Completely (Un)expected

My routine had basically been set at this point. I'd wake up, have breakfast with Gerard and Mikey before going to the comic store where I'd spend about two hours entering all the numbers. On the days I didn’t go into the store, Mikey and I passed the time wandering around Jersey, going to the art galleries, being obnoxious at the local library or just staying home and watching the old thriller movies that he insisted I needed to see.

I was making good progress with my big box of papers and I was confident that I would be able to finish all of it by Mr. Riket's May deadline. Aside from entering the data into the computer, I didn’t really have any other responsibilities at the store, but I often times found myself perusing the new comics and spending my afternoons up at the front with Gerard, just reading through the magazines and passing the time once I'd finished my logging for the day.

I'd learned the basics of the register from watching Gerard, though I'd never actually used it, and I'd come to know some of the regulars' names. It was as if I was finding my place in Jersey, learning where I fit, and it was nice, but at the same time, it was hard going through it without my dad.

He'd always been my other half and now I had to learn where I belonged without him by my side the whole time. I had to be one-hundred percent, totally my own person, and I had little to no clue who she was.

The afternoons were quiet and mellow at the comic shop, mostly since the weather was frequently nice and people would much rather be outside enjoying it than being holed up in a dusty little store; I know I did.

The numbers had all been logged and I was just starting to enter the figures for nineteen-seventy-nine when I heard the door in the front chime. Mikey came into the small back room where I was a moment later. He had car keys in his hands and I wondered what he was up to considering he normally didn’t drive.

"Let's go, Henri," he said, twirling the keys around his fingers while leaning coolly against the door frame.

"Go where?" I asked mindlessly as I continued to keep focused on the computer screen.

"Well, home first, so you can change." I picked my head up and gave Mikey a confused look. Why would I need to change?

"Change-?" I began to ask, but Mikey cut me off again.

"You should probably bring a towel, too," he said, looking off in the distance and checking off his mental list.

"Wait, Mikey," I said, standing up and going over to him, leaning against the front of the desk. "What are you talking about?"

"Our afternoon plans," he said nonchalantly, pausing for a moment. "When's the last time you've been to the beach?"

I thought for a moment. In all of our travels, one place my dad and I rarely frequented was the beach. There weren't any in Pennsylvania, and whenever we went out on the road, it was to go to a show, never the beach. It had probably been a few years, if that.

"I don’t know," I shrugged. "Maybe . . . "

I tried to recall the last time I'd been to the beach, but Mikey cut me off before I could answer. "That's too long. Let's go." Mikey started to walk away, expecting me to follow him, but I grabbed his arm to turn him back to me.

"Mikey," I chided, getting his attention back. "I can't just leave; I have to enter the rest of the seventies."

Just then, Mr. Ricket stepped in, probably having heard a majority of my and Mikey's conversation considering that the walls were thinner than paper.

"Henri," he said, pretending he had no idea what was up. "You've been getting pretty far with the entries, why don't you take off early today?"

"But, I still hav-"

"Go on, kiddo." I smiled to Mr. Ricket and thanked him for the afternoon off. Truthfully, I'd much rather be outside on the beach than stuck in my little office for one moment longer, so even though I had a ways to go with that box, one afternoon enjoying the sun wouldn't kill me.

Mikey and I stopped back at the house so we could change into more comfortable clothes which for him was a pair of black and red swim shorts and a band tee shirt. I went up to my room and pulled out my bathing suit from the bottom of one of the drawers in the dresser. I hadn't worn it in forever and I was surprised that I even bothered taking it with me during the move.

It was cute; a black bandeau covered with tiny skull and crossbones paired with boy-short bottoms. The straps were red and tied in the back to keep up the top; I'd be devastated if it fell with Mikey around. I tossed on a loose fitted, red V-neck and my white shorts before opting to leave my ratty old converse at home and slide on a pair of strappy sandals instead.

Knowing Mikey wouldn’t think to, I packed a tote bag with two towels, sunscreen, and some water. Mikey came downstairs a moment later and shoved something into the bag. "What's that?"

"Mom left us money for dinner later." I nodded, finding it a little weird to hear Mikey call my aunt Donna 'mom.' He said it almost as if she were my mother too.

"Cool, then ready to go?"

Mikey nodded his head and picked up the car keys from the bowl on the kitchen counter. We'd both slipped on sunglasses over our eyes, and I wondered if Mikey could even see without his normal specs, but he seemed to be doing fine on the road. Another weird thing to have seen; Mikey driving.

The beach wasn't too far away, maybe half an hour, but Mikey and I passed the time listening to Anthrax and Joy Division while pointing out funny street signs and odd license plates. Once we got to the boardwalk, we got out of the car and I immediately noticed a boy leaning against a car.

He was about Mikey's height with a much stronger build. His blonde hair swept over his eyes that were covered by dark sunglasses. He puffed on a cigarette and I suddenly found myself craving one, especially since I'd since quit when I made my move over to Jersey. I still had a few stashed away and, though I was certain he wouldn’t care, I didn’t want to smoke around Mikey and I was certain aunt Donna would kill me if I was caught.

We made our way over to the boy, Mikey obviously knowing him already. He put out his cigarette as we approached and I heard his other car door open then close. "Hey, Bob. This is my cousin, Henri."

"Cool, hey. Nice finally meeting you," Bob said as he held out one of his hands for me to take.

"Thanks, you too."

My eyes immediately locked on Frank. Maybe one afternoon in the sun wouldn’t be so great after all.

He'd stepped out from around the other side of the car and stood there like a deer in headlights as he saw me. We both froze, neither one of us daring to make a move. "Hey," I cautiously let out, trying my best to sound casual and not give away the fact that I was completely horrified.

