My cell was what woke me several hours later, even though I missed the call. Upon checking I found that I already had three missed calls and four texts. Two of the three were from my dad, the third and most recent was from James. Likewise three of the texts were from my dad, and the last from James.
Message 1:
From: Dad
Hey F, where are you kid? Come over to Mike’s when you’re ready; we’re having a BBQ there tonight. Xx
Message 2:
From: Dad
I know you’re probably still mad at me, but can you at least let me know where you are? Please. Xx
Message 3:
From: James
Frankie. Please help me out here. Your dads just text to ask me where you are. I dunno what to tell him!
I sighed and rang James.
“Frankie!” he exclaimed down the phone when he answered.
“Hey.”
“I guess you’re in London now then?”
“Yeah. I got here a few hours ago, I needed sleep. I didn’t get any on the plane out here.”
“Well that’s fair enough. But what am I supposed to tell your dad?!”
“Tell him to look more carefully in the kitchen, I left a note.” I shrugged to myself.
“Frankie. He’s really worried about you.”
“Well tell him not to be then. I’m fine. I’m staying with Ben and his band mate Joe in Essex. But don’t tell him that bit.”
I heard him sigh. Then I heard two beeps, I had another call coming in, I checked the screen of my phone and saw it was my dad again.
“Dad’s ringing me.” I mumbled.
“Why don’t you just talk to him? At least tell him your ok, and why you left. Then at least he’ll know nothing bad has happened to you! Cause that’s what he’s worried about.”
“I can’t. Not yet.” I told him shaking my head even though he couldn’t see me.
“Fine. Listen, I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow ok?”
“Ok. Bye.” I mumbled dully.
“See you later.” I’d clearly annoyed him more than I thought by leaving.
I hung up and saw I had a voice message.
“Frankie. What the hell is going on? I just found this note in the kitchen. What the fuck is it about? You can’t stick around to watch us do this again? Where the hell are you?!” My dad sounded pretty angry, but then there was about half a minute of silence and when he spoke again his voice seemed to break down. “Please just come back. We just need to talk about this. Don’t tell me I’ve lost you too.” He murmured.
My chest felt like it was about to burst, and tears pricked my eyes as I listened.
Why am I doing this again?
I switched my phone off after that. I couldn’t stand to listen to any more messages he might leave me, no more tonight anyway. I put the phone on the desk and dug my laptop out of my bag, setting that up in the middle of the desk as well. I went downstairs and found my way into the lounge.
“Hey Frankie.” Ben gave me a small wave when he saw me. He was sitting in a bean bag that was situated on the floor in front of the sofa. Joe was laid out across one sofa and Stoo on the other. Justin came up behind me and slung his arm around my shoulder, making me jump slightly.
