Thirty Five Days

12: Meeting Up

(Frank's POV)

The knock on my door seemed to reflect my emotions entirely – nervous, excited and a little out of control. Finally he was here. As I headed towards the door I tried to think of something funny or interesting to say as a greeting. By the time I unlocked the door, I hadn't come up with anything outstanding.

"...Hey."

I tried to smile at him but my nerves turned it into something of a grimace.

"Hi. You don't need to look so happy to see me you know. I can always head back home if you've changed your mind."

"No, no...I haven't, I just, er, I hadn't realised the time. Anyway, come inside..." I trailed off lamely as I stepped back enough to let him inside.

He followed me through to the kitchen, his eyes widening slightly when he saw the snacks and drinks my mum had left for us.

"Help yourself," I told him, smiling at his adorably shocked expression. "We're going upstairs in a minute so if you want any of it you'll have to take it now."

"Oh we're going upstairs, are we? What is it you plan on doing upstairs that you can't do downstairs, hmm Frank?"

Gerard smirked as I felt the blood rush to my cheeks – the first of what I'm sure would be many times I blushed that night.

"Oh, just take some food and follow me. Without inappropriate comments or you can go back home. We're only going upstairs so my mum can make dinner in peace when she gets back."
I couldn't help but notice that he smirked again as he started to follow me up the stairs.

***

I was incredibly apprehensive as I opened the door, letting him step into my bedroom. I watched nervously as he looked around, his eyes taking in everything he saw. There was a smile playing on his lips as he turned to face me properly.

"I can't believe that you have so many of the same posters as me! And CDs too, and you've got some pretty cool comics as well – I love Sandman."

He walked across to each thing excitedly as he mentioned it.

"You've read The Sandman?" I asked, slightly surprised.

"Yeah – Neil Gaiman is incredible so when I found out he'd written a comic series I HAD to read it. Why are you so surprised?"

"Well, you know,it's kinda old now and I don't know anybody else who's read it. Even the guy in the shop said he couldn't remember selling another copy."

"Clearly he's not got a very good memory then – I bought all of the new ones there. Have you readOverture by the way?"

Just like that our conversation flowed naturally. I had been worried that because of the age difference between us we wouldn't have much in common but as our discussion moved from comics to films to music, it was clear that this was not the case. Occasionally, he would say something stupid or slightly inappropriate making him smirk and me blush but other than that there was barely a pause in our exchange.

Even throughout dinner my mum kept the conversation going without it being too awkward. She asked Gee questions about his life but always listened carefully to his response. Of course, there were the almost obligatory embarrassing moments when she would tell him slightly too much about my childhood but then he would glance at me from the corner of his eye, smiling, before returning his full attention to my mother.

From time to time he would move his legs under the table, brushing passed my leg as he did so. I couldn't tell if the contact was deliberate or not but each time it made my heart flutter nervously and I couldn't help but smile. I think my mum noticed at one point because she raised an eyebrow at my content expression but thankfully she decided not to question it.

***

We had just been sitting on my bed discussing the Black Flag concert when I noticed that Gee had started to watch my lips as I was speaking, similar to what I had been doing to him all night.

There was a small lull in the conversation when he started to slowly move towards me and the next thing I could process was how slimy his lips felt against mine. Having never kissed anyone before I was slightly unsure as to what I was supposed to do, although I had seen enough crappy romance movies to makes a reasonable guess. I kissed him back without overly thinking about my actions, hoping some sort of instinct would win out in this situation. Far too soon, he pulled away, his gaze finally shifting to meet mine.

"I'm really sorry. I've got to go."

He stood up quickly and headed out the door.

"Are you gonna text me or something?" I called, slightly desperately, down the stairs as I watched him make his way towards the front door.

The only reply was the click of the door as he pulled it closed behind him without so much as a glance over his shoulder.

I went back into my now empty room, the taste of Gerard still on my lips.

"Well fuck."  

A/N:

I'm sorry it took so long again - I had exams and then my sister was going in and out of emergency hospital care for over a week so I struggled to find the time to actually write this. Thankfully, she is now better and I have finished exams so updates should be closer together in the future! As always, thank you so much for reading this and don't forget to comment/vote - it means a lot to me :)