Again, seriously? Why did I have to move to Jersey?

I suddenly felt very self-conscious, as if I had some expectation to live up to around Frank, when in reality he didn’t know me at all. Still though, I couldn’t get over what happened that night and it was showing.

"Hey," Frank repeated, equally as wary. This was it. I couldn’t avoid Frank as easily as I originally thought. He just happened to be the one guy I kiss at a random club that pops back into my life. I had to deal with this if I wanted my time in Jersey to be any kind of enjoyable.

This wasn’t like the comic store. Here, it was just me and the boys and nowhere to run off to. No escaping the inevitable awkwardness of the afternoon.

"Yeah," Mikey said apologetically, turning to Frank but speaking to the both of us. "Sorry you two couldn’t meet last week. What did you have to do anyways?"

"Uh, nothing," he lied. "Just this thing for my mom . . ."

It was obvious to all of us that Frank wasn’t telling the truth, but neither of the other boys seemed to care enough to push it and I wasn’t going to question his alibis. A slight tension had built that, thankfully, Mikey broke.

"It doesn’t matter. This is our last weekend of freedom," he exclaimed, effectively getting us over the previous hitch. "And there's a huge Atlantic Ocean right over there. Let's go!"

Bob and Mikey lead the way with Frank and I trailing behind them. I didn’t dare look up at him, and his gaze fell contently on the pathway in front of us, eyes unmoving only to see where he was going.

A moment later, Bob turned around, walking backwards as we continued on toward the beach. "So where are you from?" he asked.

I figured the question was for me so I cleared my voice a little and shyly replied, "Originally, Pennsylvania, but my dad and I always moved around a lot for his job."

"What's he do?"

"Sound board engineer. We've been traveling since I was, eight, maybe."

Bob, rather intrigued and impressed by this, nodded his head and replied, "That's sick, must have been pretty sweet?"

I laughed a little at Bob's reaction, finding myself a little more confident, then remembering that Frank was right there and shutting up. My guard raised again, but I replied anyway. "Yeah, it was for a while."

"What happened?"

"He hit it big," I said then went on to clarify. "In July he got signed to tour with this band from Seattle and he didn’t want me to go and mess up my last year of school."

"Bummer."

"Not entirely," Mikey piped in, draping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me into his side. "She's staying here with the coolest cousins ever, and she'll be attending our very own, very terrible, Belleville High."

"Seriously?" Frank let out rather unexpectedly, grabbing all of our attention. He didn’t sound happy about it, but he didn’t seem devastated either. Shocked is a better word.

"Uh, yeah," I informed him uncomfortably, and finally looking up to him. I met his alluring hazel eyes that were now shrouded in a clouding of disbelief. "I'll be graduating with you guys."

"That's cool," Bob added, probably able to feel the tension between Frank and I.

"Isn’t it?" Mikey asked rhetorically. "You do realize that you're one of us now?"

I smiled to my cousin and wrapped my arm around his waist. It felt nice knowing that I was being accepted somewhere, even if not by everyone. Bob seemed nice enough and hopefully I'd get over Frank, but at least I had a few people I could call my 'friends' and not spend my time in Jersey alone.

"Yeah," I nodded to him. "I figured as much."

I felt my face flushing bright red as I saw the turtle doves tattooed on each side of his stomach. The boys had all taken their shirts off the moment we hit the beach, complaining that it was way too hot out.

Frank was more hesitant than the others at first, but the heat eventually got to him and he pulled up on the bottom of his Black Flag tee, revealing his tattooed midsection and bringing a flush to my cheeks. He was hot. Plain and simple.

Averting my gaze from Frank's rather amazing body, and now feeling self-conscious of mine, I set down a towel and claimed my spot on the sand, pulling out a book and cracking it open.
"Don't you want to go in the water?" Mikey asked me taking off his sunglasses, leaving nothing to cover his eyes and letting me, for the first time, see that they were actually a nice hazel color.

"No, I think I just want to read a little."

"Oh, come on," he complained. "Come in with us." He sounded like a little kid, but I had to resist him.

"I, uh, can't swim . . ." I let out rather pathetically, looking down at my lap.

"Really?" Bob asked.

"Yeah, I never learned how to. I'll just stay back here." I smiled to show that I had no problem with staying on land and catching up on some reading. Mikey shot a look to Bob and Frank, though by his reaction, Frank hadn't really been paying attention. Shrugging his shoulders, Mikey gave in, saying, "Alright."

He held his glasses out to me. "Hold my specs?"

I smiled to Mikey and took the frames out of his hand and set them down beside me. "I'll guard them with my life," I joked, but seriously meaning it that I wouldn’t let them break. The boys all turned away to head out toward the water, but Frank paused a moment.

He glanced back one more time to me with an unreadable expression on his face. Guilt? Shame? Sympathy? I couldn’t tell what Frank was thinking, but all I knew was that being around each other wasn’t comfortable for either of us.

Since we'd been out, Frank had barely said two words. I didn’t knowhim well, but I knew him well enough to know that Frank wasn’t a shy kid. That night at the club, we'd practically talked each other's ears off, but now he was being mute, and that only made things more uncomfortable. I was starting to wonder if it would ever pass.

Notes

So super sorry for the late update. I didn't forget to post, it's just that when I tried to copy and paste the text from my word document before, it wasn't working and I had to get to work. I tried again when I got home but it still wasn't working and I ended up having to copy everything over, paragraph by paragraph (only because I love you guys...)

Anyways, enjoy the reading, leave a comment if you like, feel free to send me a message if you want to and I'll see y'all back here again next week!!

PS I don't own Anthrax or Joy Division