If These Walls Could Talk [Frerard]

12: Teal Roots Can be Cool Too.

A squeal erupted from Frank's mouth as his phone flipped in his hand. His head turned to face me, as I could tell by the sudden feeling of eyes watching my back. I hadn't taken my eyes from the window, the light rising on the few bushes and flowers in the narrow backyard. It looked peaceful for once, and I wished I could be outside. Inside, in the house, everything felt so cramped. I felt so isolated in the house, but I didn't see how I could change that. Just, the feeling of looking outside and being in the outdoors, alone, and at peace with everything made me feel at least a little more comfortable in my own skin. There was no getting around having to leave the state, though. And that was the thing that bothered me the most out of everything. I couldn't–

"Gerard! This is the third time I'm knocking, anyone home?" Frank yelled through my thoughts, his tattoo-covered hand waving rapidly in front of my face as he displayed a devilish smile. Had I really been thinking that long?

"Sorry. Zoned out."

"I can tell," He chuckled, his eyes glistening despite the dark and enclosing building, "But, uhm. Anything new?"

"You saw me yesterday," I replied, my eyebrows quirking as I shifted my weight onto one hip, "So, Mikey must've told you to come over. Why?"

"Well, damn. You're good at this game."

"Mikey's given me plenty of times to perfect my strategy. But, you didn't answer my question. Why did he want you, Frank, over?"

"Because," he snickered. "He wanted me to see you."

"Frank!" I whispered in a louder tone than normal, "Why did he want you to see me?"

Frank shrugged, his hoodie now a totally black one, white stripes running across the surface horizontally. A bite of his lip along with a quirk of my brow once again, and he responded. But, he didn't seem to confident at the time, which I found strange as I'd always known Frank as the over-confident and small friend. His eyes showed anxiety, if anything, and the shine of them retreated back into him to be replaced with a wearisome tone to them.

"Mikey said, uh, you had," he swallowed, but not breaking eye contact as he tried to regain to his confident personality back, "something to tell me."

I coughed, suddenly feeling even more closed off. Still, I knew I had to tell him sometime. I didn't want to leave him, or Ray, or Bob, in Jersey, but I could at least give them a warning. There was no point in leaving him or anyone else out of the blue. That would make my mental state even worse. So, a large huff filled my lungs, and I released it slowly, trying to calm my panicking nervous system. Frank cocked his head to the side, his eyes glaring at me in the kindest way a glare could.

"He didn't tell you anything, did you?" I asked, my face scrunching slightly under his delicate gaze.

"No, he said it was something you needed to tell me, in full."

"Okay," Frank's eyes softened, waiting for my answer, "I'm moving to L.A. with Mikey to go to this psych-ward or whatever, and we're leaving next week. I don't want to leave you, but at least you have Ray and Bob, right? I'm super sorry, but we can still talk, hopefully, and just totally stay in touch. Please visit me, I honestly am going to need you once we get there because, I'm scared. I'm terrified. Okay, sorry. I'm done now." I finished, my voice fading into silence as my eyes travelled to the floor. Frank's eyes were now pressuring my skull, his whole body frozen to the point where I wasn't sure I was breathing. I groaned inwardly, my hand lifting to pull a strand of hair from my eyes.

"G-Gerard, you−" He stuttered, his arm reaching up as if he was going to lay it onto my own, but I pulled away too fast. "You can't be leaving. We haven't gotten to spend that much time together."