The Babysitter - Frank Iero X O.C.

6: Birthday Girl

October rolled around pretty quickly. Two weeks into the month, I woke up to the smell of bacon being fried on a frying pan.
Rachel was already awake, cooking breakfast.
"Morning, Rach," I yawned.
"Morning, birthday girl!" she squealed, leaving her bacon for a moment to give me a hug.
I grinned. It was my birthday. I'd never not be excited about my birthday no matter how old I got.
I had a load of texts on my phone from people wishing me a happy 23rd.
I was particularly excited about a text from a certain professor.

FRANK: HAPPY BIRFDAY ANDY !!!!! from the whole Iero bunch plus Gerard :)

Rach read it over my shoulder, "Birthday wishes?! Spicy."
I rolled my eyes at her, "Shut up, it's cute."
"Actually, we have to go to his house tonight," Rachel informed me, "Yeah, I bumped into him yesterday and apparently you, uh, you left something there."
"I didn't leave anything there, I don't think," I said, trying to think back.
"Yeah, a dress," Rach shrugged, not looking at me.
"I don't have any recollection of even wearing a dress at his house," I said, confused, "What's going on?"
"Nothing, we'll just go later and check!" Rachel was trying to hide a smile.
I wasn't sure what was going on but I decided not to get my hopes up about anything.
I got ready and went off to my first class with our favourite Mr Iero.
He ran towards the door as soon as I opened it and swallowed me in a big hug.
"Happy birthday!"
"Thank you!" I laughed, "Frank, you're suffocating me!"
We sat down at our desks across from each other as usual.
"So, any big birthday plans?" Frank asked, smirking.
"I'm thinking it's gonna be me, Rach, bottle of wine and the tv," I laughed, "Oh, and apparently we're swinging by your house later."
"Yeah, she said you might've left something over," he shrugged.
"She said you said it was a dress," I said, suspiciously.
"Yeah, of course," Frank nodded, smiling, "Forgot."
People started filing into the room, as usual.
Frank grinned at me, then stood up and started the class.
Once the day was done, Rachel and I went back to our apartment.
She was rushing around and seemingly getting ready for something.
"Rach, what's going on?" I asked, walking into the bathroom as she vigorously put on mascara.
"Put on a nice outfit, I'm taking you...," she hesitated, "...out for dinner."
"Awh, thanks, Rach!" I gave her a quick hug and stepped into my room to get changed.
I put on a light blue floral dress and some black boots and did my makeup.
At around 5pm, we got into my car, Rachel in the drivers seat.
I noticed that she was driving in the direction of Frank's street.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"Oh, remember I said we had to swing by," Rach replied, slightly nervously, "The dress."
There were a lot of cars parked around his house. I'd never seen that many around here.
We got out of the car and knocked on the door.
"Hey, birthday girl," Frank smirked as he opened the door.
"Hey," I smiled.
He brought us in.
"You guys go wait in the kitchen, I'll be back in a minute," he said.
I opened the kitchen door and was immediately bombarded by people screaming "SURPRISE!" followed by the sound of party poppers exploding.
"Woah!" I exclaimed.
Rachel hugged me from the side, "Happy birthday, Andy!"
The kids were there, my parents were there, old friends were there.
Frank's band friends were all there.
Gerard ran up to me and gave me a hug, "Happy birthday, Frankie's Andy!"
I giggled. 'Frankie's' Andy?
The sound of microphone feedback suddenly filled the room.
I looked up to see Frank standing at the top of the room, holding a guitar and tapping a microphone.
"Testing, one, two," he spotted me and smirked, "Happy birthday to Miss Andrea King."
Everyone cheered.
"I've been trying to write this song for the guys," Frank went on, "And I couldn't figure out what to write about. I was in a real slump until about three weeks ago, when I met Andrea. I wrote this song about Andy and my guys over here, Gee, Ray and Mikey. I realised the inspiration I needed was right in front of me all along. Andy made me realise that. So, for your entertainment, The Kids from Yesterday."
And it was beautiful.
Miles and I danced our socks off to the song. I listened intently to all the lyrics.
"You want to live forever in the lights you make,
When we were young we used to say,
That you only hear the music when your heart begins to break,
Now we are the kids from yesterday."
I could feel my eyes beginning to sting with tears. Happy tears. I'd never properly experienced happy tears before.
"What's wrong, Andy?" Miles asked, looking up at my face.
"Thanks the thing, Miles," I chuckled, sniffling, "There's nothing wrong at all. It's perfect!"
I bent down and gave him a big hug.
Frank put the guitar aside and walked over to me, wrapping me in a tight embrace.
"That was the best present I've ever gotten," I whispered in his ear, "My guitar playing superhero."
I felt him giggle against me, "You inspire me, Miss King, my star."
"Does this mean I was your muse?" I giggled.
"Shut up," he smirked.
I decided to take a leap of faith and kiss him on the cheek.
Hands still wrapped around my waist, we started dancing to whatever radio music they were playing.
It was perfect. It was beautiful. And it was in that moment, without hesitation, that I realised it.
Funny how something can be so invisible to you, yet so obvious once you see it.
But I knew it now. I could feel it deep in the centre of my soul as I looked in his eyes. The way he was looking back at me. I felt a spark shoot up my spine. I was sure of it.
I was falling in love with Frank Iero.