You Give Love a Bad Name

Frank was not in school next day, or the day after that, or for the rest of the week. I didn't really expect him to be, anyway - his absence just made things a bit easier on me. My heart didn't have to rip in shreds every time I saw his angelic face and imagined him in the arms of another.

It was from Gerard that I heard the reason why Frank wasn't in school. According to my oldest brother, he was sick with the flu and could not go out anywhere because of his high fever. Seeing as Frank had an extremely weak immune system, It made sence.

I tried to push him out of my head, trying to destruct myself with friends and schoolwork, only succeeding during the day, seeing as Frank still haunted my dreams when I slept.

There was no doubt about it now; I liked Frank. I couldn't keep lying to myself anymore, couldn't tell myself that this 'stupid crush' would go away soon, because now I knew it wouldn't. I had made the biggest cliche mistake in the book; I had fallen for my best friend, and the only thing I could do about it was to keep my mouth shut and my feelings at bay, and hope that he wouldn't notice a thing.

Gerard and Mikey, seeing my discomfort and thinking it was because of my best friend's recent absences, tried to comfort me as best as it was in their abilities, telling me that Frank was going to be fine and that we would go and visit him when his fever was not as high. I would nod in response, burying myself in my work.

The snow kept falling, drawing icy designs on every window and gracing New Jersey with a blanket of cotton-white fluff. It was not uncommon now to see little kids having a snowball fight on every street, and almost every yard had it's own unique snowman.

Plagued with my own frustrating thoughts, I almost forgot to realize how beautiful everything around me transformed into, only stopping to admire my surroundings after a neighborhood kid accidently hit me in the back of my head with a snowball that was mean for his friend, as I was walking home from school on the second Friday of the December.

"Sorry!" the little boy yelled at me, craftily dodging a snowball that was sent his way by his friend.

I held up my thumb in a reassuring gesture, waiting till they ran past me to resume walking towards my house, but much slower this time, taking in my surroundings with interest.

I realized that the snow started to fall down in cold lumps, covering everything in sight with a powdery substance. The trees, stripped from their usual vibrantly-colored leaves, were now pearly-white, along with the houses, the cars, and the ground. Because it started to get dark early now, a lot of the lights were on in the houses that I walked past, making everything coated in a faint glow.

Still marveling at the beauty I failed to notice before, I walked to wards my house, feeling the snow crunch crisply beneath my feet as I pulled the scarf tighter around my neck, shuddering from the cold.

It was about ten minutes till my street and then my house came into view. As I slowly walked forward, it took me a couple of seconds to figure out why all the lights were off, save for the lonely one on the porch, which didn't make much difference since the glow that it emitted barely illuminated the door, never mind the whole porch. Mom was visiting one of her friends tonight, while Mikey was out with a couple of his friends. I thought of Gerard, but remembered that he called to say that he would be home around five or six, earlier on.

As I thought about the cold and empty house and what I would do for the rest of the evening, I almost didn't see the figure sitting on the foot of steps, head bowed and body hunched, almost like it was dreaming.

Feeling my heart beat a little bit faster, I took a step in the direction of my shadowy guest. "Hello?"

The figure ignored me, not moving a muscle or giving any sign that it heard me.

"Hello?" I tried again, taking another step forward. "Can I help you?"

Silence.

All kinds of thoughts ran through my head. Was it a robber? But what would he be doing here at such an early time? Was it someone who got lost and just wanted direction or to use the phone? But it's not like we lived in the stone age, I reasoned, everyone including your dog had a cellphone nowdays.

With the conclusion that it was probably one of my brothers' friends, I took a deep breath and tapped the stranger on the shoulder with an intent to tell them to come back later. "Excuse me?"

The sudden movement that his head made, snapping up faster than I thought humanly possible, made me gasp in alarm. But before I started to back up, the faint light from above reflected in the familiar eyes, looking at me with startled surprise.

"Oh," I breathed out in relief, trying to calm down my frantic heart, now trembling in my chest for a different reason. "You startled me."

Frank gave me a puzzled look, standing up and taking two earphones that I did not notice in the dim lighting out of his ears. "What?"

Feeling like a complete moron, I just shrugged pathetically. "Um, nothing."

As he continued to stare at me with a confused expression, I took the moment to my advantage so I could examine him myself.

Frank stood taller then me by a head and a half, wearing a thick jacket, dark jeans, snow boots, and warm-looking gloves. The bottom of his face, which was pink from the wind, was covered by a woolen scarf, so I could only barely make out his lip ring, shining from the navy-blue material.

Overall, he looked just like the last time I saw him, just a bit skinnier. His eyes were the same intriguing hazel and he still stood with the same confidence in his posture, but...it was the way he was watching me. Something had changed, but I couldn't quite put a finger on it.

After a couple of seconds, which felt like minutes to me, he finally cleared his throat. "Do you know where Gerard is?"

