Smiles Echo In My Memory

We started to walk back to school, but decided to go to the coffee shop on the way. We had our arms linked, just rambling about a load of stuff, just generally getting to know each other better. We’d really got on well in the three or so hours we’d known each other, it was scary. Already, he was one of my closest friends.
We had reached the small café and I ordered a Latte for Frank and a Cappuccino for myself. The familiar woman behind the counter smiled at me, and held out my drink. I came here all the time, and Cindy – the woman – always had my drink ready on time. “LATTE!” she yelled at the staff that we making food and drinks behind her. “Want this to be ready every day like yours, hun?” she asked, getting out her pen. I looked over at Frankie, waiting for an answer. He shrugged. “Yeah, go on then…” I smiled back at Cindy, who was already scribbling it down. I introduced them quickly as she handed the Latte to him, smiling. “See you tomorrow, hun,” Cindy called as we walked out the shop.
“She calls you ‘hun’ a lot,” Frank commented, facing me and taking a sip on his drink. I shrugged. “Yeah, I don’t know. She always did,” I replied, linking my arm with his again. “Anyways, were do you live?”
“Just before London Road, on the side of… Preston,” he said, lighting a cigarette.
“Preston Park?” I asked, looking over at him.
“Yeah…” he said a thoughtful look on his face. “By some movie rental store,”
“You live right near me!” I gushed, grinning like crazy. It was unreal how much we shared in common. We were both Scorpios, we both lived near Preston, we both picked Additional Science, Psychology, Drama and Media Studies as our ‘options’, we both did vocational courses (I did Hairdressing and he did Music), we both liked the same type of music, and there was loads more.
“So, were do you live?” Frank asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Oh… Um, opposite Preston, in those huge houses that look like flats,” I answered, sipping on my Cappuccino.
“Ah, that’s amazing!” he said, offering me a drag. I shook my head and he let it dangle from his mouth.
“When did you start smoking?” I suppose the question kinda took him a back. I can’t see why.
“What?” I just looked at him. He was obviously uncomfortable with the subject.
After a long pause, he sighed. “About two years ago,”
He took another drag, sighing again when he exhaled. “I know what you’re gonna say.”
“Frank?” he snapped his head towards me when he heard my lost, quiet tone. His features softened, and he looked down at the floor. “Sorry, but, it’s just-”
“It’s okay,” I cut him off, wrapping my arm around his waist in a half-hug.
“Cancer’s my friend,” he mumbled, mimicking my arm’s movements. I giggled softly, and he squeezed my waist, smiling at me.
After a long silence, he sighed. “I’ve been smoking for about two years. I started because I was stressed out, a lot. I was the un-cool kid at school, getting shoved into lockers, skipping lessons, all of that shit. Your general self-pitying teen and I’m not proud of it,” he whispered, not looking at me and avoiding eye contact.
“Frankie? You don’t have to prove anything to me. You don’t have to tell me anythi-”
“I want to,” he cut me off, whispering in a raspy way. It almost broke my heart. I could feel his emotions, like he emitted rays of them all around him, and if you were close enough, you could feel it. To put it simply, it was depressing. Hell, I almost craved for a cigarette.
He pulled me under the bus shelter that we had been at break, and wrapped me into a hug. I buried my head in his chest, my arms draped loosely around his waist. “Sazzy, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”
“Frank, you didn’t do anything, it was my-”
“Sazzy,” I heard him whisper like that again, forcing me to look into his deep hazel orbs. He leaned forward and placed a kiss on my cheek, lingering there for what seemed like an eternity.