Romance

Gerard Way's Point of View

I continued to stand there, looking at Frank and holding his hand.

Frank blushed and used his other hand to gesture towards the table.

"Um, have a seat," he said.

"Oh," I said, snapping out of my overwhelming feeling of love that I was already feeling for Frank.

I slowly let go of his hand and climbed onto the high stool.

I caught Frank check me out real fast, which made me smile and look down at the table.

"Um," I said. "So…How are you doing?"

"I'm good," said Frank, looking like he was trying to conceal a big smile. "How are you?"

"I'm good."

Frank put his hand on the counter.

"Um, I was going to order us some drinks but I wasn't sure what you wanted, if anything," said Frank.

"Oh, thanks. Um…Hmm…I usually get a soda when I'm here," I said.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. I saw from your thing that you don't drink. I don't either."

"Oh you don't?"

"Nope. I quit about a year ago. I guess that they actually matched us up the right way this time."

"I sure hope so. I hear they've been having a bunch of complaints about the fact that they are allowing the site to be for homosexual people now."

"Yeah, I heard that too…So far they haven't done a good job with matching me up. You're the first guy I've actually met in person because my other matches didn't have anything in common with me at all."

"Really? Wow, that sucks. Did you e-mail them or something?"

"Yeah, I've been talking with all of them, but then I stopped because I mean, come on, it was costing me money, you know what I mean?"

"Oh yeah. I do. Believe me. I got some pretty weird matches."

"Oh my God, me too! The first time they matched me up with a woman!"

"Are you serious?!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah," said Frank. "I was pretty pissed."

"That would piss me off, too. You're actually the second person that I've met in person. The first one had some things in common with me, but he was really needy. He was one of those catty gay guys. He complained the whole time."

"Really? How did he complain?"

"He complained about everything, really. Then he left me for some fat guy."

"Seriously? He left you?"

"Yeah."

Frank looked really surprised.

"Wow," was all that he could say.

"Yeah," I said. "I was beginning to think that Doctor Neil Clark Warren was a quack."

Frank laughed.

Oh man. He had one of those cute little girlish laughs. I loved it. I loved it a lot.

"I wouldn't be surprised," he said. "You know what, though? He probably has tons of people working for him, it's probably not his fault, exactly."

"I guess so," I said.

A waiter came over to us.

"Hello, can I get you two something to drink?" he asked.

"Um, can I have a Coke?" asked Frank.

"Sure. And for you, Sir?"

"I'll have the same," I said.

"Coming right up."

The waiter walked away and Frank and I were now left alone again. There was a slight awkward silence.

"Um," said Frank, clearly trying to make conversation, which I greatly appreciated.

He didn't say anything after that. He just looked down at my feet, because he was facing me, and not the counter that we were sitting at.

I decided to make things a bit easier.

"What do the tattoos on your fingers say?" I asked, looking at his hands.

"Oh…Each one has a letter on it. They spell out 'Halloween'," said Frank.

"Really? That's awesome," I said, genuinely meaning it.

"Thanks. I was born on Halloween, so…"

"Really? That's awesome."

"Thanks."

"I was really actually shocked, for some reason I didn't think people with tattoos used E-Harmony."

"That's what my friend said to me when I told him I would be using it. He said that I wasn't going to leave the right impression on anyone on the website."

"Well I like the fact that you have tattoos," I said quickly, not wanting to bring him down. "I think it's a good thing. In fact…I kind of know how you feel. I mean…The other guy that I went out with didn't like the fact that I like to wear black all the time."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"That's stupid. I wear black all the time myself. I hate how people have the wrong impression of people who wear black and have tattoos."

"Me too. It's so annoying."

"Oh, tell me about it. My friends say I'll never get a real job with all of my tattoos."

"What do you do, exactly? Do you have a job now, or-?"

"I'm in a full-time band. I play guitar."

"Oh yeah, that's right. That's awesome. I'd love to see you play sometime."

"Yeah, that would be cool."

Frank and my eyes locked once again. I smiled at him and he smiled back before pushing his lips together and looking down shyly. I thought that was the cutest thing. I laughed softly and put my hand on his knee cap and gently rubbed it before removing my hand and returning it to my own lap.

I already felt an amazing amount of chemistry between Frank and I. Not just because I was attracted to him immensely, but because he was really sweet and seemed to share my own way of thinking. I liked him a lot.

Frank was now blushing terribly, but he managed to look back up at me.

"So what do you do for a living?" asked Frank.