I almost laughed at myself. And here I was, thinking that he came to se me. "He's at school. He's going to be here in," I took my cellphone out of my jacket's pocket, squinting at the glowing numbers, "about fourty or so minutes."

His face fell. "Oh."

"But you can always wait for him inside," I offered, trying to sound nonchalant.

He looked at me again with a searching expression. He seemed to be having some sort of confrontation with himself.

Biting my lip, I looked down, drawing a circle on the freshly fallen snow with the tip of my foot over and over again. After a couple of silent moments, I heard him exhale.

"Yeah, okay."

I flashed him a quick grin and reached into my backpack for my keys. My eyebrows furrowed as I fished for the small, metal ring with a plastic heart. "Fuck."

"What?" Frank asked me, alarmed.

"I think," I dug my fingers deeper, going through my things, "I think I left my keys inside."

"Are you sure?" Frank was by my side, watching me rummage through the backpack. "Maybe you have them in your pocket?"

"I don't think so," I declared, checking my pockets just incase he was right. "No, they're not there."

We stood in silence for a couple of seconds before Frank's eyes lit up. "Do you guys have a spare?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "but Mikey has it. He lost his house key a couple of weeks ago, so he's using the spare till he gets a new one."

"So..." Frank trailed of with uncertainty.

"Yeah."

He was studying me again with a far away look in his eyes. It was like he was seeing right through me. Maybe his body was still weak from the flu and he was spacing out?

Speaking of...

"So, are you feeling better?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Yeah. Though I always feel loopy nowdays because of the generous amounts of cough syrup my mom forces down my throat," he laughed, for once looking at ease. "I'll be back at school by next week for sure."

"That's good. I'm glad you're feeling better," I smiled, beginning to trace the circle beneath my feet once more. "But you should go. You're very vulnerable right now."

He stopped grinning. "What?"

"The cold. You're still weak from the flu, so you might catch another," I gave him a weird look, almost mimicking his expression.

"But you don't have a key," he protested, his face relaxing, all traces of hostility gone, now replaced by his usual light and teasing nature. "I can't just leave you alone! If you get ass-raped by some pedophile, it'll be all on my shoulders. Your brothers would kill me."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't be silly - they wouldn't kill their guitarist. Because if you were gone, that means that Gerard would have to play, and, well, we all know what a great idea that is."

Frank laughed again.

It's not that my oldest brother's guitar-playing skills sucked, no, not at all - on the contruary, he was actually pretty good, it's just that he bitched and moaned when he messed something up, and that happened quite a lot when he was signing and playing. He said that it was because he could focus only on one thing at a time.

"I see what you mean," Frank nodded with amusement. "So, what are you doing tomorrow?"

"I am," I racked my head for a significant event that I knew I had, "I'm supposed to go dress-shopping with Melanie for the Winter Formal."

Frank's eyes widened. "But that's not till January!"

I shrugged. "Well, you know girls and their shopping."

Silence.

"So who are you going with?" Frank asked me with mild curiosity, watching as my leg traced the circular shape in the snow. "Logan?"

"Probably." I made my leg still and focused all of my attention on Frank. "And you?"

He looked sheepish. "Honestly? I have no idea. I haven't even thought about it till today."

"Oh."

"I'll probably get a tux and a date at the last minute like I usually do," he added with a grin. "You know me."

A small smile tugged at the corners of my lips. "I do."

Frank was about to say something else when the sound of an approaching car interrupted the stillness of my street. We turned our heads to see Gerard rolling up in to the driveway, waving his hand as soon as he saw Frank and me outside, which we both returned.

I waited till he was parked and outside before I threw a snowball at him. "We're locked out."

Scowling, Gerard wiped the snow from the sleeve of his coat. "What do you mean locked out?"

"She means that you should get you ass over here and open the door before we freeze to death," Frank offered with a smirk.

"You're lucky I got out early," Gerard grumbled, getting out his keys from his always-present black messenger bag. "Mikey's not going to be home for another two hours or so."

When we were inside and I turned on the heater, Gerard turned to Frank. "I see that you're feeling okay again. That's good."

Frank's face clouded as he remembered something. "Yeah. I actually wanted to talk to you about something."

After he was done taking of his shoes, Gerard leaned against the corridor's wall, crossing his arms against his chest with a pointed look towards Frank. "Yeah? What about?"

As I took off my scarf, I noticed that Frank shot an uneasy look in my direction. "I'll tell you tomorrow, after band practice."

Gerard shrugged and started to unbutton his coat. "Okay. It's at Ray's house, don't forget."

Frank nodded and turned to leave. "Later, man. Bye, Lena."

"Bye," Gerard and I said at the same time, watching as the front door closed behind our friend.

"So," Gerard turned to me, rubbing his hands with glee. "I have no homework today. How about we watch Saw?"

I grinned. "You're on!"