The weekend is dull and once again, Gerard wishes it was already over. Mikey calls him Saturday to check on him and get all the details from the night before. Gerard tells him it wasn’t a date and that all they did was watch Alice in Wonderland and eat cannoli. Mikey thinks that “Alice in Wonderland” is the ultimate date movie. Gerard spends twenty minutes listening to Mikey’s theory that the white rabbit is a highly sexual symbol. He has a similar theory for the Italian pastries and tells Gerard their shape should be a dead giveaway that Frank probably just wants to get in Gerard’s pants.
By Sunday night, Gerard is pacing around his apartment and has to resist the urge to jump on his phone and call Frank. He feels like a stupid creep for putting his number in his cell. He’s not supposed to have it outside the school. Frank didn’t say it was okay for Gerard to call him anyway. Besides, he’s not sure he would figure out what to say to him past the “Hi” and the “I think I might be in love with you and your kid”.
On Monday morning, Gerard makes sure he’s up in his office earlier than usual and waits with his usual cup of coffee for the parents to start dropping off their kids. Frank’s beat up car pulls over and Giuseppe runs past the school gate. Gerard doesn’t even have time to see Frank’s face and feels disappointed.
The day goes by very slowly, and Gerard is out the door when the bell rings. He walks among the crowd of parents and tries to avoid striking conversation with any of them. He paces the sidewalk, searching for Frank’s car.
When it finally pulls over by the curb, Gerard’s stomach clenches, and he turns back to the school gate, not wanting to seem too eager to see Frank.
“Hey, Gerard.”
Gerard turns back and Frank is there, beaming at him, his hands shoved inside the pockets of his cargo pants. His hair is a mess as usual and he looks tired.
“Hi, Frank. How are you?” Gerard asks, offering his hand to Frank so he can shake it.
Frank doesn’t really seem to care that there is a crowd of parents watching them. He grabs Gerard’s hand and pulls him over and gives him a tight hug. Gerard can smell Frank’s shampoo, and he can feel Frank’s heart beating in his chest.
“Good. You wanted to see me?” Frank asks, letting go of Gerard.
“Yes. Huh, not really. I wanted to say hi.” Gerard replies, shuffling his feet and feeling like the greatest imbecile ever born. He’s not fifteen anymore. He should be used to talking to people.
“Well, hi yourself.” Frank says, giving Gerard a devilish smile. “Giuseppe wouldn’t shut up about you this weekend. I thought my head was going to explode.”
“Sorry.”
“Yeah, you better be. He said you are a bigger dork than me. You just robbed me of my title.” Frank says, giggling and looking over Gerard’s shoulder.
Gerard turns around and sees a wave of children pouring out of the gate. When he turns back, Frank is staring at him, looking uncomfortable. He swallows painfully and crooks his mouth.
“I wanted to call you but I realized I didn’t have your number.” Frank says, rubbing the back of his head and raising an eyebrow.
“Oh.”
The fact that Frank was the one wanting to call him never crossed Gerard’s mind. Whatever Mikey may say, he doesn’t really think Frank is interested in him that way. He probably wanted to talk about comic books or something completely non-date related.
“Yeah. I watched Wings of Desire last night and I would have loved to have you around to talk about angels and shit.”
Gerard smiles a stupid smile. Of course, Frank wanted to talk to him about a movie. There is absolutely nothing weird about that.
