Chapter Seven.

An hour later…

 

“I wasn’t joking.”

“We can go now.” I suggested; we were in my room messing around. I grabbed my guitar.

“Oh it’s band practice? Gross. You band geek.”

“Actually no band, we just write songs together.” We both headed out the front door and out into the chilly streets. Once we were far enough down the street I saw mikey, frank, and ray out throwing the football. Mikey saw me and got distracted, making him an open target for a football in the head. Of course frank took the chance and swung the football at Mikey’s head. I was going to warn him, but it was too late. Kayla and I were still laughing as I hugged mikey.

 

Kayla’s P.O.V

Joey hugged mikey and clung to his side. Some kid with poofy hair came and extended his hand. I shook it awkwardly and pronounced my name.

“That’s cool.” He said and let go. “I’m ray.” I smiled and stuffed my hand in my back pocket.

“Who’s this?” obviously this kid was touchy or didn’t care what people thought of him because he turned me around by the shoulder.

“I’m Kayla, Joey’s friend of about one week.” I laughed. He was cute. This must be Frankie, I liked that name.

“I’m frank.” He said, but didn’t extend a hand, for that I was grateful.

“So you come down for a little practice?” I heard mikey ask Joey. He was pulling her along inside the house. She was so absorbed, but I didn’t whine. When they were gone ray and frank continued throwing the ball at each other. Ray threw a perfect spiral, but I jumped up and grabbed it.

“You aren’t like Joey at all.” Ray noticed, obviously falsely irritated.  

“I’ve lived here forever. Tennesseans and we New Jersey people are different. I’m way more outgoing than she, but we wear just about the same thing. Though I can’t seem to fit into some of her clothes, they’re too small.” I paused, they were looking at me like I had given them the code to the NASA main frame, but I continued. “I’m sure you all know about her little incident a few weeks ago, right?” they nodded. “boys.” I muttered and threw the football, beautiful spiral, right into ray’s open arms.

 

Frank’s P.O.V

 I really was starting to like this Kayla girl. She seemed really cool and wasn’t girly at all. I mean Joey wasn’t either, but she had mikey or Gerard. Which ever. Besides Joey was different and so was Kayla. I liked Kayla; she seemed like someone I would like to get to know. She had started to march in the house, obviously annoyed by our stupidity.

“Hey, wait!” I called, she stopped and turned around. The look on her face made me think she knew I would do that.

“Uh huh.” She stood perfectly still.

“Do you play anything?”

“Except for video games, no.” she giggled.

“What about guitar?” we started walking in the house.

“No. my mother never would let me get one. She was afraid I would melt her ears off.” We laughed as she followed me to the basement.

 

Joey’s P.O.V

 Mikey and I were singing and writing away when I heard footsteps and stopped. He did too. Ever since I started coming back over here I was afraid Gerard would appear around the corner; well I guess I wasn’t afraid just worried that he would see me with mikey. We weren’t in some kind of relationship or anything, but still. Instead it was Kayla and Frankie.

“Kayla I’m sorry I left you to fend for yourself with those two out there.” She seemed fine.

“Alrighty, doll, found myself a tour guide.” She patted Frankie’s head like a puppy dogs. He just laughed and proceeded on picking up his guitar.

“Ooooo that’s pretty.” Kayla cooed when she saw frank pick up his fire red Gibson.

“Very.” Frank looked up into Kayla’s eyes and held her there for a minute. It was too cute. He smiled crookedly and she blushed then looked away. Frank started showing her the parts and stuff.

“They’re cute.” I commented, to mikey.

“Adorable.”

“What’s wrong? Do you not like Kayla?”

“I don’t know. She’s different.” His eyebrows nit together, what was up with him?

“She won’t be like me, Mikey. Look if frank and her go out it will be cute. Get over it.” I tried to laugh over the matter.

“I don’t know. Just different. Sides if he breaks her heart don’t come crying to me when I told you so.”

“What do you mean?”

