What the Frank

{Frank’s P.O.V}

“Ugh” I groaned into the cushion of the couch as I finally rested for the first time today; I’ve worked non-stop for the entire day. Just as I shut my eyes, finally letting my body relax fully into the couch, my mother’s voice came blasting into my ear.

“Frankie! Wake up!” Her voice jolted me away, causing me to fall off of the couch and onto the floor. I stared up at my mother while she struggled to stifle a laugh.

“We’re going out. Go shower and get dressed.”

“Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.” A mischievous grin spread across my mother’s face. This can’t be good.

After I was all dressed and showered, I couldn’t decide on what outfit to wear, as I didn’t know where the hell I was going, so I just settled on a regular black shirt and some ripped jeans.

“So, are you ever going to tell me what the surprise is?” I asked my mother as she strapped Gabe into his car seat, pinching his cheeks and muttering about how cute he is before shutting the car door.

“Nope.” I rolled my eyes as my mother grinned as she got into the car. I buckled my seat belt as we began to back out of the driveway. My mother didn’t stop ginning as we drove down the street, faster than we should be.

“C’mon mom, can’t you just tell me what’s gonna happen? You know I hate surprises.” I whined out as my mom shook her head. I let out a long sigh as I let my head fall back onto the headrest, my eyes shutting, resulting in me falling asleep.

“We’re here!” My mother screeched out, excitedly, as the car came to a stop. I rubbed my eyes as my mother quickly exited the car. I looked at the building in front of me, my eyes widening as I realized where we were.

“Is this Gerard’s apartment building?!” I shouted out, causing the other people in the parking lot to glance in my direction.

“There’s no need to yell!” My mother exclaimed as she took Gabe from his car seat.

“Is this you r surprise? To bring me here and have everything magically return back to normal!? Well, it’s not gonna happen. He hurt me, and I refuse to get back together with him.” My mother sent me a soft smile as she walked over to me, Gabe lightly tugging on her hair.

“Sweetheart,” she said in a soft voice, a voice that I wasn’t used to hearing. “He called me yesterday—he sounded really desperate; he was on the verge of tears. He was begging me to bring you here because he knew that you would never come on your own. He just wants to talk—to explain his side. He isn’t expecting for you two to get back together or anything—he just wants to talk. Can you at least to that? For Gabe?” I groaned out a ‘fine’ as I crossed my arms, frustrated. What Gerard was asking was very reasonable, but, he hurt me, and I really don’t care to hear whatever persuasive nonsense that he’s prepared to spew.

“My God, these are a lot of stairs” My mother said as we trudged up the stairs, Gabe grabbing two fistfuls of my shirt, thank God it wasn’t my hair.

“Well, we’re here” We’d arrived at Gerard’s apartment. Unwanted memories—both good and bad—started to flood back. God, I was regretting this already. My mother only knocked on the door once before Gerard quickly opened it, surprising my mother and I.

“U-um hey!” Gerard stuttered out. He was a nervous wreck; he was shaking, had a nervous smile plastered on his face, and his voice as at a high pitch than normal. It was actually sort of cute.

Gerard invited us all in, which is when I noticed the apartment—it was cleaner than I ever remember it being—that includes when we first bought the apartment. Noticing my shock at the neatness of the apartment, Gerard sent me a smirk as he gestured for all of us to have a seat, I, in the chair across from Gerard, my mother sitting on the couch with Gabriel leaning up against her side. I crossed my legs as I tried not to glare at Gerard. I just wanted to rip his head off—both of them—but a small, very, very small part of me just wanted to take him into my arms and just...hold him.

“So, um,” Gerard said as he nervously scratched the back of his head. I’d just noticed that he’d gotten his hair cut to just above his ears. He looked cleaner—much less “drug-ish”. “I asked you all here so that I could maybe explain my side of the story. I know that what I did to Frank—and you, Mrs.Iero—was very and in general really shitty—I apologize for that. I just want to tell you what was happening and how everything looked from my perspective.” I inwardly sighed at his little monologue that was supposed to pass as an apology. I’m wasting my time here.

“Well, we accept your apology.” My mother said, dawning a toothy grin. I sat there, literally twiddling my thumbs as the room fell silent. “Don’t we, Frank?.” My mother was just close enough to kick me really, really hard in the knee. I jumped and faked my apology to Gerard. My mother and I both knew it was illegitimate, but she decided not to point it out for Gerard’s sake.

“Thank you” Gerard said, relieved. “Um, there were a lot of mistakes made on my part—and the first one was accepting Lindsay back into my life. It should have just been limited to us only seeing each other when she would bring Isabella over, but I extended our relationship beyond that, and I should’ve believed you when you said that she was only trying to break us up, and I was a total idiot for not believing you, and I am so sorry. ” He paused, waiting for a response. I nodded my head, as if I was ushering an apology. I gestured with my hand, singling him continue.

