Bittersweet

If I wait around

I woke up to my alarm and sat up on the couch.
Why did I sleep on the couch?
Oh right... I let Mikey have my bed!

I turned off the alarm and began to get ready for work as quiet as possible so I wouldn't wake up my brother.

When I was ready I went to the kitchen and got my notepad from the counter and pulled out a page on which I left a little note for Mikey:

Good morning Mikes!
I'm going to be at work when you wake up but feel free to take whatever you want. What's mine is yours.
Please join me during my lunch break and I'll introduce you to Pete and Ray.
Meet me at 14:00

Under that I left him the address of ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRIES so he could just use his GPS to get there.
I left the note besides the Coffe machine because I knew that he'd defenetly find it there and grabbed my keys before I made my way to work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I stepped through the doors of the company I was immediately greeted by Bert who was waiting for me in the lobby, grinning widely.

"Good morning!", he said and pulled me into a quick hug.
"Good morning", I replied and we walked to the elevators that bring us to the upper floors.

"How are you doing?", Bert asked as I pushed down the button with a little 5 on it and watched the doors close in front of us.
"Really good. Believe it or not, my littler brother that I haven't seen in years visited me yesterday!"

"That's awesome Gee!", Bert explained and i could feel my cheeks go red at the nickname that sounded so oddly pleasing from his mouth.

I told Bert about how I found him in front of my door and the rest of the evening but I left out my mother's death. I was feeling so good right now, I didn't want to have to think about it just now because yes, even though she kicked me out I felt guilty because I couldn't say goodbye to her one last time.

"So it seems like you had an awesome night yesterday", Bert stated and I nodded fanatically, "I'd really like to meet your brother. Only if it's okay with you of course!"

"That's a great idea. He'll like you! But we should wait with that a bit longer. I'll introduce you two soon enough!"
Bert nodded and then the elevator doors already opened and I had to step out.

"Unfortunately I won't be able to smoke with you after work today. I promised Mikey to spend the evening with him. But I'm really really looking forward to tomorrow...", I said, blushing lightly.

Bert grinned and leaned against the mirrored elevator walls.
"I'm going to pick you up at seven. Is that okay?"
I nodded and let the doors close between us because he had an appointment a few floors higher.

I couldn't get the blush off of my face as I knocked on the post office room to pick up the incoming letters for some office rats and got a few weird looks from the woman behind the counter, but as always she didn't say anything as she handed me my stack and let me leave just like that.

Time for work now, Way. No time to dream.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I met Mikey outside the building in my lunch break and gestured for him to follow me as I started walking towards Starbucks.

I texted Ray this morning, asking him how he was holding up and if he was going to be at work to day.
It seemed like he survived his cold after all as he texted me that he was going to be there.

Mikey and I were talking about his morning routine as I pushed open the doors of the small café and instantly wanted to just turn around as I saw the little punk talking to Pete standing in front of the cookie bar.

"That's him right?", Mikey whispered and i just nodded once before strong steps brought me to the counter.
I was going to ignore Frank for as long as possible so I just didn't say anything when he went over to me to greet me with a "Good morning, princess"

"Ray, Pete. I'd like you to meet my brother", I said and pushed Mikey a bit forward, "Mikey, the one with the hair is Ray. And the wannabe Emo, that's Pete"
I heard both of then chuckle and watched all of them shook hands.

"It's really nice to meet you, Mikey. I didn't know that you had a brother, GeeGee", Pete said and I saw that he held Mikey's hand for longer than necessary but I decided not to say anything about it.

"Yeah the topic just didn't come up I guess. I haven't seen him in a long time", I explained and saw Mikey nod.

I had told him that I didn't want anybody to find out about our mother's death just now and neither about what happened between her and me so he just kept quiet and let me do all the talking.

I smiled when I saw that Mikey, Ray and Pete were having a heated conversation about comic books, a topic that all of them loved to discuss.

"Your brother grew up pretty well", I heard Frank say next to me.
"Yes he did", I simply said and kept watching the three others.

"He doesn't really look like you to be honest. Congrats to him for that", he stated and I just rolled my eyes
"You know, your jokes aren't quite as funny as you think they are, punk brat", I said and finally took my eyes off of the trio in front of me.

"Punk Brat? Seriously? What is giving you that idea?"
Frank frowned when I nodded towards his head
"Your hair you idiot. Shaved sides as a sign of rebellion."

"Well at least I don't walk around like a fucking firetruck", Frank growled and i froze
"A-A firetruck?", I asked and took a strand of my hair between my fingers.

"Yes a fire truck. It's weird okay."

"I thought it... looked kinda hot", I stuttered
"Well ask Bert if he thinks so. Oh right I forgot, he ran away from you yesterday.", Frank smirked but this time he wouldn't win

"Actually he still wants to go out with me so he must like my hair", I said and pulled out my phone to show him the message.

Frank froze and for a short moment I actually thought he didn't know what to say but that's where I was wrong
"Well you're going to mess it up anyways, princess", his tone was slightly angry.

I just giggled at his failed attempt to unsettle me
"Whatever you say."

I saw Mikey and my two friends and their conversation and heard Frank silently pout next to me.
I looked at my watch and decided that it was time to go to work again.

"Do you want to stay here Mikey?", I asked my brother but he shook his head
"It was really nice meeting you guys but I was about to look around the city a bit. I'm sure we'll see each other again soon"

I said goodbye to Ray and Pete (Frank was still standing there looking at me with dark eyes) and left the café

I would have to come back later to get coffe anyways

"So what do you think about Ray and Pete", I asked Mikey once we left the café
"They're awesome. Really, Gee. Pete is a bit weird. He stared at me the whole time but they're really nice"

I had to giggle at that "Pete is always like that. He is the gayest guy I know so if he ever tries to hit on you just tell him you're not interested."

Mikey looked a bit shocked but nodded

We were walking up the street in silence until Mikey asked "Are we not going to talk about what Frank was doing there?"

I shook my head "No Mikey. What you did was just right. Just ignore him! I can handle this myself"

"Are you sure?", he sounded really worried

"Yes Mikes I'm sure. I'm not as weak asker I was back then I can defend myself now. I'm an adult and I don't want you to worry about me"

It seemed like Mikey wanted to say something else but we were already standing in front of the glass doors so I said a quick "Bye, Mikes" and pulled him into a hug before I slipped inside and let the doors close behind me.