A Kiss Before She Goes

Today was the day of the gig and the boys have been practicing every day for the past week. We were all nervous but we kept calm. We were at the venue setting up the equipment. I was sitting on the stage as the boy’s finished setting up the amps. Frank sat down next to me with a heavy sigh.

“Tired already?” I asked laughing softly.

“Hey, you didn’t carry those heavy ass amps.” He said running his fingers through his hair. I laughed rubbing his back.

“Hey you guys.” We turned to see Gerard behind us. He was wearing my jacket I gave him. “We have to go to the back because they’re going to open the doors soon.”

We got up and headed to the back where they had a small lounge for the bands to hang out. A guy came back after a while and told them they were going on in five minutes.

“Good luck you guys!” I said hugging all of them and kissing Frank. I had my camera that my dad bought me around my neck. I walked out to the bar and saw the place almost packed. We had asked a lot of our friends from school to come and I even asked Kyle to bring some of his friends. I sat by the bar waiting for them to go on. As I looked through the crowd I saw a familiar blonde in the crowd. I looked again and saw it was Brittany. I didn’t hate her, even thou I knew she hated me, but I just didn’t want her around the guys tonight. They always seemed upset when she was around. I ignored her for now and paid attention to the stage as the lights dimmed down.

The boy’s walked on stage and Gerard introduced themselves. The crowd cheered and they began to play. I couldn’t stop jumping up and down. The only time I wasn’t jumping was when I was taking pictures. I watched Frank play with such passion. I giggled as I saw the name that he put for his guitar. In big letters it read ‘Pansy’ around his guitar. They played five songs and when they finished the place cheered and clapped. I was so proud of them. They walked off stage and I greeted them at the back of the stage.

“You guys were great!” I yelled as Frank ran to me, picking me up and kissing me. ‘Ew, you’re all sweaty!”

He put me down and grinned. “Shut up, you like it.”

I rolled my eyes and hugged the rest of the guys. I helped them take the equipment off stage so the other band could play. Once we got everything down we went to the bar and had some drinks. Luckily Bob knew the bartender so we got free drinks all night. The other bands played and we sat around drinking with our friends.

“Hey Frank.” A girl’s voice said next to us. We turned to see Brittany. Everyone’s face fell.

“Hey Brit.” Frank said taking a sip from his drink. Everyone didn’t want to look at her.

“You guys were so amazing.” She said softly.

“Thanks.” Frank said still not looking at her.

“Can I talk to you for a moment?” She asked looking down at her hands. Gerard glared at her and we all wondered what she wanted. Frank looked at me like asking for permission and I just shrugged. I had no say what he could do or not.

“S-sure.” He said slowly getting up and walking away with her to the back of the venue. In the corner of my eye I could see them talking. He was rubbing the back of his neck and it looked like she was about to cry.

“I don’t trust her at all.” Gerard said looking at them talk.

“Yeah, why don’t you guys like her?” I asked taking a sip from my drink.

“She almost ruined Frank’s life.” Gerard said almost in a growl.

“She got him into a lot of man-made drugs like ecstasy, coke and acid. He would skip school all the time just to be alone with her at her house and he ignored everyone around him.” Ray said shaking his head remembering.

“She even almost got him to hate us.” Bob said.

“What?! How?” I asked shocked.

“She cheated on him a lot and when we tried to tell him the truth he didn’t want to believe us. When we confronted her about it she just lied and told him that we were the ones trying to break them up.” Gerard said finishing his drink.

“Wow.” I said softly. I can’t believe Frank went through all this because of her. Frank came back and sat down looking at his hands. We looked at each other, waiting for him to say something.

“What happened?” Mikey asked.

He sighed heavily. “She apologized for everything she’s done to me and for being rude at the Halloween party.” He paused looking at us. “She also wants to be friends.”

“No!” Gerard said raising his voice. “You can’t trust her Frank! She’s going to try to use you again.”

“I know but she seems like she’s changed and I feel bad for her.” Frank said.

“She’s just acting. She always does this.” Bob said.

“What if she tries to come in between you and Annie?” Ray asked.

“She’s not going to and if she does then I’ll get rid of her from my life for good.” Everyone shook their heads not liking the idea. I sat there in silence drinking, knowing I had no say.

