Keep it a Secret

Chapter 6
Gerard POV
I walked back up to the attic, three beers in hand including an extra one for me seeing as the contents of my previous bottle have somehow disappeared. Now who could have done that? Matt followed close behind with some more equipment. I tried to juggle the bottles in one hand while persuading Matt to at least let me carry something for him. However, as I got to the entrance to the attic, I stopped abruptly making Matt crash into me and mutter obscenities as he struggled to keep a grip on all he was carrying. I took in the scene before me carefully before drawing any conclusions. Mikey was sitting, slumped over his bass while Ray was seated right behind him, almost in an embrace, as he positioned his hands over Mikey’s and moved them into different positions on the neck of the bass. His face way too close to my little brother’s neck for my liking.
I cleared my throat to make my presence known as I walked over to them and handed them both a beer, giving Ray a warning look as he took his. I sat down on the hard floor and guzzled half of my second down in a matter of seconds, deciding to push the issue at hand for another time. Ray then got up from his position behind Mikey to go and strum on his own guitar again. A deep blush still in present on his face.
Soon, the last of the equipment was set up and Ray was eager to plug his Les Paul into his amp. Now let me tell you, the rhythm he came up with to Skylines and Turnstiles in my basement? Yeah, ten times better when amplified. All I can do was stare at Ray, not even noticing when Matt picked up his drumsticks and started beating away. The noise was definitely going to be a big problem for the neighbors, I could tell that much but I honestly didn’t care at that moment. I looked over to Mikey who seemed a little unsure about bringing his bass into the mixture until Ray gave him a nod. With that, Mikey started to strum a few hesitant cords that I can only assume Ray had showed him while Matt and I were downstairs. In a few moments, Mikey was in synch and the three of them played in an almost perfect harmony that seemed to put me in a trance until Ray stopped abruptly.
“Dude, why aren’t you singing?” he laughed
“I, erm… didn’t know where you wanted me to come in.” I muttered, embarrassed.
“Well, usually after the intro is good, but hey, it’s your song.” Ray shrugged.
I rolled my eyes before standing up, downing the remains of my beer and walking over to the microphone stand that Matt had set up for me. It had been a while since I had sung, and honestly, I was kind of excited. I always loved to sing. Even though I didn’t think I had the greatest voice, I always sung my heart out which is what mattered. At least that’s what I thought.
I signaled for Ray to start again, and just like last time, Matt and Mikey joined in. I waited for my cue to start, finally uttering my own lyrics out loud into the microphone. It sounded a bit off to me but Ray gave me an assuring nod and I continued. I actually started to get into it and was about to reach the chorus until Ray, once again, stopped.
“Dude, what the hell? Why did you stop?”
Ray looked at me like it was obvious. “Gerard, we haven’t practiced past this first part. And frankly, I think we need to work with what we got so far before advancing to the chorus.”
I looked at him confused. “What do you mean? We sounded great!”
He sighed before explaining. “We’re barely in synch. You keep getting ahead of us. I’m trying to catch up but that’s leaving Mikes behind. We need to work on playing together before moving on, otherwise we’ll sound like shit.” He raised an eyebrow at me as if daring me to protest.
“Okay, maybe we do need a little more work, but we didn’t sound half bad!”
“Well that’s because you probably weren’t paying attention to anything except the sound of your own voice” Mikey snickered. I shot him a death glare which only caused him to chuckle. “Oh, don’t pretend that your ego isn’t showing. We all know that you like the sound of your own voice.”
“Whatever.” I scoffed. “Let’s just get this done with so that we can move on.” **Time Lapse**
After three hours, a few more beers and more cigarette breaks than I’d like to admit, we finally decided to call it a night and meet again tomorrow afternoon. I could honestly say I was quite happy with the amount of work that was put in today. We managed to clean out space, set up the equipment, and still get a good portion of the song done. Hopefully by tomorrow, if we all don’t mess around too much then we can finally finish it and work on something new. Oh god I don’t even have something new to begin after this.
I try not to let my growing panic show as Matt starts to make his way towards the door leading back downstairs followed by Ray and then Mikey who seemed to be lingering a little closer to Ray than I would have liked. I slowly descended down the stairs holding the railing a bit tightly as the stairs seemed to wobble beneath me. Taking a few deep breaths, I managed to steady myself and make my way down the rest of the stairs in time to wave goodbye to Matt and Ray who were already walking out the door. As soon as Mikey shut the door behind them I started to make my way downstairs to my room gesturing for him to follow me. I shut the door behind him and sat down on my bed. “Let’s talk.”
“What about?”
“Ray.” I accused. I watched my brother stammer for a minute, waiting for him to deny what I already knew. It seemed like his whole face was turning different shades of red. “Look, it’s obvious that you have a crush on him and it’s not like he isn’t reciprocating the same feelings.” Mikey looked at me through his hair giving me a look as if to say ‘really?’ “That shade of red you got going there,” I waved my hand up gesturing to his face “that’s the same shade that was showing on Ray’s face when I caught you two cuddling over your bass.” At that Mikey’s blush deepened until his cheeks were practically crimson. “Mikes, I’m not going to stop you from going after Ray. I just wanted to talk to you and tell you to be careful. I haven’t talked to Ray since high school and even then I wasn’t exactly close to him. I just don’t know the kind of guy he is and I don’t want him to hurt you.” I looked at my little brother sheepishly pulling the hood of my sweatshirt up.
This time Mikey just laughed. “Gee, I understand you’re just looking out for me but I’m not a little kid anymore. I think I can look out for myself when it comes to dating.” Mikey must have noticed my look of dismay because he added, “Okay, if it really bothers you this much then go hang out with him and get some coffee or something. See that he isn’t such a bad guy.”
I groan at that, obviously not intrigued by the idea. “How about something that doesn’t require me to leave the house.”
“Why? Because you might actually get some color on your white skin if you go outside? Seriously Gee, you’re starting to look so pale that I’m afraid you’re going to lunge at me and start sucking my blood at any moment.
I smirked at Mikey ruffling his neatly straightened and tidy hair which made him frown. Then before any warning I pulling him into a tight hug. “Don’t worry. If I was a vampire, I wouldn’t hurt you.”
As soon as I said that, an idea bloomed in my head and started to grow much like the smirk on my face, I quickly shoved my brother to the side as I dove to my desk for some more blank paper and a pen. I only vaguely noticed Mikey reading my chicken-scratch and scribbles until he realized what I was doing. “Dear God, another idea so soon?”
“Yep.”

Notes

Alright so I really don't have much of an excuse as to why this took so long and why it is such a short, crap chapter but its up finally.
Kinda went away from writing once school started back up and I'm trying to keep an A average while working 30+ hours a week and then spend the weekend with my boyfriend.
However, said boyfriend and I have now broken up and I am trying to keep busy so I don't think about it, which might mean more updates for all of you!
Who knows?!