Sing It for the World

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Six Months Later
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“I can’t believe we’ve finally made it,” Frank murmured into Aurelia’s ear six short months after they had reached Los Angeles. She grinned at his words and nodded before she pressed her lips against his neck softly, putting her hands on his hips and pulling him closer before she looked up at him.

“I know,” she whispered, grabbing onto him tightly. She couldn’t believe they were finally here, either. After so many horrible weeks of paranoia that someone was going to discover who she was and where she had come from, she was finally able to sleep easy at night without fear that someone was going to jerk her away from Frank, Gerard, and Ray and Mikey. She loved all of them, and she couldn’t imagine her life without her newfound friends. They were amazing to her, and the five of them had formed a sort of family with one another over the past few months.

A few weeks after Aurelia and Frank had moved into their apartment, there had been a knock on the door late one afternoon and it had come from the Los Angeles Police Department. Standing there with him were the two people Aurelia had never wanted to see again—her parents. She had no idea how they had tracked her down all the way in Los Angeles, but by the time they had found her, she was eighteen.

They had tried numerous times to try and force her into returning to New Jersey and they had attempted to find loopholes in the law that would allow them to take her home as well as press the highest possible charges against Frank and the others. It seemed, however, that the law was on Frank and Aurelia’s side. The police determined that she was competent enough even at the age of seventeen to decide who she wanted to be with, and they hadn’t arrested him on statutory rape charges like her parents had been fighting for. They also had tried to have the four of them arrested on kidnapping charges, but when they asked Aurelia what happened and she told them that she had come up with the idea and that she had wanted to go with them, they dropped those allegations too. Now, her parents were completely out of her life. She had filed restraining orders against both of them so that they couldn’t come near her, and Frank had done the same.

Ray was putting his EP out in a few weeks, and there was a lot of hype out there about him. He’d been booked at places like The Roxy and The Whiskey a few times, and he was getting quite a large gathering of fans. He was excited about his prospects in the music industry, and all of them were rooting for him and hoping that this EP would be the big break he’d been needing since Nashville.

Mikey had decided that he liked books enough that he was going to start writing them. He’d written all along, but never to the extent that he did now. He hadn’t sent anything into a publisher yet, because he wasn’t finished writing his book. He had decided that he was going to write a fantastical story, one about five superheroes sent to save the world. All of them were excited for him, and even though he was still an unknown writer in the world, they all knew he’d make it to the top of the New York Times Bestseller list someday.

Gerard was going to art school full time, as he had wanted to back in New Jersey. He was gaining recognition for his unique style, and his ability to put a story into a picture without needing to say a word. His most recent painting had gone to an auction for his school, and it had brought in a good enough amount of money that the school had offered him a full ride scholarship. He was set to graduate in a year and a half, and he was the happiest any of them had seen him.

Frank had gone back to Nashville to buy the guitar he had been telling Aurelia that he wanted to buy. Ray had brought him into the studio sessions a few times, and the producers of his EP liked him enough that they were using Frank as a backup guitarist on the album. He was content with this because he’d never wanted the limelight of being a musician of his own name, and he loved being able to jam with Ray. Aurelia spent a lot of her free days sitting in the studio with him, watching his fingers work across the fret board.

Aurelia had found a small college on the outskirts of Los Angeles that was interested in letting her into their veterinary program after they’d heard her story about Biscuit. They had let her in on a probationary status so that they could see if she had what it took to become a vet. They had been impressed with her work, and they’d accepted her into the college. She was now working a job as a waitress to put her through the schooling she’d need, and she was hoping that someday, she’d be able to open her own veterinary practice and animal shelter so that abused, stray, and abandoned animals would have a safe sanctuary that would take care of them. She hadn’t made it there quite yet, but she knew that someday, she would get there.

Today, they were all seated around the living room in Aurelia’s and Frank’s apartment. They now all had their own apartments, except for Mikey and Gerard, who still felt more comfortable living close by to one another. They still made an effort to spend time with each other, and they made time even when they were busy.

“Remember when we were on our way out here, way back before Nashville? When we stopped in Atlanta? I still have a picture of that kiss you guys had,” Gerard said before fishing around in his portfolio, pulling something out of it before handing it to Frank.

His face lit up when he saw the pure happiness and adoration he and Aurelia had for one another in the photograph. It was evidence of their love, and he couldn’t believe he had forgotten about the kiss. “I didn’t even remember that you had this,” he told his redheaded friend before looking up at Gerard, who shrugged.

“I keep shit like that,” he said before reaching to take it back. “I’ll make you a copy, but I need this one. I hear there’s a wedding that me and the guys need to start finding wedding presents for,” he said with a small, happy smile.

Aurelia beamed at her friend’s words, and then reached to pull Frank’s hand into her own. Frank had reproposed to her shortly after arriving in Los Angeles, because he hadn’t felt as if his first proposal had done her justice. He had asked her on the Santa Monica Boardwalk, with lots of people around and Gerard hiding in the crowd to take pictures of the moment that would last forever.

They were just in the beginning stages of planning, but she knew that she wanted a simple wedding with a simple theme. She and Frank had lived such outrageous lives in the last few months that something normal would be good for a change. She wanted to get married on the beach, barefoot in the sand with the tide washing up on her feet while she said her vows to the man she wanted to be with forever. Frank agreed that it sounded like a good plan, and they had decided to go that route.

“You know, I still haven’t figured out which of you is gonna be my best man,” Frank told his friends before squeezing Aurelia’s hand in his. “And ‘Rel still needs to decide who she wants to be her maid of honor.”

“Not it,” the three of them said, causing her to laugh out loud before she blushed when Frank leaned in and brushed his lips across hers. She never failed to feel breathless and amazed when he kissed her lips. He could make her feel so special, like she was the only woman on the planet that was good enough for him. He looked at her like he would love her forever, and she knew that that would be the case. With Frank, she knew she had found the forever kind of romance. They hadn’t managed to sing it for the world yet, she knew, but with the four of them by her side, she knew that they would.