FicWad

So I'm finished with my exams and have about a two month vacation ahead of me and I'm currently listening to Three Cheers while drinking coffee. Life sure doesn't get any better than this.
As promised, here is the next chapter! Please be so kind as to leave a comment to let me know what you think.

Frank

It was sometime Friday night and since neither Gerard nor I had anything better to do, we sat in the Way’s living room watching Friday the 13th. You know your life is really sad when you’re over twenty and sitting home on a Friday night watching horror movies with your best friend. I should be out with a girl or at least have some sort of plans. Even the fact that I was in a band didn’t make up for me sitting in on a Friday night. Couldn’t I be out playing a show instead? Why weren’t we out playing a show?

Don’t get me wrong, I had no problem spending the night watching horror movies with Gerard. He was my best friend after all and this was kind of fun. We were both laughing at the bloody parts or flipping out when the stupid person investigates the strange noise. Seriously, didn’t these people ever watch horror movies? Don’t check it out, because you’ll be checking out! Several empty cans of soda and empty packets of candy or chips littered the small coffee table on which our feet were resting. My mom would have a heart-attack if we were in her house, but Gee’s parents were cool. I guess his mom was just used to all our habits by now and she knew we would clean up once we were finished. As for our feet on the coffee table, Mrs. Way gave up a long time ago trying to get the bad habit out of us. It was a useless effort.

The movie was about halfway when we heard a creaking sound behind us and then suddenly Brittany appeared, plopping down between us.

“Do you mind if I join you guys? You seem to be enjoying whatever it is you’re doing and I’m bored out of my mind.”

“You’re more than welcome,” Gerard smiled in response, stuffing a hand full of skittles in his mouth.

“Don’t you have plans with Kasey or something?” I was the one to ask.

The blonde shook her head, “No, she’s away with her parents for the weekend so I don’t have anywhere else to be. What about you guys? Where’s Mel?” she asked, turning to look at her brother.

“She’s working,” he replied, hazel eyes glued to the television screen where someone just screamed loudly.

“Babysitting after hours?” Brittany joked.

“Actually yeah,” Gerard nodded. “One of the kid’s parents asked her if she’d be willing to babysit for the night which leaves me home alone.”

Brittany started laughing, “I don’t even know how anyone would leave their kids with her. She’s not exactly your average kindergarten teacher.”

At this the raven-haired male tore his eyes away from the screen to look at her.

“Well, she’s got a lip piercing, dresses like some punk/Goth princess, not exactly role model material.”

“It’s all about personality, dear sister. You know what a sweetheart Melania is and the parents and the kids love her. As long as she loves what she’s doing, I’m not going to stand in her way.”

After that it was quiet as we continued to watch the story. I soon realized that Brittany was almost more entertaining than the movie though, because she was clearly freaked out, judging from the spastic-attacks she kept having next to me every now and then or the muffled shrieks escaping her lips.

“Sit still!” Gerard said as we both laughed when Brittany nearly jumped through the roof near the end of the movie.

“I don’t know how you guys can possibly watch this,” she said, covering her eyes from the blood and gore going on on screen.

Gerard laughed again, “It’s awesome. You can relax. The movie is finished.”

He got up and stretched himself out. “Can I get you girls something to eat and drink?”

I didn’t answer him, pretending that I didn’t hear him call me a girl.

“You’d be an angel,” Brittany said gratefully.

“Frank!”

“Yeah?” I asked, looking at him with raised eyebrows.

“Do you want something from the kitchen?” he asked again.

I grinned cheekily, “That would be great, girlfriend!”

“Fuck you,” he laughed, walking away.

It was quiet for about half a second before I burst out laughing.

“I cannot believe that you were so scared during the movie!”

The teen scowled at me, “Go away.”

“You’re such a girl,” I kept laughing.

“Well, duh, last time I checked I still was a girl!”

“Yeah, but…” I couldn’t finish my sentence, breaking into another fit of giggles.

“I don’t know how you can stand all that blood and gore. Mikey’s a freak for that stuff, but I don’t get it. It’s just horrible.”

“It’s not every day I see your sensitive side.”

“That’s only because I don’t show it,” she stated.

“Why not?” I asked curiously, turning slightly to face her. “It doesn’t make you less you, on the contrary.”

She didn’t meet my eyes. Instead she took a hold of my right hand and started tracing the
first part of the Halloween tattoo tattooed on my knuckles. I could tell that she obviously wasn’t going to respond so I changed the subject.

“What are you going to do all weekend?”

She looked up and smirked, “Be awesome.”

“You sound like me,” I noticed with a chuckle. “If you don’t have anything else to do, I can always teach you how to play guitar.”

“Why?” she asked with a slight frown.

“So you can take over the world with your band one day,” I said, grinning broadly.

“And who said that I was interested in starting a band?” she wanted to know with a small smile plastered on her face.

“I just figured that you’d be good at it,” I told her truthfully. “You have a lot of confidence and your brothers are both musically talented. Why not you?”

