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"How much are you risking for being here?"

Frank stood in surprise at Mae's ability to somehow make it to his home without either Gerard or her parents knowing.

"Complete lock down at home and possibly a long lecture and a hired spy from Gerard," Mae shrugged it off as if it meant nothing to her.

"You amaze me," Frank grinned, pulling her closer for a kiss.

Mae smiled as his lips touched her's. She felt the burn of blood rushing to her cheeks in embarrassment. Since the party, there was an awkwardness whenever he made contact with her. The slightest hint of his touch made her shiver in remembrance of that night. Lately, she had been shrugging off his daily gestures and praying that he would never notice.

"Are you alright?" Frank asked, placing his hands on her shoulders which instantly tensed up.

"Fine," Mae nodded. "It's just the aftermath of sneaking out. You know me and my tendency to freak out over small things."

"Yeah, you do," Frank laughed, leading her to the sofa.

"What movie are we watching?" Mae asked as she sat down, purposely leaving some distance between them.

"One of my favorites," Frank grinned as he pressed the PLAY button on his remote.

Mae's eyes lit up as the movie, Say Anything, filled the television screen. It was one of her favorites, too, and it had been awhile since she had seen it. Her body jumped in surprise as Frank slouched down closer to her and placed his arm over her waist. Mae uncomfortably leaned closer until her forehead touched his cheek just to show him that she appreciated his actions even if her insides said different.

~

"I love Lloyd Dobbler," Mae sighed near the end of the film.

"You don't think he's weird?" Frank questioned.

"I think that's what I love about him," Mae said with a smile. "He's weird, but in a cute way. I love how he can't shut up but he always has something interesting to say. Plus, he's sweet."

"Yeah, he had some good ideas," Frank agreed. "Like the stereo thing was genius."

"It was really creative," Mae giggled. "I like that in a guy."

"What's your favorite song?" Frank teased. "Look outside your window tomorrow morning, okay?"

"Very funny," Mae rolled her eyes. "Gerard will probably kill you by the time you could even get to the chorus."

"Nah, I wouldn't do that," Frank shook his head. "Because that would be stealing Lloyd's idea. If I were to do something creative, it would be out of my own imagination."

"That's the best way to do it," Mae replied.

Suddenly, the movie ended and the credits began to roll after the long awaited ding of the "No Smoking" sign. Frank turned the TV off and scooted even closer to Mae. As if she couldn't have felt anymore ashamed.

"I miss hanging out with you after school," he spoke softly in her ear.

"Why?" Mae forced a laugh. "You'll see me the next day or you'll call me at night."

"I don't know what it is," Frank confessed. "But I miss you when you're not around."

"That's sweet of you to say," Mae replied.

She couldn't understand herself. She knew damn well that she felt the same with him. When he wasn't there it was almost as if she felt incomplete. Maybe she was just scared of falling into a dependence trap with him. She didn't want to get hurt again.

"I'm sorry," Frank blushed. "I'm creeping you out."

"No," Mae shook her head. "Actually...I feel the same way. Honestly."

"Really?" Frank's eyes lit up, making Mae's insides flutter.

"Yeah," Mae said with all sincerity.

Frank smiled as he guided her face to meet his. The kiss was slow and sensual. More lustful than sweet. Another one and it was longer than the last. He placed his tongue in her mouth and she did her best to pretend like it wasn't there. She wasn't sure she knew what to do with it, anyways. His hands wandered past her face and shoulders and this time they were completely sober. Goose bumps rose above Mae's skin wherever Frank's hands made contact and his palms weren't even cold. Suddenly, when she just started to feel a little less awkward, he broke the kiss.

"Do you trust me?" he asked, looking her in the eye.

Do I?

But Mae ended up nodding her head before her intuition could form a coherent answer. Frank leaned against her and set her body down against the couch. Mae could only stare at the ceiling hoping that he wouldn't try to go where she thought he was going. He placed his hands on her hips as he traced kisses from her forehead to her neck. Frantic thoughts ran through Mae's mind. She didn't want this, but how was she going to stop him without having him hate her? He ran his hands under her shirt and hoisted them underneath her back to sit her up against the arm of the couch. In one quick motion, he unfastened her bra strap.

"Frank!" Mae exclaimed.

Her outburst startled him and he automatically retreated his hands and his body away from her. Inside, Mae was kicking herself for panicking.

"Sorry," Frank mumbled, looking at the floor.

"I'm not ready for that, yet," Mae confessed.

