The Past is Only the Future with the Lights On

You know how some things just happen at the worst timing possible? Like, when your best friend is about to tell you something they’d just admitted to being fairly important, and your boyfriend comes along? Yes. That is a prime example of poor timing.

It is also what happened then and there during Frank’s little ‘speech’ on the playground. I’d heard Skyler calling my name from the park entrance, but kept my attention on Frank. This appeared to be something he really needed to get off his chest. It wasn’t like him to be so spastic and twitchy about things, and to just normally come out and tell me. So when I noticed he wasn’t acting like himself, as obvious as it was, I knew I had to be there for him and help make this easier for him…somehow…

He looked rather angry as his eyes wandered towards the entrance, watching Skyler walk towards the two of us.

“Go ahead, Frank. You can say what you have to,” I encouraged him to continue.

He simply rolled his eyes at me, abruptly standing up and hopping off the play structure.

Confused, I jumped down as well and followed after him. “Frank!” I yelled. He turned back to me, his face slowly becoming redder and redder.

“What, Kelly? What the hell is it that you want from me?” he spat back at me.

What the hell? Bipolar, much?

I just stared at him incredulously. By now, Skyler had reached us and was standing loyally at my side, while my best friend was being a dumbass and glaring at me. I was barely aware of my boyfriend asking if everything was okay as I glared back.

“Frank,” I said softer. I shook my head slightly, then continued. “Please don’t be like this.” And that’s all it took. In seconds, his face completely softened. “Now, what is it you wanted to tell me?”

Frank dropped his gaze to the ground, and I couldn’t figure out if it was because he was ashamed of himself, or embarrassed. Possibly both.

“Never mind,” he mumbled, so quietly it took me a second to understand just what exactly he had said. “Let’s just head back to your place now.”

After that weird little ‘confrontation’ between Frank and I, the three of us went back to my house, where we found the rest of our friends in my kitchen, eating absolutely everything. And to think, they’d only gotten here a few minutes before us, and had already destroyed the kitchen. It was quite surprising to see how little sugar it took for the guys to be completely wired.

But it didn’t take them much convincing to get me to join their feast, instead of go upstairs and tell my grandma on them, like I had jokingly planned on doing.

We did end up cleaning the kitchen in the long run anyways. I guilt tripped them all into it, however, saying that my grandma would be forced to clean it if they didn’t, and then she’d never let me have any of them over again, and that she would always refer to them as ‘animals’ instead of my friends. Haha. Animals. They really were, too.

Now, with it being just minutes to eight o’clock at night, which was when Skyler had to leave, we were all back in the living room, watching Donnie Darko. Well, we were. As it got later, the sugar rush returned, and we all got a bit distracted.

Bob and Mikey were air-guitaring their asses off to whatever song happened to start playing in the movie, while Gerard and Hannah fought over which Spongebob character was the best (come on guys! Does it honestly matter?!), and Dahlia and I played a – quite loud – game of ‘Would You Rather…’. Frank seemed to be the only one still watching the movie as Ray and Skyler talked music. Well, that’s what they were doing last time I checked. But all of a sudden, a body had pounced itself on top of me from where I was laying on the ground.

I looked up and met a pair of forest green eyes, smiling excitedly down at me. His goofy expression made me break out in laughter, and, no thanks to the amount of sugar he had consumed earlier that was now kicking in, he joined in, his whole body practically on top of me as we shook with laughter. If someone were to walk in right now, they’d probably think we were all wasted or on drugs or something. This whole scene was just ridiculous.

Skyler’s forehead kept bouncing off mine, and I was sure there’d be a bruise there in the morning, due to the fact that neither of us was really in control of our actions. Well, we were. But sugar does things to you…

I guess we had kind of forgotten about everyone around us, because when his twin arrived to pick him up and take him home, Skyler and I were too busy making out on the floor to even realize this.

I felt bad afterwards, of course. But there’s something about guys with pretty eyes. I just can’t say no to them.

I pulled the wool blanket up to Hannah’s chin, giving her forehead a light kiss as her small body delicately rose and dropped to her steady breathing. I looked around at the sight before me, trying to keep my laughing internal, as to not wake anybody.

Once again, Ray was flying solo on the couch, only this time, he’d been generous and gave Bob and Gee the big one – who continued to fight over the other couch. Mikey was asleep on the floor, with his girlfriend, still bearing the clothes she’d worn earlier, too tired to change into her pj’s, using his stomach as a pillow, almost making them look like a ‘T’. Hannah fell asleep in her own sleeping bag this time, so I was sitting on my own next to hers, leaning on Ray’s couch as a back support, seeing as how I couldn’t sleep. Then there was Frank. Laying in the middle of everyone in all his perfection. Man, do I need to stop thinking like that.

I didn’t get too much sleep that night. Instead, I stared at the ceiling and thought. About everything. When I finally did fall asleep, it felt as if I was woken up only minutes later, by the loud chatter of my friends.

“Kelly! Please tell your sister that the new Night of the Living Dead is crap compared to the original!” Gerard whined from across the room.

I sighed and opened my tired eyes. “Okie.”

We ended up watching more movies after that. And that’s really all we did Sunday. Everyone left around five in the evening, except for Hannah, of course, and Frank, who lived right next door. Well duhhh. You guys already knew that.

Dad and Jenny were coming home some time tonight, so all we really had left to do was wait. Frank was continuing to be quiet, like he had been since we left the playground the day before, and it was really beginning to worry me. But I felt bad asking him about it, ‘cause I had a feeling he’d just get mad at me for doing so. So, I just kept my mouth shut.

It didn’t stay shut for too long, though.

“Hey, Frank?” I said, looking up from the sleeping girl in my lap to the boy sitting silently beside me.

He glanced at me as well, raising his eyebrows questioningly.

I brushed some of Hannah’s hair from her face, thinking of what to say first. “What did you want to tell me yesterday?”

At that, he looked away, staring off at the dust particles in front of his face. “It was nothing. I was just being stupid is all. Sorry if you were worried or anything.”

I wasn’t sure if I should believe this or not, but knowing Frank, I trusted him. He wouldn’t lie to me. If he really needed to tell me this, he would.

The room was silent once more. I could hear grandma in the other room, sipping her coffee and flipping the pages of a magazine every now and then. Catching sight of the clock on the DVD player in the living room, I noticed that it was nearing 11.30 at night, and that dad still wasn’t home, just as a yawn passed my lips.

“Do you love him, Kelly?” Frank quietly asked, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

I had an idea about who he was referring to, but decided to play dumb. “Who?” I asked.

He sighed, almost exasperatedly. “Skyler.”

This question kind of caught me by surprise. How was I supposed to respond to this? I mean, no, I didn’t love Skyler. I was still trying to figure out if I actually even liked him, liked him. But if I told him the truth and that I wasn’t sure about my feelings about that yet, but hoping I did so I could get over him, he would find out my true feelings. And that just be allll bad. So I settled for the half-truth.

“Well…” I started, biting my lip thoughtfully, “not quite yet.” That’s a good enough answer, right?

He slowly nodded his head, seeming to be contemplating something - what? One could only guess... “Right. Okay.”