Oh Baby Let Me In

January 10th, 2000
Saturday; afternoon

The loud bang from upstairs jolted me from my sleep, followed by Mikey’s loud voice; though I couldn't understand a word that he was saying.

I pushed myself up from my stomach to rest on my elbows; hand rubbing the sleep from my eyes as I yawned. Blinking a few times to clear my vision, I glanced over at my alarm clock; bright red letters shining 1:06 PM back at me. I chuckled to myself, not at all surprised that I wasn’t up before noon.

I throw the blankets off of my body, shivering when the cold air in my room hits my skin. There was a small breeze, and that was when I noticed that the window above my bed was still cracked from the night before. The craving for a late night cigarette was enough to get me to open the widow instead of going upstairs and out the front door. Apparently this is my reward for forgetting to shut it.

I will myself to get out of bed, knowing full well that once I made it upstairs, Frank will still be here. I grinned.

He was beginning to let me in; let me know what was going on inside of that pretty little head of his, and I was loving every minute of it.

I threw the covers back over my bed, attempting to make it look like I put some sort of effort into making the bed, before moving over to my dresser to grab a clean pair of boxers. I pulled off my current pair and skillfully launched them in the general direction of my hamper, and made it in with the flick of my foot.

I inwardly cheered as I pulled on the clean pair and moved to my closet; pulling the first pair of clean jeans I had hanging up.

The door at the top of the stairs slammed open, Mikey’s loud voice and equally loud footsteps followed. I backpedaled out of my closet, head poking out of the doorway and watched as Mikey and Frank make their way down the stairs and into my room. Mikey was struggling to balance an open binder in one arm; loose papers slipping from the pockets and flittering and floating down the remainder of the stairs, his backpack slipping of his other shoulder and knocking him off balance. Frank followed behind, eyes bright as he laughed at Mikey, with a brightly striped candy cane hanging from his lips.

I soon found myself staring.

“Jesus fuck, Frank! Help me, damn it!” Mikey screeched as his calculator slipped from the inside of his backpack and tumbled down the stairs. “Shit!”

I reluctantly tore my eyes away from Frank to raise an eyebrow at Mikey, reaching back into the closet to tug a random shirt off of a hanger and throwing it over my shoulder. I closed the door to my closet, arms crossed over my chest as they fully made their way into the room. Mikey dumped everything he was carrying on my bed, Frank following with the things he picked up along the way.

The door that the two forgot to completely close on the way down was fully pushed open, our mom’s voice filling the air in a hushed whisper. “Michael James! If I hear one more profanity fall from your mouth, I won’t be afraid to wash it out with soap!”

Mikey cringed, and Frank and I hid our laughs behind our fists.

“Now get up here quickly and help me with the snacks! The ladies will be here soon, and I need everything set up before they get here!” She finishes her sentence with the slam of the door, and I jumped at the volume.

“Christ, Mikey. You really pissed her off,” I stated, eyes drawn to watch Frank comfortably situate himself on top of my bed, legs folded underneath himself as he pulled the candy cane from his mouth; the end now a muddy color of the green, red and white stripes it used to be. He bit down on the hard candy, itty pieces sticking to his lips as he chewed.

I involuntarily licked my own lips, completely ignoring the whining and complaining from Mikey; his voice getting softer and softer, and soon the door at the top of the stairs slammed once more, and my eyes flew to the noise.

Mikey’s voice mixed in with our mom’s yelling, and I turned back to Frank who was now smiling up at me, with his lip caught between his teeth. I grinned back at him, tugging the shirt from my shoulder and pulling it over my head. I blindly made my way over to my bed, shirt not wanting to cooperate with me at all, and when I finally got it all the way on, I found myself standing right in front of Frank. He smiled around the candy cane he had stuck back in his mouth, with his hands fidgeting in his lap.

I reached down and took hold of them, entwining my fingers with his and squeezing gently. “Hi.”

