The One That Got Away
Chapter 2 : Never End…
Frank. He seemed really cool. I smiled to myself as I walked out of his front door and onto the sidewalk. I felt a raindrop land on my nose and picked up the pace a little bit. My house wasn’t that far from his but I was almost completely soaked as I walked through my front door. I pulled off my jacket and threw it on the couch.
“Anybody home? Nope? Of course not…” I yell to the empty house, knowing that I would get no answer. I walk slowly down the stairs to my bedroom in the basement. I pick up my notebook and pull the sharpie out of my back pocket before lying down on the bed. I start to draw pretty much nothing as my mind wanders to what had occurred today.
I had just met the guy, but it felt like we had been friends for years, and judging by first impressions, we would be friends for years to come. The walls in his room were barely visible because of all of the Misfits and Iron Maiden posters and he dressed like me. But, somehow, he seemed to make it cooler.
And he was gay. I had heard what the guys were calling him and he wasn’t necessarily denying it. I felt bad for him; he didn’t deserve to be picked on like that, and I knew how it felt to be an outcast. That was why I was so quick to be friends with him. I hadn’t had many friends in the past and I could tell he hadn’t, either.
I take out a cigarette from my pack and look down to see that I had subconsciously written Frank’s name in really pretty letters. I look at it for a second, and then light my cigarette. I take in a few drags and lay it on my night stand before looking back down at the writing, studying the name. It was a cute name.
Frank.
Frankie.
I was going to call him Frankie.
I smile at the nickname and add an ie to the end then start to draw little pictures out on the side; Converse, Misfits skulls, Spider-man, and then I see myself draw a heart. I had actually drawn a quite a few hearts. I close my eyes and shake my head. What was I doing?
I look at it for a few more seconds and then close the book, kind of confused with myself. I pick my cigarette back up and finish it off, standing up to go upstairs and get some toast or something. I walk up the stairs and see my phone buzzing on the kitchen counter.
I pick it up and see that it’s an unknown number. I open the text and know immediately who it is.
Hey(:
Hi. What’s up?
Nothin, really. Reading a D&D comic…
I think that my heart literally stops beating. He likes D&D?! My fingers fly over the keys.
You read D&D?! I frickin’ love those comics!(:
Yeah! Me too. That’s awesome, we have even more in common than I thought. ;)
For some reason, the winky face at the end of that just makes my heart speed up. I grin widely down at the phone and try to think of what to say.
Yeah… Hey, did your mom ever find out about you being a “total rebel” and skipping school?
Haha, no. But she WAS mad about the soda all over the floor. :D Lol
That was totally your fault. You probably shook it up before you threw it to me.. Haha
No!! If you weren’t so uncoordinated you could’ve actually caught it without shaking it up even more! Haha
Shuddupp! I can be just as uncoordinated as I please. -.-
Lol. Crap, I gotz to go. My mom is making me help with dinner. Talk to ya’ tomorrow?
Yeah, byee :)
Bye(:
I sigh inwardly and start to eat the toast that I had fixed while being teased about my hand-eye coordination skills. I can’t stop smiling for some reason and my face is genuinely starting to hurt. I put the plate in the sink and look at my phone to check the time. It was 8pm. I resort to going downstairs to watch TV and end up going to sleep only two episodes into the Simpsons marathon.
My alarm clock beeps loudly, over and over again. I grunt and don’t even open my eyes as I reach over to hit snooze, but when my hand meets nothing but a desk, I am forced to open my eyes. The clock is just barely out of reach and I finally just get up and hit “Off”.
I look at myself in the mirror and see that my eyeliner from yesterday is smeared and my hair is a total mess so I decide to step into the shower. Once I’m dried off again, I step over to my sort-of-closet to look for clothes. I flip through almost all of my T-shirts until I find one with Batman on the front. I slip on the shirt and get a pair of black skinny jeans, doing a funny dance as I pull them up and over my hips. I put on only a little eyeliner and attempt to situate my hair. Once I have everything on but shoes, I head upstairs.
I grab the converse off of the couch, along with my jacket and quickly put on my shoes. My jacket has dried from yesterday and the stickiness had been washed away by the rain. I sigh and slide the jacket over my arms, trying my best not to look, but of course, I see them.
