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

Ben had registered the add-on thing for the phone while Hannah and I were out. He gave me the number so I could tell James, and then left me to sort the rest out myself. Annoyingly I keep forgetting the time difference, so with it only being 5:45 James would still be in school. I sighed and realized I would have to wait until at least 9 when our school had lunch, and I’m pretty sure that after lunch today we normally had a free period anyway, so he should be ok to talk then.
I switched on my laptop for the first time since I had arrived, and started trying to sort out some of my stuff, and unpack a bit more while I waited for it to load. I eventually got it up and running and typed in the password that Ben had also given me, so I could use the internet. I checked my emails, finding two from my dad, saying pretty much everything he had in the texts. There was one email from Tre, whining about how grumpy my dad was being and how much Frankito is missing me. Most of the others were junk emails and a couple of discount emails for online stores.
After I had gone through, reading and deleting emails, I decided to go downstairs and sit with the guys for a bit, while I waited for the time to pass before I could call my friend. Hannah and Ben were cuddled up on one sofa, whispering to each other. Lee was laid out on the other sofa and Justin was sitting in the one other remaining chair. Joe was sitting on the floor in front of the TV, with the guitar controller for World Tour, desperately trying to make it through the song. When people saw me walk in, Hannah and Ben looked up and smiled, before going back to their whispering, Lee sat up so that I could sit down next to him, and Justin gave me a nod and said hello before going back to watching Joe failing his go at Guitar Hero. Joe had yet to notice me, what with being so wrapped up in the song.
“Your hair looks really nice.” Lee murmured to me as I sat down next to him. I smiled and felt myself blush a little. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer. At least he didn’t do the corny yawn and stretch to put his arm around me, he just did it.
“Where’s Stoo?” I asked. All the other guys were here, so I assumed he probably should be as well.
“He’s still at work, or he’s on his way over anyway.” Justin told me.
“Where do you guys all work?”
“That douche over there.” Justin said throwing a balled up piece of paper at Ben’s head, “Works for some shitty analyzing company. I work in a shoe shop. Joey down there is an editor; he probably works the hardest out of the lot of us, when he is in work. And Stoo is a teacher; he teaches kids with mental disabilities and stuff.”
“Oh, cool.” I nodded. “What do you do?” I asked Lee, realizing that even with the conversation we had over dinner, I still hadn’t asked him yet. He started to answer, only to be cut off by Joe yelling.
“I knew there was a fucking reason why I don’t play guitar in our damn band!” he shoved the guitar across the floor and folded his arms in annoyance. Everyone just laughed at him before going back to talking as they had been before.
“I work at HMV.” Lee told me. “The discount is awesome, and bands quite often do signings there, so I think I’ll stay working there for a while.”
“Well hey; there are certain things you just can’t say no to aren’t there.” I laughed.
We carried on talking about random things, and after about half an hour we were having a massive conversation with Justin and Joe about movies, mainly having arguments about certain movies, where one or two liked it but the other didn’t.
“Joseph Lanigan! You’d better fucking love me!” Stoo yelled as he finally walked into the room about 45 minutes later. He was carrying a massive bag with something box shaped inside.
“Ooh ooh ooh! What have you got me?” Joe bounced up and down on the bean bag in excitement.
Stoo handed him the bag, and we all watched as Joe ripped it off, he was like a little child at Christmas! His eyes widened when he pulled out the Guitar Hero: World Tour full band kit; including a drum kit. He opened the packaging quickly and ignoring the guitar, microphone and the other disk, he pulled out the drum kit pieces and started putting it together immediately. He got it set up in record time and restarted the game.
“Stoo, I fucking love you!” He exclaimed loudly.
 
Another half hour later, Joe was happily tapping away on the drum kit, finally managing to finish a couple of songs.
“Frankie. Your go!” Stoo told me.
“What? No I’m ok thanks.”
“No no! It’s your go! You, like Joe, tried to use the excuse that you can’t play Guitar Hero, because you’re a drummer. Well, you no longer have that excuse so get your arse over here and play!” He said, grabbing my hand and pulling me away from the sofa where I was still sitting with Lee.
I reluctantly sat at the drum kit and scrolled through the songs trying to decide what to play. I finally settled on Paramore, Misery Business.
Wow! I actually finished a song, and my score wasn’t too bad either. I got 96% notes hit.
“Oh. So you are better on drums then.” Stoo said when I handed the sticks back.
“I’ve been playing since I was like 9. Well properly. I think I had one of those little kids drum things when I was little.”
“And you’ve been taught by the best!” Hannah smiled. I shot her a look, and she suddenly realized what she’d said. Only three people knew who I actually was, and I didn’t need any more questions.
“Huh?” Justin asked.
“Oh the drum teacher dude at our school. My old school. He was awesome…” Hannah explained. Quick thinking on her part. The guys all nodded in understanding.
“I think we should have Guitar Hero battles!” Ben exclaimed, thankfully changing the subject.
 
