Tell Me Angel, Where Are You

Lenny returned with our steamy slices of cheesy pineapple piza. *hey, don’t knock it till ya try it * Lenny made the best piza ever. I always wondered why he hadn’t ever been discovered.

“So how long have you been together together?”
“Since today, around lunch time, I think,” Frankie replied with satisfaction dripping from his voice.

“That’s pretty sweet. Frankie, you better treat her well…or else,” Lenny said, warning him jokingly while swaggering a stubby finger.
“Jeez people keep telling me that and don’t worry, I will,” Frankie stated.
“He stood up to my dad for me today,” I gloated.

Lenny raised his thick eyebrows and wrinkles magically appeared on his forehead. He also knew of my father.
“Quite impressive, Frankie,” he complimented.
Frankie smile and kissed me on the cheek.

“Anything for her.”

We hung around until closing time. It was nice, just like we used to. Sitting in the quiet parlor, Lenny making wisecracks on the kids at our school.
We exited through the door and rang the small the bell. Lenny locked the door shut with one of the many keys on his silver Las Vegas key chain.
“Bye guys, congrads, again. Stop by soon!” Lenny waved as he hopped in his jet black Ford truck.

“Bye Len-o!”
“Bye Apollo!”

Lenny revved the powerful engine and menacingly sped away down the shadowy street.
We held hands as we walked back to Frankie’s place. By this time, it was around nine-ish and it was nearly pitch black.
We didn’t live in such a sturdy town. In other words, this place nearly bred criminals and problems, and it wasn’t the safest place to live. But Frankie and I loved it here in Jersey. I think Frankie loved it more, though. He was always saying how he would never move out of Jersey and planned on getting Jersey tattoos. Being out at nine was actually pretty risky. But hey, if there aren’t any risks in life it wouldn’t be considered a life at all, right?

When we reached Frankie’s house, we figured his mom took the night shift again because the car wasn’t in the driveway. It had stopped raining a few hours back and it left the air smelling fresh. Have you ever smelt outside after it’s rained? It’s one of my favorite smells ever.

“Look at the sky,” I whispered in awe.

The midnight black sky looked as though it had exploded. The black velvet was beautifully decorated with clumps of stars.

“Whoa, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many stars before,” Frankie muttered in a stunned whisper.

I gazed up at the sky in complete shock. When I’m telling you, it was the most amazing sight I’ve seen, I mean it.

“You wanna go sit up on my roof?”
I looked back down at him wide-eyed.
“Ooh can we?”
He giggled at how over excited I was.
“Of course.”

He grabbed my hand and quietly led me through the house. We went up to his room and started out the side window.
He had a two level house and when you look out the side window, the black paneled roof was right there.
I carefully stepped onto the slanted roof and laid down, since it was completely dry. Frankie hopped out after and laid down beside me. My head rested on his chest and his arms holding me.

“Have you ever seen a shooting star, Frankie?”
“Mm, nope, have you?”
“Yeah, actually, a few. I used to watch them with my grandma,” I said grinning slightly. “You know, she was the one that told me to wish on shooting stars. She said I was so special that I got lucky ones. She’d always say ‘you better thank your lucky stars, doll, they’re watching over you’.”

I continued to gape at the sky. About a minute passed before,
“You really miss her, don’t you…” he sadly replied.

She had died of old age when I was small. It had been a couple months after we moved to Jersey when she passed away. Frankie and the rest of the guys knew her as well. Now that I’m thinking, she really liked Frankie, she thought he was a cute little boy.

I closed my tired eyes and said, “Yeah…I do. But, you know what I think?”
“Nope, what do you think?”
“That she’s one of my lucky stars now.”
He squeezed me gently and replied,” I bet you you’re right.”

We sat in silence for a while, our eyes plastered to the magnificent sky above us.

“Hey Aid?”
“Mm.”
“Never mind,” he shook his head quickly.
“No, what is it? Tell me!” I looked up at him and playfully demanded.
“Naw,” he bashfully grinned and shook his head again.
“Aw, come on, tell me.”

“What did you wish for? When you saw the shooting stars, I mean,” he wondered.
My cheeks started burning, I remember exactly what I had wished for. I remembered it had finally come true, too.

“Or has it not come true yet?”
“It has,” I said, slowly.
“Then tell me I wanna know, “ he said while he played with my numb fingers.
“No way, you’ll think it’s lame,” I smiled.
“Aw, come one, pleasee?” he whined.
I let out a sigh, “You promise you won’t laugh?”
He stuck out a pinky, ”Pinky swear.”
I took his pinky with mine and squeezed it hard.

“Well I wished that you’d ask me to be your girlfriend,” I replied rather quickly.
“What’s that?”
“I wished that you’d ask me to be your girlfriend.”
“Wow, really?” he sounded shocked.
“Yup,” I replied.

“Aw, babe, I don’t think that’s lame. You’ve liked me since then?”
“Mhm,” I hummed. I glanced upward and he was grinning like mad.

“You know that day when we first met?”
I laughed, ”How could I forget?”

“You were sitting all alone and you didn’t talk to anybody. I remember thinking, ’Oh my gosh, she’s so pretty. I wonder if she’ll come over and color with me.’ And then some kid stole your cookie.”
“But then you got my cookie back and I split it with you and we became best friends,” I finished.

“Aw, that kid made me so mad cause you started to cry.”
“Yeah, but you saved me and the cookie!” I giggled.
“Well that’s the day I started to like you.”
“Really?”
“Yep, I won’t forget it either. I mean I had other crushes and stuff, but I always had a thing for you and I always ended up caring about you more then anyone.”

I grinned. He squeezed me again and I nuzzled closer to him.
“Has anybody ever told you that you’re amazing?” I questioned.

He remained silent for a few seconds and replied, “Maybe once or twice.”
“You are,” I said shortly and continued,” and even if I repeated it everyday, it would never be enough times,” I finished.
“I think we both better thank our lucky stars,” he paused, ”because your wish came true and I couldn’t be any happier.”