"Meet me."
I starred at the note, crumpled miserably from lying in my lint ridden jeans pocket. I was dumbfounded, there was no address or no time, how the fuck was I supposed to 'meet' him? I read the note over and over again, something told me that he meant for me to meet him at the park, but I had no idea what time. I didn't even know why he wanted me to meet him. What if he was a serial killer? That's definitely rational I thought to myself as Kat sat my coffee down. I didn't say thank you like I normally do and that got Kat's attention. She sat down in front of me.
"Whatcha reading?" She poked her tiny nose over the note. She looked confused as fuck after she read the two words.
"Frank, who's this from?" Her Jersey accent was so thick you could see it roll off her tongue. She positioned her eyebrows in a confused yet curious manner.
"A guy I met at the park three days ago." I tried not to blush thinking of the man whom I'd spilled coffee on in this very shop.
"Oh, does he have a name? Or is he just, 'guy I met at the park?'" In that moment I saw Jersey and sarcasm roll off her tongue in a twisted mix.
She got up and started cleaning the countertop of the booth next to mine. I took a slow sip of coffee.
"Yes he has a name, it's Gerard." Immediately after his name slipped between my lips, she came rushing back.
"Does he have black hair and hazel eyes?" Her eyes were the size of the moon.
"Yeah, you know him?" I sat my coffee back on the table, I'd never seen Gerard around here in all my life, but she had.
"Everyone older than 19 here knows him! He's the only talented artist within 100 miles. He's also a bit of a ladies man." She chuckled.
I however did not, instead I felt my heart stop and my previous confused face turn into a full blown frown. I may have forgotten to mention that I'm not a ladies man, I'm a mans man. The minute I saw Gerard I was attracted to him, but after having only one conversation with him, I was pretty sure he was the last good thing about this part of town.
"I knew he was a great artist, I saw his work and that's what led to us talking. Does he have a wife?" I tried to look happy but I was honestly super bummed.
"No, he split with his girlfriend about four years ago. She was only with him because he could paint. She thought he was going to make it big time, but he didn't and so she left." Kat's happy demeanor left.
I wanted to go home and think, think about if I should try and meet Gerard tomorrow, think if it was worth it. I didn't want to fall in love with someone I couldn't have. That was the worst kind of pain someone could go through next to a loved one dying. Damn him and his preference for girls.
"Hey Kat! Can I get it to go!?" I shouted a little too loudly.
"Yeah Frank, but I'm not def." She laughed, "Have a nice day!"
With that I took my coffee and left. Back to work it was, lovely.
-
What if Gerard doesn't show up? What if I go to the park and wait and he never comes? Damn him for not giving me a time or a proper place.
Those were the only thoughts that crossed my mind as I headed into the small convenience store half a block down from work. I was running low on cancer and needed more if my plan of killing myself slowly was going to go anywhere.
I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings and smacked into some one who was leaving the little store. I was expecting it to be Gerard in all honesty, but I was shocked when I saw who I almost knocked down. It was Mikey, he was holding a pack of cigarettes.
"You smoke?" I didn't even bother saying hi, it wasn't the first thing on mind. Far from it honestly.
"Hi Frank, and no I don't smoke. These are for someone I'm visiting tonight." I thought about asking him what their name was, but I bit my tongue instead.
He pointed to something, confusing me.
"What's that?" He was pointing to the note I realized, I'd forgotten about it.
"Oh, um, it's a note from a girl."
Mikey's eyes lit up, "Who!?" Great, I didn't have a name.
"Oh, uh, Gertrude." I laughed at the thought of Gerard being a female with that name.
"Oh, Haha. Well, it was nice bumping into you, literally." Mikey let out a small laugh, waved goodbye, then was gone in the opposite direction.
YOU ARE READING
Paper Kingdom
Fanfic17 year old Frank sits at a table, strumming his guitar. His loser of a father comes home in a rage of yells, Frank promises himself he'll do something with his life in that moment. 6 years later and Frank is nothing and he has nothing, his life is...