He rests our hands on top of his legs, and he maneuvers the candy cane from one side of his mouth to the other with his tongue, and I find myself having a tough time breathing.

Frank shakes our linked fingers when I continue staring, and I blink idly before shaking my head and kneeling down in front of him. I smile, finding it hard not to when Frank grins at me like that. The plastic still wrapped around the ‘U’ of the candy cane crinkles as it brushes against Frank’s chin, and I unwrap my fingers from his hand to reach up and pull the candy from his mouth.

“Did Mikey give you this?” I question, scooting closer on my knees so my chest is pressed up against the edge of the bed; his own knees brushing the front of my shirt. He nods as I observe the candy cane in my hand.

“And he didn’t even give you peppermint?” My mouth drops in mock horror, and his mouth scrunches together, holding in a laugh that so badly wants to escape. “Peppermint in the ideal candy cane flavor, Frankie. You can’t have a fruity flavored one; that’s just horrible. I’d give you one, but my stash is long gone.” I sigh and shake my head. Frank giggles.

I lick my lips and examine the candy cane in my hand once again, and then look back up at Frank. “Mind if I taste?”

Frank shakes his head, his smile light, and his eyes don’t go wide until my hand wraps around his lower back, careful not to get the candy on his shirt, and my nose is touching his. “Thanks.”

I tilt my head and push forward, and it takes Frank a few seconds to wrap his head around this is what I meant by my previous question, and I sighed against his lips.

This really never gets old.

I pull back slightly, enough for Frank to see me lick my lips and ‘Hmm’ in wonder. I cock my head to the side and pout my lips in thought. “Cherry?”

I’m sure I’m able to see every single one of Frank’s teeth as he grins, and my heart melts because I was the one causing him to feel that way. He shakes his head, free hand reaching out to run along the collar of my shirt, and I flinch. He stops suddenly, and I chuckle and squeeze our linked fingers. “Tickles.”

Frank laughs, and instead of one finger, he lightly drags multiple across the side of my neck, and I jerk away from his hand.

“Don’t,” I attempt to glare, but the smile won’t fall from my face, and all that does is bribe Frank into doing it again.

My head falls to the side, and I raise my shoulder up to my ear to try and keep his fingers from attacking my neck, but all he does is free his other hand and reach for the other side. I move my arm from around his middle, and Frank watches me abandon his candy cane somewhere near my knees, and he just smiles before running his fingers over my neck.

I try not to let out the high pitched laugh I felt making its way up and out of my mouth, so I did the only thing I could think of to stop him. I pushed my mouth against Frank’s, instantly halting his fingers from doing any more damage to my neck. I lift myself off of my knees, pressing my lips harder against Frank’s as I lean into him, easing him back gently to lie flat on his back.

His hands move to grip my collar, fingers curling around the fabric as he pulls me close. His legs unfold from underneath him; feet flat against the mattress, legs slightly bent at the knees. My hand moves to his hip, fingers worming their way under his shirt to rest against his skin; tracing over the top of his jeans and he sighs against my lips.

Frank’s hands move to my neck before losing his fingers in my hair, and I groan against his mouth. He pulls back immediately, and I almost whine at the loss of contact. Both of our breathing is heavy and out of sync, and I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to kiss somebody as badly in my life as I looked down at Frank.

He looked worried, fingers still tied up in my hair. His lips were parted and stained red, both from what we had just been doing, and also from the fruity candy cane he had been eating earlier. I licked my lips and tightened my hand on his hip, drawing his shirt up slightly as I idly moved my hand over his stomach. Frank inhaled sharply, eyes flittering shut, and I shifted slightly to settle my leg between Frank’s; keeping myself up on my knees. I leaned down and pushed my lips to his again, free hand braced next to Frank’s head. My chest pressed against his, and the only sound filling my ears was the sound of rushed breathing out of our noses.

