Status: I update this irregularly. You never know what to expect!
So...Who Are You Again? My Chemical Romance? Never Heard of You.
Realizations.
"I remember there was this one time at the beginning of high school when Shelly and I went to the store and we decided to try on these ridiculous looking clothes. So I put on this awful pink and blue striped sweater and big green pants. And right when I turned the corner to show Shelly, the guy that I liked was standing right there talking to her, and when he saw me, his jaw just dropped and I think I died a little on the inside."
Frank covered his mouth as he laughed, in hopes of not letting the ice cream he was eating pool out of his mouth. We had decided to lay low for awhile in the obsolete hallway, so we went and bought a giant tub of ice cream, parked ourselves to the side, and talked.
And what better topic to talk about other than the worst days of high school?
"No, no," Frank said, still laughing, holding up a hand to signal he had something to say. "I remember one time me and my old buddy, Jay, were paired up for a Chemistry lab and we were working with the burners." He paused shortly to laugh and I smiled, already anticipating the rest. "We weren't paying attention to what our teacher was saying so I accidently had the gas on too high when I lit it and I had this mass of fire explode onto my arm."
I clapped my hands over my mouth as I laughed, raising my eyebrows in surprise.
"I still have a few scars from it," he added with a grin.
"Seriously?" I asked, gazing at him questioningly. He nodded eagerly, scooting towards me a little, then shoved his right arm forward. Both our heads bowed closer to his tattooed limb, our eyes scanning.
"There we go," he said, running a couple fingers along some of the skin on his forearm and next to his elbow.
"Eww," I whimpered when I finally saw the slightly wrinkled areas that I'd never noticed before, automatically compelled to touch it.
"Your fingers are really freaking cold," he informed softy, his eyes flickering up.
"Well, ice cream does have a tendency to make me cold," I replied, glancing up at him, just realizing how close we'd gotten. Then it happened again. My heart beat faster as we just looked at each other. Everything else around me began to drown out as my focus on Frank increased, my eyes drifted back and forth between his eyes and lips a couple times.
His eyes grew round as he apprehensively watched me, leaning his head a little closer and I a little closer to him. Suddenly, he took a breath and pulled away from me quickly, glancing down awkwardly.
"Yeah it hurt pretty bad," he mumbled, rubbing his arm lightly. "The hospital bill was a bitch, but I got out of school and everything."
"T-That's cool," I stuttered, feeling plain embarrassed, leaning back onto my feet. Frank nodded with a forced laugh, licking his lips. He looked around, probably searching for a distraction from me, and then finally settled on taking out his phone.
"Whoa," Frank whispered. I hummed back inquisitively, taking another bite of ice cream in attempt to be cool and collected...which I wasn't. He turned the phone toward me and explained with raised eyebrows, "We've been talking for like three hours."
"Nuh uh," I countered in disbelief, snatching his cell phone from him. I furrowed my eyebrows, noting what time it was and what time we got here.
"And we ate this entire thing of ice cream." Frank groaned and fell onto his back, placing a hand on his stomach. "And I just got off those 7 pounds. I'm gonna get fat and pop."
"Frank you're not gonna pop." I giggled, rolling my eyes, glad the strange moment passed so quickly. I didn't know what I was thinking. "Besides, I thought it was the girl's job to complain about weight."
"Hey, when it comes to complaining, I'm there," he argued, hoisting himself up then crossing his legs. "Which reminds me, why hasn't our dearest Gerard begun to worry about me yet?"
"Maybe because you were kind of a jerk to our dearest Gerard," I suggested. "He has feelings, believe it or not."
"He'll get over it," Frank shrugged off, something behind me suddenly catching his eye. I turned to where he was looking and saw a display being set up for some movie. Before I could face forward again, Frank was already walking past me, entranced with curiosity. I tentatively followed him, throwing away the empty ice cream container because I'm nice like that.
"Wanna watch it?" Frank asked when I joined him, reading the sign. It was some punk rock documentary they were showing on a screen inside. I didn't know the first thing about punk rock, but I didn't want to rain on his parade so I obliged.
--
It turned out I wasn't mentally capable of understanding anything going on in the movie, which sat rather uneasily with me. I would hear a name of some apparently influential band or person and leave my mouth hanging open dumbly as my brain shut down from overdrive, not comprehending anything. Thankfully Frank glanced over quite frequently ready to fill me in about whom they were talking about.
"That's Joe Strummer," he whispered into my ear, pointing to a picture they were showing on the screen. "He was the guitarist for The Clash, a band from the late '70's, early '80's."
My mouth formed an o as I nodded, my eyes still on the screen, only to be faced with more name problems a few minutes later.
"Hell yeah," Frank quietly cheered before leaning toward me again. "That's Jerry Only, the bassist from The Misfits, one of my favorite bands."
I didn't know how he did it. I didn't know how he stored all this music knowledge in his head. I couldn't fathom how he remembered what seemed like everything to do with music, and every person included in it. Frank knew every single person in that film and smiled nearly the whole time, not looking bothered at all by my ignorance. I only had heard of The Ramones...and that's about it.
Yeah. I felt kind of lame.
Once the movie, standing at about 90 minutes, was over, we exited out the door which led into a CD store where the director of the film was hoping to sell some DVD's. Frank accordingly went straight to her, who was surprised that Frank Iero had just seen her show, and struck up a conversation. I began looking at a rack of CD's, not really feeling the need to listen since it would go right over my head.