“Okay,” she nodded. “It’s not like I have anything better to do.”

I sat back with a satisfied smile. Why was I feeling so happy about spending time with Brittany over the weekend? Weird.

“Just be warned though,” I started. “You might be wedged between me and the guitar. Beginners don’t usually know the right amount of pressure to apply or exactly where to place their hands, that kind of thing.”

Brittany rolled her eyes at my statement.

“If it’s absolutely necessary I guess I can suffer through it. It’s not like I haven’t been that close to you before, right?”

“I don’t see how else we…”

I stopped talking as I noticed Gerard coming into the room from the corner of my eye.

“I thought you would’ve inserted the next movie by now,” he said, putting sodas and a bunch of snacks down on the table and walking over to the television to choose a new movie.

“Can we please not watch another scary movie?” Brittany begged, but Gerard and I voted and won.

The rest of the night was spent watching horror movies and with Brittany hiding behind my shoulder.

*

Brittany

It was almost ten on Saturday morning when I was standing on the Iero’s porch and knocking on the front door. Frank and I agreed that I would go over to his house for the guitar lessons since his mom was going to be at work and besides, we couldn’t exactly meet up at my house since both my brothers were home.

The door swung open to reveal a broad grinning Frank.

“Welcome to residence Iero,” he said overdramatically.

I simply laughed at his antics, following him inside and into the living room.

“Can I get you something to drink?”

I nodded and stood in the middle of the room, looking around at everything as I waited for Frank to return from the kitchen. It was a normal living room with two puffy looking red couches. I remember hitting my head against one of them the other day when hiding from Frank’s mom. I saw several photo frames with pictures of Mrs. Iero and a younger Frank. Come to think of it, he was never really bad looking. I wondered why I never noticed.

“You know you’re welcome to sit down and make yourself at home,” Frank told me with a smile as he returned and handed me a can of soda. “I’ll be right back. I’m just going to go get my guitar.” With that he disappeared from the room once again.

I looked around the room one last time before sitting down on one of the couches. Frank soon returned, guitar in hand. He plopped down on the couch next to me and smiled.

“You ready?”

I nodded and waited for him to continue. He rested the guitar on his lap and grabbed the fret board with his left hand while gently strumming with the other.

“Okay, watch me. Pay attention to where I place my fingers on the fret board. I’m going to show you a few chords and then help you learn them as well.”

As he explained, he played a few chords and I watched closely. It wasn’t a fast tune so it wasn’t too difficult to follow his movements.

“Okay, your turn,” he said, passing me the guitar.

I slung the strap across my shoulders and rested the guitar in my lap.

“Place your fingers here and here,” he continued, showing me exactly what to do. “Press down as hard as you can and strum with your right hand.”

I did exactly as he told me, but the sound that came out was nothing like what he played a few seconds earlier.

“Press harder,” he instructed.

Again, I did as I was told and this time it sounded right.

“You’re almost there, but you still need to apply more pressure on the frets.”

I sighed, because I wasn’t the most patient person in the world. I pressed down as hard as I could and strummed.

“See, there,” the dark-haired male smiled. “You did it. Now try the next one,” he said, grabbing my fingers and moving them into place.

I did the same as before, but it was just another false sounding tune that came from the guitar.

“Okay, relax,” Frank said calmly. “You’re obviously not going to be a pro right off the bat.
It’s going to take a lot of practice. Come here.”

He patted his thigh and waited for me to respond. I wasn’t quite sure what he planned to do, but I obeyed nonetheless and sat down on his lap.

“Okay,” he said again and I could feel his warm breath in my neck. Right, now I was definitely going to get it right. There was no way I could mess up now that all my attention was on him. Right…

His left hand grabbed onto mine, forcing my fingers down in place on the fret board and then I felt his right arm reach around to strum. “Do you feel that? That’s how much pressure you should try to apply.”

I nodded and he let go of my hand, letting me strum. To my surprise the sound actually came out right. At least it sounded right to me.

“Good,” Frank spoke up behind me again. “Let’s try the next one.”

His fingers curled around mine once more and guided them into place. His chin was now resting on my shoulder and I could feel his hair slightly tickle my neck. Guess what I’m concentrating on. Come on, Brittany. Forget about Frank and focus on what you’re supposed to be doing otherwise this entire session will be a waste of time.

I took a deep breath in an attempt to clear my thoughts and then played what he showed me.

“Play both this time.”

It was actually not as difficult as it seemed at first. Now that I knew how much pressure to put on the chords, it was easier. I still made one or two mistakes, but it was coming along.

“So why did you never learn to play before?” Frank asked, breaking me from my thoughts of how good he smelt and momentarily distracting me from the fact that his hands were resting on my sides.

“Uhm… well, Gerard’s not really that good and Mikey’s more into playing bass so,” I shrugged casually.

“You should keep practicing though. I think can be really good with enough time.”

