FicWad

It was 9:15 PM when Frank called Mae, but when Mae checked the time again the red digits of her clock said 1:03 AM. Mae had always been, for the most part, well versed and outspoken and Frank proved to be just as talkative. Words came easy between the both of them as if they were dancing on conversation. Stepping back and forth and making twirls and dips without ever stumbling over each other's feet. The rhythm would go from slow to fast, songs going from heartache to partying, and they went through them as if the segue to each beat was as transparent as air.

"Let me ask you this," Frank began. "When was your last relationship and how did it end?"

"Aren't we getting a little personal here?" Mae tried to avoid his question.

"Well, I told you about every childhood disease I've suffered and you went on about how you never had the chicken pox," Frank said with a grin she could hear through the phone. "You can't get more personal than that."

"I'm pretty sure that my last relationship was much more sickening than chicken pox," Mae scoffed.

"You know, with all that Calculus we've been learning I decided to make my own equation," Frank changed topics. "About relationships."

"Oh?" Mae mused.

"True Love equals Reality divided by Standards," Frank recited.

Mae wrote down Frank's equation on a ripped piece of notebook paper: T.L. = R/S

"So 'Standards' represents the expectations a person has of their 'perfect lover' and Reality is what that one person actually is," Frank explained. "And when you divide out those standards from what you really have, you get your true love."

"You," Mae emphasized. "Are a dork."

"I was going for genius, but that's a good euphemism," Frank sighed. "But there's a glitch to it. If a person has no standards it'll equal zero and you can't divide by zero."

"Set a limit to infinity," Mae suggested. "Based on infinite limits, you can divide by zero."

"Really?" Frank's interest evident in his voice.

"When the limit goes to infinity and you divide any real number by zero, the equation goes to infinity," Mae continued. "So if Standards equaled zero and Reality was any real number, True Love would equal infinity."

"Sounds good to me," Frank yawned.

"Go to sleep," Mae laughed. "It's late and we have school tomorrow."

"Alright," Frank agreed. "I'll see you in Calc. Night."

"Goodnight."

Mae attached her dying cell phone to its charger and shut off the lights. As she lay in bed waiting for sleep to overtake her, she thought of Frank's formula. A smaller number divided by a larger number always became an even smaller number, a decimal. If you had more standards than what a real person could actually live up to, you'd be left hurt and disappointed. But if you had relatively small expectations and standards, the number would turn out to be large and if you had no standards at all, you would be infinitely content. Mae wasn't sure if it was possible to go into a relationship without setting some rules and standards even though she realized that she would be much more happier if she didn't expect anything at all. Mikey had made her Standards number skyrocket and that would leave her with almost nothing but a fraction of the value. As if the idea of True Love would almost be nonexistent.

*

Gerard had woken up at noon in time to get a cup of the coffee Mikey had just made. He listened to his younger brother go on about the new girl he had his eye on. From what he knew, she was tall with a cute nose decorated with freckles, had chestnut brown hair, and wore thick computer glasses. The clinking sound of silver hitting porcelain softly rose in volume as Gerard absentmindedly stirred his steaming drink. He inhaled sharply, trying to suppress his craving for a cigarette.

"I wanna ask her out, but I don't know what to say," Mikey sighed, as he took a seat at the dining table across from him.

Gerard remembered Mikey saying almost identical words a year ago when he had feelings for Mae. Of course, Gerard was more than happy to hear that Mikey wanted to date Mae, but knew that it would mean risking their long time friendship. Then, he remembered the night Mae called him in outrage of what she had found out. She didn't shed a single tear, but was instead filled with anger and hatred. All of which was directed toward his blood relative. He almost wanted to tell her how proud he was of how she handled the situation but instead, kept quiet and listened to her trash talk his brother.

"You'll never know until you ask," Gerard offered as he took a sip of coffee.

Alexia was his first girlfriend. He wasn't quite sure he remembered exactly why or how he ever got her attention, but somehow a beautiful girl like her had given him the time of day. He was the only person she allowed to call her Lexi. Gerard remembered the exact day and time when he found her pressed against the lockers in the hands of some guy he didn't even think went to their school. Gerard went home, got drunk, and cried about it for hours. Mikey and Mae were too young at the time to understand what he was going through. He expected Mae to do something similar, but maybe she was just stronger than him.

"Gerard?!" Mikey repeated for the third time, when Gerard snapped out of his daydream.

"Yeah?" he responded.

"Do you think I deserve another chance?" Mikey was almost afraid to ask.

Gerard thought long and hard and tried not to compare him to Alexia. He looked his brother in the eyes and smiled sympathetically.

"Yeah."

*

Frank grinned proudly as he ran to catch up with Mae who was heading into her art class. If he wasted another second, he was going to be late to Physics. He decided that his news was so worth the tardy.

