Blinded

"Have you talked to Rae or Marie today?" Frank asked his friend over the phone on Sunday.

Through the line he could already tell his friend was shaking his head from the ruffling noise coming through. "Gerard, I can't see you, remember?"

"Oh, sorry." Gerard apologized. "No, I haven't."

"Hmm." Frank mused. "Has Mikey talked to Marie?"

He shouldn't care so much about where they are. It's not like they bothered to contact each other every day. But, within the past few nights, Frank had become a tad bit protective. Something in him just felt the need to.

"Yeah, he has." Gerard relpied. His vague-ness was beginging to bother Frank.

He sighed, realizing he was going to have give Geard the most specific question if he ever wanted to hear the information divulged. "Well, what about?" he asked, impatience crossing his tone.

"Frank, if you want to know where Rae is right now, you could go over to her house and ask her father." Ha, he had to be joking. Rae's father still thought that the two were dating. He would no longer even think about heading over there without another body to accompany him.

"Frank?" Gerards voice poured through his thoughts. He must have stayed quiet for too long.

"Like hell I'm going there, Gee." he sputtered, making his friend chortle in amusement. He knew how scared Frank was of Mr. Simmons and he would never miss an oppertunity to remind him of his awareness.

"Listen," Frank broke into his friends laughter. "I'm just going to go for a walk around. If you hear from the girls at all, let me know. Okay?"

The moment of silence on the other end of the reciever was definitely caused by Gerard staying deep in thought. "Why?" he questioned. Frank squeezed his temple with his fingers, trying to figure out a way to explain without giving Gerard the smug satisfaction of knowing he was right.

"I-I...uhm, well I just think I need to hang out with Rae soon." Damnit, that wasn't how he wanted it to come out.

"Just Rae?" Gerard's voice rose in happiness at the end. Of course, he knew what Frank wanted now. These thoughts only caused Frank to pace back and forth faster across his room.

"Well, I mean, all of us should hang out with her again." he stammered, trying to clarify his answer. However, there was no point in trying. Frank knew Gerard's mind had already gone back to his previous theories.

"Sure, I'll let you know when your girlfriend calls or her sister does." Gerard mocked him. "Don't want the star-crossed lovers to be apart for too long."

Star-crossed? Hardly. If anything it was far from star-crossed. Everything between these two was so difficult, so confusing to comprehend. Frank finally admitted his feelings for Rae, not to her, but to himself. He had no clue if she would ever like him back. As far as he knew, she didn't wantanother guy as long as she lived.

"Shut up, Gerard." Frank muttered, barely inforcing his request. "Goodbye."

He didn't even wait for a response. Instead, he just flipped the phone closed and stopped his pacing. He ran a shaky hand through his hair. All these thoughts were causing him to get stressed out majorly. This wasn't suppose to be happening. He wasn't suppose to be caring as much as he did.

His heart was now fully placed in the hands of the one girl who could crush it in a milli-second. What's worse, she could do it without even knowing. With that thought, Frank let out a strangled groan into his hands.

He sighed, accepting what was going to happen and sat down on the bed. As soon as he relaxed into his matress, the phone rang again. He groped around the edge of bed to pick it up from where he had dropped it after hanging up wtih Gerard. His hand caught its edge and he pulled it closer.

Without looking at the ID he picked it up. "Hello?" he muttered.

"Frank?" Frank sat straight up on his bed, rigid. Was she really calling him at the exact moment he had been thinking about her?

"Yeah, Rae?" he questioned, trying to make sure his mind wasn't imagining things.

"Hey." He could hear her breath hitting the speaker.

Irony always had a funny way of messing with him. "Is something wrong?" What other reason would she be calling for?

"Uhm," she started, awkwardly. Oh no, now he's made her uncomfortable. He hit his hand to his face, mentally telling himself to stop acting like everything was the end of the world. "Not really. I was just wondering-"

"Yeah?" he cut off.

"-if you wanted to go to the movies again. Marie is having Mikey over and I seriously feel like escaping this place at the moment." He would take that excuse. Whatever he was to her, it was close. Somewhere deep down, he didn't care how much she relied on him, as long as she still wanted him close by. Pathetic? Probably. But, Frank could care less.

"Sure." he replied, hoping the happiness in his voice wouldn't show too much. "Want to meet there, or do you want me to come over your house?"

"Come here." she answered, not hesitating at all.

"Alright, I'll be there in fifteen minutes." He grabbed his house key and slipped his shoes on, already walking towards the door.

"Bye, Frank." Her voice sounded happier than a few seconds ago.

"Goodbye, Rae." With that, he hung up the phone.

Why was he complaining? Life was good.