"So I have to ask you," I heard Frank say loudly with a smile, causing me to glance at him, tuning back into the conversation with interest. "If you're from DC like you said, then how come there aren't any Bad Brains in there?"
The lady chuckled, while I simply blinked, not finding the humor in it.
"Well I couldn't fit every band in there."
Ohh. Bad Brains was a band. It sounded more like a learning center.
I sighed to myself and continued looking through the CD's. This was definitely not my forte. I hardly knew the first thing about music and I was on a tour for Christ's sake. Someone else deserved my spot.
"So you've never heard of any of those bands in there?" Frank suddenly popped up next to me, pointing a thumb back. I shook my head no, feeling kind of embarrassed. He narrowed his eyes in thought, biting his lip, then looked down suddenly. "You know, I could like, teach you. Show you some good bands, give you some CD's."
"That would be lovely," I answered with a chuckle. "Who better to learn Music 101 from?"
"Yes ma'am," he agreed with a grin then sang, "There are few you deny, at what I do I am the best, for my talents are renowned far and wide."
"Did you just make that up?" Frank's smile faded and he stared at me, looking almost worried.
"You've never seen Nightmare Before Christmas?"
"No," I spoke, looking at him blankly. His eyes widened as if trying to make sense of what I told him.
"You haven't heard of The Misfits and you've never seen Nightmare before Christmas?" he clarified, then hesitated like he was waiting for me to tell him he had it wrong...only he didn't. "What's wrong with you?"
"Well aren't you the charmer, Frank?" I said, smiling spitefully.
"No," he quickly took back his words, waving his palms at me, like it would erase what he had said. "I mean. Just...wow. We're total opposites," he mused with a grin, cocking his head to the side.
"You just noticed?"
"Sort of," he mumbled, casting his eyes downward. "I haven't really properly compared us before."
"Well I for one have found it blaringly obvious that you love music significantly more than me," I replied with a half-smile as he mirrored me with a nod. "Pretty much anything related to pop culture I've always avoided."
"Well that's a shame because I am pop culture, babe."
"You're not pop culture," I argued with a laugh.
"What would you consider me then?" He seemed interested, his eyes bright and a smile tugging at his lips. I pursed my lips as I analyzed his face, racking my brain for a good definition.
"I haven't got you fully figured out yet," I answered honestly, still trying to think of something. There were still pieces missing in the puzzle and I realized after all this time, he was still an unsolved mystery.
"No one's figured me out yet," he boasted proudly, as if it were a good thing. I shrugged indifferently, then casually began perusing the CD's again, looking for nothing in particular. Frank did the same, though I could see him glance up at me a couple times out of the corner of my eye.
"I think I have you figured out," he commented slowly, making my eyes slid toward him, intrigued.
"You do, huh?" I challenged skeptically, wheeling around so I fully faced him. He narrowed his eyes with a confident smirk, stepping a little closer to me.
"You're scared to let go and be yourself because you're afraid of what others will think of you and how they'll react. You stick to the socially acceptable because you don't like the chances of everyone leaving you behind, which is why you subconsciously place your arm around your stomach for a sense of security and stableness." He paused to softly poke my arm that I didn't even realize was loosely wrapped around me. In shock, I quickly unbent my arm with an embarrassed frown.
"I can tell you think really hard about what to say sometimes because you're reluctant to say the first thing that pops into your head," Frank continued. "You're strategic in what you say in hopes that you can be the girl that no one has a problem with. When conflict comes up, you think carefully which causes you to purse your lips." He glided his arm toward my face and lightly touched my lips.
"H-How do you know all that?" I demanded with an astonished look, not knowing what to think. How could he tell any of that? How could he see right through me when no one's even thought about it before?
"I dunno," he answered lightly with a shrug, retracting his arm. "Despite how creepy it might sound, I just remember stuff about you. I really don't know why; I'm usually not very perceptive. But I do have my smart moments."
I continued standing there looking at him stunned. I'd never had someone describe me so intently before or even take the time to notice any particular habits. I'd certainly never thought that all at once before.
"You never cease to amaze me, Frank," I whispered, closing my gaping mouth to a more relaxed position.
"Hey, I can't deny I'm talented," he said with a cheeky smile, raising his hands innocently. "I was just born gifted."
"Well I've noticed that when you're nervous, you always start picking at something. As if you have to distract yourself in order to get through the conversation," I said, recalling every time I'd seen him jittery. His smile disappeared as he simply stared at me without a word.
"And you also have this certain smirk that you do when you're happy or having a good time," I said, touching Frank's left cheek with my pointer finger. "It goes about right there." Instinctively, a grin formed exactly to where I pointed, making me smile as well. "See? There it is."
"I guess I do."
"I notice stuff about you, too," I said, neither of us able to shake off our smile, which I'm sure made us look a little ridiculous. But I liked his smile; I always had.
"Maybe we're just open books, and not as secretive as either of us thought."
"You're probably right."
But I had a different way of looking at it. I was really starting to like Frank, even though it was a lost cause. I couldn't help myself. I knew these things because I couldn't help but pay more attention to him more than anyone I'd known. I'd put more emphasis on knowing and talking to him than I'd given anyone else.
I decided to abandon my thoughts when I heard my stomach growl, making Frank laugh softly.