"Hey!" he called as she turned in surprise to see him.

They had taken a continuity quiz for the whole period in Calc. and had not yet spoken. Mr. Betterby corrected and handed back the papers of those who had finished early enough. Frank was among the first few to finish while Mae traced over her work hoping to kill time and stall turning in her less than perfect paper.

"I got an A on the quiz!" Frank announced, holding up his paper in front of Mae. "I remembered what you said last night about infinite limits."

"I wish I remembered what I said last night," Mae sighed. "I left the first three questions practically blank."

The bell rang and Frank didn't seem to care that he was already late to his class and automatically owed his teacher a one page essay about an endangered species. Mae waited for him to leave, but he seemed to just stand there for a few seconds as if he wanted to say something else.

"I'll see you at lunch," he mumbled as he finally turned around to hurry over to his class.

"See you," Mae said to herself, watching Frank walk away until he disappeared from her sight.

~

Lunch came by just as fast as school seemed to start. Mae was two assignments ahead in her art class and her teacher didn't really want her to keep going until he was out of work to give her. So it was one of those dreaded moments when Mae had to go into the cafeteria and remind herself just how much she didn't fit in. It was a larger version of Calc class with larger groups of kids eating together in herds of compatibility and status. Mae felt completely ostracized from them as if they knew something she didn't. Like there was some kind of secret password allowing access to those crowds and Mae didn't have a single clue of it.

"Mae!"

She saw Frank wave her over to his table where Bob and some other unrecognizable faces sat. She was reluctant at first to sit with all of those strangers, but decided she had to either sit by herself or take that one familiar face. She plastered a friendly smile on as she took her seat next to Frank.

"Hey, I know you!" a fairly tall girl with shoulder length wavy black hair said. "You're Gerard's friend!"

"Yeah. I'm his neighbor, too. Well, before he moved out for college," Mae added.

"I'm Ray's sister," the girl introduced herself. "Lydia."

"I'm Mae," Mae reached out to shake the girl's hand. "Nice to meet you."

Ray Toro went to highschool with Gerard, but they didn't become friends until after they graduated. Mae had met Ray a couple of times before. The one thing she remembered about him was how soft and melodic his voice sounded with an almost undetectable raspiness blanketed underneath. She wondered what his singing would sound like.

"He won't stop talking about you," Lydia whispered to Mae as she nodded toward Frank.

At possibly the worst moment, a couple of sophomore girls walked up to Frank and giggled as their other friend stood a distance away. Mae knew exactly where this was going.

"Hi Frank," the first girl greeted.

"Hi," Frank replied softly.

"Um . . . we were just wondering if," the second girl bit her lip to keep herself from laughing.

"Our friend, Michelle, is crazy about you!" the first girl finished for her.

The third girl who stood behind them, suddenly covered her face in embarrassment and ran out of the cafeteria. Still, her two friends stayed and locked hopeful eyes with Frank waiting for an answer.

"Sorry," Frank said with a shrug, sending the two girls storming out of the room cursing at him under their breaths.

"You don't find a guy like that everywhere," Lydia nudged Mae.

"Yeah," Mae agreed.

But he can find a girl like me anywhere. Mae watched as Bob pointed out certain girls and familiarized Frank with their reputations. She watched their lips move and fingers point like a movie on mute. Frank laughed at one point and Mae snickered at the childish tone of his laughs. It was definitely strange to hear that transition from his usually deep voice, but she still thought it was cute. It was as if his eyes and laugh refused to mature with the rest of his body, like he always wore around the joys of his childhood. Mae wondered what Bob would say about her if she wasn't sitting with them. Mae Lin; the typical Asian overachiever?

"Hey Mae," Frank scooted himself closer. "Can you do me favor?"

"Depends," Mae replied. "Are you asking me to assist a homicide?"

"Not today," Frank smirked at her sense of humor. "Do you think you could design my tattoo?"

"You want me to draw your first tattoo?" Mae questioned his request.

"Yeah. I think I've seen enough of your work to decide that I really love your stuff," Frank reassured her.

"Thanks," Mae said, her smile slightly dropping.

Was that the only reason why Frank had stayed in the art room during lunch with her? Half of her expected it, but the other half kind of hoped he stayed because maybe, just maybe, he . . .

The bell rang to go to class. It was time to trudge off into AP Literature, the class that revolved around classic tales of betrayal and revenge. And, appropriately enough, the only class Mae had Ashley in.

She stood up to throw the remains of her brown paper bag into the trash when Frank volunteered to dispose it for her.

"Thanks," she gave him a grateful smile.

"I'll call you tonight," he promised as if she was expecting him to.

"What for?" Mae asked.

"Homework," Frank grinned, as they walked together to class.