“Frankie usually doesn’t keep a girl for long.”

“…?”

“You’ll probably see.”

“Kayla is different though.”

“Let’s let it drop.” I did and mikey and I played for a good two more hours. We had accomplished a bunch.

 

 I hugged Mikey’s side and dragged Kayla from Frankie’s.

“He’s so nice.” Her eyes beamed in the darkness. I was suddenly afraid Mikey’s words were true. I really didn’t want her getting hurt.

“I’m glad you had fun.” We walked slowly, unspeaking.

“Are you tired, Jo-Jo?” she asked. Kayla was like my big sister.

“Yeah.” I yawned. “I’m pooped.” She wrapped her hand around my shoulder and let me lean my head on her shoulder.

“Here.”

“Thanks, Kayla. You’re the best.” She ruffled her hands in my hair and laughed. The rest of the night was a blur, but I know Kayla helped me through most of it.

 

 “Hey monkey wake up.” Kayla whispered in my ear, probably for the thousandth time, considering her voice was tight. I drew in a jagged breath and sat up, eyes still closed.

“What time is it?” I mumbled. My mouth was still thick with sleepy spit stuff.

“Around nine-thirty,” She whispered again and sat down on the bed corner.

“Why are we whispering?”

“I don’t know. It was quiet and I liked it.” Though Kayla was a very loud person she did have a ‘dark’ or less shallow side to her. I opened my eyes and looked into hers. She was dressed.

“I think it’s time you went shopping.” She announced after I missed her bounding off to my closet.

“Maybe more black, more checkers…” she babbled to herself as she rummaged through my skimpy wardrobe.

“How about we bring the guys with us?” by now I was out of the bed and slipping my sweats on.

“That would be cool. What will we tell your parents?” she flashed a grin in my direction.

“I don’t know. They don’t bother with me much anymore, especially my dad. It’s been nice.” I examined my back in the mirror, for once in a long time bruises didn’t dance along my spine.

“It’s healed nicely.” She commented, running her eyes up and down, checking to see if I missed something.

“Well let’s get dressed, eat and then go bug them.” Kayla had failed to bring any clothes, again, so I let her borrow my size three jeans and me in my zeros. She stole my dinosaur shirt so I was stuck with a purple long sleeve with paint splattered across the back and front. Some how we both seemed to find really cute stuff to go along with our clothes; I wore my neon pink scarf and Kayla stole a blue skinny tie and white rimmed sun glasses. She looked really funky. We both posed in the mirror and laughed after wards.

“You’re too cute kiddo.” Kayla commented as I smoothed out my jeans and handed her my black eyeliner. That’s the only make-up she wore.

“You know you’re like a sister to me and I only met you like a week ago?” I pulled my short hair in a pony-tail.

“Yeah, I know it’s weird. I’ve never bonded with a girl like this before.” She hugged me tight and I hugged her back.

“Ugh.” She fiddled with my pony tail until it was just right on her standards as we walked up-stairs. No one was awake, not even my parents or my little brother. I left a note on the fridge and one by the phone. Swiping my credit card was easy. I slid that in my back pocket and the two of us pulled on our converses.

“Whoa it’s colder than I thought.” Kayla shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.

“I bet Frankie will keep you warm.” I nudged her side and laughed.

“Yeah, I wish. I don’t think he likes me like that, just as a friend. It’s been a while since I’ve had a boyfriend. Like a real one. It would be nice to have one again, but I won’t push it.” She hung her head and pushed back her bangs.

“It’s okay.” I patted her back and let up as we got closer to his house. The rest of the walk was quiet.

 

Kayla’s P.O.V

 When we approached the house Gerard, I guess, was sitting on the front porch watching the sky. He was gorgeous, I wonder if he knew how much. Joey tensed up beside me. Whatever. I walked straight up to Gerard and stopped. He looked me over, slowly, and finally met my eyes.

“Are mikey and Frank in?” I smacked on my gum a little.

“Yeah…I think. Maybe not awake, not sure.” He went back to glancing at the sky.

