Bullets

Date

After Gerard Walked outside on me and Frank, the entire topic was dropped. Frank's face was back in it's usual smile by the time he responded, "Just having a smoke, want one?" He offered out new cigarette to Gerard who willingly took it and pulled out a match from his own pocket. He struck it on the railing and within seconds, the area around his head was filled with spinning white smoke.

In all honesty, the image was stunning. His hands were shoved in the pockets of his black jeans, and he had his shoulders hunched against the cold, his denim jacket was traded for a worn leather one and when I reached his eyes I noticed much of the liner was smudged under his eyes, which looked almost black on the poorly lit porch. With the cigarette between his lips he looked...well...hot as hell. I bit my lip as my eyes devoured every inch of him, then he spoke again. "So, what were you guys talking about a second ago?" Another drag.

"Oh nothing, Rose was just showing me her cool lighter, right?" Frank looked at me expectantly. I guess that was my cue to show him the lighter.

"Oh, uh, yeah yeah." I held the cigarette in my mouth as I searched my pocket, fishing out the little silver box. I held it out for Gerard to see, but instead of just picking up the lighter, he took my hand in his as he looked at it with his eyes wide.

My muscles stiffened at his touch, my hands were ice cold and his were so warm they felt like fire on my skin. I noticed a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he looked back up at me through those eyelashes of his. "That's awesome." He said, dropping his hand from mine. My heart sank a little as my hand got cold again from the absence of his.

I smiled back at him and put my hand and lighter back in my pocket. "Thanks," I said, "My dad gave it to me." I continued to look at him.

The eye contact was lasting a little too long, but was broken when Frank spoke, "Oh no way, he must be a really cool guy." Damn.

I took a breath, then answered, "Uh yeah, yeah he was." Shit.

Frank's smile dropped like a rock. I looked at the ground then up at them again. "I'm gonna go get Jamia and Christa, we should get going. Frank the party was great, happy birthday man." I walked past Gerard, brushing his arm on my way into the house to find my friends. I walked inside to find Jamia on the kitchen table missing a shoe, and Christa passed out in Ray's lap. Ray was also passed out. I collected my people and we made our way back to my place.

And that brings us back to now. 4 am, outside my house, more than a little tipsy. Thank god my mom was asleep, or she wouldn't be happy. Her only daughter showing up at home at four in the morning smelling like cigarettes and booze. (As far as she knew, I have never touched alcohol or even lit a cigarette. But what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.)

I dragged both Jamia and Christa up to my room and dumped them into my bed. I guess I was sleeping on the couch. I kicked off my shoes, put on some sweatpants, and nestled into my sofa with a blanket. I didn't want to turn on the TV because that would have caused too much noise, so I pulled out my phone and noticed a paper stuck between it and the case. I pulled the paper out and was in messy, but even,  handwriting: "(908)-432-1567 G" I totally forgot he gave me his number in school today. Or, yesterday considering it was 4 am...whatever. I bit my lip and put his number into my phone. With a thudding heart, I wrote "Hi, its Rose." My thumb hesitated over the send button for a second, then I held my breath as I pressed it.

I looked at the screen of my phone, the brightness hurt my eyes, and the oncoming hangover wasn't helping, but I didn't want to look away. 'Don't be stupid,' I thought, 'he's probably asleep.' But before I put my phone down, it buzzed in my hand. My heart leapt.

"Hey whats up" It was him!!

I replied immediately, "Srry for waking u up, and for not txting earlier" My heart thudded.

Another buzz. "No its cool, i was up anyway. y r u still up? u partied pretty hard lol"

What a geek. I smiled down at my phone, what if he was waiting for me to text him? I responded again. "Couldnt sleep, so were u serious abt that date thing?" It was risky, but hey it was 4:30 am and I was half drunk.

"Hell yeah I was. Would tmr at 3 be cool? id pick u up n everything." He answered .

Ooh my god, this boy. "yup :)" I was feeling cute, why not send a smiley.

"Ok, address?"

"13 Marston St. See you tmr"'

"cant wait :)"

He couldn't wait. Me neither.