"Wanna go eat?" he offered, already heading to the door. I nodded, not really having anything to say. We walked in silence until we reached a food court where an abnormal amount of people resided. I heard Frank let out a cute squeak and lowered his head so that his hair hung over his face.
"Frank, you're going to run into something," I warned, glancing to him and his attempt to go undetected.
"No I'm not," he insisted not looking up, but sticking close to me. "I'm a master at this."
He then ran into a chair, causing both him and the seat to topple over. A couple people nearby stopped with concerned looks as I tried to fight off a smile, watching him scramble around on the floor in attempt to keep his face covered while getting up.
"I'm fine!" he yelled, once up on his feet and placing the chair upright. "I'm fine- Awesome- Great! Come on, Julie."
He marched forward, linking his arm with mine so that I'd follow. I giggled, glancing to the confused people, silently questioning each other about Frank's peculiar behavior, as we passed.
"Oh yeah. 'I'm a master at this'," I mocked jokingly.
"Well it's just common decency to tell a person if they're about to run into a chair," he argued sullenly, sticking significantly closer to me now.
"I apologize. I'll let you know if you're about to run into a chair," I assured, to which he mumbled a thanks. "So what do you want to eat?"
"You pick."
"How about pizza? It's to the right up here." I pointed but then realized that would do no good since Frank hadn't looked up the whole time. He nodded, taking a right, which only led him straight into a column before I could warn him.
"Jesus Christ, Julie, you're trying to kill me!" he accused loudly, unlinking his arm to grasp his head. I giggled again, finding his fits to be adorable...There I go using that word again. I usually found it a sickening word, and I never thought I'd find someone to apply it to.
"You never said anything about a pole," I said innocently. He shook his head but I saw a small smile shine through as his tilted his head up, his eyes scanning around for where the pizza place was. We made our way over, surprisingly still not being recognized by anyone yet. I, for one, was no less than surprised.
"What would you like to order?" the cashier, a blonde short girl, asked.
"Yes," Frank said in a forced, abnormally low voice that obviously wasn't his. He hid behind me so that my head covered half his face and kept bobbing back and forth to project his voice to the cashier, who was now looking at us strangely. "I'd like a uh- large cheese pizza and two Cokes."
"Frank, you don't have to pay for me," I insisted, turning my head to face him. His grip on my shoulders tightened and his eyebrows shot up as he jerkily looked around us in all directions at the masses of people.
"She means Matt. My middle name is Frank," he said loudly in his fake voice, glancing around to see if people would buy it, though nobody was even paying attention.
"Um- Sir?" the cashier addressed, side-glancing at Frank.
"My middle name is Frank," he repeated for good measures, making me roll my eyes.
"Okay," she answered slowly. "That'll be $12.56."
He quickly extracted a twenty from his wallet then proceeded to duck behind me again, using me as a shied to shift around when someone got too close.
"$7.44 is your change sir, um have a nice day."
"My middle name is Frank," he restated assuringly with a smile, accepting his change. "My first name is Matt. No one calls me Frank."
"Okay..." she reiterated, pulling back her arm with a questioning look, her mouth hanging open, "Matt..."
"Thank you." I smiled quickly, accepting the already made pizza and drinks. We decided to head back to our unofficial base in the obscure hallway.
"You're really not very subtle," I commented, as he pranced in my steps behind me, avoiding eye contact with everyone around and trying to be as concealed and inconspicuous as possible.
"Whatever. Frank Iero is like a chameleon. He can fit in anywhere." I decided not to make a big deal about him using his name, even though he just made a huge deal about convincing people his name was Matt.
"Yeah, with his faithful sidekick, Julie, around to act as his human wall."
"I'm glad you understand, my dear." He patted the back of my head and I could tell he was smiling. I had a sudden inclination to glance at him- Sure enough, his silly grin shined back at me, only making me smile back. He was definitely one of a kind.
--
I held a hand over my mouth as I yawned, trying to will myself to stay awake for even the elevator ride up to our floor. We had stayed at the mall long past our welcome until they finally got serious and kicked everyone out, but 11:00 wasn't late enough for Frank. So we decided upon walking around in the comfortable weather outside way into the night. How we could simply walk for that long? I didn't know. The time seemed to fly by with him around.
As we walked down the hallway, approaching our hotel rooms in a sleepy-state, I suddenly stopped. Reality seemed to pound its way back into my mind as I frantically looked to Frank, who silently questioned my action. I quickly padded down my pockets, ignoring his confused look, then looked up at him with wide eyes.
"What?" he finally asked.
"I don't have a room key," I hissed, checking my pockets once again. He padded down his own figure then looked up in realization.
"Shit- Gerard had the keys."
"You're kidding."
"Shit," Frank cursed again, then faced one of our hotel rooms. "He's about to be even more pissed off at me right now 'cause I guess we're gonna have to wake them up."
Frank removed his phone and scrolled through the contact list then called. He frowned when he was sent directly to voicemail, then continued this four more times.
"You'd think someone would fucking have their phone on at 1 in the morning. What's wrong with them?" Frank seethed, jutting his jaw out and looking violently at the door. He forcefully kicked the door in frustration then immediately regretted it, jumping away from the door with a scream of pain. I looked at my empathetically then sighed before I rapidly knocked on the door as Frank hopped around behind me, a strew of curse words escaping him.
"Gerard," I yelled sharply to the door, now upgrading my knocking to hitting with the palm of my hand. "Gerard!"