It was when Frank let out a small, barely audible moan against my mouth that I pulled back; eyes wide. Frank’s eyes were hazy, and his mouth was slack as he greedily sucked in oxygen. His fingers lazily moved through my hair, and he sent me sleepy smile. I groaned; low and deep in my throat, and my pants felt much, much too tight at this point.

My hand slid from Frank’s stomach back to his side, fingers gripping his hip tight as I lunge forward for another kiss, much more rushed and urgent. Taking the risk of attempting to move the kiss forward, I moved the hand resting by Frank’s head to press against his neck before I let my tongue wander and run along the seam of Frank’s mouth. His breathing hitched slightly, lips stalling quickly before responding and parting for my probing tongue.

My body shifted, pressing fully against Frank’s, and I just let myself explore his mouth. His chest was heaving, and his fingers had stopped moving in my hair as he put all of his concentration into letting his own tongue dance along with my own.

As much as I didn’t want to break up this amazing moment, I knew both of us needed air very soon, so I pulled back for a second. I let our ragged breaths mix and mingle on each others lips before pushing one last chaste kiss to his lips; lifting my body from his own to rest on my side next to him.

His fingers slipped from my hair, as my hand stayed under his shirt; resting against his side, and I let my thumb run along his hipbone. I rest my head against my outstretched arm, lips pressed against Frank’s shoulder as we both caught our breath.

“Frankie,” I mumbled, smile unable to leave my face. The same went with Frank as he tilted his head to the side, shifting his body so that he was lying on his side also. I watched a bead of sweat drip down the side of his face, and he reached up and wiped at his forehead with the back of his hand. “Oh, Frankie.”

He sent me a shy smile, eyes dropping to my lips quickly before moving back to my eyes. He hesitated for a second before leaning in and pushing a light kiss to my lips.

I sigh as he leans back, eyes slipping shut as my lips continue to stay turned up.

Frank scoots forward, his own hand moving to rest on my own hip, and our chests rest against one another’s.

“Strawberry.”

I let one eye open to watch Frank’s eyebrows come together in confusion.

“The candy cane. It wasn’t cherry. It was strawberry.”

Frank’s face lights up and he laughs, high and light as he nods. I grin proudly. “I think I should get a reward for guessing right. What do you think, Frankie?”

Frank’s face turns a pretty shade of red as he laughs, shrugging.

“Please?” I ask, fingers running along Frank’s side, and I can feel the goose bumps rise on his skin. He nods almost distractedly, leaning in towards my smiling mouth, but Mikey’s voice was suddenly filling the room as he opened the door at the top of the stairs.

Frank jerked backwards, hand slipping from my waist as his eyes go wide.

“Yes, Mom,” Mikey’s voice is annoyed, and I can see him make his way down the first couple of stairs, upper body leaned into the kitchen.

I lean right up to Frank’s ear, arm wrapping around his middle to hold him close. “You owe me that reward later, yeah?”

Frank’s smile was nervous, but still there nonetheless, and he nodded. I pulled away and quickly moved across the room to my desk, straightening my clothes along the way.

Mikey stomps down the rest of the stairs after he slammed the door at the top of the stairs for the millionth time today.

“Did you really need to slam it that hard again? You’re just pissing her off more,” I state, taking a seat at my desk to run my finger along the side of the cage that held my, still nameless, hamster.

Mikey mimics my words, rolling his eyes as he throws himself down onto my bed, landing right where Frank and I had just been lying. I sent Frank a smirk as Mikey mumbled into my bedspread, and he hides his smile in his arms that he had wrapped around his knees that were pulled up to his chest.

“Why is she freaking out so bad again?” I asked; remembering hearing her talk about some party she was going to be throwing very soon just the other day, but couldn’t for the life of me remember what she said it was for.

My hamster moved from his spot curled up in the corner of the cage to come and stick my finger through the small bars, nose twitching slightly before he wandered off to his water bottle. I turn my attention back to Mikey as he rolls over on his back, now half draped over Frank’s feet, and he sighs dramatically.

