FicWad

Friday Afternoon
Frank

I glanced up at the clock for the fifth time, and sighed. There was still thirty minutes until I could go home. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my job. Working at a music store was great, but there was no one here. Everyone at work was all just kind of walking around looking at the shelves, making sure everything was perfect.

I heard the bell above the front door jingle. My heart stopped when I turned around and came face to face with Gerard. His mouth fell open and he just stared at me. We hadn’t spoken, let alone seen each other since that day on my porch.

He looked terrible. It was easy to see how much weight he had lost. His jeans that used to be skin tight were now hanging loosely off his frame. His shirt looked four sizes too big. You could even see the bones in his face.

Of course, I didn’t look much better. Heartbreak does this to a person.

“Umm... Can I help you?” One of my co-workers. Joe, I think, walked over to us and started talking to Gerard.

Gerard snapped out of his trance and turned around to face Joe. “No, I’m just looking.” And with that he headed to the back of the store and disappeared from sight.

“What the hell was all that about?” Joe sounded furious. “You see a customer, you help them. It’s that simple.”

I nodded, “Yeah, sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

He sighed, “Whatever. You can go ahead and go home.”

Thankful, I clocked out and then headed out the back entrance before walking to the parking lot. I was about to pull out my cell phone and call my mom, to let her know I needed a ride home when I remember Gerard. He was inside.

I decided I would wait for him. We needed to talk about everything. I missed him more than words can express, and I wanted him to know that. Hopefully he felt the same way.

It wasn’t hard to find his car in the parking lot. It was in the front row in front of the entrance. I couldn’t help thinking about all the time I’d been in this car, all the conversations Gerard and I had. Everything. The good and the bad. I almost broke into tears on the spot.

I leaned against the driver side door and faced the entrance to the little music shop. Any minute now, Gerard would come out and I would make him listen to me. I couldn’t live anymore without him.

About fifteen minutes passed before Gerard finally came outside. I watched him reach into his pocket and grab his car keys before looking up and making eye contact with me. He stopped dead.

I shoved my hands in my jean pockets, “I’ve missed you.”

He sighed, “Frank...”

“Can you at least listen to me?” I took a deep breath, meeting his gaze. I could tell that he wanted to believe me, he didn’t want to think I was involved with Bert. “I swear on my mom’s life that I never used you. Not to get to Bert, never.”

“I saw you, Frank. How do you explain that?” Tears were building in his eyes, and it was killing me. All I wanted was to hug him and tell him that everything would be okay. We would make it through this.

“Bert said he wanted me to leave you alone, so he could have you. I couldn’t do it, Gerard. I love you too much. But he said he would hurt Mikey if I didn’t go talk to him.” I shook my head, looking down at the ground. “He asked what I would do to keep you away from him.” When I looked up, Gerard was standing a little closer than he was before.

“That still doesn’t--”

I spoke before he could finish. “I said I would do anything for you.” Once again, I felt tears building. This time there was nothing I could do to stop them from falling. “So, he raped me.”

Gerard gasped, and I looked up to see that his face had turned white. He looked like he was going to be sick. Maybe we would end up okay after all. I started walking toward him, but he backed away from me.

“I don’t know, Frank.” He paused, “Look what you did to Mikey. How do I know you’re not doing the same thing right now?”

I opened my mouth to speak, but he spoke before I could. “Just go home, Frank. Please. And leave me alone.” Before I had time to react, he had pushed past me and was climbing into his car. I just stood there, heartbroken again, as he drove off.

I felt my knees buckle, and I collapsed in the parking lot, my head in my hands. For the first time in almost a week, I let myself just cry about Gerard. I missed him so much it physically hurt, and now with him saying to leave him alone... I couldn’t take this anymore.

He had to feel the same way. He had too. There was no way that he could just stop loving me. We had something special. I could see in his eyes how much he missed me, how much he wanted to believe me.

Being apart was killing both of us.