My Miserable Romance

”So...” Frank said, chewing at the top of the pen. “Who are we gonna invite… Let’s start with the band”
“And my parents” I said and he wrote the down too. “Bella, Lisa, Lucy and Annie too. What about your sister?”
“Yep, she’s coming” he said. “Alright, anyone else?”
“I guess I have to invite my uncle Fred and his family” I said with a sigh. Not that I didn’t like my uncle, but I haven’t met him in years.
“Oh, that reminds me, I have to go to my grandparent’s house next week”
“Aw, why?” I asked and pouted at him. “And for how long?”
“It’s just for three days” he explained, giggling slightly at my face. “I haven’t seen them in ages and it would feel weird to ask them to come to the wedding without even seeing them in five years”
“But…” I whined. I didn’t want him to leave, not even for two days. I wanted him to stay home with me, to plan the wedding and just be here. “Can I come?”
“I wish you could, but their house is too small, there’s not even room for them, so I have to sleep on their couch”
“I can sleep on the couch with you!” I whined, even though I was bound to lose this. He shook his head sadly at me, and I didn’t know if it was because he was sad that I couldn’t come or if he thought that I was way too stubborn.
“Gee, my grandparent’s aren’t that interesting…” he laughed. “And please, stop looking like a lost puppy, it’s just three days”
“But I hate when you leave me all alone…” I pretended to sob and he punched me playfully on the arm. “And now you abuse me too!”

He ruffled up my hair before getting up from the couch and walked out the room.

“I’m just gonna take a quick shower, try and come up with some more guests”
“Yeah…” I said and took the pen and paper. Alright… We already have the band with girlfriends, Lisa, my parents, his sister and my uncle with family. I realized how little I knew about his family – I had no idea if he had any cousins, aunts or uncles, while he knew all about mine, thanks to all the years with Mikey. But back to the list… Maybe we could invite Billie Joe, Mike and Tré too; after all, they were really cool guys, just the type of persons that the whole band liked. But to let Tré run lose in a church… We’ll see about that, I have to ask Frank first anyway.

And seeing that I didn’t have anything to do now, because I really couldn’t come up with anymore guests, I walked off to the bathroom. I heard him turn off the shower in there, but I really wouldn’t mind if I saw him naked… Oh well. I turned the doorknob and walked in, and to my happiness, he was still naked.
“Arh, shit!” he shrieked when he heard me step inside and he quickly covered himself up with a towel, standing with his back to me.
“No need for that towel, I’ve seen it all before” I smirked and he turned to look at me.
“Oh, it’s just you” he laughed and let the towel fall to the floor. “I’ve seen too many horror movies…”
“Just me?” I asked with a mocked pout and he pouted back, copying my facial expression.
“Yes, just you. You’re very ordinary compared to a serial killer”
“Who said here were any serial killers?”
“Like I said; too many horror movies” he said pluckily before walking over to the sink to brush his teeth, still butt naked. I stood there, just enjoying the view until I noticed he had stopped brushing now and was staring at me.
“What?” I asked, not able to take my eyes off of his wet body.
“Well, if you’re gonna stare at me, then I’m definitely gonna stare at you!” he laughed, but to my disappointment, took up the towel from the floor and wrapped it loosely on his hips.
“But now I can’t stare at you anymore” I whined. Gosh, I’m like a five year old today…
“Sure you can” he smirked. “Or are you really that obsessed about my crotch?”
“Hell yesh!”
He laughed and walked past me out of the bathroom. What does a man have to do to be taken seriously around here? He just laughs and walks away all the time… I feel so depressed.

“What do you wanna do today?” he yelled from the bedroom, snapping me out of my thoughts where I still stood in the bathroom.
“I don’t know” I yelled back, which caused a serious bang from the dudes in the apartment under us. God, get a life… It’s my place, I can scream if I want to…
“Wanna see a move?”
“Sure” I yelled even louder than I had to, just to piss my “neighbours” off, and then joined Frank in the bedroom. “At home or at a cinema?”
“Cinema” he said, giving me a quick glance as he noticed my appearance. “We’ve been home too much lately”
“Like you have complained before” I smirked, thinking of what we normally did when we were home alone.
“And I’m not complaining now either, but I just feel like going out” he established, looking at himself in the bedroom mirror before grabbing a hairbrush. “I hate my hair… It’s too long”
“Whatever you say” I said and walked over to the bed before throwing myself in it, causing a loud bang and I smirked when I realized the dudes underneath me would be able to hear it. Gosh, I love messing with people…

I rolled over to lie on my stomach and buried my head into the pillow. It smelt like Frank, like the shampoo he uses and that other sweet scent that I can’t figure out what it is that he has. I let myself slip into some sort of light sleep. I could still here Frank walk around to get dressed and such, but my brain didn’t quite respond to it.