“I don’t know,” he stresses, arm closest to Frank moving to pat him gently on the cheek. “Some stupid party with way too much food, and stupid games with stupid little gifts for people who win the stupid games. Candles and lotion and other stupid stuff.”

It hits me in the middle of Mikey’s rant what our Mom had been planning for almost a month. “It’s Carly’s baby shower today, dipshit. She’s been talking about this for a long time, don’t you remember?”

Carly was my Mom’s sister and my aunt. She was expecting her second child in the next month or so, and Hannah was so ready to finally be a big sister to whatever her mom gives birth too. She secretly told me last time she was over; New Years Eve, that she wanted a little sister so she could dress her up like she did with her Barbie dolls.

Mikey scowls and shrugs agitatedly in my direction, sitting up and glancing at the clock on my bedside table. “Whatever, fuck.”

He shifts so he’s sitting next to Frank; both of their backs pressed up against my pillows, and he pulls the binder he was having trouble carrying down the stairs earlier into his lap. “She’s making me finish my homework before she lets me leave, and I really don’t want to sit around and deal with everyone who’s going to be here. Remember her last baby shower Mom put together for when Hannah was going to be born? We sat around and watched the video of my birth, Gerard. I am not reliving that ever again in my life. Ever.”

Frank snorted, and couldn’t hold back the loud, girlish giggles that escaped his mouth as he tipped over to lie on his side.

“Shut up!” Mikey whined, bringing the binder down on Frank’s hip, and when that failed to actually shut up his laughter, he dug his fingers into the spot right below Frank’s underarm on his side. Frank’s giggles stuttered and he squirmed away from Mikey’s fingers, ending up slithering to the opposite side of the bed, and almost falling off the end.

I smirked to myself as Mikey revealed Frank’s ticklish spot, as he had found mine earlier. I would so be using that in the future.

“Chill out, dude,” I laughed as Mikey glared down at Frank, retreating slightly to grab for his forgotten binder. Mikey had only been eleven when we watched the horrid video, and I don’t blame him for not wanting to watch it again, because I knew my Mom would end up breaking it out again.

I thank whoever was supposed to tape my birth, but forgot to actually record anything. I don’t think I’d be able to live through that.

Frank’s face is red when he sits back up, breathing labored from trying to escape Mikey’s attack, and he notices me smiling at him. He bites his lip and smiles back as Mikey digs around in his backpack for a pencil, muttering under his breath. I involuntarily frown, making sure Mikey’s occupied enough so he won’t notice, and I point to my lips and then back at him. I pout as he grins, sagging my shoulders, because I really wanted to kiss Frank again. It was starting to be my new favorite thing to do, and with Mikey in the room, I couldn’t do as I pleased.

Frank clicked his lip ring against his teeth, quickly glancing at Mikey still fighting with his bag, before pushing himself from my bed and moving across the room. When he reached me, he let his hand run across my stomach. My breathing hitched, and I watched him glance up at me from under the hair that fell into his eyes.

Mikey ‘Aha’d from his spot on my bed, finding what he was looking for in his bag, and Frank’s hand quickly retreated. He turned his attention to the hamster in the cage behind me, so I turned around to slide off the cover, pulling the squeaking animal from his hiding place behind his running wheel.

“I still don’t have a name for this guy,” I say, striking up conversation to make it look that that’s what had been the reason for Frank to venture over here. The small ball of fur was full of energy, and I could barely keep him from falling from my hand as I tried to put the cover back on the cage. Frank scooped him from my hand, letting our fingers touch longer than necessary, and cradled the little guy in both of his hands.

“Careful,” I warn, snapping the lid back into place and grabbing for the plastic ball for the hamster to run around freely in my room with. “He’s all nice for a while, and then sometimes, for no reason at all will bite me.”

