The Babysitter - Frank Iero X O.C.

13: Concert

Frank had taken a little while off work to be with his kids and his mom. He asked me to come over a lot in that time.
Two weeks later, Frank had been back in school for a few days.
It was the first week of December, so everything was suddenly covered in tinsel and fairy lights.
He ran up to me in the corridor at the end of my last lecture.
"Guess what?" Frank nudged me, teasingly.
"What?"
"Guess!"
I rolled my eyes, "Give me a hint."
"Me, Gee, Mikey and Ray," Frank hinted.
"The... band?" I asked.
"No, the country," Frank responded sarcastically.
I nudged him back, "Okay, the band. You're... practising tonight?"
"Better," Frank grinned excitedly, "We're doing a concert!"
"You didn't let me guess!" I pretended to be offended, then pulled him into my arms and whispered, "Congratulations, rockstar."
"Friday night, open air concert in the huge park in the city. Obviously, you, Rach, Lindsey and Kristen have backstage passes and pit tickets and all that jazz."
"There's gonna be a whole pit?" I asked, "How big are you guys?"
"We sold five thousand tickets, so I'd say pretty big," he grinned.
My jaw dropped.
"Five thousand?!" I exclaimed, "Wow, I get to be your groupie."
Frank laughed, blushing slightly, "My number one fan."
"I absolutely am," I grinned, kissing him on the cheek.
That Friday, Rachel and I got ourselves all dressed and ready for the concert.
I put on the black corset dress again along with some black boots.
Rachel put on a red tank top and some denim shorts with fishnets.
We drove down to the venue and went backstage.
Frank's eyes looked me up and down as I walked into the little room. He smirked.
"You look good," he muttered while smirking.
"Thanks, rockstar," I smirked back.
Frank looked good too. He was wearing a white, v-neck t-shirt with black jeans. You could see every last tattoo.
I took off the necklace I'd been wearing. It was a little skull and crossbones on a chain.
I put it around Frank's neck.
"Little good luck charm," I smiled.
"I love it," he grinned, "No chance of me messing anything up now."
"Break a leg out there, Oreo," I kissed his cheek and left with Rachel and Lindsey.
We waited a few minutes, the crowd getting bigger and bigger by the second.
We were right at the front, pressed against the barrier.
The guys came out a few minutes later and the crowd went insane.
The first song that they did was the Teenagers one that they'd played for me and the kids the first time I heard them.
It was incredible.
Afterwards, Frank held the skull and crossbones in his hand in front of the crowd and kissed it.
I felt myself blush as red as a tomato.
The whole set was amazing. Really beautiful and well written songs that could resonate with any emotion you were feeling.
Finally, they came back on for an encore. Frank took the mic to introduce the song.
"Hello, everyone," he smiled, "So, this final one we're gonna do is a really special one for me. This goes out to a pretty amazing girl in the crowd tonight. Andy, this is your song. The Kids from Yesterday!"
He spotted me a minute later, waving manically at me from the stage.
I let the song fill my soul. It was a perfect moment. Frank and I kept our eyes on each other throughout the whole song.
As the final notes died down, the lights went dark and the guys left the stage.
Myself, Rach and Lindz ran backstage to see them.
Frank waisted no time as soon as he saw me. He practically tackled me into a hug.
"You were amazing," I whispered into his ear, "You are amazing, Frank."
His arms tightened around me, "That song is special, Andy. You're my inspiration."
I couldn't stop smiling. My face felt like it was going to crack.
We walked hand in hand to the cars around the back where obviously no fans could see us leaving.
Gee and Lindz got into one car, Mikey, Ray and Rach all piled into one and Frank and I got into the last one.
I leaned back and let out a little giggle.
"What's funny?" Frank asked, smiling.
"Nothing, it's just...," I sighed and looked at him, still smiling, "The way everyone sang along to that song... my song... our song. No one's ever written anything about me. I've never felt so... I don't know. Have you ever met a person and you can't even explain the way you feel about them? You didn't know you could feel this way about a person?"
Frank nodded, smiling, eyes twinkling,"Yeah, I think I have."
I smiled back. Probably the girl he had the kids with. I'd say she was an incredible woman.
We drove on in silence, still hand in hand.
The kids were all in bed by the time we got home. Another of Frank's friends had been watching them.
I went upstairs and popped my head around Miles's door.
He was sound asleep. I smiled and checked on the girls.
Lily was asleep but I could see the light of a flashlight underneath Cherry's blankets.
She was reading.
I giggled a little.
"Knock knock," I whispered.
She peeked out from under the blanket, "Hi, Andy!"
"Whatcha reading?" I asked, sitting on the edge of her bed.
She pulled out a Roald Dahl book called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory from under the blanket.
I smiled, "That was one of my favourites at your age. But, aren't you tired? It's, like, 12:30."
"I had a bad dream," she whispered.
"What was the dream about?" I asked.
Cherry went quiet for a moment, then sighed, "I woke up and you were gone. And you never came back. And daddy wasn't happy anymore."
The room was silent for a moment. I pulled Cherry into a big hug.
"Cherry, babe, I promise you I'm not going anywhere," I whispered, "I know you've had a lot of loss recently, but I swear to you I'm not leaving anytime soon, okay?"
"Pinky swear?" Cherry pulled away from the hug and held out her little finger.
"Pinky swear," I smiled, linking up with my own pinky.
I read more of the book to her and she fell asleep in my arms.
I laid her down and left the room.
"I heard you guys talking," Frank said as I stepped into his room to say goodbye.
"Oh yeah?" I smiled.
"You're really good with them, Andy," Frank stood up and brushed his hands against my arms, resting them on my shoulders.
"They're such good kids," I giggled.
"They really love you," Frank smiled, "Thanks for being there for them. It's really helpful."
"Hey, it's a handful trying to raise three kids on your own," I said, "The least I can do is try to make the process slightly easier."
He pulled me into a hug, then drove me home.