When Did Your Heart Go Missing?

My mom is an alcoholic. She's been an alcoholic since...

Okay, I lied to you. About my dad. I overheard a phone conversation once about him. My mom was talking to my aunt. My dad, apparently, left her to raise me by herself when I was born. She spends most of her nights drinking herself to sleep and...beating on me. Unless she has had a good day at work or she claimed to be in love. That's what it's been like lately. She doesn't talk to me about it but she's found herself a man and she's left me in peace.
But that doesn't stop alcohol from disgusting me.

We spent most of the afternoon circling the mall. Getting kicked out of music stores, comic book stores, even lingerie stores. When we got back on the limo, Kelsey told us about the...the drinks.

"There's plenty of shit at my house," she said. "The maid has two weeks off and my parents are off on some business trip, so..."

"You have a maid?" Mikey asked. Kelsey nodded.

"Will you marry me?" Bob asked her. We all laughed.

"Frank!" Gerard said suddenly. I brought my attention to Frank.

"Yeah?" Frank said.

"Did you...you know...did you do it?"

"It was horrible, dude."

"That sucks," Ray said, shaking his head slightly.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. Frank looked out the window.

"None of your business, little girl," Gerard said. I looked around. Bob, Mikey, Ray, Gerard and Frank all looked around awkwardly. Sarah, Kelsey and I exchanged confused looks.

"We're here, children."

Mikey and I chuckled. The driver liked calling us "children". I ignored the fact that all the guys were keeping something from us girls and eagerly waited to get out of the car. When the limo came to a slow stop, Frank was the first to get out. I noticed something weird about him.

"Frank?" I said. I stepped out of the car and was again amazed by Kelsey's front lawn. Her house was four times the size of my house. Frank paced quickly to the front door while everyone slowly followed.

"Frank, are you okay?" I asked, once I was close enough for him to hear me. He turned to me and gave me an obviously fake smile.

"I'm fine," he said.

"Move!" Kelsey said, pushing through all of us. She pulled a key out of her pocket and put it in the keyhole of the large wooden door. She opened it to let us into her too-large living room, complete with a wrap-around couch and a chandelier.

"This place will always look new to me," Ray said, gaping.

"Dirty little rich girl," Sarah and I spoke at the same time. We smiled and high-fived each other.

"Can we go in the pool?" Bob asked eagerly.

"No," Kelsey said. We all groaned.

"What can we do, Kels?" Mikey asked.

"Fuck. Drink. Fuck. Which is your favorite?"

"I like all of them," Gerard said. He received punches from Sarah and me and applause from the other guys.

"How 'bout a movie?" Frank asked. Everyone looked around at each other and sort of agreed.

"Follow me to the illegal substances!" Kelsey said. Everyone besides me and Frank followed Kelsey into the kitchen. He looked uncomfortable.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked again, just to make sure. He gave me a small smile, a real one this time, walking toward me and placing his hands on my hips.

"So long as I'm with you," he said softly. He leaned down and kissed me on the cheek. I smiled helplessly and tried not to melt. Because I knew how he felt. I felt the same way with him.