Angel With A Devilish Angle

~Faith~

With my think tank refilled - that meaning my coffee - I pulled my sketchbook towards me along with my pencil and flipped to a clean page before letting my hand control itself as it guided the lead over the white page. Every now and then I found myself glancing up to where the guys were pratting around before I would look back, a frown of concentration taking over.

Over the top of the music blasting into my ears I only just heard a tapping and looked up and away to see Gee smiling at me from where he stood in front of the table. I pulled one of my earphones out and smiled at him as I moved my shit so he could sit down. "Hey." He greeted in his smooth Jersey accented voice that for once was not drunk or high - delete as applicable.

"Hiii." I replied.

"What you up to?"

"Drawing for tattoos."

Gerard reached out and took my sketchbook from me before looking back up at me with one eyebrow raised. Then he looked down at the drawing, back up at the guys and then back at me with an amused smile adorning his lips. "People ask to have Frank tattooed do they?" He asked quietly as I reached out to look at my unfinished sketch.

That's my problem. Once I get into the flow of things I don't have a clue what I've drawn until I've stopped and gone back to flip through the pages. I get into this frame of mind where my mind and my hand are separate from everything else. Sorta like an out of body experience.

And for all I could do like that when I was drawing, Zack was the same when it came to playing the guitar. Once he got going he didn't even have to think about what he was playing because his mind and his hands became separate from the rest of body.

But I'm not talking to him and he's not part of this conversation so back to my half finished sketch of Frank. I frowned and bit down on my lip; there was something not quite right, it didn't quite capture his natural beauty - yeah, I called a guy beautiful - the way it really was.

"What's the matter?" Gerard questioned as I transferred the end of my pencil to my mouth to chew on instead of my lip, but only cause I chewed on it too much and it was sore right now.

"Something's not right." I mumbled, looking between the sketch and the real thing and trying to pin down what it was making my sketch imperfect.

"Faith, it's exceptional." Gerard laughed. "Frank look at-"

"No Gerard don-"

"What?" Frank asked suddenly appearing at the table with a grin on his face, his hazel eyes briefly meeting mine and his lips cracking further up into a smile before he looked on at Gerard who had taken back my sketchbook.

"Look at Faith's drawing." Gee grinned and shoved it at him rather forcefully, producing a small 'oof' from Frank when it collided with his stomach, before he rubbed it and then studied what I'd drawn. I bit down on my lip and looked down at the table, my heart racing a little faster than normal, not wanting to see his reaction.

But suddenly I heard the sounds of paper being pushed aside and hands and knees on the table before something soft and warm, something that was lip shaped, gently brushed over my skin making it tingle. I looked up to be met with Frank's smile and I gulped, since his face was only a few inches from mine, well within kissing distance and after what I'd done that morning...

"C- can I help you?" I stuttered in an unintentionally quiet voice.

"This is amazing, Faith." He smiled. "So I'm nicking it."

"Be my guest."

"Ahh, but you are my guest on this bus, so you that doesn't really work." He now pointed out as he got off the table top, pointing a finger at me.

"Frank has got you beat there, sugar."

"Anyway, gorgeous imma stick this up next to my bunk and get back to the game I was supposed to be playing." Frank smiled, leaning over and kissing my cheek once more before carefully ripping the page from the sketchbook and disappearing down along the bus.

I watched him go in a relative daze, aware of the goofy smile on my face before the sound of Gerard clearing his throat broke through. I turned away and looked him only to see him smirking and instantly I found myself biting on my bottom lip. Again. But still those butterflies fluttered around in my stomach; they were much less mosh pit like they were that morning, and more hippy-ish. Much calmer.

"You've never been called gorgeous have you?" Gerard asked, smiling warmly at me as he went through the rest of my sketchbook, oohing and ahhing over each sketch.

"Only by my brothers friends. When they're drunk." I replied, bringing a hand up to twist the metal stud through my lip as Frank returned flashing another smile in my direction before blowing me a kiss and sitting down with the guys. Well, he slumped up Ray and fell over his shoulder into his lap.

"He likes you, you know."

I snapped my head round to look at him. "Huh?"

"Frank, he likes you." Gerard repeated himself. "Or does having an over-protective twin brother prevent you from being able to spot when a guy likes you?"

"If guys have liked me, I never knew about it thanks to Zack." I mumbled quietly. "And therefore have never had practice, besides why would Frank like a whiny 'emo' kid like me?"

"You are not an emo kid Faith, labels are just stupid." Gerard retorted, nudging me in the side a little painfully. Once he'd realised I was rubbing my side he apologised though, with a hug. "Besides all that you're really pretty for one thing and for another you're pretty awesome to say your twin brother can be a twat at times."

"Like now?" I asked, looking up from the table to Gerard.

"Yeah, like now." He nodded. "But it's his own fault, he dug himself the hole and he has to get himself out, because I heard Sarah isn't exactly talking to him, Brian's pissed off with him and you just plain hate him."

"I don't hate him, I just said that 'cause I was angry." I sighed. "I'm just really...disappointed, you know? He's supposed to look after me and he's just been making my life worse."

"Ouch, disappointment." Gerard now said, sucking a breath in through his teeth. "That's worse than hate, if you ask me."

"Exactly. I think Zack would rather I loathed him for the rest of eternity than have to live with the thought that he's let me down at some point in our lives." Then I looked up worried to Gerard. "Oh God, I hope he doesn't do something stupid 'cause I made everyone get pissed off at him."

"Oh come on Faith, right now the man deserves whatever shit the Man throws at him."

I laughed at him and nodded as he put an arm around me and pulled me closer, rubbing a hand up and down my arm as I wiped a few tears away from my eyes. I was so busy doing that I hadn't noticed Frank return to the table until I saw his hand reach out for my sketchbook and flip through it.

Then he looked up at me. "Faith?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you ink me?"

"If I had my equipment I would but unfortunately I'm lacking it." I explained with a light shrug.

Then Frank grinned.

"Good job we stop in Huntington Beach next week then, huh?"