Let My Heart Rest In Pieces

Let My Heart Rest In Pieces 077

Ice Cream Kiss

“I hate you so much right now. You really have no idea how much.”

Mr. Smith rolled his blue, blue eyes and just leaned back farther into his chair. We were in a public studio right now, one that was usually used for dancing, but my teacher had rented it for singing purposes.

“You can say that all you want, but I’m just helping to make you a better singer.”

“This isn’t even a competition anymore! Why do I need to practice to get better? As of right now, it’s just a concert, nothing different from what I do at school.”

I really shouldn’t have been yelling at him, he was only trying to help. However, I had a point. I was a good singer, it was a proven fact, was there a need to practice for something that was no longer a competition? I was just upset because I was spending the day here with him instead of my friends. This was spring break, damn it. Not “Practice until your throat becomes raw” break.

“You’ll thank me after the concert is done. You’re going to sound better then you ever have before. Hell, you could make a career out of it.”

His words made me freeze as I remembered the business card that was sitting in my jewelry box with Alex’s name on it. It was something I hadn’t stopped thinking about once I had read it. It was surprising I had met someone like that, seeing as we were such a small shop and not that big around our area. And the fact that he had offered something so huge put my mind on auto drive.

As Mr. Smith had me practice one of my three songs—yet again—I couldn’t help but let my mind drift off. Did I even want a life that could be offered by Alex? I mean, yes, I was a good singer, but not a good enough one to go solo like the famous women today. I still didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, but being in the limelight wasn’t it.

“Alright, we’re going to take a break now.”

Right after that, I fell to the ground and lay there. Even though it was only singing, it could get very exhausting after a while. I closed my eyes and took in deep breathes, imagining myself with my friends, having fun like I should be. When the door to the room opened, I turned my head to see if my teacher had left, but was surprised to find Tamara standing there. She looked over at me and laughed softly.

“So he works you to death too?”

“And I thought I was the only one,” I said with a small smile, sitting up.

“Envy here is just taking a break; you two can talk before your session Tamara. I’m going to go get some drinks.”

Tamara came over to me and sat down by me. Once our teacher left the room, the small redhead let out a sigh—one that told me something was wrong.

“What’s up Tamara?” I questioned, turning to her to give her my full attention.

“I’m just frustrated because before I came here, Frank and I had a fight right before I left. We’ve been doing that a lot lately.”

“Yeah, we all noticed before when you stopped coming to the table.”

She gave me a sheepish smile and ran a hand through her strawberry hair.

“I was hoping it wasn’t that noticeable.”

“Why are you two arguing about, if you don’t mind me asking?”

The girl fell to the floor, like I had not too long ago, to look at the ceiling. It took her a minute to gather her thoughts but she finally started to talk.

“It all started at his practice, the one that had gone horribly wrong. He didn’t know that it was our five month anniversary. I had told him at least a week before that I wanted to do something special. We spent most of the day together, and when he said we were going somewhere, I was excited—“

I was half paying attention to her as she retold me a day I had already lived. I know that Frankie could sometimes be an asshole when it came to relationships of any sort, but I don’t think I was against him on this one. I knew the boy very well, he wasn’t going to be romantic unless he had to. And weren’t special occasions things like the sixth month and the year anniversary?

“—ever since then, we’ve been having petty arguments about everything. What’s on the TV, what we were going to do that day, just everything. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, Envy.”

“I know Frankie better than almost anyone else, so let me give you some advice. Go out and do something that he thinks is fun. I think he’s just dying to do something that’s not a girly date.”

She sat up after that and gave me a nervous but thankful smile. It made her innocent beauty shine and I smiled back at her.

“Thanks Envy, you’re a real friend. I hope your advice works.”

Right then, Mr. Smith walked back through the door, a steaming cup of tea in his hand. Hoe he had gotten it, I wasn’t sure. But he was a good looking man who knew how to use his looks to get anything he wanted. This place was full of women, too.

“Alright Envy, you’re free to go. I’m taking Tamara as my prisoner now.”

The younger girl groaned but waved me goodbye. I chuckled as I went out and jumped into my father’s van. I was excited to go home.

“I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, Envy.”

I was going to be all good and help a relationship that I resented, wasn’t I? Groaning, I sat in the driver’s seat and pulled out the phone that my father had gotten me for Christmas. Dialing Frankie’s number, I bit my nails as I waited for him to answer. It ran a few times before someone finally picked up.

