This Moment was Held for Me

Surprisingly when I arrived home that night, Mom wasn’t too angry at me. She told me to finish off any homework and get to bed.
The next morning I woke up before my alarm clock. I felt refreshed despite my late night. I walked out the gate to find Moo lying on her belly soaking up the morning sun.
“Hello baby,” I cooed to her as I patted her stomach. I couldn’t resist using a baby-talk voice when patting my cat. “How are you bubba? Are you lying the sun? Yes you are!” Moo looked up at me and purred. “Who’s a cutie?” I continued. “You are! Yes you are!”
Suddenly I heard a snigger and looked up to see Frank leaning against my fence.
“How are you bubba,” Frank smirked.
“Shut it, Iero. I happen to find my cat cute.”
He laughed, “Oh don’t worry, I can see that.”
I folded my arms, “So what are you doing here anyway?”
He grinned, “I was actually just taking a walk around the block and stumbled upon you here.”
“You live close to here?”
He nodded, “A few streets away.”
I couldn’t help but think how convenient it was to have a beautiful looking boy living so close.
I unfolded my arms and walked towards my gate, “Well seeing as you’re here, you may as well walk me to school.”
He grinned, “I guess I could do that.”
I unlocked the gate, picked my school bag back off the ground and said goodbye to Moo…much to Frank’s amusement.
Frank and I walked side by side along the footpath.
He breathed out, “Man, I’m so glad I’m no longer in school.”
“It’s not too bad. But I can’t wait until freedom. Only a few more months are I’m finished!”
“It goes quickly. I remember last year saying the same thing,” he said as he scuffed his feet.
“So what do you do now that you’re out of school?” I asked.
He shrugged, “Whatever I feel like. That’s the beauty of it.”
“Aw, how poetic.”
He giggled, “Has anyone ever told you that you’re sarcastic?”
I rolled my eyes, “You have no idea how many times.”
He nodded, “Oh right, controlling mom would probably take care of that.”
“But seriously,” I said pressing for more information, “What do you do during the day?”
He seemed thoughtful, “I guess I play a lot of guitar. I work every day too. I work at that camera place but it’s pretty shitty, so I also have a part time job at this bar. I organize the gigs.”
“Really? That’s awesome!” I said.
“Yeah, it’s kind of like the bar you were at in that tape.”
“Rics bar?”
He nodded, “I used to go there really often. I enjoy that underground bar scene. Gee and I used to hang out there a lot on weekends.”
“Amanda and I go to Rics bar every weekend for the gigs.”
“Yeah?” he looked up at me, “Well you should come to the bar I work at. It’s called The Cave. We could watch a show together.”
I smiled, “I’d like that.”
We both stopped walking as we realized we had reached the school gates.
“Hey, I better go,” I said hurriedly. I didn’t want to risk my Mom driving past the school on her way to work and seeing me chatting friendly with a boy she didn’t know.
He looked sort of surprised, or maybe disappointed, “Oh sure,” he said awkwardly.
“Thanks for walking me.”
“Anytime,” he replied.

During math class I received a text from Amanda. It read “I saw you with Frank. Did you boink him?”
I had to stifle my laughter. Amanda had a tendency to be crude when it came to boys and romance. I ignored her text and decided to wait until lunch to chat with her.
Amanda found me in our usual lunch spot.
“Did you get my text?” she asked slyly.
I rolled my eyes, “Nothing has happened.”
She grinned, “Nothing has happened, yet.”
I laughed, “Yeah yeah. I guess it’s pretty obvious to you that I think he’s attractive.”
“Yeah and I think he thinks the same about you,” she said.
“Really?”
“Fuck yeah! Don’t you remember him moving couches to talk to you during the movie?”
I smiled, “Of course I do. I didn’t think you noticed.”
She tapped her temple, “Amanda knows all.”
I laughed, “You freak.”
We continued to chat and laugh. She gushed about Gerard. She said that last night he called her and they spoke on the phone.
“I really hope you guys get together. I think you’d be a good couple,” I said.
“Me too! He is seriously an amazing person.”
“He’s really talented, isn’t he?” it was more than a statement than a question.
She nodded, “Incredibly so. I mean, he’s good at singing and he’s good at art.”
“We should watch them play sometime,” I said.
She took a bite of her sandwich, “Yeah, I’ll ask him about it,” she said with her mouth full of food.
I laughed, “Well I hope you don’t ask him like that; with sandwich rolling around your mouth.”
Amanda laughed so hard I thought she’d choke on her bread, “Sorry,” she breathed out, “I’m just really excited when we talk about him.”
“Anyway, speaking of bands, Frankie mentioned he worked at this bar slash club type place.”
“Frankie?” she echoed, “Are you guys on nickname basis?” she said whilst wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.
I hit her shoulder playfully, “Dude! Pay attention to what I’m saying. Your teenage hormones are out of control.”
She giggled, “Okay I’m sorry. It’s just so exciting. I mean, they like the exact same things as us, they go out to concerts, they’re funny and they’re really good people. It’s exactly what we look for in guys!”
I smiled, “They’re definitely really awesome.”
“Oh!” she said realizing that she’d sort of interrupted me, “I’m sorry, what were you saying about Frank’s work place?”
“Oh yeah,” I remembered what I was saying, “He invited us to visit the place he works, The Cave. So maybe this weekend instead of going to Rics we could go to The Cave?” I asked.
She grinned, “Definitely.”