Forever is a Long Time . . .

The following week was relatively normal, at least on Frank’s end. He acted as if nothing had happened, as if we hadn’t woken up in the same bed just days before. It passed quickly with little sign of my and Frank’s relationship having changed at all.

I, on the other hand, was still a bit wary around Frank. I wasn’t sure if Frank was merely acting as though nothing was wrong or if there really was nothing going on with him. It was hard to get over the obvious fact that we’d slept in the same bed, and what made me even more curious was the fact the Frank had done it on purpose.

There was no way in Hell Frank accidentally fell asleep with me that night. He’d taken me upstairs to his room and gotten into bed with me. I just couldn’t fathom how that ever could have been unintended. I tried not to let it get to me or behave any differently around Frank because of it. I didn’t want to compromise our friendship over something so stupid.

Frank had brought in our CD to lunch one day, as he often did after we’d recorded a song together. The other guys were always really supportive of our music, and though I’d never had any intentions of being a singer, they always told me I had a nice voice. I was pretty sure they were all lying.

As Frank played the song for everyone, I sat there listening to the lyrics. I was the only one who actually knew what they were truly about, but that didn’t mean that Gerard didn’t have a clue. “I wonder who this is about,” he leaned over and whispered in my ear sarcastically. No one else had heard him so I resisted the urge to punch him as not to raise any question from anyone else. The song ended and the guys started to put their two-cents in.

The general comments were about the ‘sincerity of the heart-felt lyrics’ and the ‘dynamic contrast of the guitar.’ Frank and I accepted our praise, thanking the guys for listening and offering up their opinions.

The next few weeks were quite the same. Frank was normal around me and I tried to be normal around him. I still couldn’t help but wonder though what Frank was thinking. I wondered if he had thought about that weekend as much as I had, or if he even thought about it at all.

As I sat next to him in class on Friday afternoon. It had been a while since Frank’s birthday and the day we’d spent together. had, for the most part, gotten over our night spent together but it wasn’t totally off my mind. I still looked over to Frank during class sometimes and wondered what he was thinking; what was up, if anything at all?

If there was something wrong, why hadn’t Frank told me? Normally we told each other everything. Well, almost everything; I’d be a hypocrite to think otherwise, but still this was weird for us. Frank wasn’t normally one to keep secrets from me and if something was going on with him, I wanted to know what it was.

The bell rang, startling me a bit. Frank and I both got up to leave, but I wanted to talk with him. Before I knew it, though, Frank had left. I didn’t get the chance to talk to him; it was like he was avoiding me, which was just what I had feared. I couldn’t bear to think it, but something between Frank and I had changed. But what?

I tried to catch up to him, talk to him for just a moment, but he was already gone, lost in the sea of teenagers filling the halls after the bell. I stood there, looking in the direction in which he’d vanished, when I heard Bob’s and Ray’s voices behind me. “Hey, Paige.” I turned around upon hearing Ray call out to me.

“Hey guys,” I replied in a more sullen tone than usual. They must have taken notice to the fact that I hadn’t been acting myself as of late. Bob asked, “Everything okay?” I shook my head a little to clear my thoughts as I put on a fake smile. I hated that I had to fake them lately, it’s not that I wanted to, it was just the only way I could do it.

“Yeah, yeah,” I lied to them as not to stir up any worries. “Everything’s fine.” I obviously wasn’t that good of a liar because Ray saw right through me. “Everything doesn’t seem fine. What’s up?” he asked, a concerned look on both his and Bob’s faces.

I sighed knowing that I couldn’t hide it from them forever. Gerard knew and now so would they. “Okay, come here,” I said, pulling them both into the secluded hallway behind the library, not caring that I’d make us all late for our next classes. No one ever really went in there so it was easy to find privacy.

“Paige, what’s going on?” Ray questioned as we got away from the other students making their ways to class. “Is it about Frank?” Bob asked and I wondered why. Was it that obvious?
“Yeah, how did you-?”

“He’s been acting kind of weird lately,” Ray replied, Bob nodding his head in agreement.

“So I’m not the only one to notice that something’s been seriously off with him?” They both shook their heads. “No, we’ve noticed,” answered Ray.

“But we figured if anyone knew what was going on, it’d be you,” Bob said, finishing Ray’s previous thought. I figured the same thing, that I’d be the one to know if Frank was going through something, but I was just as clueless as everyone else. “I wish I did.” Silence fell over us as we all thought of what might be wrong with Frank. The bell rang telling us all that we’d be late for next period, probably earning us all detentions, but none of us moved.

Bob interrupted the silence, “Well, what’re you going to do?”

“Me?” I questioned. “Why me? What about you two?”

“Well he’s your best friend,” Ray replied. He was right; I wasn’t looking forward to it, but I was his best friend and the job of mending his broken emotions fell on my shoulders alone. It would be an awkward conversation, especially after our little incident. I wouldn’t know where to start, but I’d have to get Frank to tell me what was wrong. I hated to see my best friend like this and I was the one who had to fix it.

Though the bell had already rung, Ray and Bob still made the attempt to show up to their classes without getting detentions. They said goodbye and went off into the hall together. I just sat there behind the library, accepting the fact that I would be skipping Spanish and probably serving detention later on the day. I knew what I had to do. I had to talk to Frank. I didn’t know how I’d bring it up, but I had to find out what was wrong with him.

Notes

So did the website get all trippy for anyone else last night, or was it just me? And if I'm not alone on that, did anyone else get real scared?