Make Me Better

I was finally starting to get the hang of college classes, I had trained my mind to not wander off, I was finally starting to pay attention to whole lesson, but not today. My mind was all caught up on tonight, even though I was sure I wasn't going to make it. I was happy that Frank was in town but it was a bit nerve wracking because we hadn't been in contact for over a week. I snapped my mind off of it and went back to jotting down notes on my paper. My first class was over & I was making my way down the hall,thinking of a way to kill time before my second class. My phone started to buzz, and I slipped it out of my pocket, it was Lindsey.

"Hey."

"So, can you get out of work tonight?" I sighed a bit, I guess I could try to ask for the night off but then that meant I wouldn't have a legit reason for not showing up to the show.

"I'm not sure."

"You work at a bookstore for crying out loud, it isn't like its going to be super busy on a friday night, " She had a good point and I laughed a bit at her statement.

"Yeah, but I can't afford to miss work, I really need the money." I was telling the whole truth there. I was only getting paid 8 bucks an hour and it wasn't like I worked long hours. My parents were kind enough to pay for most of my schooling but I felt a bit bad about it. So I started to save my money little by little and it came in handy, I could pay for my own gas, buy books for classes I needed, and I had a bit extra for myself.

"Just try!" She pleaded. I told her I would but I was lying.

~

It was 5 and my shift started in 10 mins, I pulled into the mall parking lot and made my way to the bookstore. I had put my phone on silent, I didn't want to get guilt tripped by Lindsey. As I was pushing the small cart contained with SciFi novels through the aisles of books, I kept glancing over at the clock,wondering if they guys were performing yet. I reached my aisle, and put the books away by author. I enjoyed my job not only because it was easy but because it was peaceful. It gave me a chance to think things over. I was glad that I had such a huge load of books to put away because it kept my mind off the whole Frank thing.By the time I was done with the SciFi books, it was 8. I wouldn't dare look at my phone, I was afraid to see missed calls or countless texts.
I was walking towards the Children's section of the bookstore, picking things off the floor and putting back on their assigned shelves. The store was fairly empty, probably because it was Friday and it was almost closing time.

"Olive." I didn't turn around right away, because I really didn't want to. I groaned quietly and set the stacks of books on a nearby table before I turned around. Frank was sweaty and his hair was a mess. It looked as if he got done with his set and came straight here. His expression was hard to read,I couldn't tell if he was upset with me or happy.

"Hey." I mumbled, dipping my head a bit, letting my hair fall around my face, making a shield.

"How come you didn't show up?" He asked. I frowned at the ground, I looked up slowly. Making eye contact with him, for a moment we just stared at each other.

"You didn't even tell me you had a show here," I said quietly, mostly because I didn't want my boss or coworkers to hear me, I was supposed to be working not talking to my boyfriend, "Lindsey had to tell me."

His eyebrows rose, the look of surprise on his face, "Maybe I would have told you if you bothered calling me."

I sighed a bit, looking around a bit, making sure no one was paying attention to us. "So what? I'm the one who has to call all the time?" I whispered. I walked closer to him, just so that I was sure that he could hear me.

"I'm busy, okay?"

I was a bit offended, was he really that busy that he couldn't even call to check in? I turned on my heel and grabbed the books off the table, gripping them tightly.
"I have to get back to work." I said firmly. I was actually off in 10 minutes but I wasn't going to bother telling him that.

"Fine, i'll wait."

I groaned a bit, "Really? You aren't busy?" He glared a bit and shook his head. I was sorta hoping that Frank would leave, I didn't want to talk about this, not at all.

When my shift was over, I slowly grabbed my bag and headed towards the front of the store. Frank was sitting there, flipping through a magazine. He spotted me and set it down before standing up. Ok, I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. I wasn't going to help this situation if I was pissed off, I was going to try and work this out like a normal,calm, adult.

One thing was for sure, I wasn't going to say anything first. It was quiet as we walked through the now,almost empty mall.

"So?" I broke the ice, because in all honesty the silence was making me nervous.

"So what? If you weren't going to show up earlier tonight, were you even going to give me a call?" I was quiet for a moment because I probably wouldn't have called.

"Probably." I shrugged. "But how come I'm the one who has to make the first move, why don't you ever call me?"

He shrugged, and I felt a bit uneasy about the whole situation. I got that he was tired from touring and maybe he actually didn't have time to call me but he wasn't saying that, which made me think of worse scenarios.
We were in the parking structure and I was walking slowly, trying to remember where I parked my car.

I turned around quickly, facing Frank, I got a rush of confidence. "I'm busy, too, you know? I'm going to school full time and I have a job, in between all my class work and working I still found time to call you and when I did you never seemed interested." I pouted a bit before letting out a sigh and going back to trying to find my car.

"You trying to make me out as the bad guy?"

"I don't know, Frank." I rolled my eyes, 'I'm just so tired, okay? I'm stressed out and the last thing I want to be doing is arguing or doubting our relationship. We can drop this conversation and vow we'll try harder to keep in touch while you're on the road, or we can keep going around in circles and blame each other for our lack of communication."

"Fine." He mumbled.

"Fine, what?" I questioned.

"What do you think, you dork?"

I turned my head so that I could see him, "Don't call me a dork!" I protested.

He had a smile on his face, his eyes twinkling in the crappy light from the parking structure. He closed the space between us, pulling me closer to him. His hands were gripping my waist tightly, I was wiggling around trying to get out of his hold.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

I rolled my eyes a bit, "Really?"

"Yes, really." His other hand traveled up, pressing into my lower back.

"You're gonna have to prove it, Iero. I expect to talk to you everyday for more than a minute, and this time at least try and sound interested in the things I'm talking about."

"Deal." He pressed his lips against mine quickly. It was a short kiss and I whined a bit when he pulled away from me.

"I have to go." He mumbled.

"Where?" I asked quietly.

"We still have a couple shows left."

"Okay, where do you need me to drop you off?"

"At Gee's house."

I nodded, reaching over to grab his hand, leaning my head on his shoulders as we walked towards my car.