I heard a thud behind me and noticed Frank had somehow tripped over himself and fallen. My eyebrows drew together, not liking the situation at all, and then extended an offertory hand to pull him up. Finally stabilizing himself with weight on his unscathed foot, he balled his fist and began banging on the door.
"Gerard!" he screamed, to which I grabbed his arm and shushed him.
"You're going to wake everybody up," I murmured.
"Yeah, except Gerard," he shot back, glowering at the door. I knew for a fact Gerard wasn't going to wake up, and even if he did, he probably wouldn't help Frank out currently. Bob, the only other one in the room, slept with earplugs, which I decided I was going to have to forbid him from using anymore, just in case something stupid like this ever happened again.
"Let's try Mikey," I suggested, signaling toward the door across the hall.
"Oh, no, Mikey's not waking up." Frank bitterly chuckled as his head shook unbelievably.
"Yeah Shelly's not either," I added with a grimace.
"And Ray sleeps with music on. Now we're all out of options," he stated angrily. "What if this were an emergency? What if you were having a baby? No one would wake up for it!"
"Frank," I addressed, letting my mouth hang open. "One, I'm not even pregnant, and two, why would I birth a child in a hallway of a hotel?"
"I don't know! I'm just saying!" he defended, throwing his hands up. "I can't think under pressure!"
"God dammit," I said through gritted teeth, becoming angered by the situation. I'd been up a little less than twenty four hours and my patience was wearing thin. I pushed Frank out of the way and persisted beating on the door.
"Gerard, if you don't open this door, so help me God-" Before I could make any more ruckus, Frank wrapped his arms around me from behind, restraining me from breaking down the door.
"Shhh," he lulled in my ear, rocking me back and forth to get me calmed down. I breathed heavily but soon calmed down after taking a deep breath and relaxed under his grip. I felt him give me a quick peck on my jaw line before letting his arms loosely release me. My heart sped up, and definitely not from my previous anger.
"What's going on up here?" a man unexpectedly asked, rounding the corner, startling us both. I whipped around to face the source of the noise and found one of the hotel employees.
"We're trying to get in our room," Frank explained calmly.
"Well I've just received multiple complaints from other residents about the noise in the hallway," he reported with a nasty frown.
"Sure, the people we don't care about wake up," Frank muttered after clicking his tongue.
"I will not have you disrupt my hotel," he commanded.
"Well, can we have a hotel key then?" I asked meekly.
"I have half a mind to kick you out," the man replied angrily, crossing his arms and looking down upon us as he had a good two feet on us. I had a feeling that if he really wanted to kick us out, there wouldn't be anything we could do about it.
"Please? We lost our hotel key and our friends aren't waking up to let us in," I begged as he looked at us disapprovingly.
"Come with me downstairs," he gave in after a couple seconds of deliberation. Frank and I exchanged relieved expressions before we followed the man to the elevator in silence. Once downstairs, the man sat down behind the main desk computer.
"What's the room number?" he growled, removing a spare key from a drawer. Frank and I simultaneously looked to one another with clueless expressions.
"Six..."
"Fourteen?" Frank finished questioningly, scrunching his face up. That didn't sound right.
"I'm not going to give you a room key to another person's room. You better be sure that's right."
Frank swallowed nervously before sprinting back across the lobby, taking a sharp turn at the stairs. I stayed there, under the relentless and disapproving look from the unpleasant man, feeling nice and uncomfortable. A few minutes later, Frank finally returned with an almost look of horror.
"That wasn't Gerard," he whispered, shaking his head. I sighed, defeated, looking pitiful I'm sure.
"You're going to have to stay in another room then."
"I only have ten bucks on me," Frank whispered, looking toward the man with pleading eyes. The man shrugged apathetically, making me want to punch him.
"I guess you're out of luck," he finalized, getting up. We stayed rooted to the ground as we hopelessly watched him leave us.
What were we supposed to do? Both of us were at wit's end with no options left. I didn't know what to do.
"Now what?" I breathed, though knowing well Frank didn't have an answer either. He looked to me with a feeble smile then let his gaze wonder to the middle of the room. He shrugged to himself then reached over and grabbed my hand, leading me deeper in to the lobby as I wondered what his plans were. He stopped when we reach a solitary white couch placed next to a glass table with various books for quick reading.
"You're kidding," I stated, staring at the small couch, realizing what his intentions were. He shrugged again with a lopsided smile, apparently finding amusement in the situation. He let go of my hand then flopped onto the couch, scooting himself against the back then patted the space created. A tiny smile formed as I looked into his vivid eyes.
"Won't we get in trouble?"
"Probably," he answered honestly, adding a small chuckle at the end. I never usually did anything that disobeyed the rules, but for some reason I didn't care.
So I laid down next to Frank, who slowly wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. His chin rested on my shoulder and I could feel his smile widen against my skin. I immediately melted, feeling absolutely perfect against him. I closed my eyes, letting him trace a few small kisses up my neck that I didn't question. I turned slightly to face him, my eyelids lazily open now. He looked at me indecisively for a couple moments before softly closing the gap between our lips.
A strange sensation trickled through my body, completely shutting down all thoughts. When Frank pulled away, too soon in my opinion, the feeling lingered as we looked at each other. I'd never been that relaxed before, but my heart was beating as if I'd just run a marathon.
"G'night, darling," he whispered, resting his head back down on against neck.
