Dark and Dirty Like You've Never Seen

I lay on Franks bed on my stomach watching TV, my arm propped up on a pillow. The pain killers started to wear off and it was bothering me. Frank sat next to me on the bed, cross legged with his hand rubbing my back slightly. I let my eyes flutter close as I felt him trace along my shirt, sending shivers down my spine and causing the hair on my arms and neck to stand up. I stretched and rolled over to my side, propping myself up on my good arm. I looked up at him and smiled. Not many words were said in the past hour or so since Frank asked me out. It all flooded back to me and I swallowed a lump that was forming in my throat. I’m almost sure that it actually happened, but it just felt so surreal. This whole day was so bipolar with everything that had happened; it was hard to grasp most of it. Frank and I are dating. Frank punched my dad. I broke my hand. Aaron wants me dead. My dad most likely wants Frank dead. All before dinner time. That’s when I heard my stomach growl. Frank looked down at it then back up at me.

“Hungry?”

“I guess so.” I sat all the way up now, throwing my legs over the side of the bed. I felt him put his hand under my chin and pull my face towards him. He placed a light kiss on my lips and I savored every second of it. I don’t know how long it will take me to get used to that or his touch or if I’ll ever get over it. I prayed that he didn’t feel me shaking.

“We can see what we have here.” He rose from the bed and made his way to the kitchen, and I followed suit. We walked down the hall and back through the house before returning back to the kitchen. I leaned against the counter while Frank rummaged around the cabinets and the refrigerator. He returns with a box of pasta noodles and a mason jar with “Sauce” written across the top. “How does pasta sound? We still have some of my mom’s homemade sauce.”

“Sounds great.” I smiled and pushed off the counter. “How can I help?”

“Oh, no. You just get to sit back and enjoy. This is Café Iero, and the special today is Gemelli.”

I gave him a questioning look. He rolled his eyes in response.

“I know what you’re thinking, and yes, I can cook. You’d be amazed at some of the things I can do. They might surprise you.” He winked at me and I felt my face flush.

“Ok, chef. Do your work.” I hoisted myself up on the counter and sat back and watched the magic that was Chef Iero. Whatever it was that he was making didn’t take more than a half hour. He pulled the pan out of the oven and sat it on top to cool.

“Alright, you can help me now.” He pulled out plates, bowls, and utensils from various cabinets and handed some of it to me. “Wanna set the table?”

“Sure.” I started placing the plates and bowls on the table. I turned to see what he was getting, and I saw him pull out some lettuce and dressing from the fridge. That must be what the bowls are for. My mouth was water from the smell of the food and I realized how hungry I actually was. Frank came over and put some salad in each of our bowls and sat out a few different types of dressings to choose from. He pulled out my chair and motioned for me to sit down. I smiled and took the seat he was holding out for me. He went to take the seat across from me but had a sudden realization.

“What would you like to drink? We have tea, soda and … water pretty much. Or beer.” He chuckled at me and I couldn’t help but laugh back.

“I’ll just take some tea.” He came back with two glasses of tea and sat them on the table in front of us before he finally took the seat across from me. He grabbed the bottle of Italian dressing, and I went for the raspberry vinaigrette. I went to pick up my fork to dig in when I saw Frank staring at me out of my peripherals. I returned his gaze and cocked my head to the side. “What?”

“So … I guess this is our first date.”

“Yeah. I guess you’re right.” I smiled and felt my face turn a shade of pink. He returned the gesture and lifted his glass to his lips, his piercing making a tinking sound as he took a drink. I turned my gaze back to my food and let my mind wander. This felt so natural, sitting at the dinner table with Frank. I let my thoughts go onto a tangent of Frank and me in our house, setting the table for dinner, yelling at the kids to wash up from playing outside. I was ripped from them when I heard a noise coming from the basement steps. I saw Frank turn to look in that direction as well. That’s when Frank’s dad came walking into the kitchen with a load of folded laundry in his hands. Crap, I forgot his dad was here. Judging by the look on Franks face, he forgot as well.

“Man, something smells good, Frankie. What’d you make?”

“Just some pasta. There should be enough for all of us …” His voice trailed off.

“Well, let me go put away this laundry and I’ll be right back.” His dad continued through the house back to his room. I looked over at Frank just as he was rolling his eyes. I couldn’t help but chuckle at him.

“So much for our date…”

“Oh, I’m sure it’ll be fine. Your dad seems nice.”

“No, he is. The moments just kind of … ruined though.”

“I’m sure there will be more opportunities.” I gave him a sympathetic smile. He finally smirked back and continued to eat his salad. I dug into mine, famished, just as his dad came back.

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Dinner went well, at least I thought so. I got to hear all sorts of stories from Frank’s dad about himself and about little Frank growing up. I caught glimpses of Frank’s face and noticed that he seemed a little embarrassed about some of the stories. I thought they were cute. I wish my parents were so happy-go-luck and got along with my friends … or me for that matter. I stretched in my chair feeling like I ate way too much. Frank stood up and started to gather everyone’s plates and bowls from the table.