"I'm an artist," I said.

"That's amazing," said Frank. "I love art. I can't draw for shit, but still."

I laughed. Frank smiled at me. He seemed to be amused by my laugh.

Our eyes met once again and before we could say anything else, the waiter came over and gave us our cups of Coke.

"Thanks," I said at the same time as Frank said "Thank you".

"You're welcome. Have you decided what you wanted yet?" asked the waiter.

"Oh…Uh…No," said Frank.

Frank and I had been so wrapped up into our conversation that we hadn't looked at our menus yet.

"Do you need a few minutes?" asked the waiter.

"Sure," I said.

The waiter walked away.

"Oh shit," said Frank, suddenly looking a bit tense. "I have no idea what I want."

"Their salads are pretty good here. I know that it doesn't give you a full-blown idea about how the actual food is, but still. That's all that I'm really hungry for right now."

"No, that sounds great," said Frank. "What comes in it?"

"It's just the basic salad."

"No anchovies or anything?"

"Oh Jesus, no!"

Frank smiled.

"Good," he said. "So uh…You're an artist?"

"Yup," I said.

"What kind of art do you do? Like, drawings, paintings…?"

"Drawings, usually."

"That's amazing."

"Thanks. It's not all that glamorous, though. It doesn't pay all that well, I'll tell you that much."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, it all depends on how they sell and stuff. I basically send my drawings places and hope that they get picked up. I really wish that I could do it because I like it, not to pay the bills."

"Well, don't you like drawing?"

"Oh yeah, of course…But…I mean…"

I didn't want to get all deep and upset, but I couldn't help myself.

"See," I said, "my Grandma Elena, she…She taught me how to paint and draw and things like that…And ever since then I've just been in love with drawing…And I thought to myself that this is what I want to spend the rest of my life doing…Only I saw myself getting rich off of it, and it all coming easy and things like that, but…That's not the way it turned out."

"I know what you mean," said Frank, looking at me sincerely in the eyes. "It's the same thing with being in a band. I mean, I love doing it, but it's really hard to actually…Get somewhere. You know what I mean?"

"I know exactly what you mean."

"I'm sure you're really talented, though. I'm sure one day you'll get picked up. You just have to wait, that's all. Is your Grandma still around?"

"Uh, no. She died several years ago," I said, feeling a slight pain in my heart. I looked down at Frank's legs.

"Oh," said Frank softly. "I'm so sorry."

I looked up at him, and he was looking down, once again, and he looked defeated.

"Hey, it's alright," I said, taking on his same soft tone.

I looked at Frank's hand that was on the table, and then I looked at him. I put my hand over his and rested it there, gently rubbing above his wrist.

Frank looked at me and smiled once again. I smiled back. I kept my hand there and continued to talk to him.

"I really like singing as well as drawing," I said.

"Really?" asked Frank.

"Yeah. That's kind of just a side hobby to drawing, though. I really like it, still."

"That's pretty cool. Maybe sometime you can sing for me," said Frank, with a slight joking tone.

I chuckled.

"Sure," I said, mimicking his tone of voice.

Frank giggled.

"What's your band called again?" I asked.

"Uh, Pency Prep," said Frank. "Not my idea, it was my friend's."

"I like that name," I said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's different."

"I know. That's what I thought. I think we might change it eventually, though. I'm not sure. My Mom says it sounds like a real gay man's band name."

I laughed.

"That sounds like something my brother would say," I said.

"You have a brother?" asked Frank.

"Yeah," I said. "Mikey. Do you have any siblings?"

"No," said Frank, still concentrating on my hand on his.

I smiled softly and gently stroked his tattooed fingers with my own. I watched myself do that so it wouldn't be awkward for Frank if I looked at him in the eyes. I heard Frank swallow hard. I hoped that I wasn't making him uncomfortable.

"Is that okay?" I asked softly.

"Yeah," said Frank, as if wondering why I had just asked him that. His voice sounded more comfortable than he looked.

The waiter then came over and gave us our salads, so I was forced to stop our contact.

We thanked the waiter and Frank and I smiled at each other for the billionth time before we started eating.

I felt so good about things at that moment. Frank was so much fun to talk to, and I felt this amazing connection to him. I couldn't wait to get to know him better and find out more about him. He was so cute and unbelievably sweet.

Maybe this whole E-Harmony thing really did work.

I had no idea what Frank and I were going to do after we left the pub, but one thing was for sure, I wasn't just going to let him go home. I wasn't going to let him go that easy.