It was about 9:45 by the time we had all finished our battles, and we were all deciding what to do next. Stoo decided it was time to start heading back so he went, taking Justin and Lee home on his way past. Hannah was staying here for the night, so she was still sitting with Ben on their sofa. Joe was watching TV, and I had decided I should ring James.
After I had dialed his number I sat at the table in the dining room and waited for him to pick up, just listening to the strange beep instead of the usual ringing.
“Hello?” he finally said down the phone, sounding slightly unsure.
“James. Its Frankie.”
“Oh hey! God you’ve been ignoring me!” He exclaimed.
“I haven’t I swear.” I insisted. “I haven’t had my phone on. I’m sorry Jay Jay.”
“I guess I’ll have to forgive you for that. But I don’t think I can forgive you for abandoning me in school. It’s like hell! Not to mention the continuous questioning from your dad. I don’t know how long I can keep up the lie Frankie.”
“I know. I’m sorry, I will talk to him eventually. I just… I can’t right now.”
I heard James sigh.
“So what’s it like over there?” he asked after a few seconds.
“It’s great actually. It’s a lot colder, mainly in the evening. But other than that… I really like it.” I admitted.
“You… You like it? Please don’t tell me you’re staying? I mean… You’re going to come back right?!”
“I’m sure I will. But maybe I’ll stay a bit longer than I originally planned. I’m going to start looking for a job tomorrow.”
“But… I don’t get what makes it so amazing!”
“Neither do I…” I shrugged, despite not being seen. “It’s great hanging out with Hannah again. And Ben and Joe, the guys I’m living with, and Stoo and Justin, they’re in a band and they’re just great to hang out with. And then… then there’s Lee.” I mumbled.
“And who’s Lee?”
“He’s… I don’t know really. He’s Justin’s stepbrother. And we went out to dinner the other night. And then today we just like… cuddled up on the sofa and stuff. But it’s not like we’re exactly official.” I felt myself blushing. Thank god no one can see me.
“Ooh. Frankie’s got a boyfriend, Frankie’s got a boyfriend!” he sang childishly.
“Oh shut up!” I laughed at his stupidity.
Our conversation carried on pretty much the same way our conversations always did. It made me feel slightly better, having spoken to him. I didn’t feel quite so homesick now, even though I still miss Joey like hell, and even my dad and of course Mike and Tre. I told James the number of the phone I had called him on so that if he needed me he could actually get hold of me. We had talked for about an hour and a half, and it was only when we finally said goodbye and hung up that I realized how tired I actually was.
I went back into the lounge to find that Joe had already gone to bed, and Hannah and Ben were watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It was only about half way through, but I wasn’t planning on staying up. I said goodnight to them both and then went up to my room. I noticed the standby light on my laptop was still on, meaning I’d forgotten to switch it off earlier. As I tapped a button to bring the screen back on, I saw an orange flashing at the bottom of the screen. I completely forgot my messenger automatically logs itself in when I switch my laptop on and it finds an internet connection! I looked at the username, it was simply; MD. That was Mike then. I opened the window and read the message.
 
MDSays:

Hey kid. I know you probably won’t reply, so this is probably a waste of time. But I thought this was as good a try as any. We understand that you’re pissed with us. But please, running away is not going to help any of us. Your dads going nuts back here, Joey’s not talking to anyone. Tre keeps complaining that there’s never anyone fun, and Frankito and Stella keep saying they want you back. We are all freaking out over this. And we just wish you’d come back.
If it really means that much to you, we won’t do it again. We just wanted to get back into it because we missed it all like hell. But if it’s too hard for you to handle we’ll stop again. And we’ll stop if that’s what it takes to bring you home.
Please just think about it…
 
MD is offline

I read through the message slowly, and then re-read it again afterwards, before simply closing the page and shutting my laptop down. I was surprised that it didn’t make me cry, it was the first time I’d had a message like that, especially one telling me how badly Joey was coping, that I hadn’t actually cried.
I know he said they’d stop if it would bring me back. But I actually like it here; I don’t want to go back, at least not just yet. Maybe that’s why I didn’t cry….
I got changed and fell into bed, letting myself fall asleep without even thinking again about the message from Mike, or anything back home. It was probably the best night’s sleep I’d had since I arrived in London.