"Night, Frankie," I whispered back.
"Frankie?" he curiously repeated, not hearing me call him that before.
"I heard Gerard call you that once," I recalled, allowing his fingers to intertwine with my own.
"It sounds much nicer when you say it."
Frank covered his mouth as he laughed, in hopes of not letting the ice cream he was eating pool out of his mouth. We had decided to lay low for awhile in the obsolete hallway, so we went and bought a giant tub of ice cream, parked ourselves to the side, and talked.
And what better topic to talk about other than the worst days of high school?
"No, no," Frank said, still laughing, holding up a hand to signal he had something to say. "I remember one time me and my old buddy, Jay, were paired up for a Chemistry lab and we were working with the burners." He paused shortly to laugh and I smiled, already anticipating the rest. "We weren't paying attention to what our teacher was saying so I accidently had the gas on too high when I lit it and I had this mass of fire explode onto my arm."
I clapped my hands over my mouth as I laughed, raising my eyebrows in surprise.
"I still have a few scars from it," he added with a grin.
"Seriously?" I asked, gazing at him questioningly. He nodded eagerly, scooting towards me a little, then shoved his right arm forward. Both our heads bowed closer to his tattooed limb, our eyes scanning.
"There we go," he said, running a couple fingers along some of the skin on his forearm and next to his elbow.
"Eww," I whimpered when I finally saw the slightly wrinkled areas that I'd never noticed before, automatically compelled to touch it.
"Your fingers are really freaking cold," he informed softy, his eyes flickering up.
"Well, ice cream does have a tendency to make me cold," I replied, glancing up at him, just realizing how close we'd gotten. Then it happened again. My heart beat faster as we just looked at each other. Everything else around me began to drown out as my focus on Frank increased, my eyes drifted back and forth between his eyes and lips a couple times.
His eyes grew round as he apprehensively watched me, leaning his head a little closer and I a little closer to him. Suddenly, he took a breath and pulled away from me quickly, glancing down awkwardly.
"Yeah it hurt pretty bad," he mumbled, rubbing his arm lightly. "The hospital bill was a bitch, but I got out of school and everything."
"T-That's cool," I stuttered, feeling plain embarrassed, leaning back onto my feet. Frank nodded with a forced laugh, licking his lips. He looked around, probably searching for a distraction from me, and then finally settled on taking out his phone.
"Whoa," Frank whispered. I hummed back inquisitively, taking another bite of ice cream in attempt to be cool and collected...which I wasn't. He turned the phone toward me and explained with raised eyebrows, "We've been talking for like three hours."
"Nuh uh," I countered in disbelief, snatching his cell phone from him. I furrowed my eyebrows, noting what time it was and what time we got here.
"And we ate this entire thing of ice cream." Frank groaned and fell onto his back, placing a hand on his stomach. "And I just got off those 7 pounds. I'm gonna get fat and pop."
"Frank you're not gonna pop." I giggled, rolling my eyes, glad the strange moment passed so quickly. I didn't know what I was thinking. "Besides, I thought it was the girl's job to complain about weight."
"Hey, when it comes to complaining, I'm there," he argued, hoisting himself up then crossing his legs. "Which reminds me, why hasn't our dearest Gerard begun to worry about me yet?"
"Maybe because you were kind of a jerk to our dearest Gerard," I suggested. "He has feelings, believe it or not."
"He'll get over it," Frank shrugged off, something behind me suddenly catching his eye. I turned to where he was looking and saw a display being set up for some movie. Before I could face forward again, Frank was already walking past me, entranced with curiosity. I tentatively followed him, throwing away the empty ice cream container because I'm nice like that.
"Wanna watch it?" Frank asked when I joined him, reading the sign. It was some punk rock documentary they were showing on a screen inside. I didn't know the first thing about punk rock, but I didn't want to rain on his parade so I obliged.
--
It turned out I wasn't mentally capable of understanding anything going on in the movie, which sat rather uneasily with me. I would hear a name of some apparently influential band or person and leave my mouth hanging open dumbly as my brain shut down from overdrive, not comprehending anything. Thankfully Frank glanced over quite frequently ready to fill me in about whom they were talking about.
"That's Joe Strummer," he whispered into my ear, pointing to a picture they were showing on the screen. "He was the guitarist for The Clash, a band from the late '70's, early '80's."
My mouth formed an o as I nodded, my eyes still on the screen, only to be faced with more name problems a few minutes later.
"Hell yeah," Frank quietly cheered before leaning toward me again. "That's Jerry Only, the bassist from The Misfits, one of my favorite bands."
I didn't know how he did it. I didn't know how he stored all this music knowledge in his head. I couldn't fathom how he remembered what seemed like everything to do with music, and every person included in it. Frank knew every single person in that film and smiled nearly the whole time, not looking bothered at all by my ignorance. I only had heard of The Ramones...and that's about it.
Yeah. I felt kind of lame.
Once the movie, standing at about 90 minutes, was over, we exited out the door which led into a CD store where the director of the film was hoping to sell some DVD's. Frank accordingly went straight to her, who was surprised that Frank Iero had just seen her show, and struck up a conversation. I began looking at a rack of CD's, not really feeling the need to listen since it would go right over my head.
"So I have to ask you," I heard Frank say loudly with a smile, causing me to glance at him, tuning back into the conversation with interest. "If you're from DC like you said, then how come there aren't any Bad Brains in there?"