I smiled bashfully and went back to playing. It wasn’t the easiest task to concentrate with him so close and my heart attempting to beat right out of my chest, but I somehow managed to not completely screw up. It seemed like forever before Frank finally said that we were done.

“You just played the intro of Demolition Lovers,” he said sounding almost proud. “But shh, don’t tell the guys I taught you that.”

“Thanks. I feel good.”

“You should. You did really well for your first time,” he said and I could practically hear the smile in his voice and then I felt his lips on my cheek.

“Are you hungry?” he suddenly asked, helping off his lap and jumping to his feet. “’Cause I’m starving.”

I was kind of disappointed by the sudden lack of contact, but pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind. I put the guitar aside and followed him into the kitchen to find him already rummaging through the freezer.

“I’ll be honest, I’m not a good cook,” he started telling me as his head re-emerged from inside the freezer. “But my mom bought an entire load of frozen pizzas from this little store in town and it’s so easy to heat up that even I can do it. And it’s really good.”

My eyes followed him as he moved around the kitchen finding a pan to put the pizzas in and turning on the oven. Our conversation during lunch consisted of playful banter and talking about what the band’s plans were and what I planned on doing after high school. I think it was the first real conversation the two of us ever had.

After lunch we started washing the dishes. Halfway through this task, Frank leaned closer and lightly nudged me with his shoulder. I smiled and swung my hips, bumping him in turn. He stumbled a bit and laughed, grabbing the sponge from the sink and lifting it high above his head.

“No, Frank don’t!” I protested.

“Why not?” he asked sweetly and I watched as soap ran down his arm and wet his red shirt.

“Because you’re not that evil!” I attempted, knowing full well that no matter what I said, I was going to end up wet in a matter of seconds. “Please, Frank! I would really like to leave your house dry for once.”

He slowly lowered his arm, but I didn’t trust this quick surrender at all. And then in one swift movement, he had his arms around me, using his hand to push the soaking sponge against my forehead and hair.

“No, Frank!” I squealed, attempting to push his hands away. “Frank! That’s gross, come on!”

“Not until you surrender,” he said, laughing evilly.

Someone cleared their throat and Frank and I looked up to see his mom standing in the doorway and looking at us questioningly. Frank hurriedly let go of me and I straightened up. He flashed that grin that looked like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth at his mom.

“Hey, Mom. You’re home soon,” he said sweetly.

Unbelievable. No wonder he could get away with murder. He suddenly seemed like a saint compared to the real Frank.

“Yes, I left work early,” she informed him, still looking curiously at the two of us.

“Hi, Mrs. Iero,” I greeted awkwardly not sure what else to do under her scrutinizing gaze.

“We were just cleaning up,” Frank spoke up again and I had to suppress a giggle.

“Good,” his mother nodded turning around to leave. “Oh, and, Frank.”

He looked up.

“Clean up the mess you made on the floor as well,” she said, disappearing from the kitchen.

“We will,” he assured her still in that saintly manner.

“You are so full of shit!” I whispered when I was sure his mother was out of hearing shot.

“You think?” he grinned, grabbing me around the waist again and planting a kiss on my temple before dragging me back to the dishes.

We finished clearing up the kitchen and then headed upstairs to his bedroom. He closed the door and turned to face me.

“So any preferences?” he wanted to know as he walked over to the radio.

“Do you have Green Day?” I asked, sitting down on his bed.

“Of course,” he grinned broadly, popping the CD into the radio and hitting the play button.

“It’s going to be awesome,” I stated randomly, waiting for him to question me.

“What is?”

“When I become better at guitar than you,” I said, grinning.

His eyes grew wide in amusement. “Is that so?”

“You just watch. Soon I’m going to take that pretty little guitar of yours and play better than you can even dream of.”

Frank chuckled lightly, sitting down on the bed as well.

“I’d pay to see that.”

“What, you don’t believe me?” I asked still smiling.

“I believe that you believe that you can do it, but that doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree.”

“You just watch. You’ll be eating your words in no time,” I insisted.

“Whatever you say,” he smiled, leaning over and softly pecking my lips.

I reconnected our lips and they slowly moved together. Our bodies shifted and my hands came to rest on his shoulders as his hands rested on either side of me to keep him from falling against me. The male pulled away and looked at me. Only now did I notice the dark hazel color of his eyes.

“Do you think your mom knows?” I couldn’t help wondering.

He gently pushed a strand of hair behind my ear before answering, “She probably does, but it doesn’t matter. She won’t tell at least I hope not.”

“Oh yeah, Frank. That’s real comforting,” I said sarcastically.

He giggled quietly, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll talk to her, okay?”

I nodded, “Sure.”

“How about some more guitar lessons?” he asked and I nodded in response.

He kissed me one last time before leaving the room to get his guitar from downstairs.

Yes, another note. Sorry, but I feel like being a tease... From your comments I can tell that everyone is looking forward to the secrets finally coming out. Just be patient for one or maybe two more chapters. Trust me, the shit is going to hit the fan soon and in a way that none of you will expect. :D