Sequel: Purple Hearts

Cherry Lips And Tattoos

So you slept with him?

"Oh my god," said Franky her eyes fixed to the TV. "That's that fucking awful Plastic Pammy and the guy that was in the photo with Adrienne. Oh my god," She said looking at the photographs of the two people that had been shot dead.

"You're kidding," said Charlie.

"No. Its definitely them." Franky said slumping down on the sofa. The discussion with Charlie about Billie Joe forgotten for the moment.

"I'm going to call home, see if Dad knows anything about this," Franky said reaching for her phone. It was sitting there in the same place from where she'd checked her messages the night before. Still no messages she noticed. Where are you Gerard?

The phone just rang and rang. She decided to try her Aunt Jen then, perhaps she knew something. Who the hell were the three suspects that they had taken into custody? That could be anyone, it sounded like Pam and Sven had upset many people in their nasty little lives.

Their house phone rang and rang also so Franky decided to try them on their mobile phones. She tried her fathers; Aunt Jens, Uncle Mikes but she kept getting the same message. 'The phone you are calling is switched off right now.' Damn. Where the hell was everybody?

She thought about calling Billie but it was just a thought, there was no way she could face speaking to him.

Suddenly she felt sick and ran off upstairs to the bathroom, Charlie calling after her.

"Are you okay, Franky?" he was concerned. She'd looked dreadful since her arrival and he was sure something was bothering her. He knew now that it must be to do with Billie. He wasn't going to push her though; she would have to tell him when she was ready.

California...
The day before...


The knock at the door woke Tre up and he headed down the stairs bleary eyed. "Who the fuck is this at this time of the morning?" He said out loud to himself. Whoever it was wasn't giving up; they just kept on knocking and knocking.

He opened the door and noticed a squad car at the top of the driveway. Its blue flashing light was bright in the night sky and it hurt his eyes.

"Mr Wright?" Questioned the officer. He was holding a pad and pen, poised at the ready.

"Yes," said Tre, "what is this? Please don't tell me this is about Franky?" Said Tre distraught.

"Mr Frank Edwin Wright III?" Said the officer, not answering Tre's question.

"Yes, for fuck sake, what's going on?" Said Tre.

"Mr Wright we are arresting you as a possible murder suspect." Said the Police Officer matter of factly.

"WHAT!" Said Tre. "This is a joke, right?" He started laughing; someone had set him up here.

"No sir. We are arresting you for the suspicious murder of a Mr. Sven Ludvigssen and a Miss Pamela Jones," He said looking at him straight in the eye and showing no emotion whatsoever.

"You're fucking kidding?" Said Tre, gobsmacked and running his hand across the top of his head.

"No sir, this is no joke so please co-operate otherwise we'll have to cuff you," he said.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming," said Tre "just let me get dressed first."

This was a fucking joke thought Tre. I'll just have to get down to the station though and sort this out.

At the police station...

"Fucking hell Billie what are you doing here?" Said Tre shocked at seeing his friend sitting there.

"I've been arrested," Said Billie. Billie looked dreadful, like he hadn't slept for days. What the fuck is going on here? Had Billie killed them? No way, he knew his friend so well. There was no way that he could have killed them. Then who did?

"Yeah, me too, this must be some kind of joke," Said Tre.

"Yeah man, they reckon I shot that dumb bitch, the one from the fucking health club," said Billie. Billie looked over at his old friend Tre. What the fuck was he doing here? Could he have something to do with this? No way. Not Tre, Tre couldn't do that to anyone?

"Me too," Said Tre slumping next to his old friend.

"And me," Said a voice. It was Mike.

"Fucking hell man," said Billie. "What the fuck is this? Why would they arrest all of us?"

"Beats me," said Tre. "It'll be ok though, we'll get it sorted. They'll realise soon that this is all a mistake."

"I hope so," said Mike. "Jen's so worried about me. I have some news to tell you. She's pregnant," He said. What the fuck was going on? Had Billie and Tre had something to do with those killings? No way. He couldn't believe it of them, he knew them too well.