All of the scars that run up to the middle of my forearm, some worse than others, are soon hidden by my jacket sleeves. I close my eyes for a second, getting rid of the image, and walk towards the door, forgetting my book bag.
I know it’s weird to wear a jacket all the time, especially during the summer, but I have to. If people saw my scars, they would never talk to me. They would think I was weird, and scary, and stupid. They would think that I was a total fuck-up. But they would be right. Nothing about me was right. I was always screwing stuff up. Nothing I ever did was right.
--
I walk into the school doors about ten minutes before the first bell should ring. I’m glad that I’m early because I’m hoping that I can see Frank before first period. I do see Frank before first period. As I walk up the stairs to 12th grade hall, I hear a commotion, the word “Fag” quite a few times, and then a lot of boys laughing. That’s when I see Frank. He’s lying on the floor, his lip bleeding, with a few other guys standing around him. I see him start to get up, but then Mark kicks him in the stomach. I can’t watch any longer. I run over. I kneel down beside Frank, ignoring the guys around us.
“Frank? Can you hear me?” I move his hair out of his face and he squints up at me.
“Yeah,” is all he can say before he starts coughing.
“Oh, does Frank have a little boyfriend?” asks Mark in his stupid voice. I stand up to face him and notice that I’m just a tad taller. He doesn’t step back, though.
“Why would it matter to you anyways? Jealous?” I ask him, proud of my come back.
He seems taken aback. “Hell no, I’m not gay! Unlike you two faggots,” he yells in my face, but I don’t shy away.
I don’t know what comes over me, but before I even realize what I’ve done, I’m standing over top of him and his bloodied nose.
“What’s wrong with being gay?” I yell at him.
“Fucking homophobe!” I kick him in the stomach and a few of his friends start to help him up and I step backwards.
“Fuck you!” yells Mark as he heads to the bathroom to clean up his nose. I get back down on the ground beside Frank.
“Frank, are you okay?” I ask him in a quiet voice. He nods slowly and starts to sit up. His lip has stopped bleeding but he wipes off the blood that’s still there with the back of his hand. He is finally sat up when the first bell rings.
“Shit,” he curses, starting to stand up now. I offer him a hand and help him up. I start to walk towards Mrs. Elliott’s room.
“You’re in my first period?” Frank asks, walking through the door with me.
“Yeah, you didn’t notice me yesterday. You walked right past me,” I smile at him and he smiles back.
But I noticed you…
“Sorry, I was really tired,” he goes to the back of the class, just like yesterday, and I follow, remembering that I hated my other seat. I sit down in the desk beside him and pull out my math book, dropping on the desk in front of me noisily. A few heads snap back to look at us, including Mark. I smile sarcastically and give him the finger. Then, I notice the tissues shoved up his nose. I genuinely smile at that and look over to Frank and wink.
I can’t help but notice this look in Frank’s eyes when I do it. It’s only there for a second but I see it.
“Hey, thanks for helping me out there. I really wish he would just leave me alone,” Franks frowns and crosses his arms and I turn towards him, a frown on my face as well. He’s sunk down into his seat and he’s even shorter now than he was before. I giggle slightly.
“You’re welcome. Anything for a friend, and he was making me mad. Especially since he was saying all of that stuff to you,” I lift his chin up so that he’s looking at me with my finger and he smiles at me. I think I even see him blush a little.
I smile back and move my hand away from his face and back down into my lap. He sits back up and I scoot up to my desk a little. Just then the bell rings and we both look to the front of the class to see Mrs. Elliott walking in. She tells us to do something and I see a lot of kids getting out their math notebooks, including Frank, but I just sit there, totally clueless.
“What are we doing?” I come back to reality and lean over and whisper the question into Frank’s ear. I turn my head to look at him and I notice cold chills on his arms. It wasn’t cold in here, at all. In fact, I was kinda hot. He looks straight ahead for a second and then turns to face me, his nose almost touching mine.
“Page two-eighty-nine, one through thirty,” he whispers and I feel his breath on my face. It seems like at the same time that I do, he notices the tiny gap between our faces, too. I start to stammer something and then decide that it’s best to just turn back around. I think he blushes again and then turns around as well. I get out my math book and even write down the problems, but I don’t do the work. I’m too distracted by the wall, it’s just so interesting right now.
