The Past is Only the Future with the Lights On

"Holy shit, dude! You weren't kidding!" I was greeted by Gerard's familiar voice the second I stepped out of the small hair salon, having just paid for my new hair cut/dye.

"Hey guys," I smiled to the bodies standing around Frank, all four pairs of eyes on me. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh. . .shopping? What else would we be doing at the mall?" Bob asked, being his usual sarcastic self.

"Hey, you could just be here to chill. Sorry for being curious," I crossed my arms over my chest, pretending to be offended by Bob.

"Forget him. I love your hair Kelly!" Gerard said happily, reminding me a little of a girl as he smiled widely and him and Ray both decided to play with my hair at the same time.

"You guys have today off or something?" I asked Gerard, Ray and Bob, their hands finally leaving my head.

"Yeah, we were actually heading back to the campus before spotting Frankie, and then he told us to stay and see 'Kelly's wickedly awesome hair,'" Ray said, using his hands to quote what Frank told them about my hair.

I looked at Frank and smiled, even though he was too busy looking down at his feet as he drew tiny circles with the tips of his new shoes to notice.

"So we should probably get back then, yeah guys?" Ray hinted to the other two, receiving rather enthusiastic nods as their answers.

"Alright. We'll see you guys next week then, I guess," I smiled to the three as they started walking towards the exit of the mall, referring to how they, along with Frank, Mikey, Dahlia and I, all had the next two weeks off for Christmas break.

I looked over at Frank, his head still hung low and feet awkwardly circling the ground.

"You okay, Frankie?" I asked, lightly placing my hand on his shoulder, only causing him to jump at the sudden contact.

"Huh? Yeah, yeah. I'm fine," he shook his head and put a quick smile on his lips.

We started walking towards the exit as well, my mind racing for something to say to break the awkward silence between us.

"So. . .you finish your Christmas shopping?" I asked, waving a hand at the many bags in his hands.

"Kinda," he smirked at me, a girl nearly running into me because I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, thanks to Frank's attractive smile.

"Kinda?" I asked, noticing his smirk change to a wide smile.

"Yeah, I've finished shopping and everything, but I can't buy your present unless you're there with me," he told me, intriguing me with why I had to be there for him to pay for it.

"Well I'm here with you now," I hinted to him, biting my lip anxiously.

"Too bad it's not Christmas yet," he changed his smile back to that appealing smirk.

"What about you?" he asked, holding open one of the large, glass doors for me. "Are you done shopping?"

"Pretty much. I still need a couple things here and there, but other than that, yeah," I told him, seeing him nod out of the corner of my eye as we stepped onto the sidewalk outside of the mall.

Actually, when it came to Christmas shopping, the only person I had left to shop for was Frank. I had found something for all of my friends, even my grandma (I wasn't planning on getting anything for my dad), but was having trouble finding the perfect thing for Frank.

"Where would you like to eat?" Frank asked politely, my attention diverting back to him.

"I don't care. Whatever you feel like, I guess," I shrugged, not particularly caring where or what we ate. As cheesy as it sounded, being with Frank was good enough for me.

"Gah! You're so indecisive!" Frank shook his head, helplessly smiling. "How about we share a pizza then?" he asked, looking at me for confirmation.

"Sounds good," I nodded, noticing Frank shifting bags in his hands. "You want some help with those?" I offered, stretching out my hand to take the bags from his right hand, the ink on my knuckles coming into view and causing a smile to form on my lips.

"Thanks, but I've got it," he kindly declined, clutching the plastic tighter.

"Alright, but feel free to pass them off if you-" I didn't even get to finish my sentence before Frank cut me off.

"Don't worry about it, Kel. I'm a big, strong man. I can handle it," he said, only causing a laugh to escape my lips.

"You said so yourself, though. You can't buy my gift 'til I'm with you. It's not like I'm gonna try to steal a peek," I pointed out, holding my hands up defensively, the pizzeria we were going to now only a couple blocks away.

Frank put on a thoughtful expression before realizing that I was, in fact, correct. Letting out a light laugh of his own, he extended his hand out to me, allowing me to grab the couple of bags from him and carry them in my hand as we continued walking.