“Hello?” Linda, Frank’s mother, answered. I smiled at her voice and said hello.

“Oh, Envy! It’s nice to hear from you sweetie. What can I do for you?”

“Can I speak to Frank real quick?”

“Of course, let me holler at him to come down here.”

I laughed as I heard her scream for him to come and answer the phone. I loved this woman—she was just such an amazing person. She had raised a wonderful boy all by herself, seeing as she was a single mother. The phone was passed to a different set of hands and I soon hear my best friend’s voice.

“Hey Envy, what’s up?”

I had to stop myself from fainting squealing sighing at the sound of his voice.

“Hey Frankie, would you mind hanging with me for a little while?”

“Why would I? Is there something wrong?”

I bit my lip, wondering if I should relay to him the conversation that Tamara and I had. I didn’t want to worry him though, and he had a right to know.

“I ran into Tamara today. You know, she’s really beating herself up about what’s going on between you two.”

I heard Frankie moan loudly on the other end of the phone, making me cock an eyebrow.

“I should have known that you would hear about it sooner or later. You girls have, like, this grapevine of gossip.”

He made me snort at his stupid comment, and I had to cover my mouth to stop the sudden laugh that had erupted. He would think of something that stupid to compare girl gossip to. But us girls did like to gossip as soon as we could.

“I’m serious Frankie, I just thought that we should talk about it.”

“I know, but can’t we do something fun while we talk? I’m sick and tired of being bummed out.”

My shoulder slumped as I heard the tiredness in his voice. Frank was always such a happy person; I should have known something like this was wearing him thin. It was weird seeing him anything but joyful.

“How about I get us some ice cream from Dairy Queen so we can eat it while we talk?”

He gasped over the phone, making me laugh as I heard him act like a little kid. There was the Frankie I knew and loved. The one that made me smile and my heart flutter in my chest.

“You would do that for me?! Oh, can I have a large waffle cone? Strawberry please!”

And that is how I ended up at Frankie’s house with ice cream in my hands.

“This is the best day of my life. I love ice cream!”

“You are such a child, Frank,” I scoffed, giving him his cone and laughed at him when he squealed. He licked the cone and sighed in content. I never knew he liked the sweet treat so much.

“Alright, I’m ready to talk. Come in and we’ll sit on the couch.”

Rolling my eyes, I followed my best friend into his home and sat Indian style on his couch, prodding at my dessert while Frank devoured his like an animal. A minute or so passed like this, the two of us in silence, before I spoke up.

“Relationship problems, huh?”

“You can’t even let me finish my ice cream, can you?”

“Hey, I bought the damn thing, so I decide when we talk,” I spoke, poking the boy’s chest. He rubbed the point of impact and frowned at me.

“Why do you even care about us anyway?”

That was a good question, honestly. Unbeknownst to him, I hated their pairing, and earlier on I might have used this opportunity to make it worse. But the two had been together for so long, who was I to break them up right now?

“I don’t know, maybe because you’re my best friend, and if I don’t help, you’re just going to ruin it.”

“That is so not true! I’m sure it would have fixed itself.”

I gave him a look as I enjoyed a bite of my ice cream, not saying anything until after I had finished it.

“Does ‘fixing itself’ mean the two of you breaking up? Because that’s where it would have been going.”

“Look,” Frank started with a sigh, “I haven’t had a relationship that lasted longer than a month and a half in a really long time. Tamara just expects so much from me that I can’t give. I’m not that perfect, romantic guy that every girl wants. That’s just not me. So I’m going to forget things like out 100th week anniversary, or whatever you girls celebrate. I wish she would understand that.”

“You could always, you know, tell her that,” I suggested. Frankie gave me a glare and finished of his ice cream.

“Girls are different, they don’t understand things like that.”

“You are talking to a girl here, you know.”

“You’re different!” he exclaimed like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“How?”

“You just are,” he said softly, looking at me with those beautiful hazel eyes, “Ever since we’ve met you’ve been a different kind of girl. That’s why we’re best friends.”

I smiled at him gently, feeling extremely flattered by what he had just told me. I leaned over and kiss his cheek, earning an uncharacteristic blush from him.

“Frank Iero, are you blushing?”

“No! Your lips are cold, which made them turn red.”

“Both, even though I only kissed one?”

“Shut up Envy!”