I lean back in my chair and glance over at Frank’s paper and see his messy writing. I can’t judge, though, my writing is atrocious. I smile and put the chair down, tapping my fingers on the desk to the beat of The Trooper by Iron Maiden. He starts to hum along and soon enough, we’re both singing it quietly.
That’s when we notice that almost everyone in the class is staring at us as we perform our miniature concert. I stop tapping my fingers and Frank sees everyone staring, too, and we both stop singing. After everyone turns around again, me and Frank look at each other and both start laughing as silently as we can, our cheeks red with embarrassment.
The bell rings loudly and I get up first, waiting for Frank. We’re still smiling at each other like idiots and it just makes me want to smile even more. He gets up and follows me out the classroom and as soon as we step out of the door, the hall is filled with the sound of our stupid laughs.
I finally stop my giggling and look over to Frank. “Sorry for influencing you,” I look away and make a guilty looking face. He smiles and I turn back to look at him.
“Sorry for encouraging you to continue,” he giggles and I turn to him again, smiling.
“It’s okay. Hug?” I ask him, pretending to take the apology seriously. He just looks at me for a second, considering the offer, and then starts to walk toward me.
“Come here, you,” he wraps his arms around me and I do the same to him. I don’t know why I had offered a hug, just felt like the right thing to do. We stand there for a second, hugging each other, and I get this weird feeling in my stomach. But when he lets go first, it goes away.
The bell rings and Frank walks over to his locker, doing the combination hastily. I follow him, not needing to go to my locker since I don’t have any of my books. I always forget my stuff and that’s usually why all teachers hate me.
We head off to Science and I remember how just yesterday, we met in front of the doors, and now I felt like he was my best friend. Hopefully, he felt the same way, too. When we walk into the class, everyone is staring at us. I look up at the clock; we’re late, of course. I avoid eye contact with the teacher but I still hear him call me out.
“Ah, Mr. Way, the new student. Made a friend already?” I continue walking and sit down in the back, beside Frank. I just look at him. Yep, I already hate his guts.
He raises his eyebrows, waiting for an answer. “Yeah,” I just kinda whisper, rolling my eyes, I really hate being put on the spot. Frank just sits there awkwardly, biting his pencil and trying to look like he doesn’t care, but everyone’s looking at us and it’s getting on my nerves.
“And why are you late?” he asks.
“Um, we just didn’t get here on time, I don’t know,” I reply, making a “Duh” face.
“Well, maybe you and Mr. Iero can join me in detention,” he leans on his desk. It’s obvious that he isn’t kidding and I see Frank start to look just as confused as I am.
I stand up out of my seat. “What?! Just because we were late?” I yell, and Frank nods. Besides, technically this was my first day, why the fuck was he already giving me detention? I stand, waiting for his answer.
“That right there. Your attitude. So, after school, stay here until five. Bring something to do,” he smiles and motions for me to sit down. I sit down and cross my arms, and for the rest of class, I’m as disruptive as possible.
“Hey, Frank, can I have a pencil? I mean, I’m not gonna do the work, but I gotta make it look like I am,” I lean over but still say it just loud enough for everyone, including the teacher, to hear. He just rolls his eyes and continues reading his stupid National Geographic Magazine. Frank giggles and hands me a pencil but as soon as I take it, I lean back in my chair and drop it on the floor.
“Oops, my bad,” I say almost as loud as I can. I get a lot of disapproving looks from some nerdy looking kids and a few laughs come from the others, including Frankie. I scoot my chair back and make quite a bit of noise and then stand up, walking over to where I had dropped my pencil. I pick it up and go back to my seat, scooting back in not very quietly. Of course I don’t do the work, but I draw random stuff, making noise with my pencil.
The bell finally rings and I get up, waiting for Frank. He looks at me for a second before he gets up, then stands beside me. We walk out of the room and start down the hallway, not saying much. But, then Mark appears, looking angry. Frank looks scared and I start to step in front of him but I’m pushed against the lockers. Frank has a look of shock on his face but it soon changes to fear and anger. He steps forward, but Mark stops him.