The lady chuckled, while I simply blinked, not finding the humor in it.
"Well I couldn't fit every band in there."
Ohh. Bad Brains was a band. It sounded more like a learning center.
I sighed to myself and continued looking through the CD's. This was definitely not my forte. I hardly knew the first thing about music and I was on a tour for Christ's sake. Someone else deserved my spot.
"So you've never heard of any of those bands in there?" Frank suddenly popped up next to me, pointing a thumb back. I shook my head no, feeling kind of embarrassed. He narrowed his eyes in thought, biting his lip, then looked down suddenly. "You know, I could like, teach you. Show you some good bands, give you some CD's."
"That would be lovely," I answered with a chuckle. "Who better to learn Music 101 from?"
"Yes ma'am," he agreed with a grin then sang, "There are few you deny, at what I do I am the best, for my talents are renowned far and wide."
"Did you just make that up?" Frank's smile faded and he stared at me, looking almost worried.
"You've never seen Nightmare Before Christmas?"
"No," I spoke, looking at him blankly. His eyes widened as if trying to make sense of what I told him.
"You haven't heard of The Misfits and you've never seen Nightmare before Christmas?" he clarified, then hesitated like he was waiting for me to tell him he had it wrong...only he didn't. "What's wrong with you?"
"Well aren't you the charmer, Frank?" I said, smiling spitefully.
"No," he quickly took back his words, waving his palms at me, like it would erase what he had said. "I mean. Just...wow. We're total opposites," he mused with a grin, cocking his head to the side.
"You just noticed?"
"Sort of," he mumbled, casting his eyes downward. "I haven't really properly compared us before."
"Well I for one have found it blaringly obvious that you love music significantly more than me," I replied with a half-smile as he mirrored me with a nod. "Pretty much anything related to pop culture I've always avoided."
"Well that's a shame because I am pop culture, babe."
"You're not pop culture," I argued with a laugh.
"What would you consider me then?" He seemed interested, his eyes bright and a smile tugging at his lips. I pursed my lips as I analyzed his face, racking my brain for a good definition.
"I haven't got you fully figured out yet," I answered honestly, still trying to think of something. There were still pieces missing in the puzzle and I realized after all this time, he was still an unsolved mystery.
"No one's figured me out yet," he boasted proudly, as if it were a good thing. I shrugged indifferently, then casually began perusing the CD's again, looking for nothing in particular. Frank did the same, though I could see him glance up at me a couple times out of the corner of my eye.
"I think I have you figured out," he commented slowly, making my eyes slid toward him, intrigued.
"You do, huh?" I challenged skeptically, wheeling around so I fully faced him. He narrowed his eyes with a confident smirk, stepping a little closer to me.
"You're scared to let go and be yourself because you're afraid of what others will think of you and how they'll react. You stick to the socially acceptable because you don't like the chances of everyone leaving you behind, which is why you subconsciously place your arm around your stomach for a sense of security and stableness." He paused to softly poke my arm that I didn't even realize was loosely wrapped around me. In shock, I quickly unbent my arm with an embarrassed frown.
"I can tell you think really hard about what to say sometimes because you're reluctant to say the first thing that pops into your head," Frank continued. "You're strategic in what you say in hopes that you can be the girl that no one has a problem with. When conflict comes up, you think carefully which causes you to purse your lips." He glided his arm toward my face and lightly touched my lips.
"H-How do you know all that?" I demanded with an astonished look, not knowing what to think. How could he tell any of that? How could he see right through me when no one's even thought about it before?
"I dunno," he answered lightly with a shrug, retracting his arm. "Despite how creepy it might sound, I just remember stuff about you. I really don't know why; I'm usually not very perceptive. But I do have my smart moments."
I continued standing there looking at him stunned. I'd never had someone describe me so intently before or even take the time to notice any particular habits. I'd certainly never thought that all at once before.
"You never cease to amaze me, Frank," I whispered, closing my gaping mouth to a more relaxed position.
"Hey, I can't deny I'm talented," he said with a cheeky smile, raising his hands innocently. "I was just born gifted."
"Well I've noticed that when you're nervous, you always start picking at something. As if you have to distract yourself in order to get through the conversation," I said, recalling every time I'd seen him jittery. His smile disappeared as he simply stared at me without a word.
"And you also have this certain smirk that you do when you're happy or having a good time," I said, touching Frank's left cheek with my pointer finger. "It goes about right there." Instinctively, a grin formed exactly to where I pointed, making me smile as well. "See? There it is."
"I guess I do."
"I notice stuff about you, too," I said, neither of us able to shake off our smile, which I'm sure made us look a little ridiculous. But I liked his smile; I always had.
"Maybe we're just open books, and not as secretive as either of us thought."
"You're probably right."
But I had a different way of looking at it. I was really starting to like Frank, even though it was a lost cause. I couldn't help myself. I knew these things because I couldn't help but pay more attention to him more than anyone I'd known. I'd put more emphasis on knowing and talking to him than I'd given anyone else.
I decided to abandon my thoughts when I heard my stomach growl, making Frank laugh softly.
"Wanna go eat?" he offered, already heading to the door. I nodded, not really having anything to say. We walked in silence until we reached a food court where an abnormal amount of people resided. I heard Frank let out a cute squeak and lowered his head so that his hair hung over his face.
"Frank, you're going to run into something," I warned, glancing to him and his attempt to go undetected.
