Just You and I, Your Starless Eyes Remain

”And I'll take you home with me”

I awoke on the couch wrapped in Frank’s arms. I smiled softly as I heard Frank sigh a bit. As I took in my surroundings I realized that we all must of just crashed during one of the many movies we had watched last night. Gerard was sleeping on the opposite couch with Bob on the other side, Frank was sprawled out onto the floor with a pillow and, as I looked, I saw Ray was too. The only person who wasn’t in this scene was Mikey. I heard some one stirring in the kitchen so I decided to investigate. There, sitting at the kitchen table, coffee in hand, was Mikey. I breathed in the crisp, late autumn air through the open window.

“Hey you,” I smiled and then let out a yawn.

Mikey smiled and rose from his chair and welcomed me with a cup of coffee.

“Here you go, Alice. How’d you sleep,” He questioned me as he sat back down.

“Well, thank you love. I just didn’t realize we all fell asleep in the living room,” I giggled.

“Yeah, me too. I woke up expecting to see my room,” he added. “So are you ready to leave today?”

It had been a week since the night Frank sang to me; and truthfully it was the best week I’ve ever had. Here, with Frank, I was happy.

“Honestly?” I asked and he nodded. “Not at all,” I sighed. He let out a sigh, too.

“You know what, Alice,” he started. “How about we come visit you and Frank next weekend?”

“I’d love that!” I exclaimed loudly as I jumped up to hug Mikey.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After we all hugged goodbye, I was sitting in the car next to Frank. Frank honked the horn and I waved goodbye.

“See you guys next week!” Gerard screamed excitedly over the muffled noise of the car. After every one woke up, Mikey and I ran his idea for a visit by every one. It turned out every one was more than happy to agree.

At this moment, I sensed every thing was beginning to look up.

Frank grabbed my hand as he drove.

I looked up at him and he glanced over at me and smiled. I got lost in his eyes, like always. I finally regained composure and brought up a question that had been haunting me since the night he played the song.

“Frank?”

“Mhm,” he hummed softly, turning his attention to me.

“Is this real?” I looked desperately into his eyes to try to find the answer.

“What do you mean? Is what-“

“Is this whole ‘us’ real,” I pressed forward.

“Alice ofcourse this is-“

“Remember the first time you kissed me? You took it back. Are you going to take this back, too?”

Frank’s eyes filled with hurt and his smile went to a blank like stare. His stare became distant.

“Alice, you don’t understand.”

I looked at him trying to figure out what he meant.

“I never wanted to take it back,” he continued. “I thought you didn’t want to be with me. I didn’t want to do anything to upset you,” he finished.

I gapped at him. I was at a loss for words. Frank Iero liked me the whole time?

He liked me. He liked me the whole time.

He likes me.

I love him.

We stopped at a red light and I turned to him. I kissed him softly, once and pulled away. I felt as if I was in a daze. Things were finally working out for me.

Things were looking up.