You're My Favourite Sound

"We should go after him," Hazel said to Joshi after watching Frank leave, "We should go after him, right?" Joshi just nodded, looking around at the chaos Frank left behind.

"Yeah," he replied, "Yeah, come on."

There was a rapid clunking of heels as Hazel and Joshi raced across the hall and towards the exit, stumbling out the door and gradually stopping outside to look around for Frank. Hazel spotted him jogging away in the parking lot.

"FRANK!" she yelled, going after him, but stopped again to remove her footwear. "Fucking heels!" She tried again, running barefoot in her very small violet dress with her heels in one hand, her scarlett hair managing to stay in its neat bun and her red lipstick as vibrant as ever.

Joshi, in his navy blue suit with a pale pink shirt and his hair gelled perfectly, ran alongside her as the pair chased Frank through the parking lot, shouting his name in the humid air. As he reached his SUV, he unlocked it and jumped in. Just as he ripped his black blazor off of his body and threw it on the passenger seat, both the back doors opened and two people hopped in with him.

"She would have gone to the apartment, right?" Frank asked them both, shoving the key in the ignition and quickly pulling out of the tight parking space.

"Uh, maybe we should search around this area first," Joshi said from the back left seat, "And I doubt she would've gone to the apartment."

"Yeah," agreed Hazel from the right, "Adie went after her so they've probably headed to her parents' house."

"Billie and Adie's it is," finalised Frank and sped off down the road.

"I can't believe you guys are having an affair!" Hazel cried, her darkly lined eyes wide and big.

"And for four months?" Joshi agreed, looking somewhat the same. "I can't believe we didn't know about any of this!"

"Why did she marry Ethan if she's with you, too?" questionned Hazel.

"She ended it," Frank replied, frowning, "Me and her, she ended it three weeks ago, said she had to do the 'right thing'... But the right thing would be to get out of the relationship you're not sure about, right? I mean, she was so sure about us, you know? But she didn't want to hurt everyone else."

"Oh my God, I feel like I'm in a movie and you two are gonna be together at the end!" Hazel squealed excitedly.

"You think so?" asked Frank, hopefully, "I did do the right thing in letting it out then?"

"Yeah, well, the way you did it was a little extreme," Joshi commented, "But in the end, it needed to come out and we all know October wouldn't have done it."

"Right, so it needed to be done for her," nodded Frank, trying to reassure himself. He didn't really think about what he did back there, he just... did it.

"Just put it this way, none of us would have wanted her to go on living a lie, so if you hadn't have done it, I would," said Hazel, and added a little more quietly, "But maybe not at her wedding..."

"Fuck, I know, I'm an asshole," the older man sighed, "But at least we can be together officially now, right? I mean, you think I still have a chance, yeah?"

"Frank, October's been in love with you since she was seventeen, what do you think?" smirked Joshi. Frank grinned, glad to hear some more reassurance.

"Man, I really wish she would have told us," Hazel remarked, shaking her head slightly. "Did anyone else know?"

"Just the band and Alex," answered Frank, stepping on the gas through a red light. A cpuple cars honked, but he simply ignored them.

"I'm gonna kick Alex's ass," Hazel mumbled, annoyed even he didn't say anything.

"We just couldn't risk in telling anyone," Frank explained.

"But you told your band and Alex?" the redhead quizzed, arching an eyebrow.

"No, we didn't tell them, they sort of... found out for themselves," he shrugged. "I guess we weren't as careful as we thought."

"So all this time you were sneaking around behind everyone's backs, meeting up discreetly, you know, making out in closets and all that?" asked Joshi.

Frank shrugged again, "Basically."

"Damn," the younger man chuckled.

They soon came to the Armstrong residence and Hazel commented that the big front gate was open so they were deffinately in. Frank drove through it and turned off the engine on the front drive.

"We'll wait here," nodded Joshi.

"Good luck!" Hazel cried.

Frank left the two young adults in the back of his vehicle as he jogged up to the house. He knocked on the front door and waited for an answer, but nothing. He knocked louder and still nothing. He crouched down on the concrete ground and lifted the letterbox open.

"Adie, please, let me in," he shouted through it.

Nothing.

"Please. I know October's in there. I just need to see if she's alright," he tried. He stood up as he saw a female frame through the glazed glass.

The door slowly opened and, to his surprise, he was greeted by October. She had red puffy eyes, mascara stained cheeks. She didn't look like the happy person he'd seen only half an hour ago. She stood aside and let him in the house, before shutting the door behind him.

"Baby, are you okay?" he asked, concerned as they stood out in the hall.

"Do I look o-fucking-kay?" she snapped.

Frank put his arms around her, "I'm sorry."

He didn’t expect what she did next. She started to hit him heavily on the chest, over and over again. He held her hands and pushed her against the wall to calm her down.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked.

"You're a fucking idiot, Frank! How could you do that?!" October questionned him angrily.

"You told me you wanted to be with me! I love you, Octy, I want to be with you. I couldn’t bear seeing you with Ethan for any longer, I'm so sorry," he told her truthfully. She was crying heavily now.

"You’ve broken him! How could you hurt him like that, how could you humiliate him and me like that in front of all those people?" she cried.

"It was for you! Everything I did back there was for you. For you and me," he said, still holding onto her.

"I can’t do this," she replied, wiping her eyes. "You and me, it can’t happen! I need to be alone for a while."

"What?" he asked, hurt, confused even. He thought now that Ethan knew everything, they’d finally be able to be together without all this hiding bullshit.

"I need to be alone. Please, Frank, just leave. I need to explain everything to Ethan, he has to come first in this," she said.

After a moment of silent staring at her, Frank gradually nodded his head and let go of October. He hesitantly walked out of the house and didn't look back, knowing if he did, he'd break down completely.

He'd sacrificed a hell of a lot for her and now she was acting like she didn't even want him. He felt like a broken man... That was just how Ethan was feeling.

That was when he realised, that was when it had finally sunk in what he had done and how much he had hurt his younger cousin.