“Stay out of this, fag,” his breath is hot on my face as he says this to Frank but continues to look at me. I clench my fists and eyes shut, waiting to be hit or kicked or shoved into a locker or something. But surprisingly, Mark lets go of my shirt and steps back, but I’m obviously not allowed to leave.
“You think you’re the new “bad guy” or something? Huh?” he is still way too close to my face.
I am genuinely confused.
“What?!”
“Well, you’re not. I’m in charge around here. I’m not gonna let two little emo faggots change that,” he sneers. Okay, now I’m offended. I don’t have time to react, though, before I hear Frank.
He taps Mark on the shoulder and gives a simple “Hey.”
As soon as Mark’s face turns away from mine, it hits the floor after I watch him fall. Then I look up to see Frank standing with his fist still raised, his knuckles red.
My eyes widen as I look back down to the unmoving Mark. Frank knocked him out!
“Frank…” I see that his face is still just as angry but when he looks to my eyes, his expression changes to an apologetic look.
He just shakes his head and looks down and sticks his hands in his pocket. I step forward and put my right hand on his shoulder.
“Why did you do that?” I ask him, trying to get him to look at me.
“Because he said that about you. I don’t even care that he said it about me; I just don’t want him saying it to you,” he looks into my eyes again. I can see that he is truly sorry that I had to hear it and I can’t help but hug him.
The second bell has already ringed and everyone is in class. Most had tried to avoid the unconscious Mark lying at our feet.
“It’s okay, I’m okay. Don’t worry, I’ve gotten used to it over the years,” I sigh inwardly and hug him tighter as he wraps his arms around me too. He doesn’t say anything at first but starts to kinda rock back and forth and we stand there. It seems like forever but he finally speaks up.
“I wish they would realize that it really hurts me, and I can tell that it hurts you” I think I hear him crying and I pull away with my hands placed on the back of his neck. He looks at me, ashamed of the tears on his face.
I just look for a second at his eyes, and then I wipe the one tear on his cheek away with my thumb. My hands are now on his face and I make sure that there isn’t much space between our faces.
“Frankie,” I see him look at me strange when I say the nickname, but then he just looks sad again. “It does hurt me, at least, it used to, but now I have someone who can relate to how I feel. And that’s all I could ask for. You’re all I could ask for,” a small smile almost appears on my face. I notice that his eyes start to look a bit happier, too, and that’s what makes the small smile actually happen.
That makes him smile a little, too.
I find myself resting my forehead against his and he looks down awkwardly when I do so. I take a hand off of his face and use it to lift his chin back up to look at me. He has that same hurt expression on his face when our eyes meet again. It makes me frown, too, especially when yet another tear rolls down his cheek. I wipe it away and he whispers something.
“What?” I ask him, not hearing his tiny whisper.
“I said, you’re all that I could ask for,” he smiles a little and presses our faces even closer together; now our noses were touching. Tears form in my eyes as well, but they’re not there because I’m sad. They’re happy tears.
I can’t help myself. I put one hand back behind his neck and take a breath. I wonder how much time has passed since the bell rung. Then all thoughts vanish and I open my eyes that I hadn’t noticed were closed. We’re both staring at each other.
He blushes and looks down again and I laugh just a little. No more holding back.
“Hey, look at me,” I whisper and he slowly raises his eyes back up to meet mine.
“Yeah?” he asks me and I smile again, then press my lips to his for just a second. When I pull back, his expression is blank, but then he finds my lips with his again, this time moving his hand to my side, closing his fist around my jacket. I move both of my hands to his neck again and he pulls my body closer to his with his free hand, then rests both of them on my waist. After a few seconds of just keeping our lips together, I pull away. Then I go back to his lips, his extremely kissable lips. He lets out a small sigh of satisfaction and it makes me smile while kissing him. He smiles, too, kisses me once more, and then takes his lips off of mine and looks into my eyes.
I gaze back and take my hands off of his neck. But, soon enough, he’s wrapped in my arms again. He puts his arms around my waist. That’s when I realize that he had been on his tippy-toes the whole time we were kissing. It makes me smile at how cute it must’ve been.
We just stand there, embracing each other, and I take in the moment. The moment I wish would never end.