Finally Sharon moved around till she was in a regular sitting position.

"All right we better be going," Sharon said.

A collective groan was let out by all the guys.

"Do we have too?" Bob whined from his chair.

A grin broke out onto my face. It was nice to have Bob act the way we did on occasion, otherwise he always tended to be so stoic, almost as if he forgot how to act like a kid.

"I'm sure Jay has seen enough of the lot of you," Sharon said as she stood up and put her hand out for Frankie to help him stand.

"But we just got back, I'm pretty sure she hasn't had enough of us yet," Frankie pouted as he stood.

"Uh huh, sure. And then we go and trash the place. Up all of you, lets go and leave the girl to some peace and quiet," Sharon said in a stern voice.

I kind of smiled, her taking on the whole maternal role. I didn't mind if the guys stayed or not, but if she set her mind to leaving with everyone then so be it. I wasn't about to rub her the wrong way.

"I don't wanna," Gerard whined like a little kid as Sharon picked him up off the floor.

"Oh shush, we have our own apartment to clean," Sharon said as she shot me a look.

Guess she still hadn't gotten Gerard to clean their own place yet.

"Ah!" Gerard shouted as he jumped behind me as I had stood when he had.

"What are you hiding behind me for, I'm not going to do anything," I teased as I looked over my shoulder at his cowering form.

"But she wants me to clean," Gerard whispered.

"You just cleaned here. So what's the big deal?" I whispered back in a mock whisper.

"But this is your place, I like cleaning your place. I like cleaning with you. I don't want to clean Sharon's place," Gerard whispered.

I wrinkled my forehead, furrowed my brow for a second, confused for a split moment. He had called his, Sharon and Mikey's place, Sharon's place. I found it odd but brushed it off.

"Time to be a grown up," I said to him and stepped out of in front of him.

Gerard sighed, groaned a bit and then stood up straight. He rolled his eyes at me when I broke out into a shit eating grin.

"Up, up, up Mikey," Sharon sang as she stood sort of in front of Mikey, hands out for him to grab so she could pull him off the recliner.

"Do I really have to go?" Mikey asked, his eyes darting my direction for a split second before going back to Sharon.

Sharon quickly looked over her shoulder at me.

"Well I guess you don't have to come if you don't want to," Sharon said, dropping her hands to her sides.

Mikey grinned like a kid who just got away with not cleaning his room. AND got ice cream on top of it.

"Oh HELL no! If I have to go and clean then SO does Mikey," Gerard shouted at Mikey's grin as he ran over and bodily hauled his brother out of the recliner.

Mikey let out a scream as Gerard lifted and carried him towards the door.

"Put me down you freak," Mikey shouted as he pound on his brother's back.

"Oh no, you're coming to clean if I have to," Gerard said as he stopped beside my door.

"FINE I'll come, just put me down you oaf," Mikey sighed.

Gerard grinned and then let his brother fall to the floor. Mikey landed hard and let out an oomph at the hard contact. We all burst out laughing, even harder when Mikey stood and rubbed his butt. All the guys started to collectively move to the door to leave so I followed behind Ray, to say goodbye to everyone.

"Bye Jay," Ray and Bob said almost simultaneously as they waved and walked out my door.

"Bye guys," I said happily, waving back enthusiastically.

"Later gator shoes," Frankie sang as he skipped out my door after giving me a quick hug.

Out the door he tripped while skipping and almost face planted it down the stairs.

"Bye hun, thanks for letting us come over last night. I'm gonna run after him to make sure he doesn't kill himself going out," Sharon said with a split second hug.

"Go, go, go," I said as I shooed her out the door after Frankie, worried for his health as well.

"Bye love," Gerard said as he came up and gave me a hug, squeezing me to his body.

He even smelled good after sweaty cleaning.

"I really did miss you," Gerard said into the top of my head, words dampened by my hair.

"Me too," I sighed.

"GERARD!" I heard Sharon shout from the entrance to my stairwell.

"Your girlfriend is shooting your back with fire bolts, you better go," I said as I let go of him.

"I don't wanna clean," Gerard whined softly as he let go of me.

I hit him on the arm playfully as I gave him a reproachful look. He sighed, hunched his shoulders and turned to go out my door and down the stairs. Mikey stepped up to say goodbye.

"NO KISSING!" Gerard shouted from the top step of the stairs.

"Hey Gerard!" Mikey shouted.

Gerard snapped his head around to look in through my doorway.

Mikey grabbed a hold of me so quickly I had no time to react as he dipped me and kissed me hard. Finally he let go of me, standing me up and looked over at Gerard grinning.

"NO WAY BABIES!" Gerard shouted and then walked down the stairs.

I stood there a moment, my breath taken away by the kiss, my eyes wide as saucers. Mikey looked back over at me, a smile on his face in place of his earlier grin. When I got my breath back finally I looked him in the eyes.

"Mikey, I uh. I'm not really, uh, um. I'm not really at the point ready for, ah, anything," I said lamely.

How do I tell a guy that I'm not ready for a relationship. Especially when said guy is a friend of mine.

"Oh don't worry Jay, I'm not looking for a relationship. I just like taking a girl's breath away. I don't get to do it often. Ever, really," Mikey said with a grin.

I sighed inaudibly. And then grinned back at him and punched him on the arm.

"Well you're very good at it," I said cheekily.

"And hopefully will get better," Mikey said as he walked out my door and towards the stairs.

I walked to my door and stood leaning on the frame.

"You'll find a girl someday that will be swept off her feet by you Mikey," I said, a smile on my face knowing he understood.

"And until then I'll just practice on you. See you later Jay bird," Mikey said as he went down the stairs two at a time.

I laughed a little and waved goodbye to him before going back in and closing my door behind me. I stood against my door and surveyed my apartment. And smiled. After a moment of silent staring I went and got my journal and brought it to my couch where I sat down and cracked it open.

"I had my breath stolen by a friend and shared my first awkward moment with another. It's possible to spend an entire day doing nothing and still feel like you accomplished something. Ground zero is what my place became and sweat soaked bandanas and black trash bags brought it back. It's possible to pace trenches in concrete. Gummy bears don't make good bed partners and popcorn is it's own food group. I'm still looking for my stable boy, but need to find the princess first. Jersey is speaking to me, showing me who I am, one malt ball, zombie movie and trash bag at a time."

Smiling I closed my journal. Setting it on the table I yawned and curled up on my couch, needing to catch up on sleep before tomorrow's work day began.

Notes

"NO WAY BABIES!"

Ahhhh, it's my favorite line like ever!
And you'll find I use it a lot.
Because I find it hysterical.