"She's so strange, sometimes." Lorna said.
"Aye..Americans." Oli said, finishing his coffee.
"We have today off, right?" Jay asked.
Oli nodded. "But don't party..we got to work tomorrow." he told them with a smirk as he got up and left.
_________
Frankie opened the bus door and went inside.
"There you are!" Craig said.
"Yeah, here I am." she said.
"Where have you been?" Monte asked.
"Needed a walk, that's all." Frankie said, finishing the last of her coffee and throwing the cup away.
"Max was asking about you." Robert said.
"Oh?" Frankie said, sitting down.
"Yeah, he thought you were mad at him." Craig said.
Frankie made a face. "Why would I be mad at him?"
The three boys shrugged. "Why would you?" Robert asked.
"I'm not." Frankie said. "Is he here?" she asked.
They shook their heads. "He and Lexus left like an hour ago."
"Where too?" Frankie asked.
They shrugged. "No idea. They got in a fight, she walked out, he went after her..blah blah blah bullshit we don't care about." Craig said.
"If I didn't know..it would sound like you're jealous, Craigafer." Frankie said, smirking.
"Me, jealous of Max? Oh, no. Lexus is a flat out whore." Craig said.
"Forsure. Why can't Max see that?" Monte asked.
"It's Max." Frankie said.
"She's got a point." Robert said.
"Well..yeah..she's been in love with him since forever." Craig said.
"I have not!" Frankie said, starting to blush.
"Yeah you have! You're blushing!" Robert said.
"Aw! You're so cute when you blush!" Monte said, the two of them laughing.
"I hate you guys." Frankie said, getting up and walking out of the bus.
____________________________
Frankie walked down to a park and sat down on the swings. She sighed and looked up at the sky, closing her eyes.
"Thinking about something?" Max's voice came from nowhere.
Frankie opened her eyes. "How'd you know I was here?"
"Just kind of figured..isn't the park where most people go when they're running away from their problems?" Max said, sitting down next to her.
"I'm not running away from shit." Frankie mumbled.
"No need to be so vulgar." Max said.
Frankie just stared at him. "Where's Lexus?"
"She left."
"Left?"
"Yeah..as in..went back home to California." Max said.
"Why?" Frankie asked.
Max shrugged. "Guess I pissed her off. That's my specialty..pissing people off."
Frankie watched him. "I guess we're in the same boat then."
"Ship. And I'm the captain." Max said, smirking.
"No fair." Frankie said, laughing.
Max was being super calm. "Why are you being so nice to me?"
"I'm not. I hate your guts." Max said.
Frankie shook her head, getting up. "I'm seriously not in the mood for your bipolar shit, right now."
Max got up. "What do you want me to do? Be a total dick to you?"
"Well..that's how you were when you met me and then after..." she stopped herself.
"After what?" Max asked, getting up.
"Nevermind." Frankie mumbled, walking off.
Max grabbed her arm, turning her back around and looking at her. "No, after what. Tell me."
"Don't worry about it." Frankie said.
Max looke at her. "You're drunk." Frankie said.
"Am not." Max said.
He wasn't. She couldn't smell alcohol on his breath, but he was on something. "Then you're on something."
"No I'm not." Max said, pulling away from her.
"Yeah, you are! You're still doing drugs..aren't you?" Frankie said.
Max didn't say anything.
"I'm going to tell Craig." Frankie said.
"He's not going to believe you." Max said.
"Yeah, he will." Frankie said.
Max laughed. "Whose he going to believe? Me or you? Obviously me."
Frankie shook her head. "I'm his best friend."
That made Max laugh even harder. "Really? Really now..if you're his best friend, as you say...how come he never mentioned you to us? He never talked about you like he talked about his other friends..never mentioned you at all until the day we needed a new merch girl."
Frankie didn't say anything. There. That was the Max she had met.
"I'm still telling him." Frankie said.
"You have no proof." Max said.
"I'm sure it's all in your veins right now. You're a fucking drug addict, Max." Frankie said.
Max smacked her across the face. "Shit..Frankie I didn't mean to do that."
Frankie shook her head and ran off. Now she was definitley going to tell. Max ran after her. As Frankie got closer to the bus, close enough that if she was to yell for Craig, he'd hear her, Max grabbed her, covering her mouth and pulling her into the alley.
"Stop, look at me. You can not tell him." Max said, cornering her.
"Too fucking bad." Frankie said.
"Please..you love me, right?" Max said.
"What?" Frankie said, looking up at him.
"I mean..you love the band..right?" Max corrected himself.
"Of course." Frankie said.
"Right, well, if you tell him then they'll send me home and the fans will hate you." Max said.
Frankie didn't say anything. "You need to get help."
"I tried..once..twice..three times..didn't work." Max said.
"Max.." Frankie said.
"Just..promise you won't tell..please?" Max said.
Frankie sighed. "Alright..I promise." she said.
Max moved away from her, letting her go past. "Thank you." he said.
Frankie shrugged and walked out of the alley. Max leaned against the wall and sighed. He only hoped that she would keep her promise and not say anything to Craig or anyone else, for that matter.