“Name him asshole, then,” Mikey laughs, shaking his head down at the paper he’s scribbling on.

“Yeah, how about no,” I state, running my finger over the stripe across the hamster’s head.

Mikey shrugs.

One of Frank’s hands jerks away from the hamster perched in his other as he narrowly misses getting bitten. “See!” I proclaim, grabbing the animal from Frank and putting him in the colored ball so he could run around the room. “He’s evil.”

Frank is wiping the palms of his hands on his pants when he freezes, eyes lighting up to match his smile, and he turns to move back over to the bed. He snatches the pencil Mikey took so long to find, ignoring the protests, and grabbed my sketchbook still sitting on my bedside table. He flips to a clean page, and I move over to investigate.

He writes quickly; sketchbook tucked between his arm and chest as he scribbles.

Mikey snatches the pencil back when Frank holds it out to him, and my eyes go wide as I laugh at the name Frank wrote at the top of the page.

“Oh my god, yes,” I set my hand in the small of Frank’s back, leaning my head on his shoulder, taking a huge breath to ‘compose myself’. It was more for my own benefit at this point, because Frank kept pulling his bottom lip into his mouth, and it was driving me absolutely crazy.

“Nothing could beat asshole, so I don’t see why you’re agreeing to another name,” Mikey declares, flipping his binder shut and pulling out a bright blue notebook filled with loose papers.

My hand moves to wrap all the way around Frank’s back, settling on his hip, and I pull him against me as I grin. “Frankie’s a genius, but you won’t appreciate it.”

He raises an eyebrow in our direction, and I inwardly sigh as he brushes off how close we were standing to each other. “If he wrote down Spongebob or some shit, you’re right.”

“Close, but no cigar my dear brother!” I cheer, tossing the sketchbook in the general direction of his lap, and leaning down to pick up the newly named hamster as he rolled by in his ball; arm around Frank slipping slightly, and I almost laugh out loud at Frank’s expression as my hand brushes his butt.

I straighten up, moving my arm to wrap around Frank’s shoulders, quickly pressing my lips to the side of his head as Mikey’s eyes are distracted by the sketchbook in his lap. Frank shyly smiles back up at me, his face burning red.

“Mikey, meet—”

“Plankton? Who the fuck is Plankton?”

Frank laughs out loud, unfortunately slipping from my grip as he moves to lean over Mikey and grab my pajama pants lying up by my pillows. Amongst the cast of characters on my Spongebob pants was the little green, evil Plankton that my hamster was now named after. Frank pointed him out, and Mikey groaned.

“God, you guys are so stupid.”

++

“Gerard!”

My legs are soon wrapped up in a squealing Hannah, bright eyes staring up at me from behind brown, wispy hair. I grin, reaching down to pull her up into my arms.

“Anna love. I missed you so,” I twirl her around the kitchen, her laughter filling the room. She always smiled bigger, and laughed louder when I called her by the nickname I’d given her when she was little.

I prop her against my hip, her little legs wrapping around my middle. She’s wearing little blue jeans with a bright pink shirt that has ‘I’m the big sister!’ written in large black letters across the front. I laugh, tugging on the pink fabric. “Did Aunt Donna get you this?”

Hannah grins and nods. “She got it because I’m gonna be a good big sister, Gerard!”

I smiled, knowing my Mom would be the one to buy her something like this, as she wraps her small arms around my neck, chin resting on my shoulder as she squeezes tight. I hug back just as enthusiastically. “I know you will be, Anna love. You’re going to be the best big sister ever.”

Hannah pulls her head back, arms still wrapped around my neck, and presses her forehead against mine. “I’m gonna have a little sister, Gerard, I know it.”

“You do, do you?” I laugh, moving to join Frank, Mikey and the rest of the guests in the living room. She nods, face completely serious.

“Boys are icky. Except you and Mikey,” Hannah points out as we enter the room, loud conversation cutting right into her sentence. She leans close so her lips are right next to my ear. “Frank too. He’s not icky.”

