Story Of A Girl

Graclin Stewart sighed as she stared at the closed bathroom door in front of her. She knew her sister was going to be in there for a while, figuring out what to do with herself. She pushed herself off the cold, wooden floor and walked down the stairs in her beautiful Belleville home. She grabbed the phone off the hook in the kitchen and dialed the number her tiny fingers had memorized.

“What do you want, Eva?” Muffie’s voice snapped through the phone.

“Muffie, It’s Graclin.” She replied, her face screwing up in anger. What gave her the right to try and talk to Evelyn that way?

“Oh. I’m sorry sweetie. Is there something you wanted?” Muffie’s nervous voice asked.

“Yeah, can you give me Frank Iero’s number?” She asked, jumping up to grab a piece of paper and a pen from the cabinet. Muffie Peterson had everyone’s number. Everyone’s.

“Um, yeah. Sure.” Muffie sounded more than confused as she rang out the list of numbers for Frank’s home phone. Graclin said a quick ‘thank you’ before hanging up the phone, not waiting for a response from Muffie. You don’t try to talk to Graclin Stewart’s sister like that and expect her to be nice to you, no you don’t. Graclin’s tiny fingers entered the number slowly before pressing ‘talk’.

○○○

“Frank, phone for you.” Linda Iero’s tired voice rang through her sons tiny, basement room as she shook his shoulder.

He groaned, lifting his head up. “What?” He asked, sleep in his voice.

“I said, someone called for you.” She repeated. “Who the hell is calling you at three o’clock in the morning, Frank?”

He stuck his hand out, sitting up in his bed. “I don’t know. Ask who it is.”

Linda pressed the phone back up to her ear. “May I ask who’s calling.”

“Evelyn Stewart.” The mousy and small voice of the girl came through the phone.

She placed the phone in his hand. “Someone named Evelyn Stewart.” She shrugged.

He quickly pressed the phone to his ear, wide awake. “Easter?”

“Not quite.” Graclin replied, her tone smug.

He groaned, letting his head drop into his hand as his mother left the room. “What do you want at three in the morning, Gracie?”

“I need you to come over to my house. Linnie needs your help.”

His head shot up. “She does?” His eyes narrowed. “Why doesn’t she just get Trent to do it.”

“Because I like Trent and I don’t wanna wake him up. You, on the other hand...” She trailed off, a smirk in her voice.

“Thanks.” He muttered. “Why should I come over there?” He asked,

“Because, the fact that I told you my sister needs help is eating away at you. I know you’ll come anyway, but I just wanted to be sure. See ya soon!” The line went dead.

He pulled the phone from his ear. He stared at it before shaking his head. “There is no way that child is only nine.”

○○○

Evelyn stared at herself in the mirror. She had applied some make-up to one half of her face and some the the other side. She jumped when a knock came to the door. “Yes?” She asked, her voice shaking.

“Can I come in?”

She narrowed her eyes. She figured it was her fathers voice, seeing as it was gruff and filled with sleep, but it didn’t exactly sound like her father.

“Yes.” She walked towards the bathroom door, unlocking it before pulling it open. She lifted her eyes and her mouth fell open when they met a familiar pair of hazels.

Frank raised an eye-brow, crunching up his nose. “Holy shit, Easter. Half your face is caked in make-up.”

She bit her lip, looking down. “That bad?”

He nodded, pushing past her. He looked around the nice bathroom, before placing himself in the edge of the bath tub.

She shook her head, closing the door, locking it again. “What are you doing here?”

He shrugged. “Muffie isn’t here and I guess I’m the back up.”

She giggled. “You’re gonna help me with my make-up?”

He grinned as she laughed. “I’ll admit, I’ve never done anything like this before, but I can sure tell you if it looks good or not.”

She sighed, gesturing to the left side of her face. “Not looking good?”

He shook his head, grabbing the tiny wet towel on the counter. “Come here.”

She walked towards him, positioning herself next to him on the tub.

“First of all,” He gently placed his hands over her eyes, making them close. “I’m gonna make you look human again, then you can go from there.” He folded the towel before gently scrubbing the make-up of her cheeks. He barley wiped it over her eyes, causing her mascara to turn watery and leave black lines under her eyes. “Whoops.” He muttered.

She froze. “Whoops? What do you mean ‘Whoops’?” She panicked.

He laughed. “Don’t freak. You just have some black lines under your eyes.”

With that, her brown eyes popped open, wide and staring straight at him. “Black lines?” She asked.

He laughed again, placing the towel back on the counter. He put his hands on the side of her face, causing her cheeks to heat up, and wiped his thumbs under her eyes, smudging the mascara lines. “This crap just doesn’t come off, does it?”

She smiled. “Not if you wipe it, it just smudges it.”

