Thank You for the Coffee

Gerard took a deep breath as he stared at the submission slot. This is what 3 years of college had all amounted to, and he was a little scared to take the last step. He had spent the morning putting all of his pieces into a suitable presentation folder, making sure all the annotations and footnotes were correct whilst trying not to worry too badly about how Frank was doing in his interview at Rutgers. In one way it had been perfect that these two events would occur on the same day, but in another it simply meant that they were worrying about each other instead of being able to concentrate fully on their own situation.

Thankfully Frank had reported back that all had gone well. They had spoken to him briefly about why he dropped out before, obviously angling as to whether he was cut out for life as a student, and why would we not assume that you’ll do the same thing to us on the music course? However when he took a deep breath and told the whole story like he had to Gerard, it could only lean in his favour. He had first-hand experience with being a performer, and he had negative experiences with a record label on which he could build his own knowledge to improve his own treatment of bands, should he be lucky enough to get that far one day – and Gerard was sure he would.

Everything between the two of them was great. They’d agreed on exclusivity almost immediately after getting out of bed, and neither of them had been wary or nervous about entering into a relationship. It was just the natural course, and to be perfectly stark, what they’d been avoiding all along.

Frank slipped his hand into Gerard’s and gave it a squeeze of encouragement. He didn’t wait any longer, dropping the completed portfolio into the box to signify completion of his degree. Now he just had to waste away the summer with Frank while he waited for the results. It didn’t sound like such a bad deal.

“What now?” he asked, as they walked away from SVA, hand in hand.
“You’re kidding, right?” Frank asked, sliding him a look.

Gerard wracked his brains, trying to work out whether there was something he’d forgotten. He came up blank, shrugging apologetically and looking at Frank in confusion. Frank merely grinned and reached into his pocket, from which he produced two ticket stubs. Gerard angled his head to read it and broke into a smile so wide he feared it might split his face. They were tickets to the movie theatre.

“The Phantom fucking Menace.” He leant down and gave Frank a loud kiss on the mouth, a sudden spring in his step. “I fucking love you.”