"No I'm not," he insisted not looking up, but sticking close to me. "I'm a master at this."
He then ran into a chair, causing both him and the seat to topple over. A couple people nearby stopped with concerned looks as I tried to fight off a smile, watching him scramble around on the floor in attempt to keep his face covered while getting up.
"I'm fine!" he yelled, once up on his feet and placing the chair upright. "I'm fine- Awesome- Great! Come on, Julie."
He marched forward, linking his arm with mine so that I'd follow. I giggled, glancing to the confused people, silently questioning each other about Frank's peculiar behavior, as we passed.
"Oh yeah. 'I'm a master at this'," I mocked jokingly.
"Well it's just common decency to tell a person if they're about to run into a chair," he argued sullenly, sticking significantly closer to me now.
"I apologize. I'll let you know if you're about to run into a chair," I assured, to which he mumbled a thanks. "So what do you want to eat?"
"You pick."
"How about pizza? It's to the right up here." I pointed but then realized that would do no good since Frank hadn't looked up the whole time. He nodded, taking a right, which only led him straight into a column before I could warn him.
"Jesus Christ, Julie, you're trying to kill me!" he accused loudly, unlinking his arm to grasp his head. I giggled again, finding his fits to be adorable...There I go using that word again. I usually found it a sickening word, and I never thought I'd find someone to apply it to.
"You never said anything about a pole," I said innocently. He shook his head but I saw a small smile shine through as his tilted his head up, his eyes scanning around for where the pizza place was. We made our way over, surprisingly still not being recognized by anyone yet. I, for one, was no less than surprised.
"What would you like to order?" the cashier, a blonde short girl, asked.
"Yes," Frank said in a forced, abnormally low voice that obviously wasn't his. He hid behind me so that my head covered half his face and kept bobbing back and forth to project his voice to the cashier, who was now looking at us strangely. "I'd like a uh- large cheese pizza and two Cokes."
"Frank, you don't have to pay for me," I insisted, turning my head to face him. His grip on my shoulders tightened and his eyebrows shot up as he jerkily looked around us in all directions at the masses of people.
"She means Matt. My middle name is Frank," he said loudly in his fake voice, glancing around to see if people would buy it, though nobody was even paying attention.
"Um- Sir?" the cashier addressed, side-glancing at Frank.
"My middle name is Frank," he repeated for good measures, making me roll my eyes.
"Okay," she answered slowly. "That'll be $12.56."
He quickly extracted a twenty from his wallet then proceeded to duck behind me again, using me as a shied to shift around when someone got too close.
"$7.44 is your change sir, um have a nice day."
"My middle name is Frank," he restated assuringly with a smile, accepting his change. "My first name is Matt. No one calls me Frank."
"Okay..." she reiterated, pulling back her arm with a questioning look, her mouth hanging open, "Matt..."
"Thank you." I smiled quickly, accepting the already made pizza and drinks. We decided to head back to our unofficial base in the obscure hallway.
"You're really not very subtle," I commented, as he pranced in my steps behind me, avoiding eye contact with everyone around and trying to be as concealed and inconspicuous as possible.
"Whatever. Frank Iero is like a chameleon. He can fit in anywhere." I decided not to make a big deal about him using his name, even though he just made a huge deal about convincing people his name was Matt.
"Yeah, with his faithful sidekick, Julie, around to act as his human wall."
"I'm glad you understand, my dear." He patted the back of my head and I could tell he was smiling. I had a sudden inclination to glance at him- Sure enough, his silly grin shined back at me, only making me smile back. He was definitely one of a kind.
--
I held a hand over my mouth as I yawned, trying to will myself to stay awake for even the elevator ride up to our floor. We had stayed at the mall long past our welcome until they finally got serious and kicked everyone out, but 11:00 wasn't late enough for Frank. So we decided upon walking around in the comfortable weather outside way into the night. How we could simply walk for that long? I didn't know. The time seemed to fly by with him around.
As we walked down the hallway, approaching our hotel rooms in a sleepy-state, I suddenly stopped. Reality seemed to pound its way back into my mind as I frantically looked to Frank, who silently questioned my action. I quickly padded down my pockets, ignoring his confused look, then looked up at him with wide eyes.
"What?" he finally asked.
"I don't have a room key," I hissed, checking my pockets once again. He padded down his own figure then looked up in realization.
"Shit- Gerard had the keys."
"You're kidding."
"Shit," Frank cursed again, then faced one of our hotel rooms. "He's about to be even more pissed off at me right now 'cause I guess we're gonna have to wake them up."
Frank removed his phone and scrolled through the contact list then called. He frowned when he was sent directly to voicemail, then continued this four more times.
"You'd think someone would fucking have their phone on at 1 in the morning. What's wrong with them?" Frank seethed, jutting his jaw out and looking violently at the door. He forcefully kicked the door in frustration then immediately regretted it, jumping away from the door with a scream of pain. I looked at my empathetically then sighed before I rapidly knocked on the door as Frank hopped around behind me, a strew of curse words escaping him.
"Gerard," I yelled sharply to the door, now upgrading my knocking to hitting with the palm of my hand. "Gerard!"
I heard a thud behind me and noticed Frank had somehow tripped over himself and fallen. My eyebrows drew together, not liking the situation at all, and then extended an offertory hand to pull him up. Finally stabilizing himself with weight on his unscathed foot, he balled his fist and began banging on the door.
