FicWad

(Frank’s POV)



Taylor looked shaken as she stood on my doorstep, arms crossed over her chest. “What happened?” I gazed at her, looking for any signs of disturbance. I really was clueless.

Taylor didn’t speak. She didn’t say anything. Instead she stepped back and gestured outside. I stepped out to join her and instantly stopped in my tracks. “My car… Did you-” I swallowed, trying hard not to lose my temper. I wasn’t really an angry guy but I loved my car. It was my pride and joy. “Did you get in to a fucking car crash or something?” Yeah, a car that involved blue paint. Someone dumped blue fucking paint on my car, scratched the sides- and fucking smashed all the windows.

“No.” Taylor squeaked out the word. She sounded terrified.

I was too pissed to really care.

I stepped closer to my beloved car, feeling my heart sink as some glass caved in and crashed in to the car. The clean up wouldn’t take long, but the damage was pretty bad. I needed to fix it. I needed to. Every single other thought disappeared from my mind.

“I’m so sorry.” Taylor stepped up beside me. “I really am so-”

“So sorry.” I finished her sentence, unable to keep the hint of bitterness out of my tone. “So now I have to fix your car and mine.” I spit out. “That’s just fucking lovely.”

“Sorry.” Taylor repeated numbly, losing any emotion she’d previously had.

“Sorry?” I repeated the word, also lacking the necessary emotion.

“Yeah, sorry.” Taylor repeated for what felt like the millionth time. I was getting sick of the word. It was starting to sound foreign.

My car.

My beautiful fucking car.

Wrecked.

All because I gave the beautiful godforsaken girl in front of me a chance.

She was bad news.

“Who did it?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Taylor shifted, obviously uncomfortable. “I’ll pay for the damages.”

“Do you even have a job?”

“No.” She whispered the word.

“Then how will you pay?”

“I’ll ask my dad, and I’ll look- I’ll look for a job.” Taylor promised.

“Why won’t you just tell me who did it?” I demanded.

“I don’t want trouble. I did something bad and so I… I got what I deserved. I just wish it hadn’t involved you.” Taylor’s words stumbled free and I could barely believe them.

“You got what you deserved? Kind of like how those assholes tried to rape you?” I spit out. That couldn’t be how she felt.

“Yeah.” Taylor blushed, and even in the dark I could clearly see it.

“Was it them?” I could feel my anger growing. Where was this sudden anger coming from? My car was one thing but now… now I cared about Taylor and that was something I just couldn’t come to terms with. Was she a friend, already? It was weird thinking of her as one, but at the same time I didn’t like the idea of her being bullied despite the fact that she had bullied so much.

Even my friends had been bullied by her.

So why the fuck would I care about her?

As her eyelashes fluttered and her cheeks continued to burn brightly I realized why I cared. I had developed, out of every fucking one in this city, a crush on Taylor Nicole. I was a fucking idiot.

“Let’s go inside.” I lowered my tone, trying to come off less aggressively. It was hard. I was mad. I was very mad. I just wanted to smash things, and be completely guy-like in expressing my anger. Taylor seemed breakable though. The girl that taunted people viciously and rolled her eyes at every little thing was gone, replaced by someone much more human.

Someone /vulnerable/.

“I can just call my dad or something.” Taylor bit her bottom lip in a way that made me twitch and shudder- involuntarily. “He doesn’t know I left, but he probably wouldn’t mind too much- picking me up I mean.”

“Or you could come inside.” I offered. “You’re shivering. It’s cold out here.”

“It is.” Taylor admitted.

I took that as agreement and led her in to my house, hoping that she was following behind me. I couldn’t really hear her. She didn’t walk loudly like Gerard. I was used to his monster thud footsteps.

Once inside I turned to close the door, finding her closely behind me. She paused in place, gazing up at me through thick eyelashes which she innocently batted. It wasn’t very easy to be mad /at her/.

Before really thinking about it I reached out and brushed her hair away from her face, feeling just how cold her skin was. “You’re very cold. Would you like some hot chocolate?”

Taylor wordlessly nodded, watching me with weary eyes.

“I’ll go make some then. How about you grab a blanket off of my bed? We can hang out on the couch.” The couch seemed safe compared to my bed, because honestly Taylor was pretty damn hot- and well, I was a teenage boy. I was liable to make some not so respectable moves at a time like this.

Taylor didn’t move immediately, instead reaching out for my arm. I waited, not saying anything. Then the tears started.

No, no tears. I hated tears. It wasn’t fair. I couldn’t do tears. “What? No. Please stop.” I lamely spit out, as I felt my eyes widen in horror.

Taylor wiped the tears away as a pink blush crept on to her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I’m being so lame.” She sniffled. “But this is going to make you start hating me, isn‘t it?”

I chuckled softly, shaking my head. “Well come on Taylor, you know, I never really stopped hating you. How could I start again?”

Taylor’s looked away. “Oh, okay.”

Again I chuckled. “I’m joking.” Kind of. “Now buck up and stop crying. This isn’t a girls’ club.”

I saw a tiny smile tug at her lips as she nodded in my direction before turning away from me.

“My room is down the hall, on the left.” I directed her, seeing as how she’d never really been inside my house before.

Taylor didn’t say anything, but I did get the feeling that she was smiling now.

And I definitely preferred that over tears.



**

(Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!)