“You don’t even consider Bella’s feelings.” Gerard said gesturing to me.

“Oh no, you don’t have to worry about me.” I looked at Frank. “If you believe she has changed then give her a second chance. I’m okay with whatever you do.” I wasn’t okay with it but he wasn’t my boyfriend so I couldn’t say anything. He smiled and hugged me, kissing me. I forced a smile and finished my drink.

It was 11:59 and we were all wasted by the bar. Frank had his arm around my shoulder to keep him from falling down. Everyone in the room began to shout.

“3, 2, 1! Happy New Year!”

Frank grabbed my face with both his hands and kissed me deeply. I held on to me so I wouldn’t fall back. As he pulled away, I stumbled back and went to hug the boys. I gave them all quick pecks on the lips except Ray. He was kissing a random girl and we all laughed at how unlike Ray that was. I hugged random people and we all drank a little more. The owner of the club was really nice and called cabs for some people to go home when it got too late. He let us crash at the back lounge since we had to all of our equipment here. Ray went home with the random girl that he kissed, named Krista. There were two couches and two reclining chairs. Frank and I cuddled together on one couch, Gerard on the other couch, and Mikey and Bob got the reclining chairs. We fell asleep pretty fast, dreaming of the New Year to come.

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Couple days passed and we were at the Way’s house. The boy’s just finished band practice and I made them some lunch. We ate and watched TV when we finished. As we were watching TV a commercial came on about a sale for furniture and it said that it was starting today, January 4. I looked at the screen puzzled.

I feel like there’s something important today…

When it finally clicked I jumped up, scaring the boys. “Today’s the 4th?!”

“Y-yeah.” Frank said scared.

“Sorry, I just realized something. I need to go make a phone call.” I said walking to the backyard. I sat on the lawn chair taking out my phone and looking through the contacts. I landed on his name, taking a breath before pressing send. I put the phone to my ear and it rang five times before someone picked up.

“Hello?” A deep groggy voice greeted my ears.

“You lazy bum. Of course you’d be still sleeping at this time on your birthday.” I said laughing softly.

“Rosa?” He was more awake now. I got chills as he said my name in Spanish. I sighed heavily, sad that he still had that effect on me.

“Yeah. Happy Birthday Jepha.”

“Thanks… To be honest, I didn’t think I would hear from you.” He chuckled softly.

“Well I’m not that mean. I still care about you…” I was whispering.

“…I miss you.” I felt my heart tighten in my chest.

“I miss you and the boy’s too.” I wanted to cry.

He laughed. “Yeah Bert’s going a little crazy without you but I’ve been trying to keep him in check.”

“Thank you Jepha. Did you guys get my gift?”

“Yeah we love it. Thank you.”

“No problem. Well I just called to say that and I hope you have a nice day sleeping.” I said laughing. “And don’t get too drunk.”

“Yes ma’am. Thank you.”

“Ok, goodbye.”

“Rosa?” He said softly.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for calling. It means a lot to me since I know we left off on a bad foot. I hope when you come back we can start over and be friends.”

I smiled. “Yeah I would really like that.”

“Good. I’m really happy now. It was good hearing your voice chica! Goodbye Rosa!”

I laughed, “Goodbye Jepha.”

I hung up and smiled at my phone. Even thou I still didn’t know where I was going to go when I finished school; as least things will be okay in Utah if I do go back. I got up and walked to the glass door, sliding it open. I could hear footsteps running and someone falling. I walked to the living room to see the boys still sitting there with looks that they’ve done something bad. I looked at them suspiciously and sat back down. I knew they did something.

*Frank’s POV*

After Rose scared us and excused herself to the backyard, we all got curious to whom she was going to call. We all got up and slowly walked to the glass door, pressing our ears to listen. We could hear her saying happy birthday to someone and laughing softly. I slowly moved the blinds so I could see her. She looked upset. It looked like she wanted to cry.

“I miss you and the boy’s too.” She said softly. I instantly knew she missed her old friends. My heart sank feeling sad for her. She hung up and looked at her phone. The look on her face made me get a little jealous. She seemed to be hypnotized by whatever they said.

Is it another guy?