"Congratulations dude," said Tre slapping Mike on the back.

"Well done Mike," said Billie reaching across Tre to take Mike's hand.

"It's going to be great," said Tre.

"Yeah, but we've got to get out of this shit first," Said Mike.

London... A few days later...

Franky woke and noticed her mother's journal lying on the floor next to the bed. She picked it up and read the next part.

It's been a while since Tre left for America and I haven't heard from him though he is constantly in my thoughts. It has taken over my life thinking about him. I have his baby growing inside of me and I'm so pleased but I'm desperate to find him and tell him that he is going to be a father. I want us to be together as a family but I'm scared I'm never going to be able to get to tell him. I'm so glad I'm having his baby and I can't wait to hold his child in my arms. Please come back to me Tre, I want to share this time with you.

Franky surprised herself by crying. She felt so utterly sad and down at that moment thinking about what her poor mum had been feeling. It was obvious that she loved her Dad and couldn't get to him. How very sad for them both. She wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her dressing gown and decided to go down and face the day.

"Morning Charlie," Said Franky coming into the kitchen trying her best to seem cheerful.

"Morning?" questioned Charlie. "Try afternoon, its past one o'clock," he said smiling over at Franky.

"Really? I've certainly been sleeping well since I got here," she said.

Yes but you still don't look okay thought Charlie.

"You do, you're sleeping the days away. Anyway, Franky, are you ready for that chat yet?" he said. This was it; perhaps if she told him and got it off her chest, then she could relax a little more, he wasn't going to ask her but then he thought he may have to wait forever for Franky to tell him.

Franky was facing away from him, over by the sink filling the kettle up with some water and she couldn't turn to look at him.

"I suppose," was all she said but she cringed to herself. He will hate me.

Charlie got up from the table then.

"I'll be in the living room." He said going off with his cup of tea.

He was sitting with his feet propped up on the coffee table when she came in. She sat next to him but not too close.

She cleared her throat.

"It was just the once," said Franky not looking over at Charlie. Instead she glanced over at the TV that was switched off.

Charlie didn't answer her.

"It just... sort of happened." She continued.

"When?" asked Charlie.

"Look," she said turning to face him "you know I've always liked him, right back when I lived here, he was always the one I liked best, I admired him so much, it was as though he knew what I was feeling."

"Yeah Franky but... that was like a crush thing, an infatuation thing. I didn't think anything would ever come of it. Did you?"

"Of course I didn't, he always had Adrienne anyway, and he had a beautiful family who adores him back. It was always difficult being around him and I hid my feelings for so long. As I said I've always liked him and on this particular day I was upset at what happened with James. I bumped into Billie while I was in the mountains and he explained to me that Adrienne and him were practically over. I felt sorry for him; he seemed so sad and lonely. Then I got all upset over James, he saw me get upset and well he seemed concerned."

"So you slept with him?" said Charlie.

"Don't make it sound so cut and dried, it wasn't then, it was later that night."

"That night?" said Charlie.

"Yes, that night. Dad was away at Granddad's, Billie Joe had been out drinking and there was an incident."

"Incident? What kind of incident?" asked Charlie, intrigued now.

"You mustn't tell anyone." Said Franky.

"Yeah... like who?" said Charlie. "What do you take me for?" he said slightly annoyed.

"Sorry Charlie but this is hard for me," She said. Charlie felt slightly sorry for her and put his hand out on top of hers.

"He was arrested for drink driving, he'd had a few drinks and they pulled him over and arrested him. He called me to bail him out and so I did."

"I drove him home and then went in to his house with him for a coffee. The place was a shambles and I ended up staying for a while to help clear up, it was a mess and I didn't want Adi coming back to it."

"He asked me to stay for a drink as he was lonely. I refused at first and then.. well he looked so sad and lonely so I decided to stay with him for a while. We shared quite a lot of wine and I told him all about James and what he'd done. He hugged me, my sunburn hurt so he took me upstairs and well... he put some lotion on my back and one thing lead to another." then he ran his tongue over my bottom lip

"When I woke up it felt all wrong. I decided he should be with Adi but he called the next day and kind of told me... " she hesitated. It didn't seem right having to tell someone, it sort of felt private. How had things got to this stage? She was back in England having explained to her longest friend that she'd slept with the guy that she always had a crush on and that he..