“thanks.” I muttered. So I get to jump on Frankie, if only my parents knew what I was doing… when we were in the house I think Joey started to breathe again.

“Breathe jo-jo,” I reminded her. “I’m not doing CPR or anything if you stop.” She didn’t laugh.

“I think Mikey’s room is this way.”

“What about Frankie?” I asked and stopped.

“They don’t all live together Kay; I think he’s down the street or something.”

“Okay go wake up your boyfriend. I’ll be outside waiting.” She gave me a questioned look, “It’s stuffy.” I waved my hand in front of my face, pretending to be hot, though I wasn’t. Gerard would be in the front porch, but I went anyway. I walked out the door and welcomed the cold air. It cleared my senses. Ignoring him on the porch, I walked out and sat on the lowest step, staring at the grey sky. He actually moved and sat next to me.

“hi.” He kept looking forward.

“Hello?” that was a surprise.

“I’m Gerard.”

“I know who you are, trust me.”

“As the good guy or the bad?” he peeked at me through his long hair.

“Depends on which point of view you look at it from.” He grinned. “Both. You seemed nice enough.”

“Seemed?”

“Well you decided to go have fun when Joe needed you.” I frowned and so did he.

“And now she’s probably going out with my little brother. Lucky.”

“You still like her?”

“More than that.” He whispered, as if it was a crime.

“You love her?” who knew he could have such a sweet side.

“I guess…and she loved me, but then I did something very stupid.” He paused. “I let her go. She was already dangling on the edge of my finger and then I just let her slip right off. Foolish.” He shook his head.

“Wow. I didn’t know.”

“I’m sure mikey told you the whole thing, but from his point of view.” He chuckled darkly.

“Actually Joe was the one to tell me the whole thing. She really liked you, a lot.” He looked at me and me at him. For a minute we sat like this, locking each other in one’s gaze, like we were talking through our minds. His eyes were so deep, like a thousand stories laid inside. I had the sudden urge to grab his face and kiss him. This surprised me. He seemed to see the shock on my face and looked away. I risked touching his shoulder.

“Why?” I asked.

“I was a hormonal crazed boy. What else?” that wasn’t good enough. I had just stopped myself from kissing a boy I hardly knew and it wasn’t that hard considering he had just broken My sister’s heart. Without waiting for my answer, I jumped up when I heard Joey making her way from the hall. Gerard didn’t look displeased; actually all of his emotions were gone. Joe wasn’t alone, of course, for some odd reason I could feel that mikey didn’t like me. Maybe it was because of Frank.

“So are we picking up frank?” I asked as we walked down the street and closer to town.

“Oh, yeah.” We made a quick u-turn and headed into a part of the neighborhood I didn’t know. Joey was attached to Mikey’s side, sickening. Finally we reached his house. Mikey knocked and someone let us in.

“Frank!” mikey yelled in his small bedroom. Frank rolled and snored. I giggled.

“I think he’s still asleep.” I whispered to mikey, might as well play nice.

“I’d say. Go jump on him.”

“What?! No way. He’ll hate me.” Joey suppressed a laugh behind me.

“Ok then watch this.” Mikey took a pillow from the cluttered floor and hit the back of frank’s head. He jolted up in the bed, shirtless and in boxers, and screamed at mikey. I couldn’t contain my laughter. Neither could Joey. We both were laughing so hard. I whipped away the tears from my eyes and tried to breathe. Apparently he was dressed, well only half way but that didn’t bother me, because he grabbed me by the hip and closed the door in their faces. He pulled me down on the bed and locked me with his knees. My sunglasses fell on the floor.

“Do I even have to ask why?” he asked, messing with a strand of my hair.

“We came to get you so we could all go shopping. Very simple. You just made it difficult.” I placed my hands behind my head and grinned.

“So now it’s my fault?” instead of looking at my hair he looked into my eyes. I was stuck.