I chuckle, glancing up to watch Carly and my Mom talk with Mikey and Frank, who actually seemed to look comfortable and at ease. “No, he isn’t.”

++

“I thought we were never going to get out of there!” Mikey shouts dramatically when he falls into the passenger seat of my car, careful not to shout it outside, for guests were still arriving.

I glace back at Frank in the backseat, wrapped up in his newest sweatshirt, and we roll our eyes at Mikey’s immaturity.

“It wasn’t even that bad, Mikey. You know you wanted to stay,” I chuckled as I started the car and pulled away from the curb. Luckily my Mom had moved my car this morning, or else we would have really been trapped in the driveway, surrounded by the guest’s cars. “Ms. Webber brought her daughter, dude. You totally loved her back when you were in the fifth grade. And good thing for you! It doesn’t look like she could beat you up anymore.”

Mikey splutters and tries to throw out insults, but all that comes from his mouth are angry puffs of air.

Frank snorts from the back seat, and Mikey reaches back to slap his leg. “Fuck off. I never liked her, ever.”

“Oh please, little brother,” I laugh, digging into my jacket pocket for my pack of cigarettes, shaking one to the top of the pack so that I could pluck it out with my lips. I turn around to face Frank as we stop at a red light, and I take the unlit cigarette from my mouth to talk. “He came home one night so thrilled because he got his first kiss from one Wendy Webber. She pushed him down the slide at the playground and he knocked his head on the ground when he landed. It was the only way she could get him to hold still long enough to plant one on him.”

“She was bigger than me,” Mikey whimpered and sank lower in his seat as Frank cackled from the backseat. I grinned back at him, winking when he bit his lip, and turned back to the road.

“If we’re done humiliating me,” Mikey huffs, crossing his arms over his chest. “Can you tell us where we’re going?”

I crack my window, lighting the cigarette I set between my lips again and inhaling deeply. “Well, I’m hoping Ray is home so we can go bother him. If not, that’s the only plan I had.” I blow the smoke out of my mouth and watch it float to the opening in the window to disappear.

Mikey perks up and grins. “Alright! I’ve never been to Toro’s yet. Need to so I can break something and piss him off.”

I laugh, resting the burning cigarette between my lips as I turn onto the highway for the short drive to Ray’s. “And you wonder why he’s never invited you over before?”

“I’m obnoxious and talk too much?” Mikey wonders aloud.

Frank claps from the backseat, and I choke on the smoke I’d just inhaled.

“I’m glad you agree. At least I know I’m occasionally obnoxious—”

“Occasionally?”

“--fuck you, and that sometimes I talk too much, but that’s okay. I know you guys still love me,” Mikey smiles over at me as I look over in his direction to change lanes to exit the highway.

I laugh along with Frank. “That’s exactly it.”

Ray’s apartment is only about a five-minute drive after exiting the freeway, and Mikey talks the entire time, just to prove the point that we won’t murder him for doing so.

I end up finishing my cigarette and lighting another before we even arrive because I kind of want to push him out the door, but refrain.

We park across the street from his apartment, and I stay put in the car, hand reaching in the backseat to stop Frank from exiting as well. I nod in the direction of Mikey, who’s still going on and on about stuff we don’t care about, and Frank raises his eyebrows. Mikey unclips his seatbelt and opens the car and his voice stops the second his feet sink into the giant puddle I’d purposely parked next to.

“Oh, you asshole!”

++

“I’m going to catch hypothermia, and its gonna be all your fault,” Mikey drones on as we trudge up the flight of stairs and to room A23.

“Quit whining. If you would have been paying attention and stopped talking for three seconds, you would have saw the puddle and skillfully avoided it,” I smirk, stopping in front of Ray’s door. Mikey blows off what I said, smiling as he steps up to the door and begins pounding with both fists.

