Tales Of Twisted Faith

We were on the bus again. We were on our way to some place on the other side of Illinois, I think. Alastair was with us, I invited him. He agreed saying he would rather be around people his age than with the rest of the merch crew, who are all in their late twenties, excluding Lyle. Jason was back in his bunk doing hell knows what, Myriam was sitting in the booth with her face dangerously close to a notebook, Frankie was sitting on a couch next to me reading a book and Alistair was trying to have a conversation with me, but I kept getting distracted by his sudden changes in languages.

"Halt den mund Jade. Really just let me talk," Alistair sighed.

"I'm sorry, it's just so amusing how you don't realize when you switch languages on me," I grinned.

"Das ist so dumm," he looked at me, expecting me to know what that meant. When I supplied no response he sighed. "That's stupid."

"Oh, ha ha, it's not stupid," I said poorly immolating him. "Do you want some lunch, Alistair?" He nodded as I stood up. "What do you want?"

"Alles andere ware in ordnung," he said smiling.

"Why do you have to speak so differently? Can't you tell that no one knows what you're talking about," Frankie practically screamed causing many of the people in, and out of the room to look at him. "Couldn't you just try to talk like an American rather than speaking in German? Goddamn," he screamed before stalking off to our bunk room.

"I better go talk to him. Myriam would you entertain Alistair for a moment?" She nodded still in shock from Frankie's outburst. I headed off to our 'room' stopping outside the door.

"And then, and then, he just, he just, just, ah it's just so frustrating!" I opened the door to see Frankie stop mid-pace, hands in the air. "What do you want," he glared icily.

"I want to talk to you, okay?"

"No," he said still glaring at me.

"Could you give us a minute Jason," I asked looking at him. However my tone was not a question it was more of a demand.

"Sure," he said getting up off his bunk and walking out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"What do you want Jade?"

"Will you please tell me what that was all about?"

"He just, ugh, he comes in and can sweep you off your feet so easily. I've been trying so much and he just has to come in say a few words in another language and you're there," he whispered extremely quiet.

"Frankie," I asked quietly. It was a small word that held so many questions and not enough answers.

"Jade," he whispered before roughly, yet still very gently, pushing me backwards. Before I was even down, Frankie's lips were on mine pushing them smoothly, they were provoking mine, trying to get them to move back. "Sorry," he stammered, swiftly getting up and running from the room.

I sat there a minute in shock. After regaining myself, I shakily stood up and walked from the room. The first thing I noticed was that Frankie wasn't there. I slid into the booth sitting next to Jason.

"So how'd it go," Jason asked taking in my appearance.

"He kissed me," I blurted. Like I said, I don't beat around the bush, but usually I'm more graceful than this.

"Finally," Jason said rolling his eyes. I ignored his comment; he wasn't taking this as serious as it was.

"He did," Myriam asked with wide eyes. I nodded slowly.

"Wait, you two aren't 'going out'?"

"No Alistair. The whole reason he kissed me is because you were 'coming onto me'," I sighed.

"Verdammt, warum wurde ich schamlos flirten. He should've come to me, punched me or something. It would've been easier for you," Alistair ranted. His words got all tangled together as he got angrier, mixing both the languages. Although I didn't understand hardly anything he said, it made me feel comforted, but at the same time I felt the need to defend Frankie. It was all so overwhelming that I was about to cry.

"Can I speak to Jade a moment," Mikey asked stepping up to the table.

"I'm coming Mikey," I said standing up. We walked into the room for my band. Mikey closed the door behind us.

"Are you alright Jade? Frankie told us what happened. Frank got mad at his son, Gerard got protective, Bob and Ray were indifferent, and me, I wanted to make sure you were okay. So are you? He didn't hurt you, assault you, freak you out," Mikey asked like a caring father.

"He freaked me out. I didn't know what he was doing. I'm okay now, I just want to make sure Frankie's alright," I sighed looking up. In the end Frankie took over rather than myself.

"He's worried sick about you. He wants to tell your dad what he did, next stop he will. He also wants to distance himself from you until we get to the next venue," Mikey sighed looking at me.

"Why distance himself," I asked calmly.

"So that everyone has time to cool off."

"Oh, Alistair and I can go to Dad's bus until we get there. Alistair could even get back on his bus. Will that help Frankie? I'll ride with Dad," I said thinking through all options. "Can you tell him?"

"Yeah, are you sure you're okay? You seem too calm," Mikey pointed out.

"I've got Mom's 'chill out during a problem' gene, not the 'laugh at uncomfortable times' genes from Dad, and neither of them got the normal 'freak out' gene. It's all good," I smiled widely.

Mikey laughed, "you are one funny person Jade."