“Hmm-hmm.” I nodded, suppressing a smile. Considering the hormones running through mine, and probably his body, I wasn’t surprised when the tips of his fingers ran the length of my jaw. My legs were dangling over the side of the bed and it was getting annoying.

“Uh-huh.” He murmured, inching closer towards my face. My heart was racing a mile a minute. Somehow I couldn’t remember how to breathe before he closed my air way. He must really be set on making it harder for me to concentrate because he was running his fingers in and out of the bottom of my shirt. Great, now Joey will have frank all over her shirt. It wasn’t long before I had my hands around his neck, pulling him closer. Suddenly mikey banged on the door.

“C’mon guys!” he yelled. “It’s been fifteen minutes!” I heard Joey giggle and then laugh in the back ground. Frank got off with a loud sigh and moved toward the closet. Did he have to put a shirt on? I scooted into the middle of the small bed and looked around. While he took his own sweet time I analyzed his room and the kiss. That was the best I’ve had in FOREVER. He was amazing.

 

 Once he was done we walked out of his bedroom and into the street with the other two. We didn’t hold hands and we didn’t hug. We just messed around with each other. It was fun.

“Yes!” I yelled, finally knowing where we were going. My favorite music store in town.

“What?” frank looked surprised.

“I love this place.” We all walked into the store and split up. An hour later we were done, but I didn’t have anything.

“Let’s head on go to the mall.” Joey said.

 

 The rest of our mall trip went by really slow, but it was fun. Frank and mikey hadn’t gotten anything yet. They acted like clothes racks for us. In the dressing room Joey and I posed and laughed. We leaned on each other’s backs.

“We look good.” I commented.

“Duh.” She giggled. I looked at Joey.

“You are the smallest person I know.” She frowned and looked down, but I smiled. I liked her like this.

“Yeah. It sucks actually; I’m just glad people like me for who I am.”

“You look tired. Are you hungry?” I said, over the dressing room partition while we got our clothes back on.

“Yeah. Pizza?”

“Booya!” I yelled. I heard frank laugh on the outside. When we were done we headed to the food court. Frank and I shared a small and so did Joey and mikey. I had eaten three pieces when I grabbed for another.

“Jeeze, you sure can eat.” He picked up his third.

“It’s food. Food is food. And yes I can. There’s nothing wrong with that.” I killed my last piece and patted my stomach.

“At least it isn’t talking anymore.” I said. Everyone looked at me weird. Joey realized what I meant and busted out laughing.

“Oh, yeah. Her stomach talks.” Joey giggled before breathing again.

“You know I think we should go. Gerard wanted to practice at around three.” Mikey said. Joey looked up at him with a questioned expression. Uh oh.

“A band practice?” she squeaked.

“Yeah.” He whispered and glared at me like he didn’t want me to go with them.

“I am sick of you looking at me like that. Quit it.” I stomped off and headed towards the exit. My anger had busted. I heard frank running to catch up with me.

“Whoa, what was that?” he rested his hand on my shoulder. I tried to stay calm.

“Have you not noticed the way he looks at me?” I kept the screeching to a minimum. He didn’t lie off so I swatted at his hand.

 “What’s wrong?” he actually looked concerned.

“I have trust issues.” I muttered and walked off, he started to follow.

“Wait. If you’re going to run off at least take this.” He handed me a folded up piece of paper with a number on it. I took it and ran through the store.

 

Frankie’s P.O.V

 I ran back to Joey and mikey. They were hugging. Gross.

“She ran off. Home I guess.” I picked up the table.

“Maybe we should follow her.” Joey had her hand on Mikey’s chest. I would have to talk to him about that later.

“I don’t know.” Mikey had false concern on his face. Now I know what Kayla meant.

“Maybe you’re right.” Joey sighed.

“I’ll go look for her then.” I left them and ran through the mall to the exit. Kayla wasn’t anywhere in site. Where could she have gone? Gerard, maybe?

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[X_Emo_Princess_X]

ooh...i hope the next chapter is long. there's a lot to clear up.