I step behind him and slide up to Frank, wrapping an arm around his waist and pushing my face into his neck. I press my lips there, inhaling that intoxicating Frank scent, and pull back with a smile. He grins; hand resting on the small of my back as he quickly leans up to press his lips against my cheek.

Mikey’s pounding ceases when Ray’s loud, booming voice is able to overpower it.

“Who the fuck is being so fucking obnoxious?!”

I unfortunately am forced to step away from Frank with a small frown right as Ray whips open his door; his face flustered and glare set in place.

I grin sheepishly at him when he makes eye contact with me. “Surprise?”

Mikey slips right past Ray to venture on his own through the apartment, and Ray sighs. “There’s a reason I’ve never invited Mikey to my apartment before, Gerard.”

I shrug half heartedly, tugging on Frank’s wrist as I follow Ray inside to inspect the damages Mikey may have already done.

I step into the threshold, but Frank isn’t following. I turn back to the boy behind me, and frown. “Come on inside. When Ray gets angry at Mikey, it’s hilarious.”

Frank looked down at the ground, scuffing the toe of his shoe against the hideous orangey carpet lining the hall. He tugged lightly on my hand, stepping close enough to set it on his hip.

I realize our situation, and that this might be the only time for the rest of the day that we are without the presence of Mikey or Ray, and I use my free hand to quietly pull the door closed behind me. I scan down the hall quickly, and when there wasn’t anyone in sight, I wrapped both of my arms around Frank’s middle and pulled him against me. I leaned my back against the wall and grinned down at Frank as he cautiously let his hands slide up to rest on either side of my neck; fingers linking together behind my neck. He bites his lip nervously, taking a look himself down the long hallway before raising himself on his tiptoes to crash his mouth to mine.

My eyes fluttered shut and I waited for Frank to completely take initiative and lead the kiss, which only took a few seconds as he realized we only had limited time alone.

His lips were careful and just plain wonderful, and I groaned low in my throat when I felt his tongue tentatively brush against my lips. The sweatshirt Frank was wearing was too bulky, and his hips were hidden beneath too much fabric, and that just couldn’t happen right now. I let my own tongue wrap around Frank’s; kiss rushed and just a little messy, as we knew we really didn’t have the time. My fingers slipped under his sweatshirt and thin t-shirt, and finally brushed against his warm skin.

Frank shivered as I pulled all of the material that was in my way up, and let my hands run all the way around his waist; just skin and Frank’s whimpers.

Frank’s fingers were massaging the back of my neck, his chest rumbling as he groaned; my own fingers digging into his hips as our kissing became more frantic.

The sound of breaking glass, followed by Ray’s bellow and Mikey’s high pitched ‘Whoops?’ halted every wonderful thing Frank had been doing, and it was my turn to whimper.

“Let’s just,” I swallow, pushing my face into Frank’s neck to press open mouthed kisses right below his ear. “Go. Let’s just go. Go somewhere not here.” I chuckle, breathing heavy.

Frank laughs, choking slightly when I begin to nibble gently on the side of his neck. His breathing speeds up even more than it already was, and I stop to move my mouth to his ear. “Can I-- Is it okay if I do that?”

Frank swallows hard, and nods instantly. I push my smile into his neck.

“Holy shit! Ray! Your apartment has a hot tub?!” Mikey shouts from inside the apartment, and I perk up.

“Yes,” I can hear Ray stress. “And if it will chill you the fuck out, that’s where we’re going. Right now.”

I grin down at Frank. “Please. Please tell me you’re not afraid of water or have a crazy hot tub fear, because if you did, I think I’m going to die.”

Frank’s lips turn up into a smile, and he shakes his head.

I tug him into the apartment and find Ray and Mikey standing in the living room area, picture frame lying in pieces on the floor.

I carefully avoid stepping on any pieces of glass, speaking almost hurriedly.

“Hot tub you say?”