Somebody To Love

If I heard one more remark from my mother about how ‘cute’ I looked in my shirt and tie I was going to scream. It was worse enough that she made Eddie, Louie, and I pose for pictures when neither of them was even in high school anymore. I was never so happy to see Frank. I almost kissed him right then and there in front of everyone, but I knew better.

Louie could not stop grinning and making his wrist go limp as my mother fawned over Frank, asking if he wanted anything to eat or drink before we left.

Frank just smiled and declined, “I’d love to, but we are picking up my girlfriend. She doesn’t like to wait, so we better get going.”

Louie bust out into a fit of laughter. I promptly slammed my foot down on his to get him to stop. My mother gave Louie and I a stern look, yet let us go.

“Have fun guys,” Louie said with a lisp as we walked out the front door.

Once behind the wheel Frank asked, “What is your brother’s problem?”

“He knows about us,” I said, as Frank pulled out of my driveway. “I accidentally let it slip. The rest of my family doesn’t know. I’m kind of scared to tell them. They’re really strongly religious.”

“Understandable,” Frank said, “I didn’t come out to my parents until last year. It was scary. I thought my dad would never speak to me again, but he came around. My mom was very accepting.”

“Mine won’t be.”

Frank took his eyes off the road for a second to look at me. “How do you know that?”

“There are certain things you don’t do in my house,” I explained. “You don’t drink underage, have sex before marriage, you don’t play loud music, and you don’t lie with a man as one lies with a woman.”

Frank’s smile faded a little. “It must be hard, huh?”

I looked out the window at the passing scenery, “You have no idea.”

“I had it easy,” He admitted, “but that doesn’t mean I don’t know what you’re going through. I’m always here for you if you ever want to talk about it.”

I nodded, still looking out the window, not wanting him to see that a little tear had formed and escaped down my face.

He placed his hand on my thigh and gave it a little jostle, as if to tell me it was going to be okay. I smiled, placing my hand on top if his, before he took it away to drive.

It seemed like forever before we got to the school. The doors had already opened, but they were still letting people in.

Once inside, Frank and I scanned the gym for Bob, Gerard, and Mikey while loud techno banged through the speakers. We found them in their normal spot, the darkest place of the gym, just standing around and chatting while Gerard drew in his sketchbook and glared whenever someone got into his line of light. We joined them, the dance commencing around us.

I was surprised to see Mikey still with us. “Why aren’t you out there mingling with the ladies?”

“He has a date,” Bob said. “he has to behave.”

“Shut up, Bob Bryar,” Mikey said, blushing a little before pointing the ‘lucky’ lady out who was hanging out with her friends. It was Alicia, the girl from Nestle Toll House in the mall.

After a few fast dances, the DJ came on the mic to announce the first slow song of the night, calling out to the guys on the floor to get with that one special lady they were with that night. Mikey was taken away by Alicia and Bob slipped away to make some lonely girls night.

Frank and I looked at each other awkwardly before I made the first move, wrapping my arms around Frank’s waist as he did the same to my neck. We pulled each other close and clumsily began to sway to the music as Frank rested his head on my chest.

I never felt so connected to a person before, and even though I wanted the moment to never end, the song stopped three minutes later, and loud hip-hop once again filled the room, making Frank and I let go from our embrace. Mikey and Bob rejoined us and we continued our conversation where we left off.

It happened every time a slow song came on and each time we got more confident, sometimes even meeting our lips in a gentle kiss. Every now and then we would get dirty looks from a teacher who just so happened to walk by, but we didn’t care and just tightened our embrace.

Before we knew it, the dance was over. It was the best homecoming I’ve ever had.

We were quiet on the ride home, not wanting to ruin the mood we had made not long ago in the gym. He pulled into my driveway and cut the engine, but before I could get out, he turned to me and said, “I want to talk to you about something. I have been bouncing it around in my head all night.”

I gave him my full attention.

I never saw Frank look more nervous, he kept gripping the wheel and wiping his sweaty palms on his pants. “I really like you, Ray… and we have been seeing each other for a few weeks now, and I was wondering if we could see more of each other. You know, get a little more serious about where this is going. I really feel this… connection between us.”

I could not believe what I was hearing. “You mean, you want to take it to the next level?”

He nodded, “If you don’t want to, it’s okay. You know, if it’s too soon, because I know you want to take it slow…”

I didn’t answer him right away because I was still trying to process everything into my brain. For some reason I just could not wrap my head around the fact that Frank Iero wanted to spend more time with lowly little me. Then I remembered he was waiting for an answer.

I nodded, “I’d love to.”

“Cool,” Frank said, smiling, “what are you doing tomorrow?”

I thought for a moment. “Nothing.”

“You want to hang out?”

“What do you think?”