely.
Brittany glanced at me from the corner of her eye, but didn’t say anything.
“Come on, spit it out,” I urged. “I know you’re mad at me.”
She still kept quiet and now I was becoming frustrated.
“If you don’t let it out, you’ll burst…”
“Damn it, Frank would you shut up! Yes, I’m mad at you! So what? You can’t even blame me!”
I blinked once, twice…
“Actually,” she whipped around to face me. “I’m furious, because once again I found you in the company of Miss Band rep,” she spat.
“Uhm,” I shrugged casually. “I don’t see what the problem is. We’ve talked about this a hundred times…”
“And yet you persist to cling to her,” she cut me short.
I sighed deeply, tired of rehashing the same old argument over and over and over again. In the beginning I was kind of flattered by her jealousy. I tried to see things from her point of view. In the beginning, I usually tried to placate her. It was the beginning and I really kind of wanted things to work out. Now, I’m tired of this.
“I wasn’t clinging to her. We were playing. Everyone was in on it. She fed us Skittles…”
“Yeah, I noticed.”
I sigh once more, raking a hand through my now shorter hair in exasperation. “Brittany, what do you want from me?”
“Stop talking to her,” she said firmly.
“Don’t be childish.” I said this with more vehemence than intended and I knew exactly what was about to follow.
“So you care about her?”
I threw my hands up in the air out of frustration.
“Of course I care about her. She’s my friend, a very good friend at that.”
Brittany’s lips pressed into a firm line. I started to walk in the direction of her house again, though I wasn’t really sure whether I wanted to be there right now.
“Where are you going?” Brittany demanded.
“I’m taking you home,” I say with another sigh.
“We’re not done talking.”
“What more is there to say? What could you possibly add to this conversation that we haven’t already fought about at least ten times before?”
She scowled at me before opening her mouth to launch her next attack. “I’m not childish and I refuse to believe that you’re too stupid or oblivious to notice how Amy really feels about you.”
I shake my head in dismay. The truth was that I knew exactly how Amy felt about me. I knew she had deeper feelings for me than that of a friend, but there was no way in hell I was going to tell Brittany that, because she would have a field day with that information.
“I promise you that she does not see you as her ‘friend’.” She rolled her eyes as she said this.
“What does it even matter? In the end the only thing that’s important is the way I see her.”
“And how’s that?”
I was about to respond with, “That’s none of your business.” But fortunately I caught myself in time.
“Do you really want to go there?” was the response I eventually settled for.
“Please.”
This was so ridiculous.
“Brittany… We’ve barely been together for what, four weeks, and it feels like we’ve argued about this same topic at least a hundred times!”
This wasn’t even an over-exaggeration. It would always start with her jealousy of Amy, which was completely unfounded by the way, and then somehow we would end up arguing about Tray. This time was going to be different. I was tired of fighting about that guy. I was so over it it’s not even funny. But the conversation just took an interesting turn when Brittany asked about my feelings for Amy. That’s a topic we haven’t touched before. I wasn’t going to give her a different grip or angle on things. We needed to sort this shit out for the last time.
“Why the hell do you even do this?” I asked completely puzzled. “Things were going so well when we started out, but you’ve turned into this, this…”
“Come on, Frank it’s not like you haven’t called me a bitch before.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s exactly the way you’re acting!” I exclaimed. “And I just don’t get it. I really don’t.”
“Who’s acting?”
“Why do you fucking hate me so much?” I asked, desperate for an answer.
My question took her by surprise, judging by the shocked expression on her face.
“Frank, I don’t…”
“You get along with everybody else except me. You love picking a fight with me and after all these years I still don’t know why. You always fucking do this. Why can’t you just give it a rest??” I want to know with wide and pleading eyes. “I’m your boyfriend and you still treat me like dirt.”
She’s actually quiet and even after I stop talking she still doesn’t say anything. I suddenly become aware of eyes on us and realize that our arguing out on the street has drawn the attention of several of the neighborhood residents, all probably curious to know what’s going on. I choose to ignore them, but lower my voice nonetheless.
“Face it, the problem here isn’t my friendship with Amy. It’s you, you and your immaturity and I am so over it, Brittany I swear. If you can’t trust me or get over whatever issues you have then I’m done. I am not going to punish myself anymore by trying to please you. It doesn’t work that way.”
I turn on my heel and start walking away.
“Where are you going?” she demands feebly.
“Home,” I reply shortly. “I can’t talk to you right now. I’m too mad.”
How did that happen? How did the roles change from her being mad at me to me being mad at her? Oh, the joys of our completely dysfunctional relationship.
I trudge home and refrain from slamming the door behind me. I hurriedly greet my mom before running upstairs and shutting my door. I fall down on the bed and pull out my phone to call Amy. She answered after three rings and I proceeded to tell her what just happened. Call me fickle, but I needed to blow off some steam and Amy was the only person I could talk to about my relationship with Brittany and don’t think that I don’t get how ridiculous that is.
I couldn’t talk to Gerard or Mikey for obvious reasons and the other guys well, they’ve known Brittany for a long time too and it would be equally awkward. That left Amy who also happens to be the person I confided in the first time Brittany and I split up from our non-official relationship. It just seemed natural to me that she would be the person I would run to with this.
