I Can Transform You

POV: Frank

My next lesson was English and I didn’t particularly feel like going, considering Gerard and I were not on speaking terms. So, I decided to skip school altogether and drive over to Lydia’s house. She hadn’t come to school today and I wanted to check she was alright.

But when I got to her house, it was not her I was greeted by.

“Oh, Frank,” her mother gave me a stiff welcoming, folding her arms and looking at me with clear disapproval.

For the love of God, what have I done now?

“Um, hey… Is Lydia in?” I questioned impatiently, not in the mood for the patronising ways of Mrs. Ross.

Lydia’s parents really hate me. They have no reason to, besides the fact that I’m dating their daughter, who they think should be focusing on her school work rather than boys. They have those annoying fucking old-fashioned views.

“Yes, but you’re not seeing her. I think you’ve caused enough trouble for now, don’t you?” She retorted coldly.

I tried to just ignore that response, because Mrs. Ross is simply a shit-stirrer between Lydia and I, but I could tell something was definitely wrong. I was usually greeted this way by Mrs. Ross, but Lydia always comes to my rescue rather quickly, pushing past her mother and pulling me into the house.

Today, I was not being rescued.

“What are you talking about?” I frowned, craning my neck to see past her into the hallway, looking for Lydia, needing her to come down the stairs and let me in.

“I don’t know what you’ve done… She won’t tell me… But she has locked herself in her bedroom and she hasn’t stopped crying for the past 24 hours,” her mother hissed, glaring at me.

Oh God… This doesn’t sound good. But what could I possibly have done? She seemed fine with me yesterday at school…

“Um, okay… I have no idea why she’s acting like that…” I mumbled, concern and confusion in my eyes. “But if you’d just let me come in and see her-”

“Frank, if she wanted to see you, she would come down and let you in herself,” Mrs. Ross interrupted bluntly, and I let out a sigh of defeat.

I couldn’t argue with that; she was right, after all. Lydia obviously did not want to see me.

“Fine,” I retorted flatly. “Just tell her I dropped by then and ask her to ring me.”

I felt rejected and very confused. Why was my girlfriend shutting me out like this? What had I done to upset her? I needed to know.

I wandered back to my car and jumped in the driver’s seat. I didn’t drive off right away; I just sat there, staring out the window up at Lydia’s bedroom window. The curtains were closed. The world was truly shut out of her life.

Eventually I gave up waiting for her to open the curtains, to open up to me, and I drove off. I didn’t go home though; I decided to go into town and shop for a present for Lydia. That would hopefully cheer her up and get her talking to me. It would also make up for whatever I’d done.

I was good at shopping when it came to buying new clothes for Gerard, but I’m not so good when it comes to shopping for girls. In fact, I’m pretty useless. But it’s the thought that counts, right?

I was in a world of my own as I headed into the town centre, paying no attention at all to passer-bys. I just made my way to the jewellery store and started browsing around inside.

I swear every single ring was identical. Well, I didn’t see a difference, other than the price. And some of the prices were ridiculous. I wouldn’t pay that if I was buying a fucking engagement ring. Which I wasn't.

In the end, I decided on a relatively expensive, silver ring with a diamond on it. Okay, it looked kinda like an engagement ring, but I would just have to explain to Lydia that I’m not asking her to marry me.

But when I got up to the counter to pay for it, I suddenly came face-to-face with someone I really didn’t want to see. Just when I thought this day couldn’t get any worse…

“Oh for God’s sake,” I muttered, backing away from her till and looking round the store for another one I could go to. There was only one other, and there was a really long queue. Fucking typical.

“You’re still rude then,” Laura frowned at me, clearly not appreciating my reaction to seeing her. I didn't know she worked here.

“You’re still a whore then,” I retorted bluntly, making her eyebrows shoot upwards.

“Excuse me?” She played the fool, acting as if she didn’t know what I was talking about. I didn’t buy her innocence.

“How could you sleep with Gerard? You barely even know him!” I hissed candidly.

I didn’t want to attract attention to us, as we were in a shop full of people, and I just appeared to be harassing one of the cashiers, but I was rapidly losing my cool.

It didn’t help when she gave me an arrogant smirk in response to my outburst. She knew that the envy was boiling in my veins and she was using it to her advantage.

“Aw, is little Frankie jealous?” She asked patronisingly, getting under my skin.

“No, I am not jealous,” I answered maybe a little too quickly. Fuck, I’m such a liar… “Just think you’re a slut, that’s all.”

I was on the verge of putting the ring back and just walking out of the shop, but then she said something that paralysed for a moment.

“You just want me all to yourself,” she winked.

Wait, what?

I stared at her blankly for a second, before frowning deeply.

“Um, no, I really don’t.” And that right there is the truth.

Laura didn’t seem phased by my denial… She just became more insistent.

“Oh c’mon, I know you still have feelings for me, Frank,” she assumed (incorrectly, might I add).

But why would she even assume that? When have I given her any indication that I’m still interested in her? Jeez.

No. Just no.

“What would make you think that?” I demanded in disbelief.

I was not expecting the conversation to turn into this. Seriously, I hadn’t even seen Laura for about two years until last night. It’s hardly like I’ve been thinking about her every single day since then. It took me a few months to get over her after we broke up, but then I finally moved on without giving her a second thought.

“I see the way you look at me. With want,” she boasted, causing me to screw my face up and frown deeply at her again.

I don’t want her, so how could I look at her in that way?
…Deluded much?

“And I saw the envy in your eyes when I kissed Gerard,” she added with another arrogant smirk.

Okay, she’s onto something there... I mean, yes, there was envy, but I was jealous of her for kissing Gerard, not the other way round. Gerard’s the one I like!

