Roses are Red, Black Eyes are Blue

The remainder of the week went by in a flash for Anna. She was having so much fun hanging out with Frank almost every day and playing with the school orchestra. And to top it all off, her dad was letting her visit with her mother again. Finally Friday arrived and Anna was about to fly off the walls with the amount of excitement she felt for her weekend plans. She was practically bouncing in her seat at lunch and Frank couldn’t help but laugh.

“Alright, little bunny rabbit, what gives? What’s with all the bouncing and shaking?” he asked as he stole a bite of her untouched sandwich.

Anna smiled widely at him before answering him. “I’m going to stay with my mom this weekend. My dad has been on the fence about it all week, but he told me this morning that mom is going to pick me up after band practice. I think she threatened to take him to court for custody again if he didn’t let her have her visitation weekends,” Anna finished, making a contemplating face. Anna shrugged and picked up her sandwich, finally taking a bite and not caring that Frank had stolen a big chunk from it.

Frank smiled in return and nudged her with his elbow. “That’s awesome Anna. So does that mean if I wait for your practice to end I can finally meet her?”

Anna blushed as the thought of her introducing a guy to her mother entered her thoughts, quickly to be brushed away and pushed to the back of her mind. “Sure, if you really want to,” Anna said quietly and busied herself with eating potato chips.

“Of course, I’m dying to meet the woman that you got your craziness from,” Frank said, dodging the punch Anna threw at his arm.

******

That day, practice seemed to take a lot longer than usual, making Anna almost impatient to hurry up and finish. Every time there was a mistake and the teacher made everyone start over, Anna had to suppress a loud groan. Once practice did finally end, Anna quickly packed her things and headed out the door, almost crashing into Frank who laughed and followed his friend to the gate.

“Are you sure you want to wait with me?” Anna asked, taking a seat on the bench placed just outside the school gates. “You might miss the bus.”

Frank plopped down next to his friend and threw his arm over her shoulder, something that he had grown accustomed to ever since they had gone to the movies on Monday. “It’s fine Anna. If I miss it I’ll just call Gerard and get him to pick me up. We have practice tonight anyways.”

Confused, Anna asked, “Practice for what?”

Frank looked surprised. “Did I seriously not tell you? I’m in a band with Gerard, Mikey, and Ray. It’s nothing really big yet, but we’re working on it.”

“Seriously?” Anna shouted, leaning closer to him excitedly. “Can I come and watch you guys play at some point?”

Frank smiled and replied, “Well yeah, I was going to make you watch us at some point. You can come to one of our practices next week if you want, but are you gonna be ok with Mikey being there? I mean, he’s our bassist and all that, so he has to be there in the room.”

Anna’s smile fell as she remembered why she hadn’t hung out with Frank’s friends since her first week back. “Oh yeah. Well, I guess we’re gonna have to get over it at some point. I mean, it happened years ago, and you said that he’s not angry, so I guess it will be ok.” As Anna finished speaking a car pulled up in front of the two and honked its horn multiple times. Anna looked up quickly and a wide smile broke out on her face again. “Mom!” she shouted as she ran to the car and the woman getting out of the driver’s seat.

“Annie!” the woman shouted and threw her arms around her daughter, hugging her tight. “Oh Annie I’ve missed you! I swear if your father pulls that crap again I’m going to take him to court! How dare he try to cancel our visit twice in a row!” she shouted as she looked down at her smiling daughter.

“I missed you too mom!” Anna said and hugged her mom again.

Frank smiled at the scene in front of him and stood from the bench, walking over to the two women.

“Who’s your friend, Anna?” her mother asked, spotting Frank approaching them.

“Oh!” Anna said as she remembered his presence. “This is Frank Iero. Frank, this is my mom, Angela Kelly.”

Frank extended his hand to shake hers and smiled politely. “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Kelly. Anna has told me a lot of wonderful things about you, and I just had to meet you.”

Anna rolled her eyes and thought, “Wow, what a suck up,” as her mom smiled and shook Frank’s hand.

“So you’re Anna’s friend?” Angela asked, obviously intending the question to mean more than just what she asked.

Anna blushed and opened her mouth to answer but Frank cut her off. “Actually, I’m her super awesome best friend,” he stated and switched out his polite smile for a goofy one, throwing his arm over Anna’s shoulder and pulling her into a half hug.

Angela observed Frank with his goofy smile and her daughter who was beginning to blush. Finally she smiled at the teenagers and clapped her hands together happily. “I’m so happy Annie was able to make a friend so quickly! I was worried about her dad moving her again, but I guess it really was for the best,” she said, relief showing on her face. “Well, Anna, we need to go if we’re going to beat the traffic. Do you need anything from you dad’s house?” Angela asked, turning her attention to her daughter.

Anna smiled and picked up her messenger bag off the ground. “Nope, got it all in here.”

“Alright, well then let’s head out. Frank, it was very nice to meet you and I hope to see you soon,” Angela said as she climbed back into the car with her daughter.

Frank smiled and waved, stepping away from the car. “Thanks Ms. Kelly. Hope to see you soon, too!” he called over the sound of the engine. Anna waved excitedly as her mom pulled away from the school and soon the car was gone, leaving Frank alone on the sidewalk.

He sighed and pulled out his phone, dialing Gerard’s number. “Hey man,” he greeted when his friend answered, “I need you to pick me up from the school. I was hanging out with Anna and I missed the bus. There won’t be another one for an hour and a half.”

“Well, I’m busy with something, but Ray’s here, so I’ll send him,” Gerard responded.

“Ok, thanks man.”

“No problem,” Gerard said and hung up.

Frank sighed again and sat back down on the bench to wait, already missing his new friend.