“Oh, don’t bother with that, Frank. You made dinner, I’ll clean up.”

“Thanks dad.” He seemed relieved, almost as if he didn’t want to do it in the first place and it made me chuckle.

“You kids go on and find something to do. I can clean all of this up.”

“Thank you.” Frank and I made our way back to his room. When we walked through his door, he sauntered over to his bed and fell onto it in exhaustion. I walked over and lay next to him with my hands resting on my stomach. After a moment I let out a sigh and turned my head to look at him.

“Frank … we need to discuss something.”

“I know.”

“What am I going to do about my dad?”

He paused for a moment before shaking his head. “I don’t know.”

“Should I go back to my—”

“No! I don’t want you going anywhere near him right now. Not after what I did. What if he takes it out on you?”

I shuttered at the thought and wrapped my arms around myself. My mind was reeling. I had no idea what I should do. “So what, I would just stay with you?”

“Well … I mean … yeah, I was hoping you would. I understand if you’re against it though. There’s always your friend Lacy.”

I thought back to earlier that day and felt my skin crawl. She wasn’t my friend; not right now anyway. “No, I can stay with you. I don’t mind. I do need to get my stuff at some point. I’d hate to be stuck in this uniform for any longer than I have to.”

“Why, I don’t mind it.” I felt my face flush as he laughed at me. “Props to you, though. Whatever you were trying to do, it worked. I couldn’t concentrate on anything today …”

He brought his hand up to my face and I felt him move to my arm, slowly run it down the length of it. All the hair on my arms and the back of my neck stood up and I let my arms loosen their grip on myself and fall to my sides. His hand continued its tantalizing trail down my side, grazing the skin on my hip where my shirt had raised, exposing just below my navel. I felt all the muscles inside of me clench up as I turned to gaze at him. My breathing was in double time and my eyes were wide. I turned up on my side so we were facing each other, causing his hand to slide up and rest onto my other, now raised, hip. I could see his eyes were starting to cloud over. I couldn’t believe how turned on I was. I had never had someone looking at me with such desire and lust. I felt a mixture of fear, lust, and excitement run through my body, causing me to feel light headed. That’s when I started to feel bad ass Angela start to take over again. I clasped my hand over his and started to move it back up my side, dragging my shirt with it. Frank’s eyes blazed as his teeth grazed over his lip ring.

That’s when his phone started to buzz on the nightstand behind me. Whatever trance I was in, I was quickly brought out of it. Reality settled back in and bad ass Angela disappeared, leaving only me. I started to put things together again. Franks hand was just inches below my breast and my shirt was pulled up, exposing my stomach, and I had made him do that. His phone buzzed again. I shot up at the second ring and sat at the edge of the bed, my face an awful shade of red. Frank let out an exasperated sigh and crawled across the bed to his night stand to grab the phone.

“Yeah…Gerard, hey.” He sat up, running his hands through his hair. I could hear his breathing was labored. “No, I was just … I’m not busy now. What’s up?” The defeat in his voice was eminent. Whatever was going to happen, isn’t happening now.

I fixed my shirt and tried to calm myself down. What was going to happen? I know what I wanted … or at least I think I did. This is ridiculous. I hadn’t known Frank for more than a few weeks, and we’ve been dating for a grand total of three and a half hours. Talk about moving too fast. I could hear my subconscious booing me from somewhere in the corner of my mind. I quickly shut it out.

“A party tonight?” Frank looked over at me with a questioning looking. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll stop by. I let you know for sure later, ok? Alright, bye” He hung up the phone and stared at me. “So … you want to go to a party tonight?” He climbed off the bed and straightened himself out. I was still at a loss for words for a moment. How can he compose himself so quickly? I shrugged my shoulders and let my gaze fall to the floor. On their way down, I looked Frank over and couldn’t help but notice the slight bulge in his pants. I quickly looked back up at him. Maybe he hasn’t quite gotten over it. I swallowed hard and finally shook my head.

“Sure.” I stood up from the bed and made my way awkwardly to the door. Frank grabbed his keys and followed me. Before I stepped through the threshold, I felt his hand on my arm, turning me around. In moments, he had me pinned against his door frame, his body pressed to mine. His lips attacked mine greedily, and I returned his urgent plea. I felt him, his need for more, pressing against my thigh, and for a moment, I thought my legs were going to give out under me. I was thankful for him holding me against this wall in that moment. His lips moved down from my lips to my jaw line, then my neck. I couldn’t catch my breath. I felt his teeth graze my collar bone and I couldn’t stop the moan that escaped my lips. I thought about his dad just down the hall, and as much as it pained me, I was going to ask him to stop. Almost like he could hear my silent plea, he lifted his head from my shoulders, and let out a ragged whisper in my ear.

“What are you doing to me, Angel?”

My thoughts exactly…