He shook his head. “Now she tells me.” He muttered, rubbing it again.

She laughed, gently tapping his arm. “Stop, you’re just gonna smudge it even more.”

He laughed, his eyes meeting hers. His laughter faded as he continued to stare into her eyes. He blinked. “Wow.”

She stared up at him, laughter gone. “What?”

He narrowed his eyes in concentration. “Your eyes.” He shook his head. “They’re so...” He paused, looking for the right word. “beautiful.”

Her cheeks heated up again under his hands. “Thanks.”

He broke from her eyes, scanning her whole face. “You are beautiful.”

Her face turned bright red. “Thanks, but I don’t really feel that way.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Why not? It’s like,” He blinked again. “unreal.” He hadn’t noticed how close his face had gotten to hers when he was concentrating on her eyes. Evelyn’s face got redder as Frank’s cheeks turned red.

“Um...” He trailed off, not knowing what to say. She opened her mouth to say something, but she was cut off by a shrill ringing sound. They both turned their heads to stare at the small cell-phone on the counter. She looked back at Frank before reaching up to pull his hands from her face, intertwining her fingers with his as she let their hands drop.

Frank lifted his hand back up to stare at her fingers. They were still as slim as when he had last looked at her hand, but they weren’t as pale. He could faintly hear the small hum of someone’s voice from the receiver of Evelyn’s phone. He glanced up when he heard his name, but ignored her. After staring at her fingers as Evelyn talked, he noticed her fingers were abnormally long for a person so small. It wasn’t very noticeable, you had to stare at them for a little bit before actually realizing how long they were. It was quite fascinating, he had to admit.

“Sorry. That was Muffie.” Evelyn piped up, placing her phone back on the counter, causing Frank to look up at her.

“Oh.” He muttered. “She’s up?”

“Knowing it’s picture day, Muffie probably got up an hour ago.” She shrugged.

“No matter what she does, you’ll probably look way better.” He grinned at her, slipping his hand out of hers.

“Thanks.” She blushed. He backed away from her, trying to give her some space in the tiny bathroom.

“You blush a lot.” He ended up backing up to far and fell backwards into the bathtub. He landed on his butt, left arm squished beside him, right arm hanging over the side, left leg laying in the tub and his right leg hanging over the side as well. He looked up to see Evelyn bending her back backwards slightly with her hand on her stomach, giggles erupting from her lips.

“Are you okay?” She asked between her laughter. He smirked, grabbing the hand that was on her stomach and pulling her into the bathtub, too. From the fact that she was facing forward, she ended up landing on him, rather than by him. Her face turned even more red as he grinned.

“Told you so.” He said as she stared at him. His nose crunched up. “God, lay down or something, you look uncomfortable.”

“I don’t want to squish you.” She muttered.

He laughed. “Squish me? Easter, you way less than a stick.”

With a sigh, she twisted herself around and found herself comfortable laying down on his left side, after frank had moved his arm, and placed her head at his collar bone.

He laughed, causing her head to vibrate. “Comfy?”

She sighed, content. “Very. You are quite comfortable, Mr. Iero.” She smiled when he laughed. She sighed again, her eyes closing.

“You know Easter, I don’t see why you would need Muffie’s help for picture day.” He muttered, silently intertwining his fingers with hers, resting his head on hers.

“Well, I just don’t feel very pretty sometimes.” She muttered, her eyes still closed.

He lifted his head off hers and stared down at her. “Easter, you don’t really need any make-up.” He continued when she opened her eyes. “You look better than anyone I’ve ever seen in my life without make-up. That’s pretty rare and coating your face in make-up is just ruining that. I don’t give a damn if I have you remind you everyday, Easter you really are beautiful.”

She lifted her head off his collar bone and stared at him. “You know what? You’re right. I shouldn’t have to wear so much make-up if I don't need it. Sure, for special occasions, It wouldn’t hurt, but I don’t have to wear it all the time.” She smiled. “Thanks Frank, really.”

He rolled his eyes, grinning. “No problem.”

She stared at him for a second, biting her lip. She raised her free hand up to grab his chin lightly. She turned his face so that he was facing forward before gently pressing her lips to his cheek. She pulled away when she felt his cheeks heating up under her touch.

“I mean it, Frank. Really, thank you.” She smiled, biting her lip.

He laughed nervously. “You’re welcome.” He swallowed thickly as she rested her head back on his collar bone. He waited a while before letting his head plop back down on her head, sleep getting the best of him. He brought the hand he was holding up, examining her tattoo.

“I think, when I’m older, I’m gonna get your name tattooed under that.” She muttered.

He smiled, pressing his lips to her tattoo. “Good idea.”

He sighed contently, letting his eyes close as she blushed once more before falling to sleep in a bathtub...