Take My Hand And Never Be Afraid Again

“Look babe, don’t cry. It wasn’t that bad” said Elena passing me a tub of ice cream and a spoon. “Frank probably has his reasons”.
Elena, Mikey and I were sitting in her kitchen on a Tuesday afternoon. If you could even call it a kitchen, it was so clean I could see my reflection on the freaking floor.
“Yeah, right” I scoffed. Today at lunch I had asked Frank where we stood with our relationship, if we were dating or if we were just friends. He replied just friends and then practically ran to get away from me. “It was the most embarrassing thing, EVER, Elena. The whole fucking school was watching me get rejected”
Elena rolled her eyes “Barely, Rose. It was only the people who sit at the bleachers.”
“Yeah, which included Jamia, I could see her laughing at me” I said shoving a spoon of ice cream in my mouth.
“I’ll kill her” said Elena which made me laugh and choke on my ice cream.
“Kill who?” asked Mikey as he sat down on the bench beside me. “By the way Elena, I’m coming here to use your bathroom more often, it’s amazing”
“Mikey, you’re a guy” I said pointing my spoon at him
“Thanks for noticing” he said causing Elena to laugh.
“Why do you think Frank doesn’t like me?”
“No he likes you, that much is obvious” he said, I must look confused because he sighs “Look I’m not a love guru, I don’t know his reasons for not wanting to date you but he definitely does like you. I thought you knew that by now. I mean, remember last week when he was about to have a smoke and then you told him not to and he put it back” I nod “Well nobody tells Frank what to do, seriously nobody.”
“Yeah, that was pretty strange. Not even Jamia could have done that and they were dating” said Elena and Mikey nodded. Boys were too confusing, thank god for ice cream.
“Whatever it doesn’t even matter now, I’ve ruined everything! We can’t even be friends either now, it’ll just be too embarrassing and awkward.” I groan “Oh my god I suck so bad!”
Elena and Mikey give me sympathetic looks and I sigh “You know what, I don’t even want to talk about it. I’ll probably just start crying. Where’s your mum, Elena?” I said between spoons of ice cream. I’d been at Elena’s every day after school since we’d made up and had only met her mum a few times. She was probably the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen and could easily pass for being Elena’s sister, if it weren’t for the 6 inch heels and expensive designer clothes.
“I don’t know, shagging all her boyfriends probably. Beats me.” Shrugged Elena and turned to chuck her spoon in the sink. The awesome thing about staying at Elena’s is that we never have to clean up, they have a butler called Tracey who cleans up after us and makes us like gourmet food whenever we’re hungry. “Do you want to stay the night Rose? Tracy can make us lobster or something”
“Fuck yes! I’ve never had lobster before. I’ll just go call my dad” I said and walked out into the foyer to use the phone. I could hear Elena and Mikey arguing about something in the kitchen, they were the funniest couple I’d ever seen. I walked back into the kitchen after I had called my dad and nearly passed out when I saw Frank standing there.
“Hey Rose” he said with a smile, I gulped.
“Um h-hey” I said, fuck, I was stuttering.
“Can I talk to you alone for a sec?” he asked and I nodded in reply, following him out to the dining room. Behind his back Elena and Mikey were giving me thumbs up, I groaned.
“So what did you want to talk about?” I ask as we both sit down at the dining room table, I sit opposite him, wanting to be as far from him as possible.
“I want to explain what happened today” he said
“You know what, don’t even worry about it. You don’t like me like that and you just want to be friends. I get it, message received, you don’t have to explain yourself.” I said standing up to leave.
“No wait, please don’t go” I slowly sit down “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I really want to go out with you but, the thing is Rose... I have a really dangerous job. I mean, if something went bad with a job and Brendon got mad, he would target the people closest to me... and seeing as I don’t have any family, it would be you.” I gulp “I really do like you, but I was only trying to protect you. It sounds fucking cheesy, but... that’s just the way it is.
“You didn’t care with Jamia though” I said quietly, hating the pathetic jealous tone in my voice.
“When I was dating Jamia, my job was way less important. I’d sell cocaine and weed at parties and to college students, to get some small cash but there are loads of people in Jersey who do that. It’s not a big deal.”
“So that’s why you had all that cocaine under your bed” I said, then regret saying it instantly.
“Yeah... How did you know about that?” he asks with a small smile, I blush and look down at the table.
“Don’t worry, just carry on” I said
“Well now I’m Brendon’s most trusted employee, I’m his right hand man. Therefore he gives me the most important jobs, the ones worth millions” I cough “Yeah, I know, it’s a lot of money, which makes it more dangerous and the police are the least of my problems. There’s more pressure now, if I used to mess up deals I’d lose like 100 bucks but now if I mess it up...” he looks down at his hands “Anyway, what I’m trying to say it that I’m not good for you Rose. I have no future, I’m stuck in Jersey with Brendon and I’ll only drag you down with me.”
“Why can’t you just... quit?” I ask and instantly feel stupid when he starts laughing.
“I should have, I could have gotten out of it if I’d tried a while ago. But now I’m in too deep, I know too much. I know what he looks like, I know the names of all the big dealers and I know where all the drugs are kept, so he keeps me by his side like a fucking Chihuahua”
I start laughing, I just can’t help it. “What’s so funny?” he asks with a frown.
“Sorry, it’s just the seriousness of the situation... Don’t worry...” I look down at my hands.
“So... You understand now right? I never want to be the reason you get hurt, it’s just easier this way” he said sadly.
“Frank, quite frankly” he starts laughing “Okay, that was a complete accident of a pun, I’m sorry about that. I don’t care that you’re a drug dealer, as long as you don’t do the drugs, you don’t do the drugs right?”
“Of course not, I’ve seen what they do to people. They ruin people’s lives.”
“Well good, then. But I know that you won’t let me get hurt, I trust you Frank. And I want to be with you, I don’t care about your job... I mean sure it’s bad, but I’ll be here for you. Always” I said and watched the smile spread across his face.
“Rose, would you like to go steady with me?” He asks as he gets down on his knee below me with a cheesy grin on his face. I take a moment and pretend to think about it.
“No”
“What? Why?”
“No”
“But you just said-”
“No”
“Why not?”
“I want to go on a date with you”
“Really?”
“Yes, a proper date”
“That, I can do. I’ll pick you up tomorrow at 8?” He asks standing up now.
“Sound’s good”.