“Wake up, Sleeping Beauty…” Frank said and slapped my ass. I laughed and turned to look at him and almost expected him to look just as wet and uh- naked as he did before, but realized that I must’ve been falling asleep for real, because he looked completely dry and dressed.
“And what a nice way to be awoken” I grinned and with a laugh, he slapped my ass again.
“Yeah well, you better get the fuck up, cause the movie starts in one hour”
“How do you know that?”
“A little thing called Internet” he smirked and took a hold of my shirt before roughly pulling me up on my feet from the bed. “I’ve purchased the tickets too”
“I didn’t think you knew how the computer worked…” I said while scratching my neck sleepily. I felt slightly dizzy by having to stand up so quickly.
“Mikey helped me” he explained and before I could complain, he grabbed my hand and dragged me out in the hall. The dizziness slowly disappeared as he kept dragging my out the door and it wasn’t until we were out on the street when I realized that I looked like shit. My hair was greasy and dirty, my clothes were from yesterday and my eyes probably looked like I’d been punched, seeing that all my eyeliner must be smudged out over them.
“Wait!” I said and he stopped, finally letting go of my arm. “I’m not done”
“What do you mean you’re not done?” he asked.
“Well, look at me!” I laughed, making a gesture at my body. “I look like shit”
He placed himself one meter away from me, putting one hand on his hip and the other one under his chin, as he was thinking and looked at me. After a few seconds of judging me, he smiled.
“Nope, you look gorgeous”
“But-“
“But nothing, let’s go!” he said stubbornly and once again grabbed my arm, starting to drag away with me again. The cinema is only ten minutes away with car… Someone needs to cut back with the caffeine.
I snatched back my arm and before he could take my gesture as a rejection, I took his hand in mine and started walking to the car.

Well seated in the movie theatre, I could feel the salty smell of popcorn surrounding me and the faint laughter from some kids in the back. The movie hadn’t started yet, just commercials and shit.

“I haven’t been to a movie in ages” Frank said and snuggled deeper into his seat with his jacket that he’d wrapped around himself, so it would hang loosely on his shoulders. “It’s so cosy”
I simply nodded, because if I had talked, the whole salon would’ve heard me, seeing that the commercials were now over and the introduction of the movie had started. The lights went out and only the flicking light from the movie screen was lighting up. I looked at Frank, who had been staring at the screen but then turned his head to look at me, mocking a shy glance and flicking his eyelashes in a girly way. I smirked and slowly let my hand go from his shoulder and further behind his neck, before resting on his other shoulder, as if it was our first date or something. He noticed my act and gave me a big grin before leaning over and licking my chin. Way to go to ruin my perfect first date feeling… I laughed quietly and then we turned our attention back to the movie. It didn’t take long to know that this move sure sucked… It was practically begging us to fall asleep. I sighed and tried to find, for the fifth time, a comfortable position in the cramped seat. The voices from the movie just slipped past my brain without leaving the slightest trace left.

“Boring, boring, boring…” I muttered in pure boredom and Frank turned his head to look at me.
“You don’t say…” he yawned. “Wanna go?”
“Where?”
“Away from here”
“Hmm… Hell yes” I said, sighing in relief at the thought of finally leaving the murderously boring movie. Bent down, we walked out of the salon and out in the now empty lobby.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“I dunno…” he shrugged. “We can just walk around?”
“Sounds good to me” I said and wrapped my arm around his waist before we stepped out on the cold street. It was just February, so it was pretty damn cold outside. I pulled Frank even closer to me as we walked and he smiled gratefully at the warmth it gave him. The street outside was crowded with a lot of people. Seeing that it was still winter, the sun had disappeared around the same time our movie started, so the only thing that lit up the darkness around us was the orange lights from the streetlights. If I hadn’t been this cold, I would’ve enjoyed the dark, cosy feeling that hang in the air.

“What are you thinking about?” Frank asked and turned his head slightly to look at me.
He was shorter than me, and he had always been, but the difference wasn’t that big anymore.
“How relaxed everyone looks now when Christmas is over…” I said and looked at all the people around me. Now when they no longer had to buy presents and shit, they all looked less stressed and a lot happier. I hate Christmas-shopping… That’s why I buy my gifts in October! I slipped my hand away from his waist and instead took his hand in mine, earning a smile from him. I didn’t know why, but this night felt special. Maybe it was the cosy surroundings, I didn’t know, but it did. Like I was in a dream where everything just felt great… Was this how my life would be? Would I feel this great until the day I die, just because of… yeah what? Frank? Fuck yes.

We continued to walk the crowded street hand in hand, but not without receiving a few comments and disgusted look. I really liked when people did that, because every time someone said something, Frank kissed me on the cheek – as a big ‘fuck you, we don’t care what you think’-sort of gesture to the one who had complained about us. I was no longer afraid of the media to know about us, which they already did, but still. I knew there was a paparazzi behind us, because he was really sucky at being discreet, but I didn’t mind.

“Gee?” he asked as we had walked around for surely half an hour, just looking in random shop-windows.
“Yeah?” I asked absentmindedly while trying to find the car keys in my pockets.
“Have you ever thought about this? That it’s wrong?”
“What?” I wasn’t really looking at him; I was too busy with emptying my pockets in my hands.
“Our relationship”
“Why would that be wrong?” Holy fuck, I hate pockets…
“If you’re looking for your keys, then I have them” he laughed and I looked at him.
“Oh… Well, what did you say?”
“Have you ever doubted that homosexuality is right?”
“In the eyes of God, or humanity in general?”
“God”
“Yes I have… But I came to the conclusion that love is love and that I don’t believe in God”
“But you can understand why certain people are against it?” he asked. I didn’t understand why he was talking about this, I mean, does it really matter what the rest of the world thinks?
“I guess… Why?”
“Just wondering”
“And why were you wondering?”
“Because something that feels so right can’t be wrong” he said matter of factly and slipped his hand around my waist inside my jacket.
“Ah, exactly” I said, a bit dumbfounded. I had expected him to say that he started to doubt his sexuality or something… “You wanna go home?”
“Yeah, I’m about to freeze to death” he smiled, which resulted in me pulling him even closer to me as we walked to the car. It took us a while, we had been walking several streets away from it, but after about twenty minutes, we found it.