Pinky Promise (Frerard) ✔️

Five

Frank pulled into the parking lot at the park. Sweet Pea, who had climbed into my lap during the ride, jumped up excitedly and stepped all over my legs.

"For someone tiny, you're heavy," I said to her.

"It's because her paws are so tiny," Frank said, picking her up. "All her weight is on two tiny little points."

I looked at Sweet Pea. "I think you mean four."

"Yeah." He shook his head and smiled. "It's been a long day. Sorry. She has four legs. Let's go."

I let him take Sweet Pea and climbed out of his car. Frank put her down and I followed him as he led her down the path.

I stayed quiet while we walked Sweet Pea. I think Frank was leading us to the spot we found each other in.

"Excuse me, gentlemen?" An older woman stepped in front of us, nearly trodding on Sweet Pea. Frank gave her a dirty look and scooped the dog up. "I support gays, but could you maybe not do that in public?"

I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at Frank. "We're literally just walking."

"And we're not together." Frank raised his eyebrows. "Anyways, how do you support being gay if you won't let people in public?"

"Well, it's the two men together, you see, you look like a couple."

"What's it to you?" I crossed my arms.

"Parents are going to have to explain that to their children, and then the children will get confused-"

Frank smiled. "I see. You know, it's funny. I volunteer at kids events and when they ask about my girlfriend and I tell them I'm gay, they don't seem to care at all."

She sputtered before giving us a dirty look and walking away.

"You're gay?" I asked, sweeping leaves off the ground so Sweet Pea wouldn't eat them.

Frank nodded and set her down again. "Yep. I've told you that before."

"Oh yeah. Is that why we're friends?"

"Technically we're friends because you were having trouble in class and I'm practically the same age as you guys. But yeah. It's the gaydar. Magical."

I smiled for the first time that day.

Frank brought me to my favorite spot and let Sweet Pea explore. He left her leash on and sat on the gazebo with me.

"What were you doing here the first time?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I was lonely and had nowhere to go, so I came here. I like coming here."

"Yeah? What do you like about it?"

I sighed. "I-I like to pretend that a ton of celebrities have been here. Especially old Hollywood, like Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe. It just has that sort of feel, you know? And it makes me feel like maybe I could do that one day."

"Do you want to be an actor?"

"No." I shook my head. "I want to be a writer or an artist. And I want to be famous, but so I can get important messages out to people and have money to support good causes."

Frank smiled. "That's a really good reason to want to be famous, Gerard."

"Look, if we're gonna be friends, you can call me Gee. As well as Gerard. People do it."

"Alright." He nudged my shoulder. "Gee. Hey! Sweet Pea!"

Sweet Pea bounded over from where she had been staring off into the woods, probably at a squirrel.