Seasick

My heart was racing as I slipped out of the chair and made it for the door that Frank just exited through, leaving Mikey to pick up the tab. I saw Frank walk down the gravel path not to the parking lot but to the side of the building. I took a breath and inhaled the salty air and followed him. Down the wooden steps and along the same path, only to stop in my tracks. There he stood bent over and admiring two blue iguanas in a wire enclosure. There was plenty of room for them to waddle around or whatever they did and they were quite interesting. Frank cooed to them but they payed no attention. He pulled out a small carrot for his shorts pocket and tossed it into the enclosure where the two lizards battled their way over to it. Frank chuckled and turned to leave but it was in my direction. Do I stay or run?
He looked up and stopped. He spotted me in the middle of his path. He was startled to see someone there and he pulled a smile and kept walking. I didn't move. Just before he walked past me I did something I didn't realize I said until after it was out.

"Frank?" he stopped and it have me time to look at him. Out of everyone I had seen and all the places I had been to that were trapped in time, Frank was the only thing that had changed. His hair was longer and black instead of brown. I wouldn't have recognized him if I hadn't heard his voice or his name. He still sported the tattoos and I didn't see a change in those but it was his hair that made me take a second look.

"Y-yes?" he asked and looked up at me confused. Had I changed so much so that he didn't recognize me. He studied my face and in moments his eyes widened. "Gerard?" I cut to the chase then and there. I didn't know how I would tell him but now it was flowing out of my mouth as word vomit.

"I am so sorry Frankie, I didn't mean to just leave and I tried to forget about you but I couldn't I just... I need you and I don't know what I'm talking about..." at this point tears filled my eyes and I blabbered on about how I got the courage to come down to Cayman again with Mikey and the panic I was in and how I was so scared. I apologized for talking so much too, I was such a mess. All the while, he stood there with a confused look on his face as if I were an alien reciting the Holy Bible to him. It just didn't make sense. "-and who is Natalie?" I sniffed in the end.

"Oh uh... wow Gerard, I- I didn't know you felt that way..." he looked at the gravel beneath his feet before looking at me again. Its great to know we had mutual feelings towards each other then." what did he mean 'then'? Didn't he like me now?

"Then?" I choked. "What about now? Don't you like me now?" I was freaking out.

"Whoa Gerard, I haven't seen you in over two months and back then we were just fooling around... now I have a girlfriend, that's who Natalie is... where is Fiona?" he looked around as if she were around.

"I dumped her." like he was dumping me. "For you." I added lamely.

"Oh." he looked very uncomfortable. "I'm sorry to disappoint you Gerard but Natalie is also my fiance."

"Frank?" he stared at me and in seconds his expression dissolved into a grin. He broke into a run and opened his arms and enfolded me into his embrace. This was better then how the story played out in my mind, where he told me he was engaged.

"Oh Gee! I thought you forgot about me." he mumbled against my chest.

"How could I forget about you Frankie, I love you."

"I love you too Gee but... where's Fiona?" he pulled away slightly and glanced around, just like he did in my mind.

"Back in Jersey, my brother and I flew down to see you, I left her Frank, just for you." he looked up at me.

"You didn't." he gasped.

"I did." he hugged me tighter and I wrapped my arms around him and rested my chin on his head. This was how the story was to end. Just Frank and I with no FIona and no- "Who's Natalie?" I pulled away.

"Natalie? Oh, she's my cousin who moved here just after you left, I'm teaching her the ropes of being a dive master... how did you know about her?"

"I heard the bartender mention it."

"Mac? You were inside and I walked right past you? I'm sorry." he laughed. "Did you really have any doubt that I would forget about you?"

"I did." I admitted. It ate my insides thinking up scenarios that could have taken place.

"Well now were together." he smiled.

"That we are." I grinned back. "Come I want to introduce you to my brother."

"I want to introduce you both to Natalie, dinner tonight?" I grinned.

"Yes." I agreed. We exchanged info and I was the happiest man alive.