“I should’ve never said that you were cheating on me—and I especially never should have hit you. That was just so incredibly wrong and stupid and just…I felt like a monster after it all happened. I just felt so insecure about Stanley because I saw how her looked at you, and you were looking back and I thought you wanted him more than you wanted me—that’s part of the reason why I started getting friendlier with Lindsay and why I was always defending her.” Gerard paused to look down at his feet, thinking about what to say next. I could tell that he was actually sincere about what he was saying.

“After you were gone, Lindsay started coming over and we just hung out like friends, and it started to remind me of the feelings that I had for her back in high school. We started dating and going out to parties and I started doing drugs, and that’s I completely fucked my life up. I was addicted to drugs and alcohol and I was depressed and I lost my job. It was horrible.” Drugs? I didn’t know that he was addicted to drugs! I almost felt sort of sympathetic for him, but this whole situation was still his fault, after all.

“I felt like I needed to get my life back together, so that’s why I called you so that I could set up appointments to spend time with Gabe; I didn’t want to fuck up his life by being an absent parent."

“Okay, you’ve explained yourself. We’ll be going now.” I said as I quickly got up. I didn’t want to stay here for a second longer.

“No! Wait!” Gerard exclaimed as he quickly stood up. “There’s something else…”

“What?” I sighed out. There’s nothing else to say—he’s already apologized and explained his situation. I should be on my way home by now.

“I—…Mrs.Iero, can we have some privacy?” My mother quickly nodded and stood up, picking Gabe up with her.

“We’ll be waiting in the car.” She said before exiting.

“What did you want to tell me? I don’t have a—“

“I want you back.” Gerard said, stunning me. Oh God.

“Y-you…want me back?”

“Yes. I was so stupid for pushing you away and choosing Lindsay over you.” He moved closer to me, taking hold of my arms.

“Let’s pick up where we left off. It could be like old times; me, you, and Gabe could all live here like one happy family.” He said before hugging me. I quickly pushed him away from me.

“’Pick up where we left off’? What the fuck makes you think we could do that?”

“Well you heard my side of the story. I just thought that you considered everything and—“

“Gerard, I can’t just get back together with you on the spot. Just because I heard your little sob story doesn’t mean that I want you back, and it definitely doesn’t mean that I forgive you.” As I turned to walk out of the apartment, Gerard grabbed my arm and turned me around to face him.

“I need this, Frankie. Just please take me back. I just really, really need this .”

“’You need’? Gerard, everything’s not about you! Have you ever thought about what I need? Have you ever thought about what I’ve been through?! Maybe I just fucking need to be away from you! What you did fucking hurt me, and nothing can make up for what you did! You treated me like shit and chose me over some fucking whore!” Gerard looked taken aback by my words, but they were true and they needed to be said.

“You know what? All of this is your fault! You ruined my life! I’m a fucking high school dropout with a 6 month old son, and I’m already pregnant with my second child! Oh, and guess what? It’s yours. Remember that day at the store, where you fucking used me? You didn’t pull out, and you didn’t use a goddamn condom either. “

“B—I—“

“Fuck you, Gerard! Now I’m stuck with two burdens to take care of!” This time, Gerard didn’t even try to open his mouth to speak.

“ I don’t know what kind of trick you’re trying to play, but it’s not going to fucking work. You hurt me, and I can never take you back.” Gerard was shocked—I was too. I didn’t expect myself to just explode like that.

“Goodbye Gerard.” I said as I jerked my arm out of his grip and stormed out of the apartment, almost running into my mother, who was listening outside of the door.

“Come on, mother, let’s go.” I said sternly before quickly heading down the stairs, just wanting to go home and just curl up and die.

“Wait! Frankie! Slow down!” My mother hollered after me as I headed for the exit.

“Do you want to talk about it?” My mother said once she finally caught up with me in the parking lot.
“No. There’s nothing to talk about. I told him how I felt, and that’s the end of it.” I said, calmly, as I opened the car door. I felt...better. I guess I just needed to pour my emotions out.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it? About you said about Gabe being a burden?” My mother said after she strapped Gabe into his car seat. I sighed as a rubbed my temples. I can’t believe that I called Gabe a burden.

“I honestly didn’t mean it; I was just really upset. Gerard just left me to take care of this fucking child by myself.”

“But, Frankie, you aren’t by yourself. I’m here to help you.”

“I know, I just meant that he’s the father of this l work child so he should be here to help raise him, not just leave for a few months and then suddenly pop up and come visit him for a few hours every week.”

“It’ll at all work out in the end.” My mom said, giving me a reassuring pat on the leg.

“I hope so.”