******

After going back to her mother’s house and dropping off her stuff and changing, Anna’s mom took her to a local ice cream parlor for a treat. They sat across from each other in a booth, talking about everything new that had happened to Anna since the move.

“So when we have our first concert, will you come see it?” Anna asked, knowing the answer.

“Of course, sweetheart. I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”

Anna smiled and took another big bite of her banana split, remembering the nickname Frank had given her. Almost as if it was on cue, her cell buzzed on the table. Anna picked it up to see she had a new text message waiting to be read. She flipped the phone open and saw that it was from Frank.

“Hey little Banana,” he had written.

Anna giggled quietly and began to text back, “Well hi there, Frankie.” She closed her phone and set it in her lap, looking back up to see her mom looking at her with a knowing smile. “What?” she asked innocently, blushing slightly.

“I’ve never seen you text anyone, Anna. I bet it’s Frank, isn’t it?” she asked, smiling mischievously.

“I text you all the time,” Anna said defensively, avoiding he mother’s question.

Angela’s smile widened even more and she replied, “I’m your mother, I don’t count. So what did he say?”

Anna frowned at her mother and was going to change the subject when her phone buzzed again, sending a new wave of heat flooding up to her face. Anna picked up the phone and flipped it open to read her new text.

“I miss my Banana :( The guys are being really boring and junk,” Anna read, trying not to smile as she imagined Frank’s pouting face.

Anna heard her mother clear her throat and she quickly typed back a message. “Well tell them to stop,” she typed and the flipped the phone shut quickly, looking back up at her mother.

Angela smiled at her daughter, whose face was still pink with embarrassment. “Frank’s a really nice boy, Anna. I approve of him.”

“Approve? What’s that supposed to mean?” Anna squeaked out, looking at her mom like she had just grown a second head.

“It means I think you made a good friend,” Angela explained and laughed at her daughter.

“Oh,” Anna replied simply, beginning to calm down.

“He likes you, you know,” Angela said, taking a bite of her sundae.

“What? What the hell makes you say that?” Anna shouted and then looked around quickly, remembering that she was in a public place.

Angela laughed loudly at her daughter’s reaction before smiling at her warmly and answering her. “The way he looks at you, the way he pulled you close when he hugged you. And the fact that he’s texting you only three hours after you left. And besides, what’s not to like about you?” she answered knowingly, taking another bite of her treat.

Anna felt her face turning red again and wondered if it would actually catch fire at this rate. “Mom, we’re just friends-”

“Best friends,” her mother cut her off, smiling.

“That is still a form of friend. It would be weird if we were dating,” Anna said as she fiddled with her fingers, ignoring her phone buzzing again.

Angela’s smile widened and she gave her daughter a look like she had trapped her in a corner. “I didn’t say anything about dating; I just said that he liked you. Obviously you’ve been thinking about this on your own.” Anna’s eyes widened and her mom laughed and continued, “Besides, if I remember correctly, your boyfriend in middle school started out as your friend.”

Anna frowned and looked down at the table, remembering the situation she was going to have to deal with back home if she wanted to hang out with Frank’s friends. “Yeah, well, that didn’t exactly work out perfectly, now did it?”

“Of course it didn’t. You were in middle school. How could you have known anything about the concept of love? But you’re older now, more mature. Your brain, heart, and hormones aren’t arguing constantly about what you feel.”

“Oh my god, Mom, please stop talking about this,” Anna begged as she rested her head on the table, trying to hide from the conversation.

Angela laughed again and finished off her ice cream, standing to throw away the cup. “Fine, we don’t have to talk about this anymore,” she pouted, “but you know I’m right.”

“You act like such a child sometimes, Mom,” Anna told her and stood to, taking the last bite of her split on her way to the trashcan.

“Yes, but you love me for it.”

Anna rolled her eyes at her childish mother but smiled anyways, because she was really happy to be spending time with her again.

******

“Banana says to stop being boring and entertain me!” Frank shouted at his friends as he read off the text he had just received. He waited for a response, but no one moved except for Mikey who simply left the room. Frank made a pouty face and texted Anna back, complaining about his friends some more.

“Frank, we need to talk. Kitchen now,” Gerard said as he set down his controller and Ray picked it up to continue the game.

Frank shrugged and followed him into the kitchen. When they reached their destination, Gerard turned to his friend and said, “You gotta stop breaking my little brother’s heart.”

Frank stared blankly at Gerard and then asked dumbly, “Are you saying Mikey has a thing for me? Since when did that happen?”

“No you idiot! He still likes Anna. He’s been moping around here ever since you brought her here and then started spending every fucking day with her. At first I just thought he’d get over it, but now it’s starting to bug me.”

Frank scowled at his friend. “What the hell do you want me to do? Stop hanging out with her? Pretend like I never met her?”

Gerard sighed, realizing that the situation wasn’t exactly going in a positive direction and that his friend’s temper was getting the best of him again. “Chill dude, I’m not saying any of that. I just want you to not mention her so much when Mikey’s around; he doesn’t have to know what happens every moment that you hang out with her. And bring her around more; he feels like you’re trying to keep her from becoming friends with him again. That’s all I’m asking, I don’t want this putting a strain on our friendships or our band. Alright?”

Frank nodded and smiled slightly at Gerard. “Yeah, man. I can do that for you. Sorry about upsetting Mikey, I didn’t think it was going to bother him that much.”

Gerard shrugged and leaned against the counter, grabbing an oreo out of the cookie jar next to him. “So do you like her?” he asked suddenly, catching Frank off guard.

“What? No! I mean yeah, but as a friend,” Frank said as he stumbled over his words.

Gerard laughed and ate the cookie in one bite, shaking his head and heading back towards the living room. “Whatever you say, Frank.”