It's Not A Question But A Lesson Learned In Time

“Frankie?”
I groaned, pulling the bed covers up over my head.
“Frankie. Get your ass up now!” I heard Hannah shouting at me.
“Go away. I want to sleep.”
The covers were suddenly ripped away and pulled to the other end of the bed. I simply curled into a ball to try and stay warm. Damn cold British weather, I was not used to this!
“Come on! Its half one, I’ve got the afternoon off and we’re going to the movies!”
I finally opened my eyes; they slowly adjusted to the bright light flooding the room
“You’re lucky I don’t sleep naked!” I glared at her. She just stared me down in return. “Ok. Give me forty five minutes. I need a shower.” I mumbled grumpily.
“Ok fine. But I swear if you aren’t ready then I’ll flush the toilet on you!” she warned me.
I reluctantly sat up and stretched as Hannah - now happy that I was actually getting up - left my room and went back downstairs, leaving me to get ready.
I took my time in the shower to start with, before remembering Hannah’s threat. I finished up quickly and went back to my room to get changed. I changed into a white t-shirt with a silhouette of two hands in the shape of a heart on the front, and a pair of plain black skinny jeans. It only took me fifteen minutes to dry and straighten most of my hair; I didn’t really bother to do it properly. I picked up my phone, still leaving it switched off and my wallet, leaving most of my money tucked away in my duffle bag. I wasn’t planning to get anything while we were shopping; I needed to keep my money going for as long as possible.
“Francesca Charlotte Armstrong! You have exactly three minutes to get your butt down here or I’m dragging you down myself, whatever state you’re in!” Hannah yelled up the stairs. I appeared at the top of the stairs, ready to go and she simply looked up at me in shock. “Damn. That backfired.” She sighed as I walked downstairs.

We went to see Finding Nemo. We may be seventeen and eighteen years old, but we still enjoy awesome kid’s films. We walked back up the road we had walked along before the film, quoting as much of the film as we could remember and getting the weirdest of looks off of every other person who walked past us. As we got nearer the end of the street Hannah decided she wanted to do some quick shopping, which I knew, in Hannah terms, would not be quick.
“Ok. I’m done.” Hannah finally announced after what seemed like an eternity of shopping. It had, in reality, only been about thirty five minutes, but for someone like me, who hates shopping with a passion, it seemed like years! I silently thanked god when she said this. “So, want to grab some coffee?”
“Sure thing. It’s better than traipsing around another shoe store with you.” I smirked.
“Hey. Just ‘cause I like shopping and you don’t! That always was a downfall in our friendship wasn’t it bud.” She chuckled as she grabbed my arm and dragged me towards a Starbucks that was about a hundred meters up the road.
“Can I get an Iced Café Latte, and a Mocha Valencia please?” I said to the guy behind the counter in Starbucks, after scanning the board on the wall. Hannah had gone to secure a table for us while I ordered.
“That’s five-twenty-five then please.” The guy informed me.
“Thanks a lot.” I gave him the money and picked up the two cups, carefully taking them to where Hannah was sitting. “One Iced Café Latte.” I said as I sat down opposite her.
“Tar very much.” She nodded to me as she picked it up. “So, what are your thoughts of London so far?”
“Err… Well its cold.”
“Oh yeah.” She chuckled. “That does take a bit of getting used to.”
“But no… I mean. Not that I’ve been here long, but other than the cold, it doesn’t seem too bad. It’s just kind of nice to be away from home for a bit.” I mumbled. I think Hannah knew by now not to ask too many questions. While James is the only one who knows pretty much everything that is going on or has in the past, Hannah has a fair idea of how complicated it is, so she doesn’t usually question it anymore.
“Yeah. See. I told you it wasn’t that bad a place.” She grinned. “How’s Joey? You’ve not said anything about him in ages!”
Oh god. Talk to me about my dad, about my home, about California, anything like that and I can cope. Ask me about Joey though, that just reminds me of what my dad said. I already felt tears filling my eyes, just about to brim over, no matter how hard I tried to stop them I knew I wouldn’t be able to.
“Hey. What’s wrong? Is Joey ok?” She asked, her worry very apparent in both her tone and her face.
I opened my mouth to reply, but I couldn’t. I bowed my head slightly, looking down at the table to avoid eye contact.