"Gerard!" he screamed, to which I grabbed his arm and shushed him.
"You're going to wake everybody up," I murmured.
"Yeah, except Gerard," he shot back, glowering at the door. I knew for a fact Gerard wasn't going to wake up, and even if he did, he probably wouldn't help Frank out currently. Bob, the only other one in the room, slept with earplugs, which I decided I was going to have to forbid him from using anymore, just in case something stupid like this ever happened again.
"Let's try Mikey," I suggested, signaling toward the door across the hall.
"Oh, no, Mikey's not waking up." Frank bitterly chuckled as his head shook unbelievably.
"Yeah Shelly's not either," I added with a grimace.
"And Ray sleeps with music on. Now we're all out of options," he stated angrily. "What if this were an emergency? What if you were having a baby? No one would wake up for it!"
"Frank," I addressed, letting my mouth hang open. "One, I'm not even pregnant, and two, why would I birth a child in a hallway of a hotel?"
"I don't know! I'm just saying!" he defended, throwing his hands up. "I can't think under pressure!"
"God dammit," I said through gritted teeth, becoming angered by the situation. I'd been up a little less than twenty four hours and my patience was wearing thin. I pushed Frank out of the way and persisted beating on the door.
"Gerard, if you don't open this door, so help me God-" Before I could make any more ruckus, Frank wrapped his arms around me from behind, restraining me from breaking down the door.
"Shhh," he lulled in my ear, rocking me back and forth to get me calmed down. I breathed heavily but soon calmed down after taking a deep breath and relaxed under his grip. I felt him give me a quick peck on my jaw line before letting his arms loosely release me. My heart sped up, and definitely not from my previous anger.
"What's going on up here?" a man unexpectedly asked, rounding the corner, startling us both. I whipped around to face the source of the noise and found one of the hotel employees.
"We're trying to get in our room," Frank explained calmly.
"Well I've just received multiple complaints from other residents about the noise in the hallway," he reported with a nasty frown.
"Sure, the people we don't care about wake up," Frank muttered after clicking his tongue.
"I will not have you disrupt my hotel," he commanded.
"Well, can we have a hotel key then?" I asked meekly.
"I have half a mind to kick you out," the man replied angrily, crossing his arms and looking down upon us as he had a good two feet on us. I had a feeling that if he really wanted to kick us out, there wouldn't be anything we could do about it.
"Please? We lost our hotel key and our friends aren't waking up to let us in," I begged as he looked at us disapprovingly.
"Come with me downstairs," he gave in after a couple seconds of deliberation. Frank and I exchanged relieved expressions before we followed the man to the elevator in silence. Once downstairs, the man sat down behind the main desk computer.
"What's the room number?" he growled, removing a spare key from a drawer. Frank and I simultaneously looked to one another with clueless expressions.
"Six..."
"Fourteen?" Frank finished questioningly, scrunching his face up. That didn't sound right.
"I'm not going to give you a room key to another person's room. You better be sure that's right."
Frank swallowed nervously before sprinting back across the lobby, taking a sharp turn at the stairs. I stayed there, under the relentless and disapproving look from the unpleasant man, feeling nice and uncomfortable. A few minutes later, Frank finally returned with an almost look of horror.
"That wasn't Gerard," he whispered, shaking his head. I sighed, defeated, looking pitiful I'm sure.
"You're going to have to stay in another room then."
"I only have ten bucks on me," Frank whispered, looking toward the man with pleading eyes. The man shrugged apathetically, making me want to punch him.
"I guess you're out of luck," he finalized, getting up. We stayed rooted to the ground as we hopelessly watched him leave us.
What were we supposed to do? Both of us were at wit's end with no options left. I didn't know what to do.
"Now what?" I breathed, though knowing well Frank didn't have an answer either. He looked to me with a feeble smile then let his gaze wonder to the middle of the room. He shrugged to himself then reached over and grabbed my hand, leading me deeper in to the lobby as I wondered what his plans were. He stopped when we reach a solitary white couch placed next to a glass table with various books for quick reading.
"You're kidding," I stated, staring at the small couch, realizing what his intentions were. He shrugged again with a lopsided smile, apparently finding amusement in the situation. He let go of my hand then flopped onto the couch, scooting himself against the back then patted the space created. A tiny smile formed as I looked into his vivid eyes.
"Won't we get in trouble?"
"Probably," he answered honestly, adding a small chuckle at the end. I never usually did anything that disobeyed the rules, but for some reason I didn't care.
So I laid down next to Frank, who slowly wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. His chin rested on my shoulder and I could feel his smile widen against my skin. I immediately melted, feeling absolutely perfect against him. I closed my eyes, letting him trace a few small kisses up my neck that I didn't question. I turned slightly to face him, my eyelids lazily open now. He looked at me indecisively for a couple moments before softly closing the gap between our lips.
A strange sensation trickled through my body, completely shutting down all thoughts. When Frank pulled away, too soon in my opinion, the feeling lingered as we looked at each other. I'd never been that relaxed before, but my heart was beating as if I'd just run a marathon.
"G'night, darling," he whispered, resting his head back down on against neck.
"Night, Frankie," I whispered back.
"Frankie?" he curiously repeated, not hearing me call him that before.
"I heard Gerard call you that once," I recalled, allowing his fingers to intertwine with my own.
"It sounds much nicer when you say it."
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