Everyone Learns Faster On Fire

“Frankie? What’s up?” Gerard asked loudly, pulling Frank back towards him with concern in his eyes. Frank could see his own shocked expression reflected in their hazel colouring.

“Shhh! Can’t you hear that!” Frank whispered, pointing at the bedroom door and pushing him away again. “Jamia’s back! And I can hear my mum too! You’ve got to get out of here!”

Gerard stood in the middle of the room with a dazed expression across his face as he watched Frank hastily pull his jeans back on and search around desperately for his belt. He couldn’t believe how close they got to having sex for the first time in months, and now Frank was putting a stop to it. He sat back on the bed, watching as Frank almost had a panic attack at the thought of his girlfriend and mother finding out what had been going on.
Frank picked up Gerard’s t-shirt from the floor and threw it at him, motioning for him to hurry up, just as there was a gentle knock on the door.

“Frank? Are you in there?” They heard Jamia call from the opposite side of the wooden door.

Frank mouthed a few profanities before answering sheepishly. “Er, yeah…. Don’t come in! I’m…er….getting changed!”

The next voice they heard belonged to a significantly older woman. “Oh Frankie! We’ve seen it all before! Come out and give your mother a hug!”

“…I’ll be out in a second!”

Frank helped Gerard pull his shirt over his head, seeing as the older man seemed to suddenly be unable to do anything for himself, and he thrust his jeans towards him.

“Gerard! You’ve got to get out!” Frank frantically hissed again, pointing to the open window. Gerard took the jeans, looking puzzled, and didn’t even get a chance to put them on properly before Frank had hauled him up from the bed and began roughly escorting him towards the only available exit.
Gerard sat on the window ledge pulling his jeans up, while Frank placed an apologetic kiss on his forehead. But it wasn’t enough to satisfy the burning desire boiling up inside him. And the problem arising in his underwear.

“I’m so sorry. I’ll call you later on.” Frank said quietly before helping lower Gerard out of the window and watched until he was safely on the roof of the extension below. Gerard stood staring up at the window like an innocent puppy dog left out in the rain. Frank couldn’t stand it when he used that face on him.

“Parting is such sweet sorrow.” Gerard called up to him, with a disappointed look on his face.

“I have to go!” was all Frank could hiss before he shut the window.

He turned around and realised that the other man’s boots were still lying in the middle of the floor. Not knowing whether to throw them out the window after him or not, he hastily kicked them underneath the bed, and grabbed his shirt from where it had landed on top of the dresser in their desperation to take each other’s clothes off.

Panting like an overheated dog, he turned the door handle and exited the bedroom. His heart was pounding at ten times it’s natural speed, like he had just run a ten mile marathon. He couldn’t believe how unbelievably close they had got to getting caught. It was a miracle that Jamia hadn’t thought of going in the room.
Frank entered the living room where his mother and girlfriend were sitting on the sofa, each with a steaming cup of coffee in their hands.

“It’s about time, dear!” Frank’s mother said, and got up from the sofa to give her son a peck on the cheek. “How long does it take you to throw a pair of jeans and a t-shirt on?”

Frank laughed awkwardly. “Yeah, I…er…couldn’t find anything clean to wear.”

“But you were wearing that before I left this morning!” Jamia interrupted with a grin.

“Well, I’ve had a shower since then.” Frank lied before changing the subject. “So, mum…I didn’t think you were coming round until next week?”

Frank’s mother sat back down, pulling her son to sit between them. “What, so you don’t want me here?” She said in an offended tone. “I bumped into Jamia when I was walking back home and she invited me back here. Really, Frankie….I thought you loved your old mummy!”

“Yeah I do! I don’t mean it like that…I just wasn’t expecting you to be here. Sorry.” Frank apologised, nervously picking the remains of his chipped back nail polish from his fingers.

There was silence for a few seconds before both women exploded into fits of laughter. Confused, Frank looked between them both, trying to work out what was so funny. He hated being made the victim of other people’s jokes, especially in the jittery state he was in.

“The look on your face was priceless!” Jamia said between giggles.

The older woman patted him on the arm. “I was only playing with you! Now how about you go and get me some biscuits to eat with this coffee?”

Frank nodded and swiftly left the two giggling women in the living room while he went into the kitchen. He was sort of relived to get out of there. He was still mentally recovering from the trauma he had to endure while trying to get Gerard out of his bedroom unnoticed. He didn’t really need people playing with his emotions barely five minutes afterwards.
Suddenly, his mobile phone started beeping and vibrating against the granite surface of the counter where he had left it, alerting him that he had received a text message. Frank put the box of cookies he was holding back in the cupboard and turned his attention to the message that had appeared on the screen. Unsurprisingly, it was from Gerard.

Tomorrow Night.. My house. Tell Jamia we’ve got band practise. xxx

Frank was about to reply when his mother’s voice sung out from the room next door. “Frankie! Hurry up with those cookies will you? I hope you‘ve not locked yourself in the cupboard!”

Frank pocketed the phone and headed into the living room with a smile on his face. Not because of the bad jokes his mother was cracking, but because of the new wave of excitement that had suddenly engulfed him. Tomorrow evening the painful wait would be over, and he would finally be having the night of his life with the man he loved.