Cars and Calories

III

It was a Saturday, one of the two days Frank got off during his busy week. Saturdays he usually spent running errands such as stocking up on cheap food and cigarettes, or maybe even taking some time to clean up his studio apartment that cost way more than what it's worth. But this Saturday, Frank wanted oh so badly to take up Gerard's offer on hanging out together. Calling him would take quite a lot of courage though, and Frank was trying to muster up enough. Frank was sprawled out on his bed, his old AC whirring loudly as he stared at the list of contacts in his phone. "Jeez, I never thought I'd be so hesitant to call a dude.." He said to himself while sitting up. "Fuck it. Worst he can do is not pick up." Frank quickly tapped the call button and brought his phone up to his ear.

The ringing felt like it lasted for forever. It stopped abruptly and a voice said "Hello? Who's this?" Franks heart skipped a beat when he heard Gerard's voice. "Hey! It's Frank, the guy from 7/11, remember?" He said with a bit of a nervous tinge to his voice. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot I gave you my number yesterday.. what's up?" Frank chuckled into the phone as his cheeks flushed. "I thought I'd take you up on your offer of hanging out? If you're good with that of course!" He brought his hand up to his face and tucked the loose strands of hair in front of his face away. The room was silent for a split second before Gerard said back to him, "Yeah. Yeah I got a house party in mind we could go to. My buddy is hosting it. I'll text you the address, stop by at around ten, alright?" A smile formed on Frank's face. "Hell yeah, I'll totally be there." "Cool, I'm gonna go then. See ya there." The phone call suddenly ended with a beep and a loud "Yes!" emitting from Frank. Dropping the phone from his ear, he tossed it onto his bed and swung his feet to the edge, standing up. He rushed over to his beat up wooden dresser and pulled a drawer open. "What to wear...." Frank asked himself as he dug around his dresser for the perfect outfit. He hadn't been to a party in ages, and his crush was going to be there so he had to look cool. Pulling out a pair of baggy light-wash jeans with rips in the knees, he scanned them over and tossed them onto the bed. Digging around even more, he found a green sweater that has been a favorite of his for some time, tossing it over onto the bed in his 'yes' pile. Shoving his other clothes back down into where they belong, he closed the drawer. Lastly, from atop of his dresser, he picked up a silver necklace with handcuffs to close it.

Even after picking out his outfit, Frank still had quite a lot of time to kill before the party this evening. He decided to clean himself up for Gerard, taking a nice and long shower, and even shaving his face to look even more presentable. After all of the effort he put into his appearance, the clock still only read 8:21 P.M. An hour left before he could even think about getting ready to leave. Frank felt like a little kid again, getting impatient over having to wait to open gifts at his birthday party. Letting out a sharp sigh, he plopped down on his thrift store couch to turn on the television and stare at the screen for an hour. Grabbing the remote he flicked it on to MTV. Leaning back into the cushion and crossing his arms together, Frank started the ordeal of waiting. What felt like an hour was only thirty minutes. Franks now glossed over eyes were still staring at the television with a gaze full of boredom. Looking over to his phone, he uncrossed his arms and reached over to press the home button. The screen flashed on and said '9:13 P.M'. Throwing his head back harshly into the back of his couch, Frank grumbled. "I'm sick of waiting..." He said to himself. Thinking for a moment back to his conversation with Gerard, he remembered the key words"around 10". Gerard never said 10 sharp.. so if he wanted Frank could totally show up a bit early.

Making his final decision, he stood up and shuffled over to his bedroom. Opening the door, Frank eyed the clothes on the bed before grabbing it and making his way over to the bathroom. He entered and closed the door, reappearing about 3 minutes later in new clothing. The man stepped over to the couch, picking up his busted phone and shoving it into the back pocket of his jeans. Bending over, he plucked his keys up off his coffee table with a jingle and walked over to his front door, swinging it open before stepping into the dirty and dimly lit hallways of his apartment complex and slamming the door behind him. Frank reached into the back pocket of his jeans, taking out his phone to call Gerard. As he put it up to his ear and the phone dialed, the man took his free hand to look through his keys so he could lock the door behind him. Can't trust his neighbors to be kindly and leave his shit alone. After successfully finding the key he wanted, Frank shoved it into the keyhole and turned it so it locked. As he put his keys in the front pocket of his pants, his phone prompted him to leave a voicemail since Gerard didn't pick up. "Hey, I guess you're already having fun since you didn't pick up... um... I'm on my way right now. I'll see you soon. Bye." Franks phone beeped loudly in his ear, alerting him his time was up and to get going to the party that would hopefully be the start of a relationship between him and his favorite customer.