Hopeless Hearts

I woke up to find it was now morning and that Gerard was in his bed with me. Somehow he had been able to get into his bed without waking me up. I quickly and quietly got out of his bed and went downstairs. I wandered into the kitchen and found Mikey awake and eating a bowl of cereal.

“Good morning, Claire,” he said. “I didn’t know you stayed the night. Would you like some cereal?”

“No thanks,” I said. “I think I’m just going to head home. Can I borrow some of your clothes to wear home?”

“Sure,” Mikey said. He had just finished his cereal and stood up. “I’ll be right back.”
Mikey went upstairs and I just sat there waiting for Mikey to come back with some clothes. It’s always nice when you stay the night in a house where one of its residents wears practically the same clothes as you. Mikey finally came back with one of his band tees and a pair of jeans. He handed them to me, and then sat back at the kitchen table, pouring himself another bowl of cereal.

“Thanks, Mikey,” I said, taking the clothes into their bathroom and changing quickly. I ran my fingers through my hair quickly so it would at least look a little better. I took Gerard’s shirt and boxers back upstairs and left them in Gerard’s room. Then I went back downstairs, and after saying a quick goodbye to Mikey, I went home.

When I got home, I wasn’t surprised to find my mom had gone to work. What else was new? I went into our living room and just watched TV. Then after having a quick dinner and finishing up some last minute homework, I went to bed.

When I got to school the next day, I was nervous about seeing Frank at lunch. The more nervous I got, the faster time seemed to go, and before I new it, it was time for lunch. I decided I would try and act as if nothing had happened. But, to my surprise, Frank wasn’t there. I sat down next to Gerard, who handed my usual sandwich for lunch. As I was unwrapping it, I asked, “Where’s Frank?”

“He decided to extend his birthday party to Sunday and now has a hangover,” stated Gerard.

“Ok,” I said. I felt slightly relieved now that I knew that I had another day to not worry about seeing Frank. After lunch, I went to the rest of my classes as normal. I gave Mikey and Gerard a ride home. But, before I could go, Gerard handed me a stack of papers.

“Could you bring this to Frank’s?” Gerard asked. “It’s all of Frank’s homework. He thinks he can get out of it by skipping, but I won’t let him.” Gerard smirked and winked.

“Um, sure, but I don’t know where he lives,” I replied. Gerard gave me some quick directions and I realized Frank’s house wasn’t very far from my own.

“Thanks, Claire!” said Gerard when he got out of the car. I took off slowly to Frank’s house. I was regretting my decision to bring Frank his homework because I was now really nervous about seeing Frank now.

After a few minutes, I finally reached Frank’s house. I got out of my car, grabbing Frank’s homework and going up to the front door. I knocked on the door and a minute later Frank opened it.

“Claire?” he said, surprised to see me at his house. “What are you doing here?”

“Gerard asked me to drop off your homework,” I said, handing him the papers.

“Oh, thanks,” he said. We stood there in silence for a few seconds. “Do you want to come in?”

“Sure,” I said. Frank turned and walked into his house and I followed, closing the door when I got inside.

“Would you like something to drink?” he asked.

“No, I’m fine,” I said. He just nodded and we just stood in his house staring at each other. After a minute I finally said, “Well, I should probably go.”

“Yeah,” said Frank. I turned and opened the door.

“See you tomorrow,” I said.

“Yeah,” he said, as if that’s all he could say. Then he said, “Thanks again for bringing me my homework.”

“No problem,” I said. I walked out the front door, closing it behind me and went to my car. Once I was in my car, I headed home quickly and worked on my homework. But I was mostly thinking about Frank.