Smiles Echo In My Memory

The day we landed, Frank and I just sat around in his red and black bedroom watching some horror films. We didn’t feel like doing much else, and were too tired to sort out suitcases and the like, so we went to sleep in some of Frank’s old clothes that were left here. We fell asleep at around ten, because of the jet-lag.

We were currently gathered around the table for breakfast at 11am, eating pancakes that Linda had made.
“Frank, hon?” Linda said attentively, looking into her plate and pushing around her honey-covered pancake around the plate.
“…Yes, Mom?” he asked, looking up at her with a question in his voice, his eyebrows raised.
“Last night… I got a call from your Uncle Joe,” Linda mumbled, still looking down into her plate.
“…Yeah… Mom, what’s wrong?”
“Your father… He’s not very well. You know what it’s like, you have the same problem. Only, he’s getting older. His immune system isn’t as healthy as yours is, baby,” Linda explained, looking up at Frank. She looked tired, a pink tinge around her eyes.
Frank stayed quiet for a while, and I could see the information digesting into his brain. I saw the shade of his eyes darken, going from their natural green-hazel to a deep, dark brown.
“Is he okay?” he whispered, placing his fork and knife carefully on the sides of his plate.
“I don’t know, Frankie. I just don’t know. He’s in the hospital,” Linda mumbled, leaning forward and placing a hand on top of Frank’s.
“Are you okay, hon?” she asked, patting his hand. Frank shrugged. He got up from the table and walked upstairs, not uttering a sound.
Linda sighed, pushing her plate away from her. She propped her arms on the table, her head flopping into her hands.
“Linda… Are you okay?” I whispered, placing a hand on her forearm.
“You better go see to Frank,” she mumbled, standing up and clearing away the forgotten plates of food. I stood up, staying there for a while.
What about Linda? She must be feeling pretty rough; it was her second day back at Jersey, and she finds out her ex-husband is lying in a hospital bed.
“…Linda…” I started, but she cut me off before I could speak.
“You’re the only one who Frank talks to, hon. I got plenty of people around me, you and Frank one of them. I’m fine, honey. Honestly,” she said, giving me a weak smile. I wasn’t convinced, but I did as I was told.

I knocked on the only black door that was in the beige hallway- Frank’s bedroom door.
“Frankie?” I called, my hands already resting on the door knob. When there was no answer, I twisted open the door and walked in anyways. He was sat on the large window-ledge, smoking a cigarette with his knees tucked under his chin, his free hand wrapped around his legs. He didn’t move when I came in, just carried on smoking.
“Frank?”
He still didn’t say anything, so I walked over to him, shutting the door behind me. I sat opposite him, mimicking his position.
“Do you know what’s wrong with him?” I asked quietly, resting my right cheek on my knees. He shook his head, flicking his cigarette but out the window before lighting up another.
“He’s… always ill. Like me. If he’s in hospital, it’s always serious. Last time he was there, it was because of a heart disease,” he mumbled, keeping his stone-like appearance, the quick moving of his perfectly shaped lips as he spoke looking only like an illusion.
I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t say anything.
“I don’t want to loose him, Sazzy,” he whispered, turning his gaze to me. His eyes were red and swollen. The sight of him like that was heart-breaking.
“Y-You won’t,” I replied, reaching over and placing a hand on his cheek. He closed his eyes, sighing. I shuffled over to him, taking his cigarette from his fingers and taking the last two drags, flicking it out the window. I leaned over, placing my lips against his forehead and wrapping my arms around him in a hug.
“Don’t you want to go and see him?” I whispered, looking up into his eyes. He nodded slowly; moving carefully and standing up off the ledge, my arms dropping back to my sides. I watched his as he hunted around for his wallet, grabbing it from a drawer and sliding it into the back pocket of his dark denim blue skinny fit jeans. He retrieved his keys from the same drawer, putting them into the pocket of his grey hoodie. He wiped at his eyes, fixing his hair afterwards. He smiled at me meekly, holding out a hand.
“Coming?”
“…Do you want me to?” I asked, unsure.
“Of course, Sazzy,” he replied, confusion in his eyes, his small smile dropping immediately.
I’d thought that Frank wouldn’t want me to come with him; it’s his father, who he hasn’t seen in a year. Surely he’d want to see him alone first, before introducing him to me? And then there was introducing me…
What the hell was he going to say? “Oh, hi, Dad, this is Sazzy. She’s not my girlfriend at all. Even though I’ve brought her to my home town, I haven’t gotten involved with her in anyway like that”. Yeah, right.
And then, there was Linda. I was itching to tell her, and I knew Frank was, too. He’d told his mother almost everything, and we were a big part of each other’s lives. And she probably knew, anyways. She wasn’t stupid, as I’d stated before. It wasn’t like me and Frank didn’t hold hands or whatever in front of her, anyways. Anyone would’ve guessed. Except my mother. We didn’t hang around my place that much for her to notice any of that.
“Sazzy? What are you thinking?” Frank’s voice sounded through the room, breaking my chain of thoughts.
“Oh, I… Well, I thought that you’d like to see your Dad on your own, y’know? I mean… It’ll be unfair on both of you if I was there. You haven’t seen each other in a year,” I said, my hands folded in my lap, not looking directly at him. I knew that he’d probably think I’m being ridiculous.
“Why would I want to see him alone…?” he questioned, not really understanding my little speech.
“Well… It’s been a while since you’ve seen him. I’m sure you’d want to catch up.”
“Without you? He’d kill me when he finds out that I didn’t bring you along with me. And I want you there. I’m not going without you,” he said stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest. I folded my lips into a straight line, suppressing a smile. He looked so cute when he got upset over silly trivial things like this.
“C’mon. Let’s go,” he said, entwining his fingers with mine and pulling me up from the window still.
“No… Wait, Frank,” I said, tugging at his arm to make him face me.
“…What?” he asked, his eyebrows furrowed.
“Well… What are we going to say?” I said my eyes glued onto his beautiful hazel ones.
“What do you mean?” he asked in a soft tone, slightly confused.
“I mean… We can’t really say we’re just friends, can we? I mean-”
“Yeah… That’s a point,” he mumbled, looking down at our hands.
“Well, so I was thinking… we should tell your Mum and Dad.”
“What? Really?” He asked, looking back up at me.
“Yeah. I mean, your Mum wouldn’t tell mine, would she? And your Dad lives here, in Jersey, so he’s barely gonna tell any of my family or whatever,” I said, smiling slightly. He grinned at me, excitement in his eyes. It was so sweet; he’d been dying to tell Linda about us.
“I can really tell Mom now?” he said, clearly excited.
“Yeah. But… she can’t tell my Mum, though. I’ll be in for the deepest hell,” I mumbled. Frank kissed me swiftly on the cheek, still grinning.
“She won’t tell. I promise.”