“This is about why you left, isn’t it?” Hannah asked, finally cottoning on to the situation. I simply nodded. She stood up and grabbed my hand. “Come on. We’re going home. I’m not about to make you sit in the middle of Starbucks like this.”
As soon as we got back to Ben’s house, Hannah unlocked the door and practically pushed me into the lounge.
“Ok come on kid. Spill, what’s going on?” she asked, her eyebrows furrowed as she was still confused with everything.
I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down a little before I started what was sure to be a long explanation. I knew I would have to start at the very beginning. Start with my mom, and what actually happened just over two years ago.
“It kind of goes back to when my mom died. It didn’t exactly happen how everyone thinks…” I began.
Throughout my entire explanation Hannah didn’t say anything she just nodded in understanding and remained patient when I started to get too choked up to speak again.
“…So when I found out they were doing it all again… I don’t know. I just flipped at him. And then for a few days we were either arguing constantly, or not talking at all. And I know it was probably a stupid decision, but I thought if I could just get away, even if only for a little while, it might just help both of us. You know, give us both some time to calm down and get our heads back to normal.”
Hannah stayed silent for a minute or two longer, just mulling over what I had said.
“I don’t think it was a stupid decision exactly. Just maybe not the best one to choose.” She said slowly. “Ok. I’m not even going to pretend I know how you’re feeling right now, because I really have no real idea. I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose your mom, especially in that way. And I’m not trying to take sides here, but here goes… I know that you must hate your dad because he’s doing this whole thing again, but if you try and look at this from his side, firstly, this was something he absolutely loved doing, and for a very long time, that’s all he really knew. So to just give that up completely when your mom died must have taken a hell of a lot of courage. He gave up his whole life because of that, and he had to look after you and Joey and try and support both of you, after quitting his job.” Slightly annoyingly she was making sense. “I know it’s probably still so hard without your mom, but as hard as it seems, you do have to move on with your lives at some point. If you just keep living in the past you’ll regret it later. You’ve all got to do it, so why can’t your dad start now? Doesn’t he deserve to be happy and have another chance to do that one thing he loved more than anything else? Except you, Joey and your mom obviously. And I know this is probably the least important thing on your mind right now, but what about school. You left not long before your finals!” She added. She was right. Everything she said was right, and there was no way I could deny it. I was just being selfish; I was so blinded by the anger and hatred I had for him at first that I couldn’t just see that it was actually me being stupid and immature. A fresh wave of tears flooded my eyes, and I felt Hannah’s arms pull me into a tight hug.
“I don’t really care about school. I know what I want to do, even if it is contradicting myself. And school doesn’t come into it.” Hannah knew what I meant. I wanted to do what my dad had done; I wanted to be in a band. But I wouldn’t do it the way he had. Nothing even close…
“Ok, how about. You stay here for a couple more days, let yourself calm down a bit, and then when you feel up to it, you can give your dad a ring, just talk to him and you’ll sort it out in no time.”
I nodded, still not able to say much.
“Thanks.” Was all I could manage.
“No worries. I think you need to talk about this stuff more. Keeping it locked up clearly isn’t helping is it?”
“No. I guess not.”
“Listen I think you need to take your mind off it for a little while. Go get ready to go to Highbury. We’re going to watch the band.” She smiled. I nodded and wiped my eyes. I think that’s exactly what I needed.
As I was trying to find something to wear I was going over what Hannah had said. She had said a lot of what James had said. So why did I listen more to her than to James? I mean, James is my best friend, and I know he’s trying to help, just like Hannah is. Maybe it’s just because Hannah isn’t as involved. James has known everything for a long time, but Hannah has only just been told everything, maybe it’s just easier because she has the overview of it all. Or maybe that’s just stupid.
I decided continuously mulling it over was not going help so I focused on finding something to wear.
“Frankie? You ready? We’ve got to get over there early to get wristbands or we’ll get kicked out at eleven” Hannah said, knocking on my door and pushing it open. She stopped and took in my appearance. I was wearing a blue and black stripy shirt with a black heart on the front, and was done up with a bow around the back of my neck and a pair of faded black skinny jeans with ‘The Who’ converse.
“Nice outfit.” She nodded in approval.
“Thanks.” I smiled
“So you ready?”
I nodded, grabbing my phone, wallet and my black and white plaid hoody and following Hannah downstairs.