"Told you what?" said Charlie.

"He told me that he loves me." Said Franky, her eyes started filling up with tears remembering his words.

"Shit," Said Charlie.

"He's also told Dad that he loves me." said Franky. This was hard, she was trying to block everything from her mind but it had all become fresh and painful again.

"He must love you then," Said Charlie.

"Maybe," Franky said.

"I don't think it's a maybe. You should know Billie by now, he wouldn't say it if he didn't mean it. He must love you, Franky. What are you going to do?" Charlie said putting his arm around her. "Do you love him back?"

"I don't know, I'm confused, James told me the same thing. He loves me too."

"But what about Gerard?" said Charlie.

"I don't think anything will happen with him do you? He hasn't even contacted me. It's a shame, I thought we had something."

"What the hell are you going to do?" said Charlie.

"I don't know Charlie, that's why I came away, Dad and I have been disagreeing lately too."

"But you seem so unhappy and you still look dreadful Franky."

"I know, being away from everyone, I miss them all." I miss Billie.

"Are you okay Franky?" Charlie noticed how white Franky had become.

"No.. I... I feel sick all of a sudden." She said and then ran off upstairs to throw up.

This was becoming quite a pattern thought Charlie.

When she came back into the room ten minutes later Charlie spoke. "You okay now?"

"I think so," Said Franky. "Actually, I'm going to get myself a shower and clean up a little."

"Okay," said Charlie who walked off over to the CD player. He needed some music on to drown his thoughts after that confession. He popped open the drawer but there was already something inside. It was a CD with some writing on it. He read it what it said. For you Franky because you said you liked it.

Dare he play it; it was obviously Franky's personal CD. He turned the volume down low before he pressed play in case she heard him playing it then he pressed play and turned the volume up to a decent level and listened.

When the song ended he turned the CD player off and grabbed his keys and coat. There was no doubt about it after listening to that song; Charlie knew for sure that Billie Joe really did love Franky.

Later that day...

"I've bought you something," said Charlie holding out a paper bag to Franky.

Franky looked inside the paper bag and her eyes filled up with tears.

"Oh Charlie," she said sadly "you read my thoughts."

"Come on," said Charlie taking her hand "I think we need to know, don't you?"

*

Franky sat on the toilet seat in Charlie's bathroom staring down at the pregnancy test kit. She felt so alone in the world, alone and in England far away from everyone she loved. She longed to fall into her Dad's strong arms and smell his comforting smell.

The pregnancy test revealed that she was most definitely pregnant. Franky felt sick from fear. How could she have been so stupid? She was pregnant and alone. She had ruined everything but she was determined that she was not going to get rid of her baby. I'm not.

She thought about her mum then and what she had been feeling when she had found out she was pregnant all those years ago and she realised how brave her mum had been to make the decision to keep her.

There was a knock on the bathroom door.

"Franky?" said Charlie. "Are you okay babe?"

Franky opened the door and fell into Charlie's arms.

"Did you do it?" he said stroking at her hair.

Franky just nodded against him.

"And?" said Charlie cuddling her close.

"Its positive," said Franky "I'm having a baby."

Charlie didn't answer. Just held Franky close to him while she sobbed into his chest for as long as she wanted.

After what seemed like ages Franky looked up at Charlie, her eyes were red and swollen and her face soaking from the tears.

"I think I need to go home, I need to see my Dad," she said to Charlie.

"Then I'll come with you, I know its earlier than we've planned but... I'm definitely coming with you."

"I'd like that," said Franky cuddling Charlie again.

I'm going to keep this baby thought Franky. I am going to go back home to California with my head held high and keep my baby. Even if I don't know who the father is...

THE END

Thank you all for reading. Look out for the 3rd in this series: Purple Hearts coming soon xx