You're My Favourite Sound

Since Ethan had come back from New York, I'd felt a hell of a lot better at home. Tonight we had my parents over for dinner and told them the news we had. We'd booked a date for our summer wedding.

After the four of us had finished eating, my father helped me with clearing the table, leaving Ethan and my mom chattering happily in the living room. Joey was at a party or something...

"Are you sure this all isn't too soon?" dad asked as we both entered the kitchen, "I mean, you are just twenty one."

"Dad, you were barely twenty two when you and mom got married," I pointed out as we placed the dirty dishes into the dishwasher.

He pouted for a second, before nodding his head, "I'll shut up then."

I giggled and added, "I wish we were doing it in a backyard, too."

"Nah," he disagreed, "My daughter deserves better."

I smiled at my father, the man who had once again bleached his hair. I swear he was worse than a teenage girl.

Once we'd finished loading, he announced, "I'm gonna go out for a quick smoke."

"Don't make me jealous," I mumbled.

He smirked, "Why don't you just tell him?"

"Because I'm really trying to quit, forever," I answered and received a 'yeah, right' look. "I am!" I persisted.

Just then my cell began blasting 'Last Night On Earth' and as I fished it out of my jeans pocket, dad asked with an amused grin, "Are you ever going to change your ringtone?"

I simply shrugged, not looking him in the eye. See, the day of Aidan's funeral five years ago, my father wrote 'Last Night On Earth'. He said he could picture Aidan saying the words to me if Aidan had known he was going to die that night he did.

Dad hadn't shown anyone the song, he hadn't told anyone what its meaning was, not until Green Day got back into the studio after American Idiot, almost two years after writing the song. When he finally brought it out into the light and showed me, I broke down. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard, still to this day, and it was the most special gift I had ever received. Nothing could compare to this one song my father had written for me.

That's why it meant so much to me, that's why I'd had it as my ringtone for two years straight.

Dad looked over my shoulder to see 'Frank' flashing on the screen of my cell, and a disaproving look grew on his face. He still had that grudge he'd had when Frank went back to New Jersey all those three and a half years ago.

"Go have your smoke," I ordered. He merely rolled his eyes and strolled out of the kitchen. Once he'd left, I answered the call. "Hey."

"Hey," Frank said slowly, tiredly. "I'm not disturbing anything, am I?"

"No, you're okay," I replied. "What's up? Everything alright?"

He paused, exhaling lightly, before asking, "Is anyone home? Can I come over?"

"Um, I've kinda got my parents here with Ethan..."

"Oh, right. Okay, I won't keep you, it's nothing."

"No, what's up?" I pushed.

"Don't worry about it, I'll just... I'll talk to you tomorrow or something. It's nothing, really." I wasn't convinced.

"Frank, just tell me what's wrong," I said impatiently. He sighed.

"Jamia and I... We had this huge fight and she stormed out. I-I just wanted someone to talk to, I guess."

I winced, for the fight obviously had to do with what Jamia told me the other day. "What about one of the guys?" I questionned, "I mean, this is really for boy talk, right?"

"No," Frank said, "I wanted you."

I felt my stomach twist up a little and I nodded to myself. "Um, okay, I guess I could slip away for a little while."

"No, you've got your parents there, it's fine. I'm fine. I'll be fine."

"You don't sound it," I remarked. It was true, he didn't sound fine. He sounded fragile. "My parents won't mind. I'll be there soon, okay?"

After I hung up, I made my way down the hall to the living room, certain my mother and fiance would be in there whilst my father was on the balcony, but found the three of them out there in the cool evening air. I slid open the glass door and followed suit.

"What are we all doing out here?" I questionned.

"Just wedding chit-chat," mom smiled to me, "You're here now so we can start our discussion."

"Actually, I'm gonna head out just for a little while, an hour tops," I said.

"How come?" Ethan frowned questioningly.

"I just got off the phone to Hazel," I replied, "She's, she's really sick and depressed because she can't work with Kat yet because she's really sick..."

My dad cocked an eyebrow at me as he sucked on a cancer stick, obviously he knew I was lying. But if I'd told Ethan who I was really going to see, I knew exactly how he'd react.

"You're leaving us forFrank?"

"Isn't Joshi there with her?" he asked instead.

"He... has to work late," I lied again, hating it. "I'm sorry, I hope you guys don't mind. I'll make it quick, I promise."

"It's okay, sweetie," said mom, smiling again, and then turned to Ethan. "We'll just have to discuss with the groom for now."

Ethan grinned back at her and I took this as an oppurtunity to face my dad, pleading him with my eyes not to say anything. He simply dropped the eyebrow and nodded his head once.

After Frank had buzzed me in, I quickly jumped in the lift and up to his apartment. I closed the front door behind me and made my way down the hall to the kitchen, where I found him slouched over the kitchen table, sitting on a matching chair with a cigarette between his fingers. I stopped dead in my tracks as the breath caught the back of my throat.

He didn't only sound fragile on the phone, he looked fragile. Like he would brake at any moment.