“You left her??!” Amy gasped loudly on the other end of the phone.
“No!” I hurriedly exclaimed. “I mean yes, I left her, but I didn’t break up with her. No, the thought hasn’t even crossed my mind.”
She didn’t say anything to this and I could practically sense the skepticism coming through the phone.
“Okay, fine. Maybe the thought has crossed my mind,” I admitted embarrassedly. “She just drives me crazy. I don’t know what to do with her. She has this inherent need to be angry with me all the time. And we always fight over the same stupid things,” I said exasperated.
Amy chuckled quietly, “Frank, isn’t that what couples do? They fight. About stupid things.”
“It’s stupid and I hate it,” I stated definitely.
“You’ll simply have to learn to deal with it or at least live with it otherwise things between you and her will never work.”
I sighed deeply.
“You know I’m right, Frank.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered grudgingly. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” I could picture her smiling at the other end.
There was a knock on my door and then Brittany entered slowly. I looked up at her in surprise, because I didn’t expect to see her again until at least the next day.
“Hey,” I said to Amy. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I just got a surprise visitor.”
“She’s there?”
I nodded and then remembered that she couldn’t see me.
“Yes.”
“Okay, good luck,” she murmured and hung up.
I put the phone down and turned my attention back to Brittany who was still standing uncertainly in the doorway.
“Are you still mad at me?”
“Are you still mad at me?” I turned her question on her.
She frowned deeply clearly holding back on whatever it was that she wanted to say to me right then. She probably realized that I wasn’t in the mood for her games.
“Answer my question then I’ll answer yours,” I told her.
“It’s a trick question then,” she guessed, lifting her chin up and staring down at me still seated on my bed. We both stared at each other for a long time, neither of us wanting to give in. “Apparently couples fight,” Brittany finally said, coming deeper into the room and stopping in front of me. “It’s what they do.”
What a coincidence that that’s exactly what Amy told me. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that the two have been talking. I didn’t completely agree with them though.
“Yes, they do,” I nodded in agreement. “But not like this. I’ve had my share of girlfriends in the past and I’ve never fought with any one of them like I do with you, not before or after a break up.”
“Also it’s really not fair of you to ask me to stop talking to Amy. What am I going to do, write off a good friend to keep you happy and then when you and I break up it would’ve all been for nothing?”
“Do you plan on breaking up with me?” she asked hesitantly as if she was afraid of what my answer would be.
I sighed and shook my head, “No, but you’re really pushing the wrong buttons.”
“Fair enough,” she nodded slowly. “But can I ask you one question? If this thing between you and Amy is completely neutral, why is it that you get so upset whenever I bring her up? You get pretty angry when I say something bad about her.”
“Ugh, you are incorrigible!” I practically yell in aggravation.
A sly grin unexpectedly spread across her face.
“Isn’t that why you like me?” she asked sweetly.
“Honestly, I don’t know why I like you,” I admitted with a frown.
“I’ll tell you why you like me,” she started, pushing me down on the bed and straddling me. “Because you enjoy fighting with me just as much as I enjoy fighting with you. It’s what we know, Frank. We don’t fight like other couples, because we’re not like other couples and that’s what I like about us. We’re special in our own fucked up way,” she explained still smiling.
I stare up at her with wide eyes and I realize that I’m also holding my breath. Truth was she had me at a disadvantage in our current position. She must have realized this as well, because her smile became even more wicked as she looked down at me. Her hands started to move but I grabbed both of them in my own, holding them away from my body. I soon realized though that this was exactly her plan, because now both my hands were occupied and I was unable to stop her from kissing me which she instantly did, her lips greedily claiming mine. Way to manipulate me, Miss Way.
I moaned quietly and bucked my hips, forcing her to break the kiss as she fell forward.
“You’re not playing fair,” I said breathlessly.
“Do I ever?” she asked with a gleam in her eyes.
I was determined to keep my cool no matter how seductive she tried to be. I knew my resolve wouldn’t last long and that I had to say whatever else was on my mind before it crumbled.
“Are you going to drop the topic of Amy?” I demanded.
Brittany frowned deeply the grin wiped off, and bit her lower lip.
“For good,” I insisted. “I don’t want to talk about this again.”
The green-eyed beauty leaned back down and kissed me softly.
“Brittany, no,” I said against her lips and attempted to turn my head away from her.
I wanted an answer from her otherwise this was never going to end. However, it seemed that my grip on her hands had slacked, because she pulled free and grabbed my face, deepening the kiss. Instinctively my hands came up and came to rest behind her shoulders.
I could feel her smiling in victory. She seemed to regain her confidence all at once and she leaned further down, one of her hands gripping my hair as she took control of the kiss, taking no prisoners…except me. After a few minutes the teen pulled back slightly to look at me.
I gasped for air, grateful for the short chance to catch my breath.
“Okay, done. I won’t bring her up again,” Brittany said breathlessly.
“Promise?”
She didn’t answer me, but reconnected our lips as a response. I grabbed her hips and quickly flipped us over so that I was hovering over her giggling form.
“I guess that you’re taking control now?” she said, looking at me with bright and hopeful eyes.
“You guess right,” I whispered, letting my full weight rest on her, kissing her as if we haven’t seen each other in years.