“You’re insane,” I told her, shaking my head.

“Am I?” She raised a perfectly-plucked eyebrow at me.

I opened my mouth to say “YES” but she continued without giving me a chance to get a word in.

“Gerard told me you asked him to stay away from me. You couldn’t handle him getting close to me, could you?”

So, Gerard was actually paying attention when I told him not to sleep with Laura… He even told her that I had forbidden him, apparently… Yet he still went ahead and did it anyway. Fucking traitor.

“Listen, you’ve got the wrong idea here,” I sighed, though I had no intention of giving her the right idea and letting my feelings for Gerard be known.

She narrowed her eyes at me and then smirked.

“Come on, Frank. Just admit it. You still like me,” she persisted, pushing me to the point of actually wanting to bang my head against a wall. “It’s okay… I mean, I still like you too,” she added tentatively, batting her eyelids.

Oh sweet baby Jesus.

“Um… I thought I made my feelings for you perfectly clear… But I guess not… So now I’m going to put it bluntly,” I retorted slowly. Awkward conversation is fucking awkward. “No, I don’t like you. I’ve got a girlfriend. You had your chance and you fucked me over… Now back off.”

Too harsh? Oh well. I’m just speaking the truth.

Laura’s face dropped drastically and she looked like I had just slapped her or something. I considered leaving the conversation at that and storming out of the shop, but still, she continued to keep the painful conversation going.

“Well, why the fuck did you forbid Gerard to sleep with me then?” She demanded, not even bothering to keep her voice down.

There were now old people looking over at us with appalled looks on their faces. I expected the manager to come out any second and kick me out of the shop. In fact, I was hoping they would.

“Because I know what you’re like and I know what he’s like… He’d fall for you and you’d fuck him up and break his heart. I was looking out for him because he was my friend!” I told her convincingly, despite it being a cover-up for the real reason.

It was something that had crossed my mind though, besides the jealousy. I did know Laura very well and I could see through un-jealous eyes that her and Gerard were not a good match at all.

“But I don’t give a shit now,” I continued sharply. “He chose to ignore my warning, so fuck it. Whatever. You’re welcome to him.”

Now that would have been a good point for me to make a dramatic exit, but I still didn’t manage to leave… I was paralysed once more by the next thing to come out of Laura’s mouth.

“God, you’re so fucking dramatic. We didn’t even have sex! Alright?”

Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up… They didn’t sleep together?

“Then why was I told you did?” I frowned, not sure whether to trust her or not. I wanted to believe her… But I didn’t understand why Matty would lie to me.

“I don’t know. Someone’s probably jealous,” she suggested with a shrug. “Who told you anyway?”

“Matty.”

…Why would he be jealous? That makes no sense at all.

“Oh, did he now?” Laura raised her eyebrows, intrigued by this information. “Well, you might wanna have a word with your best friend then, because he’s clearly a shit-stirring liar.”

But why would he lie? Why would he want to stir shit between me and Laura? …Or was it me and Gerard he wanted to stir it up between? I guess I do need to have a word with my best friend…

“How do I know you’re not the liar?” I questioned sceptically, giving Matty the benefit of the doubt. I’m too loyal a friend for my own good.

“Oh, please. I’d tell you if I slept with Gerard,” she smirked at me. I could believe that too, because knowing her she would want to rub it in my face. “Trust me, I wish I had... But your little sheepdog refused to have sex with me. I tried everything, but he resisted me. I think he’s gay or something,” she added, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

So, wait... Gerard's been loyal to me all along? And I've been a complete dick to him... Great.

I felt guilty about the way I had treated Gerard earlier, but also overjoyed by the news that he hadn't gone behind my back after all.

However, I wasn't as convinced as Laura that Gerard was gay. I knew for a fact that he fancied her. He was obviously just being a good friend to me by not sleeping with her... Therefore, I needed to apologise for being a bad friend to him.

“So… Nothing happened between you?” I tried to clarify, managing to keep my expression neutral, despite my joy.

She shook her head.

“Well, we did make out for a while… But then when we got upstairs and things started getting really heavy, he pushed me off him. He was drunk and he wouldn’t stop talking about you. He kept mumbling about not wanting to make you angry,” she explained, rolling her eyes in annoyance. “Seriously, that boy is either scared shitless of you, or just fucking gay for you.”

Her rambling left me speechless; I wasn’t expecting this information after the lies I was fed. I didn’t know what to make of it. I was very relieved though.

“Okay, are you gonna buy that or what?” Laura broke the brief silence, gesturing to the ring, which I had forgotten all about. “Because you’re holding up the queue.”

I didn’t even realise there were people behind me, so I kinda jumped in surprise when I turned around and found an old lady standing a few inches away from me.

“Oh, yeah.” I shook myself out of my trance and gave Laura the ring. She put it in a velvet box (oh excellent, now it looks even more like an engagement ring…) and then put that in a small bag.

“Good choice,” she commented in approval. “Your girlfriend’s a lucky girl.”

She was looking at me with sincere eyes, making me feel bad for what I said to her earlier about not liking her. Even though it’s the truth, I probably could have phrased it in a nicer way.

“Um, thanks,” I mumbled awkwardly, handing her the money.

She accepted the money and returned my change, with a genuine smile, then said “see you around, Frank.”

I said goodbye and finally left the shop, feeling like I had been in there for about two days.

My options now were either: go back to Lydia’s and give her the present, go home and apologise to Gerard, or go to Matty's and find out why he's being a shit-stirring bitch.

I could see myself getting shot down by both Gerard and Lydia, and I could see Matty and I arguing. Neither option was very appealing, but I decided to go home and take my chances with Gerard first. He was the only one I really wanted to see right now.