"You could've said that in the beginning," Frank muttered, giving off a hint of anger.

"I'm sorry. I know I should've but I didn't know how to put it," Mae apologized.

"'No' would've just been fine," Frank retorted.

"Are you mad at me?" Mae began to catch on to his snappy comments.

"No," Frank denied. "I'm just a little irritated, that's all."

"About what?" Mae asked. "Me not having sex with you?!"

"No, about how you're leading me on," Frank sneered. "You're just being a little prude about everything."

"I'm still a virgin, Frank!" Mae defended herself. "I'm not being a prude. You're being an insensitive jerk!"

"Well, I'm sorry I'm wasting your time," Frank got up. "Maybe you should go home where you're supposed to be."

"Fine," Mae headed toward the door.

"You lied to Gerard and your parents to get here," Frank brought up. "What makes me believe you’re not lying to me about other things?"

"Okay, then," Mae snapped. "The truth is I don't trust you. I'm not even in love you and I don't want you to touch me like that much less lose my virginity to you on your fucking couch. Maybe Gerard was right. If you really feel that I'm just a prude, then I'd rather not be with you."

"Tell Gerard congratulations for proving his point," Frank scoffed as he opened the door.

Mae walked out without another word or glance at him. Her pride had been too big to even say goodbye. By the time she got home, she felt as if her chest was starting to cave in. She waited by her phone with a tinge of hope he'd call and say he was sorry, but sleep had gotten to her and she never heard a ring.

*

The next day, Mae silently wished for Frank to speak to her during Calculus. Her heart jumped when he still took his seat behind her and she counted seconds in hopes of him uttering the first word of conversation. Mr. Betterby instructed them to turn to the page about discontinuous curves. The curves looked like a C mirrored diagonally from each other. The lines curled almost in yearning while being placed so closely together. They almost looked as if they wanted so badly to touch but some invisible interception stood between them. Mae wasn't sure if it was just her passion for literature that allowed her to see the metaphor in discontinuities or if she was just being silly. The curves before her were star-crossed lovers like Romeo and Juliet. She wondered whether there would be an equation to somehow unite them together.

Frank cleared his throat behind her, but she was too afraid to turn around. It might've been a signal or simply congestion. She didn't want to take any chances of making a mistake. Mr. Betterby was blabbing on about the graphs and some kid in the class was correcting him, yet again, for his mistake. Mae allowed herself to giggle with the rest of the class. They found it absolutely hilarious whenever Mr. Betterby made numerous errors during his lesson plans, but when it comes time to take that dreaded AP Exam they would be furious at him for wasting their time.

Again, the class period ended with Mr. Betterby finally finishing up the first of five examples he had planned to demonstrate. With much disappointment from the class, he left the students to figure out the rest of the homework on their own. They were supposed to be the top mathematicians of their school, after all. But without proper instruction, they might as well have been back to Pre-Calc. It was only when Frank rushed out of the classroom did Mae realize that he had completely ignored her throughout the whole period. He even walked past her without so much as a glance or smile.

~

Mae spent so much time sulking over Frank during her next few classes that she began to feel pathetic. She entered the lunchroom expecting to be shunned from her usual table of borrowed friends from Frank, but Frank was no where to be found. Instead, Bob and Lydia sat by themselves laughing and sharing a joke. Mae suspected a bit of flirtation going on, but she didn't want to call them out on it just yet.

"Hey!" Lydia made space for Mae to sit next to her. "What's up, girl?"

"Did you happen to see Frank in here?" Mae asked, taking her seat.

"No, we haven't seen him all day," Lydia shrugged. "I thought he just stayed home for today or something."

"He was in math class this morning," Mae pointed out.

"Maybe he skipped," Bob grinned.

"Frank wouldn't do that!" Lydia exclaimed.

"You think too nicely of people, Babe," Bob replied.

"Babe?" Mae teased. "Did I miss something?"

"What are you talking about?" Lydia blushed.

"Are you guys going out?" Mae finally asked.

Lydia and Bob exchanged looks of pure embarrassment. Mae couldn't hold in her burst of laughter. It was a priceless image of aggressive Bob turn bashful pink.

"I'm gonna go find Frank," Bob horribly excused himself.

Which left all the pressure to poor Lydia who sat with her head hung low as she watched Bob hurry out of the cafeteria from the corner of her eye.

"Thanks a lot, Mae," she mumbled, resting her forehead on her hand.

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself," Mae patted her back. "But, honestly, what's going on between you two?"

"We've kinda been dancing around the subject since sophomore year," Lydia admitted. "I'm just waiting for him to ask."

"Why don't you ask him out?" Mae raised an eyebrow.

"I guess I'm just traditional like that," Lydia grinned.

"Ever the romantic," Mae rolled her eyes. "I wish I could say the same for myself."

"Why? What's up with you and Frank?" Lydia asked.

"It's a long story," Mae warned.

"I've got time," Lydia assured her.

Mae told her story and watched Lydia's face of concern turn into one of shock then to sympathy and finally annoyance toward Frank's behavior. Lydia went on a rant about immature body conscious boys and compared them to the leading men of her favorite romantic movies. Her long speech about the difficult search for that one prince charming only fueled Mae's boiling temper. She wanted Frank to be something special like the fictional men Lydia described and she almost felt short changed by Cupid. Why couldn't she have someone special? Was her love life doomed to always end with a downhill slope? As if by cue, Frank entered the room with Bob.

"Look who's here," Lydia pointed Frank out.

"Mae," Frank called her as he walked closer to the table. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Don't let him off easy," Lydia said low enough for only Mae to hear as she got up to meet with Frank.

"Let's go outside," Frank said as he led the way.

They stood in the school parking lot in front of Frank's car. He leaned himself against the driver's door and nudged Mae to have a seat on the hood. Convincing herself that Frank's car was harmless as long as it wasn't on, Mae hopped on and made herself comfortable.

"So are you gonna tell me what's going on?" Mae asked.

"I just," Frank hesitated. Apologies were never his specialty. "I'm sorry for what I said last night."

"And you couldn't tell me that this morning in class when you ignored me?" Mae scoffed.

"I wanted to wait," Frank replied.

"Wait to say one word?" Mae sneered. "Sorry doesn't exactly take a whole class period."

"Look," Frank said sternly. "I have a lot of things going on and if you're just gonna snap at every word I say, then I might as well not explain."

"What do you have to explain?" Mae mused.

"It's just shit going on at home," Frank bit his lip.

Mae could see his discomfort about the subject. She swore to herself that she would keep a tough composure, but could she blame him for his actions under the circumstances? Mae knew that when something bothered her as greatly as family issues, she would shut everyone down. She would ignore people trying to greet her, keep quiet during conversations, and occasionally snap at a friend.

"I'm sorry," Mae sympathized. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

Frank offered her a smile as he approached the front of his car and sat next to her. Mae brought her palms against his wrists before fastening her hands around them. Slowly, she began to warm his freezing hands and she saw how he became much more relaxed.

"My mom has a new boyfriend," Frank finally said.

"You don't like him?" Mae asked.

"Actually I do like him," Frank surprised her. "He's a really nice guy, but I wouldn't want him as a stepfather."

"But you like him," Mae reasoned. "Wouldn't you want a good stepfather as opposed to some lousy jerk?"

"He's just like my dad," Frank added.

"Isn't that just more of a reason to like him?" Mae replied.

"But he's not my dad," Frank stressed. "I don't get to see my dad enough and I don't want him to be replaced by some other guy who's just like him."

"No one can replace your dad," Mae told him. "Even if they were nearly identical. Your mom's boyfriend will never be your father."

"I just feel kinda selfish," Frank laughed harshly. "My mom asked me if I was okay with her dating him and I told her I wasn't so she's not seeing him anymore."

"Do you regret telling her?" Mae scooted closer and began to rub his back in a soothing rhythm.

"Yeah," Frank admitted. "I'm really sorry about last night. I was just in a shitty mood."

"I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier," Mae interlaced her fingers with his.

"Don't be," Frank grinned. "I deserved it for being an insensitive jerk."

"I'm gonna have to agree with you on that one," Mae teased.

Frank let out a childish giggle before sealing their words with a kiss. Mae knew it was unlike her to give second chances, but she felt that Frank deserved it. She also knew that if it was Mikey who did the same to her, she wouldn't have been so kind. Mae always thought that she would be more than happy to find someone she could invest all of her trust into. Maybe it opened up the possibility of falling in love even though she wasn't sure whether she believed in the very concept of it. Everything felt like it was going right. Frank felt right to her. Shouldn't she be elated of having found something so wonderful? It was supposed to be like a fairytale come true. Mae couldn't tell if it was her intuition or her hormones playing a trick on her. She should be thankful that she finally had it all, but instead she was terrified of losing it all by a mere mention of some dangerous word.